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 Previous: On-Line Licensing Course, Grassroots Lobbying Kit Part of ARRL's 2004 Plan |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
 With assistance from Ivan Smith, VK5HS, of the Riverland Radio Club, students at Renmark Primary School question Expedition 8 Commander (and NASA ISS Science Officer) Michael Foale, KB5UAC, at NA1SS. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 25, 2003--Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale, KB5UAC, took the controls of NA1SS aboard the International Space Station early today for his first school group contact. The QSO with youngsters at the Renmark Primary School in South Australia was arranged via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. Foale predicted during his ham radio conversation with the Renmark pupils that humans would colonize the moon.
"People should be living on the moon in another 10 years," Foale told the youngsters, and I hope some of them will be you." Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alex "Sasha" Kaleri, U8MIR, have been aboard the ISS for about one month. Foale said he's already a bit homesick, and he expects that to get worse after the Christmas holiday.
The British-born Foale, who did a duty tour
on the Russian Mir spacecraft in 1997, said he has wanted to be an
astronaut since the age of six. "People laughed at me when I was a little boy,
but I kept thinking about it and studied hard at school and eventually ended up
getting to the ISS," he said. Living aboard the space station, however, is
"like living in a laboratory" and involves a lot of hard work, he explained.
 One Renmark student asks her question of Foale while others queue up awaiting their turn at the microphone. A photo of Foale is visible on a projection screen behind them. [Photos courtesy of Doug Tamblyn, VK5GA] |
In response to one youngster who asked what it sounded like in space, Foale remarked that the sound of the air-circulating fans is pervasive. "We hear fans running all the time circulating air," he said. "One time, we turned off all the fans, and it was dead quiet." The fans are necessary because of a lack of convection currents in the spacecraft's microgravity environment. Foale pointed out to the students that the crew could not leave the fans off for very long without risking a dangerous buildup of carbon dioxide.
The selection of food aboard the ISS is good,
he said. "I went to boarding school in Britain," Foale quipped, "so I can eat
most any food. The food here is better than boarding school."
 Foale at work aboard the ISS. [NASA Photo] |
CLICK HERE to
listen to the ARISS QSO with Renmark Primary School in Australia: [10:29]
|
Foale also noted that he does not get bored in space and always has something to do in his off-time. In addition to e-mailing family and friends, he said he enjoys computer programming and also keeps a journal.
Making the Renmark school group contact possible involved arrangements on two continents. Members of the Riverland Radio Club in Australia assisted at the school, while operators at W6SRJ, the Santa Rosa Junior College Amateur Radio Club station, in California, handled the actual radio link with NA1SS. MCI provided two-way audio teleconferencing for the event. Will Marchant, KC6ROL, moderated the contact from Virginia.
ARISS has
scheduled school group contacts with students in Germany, France and Canada. An
international project, ARISS has participation and support from ARRL, NASA and
AMSAT.
| Previous: On-Line Licensing Course, Grassroots Lobbying Kit Part of ARRL's 2004 Plan | Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
