Canadian Youngsters Speak with Commander Shepherd on ARISS QSO

From the ARRL...



NEWINGTON, CT, Feb 22, 2001--A dozen youngsters at Merivale Public School in Ottawa, Ontario, today became the first Canadian students to speak with Space Station Alpha Commander William "Shep" Shepherd, KD5GSL, operating from space as NA1SS. Canada's prime minister had to miss the show, however. Today's successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station--or ARISS--school contact likely will be the last for the Expedition 1 crew.


Amateur Radio coordinator Steve McFarlane, VE3TBD, worked in concert with his wife, Lori--a teacher at the school--to make the contact a reality. Lori McFarlane has been working with youngsters at the school for several weeks in anticipation of the ARISS QSO. Merivale Public has an enrollment of nearly 600 students, from junior kindergarten to grade 6.



VE3TBD initially made several unsuccessful attempts to raise Shepherd. McFarlane found NA1SS on the ARISS backup frequency. The approximately 10-minute contact began around 1829 UTC on 2 meter FM.



A dozen pupils were set to ask questions of Shepherd, and all got their chance. Youngsters asked Shepherd about trash disposal and recycling aboard the ISS, procedures for dealing with a sick crew member, and what the crew does for exercise. One fourth grader asked why building a space station was necessary, given problems with pollution and poverty on Earth. Shepherd had a ready reply. "We live on a planet that's really kind of an island, and it's not going to last forever," he said. "And I think humans probably need to go places other than Earth even though we're all in the solar system, and if we don't have places like space station to do the research on how to do that, we'll never be able to do it."



Shepherd said the crew members all missed their families and friends but he said he gets to talk to his wife via Amateur Radio "every couple of days." He also said he has photos and videos of his family aboard. Responding to another student's question, Shepherd said the crew had exercise equipment aboard, and that exercising was considered essential.



Near the conclusion of the contact, the students on hand hollered "73, Commander Shepherd!" in unison. Looking on, in addition to other students and teachers were reporting teams from TV and newspapers. It had been hoped that Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien would be able to be on hand, but he was attending to a scheduled visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.



Among those assisting McFarlane in addition to his wife were Ken Pulfer, VE3PU, George Roach, Steve Regan, VA3MGY, Eric Teutsch, and ARISS mentor Charlie Sufana, AJ9N.



The Merivale ARISS contact probably will be the last school QSO for the current crew of Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko, and Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR. In addition to the Merivale school QSO, the Expedition 1 crew has completed contacts with schools in Illinois, Virginia, New York and Texas plus a handful of casual contacts since coming aboard the ISS last November.



ARISS spokesman Will Marchant, KC6ROL, said he expects it will be sometime in late March--after the Expedition 2 crew arrives--before ARISS school contacts can resume. The ISS Expedition 2 crew will include two hams, Russian cosmonaut and Commander Yuri Usachev, UA9AD, and US astronaut Susan Helms, KC7NHZ, in addition to US astronaut Jim Voss.



For more information on the ARISS program, visit the
ARISS Website.