16 December 2006

ASTRONAUT CONTACT SCHEDULED WITH SWEDISH SCHOOL

An ARISS school contact with Christer Fuglesang SA0AFS, a visiting shuttle crewmember, has been planned with students at Thunmanskolan, Knivsta, Sweden on Sunday 17 December 2006. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 18:19 UTC, which is 19:19 local time.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and VK4KHZ in Queensland, north-east Australia. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in Swedish.  

The contact will broadcast over IRLP and EchoLink.

IRLP -  Connect to the IRLP reflector 9010. 

You may also connect via the IRLP Discovery website  at http://www.discoveryreflector.ca/listen.htm.

EchoLink -  The audio from this contact will be available on the EchoLink *AMSAT*  (node 101 377) and the *JK1ZRW* (node 277 208) conference rooms. Please connect to the *JK1ZRW* server to keep the load light on the *AMSAT* server.  This will ensure good audio quality for all listeners.

AUDIO STREAMING AND AUDIO REPLAY PARTICIPANT INFORMATION:

To join the event:

URL: https://e-meetings.mci.com

CONFERENCE NUMBER: 2897689

PASSCODE: SPACE STATIO

To access the Audio Replay of this call, all parties can:

1. Go to the URL listed above.

2. Choose Audio Streaming under Join Events.

3. Enter the conference number and passcode.  (Note that if this is a recurring event, multiple dates may be listed.) Replays are available for 30 days after the live event.

Thunmanskolan is, with a student number of about 600, the largest school in the municipality of Knivsta and encompasses grades 5 to 9. The school has been in existence since 1964. Students have access to computer rooms. These are used as a complement to the different taught subject like French, English, history etc. Thunmanskolan was the first school in Sweden with a Bulletin Board System (BBS) and they had their internet website up and running 2 years before Uppsala City Hall started their website. The students mostly come from typical middle-class areas and the community is located between two big cities i.e. the University City Uppsala, and the capital city Stockholm.

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

1. Hur äter man i rymden och kan maten åka upp när den är svald på grund av tyngdlösheten?

  (How do you eat in space and can the food come back up after it is swallowed because of weightlessness?)

2. Kan fåglar flyga i tyngdlöshet?

  (Can birds fly in weightlessness?)

3. Hur hanterar ni avfall? Tar ni med det tillbaka till jorden eller hamnar en del i rymden?

  (How do you handle garbage? Do you bring it back to Earth or does part of it end up in space?)

4. Måste du alltid ha din rymddräkt på?

  (Do you always have to wear you space suit?)

5. Vilken är din starkaste upplevelse än så länge?

  (What has made the biggest impression on you so far?)

6.  Varifrån får ni syret i rymdstationen?

  (Where from do you get the oxygen in the space station?)

7. Hur ser stjärnorna ut däruppe? Är det annorlunda än på jorden?

  (What do stars look like up there? Is it different than on earth?)

8. Är det sant att ni ser små ljusblixtar i ögonen från kosmisk strålning?

  (Is it true that you see small light flashes in you eyes from cosmic radiation?)

9. Vilken slag "personlig sak" tog du med dig?

  (What kind of personal thing did you bring with you?)

10.  Hur definierar ni tiden i rymden?

  (How do you define time in space?)

11. Vad skulle du göra om du på en rymdpromenad åkte iväg från rymdstationen?

  (What would you do if, during a space walk, you floated away from the space station?)

12. Blir man starkare i tyngdlöshet och hur sover man i tyngdlöshet?

  (Do you get stronger in weightlessness and how does one sleep?)

13.  Fick du lock för öronen och blev du  åksjuk när raketen tog er genom atmosfären?

  (Did you get a pressure increase in your ears and did you become air sick when the rocket took you through the atmosphere?)

14.  Vilken sorts bränsle har ni i raketen och hur mycket går det åt?

  (What type of fuel do you have for the rocket and how much do you burn?)

15. Varför blev du astronaut?

  (Why did you become an astronaut?)

16. Vad tänkte du när raketen startade?

   (What were you thinking when the rocket started?)

17. Vad är du mest orolig för som kan inträffa under er resa?

  (What is your greatest concern during your journey?)

18. Over!Jag heter Sara. Skulle du senare vilja åka längre ut i rymden till månen eller Mars?

  (Would you later like to travel further away in space to the moon or Mars?)

19. Tror du att det finns intelligent liv i rymden?

  (Do you think there is intelligent life in space?)

20.Jag heter Linnea. Är du rädd att inte komma tillbaka?

  (Are you afraid of not coming back?)

Please note, the amateur equipment on the ISS has not been functioning in the automatic modes properly and may be silent more than usual.

ARISS, Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, an international working group of several amateur radio societies from countries participating to the ISS, provides a free educational outreach programme in collaboration with the Space Agencies, involving a worldwide team of volunteering amateur radio operators.

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS-Europe chairman