[PPRAANet] Colorado schools contact the International Space Station

[John Bloodgood]

Recently students in a couple Denver and in Estes Park CO schools got a chance to chat live with astronauts on the International Space Station via Amateur “ham” Radio as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) educational outreach program.

On Wednesday, 24 February, students from John F Kennedy High School and Bear Valley Middle School got to talk to astronaut Col. Mike Hopkins, US Space Force, call sign KF5LJG.  The contact was conducted by telebridge via ARISS team member David Payne, using call sign NA7V in Portland OR and hosted through John Kludt, N7SYS in Sandpoint ID. You can watch the contact and some introductory video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RgszX0npbQ

Two days later on Friday, 26 February, students at Estes Park Elementary School got to talk to astronaut and physicist Shannon Walker, PhD in a direct contact as the space station was above the horizon in Colorado.  You can watch their contact and some introductory video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnPkH2eJM-A

Students from each ask questions and learn about life in space. During the Estes Park pass, Colorado listeners to the ISS could hear Dr. Walker responding to questions from the students.  Audio of a couple of those can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/coloradoarrl/permalink/4619543761405475/

Though it does not appear that we were able to get news coverage of the first contact, a couple stations in Denver did cover the second contact:  https://denver.cbslocal.com/2021/02/26/shannon-walker-estes-park-elementary-school-students-astronaut/  and https://www.9news.com/video/tech/science/estes-park-nasa-astronants/73-58db1844-0152-4eab-aa0f-ff43b3ec9038 .

For more about ARISS, you can visit them on the web at https://www.ariss.org/ or follow along on Facebook and Twitter at https://www.facebook.com/Amateur-Radio-on-the-International-Space-Station-ARISS-153679794647788  and https://twitter.com/ARISS_status  .

V/r




John Bloodgood, KD0SFY