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![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif ""BPL is a Pandora's Box of Unprecedented Proportions," ARRL Tells FCC"){kind=small} Previous: "BPL is a Pandora's Box of Unprecedented Proportions," ARRL Tells FCC |  Next: FCC Opinion Bolsters Federal Preemption over Radio Frequency Interference Matters |
 A student asks her question of astronaut Ed Lu at NA1SS from onboard the Russian sailing vessel Mir in Rouen, France. |
NEWINGTON, Jul 8, 2003--The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program recently completed two contacts with school groups in Europe. ISS NASA Science Officer and Flight Engineer Ed Lu, KC5WKJ, spoke on July 1 with students aboard a Russian sailing-training vessel in France and on July 7 with space campers at the Euro Space Center in Belgium.
The July 1 Amateur Radio QSO from the deck of the training vessel Mir--with 20 officers, 37 sailors and 144 cadets aboard--marked the ship's second involvement in a space contact. In 1999, students onboard the ship Mir exchanged greetings with French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré, FX0STB, and Russian cosmonaut Victor Afanassiev in space onboard the Russian space station Mir.
This year, students of the nearby Val Saint Denis College greeted Lu with "Happy birthday to you" to acknowledge the astronaut's recent 40th birthday on the day of the contact. Lu then proceeded to answer 13 questions the students posed.
Among other topics, students wanted to know about the crew's voyage on the Soyuz rocket to the ISS, how long it takes the ISS to orbit Earth and the main differences between the ISS and the Russian Mir space station.
 The sailing vessel Mir--which means "Peace" in Russian. The sailing vessel was part of a gathering of international sailing ships called "the Armada" that takes place every four years in Rouen, France, on the Atlantic Ocean. |
Since there were no favorable ISS passes over France, two-way audio for the contact was handled via a MCI teleconferencing circuit. With the ISS over the Pacific at the time, Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN, handled Earth station duties from Honolulu for the afternoon contact. France Telecom provided a telephone connection from shore to the vessel itself.
"ARISS and the French team express their thanks for this support," said ARISS International Team Vice Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF. Bertels said that not only did France Telecom provide the telephone connection to shore but its service technicians jumped in when the line went dead--apparently broken by the ship's motion--with just a few moments remaining until the contact was to start. "A new cable had to be installed," Bertels said, "and only a few seconds before acquisition of signal, the line was reestablished. A narrow escape!"
Bertels also thanked the Fédération Départementale des Associations de Radioamateurs de la Seine Maritime (FDARSM), and he singled out for special praise Philippe Caron, F6BTP, and his team, who set up the equipment for the event.
On the morning of July 7, Lu answered questions from space campers during a scheduled ARISS school group contact with youngsters at the Euro Space Center's ON4ESC in Belgium. Some 150 children gathered in the auditorium, and they spoke a variety of languages. "Some of them were Dutch-speaking, others were French-speaking and 45 were Americans living in Europe," explained Bertels, who was on hand for the contact and introduced the juvenile audience to the Amateur Radio Service and the ARISS program. "The ISS Amateur Radio station was presented in some detail as well as the elements of a corresponding ground station," Bertels said. "The presentation was done in three languages for this multilingual audience."
 ARISS Vice Chairman and mentor Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, holds the microphone for space campers at the Euro Space Center’s ON4ESC in Belgium. |
During the actual contact, the youngsters posed a variety of questions, including some seeking a technical explanation of the ISS' orbital movement. A large screen displayed the position of the space station above Earth. Bertels said several of the US youngsters had prepared a series of questions and even went through a realistic rehearsal the day before, reading their questions into the microphone with the transmitter connected to a dummy load.
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Bertels said Lu answered ON4ESC's call on right on schedule and 17 questions were asked and answered during the nearly eight-minute pass. One student wanted to know what Lue would change or add to the space program if he had the choice. Lu responded that he'd be delighted to participate to an expedition to Mars, although no human spaceflight mission to the Red Planet now is in the works.
When the ISS went over the horizon, students and onlookers joined in a hearty applause, Bertels said.
The ARISS contacts from France and Belgium were the 104th and 105th school group QSOs, respectively, since the Expedition 1 crew came aboard the ISS in late 2000.
ARISS is an international project with participation by
ARRL, AMSAT and NASA. For more information, visit the ARISS Web site.
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