Congressman Bart Gordon and Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville will host a live conversation between more than 120 students and NASA astronaut Barry E. Wilmore on Sunday, Nov. 22. Wilmore is the pilot of space shuttle Atlantis, which launched Nov. 16 on an 11-day mission to the International Space Station. Members of Wilmore's family also will attend the event.

The live call from orbit will take place between 11:08 a.m. and 11:28 a.m. CST. Twenty students, ranging from kindergarten to college age, will ask questions of Wilmore and fellow astronauts Nicole Stott and Leland Melvin. Stott has served as a flight engineer and member of the Expedition 21 crew living aboard the International Space Station for more than two months. She will return to Earth aboard Atlantis. Melvin is a mission specialist and crewmate of Wilmore's aboard Atlantis.

The 12 crew members aboard space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station will hold a news conference at 7:13 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Reporters can ask questions from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Kennedy Space Center in Florida and headquarters in Washington. Journalists from Canada, Europe and Russia also will participate in the news conference. U.S. journalists must RSVP by calling the public affairs office at a participating NASA location by noon Nov. 23.

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 40-minute news conference. For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:

1. Upcoming School Contact
2. Italian Students Contact De Winne via ARISS
3. ARISS Contact Between Robert Thirsk and Montreal Schoolchildren
4. ARISS International Team Meeting Held
5. ARRL Web Article on STS-129 Mission
6. ARRL Letter Posts Two ARISS News Items

1. Upcoming School Contact
Flanders District of Creativity and the Department of Education of the Flemish Government have teamed up for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Tuesday, November 17 at 13:44 UTC via station LU8YY in Argentina. The groups are partnering to organize the very first congress for kids in Belgium. A conference has been set up with keynote speakers and interactive workshops for 1200 twelve year olds. Dirk Frimout and Sijtn Meuris will give a presentation about astronomy.

An experiment by college students that will study how microbes grow in microgravity is heading to orbit aboard space shuttle Atlantis.

Undergraduate and graduate students at Texas Southern University in Houston developed the experiment that will fly as part of the STS-129 mission. The mission is scheduled to launch at 2:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 16 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"I'm thrilled that giving students the chance to design and research an experiment to fly in space is one of the tools we have at NASA to engage them in science, technology, engineering and mathematics," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori B. Garver said." These young people are our future, and providing an opportunity to inspire them is a major part of our mission at NASA."

Besides taking spare parts to the International Space Station (ISS) this coming Monday, the space shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) will deliver the module antennas for Columbus -- the laboratory built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and host of two Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) antennas.

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/11/12/11195/?nc=1

Many of the ARISSat team met in Phoenix over a weekend in late October to work on software integration, to assemble the spaceframe and to make final measurements for the new cables.

The team put in long hours at the Microchip facility where a number of new milestones were met.

• The satellite was commanded via a radio.
• New PSU (power supply unit) board was tested in the system.
• New ICU (Interconnect board) was tested in the system.
• New MPPT (Max Power Point Tracker) boards were tested with solar panels.
• New solar panel test structure was built and used to test the power system.

Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. Westbrook Intermediate Experiences ARISS Contact
3. Successful ARISS Contact with John Taylor Collegiate
4. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Speaks with Stott Through ARISS
5. ARISS Contact with Tokaisonritsu Muramatsu Elementary School
6. Astronaut Training Status
7. ARRL Article on WHEELS - ARISS Contact
8. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline
9. ARISSat-1 Status

1. Upcoming School Contacts
An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Scuola Istituto Salesiano "Sacro Cuore" Vomero in Napoli, Italy on Friday, November 13 at 15:55 UTC. The contact has been integrated into the school curriculum which covers radio communications, aeronautics, astronomy and English.

A small chunk of space trash made an uncomfortably close pass by the International Space Station late Friday, but not close enough to force the astronauts aboard to take shelter in their Russian lifeboats.

NASA's Mission Control woke the six astronauts on the station from their sleep late Friday as the space debris approached, but ultimately decided not to send the crew into their Soyuz spacecraft to ride out the orbital trash's near miss. The astronauts were told they could go back to sleep.

"Sorry we had to do it that way, and we had to wake you up in the middle of the night," the station's Russian Mission Control radioed the crew. The debris was expected to fly within 1,640 feet (500 meters) of the orbiting laboratory Friday night at 10:48 p.m. EST (0348 Saturday GMT).

Here you are!
This first adventure in Senegal ARISS is complete, and it was a great success. This Friday, October 23, 2009 at 10:20 in College IV Mbour, we were all present, more or less concerned about the proper outcome of this great challenge. With the support of amateur radio club 6W7PCT Saly, students have made under the special call sign 6V7SPACE, a radio contact with astronaut Frank De Winne from the International Space Station: OR4ISS.

The most visible activity of ARISS is to organize in VHF radio contact between schools worldwide and the International Space Station (ISS), thus contributing to the educational program launched into space by NASA in the USA.

NASA's space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to begin an 11-day flight to the International Space Station with a Nov. 16 launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for 2:28 p.m. EST.

Atlantis' launch date was announced Thursday at the conclusion of a flight readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready.

The Nov. 16 target date depends on the planned Nov. 14 launch of an Atlas V rocket from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Atlas has reserved the Eastern Range on Nov. 14 and 15. If the Atlas launch is delayed to Nov. 15, the shuttle's liftoff will move to no earlier than 2:02 p.m. on Nov. 17.