An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Boys and Girls Club, Ft. Meade, MD on 18 Sept. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 19:58 UTC. It is recommended that you start listening approximately 10 minutes before this time. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and VK4KHZ. The contact should be audible over portions of Australia 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:

The Fort Meade, Maryland Middle School / Teen (MST) Program provides an after-school and summer camp program for youth ages 11 to 18 (grades 6 - 12). The program has 174 enrolled members and 50 - 60 youth attend on any given day. Half of the youth that attend are from military families, and most of the other half have parents who work in DoD in some capacity. The MST Program encourages middle school and high school teenagers to be the best that they can be by challenging them through various means. It provides a safe and supervised environment for youth engagement. Youth are provided internet access, snacks, homework help, game systems, a basketball court, music equipment, pool table, and ping-pong table.

Through a generous grant from Raytheon through the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), the program recently constructed a state of the art STEM center known as the Center of Innovation (COI), which incorporates training for MST Program staff, STEM events throughout the year, and a newly remodeled room with new STEM equipment for pushing the envelope in STEM experiences. Youth are now offered activities such as CAD, 3D printing and carving, and building circuits, to name a few. With the implementation of the COI, engineers and technologists of Raytheon, as well as government agencies such as DISA and NSA, consistently volunteer their time to offer STEM activities to youth. The program welcomes volunteers and the broader perspective that they bring.

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

1. Do you have any customs for greeting arriving astronauts?

2. Do you feel trapped by not being able to go outside whenever you want?

3. Can you see the whole earth from up there?

4. How does it feel to sleep in space?

5. Is the experience of being on the ISS worth being gone for so long?

6. How old do you have to be to go into space?

7. What are your roles?

8. What is your favorite type of work on the ISS?

9. What is the most interesting experiment you're doing on the ISS?

10. What kinds of things do you build with your 3D printers?

11. When you return to earth, do you feel completely different?

12. What do you eat, and how do you store your food?

13. What is your favorite space food?

14. Can you all participate in space walks?

15. Do you feel lost or disoriented when space-walking?

16. As a team, how do you resolve your differences?

17. What's the view like up there?

18. What happens when you get sick?

19. How long have you been up there?

20. Are you ready to come back home?

21. What do you do when you're onboard?

22. What do you do for fun?

23. How do you solve your problems when they arise?

24. What is it like to live and work in space?

PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES:

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Next planned event(s):

1. School in Bulgaria, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS

The scheduled astronaut is TBD

Contact is go for Tue 2019-09-24 16:10 UTC

2. UAE school #1 with Space Flight participant, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS

The scheduled astronaut is TBD

Contact is go for Fri 2019-09-27 12:10 UTC

3. UAE school #2 with Space Flight participant, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS

The scheduled astronaut is TBD

Contact is go for Sat 2019-09-28 11:20 UTC

4. UAE school #3 with Space Flight participant, direct via TBD

The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be RSØISS

The scheduled astronaut is TBD

Contact is go for Tue 2019-10-01 TBD 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 ISS National Lab 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 public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.

Thank you & 73,

David - AA4KN

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