Maine Students Talk With Space Station Crew

Students and teachers from two schools in Maine will make a unique long-distance phone call Monday [17 May] at noon EDT.Students and teachers from Great Salt Bay School, Damariscotta, and Bristol Consolidated School, Pemaquid, will talk with the Expedition 9 crew of the International Space Station (ISS). The crew, U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, are serving six months on the ISS. The 20-minute downlink is part of Maine Space Day activities.

News media may attend the event at Great Salt Bay School, 559 Main Street, Damariscotta. For accreditation and access, contact Sharon Eggleston at: 207/442-1498.

The Maine Space Grant Consortium is hosting the event. The Consortium consists of colleges, universities, research labs, state agencies, businesses and not-for-profit organizations. All of them help further NASA’s exploration goals, while benefiting Maine in many different areas of science and technology.

NASA TV will carry the event live on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical, and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. The event is also available via webcast at:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about NASA’s education programs on the Internet, visit:

http://education.nasa.gov/