Times have changed since just a decade ago, and perhaps we should have gotten a clue with the fact that the students we heard about are part of a program called the STARBASE Atlantis Naval Air Station education program in Corpus Christi, Texas. Because of this the rest just had to follow: fifth and sixth grade students and STARBASE Atlantis alumni will have a special opportunity to experience the excitement of spaceflight first hand. They will be participating in a live in-flight education downlink on Tuesday, December 9, from 10:40 a.m. to 11 a.m. CST with the astronauts living on the International Space Station: Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke and Flight Engineer Sandy Magnus.

To prepare for the event, the students participated in education activities to learn about the space station's modules, mission objectives and experiments.

The Corpus Christi STARBASE students are partnering with sister STARBASE academy students in Meridian, Mississippi, for the event. Also present will be students who attend the Corpus Christi latch key program as well as members of the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi community.

NASA's education downlinks, facilitated by NASA's Teaching From Space Office, use the unique experience of human spaceflight to encourage students to study and pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The downlink will air live on NASA Television and be streamed on the NASA Web at this site.