Monday October 14, ARISS contact scheduled with school in Senegal

An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Ecole Francaise Jacques Prevert, Saly, Senegal on 14 Oct. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:31 UTC.

The contact will be a direct between OR4ISS and 6V7SPACE.

Jacques Prevert, a private mixed French Primary and Secondary school (ages 3 to 18) located in Saly, Senegal, is becoming the biggest French Lycee outside of Dakar, due to the remarkable growth and development of both the school and the region in the past 10 years. Located in West Africa’s largest and best known tourist resort, the school’s fast expanding premises extend near the site of the future international airport in the country’s new economic development zone, which has recently been linked up by motorway with the capital.

Ambitious teaching and achievement levels, coupled with an open-school cultural policy targeting both Senegalese and international partnerships within the framework of the French overseas network of schools (AEFE), combine to enrich and enhance the quality of the school’s educational program.

During the past school year 2012-2013, all school classes participated to inter-disciplinary research and learning about Space and the ISS. The ARISS project belongs to the Current General School Project « Opening up to the outside world », founded on activities encouraging pupils to discover and open up to other people and more generally to the realities of the outside world. The project, originally intended for secondary school pupils (6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grade), has evolved to encompass all classes at Jacques Prevert, as many exhibitions and activities were presented by pupils of both secondary and primary schools.

Furthermore, educational activities, preparing for the radio contact with the International Space Station, helped pupils improving their knowledge of the English language. This will no doubt lead to better understanding and discovery of new fields of international scientific exchange, mainly written in English.

In order to satisfy the fast growing expansion, the school is currently conducting a six month reconstruction program. All new buildings are scheduled to be inaugurated in December 2013.

The radio contact is expected to be conducted in English.

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

1. Tess (10): How do you control your body movements in weightlessness?

2. Fatou (12): How are you able to keep your sense of time without the rhythm of daylight and night-time?

3. Kymsy (14): What made you decide to become an astronaut?

4. Leonie (14): Has your body grown longer since you arrived on board the ISS?

5. Yona (14): Can solar wind expose astronauts to any specific dangers when they operate outside the station?

6. Zehlia (7): In case of illness or injury, can the astronauts receive medical treatment or be evacuated?

7. Kenza (8): Can weightlessness become tiresome in the long run?

8. Eloise (15): Do you have time to relax with any leisure activities?

9. Julien (17): Has your outlook on the world changed since you have been in space?

10. Mouhamed (13): How long will it take you to be able to walk properly again once back on the earth?

11. Oulimata (11): What would you do if a comet or a meteorite was heading directly towards the ISS?

12. Tom (14): What influence does your state of mind have upon social behavior on board the ISS?

13. Laura (15): What are the most common and most worrying problems that can occur on board the ISS?

14. Louis-Samba (13): When you get back to earth, do you think your view towards life will have changed?

15. Leo (17): Can you transmit warning messages if your instruments predict the formation of a natural disaster somewhere on the Earth?

16. Leeloo (13): What are the requirements to become an astronaut?

17. Morian (10): Is your diet appetizing or difficult to follow? What food on earth do you miss the most?

18. Anne-Marie (12): How are you able to venture out of the station while it is orbiting the earth at a speed of 17000 miles an hour?

19. Emma (12): Do you miss your family?

20. Jade (14): How long is the training to become an astronaut?

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-Europe chairman