04.23.07

Debbie Nguyen
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111 

RELEASE: JE07-007

NASA CONGRATULATES STUDENTS FOR NAMING SPACE STATION MODULE

Classes in six schools in the United States will be almost in orbit 
Monday. 

After submitting the winning name “Harmony” in the Name the 
International Space Station Node 2 Challenge, students will receive a 
surprise memento and be congratulated by Astronaut Don Thomas at 1 
p.m. CDT. NASA’s Digital Learning Network team will connect all six 
classes from their hometowns to Thomas, who will be at Johnson Space 
Center in Houston. Thomas will talk about his experiences in space 
and the students’ future in space exploration. He also will answer 
videoconference questions from students. To view the live Web 
broadcast, go to: 

http://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov:10005/live 

Six classes from six schools nationwide submitted the name Harmony, 
reflecting how the pressurized module will connect and provide a 
passageway to additional international partner science labs and cargo 
spacecraft. The academic competition involved more than 2,200 
kindergarten through high school students from 62 schools 
representing 32 states. Participants also had to build a scale model 
and write an essay explaining their proposed name. 

For information on where each class will be connected from, please 
contact the selected schools: 

Paul Cummins' eighth-grade class of Browne Academy, Alexandria, Va., 
703-960-3000

Sue Wilson's third-grade class of Buchanan Elementary School, Baton 
Rouge, La., 225-343-4585

Brigette Berry's eighth-grade class of League City Intermediate 
School, League City, Texas, 281-284-0020

Bradley Neu's ninth-grade science class of Lubbock High School, 
Lubbock, Texas, 806-766-1444

Russell Yocum’s third-grade class of West Navarre Intermediate School, 
Navarre, Fla., 850-936-6060

David Dexheimer's students of the World Group Home School, Monona, 
Wis., 608-266-4275

Harmony was built for NASA in Italy. It joins three other named U.S. 
modules on the station: the Destiny laboratory, the Quest airlock and 
the Unity node, but is the first U.S. piece of the space station 
named by people outside of NASA. In addition to increasing the living 
and working space inside the station, it also will serve as a work 
platform for the station's robotic arm. It is about 21 feet long and 
14 feet in diameter. Harmony is being prepared at NASA’s Kennedy 
Space Center, Fla., for its space shuttle Discovery flight, 
designated STS-120, targeted for launch later this year. 

Through this hands-on, interactive, educational activity, NASA 
continues to invest in the nation’s education programs and to engage 
students, educators, families and the general public in NASA’s 
missions. 

Using space shuttles to finish construction of the space station is a 
key step in America's long-term exploration strategy, or the Vision 
for Space Exploration, which includes plans to venture beyond Earth 
orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery. The 
space station is a crucial test bed for those future exploration 
missions. 

For more information about the Node 2 Challenge, visit the NASA 
Exploring Space Challenges Web site: 

http://esc.nasa.gov/ 

For more information on the station and the Harmony module, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/station

	
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