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 Previous: Surfin': Hamming in Hawaii |  Next: ARRL Board Approves Dues Increase, Alters Morse Position |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 22, 2001--A niece of Space Station Alpha Commander William "Shep" Shepherd's, KD5GSL, was among several Western New York students who chatted with the Space Station Alpha Commander via Amateur Radio January 18. The contact, which took place from Sheldon Elementary School in Varysburg, New York, was the third successful school QSO arranged by the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program.
Eliza Stringham, who is Shepherd's niece by marriage, was not the only Shepherd relative involved in the contact. Sheldon third-grade teacher Karen Washburn is an aunt to Shepherd's wife, Beth Stringham Shepherd. It was Washburn's request to have Shepherd simply mention the school's name on the NASA satellite TV feed that prompted him to suggest an Amateur Radio contact instead.
Students in the school district have been studying space and space-station-related topics the past few weeks. Youngsters in Washburn's classroom listened to daily communication between the crew and the mission control centers, and they used the STSPlus tracking program to track the ISS as it orbits Earth.
 Dave Bell, WB2YCS (on ladder), with Scott Barber, AB2IH (left, holding ladder), and Fred Gephart, WA2CAM (right, facing away from camera), put the finishing touches on the antenna system in preparation for the January 16 ARISS contact attempt. |
The January 18 contact marked the second try for the ARISS contact at Sheldon Elementary. An earlier attempt on January 16 was unsuccessful, but Fred Gephart, WA2CAM, who coordinated the Amateur Radio setup at the school, said Shepherd came back on the first call two days later. "It went great," he said. "We had nine minutes and fifteen seconds worth of contact."
Coincidentally, January 18 was Shep and Beth Shepherd's fifth anniversary. Gephart said Shepherd's mother and sister-in-law also were among those on hand for the big event. Youngsters from several schools in the Attica Central School District--from elementary pupils to high school students--got to interview Shepherd. In response to one question about what the ISS crew can see from space, Shepherd explained that the crew could see the Mississippi River and other large rivers. "You can see any river from space that's more than maybe a couple of hundred yards across," he replied.
Another student asked how the crew dealt with medical problems that might arise. Shepherd explained that the crew was trained to practice "telemedicine" in conjunction with medical experts back on Earth. "If it's really serious and we have to get to an operating room, we jump on the Soyuz, and we come home," he said.
Shepherd also told the youngsters that stars are even more clear and bright from the vantage point of the ISS than they are from Earth, and with help from a pair of binoculars, the crew can even see moons on planets.
 The Amateur Radio station set up at Sheldon Elementary School for the ARISS contact and the K2S special event.
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Gephart said a dozen youngsters ask questions and got replies as the ISS whizzed by overhead--and some even got to ask two questions. He said the ARISS contact occasioned a mini media event for the community, with reporting teams from three TV stations, three newspapers and a cable TV outlet turning out.
Gephart said the school used an ICOM 271-H for the ARISS contact and had an identical unit on hand in case of problems. Special event station K2S--for "kids to space" also was set up at the school.
An audio and video feed of the contact was made available via the Internet.
The Sheldon School has a Web site.
| Previous: Surfin': Hamming in Hawaii | Next: ARRL Board Approves Dues Increase, Alters Morse Position |
