Kids Chat With Space Station Crew Via Amateur Radio

==>ARISS SUCCESS! ILLINOIS KIDS ENJOY HAM RADIO SPACE CHAT

It was a historic moment for Amateur Radio. Several hundred youngsters, teachers, parents, and news media representatives were on hand at Luther Burbank Elementary School near Chicago December 21 for the first successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school contact.

The third time was indeed the charm, as several pupils plus one teacher got to chat with Space Station Alpha Commander William "Shep" Shepherd, KD5GSL, via ham radio. Earlier attempts to contact Shepherd on December 19 had not worked out, despite the extensive technical preparations.

On December 21, however, Shepherd, using the special NA1SS call sign, came right back to a call from veteran SAREX/ARISS mentor Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, at the school. Braving repeated snowstorms and frigid temperatures, Sufana and his ARISS team had spent the better part of two weeks setting up gear and antennas for the scheduled contact. The effort paid off.

"I'm happy that we were able to pull it off," Sufana said. "The kids were bouncing off the walls."

During the 10-minute pass, 14 first through eighth graders plus science and math teacher Rita Wright got a chance to pose questions about life aboard Space Station Alpha to Shepherd.

"I think the most favorite thing about being on space station is just the ability to float around in space," Shepherd said in response to one student's question. "It's like you're not moving at all. You're just like in a pool and you can move anywhere you want, but there's no water in it."

Shepherd said the crew is keeping detailed logs about life on the space station. He said the crew was enjoying taking pictures of Earth from space, "because you can see things that you can't see from the ground."

At the conclusion of the successful contact, the grateful crowd applauded loudly and offered up a hearty "thank you!" and "73!" to Shepherd and his Russian crewmates. Shepherd signed off by saying that he enjoyed the chat and was looking forward to more school QSOs with youngsters around the country. Another two dozen schools are under consideration for ARISS school contacts. Schools in Virginia and New York are tentatively scheduled for contacts next month.

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