Hawaii Students to Receive Special Call from Space

HONOLULU — The Hawaii Space Grant Consortium and Punahou School in Honolulu will host a live education downlink from space shuttle Discovery with STS-119 mission specialists Joe Acaba, Richard Arnold and Sandy Magnus. Acaba and Arnold are both former middle and high school science teachers.

On Friday, March 27, from 7:03 to 7:23 a.m. HST, elementary and high school students from Punahou School, Pearl City Elementary, Stevenson Intermediate, Manoa Elementary, St. Ann’s School, Gus Webling Elementary, Mid Pacific Institute, Noelani Elementary, and Lincoln Elementary Schools will ask questions of astronauts aboard the shuttle. Acaba visited both Punahou School and NASA Explorer School Pearl City Elementary in 2006.

Students will be given an opportunity to learn more about what life is like in space and how gravity affects us on Earth.

The downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the U.S. and abroad. It is an integral component of NASA’s Teaching From Space Office. Teaching From Space promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight.

The downlink will air live on NASA Television and be streamed on the NASA Web site at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA’s education programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education