An Astronaut Talked To Students At A School In Antarctica. NASA’s Response? None.

Keith’s note: On 8 October Argentinian students at school No. 38 located at Esperanza Base in Antarctica had a chance to talk to NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren on the ISS. What a cool way for NASA to project some soft power – maybe it could be leveraged into getting Argentina to sign on to the Artemis Accords. Indeed, having astronauts talk to school children who live in Antarctica is about as close as you can get to talking to students on another world. But NASA seems to be utterly uninterested in letting anyone know that this even happend. No surprise.

There is no mention made at the NASA STEM education website, NASA’s Office of International and Interagency Relations (OIIR), NASA PAO media advisories, or NASA’s main Space Station websi

NASA has an unparalleled branding visibility – globally – yet it seems to be unaware of just how far that reach extends or uninterested in the impact that it can have outside of the usual audiences in America. There no video link on NASA.gov or its Youtube channel. But there sure is a lot of NASA exposure for Snoopy.

Here is a local article that describes the local impact of the event with a link to a video.

This was the historic communication of the students of the Antarctic school with the Space Station, Zyri.net

“Finally, this Friday at noon, and after weeks of preparation, practices and rehearsals, thirteen students from school No. 38 “President Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín”, the only educational establishment of the Esperanza Base in the antarctica Argentina achieved a historic milestone: they talked live and direct with an astronaut from International Space Station (ISS). The unprecedented event occurred between 12:17 and 12:25, Argentina time. For eight minutes, Justino Palmas, April and Camila Bruno, Milagros Genez, Axel and Melanie Fernandez, Danilo Barrios, Pauola Otaola, Octavio Morales, Cyrus and Priscilla Palma, and Lautaro and Benjamin Rivas they asked the American astronaut questions Kjell Lindgren the ISS crew member who responded by radio from the ship that orbits the earth 400 kilometers from its surface and while moving at about 27,800 kilometers per hour. The streaming complete, with the questions and answers in English, can be seen in the Instagram account of the Joint Antarctic Command https://www.instagram.com/p/CjauraEs7ho/.”

Related links

• Examples Of NASA’s Global Branding At IAC 2022, earlier post
• Yet Another Example Of The Global Reach Of The NASA Brand, earlier post
• NASA’s Global Branding Reach Is Often Under Appreciated, earlier post
• Understanding NASA’s Global Reach, earlier post
• NASA is Still A Potent (If Underutilized) Brand, earlier post
• Using NASA’s Logo: Expensive T-Shirts Or Global Soft Power?, earlier post
• NASA’s Pervasive Brand Recognition, earlier post
• One Major Road Block To Bridenstine’s Advertising Ideas, earlier post