ZCZC AS27 QST de W1AW Space Bulletin 027 ARLS027 >From ARRL Headquarters Newington, CT December 22, 2000 To all radio amateurs
SB SPACE ARL ARLS027 ARLS027 First ARISS school QSO a success!
It was a historic moment for Amateur Radio. Some 200 youngsters, teachers, parents, and news media representatives were on hand at Luther Burbank Elementary School near Chicago December 21 to witness the first successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station school contact.
Several pupils plus one teacher got to chat with Space Station Alpha Commander William ''Shep'' Shepherd, KD5GSL, via ham radio. Earlier attempts by the school on December 19 were unsuccessful, 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. Sufana and his ARISS team had spent the better part of two weeks setting up gear and antennas for the scheduled contact. Antenna setup was hampered by repeated snowstorms and frigid temperatures, but the efforts 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.
Shepherd said he especially enjoyed being able to float around in the space station. He said the crew is keeping detailed logs about life on the space station, and that the crew was enjoying taking pictures of Earth from space, ''because you can see things that you can't see from the ground.'' Shepherd also explained that about 90 percent of water in the air inside the space station is recovered and reused.
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 said he was looking forward to future school contacts. Another two dozen schools are under consideration for ARISS school contacts. Schools in Virginia and New York are tentatively scheduled for contacts next month.
More information about requesting dedicated contacts is available on the ARISS web pages, http://ariss.gsfc.nasa.gov/. NNNN /EX
* Origin: ---=== RA9LO Station at MO27SC ===--- (2:5077/39) _______________________________________________________________________
Alexander
RZ6HGG Stavropol E-mail:rz6hgg@skiftel.ru FidoNet: 2:5064/11.30 24 декабря 2000 г. 7:05:54
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