An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Hidden Oaks Middle School, Prior Lake, MN on 24 Apr. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:46 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and N9CHA. The contact should be audible over the state of Minnesota and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

Story:

Hidden Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake, MN has been selected to participate in a program that will have students speaking directly, in real-time to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station using Amateur Radio. ARISS, an acronym for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station is a program created by a consortium of amateur radio organizations and space agencies including National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ARISS works to connect students worldwide with crewmembers aboard the International Space Station with the hopes of inspiring students to pursue interests in STEM related fields. As an ESTEM school, this is a tremendous opportunity for the students at Hidden Oaks Middle School. Spearheaded by 8th grade science teachers and space enthusiasts, Laura Kuechenmeister and Becky Stark, the project will encompass all 1000 students at Hidden Oaks in a variety of ways. Hidden Oaks has teamed up with Amateur Radio operator Greg Braun (N9CHA) and a team of technicians that he has assembled to draft an equipment plan. HOMS has worked with Greg and his team in the past on projects including high altitude balloon tracking and an ARISS contact in 2014 and have great confidence in his ability to have a successful ARISS contact. In February, Greg's team plans to conduct a proof of performance test on all radio communications equipment that will be used for the contact. Additional setup and testing will be done the week prior to the contact at the contact site--Hidden Oaks Middle School.

Additionally, students at Hidden Oaks have been having fun learning about the ISS and amateur radio prior to the contact. Students have been monitoring the station through an ISS Live module that is on display in the entryway of the school. They have been using it to watch the live feed of the Earth from the station and to stay up to date with the crew on the station. Students have also been watching NASA's weekly broadcast about the station called "Space to Ground." They have enjoyed learning about how the astronauts work and live in space. A mission patch (sticker) has been designed and created to celebrate the mission. Science teachers throughout all 3 grade levels (6, 7, 8) have been working to incorporate space-based curriculum including Space Fact Friday, rocket designing and building, participating in the Sally Ride EarthKAM program and researching a variety of space missions. 8th grade students are also looking forward to a space-themed ESTEM day later in the year where much of the focus will be on the International Space Station.

More than 1,000 students will attend the ARISS contact event at Hidden Oaks Middle School. The event will be livestreamed to make it available to school audiences beyond our school. Students are learning about the current astronauts and missions and submitting questions to ask online. To date more than 300 questions have been submitted with more than a week remaining for students to make their submissions. 10-15 will be selected to be asked during the contact.

Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:

1. Why did you want to become an astronaut?

2. What kind of training did you have to do to be ready for your mission?

3. What was the hardest part for you about becoming and being an astronaut?

4. What is it like riding in the rocket to and from the space station?

5. What was your first day on the space station like?

6. What things have you had to do on the station to help conserve resources

like water?

7. What is a typical day like for you as an astronaut on the space station?

8. What is your favorite food to eat on the space station? How do you

prepare it?

9. What do you do in your spare time on the station?

10. What was the most difficult thing for you to get used to on the space

station?

11. What kind of experiments are you currently working on on the space

station?

12. How has living in micro-gravity affected your body?

13. What do you miss most about living on Earth?

14. What are some things you will have to do in order to go back to "normal"

life when you get back to Earth?

PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES:

Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the

International Space Station (ARISS).

To receive our Twitter updates, follow @ARISS_status

Next planned event(s):

TBD

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or informal education venues. With the help of experienced amateur radio volunteers, ISS crews speak directly with large audiences in a variety of public forums. Before and during these radio contacts, students, teachers, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org, www.amsat.org, and www.arrl.org.

Thank you & 73,

David - AA4KN

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