An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Jessup Elementary, Houston, Texas on 19 April. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:43 UTC.

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

The contact will be via telebridge between NA1SS and WH6PN. The contact should be audible over Hawaii 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.

Jessup Elementary is a small school that has served the community for over 30 years. The school's motto is "The sky is the limit." Jessup has many supplemental programs to enrich the regular curriculum, including ESL/Bilingual, Gifted and Talented, Title 1, and Special Education programs.

The Space Station contact has been integrated into the school's curriculum by essay contests and poster drawings. The relevance of spaceflight to the subjects of science, math and language arts has been made clear to our students during their preparation for the contact, and will be an exciting, immediately-relevant, hands-on educational experience during the contact itself.

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

1. How do you make contact with Earth? 2. What happens if you can't land the space shuttle in Florida? 3. What's different between a space shuttle and a rocket? 4. What's the hardest thing to do in space? 5. How do you feel during takeoff? 6. What's in the cupola? 7. What will be your favorite part of the mission? 8. Have you ever made a mistake on the ship? 9. I heard your muscles shrink in space. Is that true? 10. When do you have to wear a space suit? 11. How do you prepare food? 12. How long does it take to get to space? 13. How do you become an astronaut? 14. Why did you choose to be an astronaut? 15. How do you sleep in space? 16. How many robots are in the space shuttle? 17. How long does it take to get used to living in space? 18. How many people can live on the space station at once? 19. What do you see when you look out the window? 20. What is the easiest part of your mission?

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