|  | Saint Paul school hosts Minnesotas first-ever downlink with International Space Station
2/7/2005 9:40 AM | | Crossroads Elementary School is hosting Minnesota's first education downlink with the International Space Center. |
On Tuesday, Feb. 8, hundreds of Minnesota and Wisconsin students will get a chance to talk live to the International Space Station Expedition 10 crew. Only this crew is not visiting the school--they will be more than 200 miles up in space orbiting the Earth.
Saint Paul's Crossroads Elementary School, 453 Front Ave., is hosting Minnesota's first-ever education downlink with the International Space Station from 9:40-10 a.m. on Tuesday, February 8 at the school.
About 700 students in grades 3-8 from four NASA Explorer Schools--Crossroads Science in Saint Paul, Farnsworth Aerospace Elementary in Saint Paul, Anwatin Middle and Bryn-Mawr Elementary in Minneapolis (these two schools partner as one NASA Explorer School), and Cumberland Middle School in Cumberland, Wisconsin--are expected to participate in the event. Several state, city and NASA dignitaries are also scheduled to attend the event.
A downlink is similar to making a long distance phone call--only this long-distance phone call is to space. NASA will be helping the school make the connection with the Expedition 10 Crew Commander Leroy Chiao and Chief Engineer Salizhan Sharipov allowing students and the crew to communicate with each other live.
Students at the four NASA Explorer Schools have been studying the International Space Station since October. Students who will ask questions of the space station crew have done research to prepare for the occasion. As many as 25 students are set with questions.
The event will air live on Saint Paul  | | Students at Crossroads having been working hard to prepare for the downlink with the Space Station. |
cable channel 16 and nationwide on NASA TV. NASA TV will also offer the downlink live on the Web, at www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html.
"This is literally an out-of-this-world experience for students," said Alissa Kuseske, a Crossroads Elementary teacher and downlink coordinator. "Talking live to the crew in space brings together all the research the students have been doing and makes their work very real to them. I know it will inspire them to learn even more."
Commander Chiao and Chief Engineer Sharipov have been on the space station since Oct. 15, 2004. They are scheduled to return to Earth on April 24, 2005. Chiao is NASA's International Space Station representative. Sharipov works for Russia's Federal Space Agency. The station was first inhabited on Oct. 31, 2000.
Crossroads Elementary was named one of the first NASA Explorer Schools in Minnesota and is one of only 100 schools nationwide with the designation. The program, a three-year partnership between the schools and NASA, gives students a unique opportunity to apply science, mathematics, and technology in real-world situations using NASA's vast teaching resources.
Last year, Crossroads sixth graders designed a spinning tops experiment to be tested in weightlessness. The experiment was flown by two of their teachers aboard NASA's KC 135 Reduced Gravity Airplane in Houston. Students have posted their research and picture galleries by clicking here.
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