 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
 Previous: FCC Directs Manassas BPL System to Act Following Ham's Interference Complaint |  Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
 Enthusiastic Cincinnati Country Day School students get ready for their ham radio contact with ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR. A NASA photo of McArthur aboard the ISS serves as a backdrop. [Cincinnati Enquirer Photo by Craig Ruttle] |
CLICK HERE to listen to the ARISS contact between NA1SS and students at Country Day School near Cincinnati: [10:06] |
 Two Hallyburton Elementary schoolers snack on spaceman cookies. Their "We have Got Friends in High Places" T-shirts commemorate their school's March 3 ARISS contact and bear the Expedition 12 logo. |
 All 19 youngsters who took part in the ARISS contact at Hallyburton Elementary got to ask a question of ISS Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR. |
CLICK HERE to listen to the ARISS contact between NA1SS and students at Halliburton Elementary School in Drexel, North Carolina: [9:41] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Mar 10, 2006--Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, this month told youngsters in Ohio and North Carolina that he's been really been enjoying his duty tour onboard the International Space Station. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) arranged both contacts. During a March 1 QSO with students at Country Day School in suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, McArthur described his delight at being in space for his first long-term visit.
"I think the biggest surprise was how much fun it was to be in space," McArthur said. "I thought I would enjoy the work, but what I found was that everything about being in space is delightful."
Lifting off from Earth also was a lot of fun, McArthur explained in response to one student's question.
"That's another really cool thing to experience," he said. "You're lying on your back, and then all of a sudden you're gone, and it's a very thrilling, exciting thing. When you come back, you realize how wonderful zero gravity is, because gravity is just a lot of work--you feel tired, you feel heavy and, very often, dizzy."
Later in the contact, McArthur said the best part of being an astronaut is being able to tell people how exciting it is to explore space "and what an important thing that is for humankind." In all the third, fourth and fifth graders at Country Day managed 19 questions asked and answered during the approximately 10-minute pass. Science teacher Jan French led the effort.
A few days later on March 3, McArthur chatted with youngsters at Harry Hallyburton Elementary School in Drexel, North Carolina--his home state. Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, served as the Earth station for both ARISS school group contacts, and Verizon Conferencing provided a two-way teleconference link between Australia and the schools.
McArthur told the third graders in Deborah Childers' class that some of the ISS crew's scientific research could directly benefit to people.
"We're doing scientific research every day to help to understand the human body better, and that can lead to new discoveries in medicine," McArthur said. "But the real focus of our flight is to learn how people can live and work in space for a very long time, because we think someday, human beings will colonize other planets."
Responding to another question, McArthur told the youngsters that brushing one's teeth in space does present a dilemma regarding what to do with "all the foamy toothpaste" when you're done.
"We use exactly the same kind of toothbrush that you use and exactly the same kind of toothpaste," McArthur explained. "We have two choices: We can either swallow it, which is what I usually do, or if you don't like to do that, then you just hold a towel up to your mouth and spit it directly into a towel."
McArthur said he could see his home state of North Carolina from the ISS, but he could not identify his home town of Red Springs because it's too small to see.
As of this week, McArthur had racked up a record 30 ARISS school contacts during his mission, which wraps up in April. ARISS is an international educational outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.
| Previous: FCC Directs Manassas BPL System to Act Following Ham's Interference Complaint | Next: The K7RA Solar Update |
