ARISS contact planned for school in Ispica, Italy

Friday, October 14 2011 at approximately 11:03 UTC, which is 13:03 CEST, an ARISS contact is planned for Istituto Superiore “G. Curcio”, Ispica, Italy.

This High School has various courses which deal with different subjects such as Scientific, Linguistic, Classical and others dedicated to Professional and Technical studies. The school is divided into two buildings with different facilities and laboratories for Chemistry and Physics. There are also Language and Computer Labs, a Library and a Gym.

The student population is about 1,500 and there are about 100 teachers. The school and especially the students have been greatly motivated to take part in this project with the ISS because of their interests and fields of study. Students are very open-minded and ready for new experiences. There are many projects running that stimulate and promote their curiosity, such as training courses with companies in the commercial and tourist field, cultural exchange, programs with other European countries, participatiion in the International Conference NHSMUN at the UN in New York City and presently the radio contact with the International Space Station.

The contact will be a telebridge operated by W6SRJ located in Santa Rosa, California.

The event will be webstreamed live video on http://www.livestream.com/AMSAT_Italia/

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

The conversation will be in English. Students will ask as many of following questions as time allows:

1. Miriam: We all admire the work you do up there on the ISS, what personal qualities do you need to become a good astronaut?

2. Giovanni: What activities do you like doing most and doing less on the space station?

3. Cristina: Does working in zero gravity make it a problem?

4. Cristina: Since everything you do on the ISS is programmed beforehand if you suddenly come up with some interesting experiment can you do it or not?

5. Giampiero: What has been the greatest discovery you’ve made since you have been on the ISS?

6. Cinzia: What particular gadgets do you take with you to space that you really don’t need?

7. Carmelo: Is it sometimes difficult to get along with the other astronauts and how do you solve differences?

8. Sebastiano: Was becoming an astronaut a dream come true?

9. Maria: Is it more tiring physically or mentally to stay so long on the space station?

10. Adriano: What experiments are you conducting at the moment and have they given any useful results?

11. Daniele: What has been the most unusual event on Earth that you have been able to observe from space?

12. Giada: How long does the trip from Earth to the ISS take?

13. Greta: What have you liked best about being an astronaut up to now?

14. Salvatore: Do you think that there could be other forms of life on other planets?

15. Antonella: During your years of training to become an astronaut have you ever gotten discouraged?

16. Laura: Have any of you seen unusual objects flying around in space?

17. Giulio: Do you lose any amount of your senses by staying so long in space?

18. Martina: Since you are surrounded by technological equipment for everything you do, what do you miss most of all of nature?

19. Michele: I’ve read about a lot of space debris that orbits our planet, can you actually see it from the ISS?

20. Daniele: When you fly over Italy, does it really seem like a boot?

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