[HCRA] Fw: [VWS] Transcript of Virginia Run Elementary School ARISS contact, 3/2/2007

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-----Original Message-----
From: "Pete Norloff" <pnorloff05 at toward.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 11:45:25 
To:<vws at viennawireless.org>
Subject: [VWS] Transcript of Virginia Run Elementary School ARISS contact, 3/2/2007

This is a transcript of the communications between students of Virginia Run
Elementary School and astronaut Suni Williams aboard the International Space
Station on March 2, 2007.  Difficulties in communications prevented the
contact with the children from beginning until 3:36 into the pass.  Everyone
recovered completely and all of the children were able to ask their
questions and listen to the answers.

Operating the Vienna Wireless Society K4HTA station are:
 Pete Norloff, KG4OJT
 Iain McFadyen, KI4HLV
 Tom Azlin, N4ZPT
 John Transue, AF4PD
 Phil Wherry, AI4JF
 Gary Nelson, KI4EKM
 Will Marchant, KC6ROL
 Matthew Norloff, KG4URU

Assisting:
 Corky Searls, AF4PM
 Dan Sullivan, KO1D
 Matthew Pepper, KB1EXM
 Deane Parker, K4MEL

The International Space Station rose above the south east horizon at
11:19:40 and set at 11:29:39 below the north east horizon.


11:19:15 NA1SS NA1SS this is K4HTA over
11:19:24 NA1SS NA1SS this is K4HTA over
11:19:35 NA1SS NA1SS this is K4HTA over
11:19:43 broken audio <… Four Hotel Tango…>
11:19:51 NA1SS NA1SS this is K4HTA over

11:20:00 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:20:06 Good signal Suni, are you ready for the first question?
11:20:15 Are you ready for the first question?  NA1SS this is K4HTA over

11:20:20 …vember Alpha One Sierra Sierra over

11:20:23 We have a good signal here Suni, are you ready for the first
question? Over

11:20:30 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:20:37 NA1SS this is K4HTA, how copy?

11:20:45 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:20:51 NA1SS, K4HTA do you copy?

11:21:00 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:21:06 NA1SS, K4HTA how copy?

11:21:14 Iain: NA1SS NA1SS this is K4HTA

11:21:17 …go Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra Sierra over

11:21:24 NA1SS NA1SS K4HTA over

11:21:31 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:21:39 NA1SS K4HTA over (on backup frequency)

11:21:44 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:21:50 NA1SS K4HTA how copy (on backup frequency)

11:21:57 Kilo Four Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra
Sierra over

11:22:03 NA1SS K4HTA how copy?
11:22:08 NA1SS K4HTA how copy?

11:22:11…r Hotel Tango Alpha this is November Alpha One Sierra Sierra over

11:22:16 NA1SS K4HTA do you copy?

11:22:32 NA1SS K4HTA how copy?

11:22:39 NA1SS NA1SS this is K4HTA over

11:22:43 … ierra over

11:22:44 NA1SS K4HTA do you copy?

11:22:47 We copy you loud and clear.  Hello Virginia Run Elementary School
it’s good to hear you.

11:22:51 Great signal Suni, are you ready for the first question?

11:22:54 Absolutely.

11:22:56 My name is Nicholas.  How high above Earth are you?  Over.

11:23:03 Hi Nicholas.  We’re only about about 200 to 250 miles above the
Earth.  That’s about the distance between Washington DC to New York, so when
you think about that you can think about how thin our atmosphere is that’s
protecting our Earth.  Over.

11:23:18 My name is Alex. How do you eat? Over.

11:23:23 Hi Alex.  That’s a great question.  It is a little bit difficult to
eat because everything flies around.  But luckily it’s stuff that’s usually
stuck together like some type of casserole and we have it in a can so it
doesn’t get too far away.  Sometimes we have to catch it though.  We usually
just have to heat up our food.  We don’t have to really prepare it. over.

11:23:42 My name is Luke.  Is it pitch black in space besides the stars?
Over.

11:23:48 Hi Luke.  As a matter of fact it is.  I think it’s the blackest
color black I’ve ever really seen in my life.  There’s no atmosphere up here
to make the sky seem a little bit blurry or milky.  It’s absolutely clear
and it’s really really black out in space. Over.

11:24:05 My name is Elliott.  Tell us about the layers in your space suit.
Over.

11:24:10 Well we have lots of layers that we wear for a space walk.  First
we have long underwear.  Secondly we put on top of that a cooling garment
just in case we get hot we have water circulating around to cool us.  And
then there is a rubberized suit which is the pressurized suit and on top of
that is a layer of meteorite protection and also thermal protection so, many
layers on the space suit. Over.

11:24:34 My name is Layne: How and when did you decide you wanted to be an
astronaut? Over.

11:24:42 Well I’m a helicopter pilot Layne.  I went down to Johnson Space
Center for a visit and I met a bunch of people not only military pilots and
helicopter pilots but physicists, chemists, veterinarians, doctors that were
all astronauts and I thought oh what the heck, maybe I could be one too.
Over.

11:24:58 My name is Donny.  What kinds of things are you doing to help
future ISS expeditions?  Over.

11:25:06 Hi Don, make sure you tell your parents I said hi.  What we’re
doing up here is paving the way hopefully for more than three people to
live, maybe six.  And also, doing science work that will help us have your
generation go back to the Moon and on to Mars.  Over.

11:25:23 My name is Chloe.  How does the air get into the space station?
Over.

11:25:29 Hi Chloe, that’s a great question.  Air is brought up here by two
spacecraft.  There’s Progress and also the Space Shuttle.  And then we make
air by dividing water, H2O, into H, hydrogen, and O which is oxygen.  And
that’s how we get some of our air.  Over.

11:25:45 My name is Ellen.  How is day-to-day living different there than
here?  Over.

11:25:50 Hi Ellen.  Well, day to day living is a lot of fun up here because
we have a great view of our beautiful planet.  What’s sort of cool about
living here is you can work on the ceiling; you can work on the wall; you
can work on the floor and it all feels sort of the same.  You really can
take advantage of the environment up here.  What’s a little different about
eating and working with things that don’t have Velcro on them is that you
lose them easily because they fly away.  Over.

11:26:15 My name is Bahman.  If something serious happens, what is your most
valuable instrument?  Over.

11:26:21 … Bahman.  I think the most valuable instrument would be the Soyuz
which is a rescue vehicle.  It’s like a rescue boat.  Over.

11:26:28 My name is Andrew.  If you could talk with any former astronaut,
who would it be and what would you talk about?

11:26:35 Hi Andew. I think I would want to talk with any astronaut who had
been to the moon because it would be a pretty great thing to find out what
it was like to actually see our entire planet in your window.  Over.

11:26:47 My name is Liliana.  What kind of research are you doing in the
space station?

11:26:52 Hi Liliana.  Well most of the research we’re doing up here is to
find out what happens to the human body after being in space for so long.
Microgravity is fun to fly around in however it takes a beating on your
body.  First of all your bones don’t have to work so hard so they start
going away a little bit so we have to do physical fitness up here and we
need to find out how much physical fitness we need to do to keep those bones
in shape as well as our muscles.  Radiation is also a big factor because we
don’t have our atmosphere to protect us.  And so we’re trying to find out
things like that what the limitations of those things are so we can keep
people up in space for longer periods of time.  Over.

11:27:29 My name is Nickie.  What are your daily activities?  Over.

11:27:33 Hi Nickie.  Well everyday is different so we do all sorts of things
from space walks (which are called EVAs) to robotic work (we have a robotic
arm outside which we use to connect different parts of the space station
with) to science experiments as well as just clean up.  We’re the only ones
who live here and so we have to do all of the cleaning and maintenance and
sometimes you feel like a plumber or a carpenter because you have to work on
your house while you’re up here.  Over.

11:27:57 My name is Daniel.  What has been your biggest surprise since
you've been up in space?

11:28:03 Hi Daniel.  I think my biggest surprise was how difficult it was to
relax in space and sleep easily.  I felt like I needed a bed or something to
lay down on but there’s nothing much to lay down on.  We sleep in sleeping
bags and the sleeping bags are tied to the wall so you don’t go anywhere but
I had a hard time relaxing my neck because I didn’t have a pillow and didn’t
have that sense of having a pillow or something I was laying down to.  The
second thing, one thing I miss is being able to dunk cookies in milk.  There
’s no cups up here so you don’t have a cup of coffee or a cup of hot
chocolate so those are things it takes a little while to get used to.  Over.

11:28:42 Hi Suni, I’m Shea the school student president.  Speaking on behalf
of the Students, we can not thank you enough. You have given us a
once-in -lifetime experience and to go above and beyond our everyday
classroom studies. We wish you and your expedition 14 crewmates well and
stay safe.

11:28:59 Well thank you very much.  It’s a great honor and privilege to be
here and be talking to you guys.  I know you’ve done a lot of work and a lot
of research to get this contact done.  I hope you’ve learned a lot and if
you have some outstanding questions I know Carl is there.  He can probably
help you out understanding a little bit more.  But thank you so much for
your attention and it was really fun talking with you guys and take care.

11:29:21 THANK YOU!



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