NASA Space Station Astronaut Calls Home to Speak with Minnesota Students

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Oct 21, 2013, 01:25 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronaut and Expedition 37 flight engineer Karen Nyberg, currently orbiting aboard the International Space Station, will speak with students in Henning, Minn., near her hometown, this week.

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The live, station-to-ground video chat will take place at 9:45 a.m. CDT (10:45 a.m. EDT) Wednesday, Oct. 23, at the Henning School, 500 School Ave. It will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Nyberg, who arrived at the station in May for a six-month mission, is a graduate of Henning, a small, rural school with an enrollment of approximately 400 students in grades K-12. During the event, the students will be able to ask Nyberg questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting laboratory.

Media interested in attending the event can do so by contacting Henning School Principal Thomas Williams at 218-583-2927, ext. 8157, or [email protected].

The students have been following Nyberg's mission, and NASA activities have been incorporated into classes at the school in preparation for the conversation. Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides them with an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel and possibilities of life in space.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States to improve science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching From Space education program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

To keep up with Nyberg's research and life on the station through Twitter, follow:

@AstroKarenN

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/nasatv

For information about NASA's education programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

For information about the International Space Station, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/station

SOURCE NASA