NASA ISS astronauts to answer questions from Topeka students

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Some lucky Topeka students will get to have their questions answered by a pair of astronauts floating above Earth this week.

NASA astronauts Tracy Dyson and Matthew Dominick on board the International Space Station (ISS) are set to participate in a 20-minute call down to Earth with students from Topeka's Mose J. Whitson Elementary, Most Pure Heart Catholic School and Aviation Explorers Post 8. The call will be livestreamed at 9:30 a.m. CST on Wednesday Aug. 21 on NASA+, NASA TV, the NASA app and the NASA website. Both astronauts will answer prerecorded questions from students on the day of the call.

High school students with Aviation Explorers Post 8 helped students from Whitson Elementary get prepared for the big day by giving them a tour of a local airport control tower and a pre-flight inspection demonstration, according to NASA. Graduate students with the University of Kansas and other astronomy enthusiasts also gave presentations for the Whitson Starry Night Astronomy Title I family night.

Dyson, a native of California, became an astronaut in 1998 and holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry, according to her NASA biography. Dominick, hailing from Colorado, holds a bachelor's degree of science in electrical engineering and became an astronaut in 2017, according to his NASA biography.

Astronauts have lived and worked aboard the ISS for more than two decades testing technologies, performing science experiments and developing skills required to explore space. Those inside the ISS communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston daily through Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Near Space Network.

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