An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at ESA/ESOC Long Night of the Stars, Darmstadt, Germany on 04 Sep. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 20:10 UTC.

The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and LU8YY. The contact should be audible over portions of South America. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

In cooperation with ESA and EUMETSAT, ARISS will partake in the Long Night of Stars with the Community School Bergstrasse in Seeheim on 4th September 2009. The students between 14 and 18 will meet astronauts, spacecraft operators and engineers and will ask questions about the education needed to reach the sky. The highlight of the night will be an ARISS live contact with the ISS, giving them the occasion to ask their questions of the astronauts, possibly to the ESA astronaut Frank De Winne. ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald will be the guest of honour. The event is supported by the ESA Communication Office in Germany.

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

1. What's the most important experience you made on the ISS? 2. What is the best in your work as an astronaut? 3. Was it always your first wish to become an astronaut? 4. What European experiments are you currently conducting with the Columbus

module? 5. When you operate the experiments, do you have real time voice contact to

the experiment team on ground? 6. What kind of personal items which you could not take to the ISS do you

miss most? 7. Is your leisure time equally important for you as it was/is on earth? 8. What's the first thing you'll do when you are back home? 9. What are the differences in your expectations when you chose to become

an astronaut compared to the reality as an astronaut onboard the ISS? 10. When arriving on the ISS, how long does it take to become familiar with

the station? 11. Are you doing amateur radio contacts in your leisure time? 12. What kind of music is your favourite and do you often listen to some

music on the ISS? 13. For doing the housekeeping on the station, is there a fixed plan who has

to do e.g. the vacuum cleaning, etc? 14. Does zero gravity relax the body? Is zero gravity fun? 15. While on the night side of the earth, have you ever seen meteorites

tracks during meteorite showers? 16. What details can you recognize on earth, e.g. can you see forest fires

from space? 17. Do astronauts onboard the ISS work on weekends? 18. Do you have a right and a left side on board, do you have a ceiling and

a floor? Is it difficult to keep the orientation inside the ISS?

19. When you have been on the ISS for a few weeks, does the job become

routine?

20. With all the life support and station equipment operating, is it noisy

onboard 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