Massachusetts Students Speak Live With Orbiting NASA Astronaut

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May 21, 2013, 10:15 ET

HOUSTON, May 21, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Expedition 35 astronaut and flight engineer Chris Cassidy will speak live from the International Space Station with students at Talbot Innovation Middle School in Fall River, Mass., at 10:05 a.m. EDT, Thursday, May 23.

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The 20-minute air-to-ground event will be broadcast on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website. Students will be able to ask Cassidy questions about life, work and research aboard the orbiting laboratory. He began his stay on the station in March.

Media representatives who want to attend the event may contact Elizabeth Coogan at [email protected] or 508-675-8350. Talbot Innovation Middle School is located at 124 Melrose St.

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 and abroad 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.

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

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

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