An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Vision Australia, Enfield, NSW, Australia on 29 Aug. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 08:47 UTC.

The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and WH6PN. The contact should be audible over Hawaii 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.

Vision Australia works in partnership with Australians who are blind or have low vision to help them achieve the possibilities they choose in life. We are a not for profit organization with client numbers approaching 50,000 and we are also a major innovator and partner in the international blindness community. These children, aged seven to fourteen years, are clients of Vision Australia, and live in and around Sydney. They are blind or have low vision, and use braille, large print or technology to read and write. They learn about their world through their hearing, smell and touch, and love having things described to them so they can imagine what they are like.

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

1. What do you do on a normal day in the Space Station?

2. What do you eat to stay fit and healthy and does your food float away

while you're eating it?

3. When you go to bed, what stops you and your pillow from floating away?

4. How do you keep in contact with your families?

5. What do you do for fun when you aren't working?

6. How long can you spend outside in space with one air tank?

7. What can you see when you look out the window? Can you see any planets?

8. What do you do if the Space Station gets hit by meteors?

9. How do you breath when you're on the Space Station and do you need to

wear oxygen masks all the time?

10. What training did you need to do to get a job on the Space Station?

11. If you could bring one thing back from space, what would it be?

12. What exercises do you have to do as an astronaut?

13. Do you get physically tired in space, even though there isn't any

gravity.

14. Do you ever get lost when you move around the Space Station?

15. How does it feel having no gravity?

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

Next planned event(s):

Merritt Island High School, Merritt Island, Florida, direct via WB2IHB

Tue, 30 Aug 2011, 18:06 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