An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Virginia Air and Space, Hampton, VA on 26 June. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:22 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and KE4ZXW. The contact should be audible over mid and eastern 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.

The Virginia Air & Space Center is a non-profit education center that serves as the Visitor Center for NASA Langley Research Center as well as being home to the NASA LaRC Educator Resource Center (ERC). We offer education programs to schools, scouts, home schoolers, and the general public. We host ERC and NASA teacher workshops, STEM activities, events such as NASA's Sun-Earth Day, and the International Observe the Moon Night. We serve the community at large and provide programming for the under-served youth population. We have an in-house ham radio station that is being used for this contact. It is used to educate students and the public on what ham radio is, how it works, and how satellites work as a means for communication.

These questions are from our youth volunteers. We have a youth volunteer program that works with students. The students must maintain a good grade in school. If they are having trouble with a subject we will mentor them to help them. The youth volunteers give tours of the center, do public demos, and learn the skills needed to succeed later in life.

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

1. What have been the psychological impacts of long term space exposure?

2. What is it like doing experiments in space?

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

4. Are you scared about the eye problems that occur from space travel?

5. Is it scary going into space?

6. How do you have to be in a weightlessness environment before you feel its

physical effects?

7. What happens if you break a bone in space?

8. How do you shower in space?

9. Do you still eat food out of a tube or do you cook on the ISS?

10. What is the average age of an astronaut on the ISS?

11. How long did you have to train to go into space and live on the ISS?

12. What do you miss the most when you are on the ISS?

13. Do you share your different languages while you are sharing a home in

space?

14. Is it true the ISS is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye in

broad daylight?

15. Why was the ISS built?

Next planned event(s):

1. 2012 STEM Summit, Dallas, TX, telebridge via K6DUE

Thu, 28 June 2012, 18:11 UTC

2. Cirqiniq Summer Camp, Kuujjuaq, Quebec (Nunavik), Canada,

telebridge via K6DUE

Wed, 4 July 2012, 14:23 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