An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Liceo Linguistico & Scuola Media Basel, Basel, Switzerland on 29 Nov. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 13:37 UTC.

The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be a telebridge between NA1SS and W6SRJ. The contact should be audible over the west coast of the U.S. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

The School "Liceo Liguistico" (high school) and the "Scuola Media" (middle school) have been operating in Basle for 25 years. The Institute is an Italian school that offers excellent education to pupils aged from 11 to 19 years, valid in the whole of Europe with special focus on the German language. Our "Diploma di Maturità linguistica" gives the opportunity to study at any University, both in Switzerland and in the European Union.

The courses that the institute offers are multilingual and multicultural (99% of our students speak at least two languages from their early childhood, generally German and Italian). This aspect is particularly relevant in Basle, a city located exactly at the crossroads between France and Germany, in a very central position from a European point of view. The study of Italian and German are of the utmost importance. Nonetheless, English and French are also relevant, since they enable the pupils to meet the demands of an international society. Moreover, scientific subjects are taught in English. In brief, the Institute combines the tradition of the Italian school with the modern international elements of bilingual learning.

In the first and third class of the middle school (Scuola Media) and in the first and fifth class of the High School (Liceo Linguistico), the students were given lessons about space. The first thing they all learned was the distance between Earth and the ISS, and then the Moon, the Sun, and Proxima Centaury. The idea of distances in space and the difficulty of understanding the spatial proportions really fascinated the students. In parallel they were informed about everything that is related to the ISS: building the ISS, living in the ISS, going to and coming back from the ISS, all supported by NASA news and youtube videos. They explored the Solar System looking at many images of each planet on the web. They focused on Opportunity and Curiosity on Mars, trying to understand the amazing projects aimed at unraveling the features of the martian soil. They also learned how to track the ISS in real time, and they will try to figure out the different scientific experiments that can be carried out aboard.

Teachers and students take the opportunity to greet the crew members of the present mission, thanking them for exploring new possibilities for humanity and paving the way for future space exploration and enriching scientific knowledge in many science fields. We gratefully thank you for what you are doing!

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

1. How does it feel before such an important and unusual mission?

2. What is the scientific discipline which is most ideally suited that has

more possibilities to be carried out in space?

3. How do you take care of yourself in case you are ill, for example if you

have fever?

4. How many years of training are necessary before you go into space? Is

there a selection?

5. How many modules is the ISS made of?

6. When do you think the rest of humanity would also be able to live in

space like you now?

7. How do you take a shower on the ISS?

8. How much does the astronaut's space suit cost?

9. What do you mostly miss there?

10. Could you roughly make a weather forecast by looking at the Earth?

11. Do you organize social activities with the crew members during your free

time?

12. Do you think you will have problems readapting yourself to gravity when

you are back on earth?

13. What was your first sentence or thoughts when you experienced

microgravity for the first time?

14. Which type of food do you eat on the ISS?

15. Did you easily get used to staying in space?

Information about the upcoming ARISS contacts can be found at http://www.ariss.org/upcoming.htm#NextContact.

Next planned event(s):

1. Kline School, Costa Mesa, CA, telebridge via IK1SLD

Thu, 06Nov12 20:00 UTC

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 on-board 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. Further information on the ARISS program is available on the website http://www.ariss.org/ (graciously hosted by the Radio Amateurs of Canada).

Thank you & 73,

David - AA4KN