At 10:40 a.m. on Nov. 10, students gathered at Freedom Crossing Academy in St. Johns, Florida, will be able to watch NASA astronauts answer questions from orbit. Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney will join an Earth-to-space call from the International Space Station, responding to prerecorded questions about science, technology, engineering and math, known together as STEM.
The event is designed for students in grades K-12 and the wider community. It offers a direct link between classroom learning and the work of people living aboard a space station, where research can be carried out in an environment very different from Earth. NASA says the call aims to deepen understanding of space exploration and raise awareness of STEM careers. The program will stream live on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel, so people can follow beyond the host school.
The format gives students a chance to hear astronauts address questions prepared in advance while they are working in space. The source announcement does not list the questions, but the focus on STEM connects the conversation to subjects students encounter in school and to the skills used in space research. For young viewers, seeing astronauts take part in a live call from orbit can make the station’s work feel less distant than it might in a textbook.
The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited for more than 26 years. NASA says the people who live and work there advance scientific knowledge and make research breakthroughs that are not possible on Earth. The station also helps the agency study the challenges of human spaceflight and expand commercial opportunities in low Earth orbit, the region of space relatively close to our planet.
That work is tied to NASA’s longer-term plans. The agency says lessons from the station help build a foundation for long-duration missions to the Moon through the Artemis program, and for future missions to Mars. In that sense, a school call is about more than a brief conversation: it introduces students to the people and research behind a larger effort to explore farther from Earth.
Freedom Crossing Academy is hosting the call in St. Johns, Florida, on Tuesday, Nov. 10. Media interested in covering the event must RSVP by 5 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 9, to Christina Upchurch at 904-547-7517 or christina.upchurch@stjohns.k12.fl.us. NASA provides information about its in-flight calls at nasa.gov/stemonstation. When the astronauts answer the students’ questions, the exchange will bring a working space laboratory into view for learners on the ground—and may offer a memorable glimpse of where their studies can lead.