SUCCESSFUL CONTACT FOR ESA ASTRONAUT SAMANTHA CRISTOFORETTI, IZØUDF WITH TWO SCHOOLS IN ITALY.Saturday,
January 31, 2015 at 08:39 UTC, 09:39 local time, students at "Istituto
Salesiano G. Bearzi” in Udine and Intercultura students at "Centro
Giovanno XXIII" in Frascati, Roma, Italy established ARISS contact with
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, IZØUDF onboard the International
Space Station. These were telebridge contacts performed by Amateur radio
ground stations K6DUE, located in Maryland, USA.
Presentation Istituto Salesiano “G. Bearzi”
Brief
description of the school and the amateur radio school club (if there
is one): The school is a salesian school with 750 students, from 6 to 20
years old. We have also a small hostel for college students.
Presentation of Intercultura
Intercultura
is the Italian representative of AFS Intercultural Programs (New York,
an international, no profit, voluntary based organization that provides
intercultural learning opportunities and cultural exchange programs
throughout more than 60 different countries in the world, involving
every year 13.000 students and an equivalent number of families and
schools. In Italy, Intercultura is a no profit organization (Onlus)
recognized by the Italian government, under the patronage of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The professional staff of Intercultura is
made by 40 people who work in the headquarter of Colle Val D’Elsa
(Siena) or in the PR offices based in Milan and Rome. The 4.000
affiliated volunteers are organized in 150 local chapters and offer
voluntary work to promote international school based exchange programs.
Mentor
Francesco De Paolis IK0WGF proposed to the radio coordinators Mr.
Antonio Baldin IW3QKU and Mr. Emanuele D'Andria IØELE the sharing of
event and this was accepted. A phone conference call allowed the full
sharing of the event between two contact sites involved, moderated by
Mr. Peter Kofler, IN3GHZ. The sequence of questions was made alternately
by the students at two contact sites involved.
Contact was
established at 08:39 UTC, 09:39 local time with NA1SS via K6DUE. ESA
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti IZØUDF answered 12 questions by
students.
Samantha Cristoforetti was really very accurate in giving
the answers and full of details. Signals from the ISS were good during
both ISS passes, but suffering a few moments of fading.
Regional and Local Televisions and newspapers covered the event.
About 500 students, parents, visitors and media attended the events at contact sites.
After
the contact, Mrs. Rosa Tagliamonte and Mr. Salvatore Pignataro by ASI
(Italian Space Agency) presented Cristoforetti mission and Italian
contribution to International Space Station. Mr. Emanule D'Andria IØELE
presented ARISS and explained how a contact with the ISS is performed
via Ham Radio.
The contact established with NA1SS was live on AMSAT Italia channel:
http://www.livestream.com/amsat_italiaThe event was announced on ESA Portal - National News:
http://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/Un_saluto_dalla_Terra_in_tutte_le_lingue_del_mondo._Samantha_Cristoforetti_parla_con_gli_studenti_di_Intercultura_e_di_UdineCongratulations to IW3QKU and IØELE Teams!
73
Francesco De Paolis, IK0WGF
ARISS Mentor
Source directe : ARISS
From : f6agv (AT) free.fr
