Ben and Steve are both part of the radio ground crew for an upcoming ARISS contact between the International Space Station and Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School this week. The ARISS program is a cooperative venture of NASA, the ARRL and AMSAT, and other international space agencies that organizes scheduled contacts via Amateur Radio between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS, and classrooms and communities.
The radio club has been training for this for a few months now. The photo below is from the practice/training session back in April. Ben will be the computer guy providing Doppler shift numbers to other members of the crew.
(Radio Club photo credits- PCARA member Rick W9WS)
(Radio Club photo credits- PCARA member Rick W9WS)
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| Ben and Steve, center |
This high angle view shows Ben (at far left) working hard running cables and setting up the ham radio equipment at Farnsworth Aerospace Magnet School in St. Paul .
After setup at the school, the guys had a chance to practice their operations for the contact. They rehearsed switching from the primary radio to the back-up, as well as changing frequencies based on doppler.
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| Steve, Ben and Mark do a test run |
Ben and Steve are really excited for the actual contact, and Will, Charlie and I are invited to participate as guests, so we can enjoy hearing Astronaut Don Pettit answer questions posed by the Farnsworth kids, too.
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| Astronaut Don |
I'm psyched!! Field trip!!
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