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 Previous: ARRL Issues QRP DXCC Program Rules |  Next: In Brief |
NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 27, 2001--With his stay aboard the International Space Station now dwindling down to a matter of days, Expedition 3 Crew Commander Frank Culbertson, KD5OPQ, has logged an impressive schedule of successful school contacts. So far this month, Culbertson fielded questions from students at nine schools as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program, including--for the first time--a school in Japan.
Culbertson now has 19 school and educational contacts under his belt, but he's not done yet. Before the shuttle Endeavour arrives at month's end to take Culbertson and his crew back to Earth, he's scheduled to chat with youngsters in Georgia and North Carolina. Since mid-month, Culbertson has managed to fit in two school contacts in a single day--on successive Fridays. All four were direct contacts on 2 meters.
 Island School Sixth grader Krista Speroni, KR1STA, asks her question of ISS Expedition 3 Crew Commander Frank Culbertson. Her call sign was used for the ARISS contact November 16. [Peggy Elenberg Photo] |
Wielding the NA1SS microphone on November 16, he first spoke with students at Island School in Lihue, Hawaii. Assisting in making the direct contact possible was Joe Speroni, AH0A, and members of the Kauai Amateur Radio Club. "It was impressive," Speroni reported later. "It went off without a hitch." Speroni's daughter, Krista, is a sixth grader at the school. Her KR1STA call sign was used for the ARISS contact.
In reply to a question about the spectacular sights in space, Culbertson obliged by telling of viewing meteors from above as they entered Earth's atmosphere, satellites passing overhead, and lightning down below, plus stunning views of the northern and southern lights as viewed from the ISS. He also explained the physics of rocketry in response to another question.
Before the ISS went out of range over Hawaii, Culbertson had tackled questions from 15 youngsters in grades 5-8, who later said they were impressed by the detailed answers. Speroni credited Ed Pagaduan, KH6EZ, who donated use of the primary station and antenna as well as his satellite communication expertise. "Ed took off a week from work to make sure everything was working," Speroni said. The KARC Web site has more information on the Island School ARISS contact.
On a subsequent orbit, Culbertson chatted with students at Saint James Middle School in Johnson City, New York. The contact originated from the KB2UYF club station at the Kopernik Space Education Center in Vestal, New York. John Kray, KA2CNG--who had applied for a space contact three years ago--coordinated the contact for the school.
Twenty-six seventh and eighth graders at the school got to participate in the 10-minute question-and-answer session with Culbertson. Given the time constraints, about a dozen got to ask their questions.
Among other things, youngsters wanted to know how the proper temperature was maintained both inside and outside the space station. Culbertson explained that the space station has air conditioning, and that astronauts working outside the station wear special suits that have built-in cooling systems.
 The Kopernik Space Education Center in Vestal, New York, was the site of an ARISS contact November 16 with youngsters from St James Middle School in Johnson City, New York. |
Kray said the Kopernik Center dedicated its ARISS contact to the memory of satellite pioneer Kaz Deskur, K2ZRO, who operated the Kopernik observatory's ham station under his call sign for many years and was a familiar presence in the early days of the OSCAR satellite program. "Kaz designed the original OSCAR Locator, a device many old-timers used to track a satellite before the advent of personal computers and software tracking programs," Kray explained.
The following Friday, November 23, also was a two-contact day. Culbertson first spoke with youngsters at the McKenzie Public School in Almonte, Ontario--only the second Canadian school on the ARISS school schedule. The contact with the elementary school occurred in the wee hours--5:47 AM local time--so pupils planned what ARISS mentor Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, described as an "astronaut-style breakfast" on the day of their contact. Nine youngsters got to radio their questions to Culbertson, who, by now, has become an old hand at snappy, concise replies yet still is able to come up with a fresh response to questions he's already heard many times.
Sufana reports that, despite the early hour, an audience of about 400--including news media--was on hand for the event. Members of the Almonte Radio Relay League assisted in preparing for the contact. Control operators Bob Clermont, VE3AKV, and Neil Carleton, VE3NCE, "did a great job," he added, and Carleton--a sixth grade teacher at McKenzie who inspired his class's involvement and interest in the space program--even got to chat briefly with Culbertson and ask him a question of his own.
 Students at the Iruma Children's Center in Japan enjoyed chatting via ham radio with ISS Crew Commander Frank Culbertson, KD5OPQ, on November 23. It was the first ARISS school contact with Japan. The Center's ham radio club has two dozen members. [JK1ZAM Photo] |
On a subsequent pass just a few hours later, Culbertson worked JK1ZAM, the Amateur Radio club station at the Iruma Children's Center in Iruma City, Japan. The Iruma contact marked the first school in Japan on the ARISS school contact schedule. It was conducted in English. Handling the contact at Iruma was Satoshi Yasuda, YM3TJZ/AD6GZ.
Culbertson managed to answer more than a dozen questions from the youngsters and youths gathered at the center's ham station for the occasion. He said the crew had celebrated Thanksgiving the day before with "a big meal of turkey and potatoes and vegetables." Culbertson said that on Russian holidays, the crew celebrates "in the Russian style."
Like the youngsters on Kauai, the Japanese students also were eager to know about how the aurora and the recent Leonid meteor shower appeared from space. Culbertson said the crew can see the auroras "very clearly" at both poles and that he has been able to photograph the phenomena from space. "It looks like you're about to fly through a curtain of light," he said. The Leonid meteor shower was "very spectacular" with hundreds of meteors visible per hour that appeared to be "falling vertically below us" as they entered Earth's atmosphere.
The ARISS
school contacts schedule remains busy. Tentatively on tap for this week are
contacts with youngsters gathered at the South Carolina State Museum in
Columbia--which has a space science gallery dedicated to the memory of
astronaut Ron McNair, who died in the 1986 Challenger incident. Culbertson is a South
Carolina native. Also penciled in for this week is a contact with the Atlanta
New Century School in Georgia.
| Previous: ARRL Issues QRP DXCC Program Rules | Next: In Brief |
