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 Previous: CNCS Emergency Communication Training Grant News: |  Next: AO-40 Command Team Plays the Waiting Game |
 On the air: ISS Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale, KB5UAC, at the microphone of the new NA1SS station. The gear has not yet been cleared for routine use during school group contacts. [NASA Photo] |
 Experimenting: Expedition 8 Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Foale, KB5UAC, works with the Russian biomedical "Pilot" experiment in the Zvezda Service Module on the ISS. The experiment looks at psychological and physiological changes in crew performance during long-duration spaceflight. [NASA Photo] |
 Gazing down at Earth: Five-year-old icebergs near South Georgia Island as seen from the ISS. This oblique image shows two pieces of a massive iceberg that broke off from the Antarctica Ronne Ice Shelf in October 1998. [NASA Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 3, 2004--International Space Station Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale, KB5UAC, has told students at The King's School in Canterbury, England, that he believes human spaceflight has some significant advantages over robotic space exploration. The British-born Foale, who once attended the school, answered a dozen questions during a January 28 school group QSO with NA1SS arranged through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program.
"When the people get there they actually have to experience it firsthand, they can communicate it better," Foale said of human space exploration, "but most important they can understand the unusual things in a way that the robots never could." He also pointed out that people are very good at fixing things that go wrong, and added, "that's something I do quite a lot of up here."
In reply to a question about how well his training on Earth prepared him for living in space, Foale said his pre-flight training was sufficient to learn the technical aspects but was unable to truly replicate the environment of space--"the weightlessness, the view, and the brightness of the sun and the darkness of space."
Foale said he enjoys gazing down at Earth but when the ISS is on the dark side of the planet, he cools down after exercising by looking at the galaxy. "You can see the Milky Way from up here, and it is absolutely tremendous," he said. "The stars have different colors--reds and greens and blues and yellows."
Foale said he believes a new phase in spaceflight is on the horizon. "I think the most significant one will be commercial spaceflight," he told the students. President George Bush's recent call to refocus NASA's goals toward landings on the moon and Mars set a tone that he hopes the rest of the world will follow, Foale said.
Founded in 579 AD, The King's School is a coeducational boarding and day school for students of high school age. Before going into space, Foale visited the school, which has named a prestigious award after him for outstanding achievement in and enthusiasm for science. Students at the school have been closely following Foale's tour of duty aboard the ISS since he went into space last October.
At the school, control operator Carlos Eavis, G0AKI, used the call sign GB4FUN, which was borrowed from the Radio Society of Great Britain for the occasion. Among those on hand were the Lord Mayor of Canterbury, school dignitaries, representatives of the RSGB and AMSAT-UK, other students and members of the news media.
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The ARISS contact received media coverage from three TV outlets as well as from two radio stations and a newspaper.
The next scheduled ARISS school group contact is set for February 4 with youngsters at the James F. Bay Elementary School in Houston. ARISS is an international educational outreach program with US participation from ARRL, NASA and AMSAT.
NASA reports the ISS crew spent much of the
past weekend dealing with the arrival of the Progress 13 resupply flight. Foale
and Expedition 8 Flight Engineer Sasha Kaleri, U8MIR,
opened the hatches between the Progress and the ISS Zvezda Service Module
following leak checks. Included in the newly arrived cargo was a new flex hose
for the Earth observation window in the Destiny Laboratory
Module. A small leak in the old flex hose was
responsible for the slight pressure decay aboard the ISS in late December and
early January. The flex hose helps to vent air and condensation from the
window.--some
information from Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, and Scott Lindsey-Stevens, N3ASA
| Previous: CNCS Emergency Communication Training Grant News: | Next: AO-40 Command Team Plays the Waiting Game |
