ARISS contact planned for children’s hospital in Switzerland

Wednesday, November 9, 2011 at approximately 14.21 UTC, an ARISS contact is planned for Rehabilitationszentrum für Kinder und Jugendliche, Affoltern am Albis, Switzerland.

The Rehabilitation Center in Affoltern am Albis belongs to the Children’s University Hospital Zurich. The center is specialized in the treatment of children and adolescents who suffer from congenital or acquired diseases and injuries. Each rehabilitation process aims at allowing the patient to achieve as much functional independence as possible, helping them and their families to obtain greater quality of life.

The children and teenagers stay in family-like living groups that correspond with their individual skills and needs. They are taught in small groups in the hospital school and each patient follows their own individual therapy schedule.

Pediatric rehabilitation is carried out in collaboration between professionals such as doctors, nurses, therapists, neuropsychologists and therapeutic pedagogues. Working in close cooperation with the families is considered very important and forms an essential part of the patient’s treatment program.

This will be a direct radio contact operated by HB9TSO. The conversation will be conducted in English.

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

Students will ask as many of following qustions as time allows.

1. Sascha: Do you have a doctor in the spaceship?

2. David: Did you have any accidents on the ISS?

3. Julia: How can you go to the toilet in space?

4. Lona: Do you have to drink more water in the universe then on earth?

5. Stefano: What do you do when you are at home?

6. José: In which position do you sleep?

7. Yll: Where are the stars during the day?

8. Tobias: How long can an astronaut stay in the spaceship?

9. Laura: How long do you need to come down to earth?

10. Sascha: How do the astronauts come back to earth?

11. Julia: How can you eat and drink in the spaceship?

12. David: What did you learn before you became an astronaut?

13. Stefano: What do you do when you're bored in space?

14. Lona: How big is the living room for the astronauts?

15. Yll: Is there any life on the neighbour planets?

16. Tobias: Do you also need oxygen to sleep or not?

17. Laura: If all the pieces of the spaceship are sent to space separately, how can they arrive at the same place?

18. Julia: Why did the Soviets send a dog to the Universe?

19. Stefano: How long do you stay in the spaceship?

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