André to challenge school children to ‘train like an astronaut’

Thousands of primary school children throughout Europe are about to embark on a six-week fitness challenge together with ESA astronaut André Kuipers. André will kick-off the ‘Mission-X: Train Like an Astronaut’ project tomorrow, 2 February 2012, during a live video connection between the International Space Station (ISS) and hundreds of school children located in four European cities. Some of the children will get the chance to ask André a question.

Astronauts need to stay fit on the ground and in space. André explains why in the video below:

(More PromISSe mission videos on the WSN Network)

ESA and other space agencies are using the example of space explorers to promote regular exercise and healthy nutrition among young people worldwide.

Teams

Mission X logo

André is the European ambassador of ‘Mission-X: Train Like an Astronaut’, an educational programme for primary school pupils aged 8–12 years led by NASA. Thousands of students are invited to perform physical exercises and classroom lessons, competing with teams from around the world to become as fit as astronauts.

Teams of children will practice scientific reasoning and teamwork while participating in hands-on activities during their school lessons. Modules like ‘Do a Spacewalk’ and ‘Climb a Martian Mountain’ are among the tasks, targeting strength, endurance, coordination, balance and spatial awareness. Mission-X is helping the next generation of space explorers to boost their health and fitness.

André exercising in the ISS

Kick-off

The project kick-offs in Europe tomorrow when some 300 school children from 14 Dutch primary schools will join ESA astronaut Frank De Winne in Space Expo in Noordwijk, The Netherlands, for the live call to André on the ISS. Hundreds more children will be connected to the call from three other European locations: Infini.to, Torino (Italia), Ciencia Viva, Lisbon (Portugal), Museum.BL, Basel (Switzerland).

The call with André on the ISS will be broadcast live on NASA TV from 15:10 to 15:40 CET (14:10-14:50 UT).

Education projects

Mission X is one of several education projects André is taking part in during the PromISSe mission. Spaceship Earth is a Europe-wide project with online lessons in Life in Space, Biodiversity on Earth and planet Earth’s climate. As part of Spaceship Earth, André will perform experiments on board which can also be carried out by schools. ESA is providing school kits with replicas of the experiments on board the ISS.