[sarex] Transcript of Burbank School QSO with ISS

[AJ9N@xxxxxxx]

Hi all,

Below is the transcript that I worked up today of our conversation with Bill 
Shepherd KD5GSL operating NA1SS.  We should be having a complete audio file 
available within the week.

73,
Charlie Sufana AJ9N
Control Op Burbank School
Burbank, IL


December 21, 2000  20:28 UTC  Contact between NA1SS and AJ9N Burbank School 
Burbank, Illinois

The entire contact went like this:

NA1SS AJ9N Burbank Illinois on schedule

 >>AJ9N NA1SS

NA1SS AJ9N Let me try to get you in a little bit better Bill.  Go ahead give 
us some talk.  And greetings!

 >>Alpha Juliet 9 November NA1SS we have you readable.  Go ahead.

 >>AJ9N this is NA1SS Alpha Space Station.  Flying up over Texas right now.  
We're about 200 miles up.   We have you readable, but please speak a little 
bit slower.

OK Bill, we've got you right down the pike right now.  Our first question is 
coming in from Jessica.

1. Jessica Lehocky 7th grade who asked: What emotions did you feel as you 
boarded the Soyuz rocket?
 >>Jessica you're a little broken.  I think your question was what emotions 
did I feel when I got into space?  I'll tell you after an 8 and half minute 
ride on a big rocket you feel really relieved to be in outer space.

2. Kurt Susniz an 8th grader who queried: Since being in space, what has been 
the hardest adjustment?
 >> Kurt, I guess the hardest adjustment about being in space is everything is 
really easy.  You can move around with just 2 fingers pushing off the walls, 
float all the way across the whole space station.  So the hardest part about 
being up here is just trying to go real easy when you move around.  How is 
that?

3. Ivona Karpiel 5th grade asked: What is the most important thing that is 
recycled in space?  How do you do it?
 >>Ivona, the most important thing we recycle in space is water.  Humans put 
out a lot of vapor, particularly when we exercise and we have a little air 
conditioner that takes that water and out of the air and condenses it.  We 
basically put that through a processor and we drink it.  So about 90% of the 
water that ends up in the atmosphere gets recycled and that's very important 
because water is very heavy.

OK, Bill very good.  By the way, the handle here is Charlie.

4. Ashley Ocguera 7th: Who inspired you to become an astronaut?
 >>Wow, that is a pretty good question.  My dad was a pilot in the military, 
he flew in the Navy and my grandfather was a pilot in the Army in World War 1 
in France.  So I was always interested in aviation.  So I guess that's where 
I got my interest in being an astronaut.

5. Brittany Lukasik 1st asked: What do you and the cosmonauts do in your 
spare time?
 >>Brittany, well we have a lot of cameras.  We look out the window and take 
pictures of the world.  And it is very interesting from space because you can 
see things that you can't see from the ground.  We also have email, we write 
friends and family at home.  We have some games and we watch a few movies 
once in a while.  We watched Mel Gibson tonight in Lethal Weapon.

6. Keith Taddei 7th: Were you able to vote in the presidential election?  How 
did you do it?
 >>I am a military guy Keith, so I can vote from the state where I am a 
resident, which is New York, and I can do it by ballot so I mail it in even 
before I take off.  We do have a process on board where you can vote 
electronically, although I did not use that on this flight.

7. Brittany Cook a 5th grade student: Do you have any advice for young 
students who might want a career in space exploration?
 >>Boy I sure do, that's a great question.  I'd just like to say that there 
are probably only a few people who will be astronauts or cosmonauts.  But 
there are tens of thousands of people who work on this team that we're on and 
there all interesting and important jobs.  So just because somebody says, 
well you know you don't, the chance of being a cosmonaut or astronaut is 
really low does not mean that should not stay in school do well, and study 
science and math and those things that are going to make you a real 
contributor to the space program because there are just hundreds of things 
you can do as well.

8. Christopher Bogue 8th:  Describe how you felt the first time you saw Earth 
from space?
 >>Christopher another great question.  I felt when I looked at earth, this 
was in 1988 my first flight on the shuttle, I felt, it was in the winter kind 
of like this time of the year, I looked out over Russia. And I thought I was 
looking at the surface of another planet.  It occurred to me at that time 
why, why not, why could this not be the surface of someplace like Mars.  And 
I think that's a question we ought to go answer.

9. Dan Coughlin 8th grader: Since you have been in the space station, what 
improvements have you made?
 >>Well we put, Dan, we put a lot of equipment in.  We put 2 air conditioners 
in.  We installed a lot of the CO2 removal system that takes the Carbon 
Dioxide out the air.  All kinds.  We built a table out of spare parts.  We've 
done all kinds of work up here.  It's a long list.

10. Alex Bandyk 5th: Do you think that you are a role model for kids and if 
so, how do you see your responsibility?
 >>I think every astronaut is role model for kids.  And I think the influence 
of the space program has on education is a strong one.  I just hope that we 
continue and you know try and tell people on the ground what we're doing up 
here and why is important.  Because some day you folks are going to grow up 
and you're going to be voters, taxpayers, and you might even be part of the 
space program. So it is very important that you know what we're doing.

11. Candace Field 5th: What is the one thing you will always remember about 
being on the International Space Station?
 >>The one thing that I always will remember about being on the space station 
is all the folks that I get talk to on the ground.  And the great stories 
that we can tell back and forth about what we are doing.  For me, I that's 
one of the best memories that I think I will have for a long time.

12. David Valdez 2nd: Who controls the Space Station when all of you are 
asleep?
 >>David, that's an excellent question.  We have 2 control centers; one in 
Moscow, one in Houston.  They're watching the station all the time.  And they 
basically pass control of the station from one country to another when 
they're on different parts of their shifts.  And right now we're being 
controlled from Moscow.  They're watching us night and day.

  13. Athena Weimer 8th: If you could put something in a time capsule for 
future generations, what would it be?
 >>I'm writing a series of logs every day on what we do on space station to 
try and give people on the ground some idea on what life is like up here.  I 
would like to see that maybe stored for future use by people who want to know 
what we did maybe in the future. 

14. Eddie Vale 7th: What is the least and most favorite thing about being on 
the International Space Station?
 >>I think the most favorite thing about being on space station is just the 
ability to float around in space.  It's like you're not moving at all, You're 
just like in a pool and could move anywhere you want but there's no water in 
it.

15. Charlie Sufana AJ9N
OK real good Bill.  The kids all have this one question but nobody wants to 
ask it.  I'll ask it. How do you go to the restroom?
 >>Well, actually the toilet up here works very well.  It's a lot like you'd 
have on a camping trip. A camper or maybe on a boat out at sea.  And it's 
something the Russians have designed.  It has been working well for us now.  
And I'd say it is one of the better systems that we have on board.

AJ9N Real good, now we've got the teacher Mrs. Rita Wright.  I've put her on 
the spot.

16. Rita Wright
It isn't a question, its actually a big thank you for doing this for the 
students of Burbank School.  Thanks a lot.

 >>Well it's a great pleasure to talk to all of the folks down there.  Hey, 
Rita I've put your letter out.  To me it is one of the finest examples of why 
we have a space station, what the meaning of the space program is for kids.  
So don't be surprised if several hundred thousand people have already read 
your letter.  I thought it was fantastic.

AJ9N we're about a minute 30 out.  We've got one question real quick?   We've 
got one.  Go ahead Jessica.

17. Jessica Lehocky 7th grade who got to ask a second question: Can you tell 
us anyplace you can see right now?
 >>Well, right now I'm in the middle of the module called the functional cargo 
block (FCB) and we don't have any windows that I can look out.  We had a pass 
right before this; we went up the East Coast of the United States, just a 
little bit offshore.  You could see about 6 or 700 miles out the window in 
any direction.  And we could see from South Carolina to about Virginia, you 
know, in one glance, when you glance out the porthole.

AJ9N:  Real good Bill.  Now we're under a minute out.  I don't want to lose 
you in mid flight.  So we would like to say thank you.  Thank you for coming 
back on the second day.  

All students:  73 from Burbank School

NA1SS AJ9N

 >>AJ9November NA1SS.  Really enjoyed doing it and looking forward to doing a 
lot more of this with kids around the country.  It's been a real pleasure.  
Thanks

Well thank you much.  Godspeed!

 >>OK Alpha Space Station carrying on.  Thanks again for the contact. 

 >>And AJ9N NA1SS



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