NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, onboard the International Space Station, answered questions from students at Space Camp Turkey via Amateur Radio on July 5, as the ISS orbited some 250 miles over the Pacific Ocean. Some 130 students, aged 12 to 16, took part in the two-way Earth-space contacts via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) equipment. Students hailed from several countries including Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Israel and the US. One camper’s question, “What do your children think of you being gone for so long?” really hit home with Fincke, whose wife recently gave birth to a daughter whom he has not yet seen.
“You know, this is almost my favorite question of all of them,” Fincke responded, “because I have a boy who’s three years old and a baby who was born while I was up here, so my little boy misses me very much, and my little girl doesn’t even know who I am yet.” He said he gets to talk with his wife and his son, Chandra, every day by telephone, and, he added, “that makes a big difference to me.”
Fincke said he also misses the variety of food available on Earth. “The food up here is really good, except we just have pretty much the same kind of food–we can’t cook anything, we don’t have a microwave oven even, much less a real stove or anything.” Fincke said he was looking forward to enjoying different kinds of food when he gets back on Earth.
Located in Izmir, Turkey, the space camp was linked to the ISS ham equipment through an MCI-donated telephone bridge, similar to a phone patch, to Earth station WH6PN in Honolulu. Dick Flagg, AH6NM, served as control operator. Aziz Sasa, TA1E, served as control operator on the Turkey end of the contact. Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, moderated the contact.
In addition to Sasa, the students and their two American teachers, attendees included many spectators and news media.
ARISS is an international educational outreach with participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.