A Year of Education on the Space Station

Before returning to Earth from the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) yesterday, NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Ricky Arnold concluded a successful Year of Education on Station by speaking with an audience of students and educators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center about the importance of using the space station as a powerful platform for not just science but also education.

For NASA’s Year of Education on Station, Arnold and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, both former teachers, shared their passion for teaching and inspired students of all ages to learn about the science taking place on the orbiting laboratory. During the year, Arnold and Acaba created video lessons called STEMonstrations and participated 64 educational downlinks that reached approximately 175,000 students and 40,000 educators, answering more than 1,000 questions about living and working in space! To view video clips of some of the questions answered during the downlinks, go here.

Arnold and Acaba also honored the legacy of Challenger crew member and NASA’s originally selected teacher in space Christa McAuliffe by completing four of her lost lessons on the ISS. You can find the lessons here.

Arnold launched to the ISS on March 21, 2018 and returned to Earth on Oct. 4, 2018, and Acaba launched to the ISS on Sept. 12, 2017 and returned to Earth on Feb. 27, 2018. Their time in space totaled together equaled 365 days of education on the space station!

Learn more about education initiatives on the ISS National Lab at www.spacestationexplorers.org.