The International Space Station

ARISS contact planned with Italian school

An International Space Station Expedition 18 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at: Istituto Comprensivo Statale "Alessandro Volta", Mandello Del Lario, Lecco, Italy on Friday
27th March.
The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 14.03UTC, which is 15.03 CEWT.

The contact will be a direct between stations OR4ISS and collaborating stations I2JRY and IZ2PBM. The contact should be audible over Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.800 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

'Alessandro Volta' is a co-ed primary and secondary school in Mandello del Lario, a little town in Northern Italy, situated on the shore of the Lake Como. Mandello del Lario is known for the motorcycle factory "Moto Guzzi".

The students are aged 6 to 14. Nine classes are involved in the ARISS project with students aged 12 to 14. The students and the teachers of the school share their interest with experts of the voluntary group "Deep Space" in the city of Lecco in discovering the Space on its different aspects.

Participants will ask as many of the following questions as time allows:

1. Why did you become an astronaut?
2. How do you spend your free time?
3. How long are you already on board the ISS?
4. How many people are there on the ISS?
5. What is your role on board the ISS?

6. What does your daily routine look like?
7. What are you seeing outside at the moment?
8. Is it difficult to get used to zero gravity?
9. Is it hard to eat in microgravity and what do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
10. When did you become an astronaut?

11. Have you ever seen any meteorites from the ISS and are you afraid of them?
12. What are the minimum and maximum temperatures inside and outside the ISS?
13. How far is it to the Earth from the ISS?
14. How long is it day, how long is it night and how is your time divided into day and night?
15. Can you recognize the different continents on Earth from there?

16. How often do you receive news from your family?
17. How long did you train to become an astronaut?
18. How many chambers are there inside the ISS?
19. What kind of energy runs the ISS on?

ARISS is an international educational outreach program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from participating countries.

ARISS offers an opportunity for students to experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers onboard the International Space Station.

Teachers, parents and communities see, first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters' interest in science, technology, and learning.

73

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF
ARISS-Europe Chairman