05-22-2001, 08:00 PM
KREM.COM writes "Students miss chance to talk to space station.
Astronauts never turned on radio; Students will try to raise station again.
Christopher Anderson - The Spokesman-Review
Carlos Acevedo - Staff writer
What might have been a glorious moment at Moran Prairie Elementary turned into a major bummer when students waiting to talk with the International Space Station got only static for the 10-minute window of radio time.
Onlookers and the students crowded anxiously around radio operator Tom Faulkner at 7:30 a.m. while he hailed the station in vain.
"N,A,1,S,S ... N,A,1,S,S, this is W,7,T,R,F at Moran Prairie Elementary, over," Faulkner called again and again into a microphone.
A laptop computer nearby tracked the station in orbit as it hurtled over the southeast horizon and, consequently, out of range. The disappointment was palpable as everyone realized that the momentous opportunity had passed.
Space shuttle crews, and now the International Space Station, regularly talk with students via amateur radio as part of a NASA educational program.
"As near as we can tell, there was some sort of mixup on NASA's end and the crew never turned their radio on," said coordinator Joe Bruce. A space buff, he applied for the land-to-space talk five years ago when his children attended the elementary school. They have since gone on to middle school and high school, but Bruce continues to steward the project.
NASA's apparent goof was particularly disappointing, he said, because Moran Prairie and the Agilent Technologies engineers who volunteered to provide technical support have worked hard to be ready.
Since November, when the space agency approved Bruce's request, the school staff and engineers have hustled. Teachers had students submit questions for the astronauts, and five students -- sixth-graders Chelsea Momany and John Cadagan, fifth-grader Kalli Wedlake and fourth-graders Erica Hart and Robbie Coombs -- were picked to ask them.
Meanwhile, the engineers amassed a battery of radio and transmission gear powerful enough to shoot a signal into space.
To test the equipment, engineers eavesdropped on space station radio traffic over the weekend.
The missed chance also comes after months of postponements by NASA. Bruce said such delays are to be expected given the demands on the space station's schedule.
Monday's date, however, was as firm an appointment as a school can get, he said. Barring an emergency, the contact should have happened.
Students will have only one more chance before school ends. If successful, they will be the first Spokane School District students to speak with orbiting astronauts.
The engineers asked that the specific time not be published due to concerns that malicious ham radio operators might try to jam the signal or talk over the transmission.
Interference was not a contributing problem Monday, they said.
As a small consolation, the students enjoyed celebrity treatment from TV reporters, who crammed around with microphones and cameras for comment. KREM-TV aired live from the classroom with a weather forecast, and the other stations broadcast later with the unfortunate news.
"I think it'll be fun to be on television," fourth-grader Hart said.
"Just not as much fun as talking to the space station," classmate Coombs added."
Astronauts never turned on radio; Students will try to raise station again.
Christopher Anderson - The Spokesman-Review
Carlos Acevedo - Staff writer
What might have been a glorious moment at Moran Prairie Elementary turned into a major bummer when students waiting to talk with the International Space Station got only static for the 10-minute window of radio time.
Onlookers and the students crowded anxiously around radio operator Tom Faulkner at 7:30 a.m. while he hailed the station in vain.
"N,A,1,S,S ... N,A,1,S,S, this is W,7,T,R,F at Moran Prairie Elementary, over," Faulkner called again and again into a microphone.
A laptop computer nearby tracked the station in orbit as it hurtled over the southeast horizon and, consequently, out of range. The disappointment was palpable as everyone realized that the momentous opportunity had passed.
Space shuttle crews, and now the International Space Station, regularly talk with students via amateur radio as part of a NASA educational program.
"As near as we can tell, there was some sort of mixup on NASA's end and the crew never turned their radio on," said coordinator Joe Bruce. A space buff, he applied for the land-to-space talk five years ago when his children attended the elementary school. They have since gone on to middle school and high school, but Bruce continues to steward the project.
NASA's apparent goof was particularly disappointing, he said, because Moran Prairie and the Agilent Technologies engineers who volunteered to provide technical support have worked hard to be ready.
Since November, when the space agency approved Bruce's request, the school staff and engineers have hustled. Teachers had students submit questions for the astronauts, and five students -- sixth-graders Chelsea Momany and John Cadagan, fifth-grader Kalli Wedlake and fourth-graders Erica Hart and Robbie Coombs -- were picked to ask them.
Meanwhile, the engineers amassed a battery of radio and transmission gear powerful enough to shoot a signal into space.
To test the equipment, engineers eavesdropped on space station radio traffic over the weekend.
The missed chance also comes after months of postponements by NASA. Bruce said such delays are to be expected given the demands on the space station's schedule.
Monday's date, however, was as firm an appointment as a school can get, he said. Barring an emergency, the contact should have happened.
Students will have only one more chance before school ends. If successful, they will be the first Spokane School District students to speak with orbiting astronauts.
The engineers asked that the specific time not be published due to concerns that malicious ham radio operators might try to jam the signal or talk over the transmission.
Interference was not a contributing problem Monday, they said.
As a small consolation, the students enjoyed celebrity treatment from TV reporters, who crammed around with microphones and cameras for comment. KREM-TV aired live from the classroom with a weather forecast, and the other stations broadcast later with the unfortunate news.
"I think it'll be fun to be on television," fourth-grader Hart said.
"Just not as much fun as talking to the space station," classmate Coombs added."