An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Southern Tier Catholic and Archbishop Walsh Academy, Olean, NY on 30 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:16 UTC.

The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between OR4ISS and IK1SLD. The contact should be audible over Italy 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.

STCS originally opened in 1923 as St. Mary's Academic School next to St. Mary of the Angels parish and has remained open continuously since then. In 1998 St. Mary's School was renamed Southern Tier Catholic School when it became a regional school serving all of the Catholic parishes from Cuba to Salamanca to Ellicottville. STCS is now the only remaining Catholic elementary school in the Southern Tier of western New York between Wellsville to the east and Jamestown to the west.

Southern Tier Catholic School's mission is to provide a high quality of education in this tradition. We stresses Catholic Values and Christian Community as a lived experience.

In light of this priority, all dimensions of the school (administration, faculty, students and families) make every effort to bring to reality the following:

1. A deep reverence for the unique giftedness of each person.

2. An appreciation of the traditions of all ethnic cultures with an expectation of mutual respect.

3. An environment that provides character development and responsible citizenship.

4. A policy of effective social action which is intended to bring about peace and justice in the larger community.

5. A place of stability in a challenging world.

In October of 1957, hundreds of people gathered at Christ the King Seminary to hear Bishop Leo R. Smith announce that a central Catholic high school was to be established in Olean. The school was to be named after Archbishop Thomas J. Walsh, who had died five years earlier. He also had deep roots in the Southern Tier.

Archbishop Walsh is a high school that, in the Franciscan tradition, inspires students to achieve their full potential in spiritual, academic and athletic growth.

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

1. What does space look like?

2. Where do you put your garbage?

3. What powers a moon rover?

4. If there is any life on Mars would you want to discover it yourself?

5. What are your thoughts about dark matter?

6. What type of exercise equipment do you have in space?

7. What sacrifices did you have to make to become an astronaut?

8. What happens if you get sick in space?

9. What do you think about some of the space program being shifted to the

private sector?

10. How do you celebrate holidays on the ISS?

11. Do you have a time limit for being in space?

12. Is it hard to sleep in space?

13. What do you do for fun on the ISS?

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

15. What is the hardest part of being in space?

16. What is it like to be floating above the Earth?

17. What was your first reaction when you entered space?

18. What is your favorite thing about being in space?

19. How do spacecraft dock with the ISS?

20. What made you want to be an astronaut, and how old were you?

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

Next planned event(s):

1. Cumberland Elementary School, West Lafayette, IN, direct via KA3QAX

Tue 30Oct12 17:35 UTC

2. Primarschule Aesch, Forch, Switzerland, direct via HB9TSO

Fri 02Nov12 13:47 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