Just wait until their parents see the phone bill. Students in Illinois this week got a long-distance call of the space kind when astronauts aboard the space station gave them a ring.

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NASA announced in a press release that students in Chicago were able to submit questions and today astronauts answered them in a two-way call to celebrate Chicago's Space WeekNASA astronaut Bob Hines and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti both answered kids questions about what they do and what the space station is like.

The answers included background on how they "testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth". That's far out. Literally.

The question and answer session was live-streamed earlier Tuesday through the official NASA YouTube channel.

The hope is that live two-way sessions like this between astronauts and students will inspire more kids to choose a career in science and/or technology so they can be the next pioneers in their generation. The next session between astronauts and kids will involve students in Georgia on Thursday, September 15, 2022 according to the NASA press release.

Technology like this makes learning opportunities now beyond anything most of us experienced during our school years. In 2022, the sky is quite literally the limit for what kids (and astronauts) can do.

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