RI Students Prepare to Chat with Astronaut on Space Station

MIDDLETOWN, RI—Students from across Rhode Island will gather on tiny Aquidneck Island on Friday to have a chat with a man in a small lab flying 4.76 miles per second around the earth.

Astronaut Jeff Williams, a 1996 graduate of Newport Naval War College, will be answering the student's questions about life on the International Space Station.

About 160 attendees at All saints Academy and 300 more at nearby St. Lucy's will watch via a live video feed.

The event is also planned to be streamed live on the internet at this link:

http://livestream.com/accounts/9685187/events/5301163

The students are expected to make contact with the space station at around 12:40 p.m.

The big viewing screen at St. Lucy's Catholic Faith Community at 909 West Main Road is courtesy newportFILM.

Williams is a veteran of two previous ISS missions in 2006 and 2009 to 2010. He received an honorary doctoral degree from Johnson & Wales University in 2007.

Twenty-four Rhode Island students in grades 1 to 8, including seven from other schools who won slots from entries in a “Ask Astronaut Tim” contest, will ask their questions via a high­powered radio link operated by members of the Newport County Radio Club.

The Middletown school was chosen as one of just six U.S. schools to host a radio contact event with the space station.

Mike Cullen, a local STEAM advocate and retired IBM executive, has managed all facets of this space station contact event, including securing the unique FCC call sign ​ N1ASA ​ for the school’s amateur radio club.

Event host and organizer, All Saints STEAM Academy, is a grade PK­-8 Catholic school that offers an array of STEAM projects ­­ including coding, robotics, cyber security competitions, and amateur radio­­ as co­curricular activities.

AS​ 2​ A has been working on this opportunity for over a year with technical experts from the Newport County Radio Club (NCRC) which has been supporting the local amateur radio community since 1947, and has provided the school with technical mentors. NCRC Secretary Bob Beatty said “It was natural for NCRC to partner with All Saints Academy since amateur radio is powered by science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM). This partnership is beneficial for both the young students who become better equipped for 21st Century technical careers in Rhode Island, as well as the future of our hobby which relies on the creative minds of innovators.”

The voice contacts with the space station use amateur radio frequencies and last about 10 minutes — the average length of an orbital pass — and give students a chance to interact with an astronaut in a rapid fire, question and ​ answer format. NASA promotes the program as a win-­win: the crew member gets a psychological boost speaking with smart, inquisitive youngsters, and the students earn a lifelong memory and experience the tangible benefit of pursuing STEAM career paths.

As preparation for this contact, All Saints’ students have been participating in many space​ ­themed activities integrated into their day­-to-­day curriculum, including a discussion on weather, exploring numerous milestones during the Cold War era (including the 1960’s race to the moon), managing looming cyber threats across space programs, dealing with space debris, and discussing a range of social justice questions.