An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Girl Guides of Canada, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 16 July. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:47 UTC.

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

The contact will be direct between NA1SS and VE3ZM. The contact should be audible over portions of eastern Canada. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

Guiding Mosaic 2010 is an international Girl Guide / Girl Scout event that focuses on girls doing program work in various fields and scopes of interest. This includes science & technology, sports, waterfront, arts & crafts, and more. The girls were able to choose what program activities they would like to do. Guiding Mosaic 2010 encourages young girls to learn more about issues that are important to them, while developing skills in areas that they are interested in, and learning new ones that they may never have been able to explore before camp. Consequently, they also participate in theme days with guest speakers and activities that focus on the global community, environment, and social awareness. They will volunteer in the local community, attend adventurous out-trips, all while creating friendships, making memories, and celebrating the sisterhood of Guiding.

Participants range in age from 12-17, all with various backgrounds and interests, but all who are members of the largest international organization for women. The highlight of camp will be the NASA ARISS contact to (hopefully) occur on the last day of program. Girls have prepared for this by posing questions to ask the ISS astronauts, learning some orbital mechanics, and writing about the value of successful international partnerships of which the ISS is an example.

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

1. What would I have to do to become an astronaut someday? 2. How many astronauts are on the Space Station at a time? 3. Where, and for how long, do you have to go to school to be an astronaut? 4. What qualities do Girl Guides and Girl Scouts have that would make them

good astronauts? 5. If you are always floating around in the Space Station how do you keep

from bumping into things when you are asleep? 6. How do you move from one place to another in the Space Station if you are

floating and can't really walk? 7. Do you still have to wear shoes if all you do is float? 8. Do you get your own bedroom on the Space Station and if so how do you

keep your personal things from floating into someone else's space? 9. Are the lights turned off in your sleeping space when you have to go to

sleep? 10. How do you take out the garbage in space? 11. Without gravity is there any point to combing your hair while living on

the Space Station? If so do you use mousse or gel in your hair to keep it

in place? 12. What do you like the most about living and working in the Space Station? 13. What do you find to be the most challenging part of living on the Space

Station? 14. How long do astronauts stay on the Space Station? 15. What kind of experiments do you do and how would they help people back on

Earth? 16. What do astronauts do when they have personal time? Can you watch TV or

listen to the radio on the Space Station? 17. If I was on the Space Station now would I be able to text my friends on

Earth? 18. How do you boil water to make hot chocolate on the Space Station if the

water is always floating around? 19. Which way would a sunflower grow if it were on the Space Station? 20. What happens to your body if you are on the Space Station for a long

time? 21. Can you juggle on the Space Station? 22. How do insects react to living in zero gravity on the Space Station? 23. Is working together in the Space Station like Girl Guide wilderness camp?

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

Next planned event(s):

1. International Space University, Illkirch-Graffenstaden, France

Wed 21 July 2010 15:36 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