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 Previous: League Asks FCC to Void Florida RFI Statute |  Next: In Search of Paradise |
 W5RRR control op Nick Lance, KC5KBO (center at table) raises NA1SS while students Lydia Liu and Pete Bechtol await their turns to ask the first two questions. |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 1, 2005--Youngsters attending St John's School in Houston, Texas, used ham radio to pose 15 questions about life in space to International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW. For Chiao, the contact February 23 between NA1SS and W5RRR--the club station at the Johnson Space Center (JSC)--was a homecoming of sorts. The QSO was arranged through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. One student at the independent 13-year school was curious about the differences between traveling into space aboard the Russian Soyuz vehicle and the US space shuttle. Chiao said despite some similarities, the rides also have their unique aspects.
"The Russian rocket, because it doesn't use solid-rocket
boosters, is actually much smoother. It's liquid engines the whole time and just
feels a little bit different," Chiao explained. "Also, because it's a
missile--not a winged vehicle like the shuttle--the actual trajectory is a
little bit different that than of the shuttle, so we actually pull a few more
Gs. We get up to about four and a half Gs as opposed to three Gs on the
American space shuttle." So-called "G" forces refer to the force of gravity
during acceleration.
 Nick Lance, KC5KBO, at the controls while Lydia Liu asks Leroy Chiao what the ISS crew members do for fun and exercise in their free time. |
Both spacecraft convey crews into space--the Soyuz can hold three passengers, while the shuttle can accommodate a crew more than twice that size, and both take the same amount of time to get into space--about eight and a half minutes, Chiao pointed out. The Soyuz vehicles have been the sole means of transporting crews to and from the ISS since NASA grounded its shuttle fleet following the shuttle Columbia tragedy. As a result, ISS crew complements dropped from three to two members. NASA hopes to return the shuttle to flight this summer.
Another student wanted to know what was Chiao's "most scary experience" in space. Chiao said he and crewmate Salizhan Sharipov have not had any scary experiences but they've had some exciting ones, especially during spacewalks.
"Although we haven't had anything scary happen, of course
you have to be very careful during that time to make sure that you keep your
tethers in order because you don't want to accidentally cut loose from the
station and float away," Chiao said. "So, I guess that could be thought of as
scary in a sense, but you have to be very careful."
 The ARISS contact at St John's took place on the stage of the Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center Auditorium before an audience of some 400 students, parents and faculty members. [George Fletcher, AD5CQ, Photos] |
Chiao said haircuts and shaving in zero gravity present minor challenges to the ISS crews. "For haircuts we do have an attachment we hook up to the vacuum cleaner to keep the hairs from flying all over the place when we cut each other's hair, and so we've both become amateur barbers," he told the students. Chiao said that for shaving, the crew has a choice of electric razors or blades.
The Expedition 10 Commander also said humans are naturally
curious and explorers. "We want to know what's on the other side of that
mountain," he said.
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St John's teacher Rene Wright took a turn at the W5RRR mike to thank Chiao for selecting the school for an ARISS school group contact. "For us it has been the experience of a lifetime," she said. After a loud cheer went up from the crowd, Chiao said the contact was a real pleasure for him and that it was "great to be talking to home again."
Ten St John's students ranging from elementary through high school age participated in the QSO. Looking on in the Virginia Stuller Tatham Fine Arts Center Auditorium were some 400 students, teachers and parents. The Johnson Space Center's Nick Lance, KC5KBO, served as control operator for the contact. He had help at the school from Dan Sedej, KD5YCW, and George Fletcher, AD6CQ. Larry Dietrich, WD8KUJ, Gil Carman, WA6NOM, and Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, supported the contact from the JSC Amateur Radio Club's W5RRR.
ARISS is an
educational outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.
| Previous: League Asks FCC to Void Florida RFI Statute | Next: In Search of Paradise |
