NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

Phone: 650/604-5612 or 604-9000

jd...@mail.arc.nasa.gov

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Mary Miller, Principal

Presentation High School, San Jose, CA

Phone: 408/264-1664

mmil...@pres-net.com

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Release: 01-23AR

NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS: You are invited to observe as San Jose,
CA, high school student Bonnie Cameron conducts a 24-minute TV interview
with astronaut Susan Helms, while Helms orbits Earth aboard the
International Space Station. The interview will be Tuesday, April 17,
beginning at 4:26 a.m. in the "ground station" at NASA Ames Research Center,
Moffett Field, CA. Following the astronaut interview, Cameron, a student at
Presentation High School, San Jose, CA, will be available to answer
reporters' questions until 5:30 a.m. To reach Ames, take the Moffett Field
exit from Highway 101, drive east to the main gate at Moffett Federal
Airfield and report to the visitor badging office for maps and directions to
Ames' ground station, Bldg. N-240. Reporters should meet in the lobby. U.S.
media representatives must have valid picture ID in order to enter Ames.

LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT TO INTERVIEW ORBITING ASTRONAUT

A 17-year-old student from San Jose, CA, will conduct a 24-minute TV
interview with the first female to live aboard the International Space
Station, astronaut Susan Helms, as Helms orbits Earth on Tuesday, April 17.

The student, Bonnie Cameron, a senior at Presentation High School in San
Jose, will have to get up early because the interview begins at 4:26 a.m. in
the ground station building at NASA Ames Research Center, located in
California's Silicon Valley.

"I'm very excited, and when I was doing my run-through I had that
stomach-dropping feeling. I'm having a hard time knowing what to expect.,"
Cameron said. "It's like I'm in a dream right now, and when I look back I'll
probably have a hard time believing that I did the interview."

"Bonnie is a member of our 10-member Young Women of NASA advisory counsel,"
said Tish Krieg, who manages the Women of NASA on-line Internet mentoring
project of NASA Quest at Ames. The Helms interview will be webcast during
the virtual "Take Our Daughters to Work Day," Thursday, April 26, at 11:00
a.m. PDT at

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/TODTWD01

"All the questions I'm going to be asking come from an Internet chatroom
devoted to this event," Cameron said. "So, what I did was read through the
chatroom questions and compile them so I could get as many as I could into
20 minutes."

"The main points I plan to hit on are what the space station is actually
like to live on, and also the childhood of Susan Helms and what types of
people and activities impacted her development," Cameron continued. "I'm
also focussing on how she feels about being a female astronaut and her
qualifications."

"The most important questions for our project as far as what our audience
can learn are those asking how being a woman makes her especially good at
doing this job, and what is she hoping to change or impact for young women
today through her experience," Cameron said.

"The purpose of the interaction with Helms aboard the ISS is to demonstrate
technology and to help girls learn the skills needed for the jobs of the
future," said Krieg. "It is expected that more than 1.5 million girls will
participate in NASA's web events on April 26."

The Helms interview is only one among many Internet activities that NASA
Quest will conduct on April 26, according to Krieg. "We will have a day-long
series of live web programs on April 26 for students to interact with our
nation's coolest, brightest, most intriguing and talented women and men who
develop and use breakthrough technologies that benefit our world," she said.

Cameron hopes to be a professional broadcaster someday, according to Krieg.
"Most of the counsel members are interested in math and science-related
careers, but we brought Bonnie on as a correspondent because of her interest
in broadcast journalism and mentoring.," Krieg explained. The counsel
currently includes 10 girls, mostly from California. They are members for 2
years, and are replaced by others in yearly cycles.

Cameron previously participated in numerous counsel interactive events,
including webcasts with Mars scientists, and a webcast of the shuttle's
STS-93 launch in July 1999, where she met Hillary Clinton. Cameron also
interviewed astronaut and space shuttle commander Eileen Collins at the
Women in Aviation Convention in March 2000.

-end-

--
Jacques :-)

http://www.spacepatches.com

http://www.jacqmans.com