Teachers and students, you can now watch the broadcast on-demand here.

The countdown is on! Now we just need your STEM-loving students to join in on March 2 at 9:55am PST. That’s when Astronaut Jessica Meir will speak with students around the world in a broadcast from the International Space Station.

Bring this special 20-minute conversation to your classroom from here.

Astronaut and marine biologist, Dr. Jessica Meir made history last year when she partnered with Astronaut and physicist Christina Koch to complete the first, all-female spacewalk. Give your students a chance to hear directly from Jessica about that historic milestone and a host of other inspiring experiences.

Today’s astronauts have diverse backgrounds in STEM fields, including engineering, medicine, geology and a lot more. By engaging with role models like Jessica, students have the opportunity to see how STEM education can lead to future technical jobs.

2020 is a critical milestone for STEM, space travel, and inclusion. It marks 20 years of humans living and working continuously aboard the International Space Station. Your students are the first to grow up during a time in which humans are living both on Earth and in space. As STEM jobs grow to over 9 million by 2022, it is also a critical time to encourage young people to explore exciting and empowering STEM career paths.

Microsoft Education has partnered with NASA’s STEM on Station team to develop a hands-on STEM curriculum for middle and high school students based on real-life scenarios in space. The collection celebrates the considerations that astronauts need to think about when living and working in space. It includes the Astro Socks Design Challenge that has students take on the roles of biomechanical engineers and product designers to solve the foot pain astronauts experience in microgravity. The standards-aligned lesson plan incorporates design thinking with an introduction to working with sensors and live data in Excel. It has been designed for the classroom and ready for you to try it out with your students!

Don’t miss out on what’s certain to be an incredible conversation and a milestone moment in the education of your students

Learn more by visiting the Microsoft Education Downlink event page.

As always, share your feedback with us on Twitter by tagging @MicrosoftEDU!