 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "Amateur Radio Community Fuels "Best Year Ever" for United Way Toy Drive"){kind=small} Previous: Amateur Radio Community Fuels "Best Year Ever" for United Way Toy Drive |  Next: CNCS Emergency Communication Training Grant News |
 Wearing holiday caps and NASA-ESA coveralls, students queued up to ask their questions of ISS Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, at the controls of NA1SS. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Dec 22, 2004--International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, told youngsters at University College Cork in Ireland that the most exciting thing about being an astronaut is flying in space and looking at "our beautiful Earth." The conversation between Chiao and the school children in Ireland December 17 was arranged via the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. Responding to one youngster's question about what it felt like to be in a place without gravity, Chiao said there's not much on Earth to compare it with.
"It feels like nothing else on Earth," he said from the controls of the space station's NA1SS. "It's really neat to float around." Chiao said the closest approximation on Earth might be floating on water. In reply to another student's question, he pointed out that working in microgravity "has its own challenges," but that it made constructing the ISS much easier overall.
The ESA
arranged for pupils attending several schools in Ireland to participate in the ARISS
event. During the course of the contact, Chiao--using the more powerful and convenient
NA1SS Phase 2 station--answered all 10 questions the youngsters had
prepared and posed plus another from Earth station operator Tony Hutchison,
VK5ZAI, in Australia. MCI provided a two-way teleconferencing link between
Australia and Ireland--to make the contact possible--and to the US, where ARISS mentor Will Marchant, KC6ROL,
moderated. Audio also was distributed via IRLP.
 Also in the holiday spirit: ISS Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW. [NASA Photo] |
Reflecting a sentiment expressed by his ISS crew predecessors, Chiao told one Cork pupil that looking out the window of the space station is one of his favorite leisure-time activities. "You can see, of course, cities and airports and large manmade structures," he said. "I'm still trying to look for the Great Wall of China. I haven't had success yet, but I'm still looking."
The youngsters' final question--and Chiao's reply to
it--got the entire student group and audience of onlookers giggling. One pupil
wanted to know if there were toilets on the ISS and how astronauts dealt with
bodily functions while wearing their space suits.
 An audience of more than 300 students, teachers, parents and news media were on hand for the University College Cork event. | ||
|
"Life doesn't stop when you come into space," Chiao said. He explained that there not only are toilets aboard the ISS but diapers for the astronauts to wear while they're suited up for travel. "But we try not to have to use them," he added. "so, we try to prepare ourselves before."
As he prepared to sign off, Chiao urged the youngsters to
"follow your dreams and reach for the stars." Apparently recognizing that a few
seconds remained in the approximately seven-minute pass, Hutchison jumped in to
ask Chiao to share his advice on becoming an astronaut.
 For ARISS school group contacts, Chiao has been using the ISS's more powerful and flexible Phase 2 amateur station, located in the crew's quarters in the spacecraft's Zvezda module. [NASA Photo] |
"Work hard in school, take it seriously, get good grades," Chiao recommended. "Use your head, do the right thing, follow your dreams--don't stop dreaming, that's the most important part."
Following a huge cheer that took a good half-minute to wind down, Chiao wished the youngsters a Merry Christmas and happy holidays.
An audience of more than 300 youngsters, teachers and VIPs listened in as a large screen depicted the ISS approaching from the Indian Ocean and crossing the Australian continent. Jeremy Sheehan, EI5GM, assisted at Cork. Several newspapers, a TV station and the Irish national radio network covered the event.
ARISS is an international outreach with US
participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.--some
information provided by ARISS-Europe Chairman Gaston Bertels, ON4WF
| Previous: Amateur Radio Community Fuels "Best Year Ever" for United Way Toy Drive | Next: CNCS Emergency Communication Training Grant News |
