19 April 2005

FIRST SWISS ARISS SCHOOL CONTACT

The ARISS School Contact with the school at Richterswil in Switzerland has been performed today 19 April 2005 in excellent conditions.

Contact was established at 07:37 UTC, which is 09:37 local time. Signals from space were loud and clear all along the QSO.

Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW answered all the 20 questions prepared by the 8-10 year old schoolchildren. He said he had a nice view of the Alps and the Zurich region. He cannot see planes but very well the trails they produce in the atmosphere. He also said he was delighted to speak to schoolchildren from space over amateur radio.

This ARISS School Contact was a first for Switzerland. It also was record breaking. Indeed, no astronaut before ever had done 23 ARISS School Contacts during an expedition onboard the ISS. Congratulations Leroy!

Within a few days crew 10 will return to earth after a 6 months mission onboard the ISS. Crew 11 is already onboard, comprising cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, Commander and astronaut John Phillips, KE5DRY, Expedition 11 Flight Engineer and NASA Station Science Officer.

We wish Expedition 11 an excellent mission and Crew 10, Leroy Chiao, Salizhan Sharipov as well as visiting ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori a safe journey back home.

The audio of the Richterswil contact is hereto appended.

Gaston Bertels, ON4WF

ARISS-Europe chairman

audio