State Senator Serphin R. Maltese (R-C, Glendale) joined students from Neme Alperstein's fifth grade class at P.S. 56 at the Richmond Hill Block Association (RHBA) for a teleconference with the Educational Center at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Houston, Texas.

The class is involved in an ongoing special curriculum. The unique teleconferencing facilities at RHBA have allowed them to communicate live with astronauts, engineers and other experts at NASA. Their most recent project, entitled "A Place in Space," required them to research and construct their own international space stations and talk to a NASA expert about their efforts.

Other projects have included a teleconference with "aquanauts" aboard the Aquarius underwater space training capsule off the coast of the Florida Keys who were involved in underwater training for the NASA Extreme Missions Operation II and with another training mission in the Arizona desert.