Worldwide virtual party planned for NASA

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says schools around the world will help it celebrate its 50th birthday next week by holding a virtual party.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the virtual party will begin next Thursday at 9 a.m. on NASA's Digital Learning Network with live videoconferences occurring every hour on the hour until 6 p.m.

Space agency officials said schools in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico City, India, Slovenia and New Zealand are expected to participate. During each webcast, each international school will connect with a U.S. school and one of NASA's 10 field centers.

Each Digital Learning Network site will host a 45-minute videoconference featuring a unique program in NASA's 50 years of discovery and exploration in science, aeronautics and space.

The NASA programs to be featured include the space shuttles, Project Mercury, the Viking Project, the Hubble Space Telescope, Project Gemini and the Phoenix Mars Lander.

The live Nov. 13 webcasts will be available at http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/webcast.