ARISS ham radio school contact planned for Wireless Institute of Australia Centenary Dinner

The Wireless Institute of Australia is the oldest Ham Radio Club in the world, and this ARISS contact will take place during their Centenary dinner in Canberra. Students from the Trinity Christian School in Canberra will ask questions to the astronaut.

Trinity Christian School is a Kindergarten to Year 12 day school for boys and girls. The school has a student enrolment of 1135 and more than 130 permanent staff are employed. The school is recognised for its excellence in student achievements across a broad range of academic, physical and social areas. The school Vision is "To provide students with a Christ-centered education in a learning community of Love, Nurture and Service". The school principal, Mr Carl Palmer is a licensed amateur radio operator (VK2TP / VK1TP).

The radio contact will be a telebridge operated by ON4ISS. Downlink signals will be audible in Europe on 145.800 MHz FM on Saturday 29 May 2010 at 10.48 UTC, which is 12.48 CEST.

Students will ask as many of following questions as time allows:

1. Jordan: What in your opinion is the most interesting experiment that has been conducted on the International Space Station?

2. Elizabeth: Living is space with zero gravity must have some unusual effects on the body. Does this environment affect an astronaut's circulatory system such as causing changes to the normal blood pressure and pulse rate?

3. Nic: What is the evacuation procedure in the event of an emergency on the International Space Station?

NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell, KF5DBF

4. Tamsin: I understand that Astronauts on the ISS are able to see 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. Does this affect your sleep patterns? Do you sleep a for longer time or a shorter time than you would on earth? How long does it usually take to get over the effects of "jet-lag" when you return to Earth.

5. Brendan: How often do you interact with the astronauts from other countries and do you work on projects and experiments together?

6. William: When you are in space, are you "above" the law? If there was a legal issue that arose on the space station which nation's law would apply?

7. Melanie: Do you think that in the future, it will be feasible for people to spend considerable amounts of time living in space?

8. Tim: Astronaut, Neil Armstrong said that when he looked out of the window of the space ship he could cover the whole world with his finger. Rather than making him feel big, it made him feel very small. After circling the Earth for months and months how do you do you relate to the enormity of space?

9. Zachary: Does the Space Station ever collide with other solid matter in space?

10. Matt: Have you been involved in a space walk? What is it like? Has anyone ever been separated from the space station by a large distance?

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 onboard 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.

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Gaston Bertels - ON4WF

ARISS Chairman

Listen to this ARISS ham radio contact