An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Anacapa School, Santa Barbara, CA on 22 May. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 17:43 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS and N6KTH. The contact should be audible over portions of the west coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

Anacapa School is an independent, co-educational, college preparatory day school for junior high and high school students. This year we have a total of 65 students in grades 7-12. Through academic and experiential learning, we encourage students to integrate critical thinking, creativity, integrity, and compassion in order to develop the potential of each individual in our diverse community.

The Anacapa Near Space Exploration Club - KK6BBL was founded in 2010 by Anacapa students. The first team designed and built Anacapa Amateur High-Altitude Balloon 1 (AAHAB-1), which launched on May 22, 2011, returning stunning still images from an altitude of 91,122 feet over the California Central Coast. In 2012, a second team consisting of new and returning crew members built off of the success with a second near space probe, AAHAB-2. Team AAHAB-2 set even more ambitious goals including a live Amateur Television video downlink, high-definition recording, radiation sensors and live APRS telemetry. On May 5, 2012, AAHAB-2 returned to Earth after a project record-breaking flight peaking at more than 111,814 feet above the surface! This year a new group of students are busy preparing for the ARISS contact, developing new designs and earning their Amateur Radio licenses.

Following the success of the two balloon probes and our acceptance into the ARISS / TFS program last summer, we decided to make space exploration the focus of our annual Synthesis Unit for the 2012-2013 school year. This means that all of the students at Anacapa have spent many hours over the past few months taking an in-depth look at the space program's past, present and future by doing independent research and hearing from expert speakers like NASA Astronaut Rick Linnehan who visited us in January. Students are presently in the process of finalizing the Synthesis product which is a report of their findings.

We have invited a couple of other areas schools to join us on the day of the contact so they might share this "million dollar moment," but due to the uncertainty of the schedule we do not have final confirmation on those schools yet.

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

1. What are some of your favorite research projects on the ISS?

2. What happens to all of your wastewater and trash on the ISS?

3. Are there ever any culture clashes or misunderstandings between the

international crew members?

4. What do you miss most from Earth?

5. If you could change something about the design or layout of the ISS what

would it be?

6. Does weightlessness affect your dreams? If so, how?

7. Do you keep a journal while you are in space? If so, does it help you in

some way?

8. Do you get to talk to your families frequently?

9. As a kid, did you always want to be an astronaut when you grew up or were

you planning to have a different career?

10. I imagine it takes quite a bit of work to be chosen to be an astronaut.

Why do you think you were chosen for this mission?

11. What do you do in your free time?

12. How long did it take you to prepare to go into space?

13. Now that you have been in space, is there anywhere on Earth that you

would like to visit in particular?

14. How do you deal with illness of a crew member?

15. How do you cope with the small living quarters?

16. How long did it take to fly to the International Space Station?

17. Did you have any feelings of doubt after leaving Earth and entering into

such a vast, unknown place?

18. What happens to smells in space?

19. How do you go to the bathroom?

20. If you could decide how long you could stay aboard the ISS, how long

would you live there?

21. How are your duties aboard the station different from those of other crew

members from other nations?

22. What do you eat on the ISS and how does it compare to what you are used

to?

23. What do you do to take care of your body and stay in shape while in zero

gravity?

24. Were you ever afraid to go to space?

PLEASE CHECK THE FOLLOWING FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ARISS UPDATES:

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".

Visit ARISS on Facebook. We can be found at Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS).

To receive our Twitter updates go to @ARISS_status

Next planned event(s):

ATR International Youth Forum - "Growth points", Altai Krai Belokuriha,

Russia

Contact is a go for 2013-05-24 20:30 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