NASA Astronauts to Take Missouri Students’ Questions Live

Space will feel a little closer to Missouri this week when NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station answer students’ questions live from orbit.

NASA says astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will respond to prerecorded questions from Missouri students during an Earth-to-space call set to begin at 10:50 a.m. EDT on Thursday, April 30. The agency plans to stream the event live on its Learn With NASA YouTube channel, turning a local student audience into part of a national science moment.

The format matters as much as the setting. By centering science, technology, engineering, and mathematics questions from students, NASA keeps its long-running outreach strategy focused on access and curiosity. The agency does more than showcase life aboard the station; it gives young people a direct line to the people doing the work, making space exploration feel less distant and more reachable.

NASA isn’t just broadcasting from space — it’s inviting students to see themselves in the mission.

That kind of exchange carries weight far beyond a single livestream. A brief conversation with astronauts can turn abstract subjects into something immediate, especially for students who may know the International Space Station as an icon but not as a working laboratory. Reports indicate the session will spotlight STEM topics, reinforcing NASA’s push to connect classroom learning with real-world discovery.

What happens next depends on who watches and who gets inspired. For NASA, events like this help build the pipeline of future engineers, scientists, and explorers. For students in Missouri and viewers beyond, Thursday’s call offers something rare: a chance to hear answers from people who are living and working off the planet, and a reminder that the path to space often starts with a question.