An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at KIPP:3D Academy, Houston, Texas USA on 20 August. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:16 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over the west coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact will be conducted in English.

KIPP 3D Academy functions as a public charter school, serving middle-school age students. The mission of 3D Academy is simple, yet powerful: to provide students with the knowledge, critical thinking, and character skills required to prepare them for the rigors of competitive high schools, colleges, and the world beyond. Armed with these skills and achievements, students at 3D Academy recognize an outstanding education as the instrument to achieve personal success.

On Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 12:54 UTC participants of the 2009 Nova East Star Party ( http://halifax.rasc.ca/ne/ ) will speak directly with Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Dr. Robert (Bob) Thirsk, VA3CSA, ( http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronauts/biothirsk.asp ) on board the ISS. Dr. Thirsk is a Flight Engineer for ISS Expedition 20 and 21 and is Canada's first astronaut to live onboard the ISS for an extended period of time.

The ground station making the call to NA1SS will be VE1MR operated by Bill Elliott.

Audio should be available on Echolink via the JK1ZRW (node 277 208) and AMSAT (node 101 377) Conference Servers.