International Space Station ARISS school contacts have been planned with participants at Kalori Catholic School, Wallaro, Australia and Milwee Middle School, Longwood, Florida on 01 April. The events are scheduled to begin at approximately 0725 UTC and 1755 UTC respectively.
The first contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and WH6PN, the second is also a telebridge between stations OR4ISS and ON4ISS. The contacts should be audible over Hawaii and then Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. Audio from the telebridge contacts should also be available via the AMSAT conference on EchoLink and via the 9010 Discovery reflector on IRLP. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.
Kalori Catholic School is located in Wallaroo, on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. We have 123 students at present with 24 staff members, 12 of them teachers. It is 160 km north of Adelaide. Wallaroo is a major port for export of grain. Kalori is celebrating 140 years of education on the 27 – 29th March. The school began in 1869 by Blessed Mary MacKillop (one day we hope she will become Australia’s first Saint).
Participants from Kalori will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How hot is it inside the space shuttle? 2. How do you drink in you space suit? 3. How do you brush your teeth in space? 4. How do you sleep in space without floating off? 5. Do you eat and drink the same things in space as you do on earth? 6. Do you lose or put on weight in outer space? 7. What is it like re-entering into earth? 8. What is it like to live in a rocket and how do you to go the toilet? 9. Why do you have a space suit? 10. How do you get out of the Space Ship? 11. How fast do you go when leaving and re-entering the earth’s atmosphere? 12. How did you know that you wanted to be an astronaut and who inspired you/is your hero? 13. Do you have to have any injections before going into space? 14. How do you fix the outside of the space shuttle? 15. How big is the living area of your space shuttle? 16. How do you keep in contact with your family? 17. How many people are with you in the space shuttle?
R. T. Milwee Middle School is currently located in Longwood, Florida and is part of the Seminole County Public School District in Seminole County, Florida. Milwee Middle School is located in Longwood, Florida and serves approximately 1,000 students in grades 6-8. Milwee is an A-rated school and beginning with the 2009-2010 school year will be a pre-engineering magnet school. When R. T. Milwee Middle School was originally built in 1923-1924, it was named Lyman School after Howard C. Lyman. Mr. Lyman was on the local board of trustees for the bonding and building of schools in Seminole County and a well-known civic leader who helped found Rollins College. He had been tragically killed in a driving accident at Daytona Beach in July 1923.
Participants from the Milwee will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. When you perform biological experiments, what kind of special care do you have to give to the organisms? 2. How does it feel to sleep in space? 3. Does the ISS protect against radiation and UV rays? 4. What do you do in your free time (for fun)...after you are done experimenting? 5. Has there ever been problems inside the space station with the equipment? If there has, what was it, and what happened to fix the problem? 6. How does it feel to break the sound barrier? 7. If a baby is born in space, how can he/she stay alive? 8. Is it harder to do work in space than on earth? 9. What do you think is the most important experiment that you are working on? 10. What is it like to live in space and be away from your family for so long? 11. Have you ever worked with any animals on the ISS? If so, was it fun? 12. When you eat, does the lack of gravity effect how your digestive system functions? 13. How much oxygen are in your tanks? How do you feel in space? 14. Does the Earth rotate so fast that we can’t feel it? Or so slow we can’t see it? 15. Is there artificial gravity on the ISS? 16. What is one of the more specialized pieces of equipment you use and what does it do? 17. What nationality would a baby be if it was born on the ISS? 18. How do you communicate with others that don’t speak the same language? 19. What kind of experiments do you conduct on the ISS? 20. How do you communicate with Earth? Are you able to speak with your families? 21. How did you feel when you first saw Earth from space for the first time? 22. How do you operate the ISS? 23. Have you ever brought something from earth to see how it was affected in space? 24. What type of food do you eat, special-made astronaut food or real food that you normally eat on Earth. Which is better? 25. Do you wake up at different times every morning because you are passing over Earth’s many time zones? 26. Do you play the Wii and/or watch House on telelvision? 27. When you go into space, why don’t you burn if there are millions of stars located everywhere? 28. Do you have iPODS in space? 29. How do you avoid meteors and flying objects other than yourselves? 30. Is it possible to get a cold or fever while in space?
Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact .
Next planned event(s): 1. Miyahara Elementary School, Saitama, Japan, Thu 2009-04-02 09:14 UTC 2. CAMUS, Viry Châtillon, France, Thu 2009-04-02 13:35 UTC 3. Carl Sandburg Elementary, Kirkland, WA, via W6SRJ, Thu 2009-04-02 19:35 UTC
ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers on-board the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.ariss.org/ (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).
Thank you & 73, Kenneth - N5VHO