An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Talcott Mountain Science Center & Academy, Avon, CT on 28 Feb. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:53 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and W1TMS. The contact should be audible over portions of the eastern U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

Talcott Mountain Science Center is one of Connecticut's premier informal science education institutions. The Center has been an initiator and catalyst in providing enrichment science education to students throughout the Northeast and a leader in teacher in-service education, including special programs for girls in science. TMSC is recognized for its innovations in gifted and talented programs, for its earth and space, alternative energy, atmospheric and environmental science activities for students, with ongoing science and technology in-service education for teachers as well as its one-of-a-kind k-8 model school for intellectually excited students, Talcott Mountain Academy for Mathematics, Science and Technology. Since 1985, Talcott Mountain Science Center has been nationally recognized as a pioneer in the development of interactive video programming in math and science education.

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

1. How far do you travel each day? Can you describe what you see when you

look out your window?

2. Are asteroids a huge problem for people on earth or does the atmosphere

play a role in protecting us?

3. Are there any differences between space training and what really happens

in space?

4. What do I have to study to become an astronaut?

5. Do you think we are polluting space by our Space programs?

6. What activities do you do on the ISS for your job?

7. What are the more strange differences about living in space rather than

on Earth, that people wouldn't think of?

8. How do you wash your hands?

9. How long do you stay on the space station at one stretch?

10. What activities do you do the ISS in your free time?

11. Is it possible you could run out of air? And what would you do?

12. Does the food in space taste the same as food on Earth?

13. Does the Earth really look blue and green from space?

14. Can you see the Earth spinning from space?

15. How do Astronauts know when to sleep or be awake because in space isn't

it dark?

16. How do the Astronauts get enough oxygen to last for years?

17. How do you know if it is daytime or nighttime in space?

18. How big is the ISS?

19. How old is the ISS?

20. Do Astronauts carry bags like when we go on vacation or is their stuff

already on the ship packed for them?

Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be obtained by subscribing to the SAREX maillist. To subscribe, go to http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/tools/maillist/ and choose "How to Subscribe".

Next planned event(s):

1. Lycée Polyvalent Anatole France, Cedex, France, direct via F4KIS/P

Mon, 04Mar2013, 11:06 UTC (If Space X launches on time)

2. Canyon Owyhee School Services Agency (COSSA), Wilder, ID, direct via

W7VOI

Mon, 04Mar2013, 18:49 UTC (If Space X launches on time)

3. Stonepark Intermediate School, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,

Canada, direct via VY2PEI

Thu, 07Mar2013, 16:26 UTC (If Space X launches on time)

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