NASA to Host Live STEM Day Event with Astronaut Anil Menon and Mark Rober

Event Details

On Wednesday, November 4, at 11 a.m. EST, NASA will host a live, interactive in-flight call between students across the United States and the International Space Station. The event, organized by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, is designed to celebrate National STEM Day by providing classrooms with direct access to real-world science and exploration.

The broadcast will be available for viewing on the agency’s primary YouTube channel, with additional coverage provided through Learn With NASA platforms. During the session, Expedition 74 flight engineer Anil Menon will discuss his experiences living and working in microgravity, explain the requirements for becoming an astronaut, and detail the technologies essential for human spaceflight. From California, STEM content creator and ClassCrunchLabs Foundation founder Mark Rober will participate by discussing how his background as a NASA engineer and his focus on hands-on problem-solving influenced his career.

Educational Outreach and Collaboration

The downlink serves as a platform for students to observe the space station in real time, with Menon demonstrating how daily tasks and scientific experiments are conducted in a microgravity environment. This initiative is part of a broader effort by NASA to foster technical skills and introduce students to potential careers within the aerospace industry.

Furthermore, the event marks the beginning of a formal partnership between NASA and the ClassCrunchLabs Foundation. The collaboration aims to increase student access to STEM education by integrating NASA’s mission-focused resources with the engineering-based content developed by CrunchLabs. Through this joint effort, the organizations intend to encourage students to develop problem-solving abilities and pursue future opportunities in science and technology fields.