May 31, 2009

ARISS CONTACT PLANNED WITH MAHOPAC PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEW YORK

An Expedition 19 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at Mahopac Public Library, New York on Wednesday 03 June 2009. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:47 UTC, which is 17:47 CEST.

The contact will be a telebridge between OR4ISS and ON4ISS. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Downlink signals will be audible all over Europe on 145.800 MHz FM.

ARISS VOIP coordinator Graham Lawton G7EVY will distribute the radiocontact over *AMSAT* and *JK1ZRW* Conference nodes.

For more than 50 years, the Mahopac Library has been dedicated to quality library service to the community. It began in a classroom at Lakeview School in 1952 with a $50 budget and a donated collection of books for adults. Later, the Library Association moved into rented space on the second floor of Erickson’s Ice Cream Parlor. In 1967, the Association purchased the whole building from the Erickson family—about 5,200 square feet of space on two levels plus another 2,000 square feet of basement storage. In 1971, the Library was designated as the Reference Center for Putnam County by the Mid-Hudson Library System. On June 23, 1972 the Library received its Absolute Charter as the Mahopac Library.

Over the years, changing demographics (new families with young children, immigrants, retirees), an expanding population, and a fluctuating economy placed pressure on the library’s building. Beginning in 1994, the Library’s Board of Trustees began exploring the possibility of a new facility, undertook a feasibility study, and finally asked the Mahopac Central School District’s Board of Education to put the issue before its voters. On October 17, 2000, residents of Mahopac Central School District approved a 7.9 million dollar bond issue for the construction of a new 30,000 square foot library on the site of Erickson’s Ice Cream Parlor.

Ground was broken for the new building on October 1, 2002 and the new Mahopac Public Library building opened to the public on March 23, 2004. The Library’s new facility includes a Computer Lab, WIFI connection, computer stations, tutoring rooms, a Community Room that seats 200, a Children’s Wing, two visual art galleries, a Land Use Center, and a Job Information Center.

The students participating in the ISS Contact project represent Lakeview Elementary School, Mahopac Middle School and St. John the Evangelist School. Contest was open to all students in grades 5 through 8.

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

1. Kristin (5th grade): How fast are you going when you blast off and what does it feel like?

2. Katherine (5th grade): Is it fun to float in the aircraft?

3. Gabrielle (7th grade): Do you have ipods on the space station and if so, what are your favorite songs?

4. Samantha (5th grade): Do the stars in space look different than they do from earth?

5. Catherine (5th grade): Is it fun in space without gravity or do you like gravity better?

6. Domenic (5th grade): Do other planets have an atmosphere like the earth and can you see them better from the ISS?

7. Nicholas (5th grade): What is it like living in space for such a long time?

8. Isabel (5th grade): What’s the one mystery of space that you would like to discover?

9. Erin (5th grade): When you are not working, what do you like to do, or are you always working?

10. Kate (5th grade): I heard about Suni Williams running a marathon on the treadmill in space. Due to the weightlessness, is there a difference in the energy needed to run a mile?

11. Kristin (5th grade): What is the best thing that you have seen through the Hubble telescope?

12. Katherine (5th grade): Did anything weird ever happen to you on a space mission?

13. Gabrielle (7th grade): Are you able to watch TV?

14. Samantha (5th grade): Are you on a mission to find a new planet or are you just flying around?

15. Catherine (5th grade): Is it exciting when you’re in space or do you get bored?

16. Domenic (5th grade): If a meteor hit the International Space Station, what would happen?

17. Nicholas (5th grade): Is it sad to always be away from you family and friends? (maybe what do you miss most)

18. Isabel (5th grade):: What is the coolest space tool that you use?

19. Erin (5th grade): What are you working on right now and if it succeeds, what will it do?

20. Kate (5th grade): What kind of training do you do in the pool at the Natural Buoyancy Laboratory that helped you prepare for space walks?

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.

73

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS Chairman