[sarex] St Martins a success

[Tony VK5ZAI <hutch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The ARISS contact between the ISS and St Martins Lutheran College in Mt 
Gambier on Thurs. 17th March was a great success.  Ten students ranging 
from reception to year nine asked Astronaut Leroy Chiao all the twenty 
questions with around twenty seconds to spare before the ISS slipped 
below the horizon
The students were prepared by their teacher Jeanie Axton who did a 
brilliant job organizing their questions on separate cards for them, and 
maintaining continuity of the queue during the linkup so no time was lost.
 The telebridge link was handled by Nancy WH6PN in Hawaii who did a 
excellent job handling the downlink and switching.
The linkup was also carried live on the internet and  was relayed via 
IRLP and  EchoLink.
A gathering of around two hundred parents and guests  along with 
students and members of the South East Radio Group  crowded into the 
schools music room to listen  to the event. Tony  VK5ZAI setup a power 
point display  of space scenes along with Instant Track to show the 
progress of the ISS to the audience while they waited for contact to 
start.  After the ISS had passed Tony answered numerous questions put to 
him by the audience.
 John, WD5EEV supervised setting up the line connections, and the 
participants where introduced by Will, KC6ROL who as usual  did a great job.
The evening was covered by WIN TV, Bush Vision, a new community TV 
station,  the ABC radio network, The Border Watch news paper, and the WIA
Numerous photos where taken by by members of the South East Radio Club  
and some of these will be available  in a few days at http://www.arrl.org .
This was the seventh Australian school to have taken part in the ARISS 
project
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