Astronaut Greets His Kids From Space via Ham Radio:

Astronaut Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, aboard the International Space Station fielded 20 questions March 21 from 10 elementary schoolers--two of them his own children. Youngsters attending St Thomas the Apostle Episcopal School in Nassau Bay, Texas, spoke with Bursch via an Amateur Radio and teleconferencing linkup. A day earlier, astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE, talked directly via 2 meters with youngsters at a school in Australia. Both contacts with NA1SS were compliments of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program

Astronaut Dan Bursch, KD5PNU. [NASA Photo]

Bursch's daughter, Robyn, and son, Jackson, had the honor of being the first and second in the St Thomas question queue. Robyn Bursch asked her dad if it was cold in space. "Hello, Robyn! I miss you!" Bursch replied. He went on to explain that while it can be really hot or really cold in space depending on whether or not you were in sunlight, inside the space station "it's just like home."

Robyn Bursch. [Nick Lance, KC5KBO Photo.]

Robyn's younger sibling Jackson was eager to know how many times a day his father ate. "Hi, Jackson, I miss you too. Probably about eight times a day," he quipped, before explaining that the crew ate the usual three times a day "and sometimes we have a snack, too, with tea, so maybe that counts as three-and-a-half times."

Jackson Bursch, with teacher Martha Kirby Capbo, prepares to ask his question at St Thomas school. [Nick Lance, KC5KBO, Photo]

Sleeping in space took some getting used to, he told another questioner. The crew's sleeping bags need to be tied down or they'd float around, "and who knows where we'd end up in the morning?" he asked. Christmas trees in space? "We had a Christmas tree, and it was made out of cloth and just a couple of feet high," Bursch explained. Space aliens? Bursch said he hadn't spotted any yet.

Youngsters at St Thomas school sit "quiet as spiders sleeping" while they await their chance to speak with Dan Bursch aboard the ISS. [Nick Lance, KC5KBO, Photo]

Handling Earth station duties for the ARISS QSO was Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN, in Honolulu. Worldcom provided the teleconferencing hookup.

The antenna system used at the Zeehan Primary School.

"It's been a wonderful experience, and we'll all treasure it," said coordinating teacher Martha Kirby Capo.

On March 20, Walz answered 13 questions via ham radio from students at Zeehan Primary School in Tasmania, Australia. The contact marked the first between the ISS and an Australian school. Walz explained that the crew would be returning to Earth in May, following a five-and-a-half month tour in space. He noted that crew members now have the capability to keep in touch with their families via an onboard telephone and via e-mail.

Astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE. [NASA Photo]

Asked about the crew's dietary routine, Walz explained that what he and his colleagues ate was "like food that you would take camping" and included canned, packaged and dehydrated meal items.

Handling Earth station chores for the direct contact were Bill Lynd, VK7KHZ, and Dick van Beek, VK7KVB. Veteran ARISS coordinator Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, congratulated the school on a job well done. "Despite gale-force winds and heavy rain, everything went smoothly," he said.

Bill Lynd, VK7KHZ, was at the controls for the Zeehan Primary School ARISS QSO.

As a videographer rolls his tape, a student at Zeehan Primary School in Tasmania asks her question of astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE.

Source:

The ARRL Letter Vol. 21, No. 12 March 22, 2002

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