The FINANCIAL -- Students and educators from Sussex County, N.J., will gather at Newton High School on Wednesday, Feb. 22, to further their space studies by speaking live with Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank and Flight Engineer Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station.

The Earth-to-space communication will take place at 10 a.m. EST and be broadcast live on NASA Television.

According to NASA, the students participating in the event range from kindergarten through 12th grade. They represent the Newton, Andover Regional and Green Township school districts in Sussex County, all of which are part of the Tri-District Curriculum Consortium. U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett is expected to join the group for this special event.

The students participated in a variety of space-focused science, technology, engineering and mathematics educational initiatives in preparation for the space station downlink. They also designed a special patch to commemorate their interaction with the orbiting astronauts.

This in-flight education downlink is one in a series with educational organizations in the United States and abroad to improve STEM teaching and learning. It is an integral component of NASA's Teaching from Space Program, which promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of space and NASA's human spaceflight program.

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