An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Komoro Higashi Junior High School, Komoro , Nagano, Japan on 14 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 11:17 UTC.

The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

The contact will be direct between NA1SS and 8N0KH. The contact should be audible over Japan. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in Japanese.

Komoro Higashi Junior High School is a public junior high school with 750 students from 7th to 9th grade. It offers a subject called "General Education" which all students have for two hours each week; in this class students choose their themes and then write reports on them. Recently "Space" has been one of the topics students choose most often. One reason for this is that last year it was the International Year of Astronomy. There was also an eclipse here on July 22nd and Koichi Wakata, a Japanese astronaut, started work aboard the ISS as the first Japanese to remain there for a long duration. In addition, last year, Kimiya Yui was chosen by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to be a new Japanese astronaut. His hometown is just about 20 miles away from the school so some of the students and a teacher went to meet him and have pictures taken together. JAXA supports the school's program and sent a professor to give a lecture to students about space and the ISS. The students observed the eclipse and they also visited Nobeyama Radio Observatory in the summer. Alongside these classes, students have been making radios to learn about radio communication and understand how receivers work; they have also made water powered rockets. Through these activities, students have enhanced their knowledge about space, the ISS and communication with the ISS through ham radio.

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

1. Why do you want to be an astronaut? 2. What does space look like, especially earth's atmosphere? 3. What's a good memory you have from the ISS? 4. How do shooting stars and auroras look from the ISS? 5. What was something that scared you, for example, a lift off? 6. What happens if you swing a baseball bat? 7. What's a message that you'd like to share with the people on earth? 8. How do you know it's time to sleep, when day light and night times are

always changing? 9. How do you know which season it is? 10. What are some of the secrets that keep you healthy on the ISS? 11. Have you had any difficulties, problems or mistakes from anything that

happened on the ISS? 12. If you become sick, are there different medicines you use on the ISS as

opposed to on earth? 13. According to the theory of relatively, time goes slower in very fast

objects. So, do the clocks on the ISS go slightly slower than the ones on

earth? 14. Can you visually see the effects of global warming, pollution or

environmental abuse on the earth? 15. In your free time, what do you want to do on the ISS? 16. What do you need to do in order to become an astronaut? 17. Do you believe in alternate life forms in outer space? 18. How do you prevent space sickness? 19. What's the first thing you'd like to do when you return to earth? 20. Is it true that you become taller while living aboard the ISS?

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

Next planned event(s):

TBD

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