The conversations are a treat for the astronauts as well. “Not too many people get to talk to an astronaut,” she said. Typically, about 25 schools throughout the world are chosen each year, said Rosalie White, international secretary treasurer at ARISS. Ransom, the ISS Ham project coordinator at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We try to think of ourselves as planting seeds and hoping that we get some mighty oaks to grow,” said Kenneth G. Students prepare to ask questions rapid-fire, one after another, into the ham radio microphone for the brief 10-minute window before the space station flies out of range. “We thought it would be a good encouragement for young people to get interested in science and engineering if they could experience this,” said England, who was the second astronaut to use ham radio in space.Īn almost-all-volunteer organization called Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, now helps arrange contact between students and astronauts on the space station. Garriott and fellow astronaut Tony England pushed NASA to allow amateur radio equipment aboard shuttle flights. Garriott was a licensed ham who, back on Earth, had used his home equipment in Houston to chat with his father in Oklahoma. The first amateur radio transmission from space dates to 1983, when astronaut Owen Garriott took to the airwaves from the Space Shuttle Columbia.
“It became my emotional, and a really visceral, connection to the planet.” just reach out to humanity down there,” said Wheelock, who interacted with many operators, known as “hams,” during that stay at the space station in 2010.