An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Thornton Middle School, Katy, TX on 25 Mar. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:39 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KF5NZD. The contact should be audible over portions 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.

Thornton Middle School students, due to their economic backgrounds, have limited opportunities for enrichment activities beyond those that can be implemented in the classroom. Many of its students and families believe that opportunities in high paying STEM careers are beyond the reach of Thornton students, and that, "other kids have all the luck." This ARISS contact will help dispel these perceptions and will demonstrate to our students and families that Thornton students are capable of complex problem solving, and that they are capable of learning "Rocket Science" material.

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

1. What does it feel like during the launch and while traveling to the ISS?

2. Is space food good and what earth food do you miss the most?

3. Do you get very much free time and what do you do during free time?

4. What does it feel like and is it hard to live and work in zero gravity?

5. Would it be possible to hold your breath and take off your space helmet

outside of the ISS?

6. What do you do if you need to go to the restroom when you are on a space

walk outside of the ISS?

7. When you were in middle school did you know you wanted to be an

astronaut? If not, what other jobs did you think you might do?

8. Who had the greatest impact on your decision to go into science and

become an astronaut?

9. Is the training to become an astronaut very hard and how long does it

take?

10. If you were asked to go on a far away mission that you knew was a one-

way trip, would you go?

11. How do you avoid space pollution like old satellites and space junk?

12. What important research is being done on the ISS at this time?

13. Is it true that you lose bone mass in space? What do you do about it?

14. When looking at earth can you see small objects like houses and people

or just large things like continents?

15. How does NASA send probes through vast distances in space without

colliding with something or being damaged by space particles and

radiation?

16. Do you think that the moon, another planet, or a big space station city

will ever be colonized?

17. What are the two most important scientific discoveries ever made on the

ISS?

18. Do you think that black holes and worm holes exist? Can we use them to

travel through time?

19. Math is hard for many middle school students. Do you have to know math

to be an astronaut and do you use it every day on the ISS?

20. Have there been any experiments on the ISS looking at how babies or

animals develop in zero gravity? If so what was found?

21. I saw on TV that weightlessness messes up your eyesight. Why does this

happen and doesn't that scare you?

Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be obtained by subscribing to the SAREX maillist. To subscribe, go to http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/ and choose "How to Subscribe".

Next planned event(s):

1. Des Cardinaux School, Sainte-Rose, Laval, Quebec, Canada, telebridge via

K6DUE

Tue, 26Mar2013, 13:13 UTC

Due to continuing Space X operations, the above times are subject to last

minute changes or cancellations.

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