ARISS contact planned for school in Northern Ireland

Tuesday June 07, 2011 at 10.28 UTC, which is 11.28 local time and 12.28 CEST, an ARISS contact is planned with South West College Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

South West College is a Further Education College which operates in four campuses in Enniskillen, Cookstown, Dungannon, and Omagh in Northern Ireland. South West College has 18,500 student enrolments, is involved in a number of European projects, has a staffing complement of some 500 full-time staff and a similar number of part-time staff. South West College caters for students ranging from16 years old to adulthood and is a facilitator of Lifelong Learning in the South West region of Northern Ireland.

The radio contact will be a telebridge operated by K6DUE located in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The audio of the contact will be distributed by EchoLink AMSAT (node 101 377) and JK1ZRW (node 277 208) Conference servers, as well as by IRLP Discovery Reflector 9010.

Students will ask as many of following questions as time allows:

1. Jennifer: If you could capture an image on canvas from outer space what would it be?

2. Nicholle: Why did you become and astronaut?

3. Micah: When you were training to become an astronaut, was there anything you had to work especially hard on?

4. Freddy: Do you as crew members ever get any feeling of the speed you are travelling at whilst in orbit?

5. Jean: How do you cope if you get ill in space?

6. Ciara: What's the strangest thing you have seen or experienced in space?

7. Oisin: How do you go to the toilet and where does the waste go?

8. Jason: What feelings go through your mind when you look into the vastness of space?

9. Cathal: What is it like sleeping on the ISS and do you have nay difficulties with it?

10. Laura: what career path have you taken to be an astronaut?

11. Jennifer: How do you relax on board the international space station?

12. Nicholle: What do you do for entertainment on board the ISS?

13. Micah: How do you keep the ISS clean?

14. Freddy: what is the structure of a typical working day on board the ISS?

15. Jean: How do you make sure you don’t collide with debris whilst orbiting earth?

16. Ciara: Do you ever get contact from home, family or friends?

17. Oisin: Does it ever feel claustrophobic in the space station?

18. Jason: How has your work contributed to the greater good of mankind?

19. Cathal: How long do you spend on the space station and who decides the amount of time?

20. Laura: Are there many female astronauts and is it as physically demanding for them as well as the male astronauts?

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.

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS Chairman