Hawthorne Brook Middle School makes contact

(Left) Nineteen Hawthorne Brook students, in grades 6-8, await their chance to ask questions to the crew of the International Space Station via amateur radio on Nov. 29. The project was three-and-a-half years in the making. For a moment there was only dead air, then crackling static. Leaning forward and holding their breaths, everyone in the room waited.

Then, all at once, the call of a sixth grade science teacher and her 20-student crew were answered by the booming voice of Commander William McArthur.

On Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 29, students from Hawthorne Brook Middle School, in Townsend, had the unique and privileged opportunity to speak with the Commander and Science Officer aboard the International Space Station via amateur radio. Traveling at 18,000 miles per hour, 300 miles a minute, students were able to ask 19 questions, one each, of the commander as the space station flew north of North Dakota, over New York and finally out over the Atlantic. The 10 minute conversation ended a couple of miles west of Cape Canaveral as the space station continued on its course circling the globe.

The program referred to as Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is jointly sponsored by the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation and NASA. Hawthorne Brooke was one of the first 200 schools to be part of the program, a process which began almost four years ago with the help of Stephen Best, volunteers from Nashoba Valley Amateur Radio Club, and sixth grade science teacher, Marilyn Richardson, who is also a licensed amateur radio operator.

Right) Hawthorne Brook Middle School teacher Marilyn Richardson, an amateur radio operator, makes contact with the space station crew. Journal Photos/Bill Gilman The school was hand picked by NASA to participate in the program because of the full school involvement, the science curriculum and the eagerness shown by students and teachers alike. Richardson had always shown a deep interest in the space program having attended a space camp and become a licensed amateur radio operator and passed that curiosity onto her students.

Each child was able to ask their questions into a microphone before hurrying back to their seats to hear the commander’s answers. All but one student got to ask their questions with almost totally clear responses. Sixthgrader Carly Burns said she was, “excited to talk to them [the astronauts] and hear them answer back.” She had asked the commander what makes him want to go back into space knowing the risks involved and was pleased to hear the himsay, “the benefits outweigh the risks and of course, for the thrill of the trip.”

Another sixth grade student, Kaitlyn Fredrickson, asked if he thought that going to the space station would change his life or view of certain things. The commander told her that this would be his last flight and so would end a chapter in his life or perhaps begin another one. She later admitted, “I didn’t know what to expect, I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”

Each student present was selected by the quality of their questions, a blind lot drawn by different members of the faculty.

The proud 20 had front row seats and specially made T-shirts for the event and as each question was asked, their smiles grew bigger and bigger. Nick Anderson, a sixth grader, asked, “Are you doing any experiments about life in space or on other planets?” to which the commander responded, “Well Nick, we are the experiment.” Afterward Nick said the experiences was “really good, he [Commander McArthur] explained a lot.”

Other questions ranged from queries about zero gravity, what it was like to wear a space suit, where the astronaut’s oxygen come from and how the Earth looks from the space station. Some students like Caroline Coughlin were nervous at first, while others, like Max Boyer were just happy to be there.

“I was just glad to be a part of the program,” he said.

Max was the only one unable to ask his question, though his enjoyment far outweighed to be the overall consensus about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even those students whose questions were not selected still enjoyed being able to watch the space station’s course mapped out on an overhead projector and listening to the astronaut’s responses from thousands of miles in space.

“I was so excited, I couldn’t even think of anything at first. I even called my family to help me think of a question. I think I finally decided to ask why the astronauts went into space,” said Andrea Fanciullo, a sixth grader whose question was not picked. Still getting to wear a special ARISS T-shirt and helping to usher in the media, she enjoyed the day anyway.

As Richardson explained before they began, “this is an experiment, and as my kids know from class, experiments don’t always work.”

However by the end of the event, no one could say that the ARISS project wasn’t a success.