Students from Bellefontaine City Schools will be speaking with astronaut Kayla Barron on the International Space Station (ISS) by amateur radio at 1:13 p.m. Thursday, April 21.
Nine students from Bellefontaine Elementary School, Intermediate School and Middle School have been selected to ask questions about space.
This contact is part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program.
Bellefontaine is one of nine groups in the United States to talk to ISS astronauts using amateur radio through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program in the spring of 2022.
“We look forward to all Bellefontaine students being able to experience the excitement of applying radio, science and technology concepts in the real world while having a personal connection to a hero,” BHS Amateur Radio Club Secretary and Trustee Simon Kauffman said in a release.
The direct radio link will be between the Bellefontaine High School Amateur Radio Club (W8BCS) and Kayla Barron (KI5LAL). Members of the Champaign Logan Amateur Radio Club (W8FTV) provided equipment and worked with students to set up the antennas and radios to make this contact possible.
The contact will last about 10 minutes as the ISS passes overhead.
A live-stream of the contact will be available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t5ZQOw2j68.
Bellefontaine City Schools students have also had the opportunity to participate in space-themed lessons and create art in their classrooms.
Barron is a part of the 2017 Astronaut Class. She has a master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Cambridge and served as a submarine warfare officer prior to joining NASA.
She was part of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station, which launched on Nov. 10, 2021. She has done two spacewalks as part of this mission. Barron is part of the Artemis Team, which is tasked with sending the first woman and the next man to walk on the moon in 2024.
ARISS inspires students, worldwide, to pursue interests and careers in science, technology, engineering and math through amateur radio communications opportunities with the International Space Station (ISS) on-orbit crew. ARISS provides opportunities for the school community to become more aware of the substantial benefits of human spaceflight and the exploration and discovery that occur on spaceflight journeys.
For more information about the ARISS program, visit www.ariss.org. Information about this upcoming contact and general information about the radio club may be found at W8BCS.org.