All,

The ARISS team was asked by NASA to be part of its booth for an event called Escape Velocity. Escape Velocity merges the excitement of science fiction and science fact to inspire students and the general public to more deeply engage in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) subjects. A description of Escape Velocity can be found at the following URL: http://escapevelocity.events/

Specifically, Escape Velocity is described on their web site as a "micro futuristic world's fair to promote STEAM education within the context of science fiction using the fun of comic cons and fascination of science and engineering festivals. Escape Velocity seeks to make a measurable positive impact to boost informal learning on the more conceptually challenging academic areas".

Escape Velocity will be held on July 1-3 at the Gaylord Convention Center at National Harbor, Maryland. The event runs from 10 am-6 pm each day. We also will be setting up the booth the evening of June 30.

The ARISS team is looking for some volunteers to staff the booth on the dates and times shown above. Those supporting the booth will also be able to view the other booths as part of Escape Velocity. While knowledge of ARISS is preferred, and operation of amateur satellites is beneficial, we can train hams that have an interest in staffing our booth. Note that we would prefer volunteers to commit to at least 2-3 hours at a time,

If you are interested in helping, please let Frank Bauer know what dates and times you would be willing to support. Frank can be reached at ka3hdo@verizon.net mailto:ka3hdo@verizon.net .

Thanks,

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO

ARISS International Chair

AMSAT V.P. for Human Spaceflight