Pori pupils talk with crew-member on the International Space Station

Rookie Cosmonaut asked what his last remarks to family were before take-off

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Students from an upper secondary school in Pori on Finland's west coast made contact with the crew of the International Space Station yesterday morning. The link-up, using radio amateur equipment, brought the pupils into voice contact with the crew orbiting at around 400 miles above Finland.
      The brief chat started at 10.14, as the spacecraft arrived over the UK, and ended seven minutes later as the ISS went out of reception range towards the Black Sea.
      The pupils were able to ask 12 questions in English of rookie Russian cosmonaut Yuri Shargin, and they got back ten replies. Apparently Shargin either did not hear or did not understand two of the questions.
     
The flightpath of the spacecraft was eagerly monitored off a PC screen as it approached over the Atlantic.
      Six pupils nervously fingered the papers on which they had written down their questions.
      In all, 20 questions had been drafted. A dry-run carried out a few days earlier - with a "test-pilot cosmonaut" equipped with a radio telephone lurking in the neighbourhood  of the school - had indicated it would be possible to squeeze in 14 questions into the time allowed.
     
A minute before the off, Pori ham radio enthusiast Timo Klimoff began sending out his own call-sign of OH1 NOA. As the spacecraft flew over, Klimoff constantly moved the antennae and switched frequencies to ensure a smooth hook-up between ground and low orbit.
      Each pupil quickly put forward his or her question (there was only one girl in the group) and then ran to the back of the line to prepare for the next one, even while Shargin was still giving his answer.
     
The question-setting  was somewhat unambitious, dwelling on such matters as "what personal effects did you take along", "how do you relax", "what’s the food like up there", and "what were the last things you said to your family before you left". Pupils from Gdynia in Poland had had a similar link-up a fortnight or so ago, and they had enquired whether the crew drank much beer up there.
      The response was negative.
     
The 10th expedition to the ISS blasted off last week from a site in Kazakhstan, carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA science officer.
      The Soyuz craft linked up and docked with the space station on Friday. Yuri Shargin will stay at the station for eight or nine days, before returning along with the two-man crew of the 9th expedition, who have been in space for a period of nearly six months. So a beer might seem like a nice idea when they get back.


Links:
  International Space Station (NASA)
  International Space Station Reference: Ham Radio
  Successful schools making radio contact with the ISS. Pori Senior High is No. 150.

Helsingin Sanomat