DOUBLE
CONTACT FOR ESA
ASTRONAUT PAOLO NESPOLI, IZ0JPA WITH “D'ASSISI” AND “DON MILANI”
SCHOOLS, ITALY
Saturday,
12 March, 2011 at 10:23 UTC and 12:00 UTC, i.e. 11:23 and 13:00 local time, "Francesco d'Assisi" Middle School AND
Primary School “Don Lorenzo Milani”, Modugno, Bari, Italy, established a double contact
with Italian astronaut PAOLO NESPOLI, IZ0JPA on board the International Space
Station. Astronaut NESPOLI operated with the special Italian callsign IR0ISS
that he will use during his mission. The contact took place at “Cittadella
Mediterranea della Scienza” in Bari and operated the
contact with callsign IZ7RTN.
The
"Francesco d'Assisi" Middle School is located in Modugno, a little
town in the hinterland from the Adriatic coast not too far from Bari. The school is attended by about 300 students,
aged from 11 to 14. The school also offers a variety of elective courses in the
early afternoon, i.e. extracurricular activities. Priority is given to
additional science, mathematics and Italian language courses, sports programs
(such as volley), chorus and musical education, visual arts, publishing
(student newspaper), preparation to mathematics competitions such as the annual
"Kangaroo of Mathematics". The school has a gym, a small library and
a number of laboratories: science lab, computer labs, graphic arts lab, music lab.
The
Primary School 3° Didactic Circle Be them “Don Lorenzo Milani” is situated in
Modugno (BA), inner a city small not a lot far away from the Barium city (9 Km)
chief town of the Puglia. The school is made up of 6 plessi: 3 of school of
Infancy and 3 of Primary School. In 2010/2011 the school accommodates 1,039
pupils of which 613 of Primary School of age between the 6 and 10 years
uniforms in 32 classes, and 426 pupils of School of Infancy of age between the
3 and 6 years uniforms in 17 sections. The pupils attend for 6 days to the
week, the timetable for every lesson to the day are 5 hours of 60 minuteren of
the following matters Italian, mathematical, sciences, geography, English,
computer science laboratory, music, image, motoria activity.
ARISS
mentor Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF proposed to radio contact coordinator in
Bari to set up a direct contact with assistance from ARISS Telebridge station
IK1SLD, installed at Casale Monferrato Airport, Piemonte, Italy. Michele
Mallardi IZ7EVR, radio contact coordinator for this ARISS event, decided in
favour of this set up. The questions were read by the students at “Cittadella
Mediterranea della Scienza”, University of Bari. An
audience of about 150 students, teachers, visitors and media assisted to the
contact.
At 10:23
UTC, contact with IR0ISS was established by station IZ7RTN. Astronaut Paolo
NESPOLI answered 15 questions. At 12:00 UTC, contact with IR0ISS was again established
by station IK7RTN. Paolo NESPOLI answered 15 (+1) more questions and exchanged
greetings. The 31th question concerned the
recent earthquake in Japan. Nespoli sent a special thought to the Japanese people.
The
signal from the ISS was loud and clear all the time for both passes.
Regional
Television, local media and newspapers covered the event.
Streaming
video was on:
http://www.cittadellamediterraneascienza.it/webtv/
ARISS
contact was announced by web story on ESA Portal - National News:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOYVXTVKG_Italy_0.html
Congratulations
to both ARISS “IZ7RTN” and “IK1SLD” teams!
73
Francesco
De Paolis, IK0WGF
ARISS
mentor
Audio Recording 2nd pass
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5
