[Boringiss] News

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==>ASTRONAUT GREETS HIS KIDS FROM SPACE VIA HAM RADIO

Astronaut Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, aboard the International Space Station fielded
20 questions March 21 from 10 elementary schoolers--two of them his own
children. Youngsters attending St Thomas the Apostle Episcopal School in
Nassau Bay, Texas, spoke with Bursch via an Amateur Radio and
teleconferencing linkup. A day earlier, astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE, talked
directly via 2 meters with youngsters at a school in Australia. Both
contacts with NA1SS were compliments of the Amateur Radio on the
International Space Station (ARISS) program

Bursch's daughter, Robyn, and son, Jackson, had the honor of being the first
and second in the St Thomas question queue. Robyn Bursch asked her dad if it
was cold in space. "Hello, Robyn! I miss you!" Bursch replied. He went on to
explain that while it can be really hot or really cold in space depending on
whether or not you were in sunlight, inside the space station "it's just
like home."

Robyn's younger sibling Jackson was eager to know how many times a day his
father ate. "Hi, Jackson, I miss you too. Probably about eight times a day,"
he quipped, before explaining that the crew ate the usual three times a day
"and sometimes we have a snack, too, with tea, so maybe that counts as
three-and-a-half times."

Sleeping in space took some getting used to, he told another questioner. The
crew's sleeping bags need to be tied down or they'd float around, "and who
knows where we'd end up in the morning?" he asked. Christmas trees in space?
"We had a Christmas tree, and it was made out of cloth and just a couple of
feet high," Bursch explained. Space aliens? Bursch said he hadn't spotted
any yet.

Handling Earth station duties for the ARISS QSO was Nancy Rocheleau, WH6PN,
in Honolulu. Worldcom provided the teleconferencing hookup.

"It's been a wonderful experience, and we'll all treasure it," said
coordinating teacher Martha Kirby Capo.

On March 20, Walz answered 13 questions via ham radio from students at
Zeehan Primary School in Tasmania, Australia. The contact marked the first
between the ISS and an Australian school. Walz explained that the crew would
be returning to Earth in May, following a five-and-a-half month tour in
space. He noted that crew members now have the capability to keep in touch
with their families via an onboard telephone and via e-mail. 

Asked about the crew's dietary routine, Walz explained that what he and his
colleagues ate was "like food that you would take camping" and included
canned, packaged and dehydrated meal items.

Handling Earth station chores for the direct contact were Bill Lynd, VK7KHZ,
and Dick van Beek, VK7KVB. Veteran ARISS coordinator Tony Hutchison, VK5ZAI,
congratulated the school on a job well done. "Despite gale-force winds and
heavy rain, everything went smoothly," he said.

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