[Alexandria Radio Club Reflector] TODAY AT 2:05 p.m. EDT: ARISS Contact Scheduled with Patients at the Children's National Hospital

[Don (KI4D)]

http://www.arrl.org/news/ariss-contact-scheduled-with-patients-at-the-childr
en-s-national-hospital 

Alexandria Radio Club has partnered with National Children's Hospital during
the past year to plan an amateur radio link from the ISS to the Hospital.
Club member Joe Porcelli (KT3I) has been the club's technical lead for the
event that will take place today. This will be a Multipoint Telebridge
Contact via Amateur Radio between the ISS and students from Children's
National Hospital. Children will take turns asking their questions of ISS
Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, amateur radio call sign KE5DNI, during the ARISS
radio contact. Appropriate local Covid-19 protocols are adhered to as
applicable for each ARISS contact. The downlink frequency for this contact
is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the
ISS-footprint that also encompasses the ARISS radio telebridge station.  The
ARISS team in Casale Monferrato, Italy will use call sign IK1SLD to serve as
the ARISS relay amateur radio ground station.

Children's National Hospital is a nationally ranked, pediatric acute care
children's hospital located in Washington D.C. Children's Hospital is not a
school, however the hospital works with school districts to coordinate home
and hospital teachers to provide an educational program for their patients.
In this regard, the hospital's purpose is to provide stimulating educational
opportunities for students who must miss school due to illness or injury.
Their educational goals include implementation of a STEAM curriculum for
patients that encourages designing, inventing, and creating through
real-world applications. Their educational state-of-the-art facility
(Seacrest Studios) was established by the Ryan Seacrest Foundation in 2015,
and provides kids (serving all children at any age level) an interactive
space to explore radio, television, and social media, share their on-air
talents and participate in programs that are broadcast directly to patient
rooms. Seacrest Studios at Children's National Hospital has been working
closely with NASA and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum while continuing
to provide space and STEAM related programming to their patients and
patients' families. 

As time allows, students will ask these questions:
 
1. What are some of the tools that you use to help you safely breathe in
space?
2. What do the Northern Lights look like in space?
3. What does your body feel like in space? How do you feel normal again?
4. Can you please describe the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in
space?
5. Is the food we buy on earth the same food you eat in space?
6. How do you feel emotionally and physically during the initial takeoff?
What is the atmosphere like inside of the rocket?
7. Has there been any discovery that there is other life in this universe?
8. How much of Earth can you identify from space?
9. What happens if you get injured/hurt in space? Are there doctors on
board?
10. How long does it take to get to the Moon and Mars from Earth?
11. How heavy is the spacesuit?
12. What inspired you to become an astronaut?
13. What species of animals have been to space?
14. Can you have your own pets in space?
15. Where do astronauts sleep while in the spaceship?
16. How do you clean your spacesuit while in space? Do you have laundry on
board?
17. What specific devices do you use to stay active and workout while in
space?
18. What was the coolest part about training to become an astronaut?
19. How does it feel to come back to earth and how does your body react?
20. What galaxy would you like to go to most and why?
21. How old were you when you first went to space?
22. Where does your trash go?