An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at Art and Pat Goforth Elementary, League City, Texas USA on 26 Sep. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:52 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and WH6PN. The contact should be audible in Hawaii. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. In addition, the audio should be available via IRLP and EchoLink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Goforth Elementary, one of 24 elementary schools in Clear Creek ISD, is a K-5th grade campus of approximately 915 students. We are an Exemplary rated campus. Our beautiful elementary school is named for longtime Clear Creek ISD educators Art and Pat Goforth. Mrs. Goforth was the first female high school assistant principal in Clear Creek ISD. Mr. Goforth was the first assistant principal in the district and served as Clear Creek High principal for 10 years.

Clay Anderson, ISS astronaut, is the parent of one of our First Grade students. His daughter will be asking the first question during the contact. Her class and the 5th grade classes have been working hard developing questions for our upcoming contact with Clay Anderson.

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

1. What's it like to live in space? 2. How does it feel when you are lifting off? 3. How do you get back to Earth safely? 4. Why did you choose to live on the space station? 5. What do hurricanes look like in space? 6. How often do you get to communicate with your family and friends? 7. How do you eat up in space? Does the food taste the same as it does on Earth? 8. Why can't you bring regular food that we eat on Earth into space? 9. How do you sleep? Do you lie in the air? 10. Do you ever feel like there is no atmosphere or air? 11. How often do you see the sun? 12. When there is a tsunami on earth can you see the water cover the land or see where the tsunami started? 13. How does earth and all the other planets look from the space station? 14. What do you do on the space station when you have free time? 15. Can you burp in space? 16. What is your job on the space station? 17. Have you taken a space walk? What is it like? 18. How does it feel to be weightless? 19. What is the temperature like in outer space? 20. How much time have you spent in space? 21. How long did it take to get to the space station? 22. Do you ever get sick in space? 23. Is it hard to breathe in the space station? 24. Have you ever compared the rocks on the moon with earth's rocks? 25. Do you enjoy doing front flips in zero gravity?

Information about the next scheduled ARISS contact can be found at http://www.rac.ca/ariss/upcoming.htm#NextContact . Packet is now active on 145.825 simplex but will be shut down prior to the Soyuz relocation activity planned for Sep 27.

Next planned event(s): 1. Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC., telebridge via WH6PN Sat 2007-09-29 16:28 UTC

2. Town of Anamizu ARISS School Contact Executive Committee, Anamizu-town, Housu-gun Ishikawa, Japan, via 8J9ISS Sat 2007-10-06 09:24 UTC

3. Prairielands Council, Boy Scouts of America, Space Jamboree Camp Robert Drake (Oakwood, IL), Champaign, Illinois, telebridge via VK4KHZ Sat 2007-10-06 19:12 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.rac.ca/ariss (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).

Thank you & 73, Kenneth - N5VHO