March 21, 2001

ASTRONAUT IN HIS CHILDREN'S CLASSROOM

Astronaut Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, fielded 20 questions Thursday from ten youngsters, two of whom were his own children. The primary school students attend St. Thomas Episcopal School in Nassau Bay, Texas, a few miles southeast of Houston.

"Is it cold in space?" Robyn Bursch asked her daddy. Bursch replied, "Hello, Robyn! I miss you!" Bursch continued, explaining that it was very cold in space, but that inside the space station, "...it's just like home."

Ellen Wood asked,"Have you seen any planets?" Bursch responded,"Yes, I've seen Mars and Venus."

Patrick Collins wanted to know if Bursch has seen seasonal weather changes on the Earth. "Yes!" answered Bursch. "Actually, we see weather changes every 45 minutes. We see all the seasons every time we go around the Earth."

Coordinating teacher Martha Capo was extremely pleased with the contact. "It was fantastic! It was alifetime opportunity."

The ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) telebridge contact was through H6PN in Honolulu, Hawaii, with ham Nancy Rocheleau at the controls. Worldcom, Inc., provided the telephone linkup to the classroom. The moderator for the event was Roy Neal, K6DUE. ARISS is an international project, with U.S. participation by the ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.