Thanks to Amateur Radio and an international teleconferencing link, Inuit students attending Jaanimmarik School in Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada, joined the space program May 4. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program arranged the contact between NA1SS and ARISS veteran Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI, in Kingston, Australia. Verizon Conferencing donated a two-way audio link between the northern Quebec school and VK5ZAI. Speaking from NA1SS, US astronaut Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, told the students that it’s very exciting to be in space.
“To look at the earth from up here and to see the entire earth at one time is fabulous,” Williams said. “Of course, being weightless is also fantastic, when you float around, and everything else floats around too, if it’s not tied down.”
Williams reported that he and Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, are doing experiments involving crystal growth in a microgravity environment as well as fluid dynamics and growing plants. In what little spare time he has in his busy work week, Williams–like many ISS crew members before him–enjoys looking through the ISS window at Earth some 220 miles below.
“The mountains are beautiful, the horizon is beautiful during a sunset or a sunrise,” Williams said. “You see the different colors in the atmosphere.”
One youngster wanted to know if Williams had had a chance to use the Canadarm2–the robotic manipulator that was made in Canada. The astronaut said he had used it and would be using it again this week. “I use it fairly regularly,” Williams added. “It’s a fantastic piece of equipment.”
Accompanied by some tittering from his classmates, one youngster asked the somewhat indelicate question, “How do you go to the bathroom in space?”
Responded Williams, “You go very carefully, very carefully.” He went on to explain that the ISS is equipped with a special “air-flow” toilet “that helps things go where they need to go.”
ARISS mentor Steve McFarlane, VE3BTD, estimated the audience at approximately 450. The event attracted the attention of CBC North as well as local radio, which broadcast the contact live with a running translation into Inuktituk. APTN (Northern Canada TV Network) is producing a segment for later broadcast.
Ottawa news media also reported on the contact because students from Manordale Public School in Ottawa were on hand in Kuujjuaq for the Jaanimmarik contact, McFarlane said. Youngsters at Manordale spoke with ISS Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, in December 2004.
ARISS http://www.rac.ca/ariss is an educational outreach of a nine-nation consortium, with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.