An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Megina Gymnasium Mayen, Am Knüppchen 1, Mayen, D-56727, Germany on 31 Aug. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 11:23 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and DN1PU. The contact should be audible over Germany 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.

The Megina-Gymnasium Mayen has decided to contact the ISS in cooperation with three other schools (Albert-Schweitzer Realschule, Kurfürst-Balduin-Gymnasium Münstermaifeld, Max-von-Laue Gymnasium Koblenz) all located in Rhineland-Palatinate, a rural part in the West of Germany. In the previous weeks a lot of students have handed in questions, which they would like to have answered by the astronauts onboard the ISS. They will raise these questions in turns, so that each school can raise the same amounts of questions. To simplify the procedure, the students in question will come to Megina-Gymnasium and the questions will be transmitted to the space station from Mayen.

To let all the other students participate, who remain at their schools, the event will be broadcast to the schools mentioned above. All schools will be supplied with live pictures presented on big screens. At Megina-Gymnasium the broadcast will be part of a school project day, which will be about space exploration and science.

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

1. What is the best part of being an astronaut?

2. How does your typical day look like, do you have any rituals?

3. Do you have free time and how do you spend it?

4. Do you feel time, when there isn't night and day?

5. What kind of food do you miss most?

6. Can you imagine that a person without "NASA-training" can live on the

space station?

7. What is the most difficult thing to get used to in microgravity and for

what reason?

8. Which experiments are currently being conducted by the crew?

9. Is there a special sleeping-room?

10. How long can you stay outside the ISS doing repair works?

11. What does it feel like to be in outer space?

12: Is there any difference between observing comets or falling stars from

the ISS or from the earth's surface?

13. Is it possible to observe really strong thunderstorms from the ISS?

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

Next planned event(s):

1. National Electronics Museum, Linthicum, MD, direct via K3CUJ

Sat, 01Sept2012 15:09 UTC

2. Iruma Junior Ham Club, Iruma, Japan, direct via JK1ZAM

Sun, 02Sept2012 08:32 UTC

3. Marcelino Canino Canino Middle School, Puerto Rico, telebridge via

K6DUE

Tue, 04Sept2012 14:17 UTC

4. Gymnasium Michelstadt, Michelstadt, Germany, direct via DKØDK

Fri, 07Sept2012 08:52 UTC

5. Tara Anglican School, North Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia,

telebridge via ON4ISS

Sun, 09Sept2012 08:50 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