NASA Astronauts to Take Missouri Students’ Questions Live

Space will feel a little closer to Missouri on Thursday when NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway answer students’ questions live from the International Space Station.

NASA says the Earth-to-space call will begin at 10:50 a.m. EDT on April 30 and stream on the agency’s Learn With NASA YouTube channel. The event centers on prerecorded questions from students focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, turning a routine school day into a direct line to life and work in orbit.

The appeal goes beyond spectacle. These calls give students a rare chance to hear how science works in real time, from people who rely on it every day hundreds of miles above Earth. NASA has long used station events like this to turn curiosity into momentum, especially for young people weighing what STEM can look like outside a textbook.

For students watching in Missouri, the International Space Station won’t just orbit overhead — it will answer back.

The announcement offers only a tight set of details, and NASA has not outlined the exact questions students will ask. Still, the format signals something important: the agency wants to make space exploration feel reachable, personal, and practical. Reports indicate the live stream will give families, educators, and classrooms well beyond Missouri a window into that exchange.

What happens next matters because moments like this often outlast the broadcast itself. A short conversation with astronauts can spark deeper interest in physics, engineering, and space research, and NASA clearly sees that value. On Thursday morning, the agency will do more than host a live stream — it will test how powerfully a direct connection to space can shape the next wave of curiosity.