January 30, 2009

ASTRONAUT MIKE FINCKE TALKS TO CERAM BUSINESS SCHOOL IN FRANCE

Thursday 29 January 2009 at 14:58 UTC, i.e. 15:58 local time, the "CERAM Business School" in Sophia Antipolis, France, established a telebridge contact with US astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, on board the International Space Station, via the ARISS Ground Station VK4KHZ in Australia operated by Shane Lynd.

The CERAM Business School is located in Sophia Antipolis, a science and technology park nearby Nice at the French Riviera.

CERAM business school offers French and international students a 4 years bachelor degree with two years spent abroad in one of 25 partner universities in USA, Canada and Australia. Like a North American University, the CERAM Bachelors EAI is organized around colleges and departments. There are two colleges: The Technology College which comprises 5 departments (Aviation, Engineering, Computer Science, Life Science and Mathematics) and the Business College with its Business department and its Communication department.

CERAM counts more than 2000 students, of which more than 25% are international students.

The ARISS event was set up by Dr. Frederic Peneau, Associate Professor, and the Engineering department. The questions were read by the students in English.

At exactly 14:58 UTC, right on schedule, contact with NA1SS was established by VK4KHZ. Astronaut Mike Fincke KE5AIT answered 15 questions on various topics. The astronaut commented that the present mission is to get the ISS ready for a crew of six members.

The audio from the ISS was excellent, except at the end of the contact when the downlink signal became unreadable because of an interference.

The event was covered by the mass media and the ARISS contact will lead to further development at CERAM.

Congratulations to the CERAM team!

73

Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ

ARISS mentor

CERAM Audio