An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Historical Museum of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland on 31 Dec. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 14:04 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between OR4ISS and SP2ZIE. The contact should be audible over Poland and adjacent areas. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The contact is expected to be conducted in English.

The Gdansk Historical Museum was founded in 1970 as the Museum of History of the City of Gdansk. At the beginning Museum were located only in the sixteenth-century Main Town Hall. These days includes several most famous monuments of the Gdansk's architecture.

The Historical Museum of Gdansk gathered collections documenting the city's history since the Middle Ages to modern times - it offers its visitors a chance to see exhibits and facilities of significant historical and cultural value. The Museum is also organizing exhibitions of national and foreign origin. It is also responsible for publishing exhibition catalogues, the renovation and restoration of various works including monuments, but most importantly it gives lessons dedicated to the rich history of the city and provides facilities for meetings, seminars and lectures. One of its goals is also the cooperation with other cultural institutions.

This year the Museum actively supports the celebration of the 400th birth anniversary of one of the greatest personalities connected to the history of Gdansk - the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. His passion greatly contributed to advancements in our knowledge of stellar objects travelling across the night sky. Therefore, the Museum organized several exhibitions, presenting Hevelius' achievements and research instruments. Also presented was the modern space exploration history, related to spaceflight and the space age in general. Furthermore, the Museum was also involved in building a "pulsar clock" - an extremely accurate device, used in the studies of pulsars - rotating neutron stars.

The performing of the ARISS contact with one of the resident of the International Space Station perfectly fits in the anniversary. The event would allow for a direct contact between the citizens of Gdansk and astronaut - who can be considered in the popular opinion as the modern equivalent to the great travellers, expanding the horizons of our knowledge, reflecting the work of astronomer Johannes Hevelius.

The ARISS contact from the Museum can re-ignite interest in astronautics, astronomy and space exploration in general - especially in the young generation. Who knows, maybe in the audience there will be another future scientist present, who in time will become the next Johannes Hevelius?

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

1. Is it true that various places on the station can sometimes host unwanted

colonies of bacteria and mold? Are they a subject of research?

2. Is there currently an experiment on the station that involves growing

protein crystals and if yes, are they different from the ones grown

on Earth?

3. Are you doing an experiment on the station that involves the facility

studies of fermentation processes in space?

4. Does your stay on board the International Space Station cause problems

within your enjoyable and comfortable, what would they be?

circulatory system?

5. Can astronauts grow their own vegetables on the ISS for eating? Have you

done it?

6. What possibilities does the lack of gravity grant?

7. How does it feel to be flying in microgravity?

8. What were the different steps of assembling the ISS?

9. Do astronauts get earaches when being launched into space as I do when

I'm flying on a plane?

10. Did you dream to be an astronaut when you were a child?

11. How do you feel when spaceship engines are starting?

12. How are you prepared for potential dangers on board the ISS?

13. Is it possible to see the Great Wall of China from the ISS? What else is

well visible from Low Earth Orbit?

14. Are NASA astronauts involved in designing new private spacecrafts like

SpaceX?

15. Do you celebrate national holidays on the Station, and if yes, how?

16. Looking at the Earth, how would you express your personal message to the

inhabitants of this pale blue dot?

What would be the best way to become a space-conqueror in the future?

19. Can you see northern lights from the ISS?

20. If you had two wishes as to how to make life and work on the ISS even

even more enjoyable and comfortable, what would they be?

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

Next planned event(s):

1. Zespól Szkól nr 2, Zuromin, Poland, direct via SP5PMD

Mon, 02Jan 2012, 12:05 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