A small school at Sassafras about 40km east of Melbourne, Australia, is the latest to have an amateur radio contact with a crew member on the International Space Station (ISS) and in doing so achieved a notable first for this activity.

A total of 11 students from Sherbrooke Community School put questions to Astronaut Robert Thirsk, but in a spirit of friendship shared their experience with two other schools.

The ARISS contact on Wednesday 28 October also included questions from Sherbrooke's sister schools - the Jiaolun Middle School in China and the Early Learning Centre at Thimphu in Bhutan.

On Tuesday, 27 October 2009, ISS Commander Frank De Winne, ON1DWN answered questions from students participating to a venue at the brand-new Copernic Science Center in Warsaw, Poland.

This telebridge contact was operated by ARISS ground station VK4KHZ located in Glenden, Queensland, Australia.

At the end of the contact, Frank thanked Shane Lynd VK4KHZ - for the many ARISS telebridge contacts he'd already performed. Shane shares these thanks with his colleagues of the 11 ARISS telebridge ground stations which cover all five continents.

This was the 500th School Contact since ARISS began operations in the year 2000. Schools in all continents benefit from ARISS educative School Contacts.

NASA has scheduled a news conference for approximately 6 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Oct. 29, to discuss the status of the next space shuttle launch. The news conference, originating from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will begin after the conclusion of the Flight Readiness Review. The review will assess preparations for shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.

The review is expected to include the selection of an official launch date. Atlantis currently is targeted to launch at 2:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 16.

The briefing participants are:

- Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations, NASA Headquarters, Washington

Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. Italian Students Contact Astronaut Frank De Winne via ARISS
3. ARISS Contact with Senegal Students
4. De Winne has ARISS Contact with Ieper Students
5. Astronaut Jeff Williams has ARISS Contact with Arctic School
6. Canadian Bel Ayr Pathfinders Speak with Robert Thirsk via ARISS
7. ARISSat-1 Meeting Held
8. ARISS International Meeting Held

1. Upcoming School Contacts
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland on Tuesday, October 27 at 09:33 UTC via telebridge station VK4KHZ in Australia. The centre organized a student competition for naming the asteroids, using rules of the science naming process. This month the winners travelled to Warsaw for the competition finale and will take part in the ARISS event.

NASA's first live tweet-up between the public and astronauts in space was cut short Wednesday by a false alarm on the International Space Station.

The station's two resident Twitterers - Nicole Stott and Jeff Williams - were mid-way through a live interview with a group of their Twitter followers gathered at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., when they were interrupted by a loud beeping.

"Excuse us just a second," Williams said as he and Stott scrambled to check their consoles to investigate the source of the alarm. Soon after, the station passed out of communications range with ground stations, ending the live video link with the two astronauts.

See the details on each event at:

Upcoming ARISS contact with C. E. M. IV, Mbour, Senegal, http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/10day/msg02464.html

Upcoming ARISS contact with VTI Ieper, Ieper,West-Vlaanderen, Belgium http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/10day/msg02465.html

Upcoming ARISS contact with Samuel Hearne Secondary School,Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/sarex/10day/msg02466.html

Topics in this report
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. ARISS Contact Between Thirsk and Boundary Beach Students
3. Glenmore Christian Academy Experiences ARISS Contact
4. ARISS Contact with UNICEF - Mali
5. JOTA Contact Unsuccessful
6. NASA Reports on ARISS Contact
7. ARRL Letter Posts Article on Columbus Antennas
8. ARRL QST Covers ARISS News
9. AMSAT Symposium Update

1. Upcoming School Contacts
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Istituto Comprensivo "Romualdo TRIFONE" in Montecorvino Rovella, Salerno, Italy on Tuesday, October 20 at 07:41 UTC. Students have participated in science and technology educational activities. Teachers have collaborated with astrophysicists of the Astronomical Observatory "Giancamillo Glorious" in M. Rovella and the local amateur radio group ARI Salerno.

The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies at 8:41 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 17. NASA Television's coverage of the ship's arrival at the station will begin at 8:15 p.m.

The Russian ISS Progress 35 cargo ship, filled with more than two tons of supplies for the station, is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8:14 p.m. There will be no television coverage of the launch.

Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams, Nicole Stott, Roman Romanenko, Max Suraev and Bob Thirsk will observe the event from aboard the station as the unpiloted craft automatically docks to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment.

For the first time, NASA Twitter followers are invited to view a space shuttle launch in person at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is hosting this unique Tweetup on Nov. 11 and 12. Space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to launch at 4:04 p.m. EST, Nov. 12 on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.

"This will be NASA's fifth Tweetup for our Twitter community," said Michael Cabbage, director of the News Services division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Each event has provided our followers with inside access to NASA personnel, including astronauts. The goal of this particular Tweetup is to share the excitement of a shuttle launch with a new audience."

International Space Station Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt landed their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan Sunday, wrapping up a six-month stay. Joining them was spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, who spent 11 days in space.

Padalka, the Soyuz commander, guided the spacecraft to a parachute-assisted landing at 12:32 a.m. EDT at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

Russian recovery teams were on hand within minutes of landing to help the crew exit from the Soyuz vehicle and reacclimate to gravity. The crew members will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, for reunions with their families.