An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Victory Primary School, Nelson, New Zealand on 03 March. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 23:33 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over the west coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

Victory Primary School is a decile-3 primary school of 400 students, providing Year 1 to 6 mainstream and bilingual Maori education. In doing so, it practices The Victory Pathway, which is an interactive approach to producing positively achieving young people, developing strong families and building on social capital in the Victory community.

The school promotes a Home/School Partnership programme to enable parents to support their children in their studies. Victory Primary has students from all over the world and cultural diversity is recognized and celebrated every day. This is one of the reasons we believe a contact with the ISS will enrich all of our lives.

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

1. Where do you get the energy to run your systems?

2. Does the space station rotate in space, and how do you keep the solar

arrays pointing in the right direction?

3. How do you protect yourself from the sun's rays in the space station?

4. What is the hardest thing you have had to fix on the space station?

5. How does it feel to look out the window and see our planet?

6. How do you get oxygen to breath

7. What stops the space station flying off into space?

8. Can you look out the window right now and see our school, do you have

telescopes?

9. Is it true that astronauts drink their own sweat?

10. Is space cold?

11. How do you get back to earth?

12. Do you recycle water?

13. What do you do with the rubbish?

14. How do you sleep in space ships?

15. How do you clean yourself?

16. Do you get really good cell phone reception?

17. Can plants grow in space?

Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact.

Next planned event(s):

1. Technological Centre for Innovation in Communications (CeTIC)

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas, 35017, Spain, direct via

EG8ISS

Thu 3 Mar.2011 14:17 UTC

Watch for simulcast on http://www.isscontact.eu

2. Simulation contact: University of Leuven, Department of Chemistry,

Heverlee, Belgium, direct via ON7YD

Thu 3 Mar 2011 14:15-14:45 UTC Contact should be on IRLP

3. Simulation contact: Manordale Public School, Ottawa, Canada, direct

via VE3TBD

Thu 3 Mar 2011 15:15-15:45 UTC

Contact should be on IRLP

4. ICS "Marco D'oggiono", Oggiono, I-23848, Italy, direct via IZ2STR

Mon 7 Mar.2011 12:59 UTC

5. Schulhaus Dorf, Richterswil, Switzerland, direct via HB9IRM

Mon 7 Mar.2011 14:34 UTC

6. Scuola Media Statale "Francesco d'Assisi", Modugno, Italy and Scuola 3

Circolo Didattico Don Lorenzo Milani, Modugno, Italy direct via IZ7RTN

Sat 12 Mar.2011 10:22 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,

David - AA4KN