How to Host a Real Time Conversation With Crewmembers Onboard the ISS

NASA is now accepting proposals from U.S. schools, museums, science centers and community youth organizations to host an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, contact between July 15, 2012, and Jan. 15, 2013. To maximize these radio contact opportunities, NASA is looking for organizations that will draw large numbers of participants and integrate the contact into a well-developed education plan. Proposals are due Jan. 30, 2012.

Using amateur radio, students can ask astronauts questions about life in space and other space-related topics. Students fully engage in the ARISS contact by helping set up an amateur radio ground station at the school and then using that station to talk directly with a crew member on the International Space Station for approximately 10 minutes. The technology is easier to acquire than ever before. ARISS has a network of mentors to help you obtain the technology required to host this once in a lifetime opportunity for your students.

Interested parties should contact Teaching From Space, a NASA Education office, to obtain complete information including how the technology works, what is expected of the host organization and how to obtain the proposal/application form by sending an email to JSC-TFS-ARISS@mail.nasa.gov or by calling 281-244-1919.

Additional information can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/teachingfromspace/students/ariss.html.