POLSA: Polish astronaut will spend a quarter of his time working on the ISS on an educational program

Polish astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski will devote a quarter of his time working on the International Space Station to implementing an educational program, POLSA reported. The aim is to encourage young people to link their future with science and the space sector.

On June 8, the first Polish technological and scientific mission IGNIS is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station (ISS) – with the second Pole in history, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, among the four-person crew.

On Friday, the Polish Space Agency announced that the mission will be accompanied by a nationwide educational program, which was developed by specialists from POLSA in close cooperation with the Ministry of Development and Technology, the Ministry of National Education, the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the European Space Agency.

"The program is open to all interested schools, teachers and students," said Anna Bukiewicz-Szul, education expert at POLSA.

As stated in the message, the educational program was developed with the intention of encouraging young people to link their future with exact sciences, as well as with the dynamically developing space sector in Poland. "This is an investment in the future - it is about building interest in children and young people in science, technology and engineering, but not only that," we read.

The prepared plan includes competitions, experiments, workshops, as well as educational activities with the participation of the astronaut: before, during and after the mission.

"Almost 20 hours of educational activities out of the astronaut's 80 working hours during the mission have been planned," POLSA reported.

During this time, among other things, original educational equipment will be tested, including a special version of Newton's Cradle (a device illustrating the principle of conservation of momentum and energy during an elastic collision of balls) - to a state of weightlessness, designed by Polish teachers and made by students.

In total, 30 educational experiments were designed, including 10 by Polish students. These experiments concern fluids, mass measurement, famous physical effects, as well as testing of proprietary equipment in zero-gravity conditions. "Poland will become famous several times over thanks to some of them, because some of them will be performed in zero-gravity for the first time in the history of space flights, including the experiments with the chain fountain or Newton's Cradle," we read.

Moreover, during the mission, invited students will connect live with Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, who will answer their questions and perform student demonstrations of educational experiments.

In addition, the events will be broadcast online, and – as reported – on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Education, all Polish schools will remotely "host" the Polish astronaut in their walls on these days. Along with the invitation, schools will receive educational materials for conducting introductory lessons on the subject of the IGNIS mission – POLSA reported.

During the mission, educational campaigns will also be held for the entire society. These include: "Fly" with a Polish astronaut - a group competition to cover a distance equal to the average Earth-ISS distance in a chosen sports discipline (recruitment will start soon); "(Turn off) the Light" - an educational campaign on the problem of light pollution; and a joint viewing of the ISS flight over Poland.

The end of the mission is also the beginning of the most important activities planned in the program - we read in the information. After the holidays, the implementation of the project "Become a space engineer" will begin. These are 40 cycles of engineering workshops for young people in 40 cities in Poland, which will concern thematic areas strategic for the Polish space sector: 3D printing, bioengineering, creating electronics and radio communication.

POLSA also announced "one of the most important elements of the entire program", which is the "Key to Space", under which 10,000 schools will receive educational kits along with didactic support for learning soldering and creating electronic systems.

In addition, after the mission, 60 lesson plans, experiment proposals and educational films with the participation of the astronaut will be created, based on 13 Polish technological and scientific experiments and all educational activities conducted within IGNIS. The whole constitutes the project "Lessons from orbit". Training for teachers is also planned.

Detailed information about the educational program can be found on the website of the Polish Space Agency. (PAP)

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