STUDENTS TO SHARE THRILL OF SPACE EXPLORATION WITH LANCE BASS

Date:
Tue, 27 Aug 2002 12:40:18 -0400 (EDT)

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington August 27, 2002
(Phone: 202/358-1726)

Kelly Humphries
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

John Bluck
Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, Calif.
(Phone: 650/ 604-5026)

RELEASE: 02-164

STUDENTS TO SHARE THRILL OF SPACE EXPLORATION WITH LANCE BASS

In the continuing quest to inspire the next generation of explorers, NASA on Thursday will provide students across the country an opportunity to interact over the Internet with a popular music star who hopes to become the youngest person to travel in space later this year.

Lance Bass, a member of the pop singing group 'N Sync, will be at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston this week to train for an upcoming space mission in which he would join two others in a Russian Soyuz flight to deliver a replacement "lifeboat" to the International Space Station. During a Web chat, Bass is expected to share his experiences to date in training for space travel, and to discuss what inspired him to seek out this space flight opportunity.

The Web chat, hosted by NASA's Distance Learning Outpost and education Web portal, Quest, will take place from 6 to 7 p.m. EDT Thursday, August 29.

An audience of 9- to 12-year-old students from Pearl Hall Elementary School, Pasadena, Texas, will join Bass in the Johnson studio and ask questions face-to-face. Thousands of students from around the United States also will be able to submit questions via the on-camera host, Erika Guillory, who will then ask questions of Bass.

The webcast also will look at the importance of music education -- how music is metered, structured and formed, and still allows the mind to be creative. Similar approaches are needed for problem solving in math, science and technology or in design challenges related to space exploration.

"What a great opportunity for students to interact with a popular figure who can help inspire them to pursue careers in the space industry," said Susan Anderson, distance-learning manager at Johnson.

To participate in the Web chat, students and teachers should visit either the Distance Learning Outpost site at:

http://education.jsc.nasa.gov

or the Quest web site at:

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov

For more information about the International Space Station, the Expedition 5 crew and the taxi crew of which Bass will be a member, visit the NASA Human Spaceflight Web at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov

-end-

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Not as well as Dan would have posted it, but there it is. :)

The new school year has begun.

Best to all here,

Marcia