December 15, 2009
ASTRONAUT JEFFREY WILLIAMS KD5TVQ TALKS TO ITALIAN STUDENTS AT ASTRONOMIC PARK
TORINO
Monday, 14
December 2009 at 08:30 UTC, i.e. 09:30 local time, Comprehensive School of
Govone – “Nino Costa” di Priocca Middle School, Cuneo, Italy established a direct contact with NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams KD5TVQ on board the
International Space Station. The Amateur Radio school station operated the contact with callsign
IK1SLD.
The two Junior High schools "Nino
Costa" of Priocca and "T.L. Dalmasso" of Govone are integral
part of the Comprehensive School of Govone in the province of Cuneo. The municipal territories of the
Comprehensive School of Govone are situated on the left bank of the river
Tanaro; this district, which is a hill country, is called "Roero" and
it's famous for its fine wines. The
inhabitants live mostly in the plain where the schools can also be found while
on the top of the hill there is the old town centre where is
the townhall. The students came from the small towns of Govone, Priocca,
Magliano Alfieri, Castellinaldo, San Damiano. The school is attended by about 300 pupils,
aged between 3 and 13 years.
Claudio Ariotti, IK1SLD radio contact
coordinator decided in favour of a direct contact. All questions were read by
the students of “Nino Costa” Middle School. The contact site
were located at InfiniTo Astronomic Parck in Pino Torinese, Torino,
where an audience of more than 150 students, teachers, visitors and media could
follow the contact. After the contact, ARISS mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF commented the event with by phone.
At 08:30 UTC, contact with OR4ISS was
established by station IK1SLD. Astronaut Jeffrey Williams KD5TVQ answered 22 questions by direct contact. The
signals from the ISS were loud and clear all the time.
Regional Television, local media and newspapers
covered the event. The audio and video was distributed on
http://www.ik1sld.org/live/ - about 150 Contacts by Web streaming from France
66, Italy 52, USA 25, Poland 15, Belgium 6, Switzerland 3, United Kingdom 3,
Austria 2.
Congratulations to Infinito
planetarium and ARI Casale Monferrato
team!
ARISS is an international educational outreach
program partnering the participating space agencies, NASA, Russian Space
Agency, ESA, CNES, JAXA, and CSA, with the AMSAT and IARU organizations from
participating countries.
ARISS offers an opportunity for students to
experience the excitement of Amateur Radio by talking directly with crewmembers
onboard the International Space Station. Teachers, parents and communities see,
first hand, how Amateur Radio and crewmembers on ISS can energize youngsters'
interest in science, technology and learning.
73
Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF
ARISS mentor
