Astronauts to Field Student Questions

February 20, 2009 — If you had an opportunity to ask a question to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station, what would you ask? You better start thinking because you do have that opportunity, thanks to a partnership between NASA and Channel One News. There are two ways to submit your question through the Channel One website: submit a text-only question or send a video of your question to play on the show. On the mission's fourth day, Channel One News Anchor Steven Fabian will then ask questions selected from the written and videotaped submissions to former science teachers, Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold, who are now NASA astronauts, as well as shuttle Commander Lee Archambault and station Commander Mike Fincke. Acaba and Arnold will make their first journey to the orbiting outpost on space shuttle Discovery’s upcoming mission, currently targeted to launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Feb. 27. NASA Television will broadcast the interview live. You have one other chance to get your questions answered by an astronaut onboard the ISS. Flight engineer and science officer Sandy Magnus will answer questions on the International Space Station Web site as her schedule allows; questions are transmitted to Magnus from Mission Control each week. The STS-119 mission will deliver the station's final set of giant solar arrays, which will provide the electricity to fully power science experiments and support the station's expanded crew of six in May. The flight also will replace a failed unit for a system that converts urine to potable water.

STS-119 Mission Specialists Steve Swanson (right), Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold practice using a camera that will be used on the mission during crew training at Kennedy Space Center. Acaba and Arnold are both former science teachers. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, STS-119 crew members get a close look at the docking adapter installed in space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

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