ARISS contact planned with school in Seeheim, Germany

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Community School Bergstrasse in Seeheim, Germany on Friday 4th September 2009. The contact is scheduled at 20:10 UTC, which is 22:10 CEST.

The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and LU8YY. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

The ARISS contact will be distributed on EchoLink *AMSAT* and *JK1ZRW* conference servers, as well as on IRLP Discovery Channel 9010.

Students aged between 14 and 18 will meet astronauts, spacecraft operators and engineers at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, during the "Night of Stars". They will ask questions about the education needed to reach the sky.

Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk

The highlight of the night will be an ARISS live contact, giving the students the occasion to ask their questions to an astronaut onboard the ISS, possibly CSA astronaut Robert Thirsk VA3CS.
ESA astronaut Reinhold Ewald will be guest of honour.
The event is supported by the ESA Communication Office in Germany.

Participants will ask as much of the following questions as time allows.

1. What's the most important experience you made on the ISS?
2. What is the best in your work as an astronaut?
3. Was it always your first wish to become an astronaut?
4. What European experiments are you currently conducting with the Columbus module?
5. When you operate the experiments, do you have real time voice contact to the experiment team on ground?

6. What kind of personal items which you could not take to the ISS do you miss most?
7. Is your leisure time equally important for you than it was/is on earth?
8. What's the first thing you'll do when you are back home?
9. What are the differences in your expectations when you choose to become an astronaut the reality as an astronaut onboard the ISS?
10. When arriving on the ISS, how long does it take to become familiar with the station?

11. Are you doing amateur radio contacts in your leisure time?
12. What kind of music is your favourite and do you often listen to some music on the ISS?
13. For doing the housekeeping on the station, is there a fixed plan who has to do e.g. the vacuum cleaning etc?
14. Does zero gravity relax the body? Is zero gravity fun?
15. While on the night side of the earth, have you ever seen meteorites tracks during meteorite showers?

16. What details can you recognize on earth, e.g. can you see forest fires from space?
17. Do astronauts onboard the ISS work on weekends?
18. Do you have a right and a left side on board, do you have a ceiling and a floor? Is it difficult to keep the orientation inside the ISS?
19. When you have been on the ISS for a few weeks, is the job becoming routine?
20. With all the life support and station equipment operating, is it noisy onboard the ISS?

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 Chairman