An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at Kingston Elementary School, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA on 23 April. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:43 UTC.

The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and KN4KL. The contact should be audible in eastern portions of North America. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Kingston Elementary School is a kindergarten through fifth grade school in the Little Neck/ King's Grant area of Virginia Beach, Virginia. With approximately 600 students , the school is fully accredited according to state and national standards. The entire student body has been involved with preparing for its contact with Sunita Williams aboard the space station.

Students will ask as many of the following questions as time allows: 1. How long does it take to get ready for a spacewalk? 2. How do you exercise in space? 3. What kind of food do you eat and is it good? 4. How do you keep food from floating away when eating? 5. What experiments are you doing in space, and how does gravity affect them? 6. How much water and basic supplies do you take up? 7. How do you communicate with NASA, your family and friends? 8. What do Earth, Moon and the planets look like from space? 9. Can you tell day and night when looking out in space? 10. Have you ever seen an eclipse while in the Space Station? 11. What landforms and sights can you see from the Space Station? 12. How many times have you been outside the Space Station, and what did you do there? 13. How fast does the space shuttle travel? 14. How long can you stay on a spacewalk? 15. Do you ever get lonely? 16. What were your goals as a child, and who was your role model? 17. What books do you like to read? 18. Have you ever seen a meteorite or comet while in space? 19. What do you do when it is time to sleep? 20 Have you had any problems on the Space Station?

Please note, the amateur equipment on the ISS is not functioning in the automatic modes properly and may be silent more than usual. Information about the next scheduled ARISS contact can be found at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact .

Next planned event(s): Christian Life Elementary School, Rockford, Illinois, USA , Wed 2007-04-25 19:21 UTC via N9SH Samuel-von-Pufendorf Gymnasium, Floeha, Germany, Sat 2007-04-28 14:19 UTC via DL0GYM

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.rac.ca/ariss (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).

Thank you & 73, Kenneth - N5VHO