Schoolchildren invited to Zeg het ISS
Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers will visit the International Space Station in April 2004. As part of the Zeg het ISS project he is inviting Dutch children, as well as Flemish-speaking Belgian children, to talk to him live during his visit to the space station.
Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers will visit the International Space Station in April 2004. As part of the Zeg het ISS project he is inviting Flemish-speaking Belgian children, as well as Dutch children, to talk to him live during his visit to the space station.
André is scheduled to lift off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan on board a Russian Soyuz rocket. He will spend 10 days in space, living and working in the International Space Station (ISS), 400 kilometres above the Earth. During his time on board André will take time out from his busy work schedule to answer questions from Dutch and Belgian schoolchildren.
To celebrate this mission, and as part of the Zeg het ISS project, ESA’s Education Office has developed fun learning activities for primary schoolchildren, these can be used by teachers to interest children in space and science. For instance, what is it like to be an astronaut, what does weightlessness feel like and what is it like to live in space on board the ISS?
The competition to speak to astronaut André Kuipers is being organised by ESA together with the Amateur Radio on ISS (ARISS) association. Classes wanting to compete should send in, together with their details, a list of the questions that each child would like to ask André. In addition, classes for children aged from 6 to 9 should send the best drawing of an astronaut and the ISS, and classes for 9 to 12 year olds should send the best story of an astronaut and the ISS. Altogether four school classes will be chosen to talk to Andre, two from each age group.
Zeg het iss website
If you would like more information on the competition, and the lessons and activities that have been organised around it, visit the Zeg het ISS website. The competition is open to all Dutch and Flemish primary schools and entries must be in by 15 February 2004. The radio contact with André Kuipers on board the ISS will be organised for the middle of April 2004 and the four winning classes will be invited to a central location in the Netherlands. Plus all the winning questions, drawings and essays will be published on the Zeg het ISS website.
If your school or class has come up with any other ways of celebrating André’s mission to the ISS, please send your suggestions or pictures of any events to zeghetiss@esa.int.
