Upstate New York Students to Video Chat With Astronaut in Space
Some lucky students from a school in Upstate New York will have the opportunity of a lifetime this week, when they talk to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station.
According to a NASA Media Advisory, Students from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 9 in Rochester, New York will spend their Friday morning watching NASA astronaut Josh Cassada answer their questions while aboard the International Space Station.
The call will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and NASA's website on Friday beginning at 9:55 am for anyone else interested in seeing the astronaut answer children's questions about space.
The questions were pre-recorded by the students, so there won't be any unexpected twists coming from some class clowns. But I'm hoping that today's students ask some of the questions I have about space, like how propulsion works in a vacuum or how astronauts go to the bathroom in zero gravity.
Students of the school should gain a new appreciation for space exploration and who knows, Cassada may be inspiring the students to become astronauts themselves and then answer the next generation's questions about space. Surely, that's more important than hoping my own burning questions about space get answered.
For all we know, one of the students from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 9 in Rochester, New York will be the first human to step foot on Mars, and attribute all his dedication to space exploration to this interaction with a real astronaut in space. It'll be something for me to look out for in 30 years when the opportunity for a follow up story comes around.