July 18, 2009

ARISS CONTACT PLANNED WITH SCHOOL IN GERMANY

An Expedition 20 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants at Eichenlaubschule, Weiskirchen, Saarland, Germany. The event is scheduled on Sunday 19 July 2009 at approximately 17:54 UTC, which is 19:54 CEST.

The contact will be a telebridge between onboard station OR4ISS and ARISS telebridge groundstation ON4ISS. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Downlink signals will be audible over Europe on 145.800 MHz FM.

Eichenlaubschule Weiskirchen is a general education school where the pupils can achieve basic and secondary graduation. First foreign language is English. Partnerships have been developed with schools in Luxemburg, France and Rumania.

Following cooperation with radio club „DARC Ortsverband Schwarzwälder Hochwald, Q21“, a core-team of pupils interested in radio technology has been formed. Working together with the radio amateurs, a radio school station could be established and a radio club has been founded.

A school from Erpeldange, Great Duchy of Luxemburg, participates to this event.

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

1. Tom from Luxembourg: How did you feel during the shuttle launch?

2. Marco from Germany: How does the earth look like from the station and is it possible to recognize buildings on Earth from the ISS?

3. Laura from Luxembourg: Beside the sun, the earth, the moon, what other planets can you see from ISS?

4. Simon from Germany: Can you take a bath or a shower in the ISS?

5. Chris from Luxembourg: Is it tiring to move at zero gravity?

6. Philipp from Germany: Why do the astronauts have to clean the ISS periodically every week?

7. Gilbert from Luxembourg: What was the hardest job you have done at the station?

8. Julian from Germany: How is security provided for oxygen supply?

9. Daniel from Luxembourg: What kind of space food do you like best?

10. Jacqueline from Germany: How do you deal with the garbage in the ISS?

11. Max from Germany: Where do you keep your dirty laundry?

12. Arno from Germany: Which standard time are you using in the ISS and how do you know if it is day or night and when it’s time to sleep?

13. Moritz from Germany: Do you snore more or less in weightlessness of Space than you do on Earth?

14. Sebastian from Germany: What happens if someone in the station gets extremely sick or severely injured?

15. Laura from Luxembourg: What kind of experiments are you making at the station and what is your mission in the space station?

16. Tom from Luxembourg: We know that you work very hard in space. What do you do to relax and have fun?

17. Jacqueline from Germany: What did you astonish most in the space?

18. Chris from Luxembourg: Do you get homesick in space? If so, how do you deal with it?

19. Philipp from Germany: How do you prevent your food from flying away in zero gravity?

20. Daniel from Luxembourg: Has space garbage crashed with 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