Space Camp Turkey

Expedition 9 Flight Engineer Mike Fincke, KE5AIT (left), and Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT. [NASA Photo]

NEWINGTON, Jul 7, 2003--It was July 5, 2004, 08:25 UTC, and from 250 miles over the Pacific Ocean, NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, onboard the International Space Station, answered questions from students at Space Camp Turkey via Amateur Radio. A total of 130 students between the ages of 12 and 16 from several countries including Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Israel and the United States took part in the two-way Earth-Space contacts using the ARISS equipment.

Immediately, Mike started fielding questions from the students. One question in particular, "What do your children think of you being gone for so long?" really hit home with Mike as his wife had recently given birth to their daughter, and he has not yet seen the child. He said it was his favorite question. Another dealt with growing crystals in space.

Located in Izmir, Turkey, the space camp was linked to the ISS ham equipment through an MCI-donated telephone bridge, similar to a phone patch, to Amateur Radio Earth station WH6PN in Honolulu, Hawaii. Dick Flagg, AH6NM, acting as control operator of the Earth station, made the initial call from Hawaii to the ISS as the spacecraft raced through space at a speed of over 17,000 MPH. The NA1SS signal was heard loud and clear. Aziz Sasa, TA1E, served as control operator on the Turkey end of the contact.

In addition to Aziz, the students and their two American teachers, attendees included many spectators and the Turkish news media. The exchanges between student and astronauts can be heard on the Internet.

The event was part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station project. ARISS is a project of the ARRL, AMSAT and NASA. The QSO was moderated by Charlie Sufana, AJ9N, and monitored by ARISS officials and ARRL representatives.

Mike Fincke is part of a two-man crew on NASA's Expedition 9 with Russian Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, RN3DT. Their other Amateur Radio activity has included making over 100 contacts with Earth stations during the recent ARRL Field Day. Mike enjoyed it so much that he made another batch of random QSOs over the July 4 weekend. The next scheduled ARISS contact is a direct one with the Meizen School in Kurume-city, Japan, using the call sign 8N6A, on July 13.

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