Scouts on Long Island Contact the ISS via Amateur Radio BY FKEMMERER

 I once again had the pleasure to help a group of young people make contact with an Astronaut on the International Space Station this past week.

NASA Astronaut Kjell Lindgren

Scouts from the Matinecock District made a contact with Astronaut Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS on the International Space Station on Saturday, June 4th, 2022.  You can watch and listen to the contact on YouTube by clicking below.  The actual contact begins at about 40:35 into the video.

The Scouts’ contact lasted for approximately 10 minutes. The Scouts asked and Kjell answered 18 of their 20 questions and there was time at the end of the contact for “Thank Yous”.  Here are the questions that the Scouts asked:

1. What do you have to study after HS in order to have a career as an Astronaut?

2. Could the ISS ever be self-sustaining and not need care packages of food/water/oxygen from Earth?

3. Are ISS teams only picked based on skills or does NASA try to match personalities as well?

4. How does the ISS stay safe from all the “space junk” floating around the Earth?

5. Do you only do experiments in your field of expertise on the ISS or because of limited resources do you find yourself assisting others doing things you’re not as comfortable with?

6. Is automated piloting better than manual piloting in terms of flight controls and docking?

7. What one thing did you do as a young adult that you felt was your first significant step to becoming an astronaut?

8. I’ve heard being in space can change your taste buds. Have you created any interesting or creative recipes to make space food taste better?

9. How do they supply the ISS with constant oxygen?

10. We saw a video of a gorilla suit prank on the ISS a few months ago. Have there been any other funny pranks?

11. What jobs do you have to do on the ship?

12. Do the astronauts get to bring something from home with them to space?

13. I’ve heard astronauts from different countries will trade food. What country has the most popular dish on the ISS?

14. In your personal opinion, what is the best and least good thing about being on the ISS?

15. Can you swim in space when you’re floating?

16. Can you feel the effects being in space has on your body? If so, what’s it like?

17. Can you yo-yo upside down in space?

18. Does the ISS have technology installed that could capture Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)like the US Navy has recently? Have you seen anything up there that you can’t explain?

19. What does it feel like to go to space?

20. I read that there was once water on Mars. Where did all the water go?

AB1OC ARISS Ground Station Operations

This contact was made in a Telebridge format using my Ground Station here in New Hampshire, USA. The linkup with the Scouts on Long Island was via a Zoom conference call. You can learn more about our ground station here.

ARISS Ground Station

Helping young people make contact with astronauts on the ISS using Amateur Radio is great fun. My work with ARISS is near the top of my list in terms of the most rewarding work that I do with Amateur Radio.

Best and 73,

Fred, AB1OC