Students from Mississippi and Louisiana will gather at the INFINITY Science Center in Pearlington, Mississippi, for a long-distance call with NASA astronauts currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station. The special back-to-school education event will take place Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 1:20 p.m. EDT (12:20 p.m. CDT).

The event will be broadcast live on NASA Television and the agencys website.

More than 300 fourth to eighth grade students will have an opportunity to ask Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineer Reid Wiseman questions about life, work and research aboard the space station. Prior to the 20-minute Earth-to-space call, the students will spend time learning about the orbiting laboratory, rockets and NASAs new deep space exploration spacecraft, Orion, which is set to make its maiden spaceflight in December.

Media interested in covering the event must contact Paul Foerman in advance at 228-688-1880 orpaul.foerman-1@nasa.gov. INFINITY Science Center, which also serves as the official visitor center for NASA's Stennis Space Center, is located at 1 Discovery Circle in Pearlington.

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

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

See the original post:

Mississippi and Louisiana Students Get Out-of-This-World Start to the School Year