An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Park Co. Public Library with Boys & Girls Club of the High Rockies, Fairplay, CO on 15 Apr. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:15 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and W0W. The contact should be audible over the state of Colorado 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.

Park County, Colorado, situated in the heart of Colorado covers 2,166 square miles (about the size of Delaware) and is home to just over 17,000 residents. We have two school districts, two incorporated towns, and two stoplights! The Library began monthly science sessions in each of the four branches in 2014. In 2018 when Dan Kern, President of the Park County Radio Club and Park County Emergency Coordinator for Amateur Radio Emergency Services, explained the ARISS program, the Library jumped at the chance to be part of this adventure. Dan and his team of licensed Amateur Radio operators began presenting content related to the ARISS program during STEAM Learning in the Library sessions in July 2018. The Library, already partners with the Boys and Girls Club, hosted the sessions creating a great mix of school and homeschool youth. To date, just over 200 students and dozens of adults have participated in at least one of our 31 sessions. Sessions were presented at three schools, too. Students learned: basic amateur radio protocol, how to talk on the radio, how to use the International Phonetic Alphabet, the various kinds of antennas and how they work, the layers of the ionosphere and how they affect radio signal propagation, and how to form meaningful questions for an ISS crew member. Over 100 questions were submitted making it very tough to choose only 20, and dozens of t-shirt designs were submitted making it a challenge for our panel of artists to create a composite design! In our last session, students began creating ISS models after they practiced their 'radio voice.' This program inspired the Library Manager to test for and receive her Amateur Radio license, and a mother-daughter team is currently studying for theirs.

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

1. What's it like when you first get into space, and how do you like being in

space?

2. What's it like on the International Space Station and was the transition

from gravity to no gravity weird?

3. Can you tell if it is day or night there, and like on earth, do you sleep

when you don't see the sun?

4. Are you able to see any other planets where you are?

5. Why did you want to become an astronaut?

6. With no gravity, does your digestive system get messed up?

7. How do you drink water in space without spilling?

8. I live at 10,000 feet and have to drink lots of water to stay hydrated.

Does altitude affect your body in space like it does on earth?

9. Does your appetite get bigger in space?

10. Does food expire at the same rate in space as on earth?

11. How do you celebrate holidays up there?

12. What liquids, solids, and gases are you testing on the International

Space Station?

13. What new plants have been sent up for experiments?

14. What is the strangest thing you have experimented with in space?

15. Are the experiments you are doing in space going to help the environment

down here and help scientists learn things on earth?

16. How long does it take to prepare for a spacewalk? And how long does it

take for an airlock to re-pressurize?

17. Did you ever walk in space and what does it feel like?

18. What was the most surprising aspect of taking a spacewalk?

19. How do the doors work on the ISS?

20. How long does it take to recover from an extended trip to the

International Space Station?

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):

1. École internationale de Saint-Sacrement, Quebec City,

Quebec, Canada, direct via VE2GHO

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS

The scheduled astronaut is David St-Jacques KG5FYI

Contact is go for: Wed 2019-04-17 18:55:09 UTC

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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