Sheila Martin, the wife of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin topped the list of VIPs on hand when youngsters at Manordale Public School in Ottawa spoke via ham radio with International Space Station Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW.
The December 9 contact was arranged via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station–or ARISS–program. Chiao answered 11 of the kids’ questions, including one asking how the ISS is making life better on Earth. In addition to general technological spin offs from the space program, Chiao cited some ongoing biomedical research.
“There are some experiments on board where we’re developing some protein crystals that pharmaceutical companies can use to hopefully make vaccines and things like that for diseases such as AIDS,” he explained.
Chiao also told the youngsters–who ranged from pre-kindergartners to sixth graders–that he’s “very comfortable being in space” and has not had any problems adjusting to zero gravity or with sleeping in space. The 44-year-old astronaut told another youngster that while life in space can be very challenging, he had not seen anything unusual or frightening. Recounting that the Expedition 10 crew had to override automatic controls and dock manually with the ISS, Chiao said the experience was “kind of exciting, but I wouldn’t say it was scary.”
There’s no TV or Internet aboard the space station, he told another youngster. “Sometimes we miss those things, and it makes you wonder how we ever got along without them, doesn’t it?”
Back on Earth, Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD, served as the ARISS mentor, while Steve Regan, VA3MGY, and Geoff Johnson, VE3KID, provided the Earth station, for which Johnson loaned his call sign.
“The PM’s wife was thrilled with this,” McFarlane said, describing Sheila Martin’s reaction to the youngsters’ enthusiasm and excitement and the contact’s success. McFarlane’s wife Lori, a teacher, assisted with this QSO. Having earned a reputation among the Ottawa news media as “the space lady,” she has helped out with earlier ARISS contacts in Merivale, Ontario, and Iqaluit, Nunavut.
As the Manordale ARISS contact ended, Chiao remained on frequency and made several casual contacts. Glenn Graff, KB1GUE, in Bedford, Massachusetts, west of Boston reports he listened in on most of the Canadian school contact, then jumped in to make one of his own, calling NA1SS on the 144.49 MHz uplink frequency. Graff said Chiao told him that it was his first non-school amateur contact and that he would try to get on the air during his off time.
ARISS http://www.rac.ca/ariss/ is an educational outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.