Ten school children from the Winter Gardens Primary School on Canvey Island today made contact with the International Space Station, with the help of the South Essex Amateur Radio Society (SEARS).
The contact took place at 11:08 local time on Wednesday the 8th of October 2014. Students from the Winter Gardens Primary School, Canvey Island and Pilton Bluecoat School, Barnstaple, made contact with US Astronaut Reid Wiseman KF5LKT, aboard the International Space Station.
With the ISS over California at the time, connection was made using a telebridge, with the amateur radio contact being made via Tim Bosma in California using the callsign W6SRJ.
The audio feed from Winter Gardens Primary School was streamed live here on the Essex Ham site, but if you missed it, here’s our recording of the contact:
| AUDIO: SEARS Winter Gardens School ISS Contact 08 Oct 2014
AUDIO: Winter Gardens School ISS Contact – BBC Essex (10:50 09 Oct 2014) AUDIO: Winter Gardens School ISS Contact – Gateway FM (9:40 10 Oct 2014) |
24 questions had been prepared in advance, and all 24 questions were answered by astronaut Reid Wiseman during the 10 minute pass window. The odd-numbered questions came from children in Essex, with even-numbered questions coming from the children in Devon.
Standard child safeguarding policy means that at the moment, we’re not able to publish any photos of the actual contact from inside the school, however here are some photos of the SEARS team setting up:
Congratulations to the team from the South Essex Amateur Radio Society for arranging the contact, especially to SEARS President Dave Speechley G4UVJ, who has been working on arranging the contact for almost two years.
Great job Dave and rest of the SEARS. Well done, congratulation.
I bet kids were over the moon :)
Thanks for sharing Essex Ham.
73, 2e0ftx
Congratulations to all team! Great job and well done.
73,55 – 161 WE 099