Wisconsin Rep. Mary Williams will attend a discussion Jan. 6, 2010, among astronauts orbiting 220 miles above Earth and students from two Wisconsin schools. International Space Station Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi will speak with students from Winter School in Winter, Wis., and Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School in Hayward, Wis.

Williams, Creamer and Noguchi are members of the station's Expedition 22 crew. Williams is a 1976 graduate of Winter High School and considers Winter his hometown.

The live call from orbit will take place between 8:40 a.m. and 9 a.m. CST during an event at Winter High School from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The event will include videos of the astronauts' launches to the orbiting outpost aboard Soyuz rockets. Additionally, Mike Simonson of Wisconsin Public Radio will display objects brought back from Williams' launch in Kazakhstan.

As the people of Earth rang in the new year with parties and fireworks, five astronauts celebrated the dawn of 2010 in the only way they could â€" locked inside a space station 220 miles above the planet.

NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams, commander of the International Space Station, said New Year's Day is a unique time of celebration for his multi-cultural crew, which is made up of two Americans, two Russians and a Japanese astronaut. Space station astronauts get eight holidays a year to take time off, often choosing days from each of the countries represented on their crew.

"Of course, that provides a great opportunity to get another glimpse into the different cultures and traditions among us," Williams said in a New Year's Day message. "New Year's Day also provides that glimpse into the traditions of others but is unique in that everybody represented on board celebrates it at home. It is a common holiday among all the crewmembers."

I'd like to wish everyone here a very good, and healthy new year.

Also my wish for everyone is as many opportunities to make QSOs via ISS/ARISS and other means of communication.

73', André PE1PQX