Space Station Astronauts Speak Live to Students in Virginia

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Jun 13, 2014, 11:08 ET

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman, currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station, will speak with students and educators at Colvin Run Elementary School in Vienna, Virginia, at 11:55 a.m. EDT Tuesday, June 17. The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

Students will have the opportunity to ask the astronauts about life, work and research aboard the space station. Swanson, from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is the commander of Expedition 40. Wiseman, a Baltimore native, is a flight engineer. Former astronaut Dan Tani will join the students in person for this special education event.

Media interested in covering the event must contact Mindy Kelly at 202-422-9234 or [email protected]. Colvin Run Elementary is located at 1400 Trap Road in Vienna, Virginia.

Educators have been preparing their students for the conversation with the crew by incorporating NASA activities in their classrooms. Colvin recently opened a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) Lab to provide students with hands-on, minds-on STEM experience integrating cross-curricular learning.

Linking students directly to the astronauts aboard the space station provides students with an authentic, live experience of space exploration, space study and the scientific components of space travel and life in space.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve 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, schedules 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

To follow Twitter updates from Wiseman and the other Expedition 40 astronauts, visit:

https://twitter.com/astro_reid

To follow Instagram updates from Expedition 40 astronauts, visit:

http://instagram.com/iss

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SOURCE NASA