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 Previous: The Amateur Amateur: Putting It All Together (A Kitbuilding Saga) |  Next: ARES Teams Activate Following Fatal Florida Train Wreck |
 (L-R) Cosmonaut Yuri Londhakov, astronaut Robert Curbeam, cosmonaut Yuri Usachev (holding a photo of crewmate Susan Helms, KC7NHZ), and Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Apr 22, 2002--ARISS International Chairman Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, used the words "fantastic" and "breathtaking" to describe the world premiere of the IMAX film Space Station on April 16 and 17. The film, now showing in selected theaters nationwide, includes a segment on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station--or ARISS--program. ARISS set up a display booth at the movie's opening at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
"It was pretty awesome to see Bill Shepherd [KD5GSL] talk to the Texas students with our ARISS equipment in 3D," Bauer said afterward. "This is a must see movie." Space Station is the first 3D IMAX space movie. The film was made possible by NASA and is presented by Lockheed Martin and narrated by Academy Award nominee Tom Cruise.
Seabrook
Intermediate School in Texas provided the earthbound setting for ARISS' role in
the IMAX production. Footage with Shepherd answering a question during a school
contact was shot in January 2001 during Shepherd's tour of duty as Expedition 1
commander. The question segment and the answer segment then were matched up
during editing for the final production.
 ISS Expedition 1 crew commander Bill Shepherd, KD5GSL (left), was among the luminaries at the IMAX movie opening. He appears in the ARISS QSO segment. Here, he hands ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, a QSL card. [Art Feller, W4ART, Photo] |
Bauer said that seeing Space Station is the closest one can get to experiencing space without actually going there. "It was spectacular from the perspective that you really felt like you were there," he said.
Bauer said the ARISS display at the National Air and Space Museum was well-visited following a news conference April 16, when the movie was screened for the media. "This event and the IMAX film provides a very good venue to demonstrate the tremendous value that Amateur Radio provides to the general public and to our future--the students of today," Bauer said. Many member of Congress, officials from NASA, IMAX and Lockheed Martin stopped by the booth. "They were all very interested and supportive of what we do," Bauer said, adding, "ARISS did make the credits at the end of the film." He said 21 members of the ARISS volunteer team attended and supported the event.
There were some special guests too, among them Shepherd, who was the ISS Expedition 1 crew commander; Yuri Usachev, the Expedition 2 commander, Brian Duffy, N5WQW, an ardent SAREX/ARISS supporter on several shuttle flights; Toni Meyers, the IMAX film producer; and Jack Dailey, the museum's curator.
 At the ARISS display set up for the IMAX opening, Will Marchant, KC6ROL (left), and Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, of ARISS hold the WA1 VHF-UHF antenna that is set to be installed aboard the ISS later this year or early next year. [Art Feller, W4ART, Photo] |
"The comments were all glowing 'thank yous' for all your volunteer efforts and the tremendous contacts with the students and with their families," Bauer said.
Following the news conference, Bauer said, one educator on hand "eloquently communicated" the outstanding positive role that the movie will provide young students, especially the ARISS contact scene. "She then went on to praise the SAREX/ARISS team for the contact that her school, the Buzz Aldrin Elementary school, had with the astronauts and the tremendous positives that came out of this contact," he said.
"It is good to see we are continuing provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for both the students and the educators," Bauer said. He also thanked everyone who made the film and the ARISS display a success.
"We now have a permanent legacy in film," he concluded.
Coinciding with the IMAX film debut on April 16, second through sixth-grade students at The Quogue School in Quogue, New York, spoke via ham radio with Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, aboard the ISS.
The movie opened to the general public April 19. For more information, visit the IMAX Web site.
ARISS is an international project, with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT
and NASA. --AMSAT News Service provided some information for this report
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