Children talk to Vittori on ISS

Children talk to Vittori on ISS

21 April 2005

Yesterday, about 200 children visited ESRIN, ESA's European Space Research
Institute near Rome. All of them belonged to the primary school classes that
had won the "mISSione possibile" competition. The children had come to claim
their prize: to talk to Roberto Vittori, the Italian ESA astronaut now
orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station.

The radio link-up with the International Space Station (ISS) was made
possible thanks to the Amateur Radio on ISS (ARISS) educational experiment,
part of the scientific programme of the ENEIDE mission. ARISS is an
international group of amateur radio societies in countries that participate
in the ISS programme.
"As soon as the ISS passed over Greenbelt, Maryland in the USA, the Club
Radio Station NN1SS established a radio link with Roberto Vittori. This
meant that we had about 10 minutes to talk with him," explains Gaston
Bertels, President of ARISS-Europe.

"In turn, the Club Radio Station NN1SS was linked to ESRIN by phone," adds
Francesco De Paolis of AMSAT Italy, the Principal Investigator for ARISS on
board the Eneide mission. "Unfortunately the ISS did not pass over Italy,
otherwise we could have had a direct link from ESRIN to Vittori".
It was a great day for the children present. When they arrived, by bus, at
ESRIN the children were very curious and excited. After a short welcome by
Simonetta Cheli, Head of ESA's Public and Institutional Relations Office at
ESRIN and Elena Grifoni, Head of the ISS Utilisation Strategy and Education
Office, there was just time to announce which of the children had been
chosen to speak to Vittori during the chat.


"Cross your fingers," said ESA's Stefano Bandessi suddenly, "we are going to
call the ISS". At 14.35 in ESRIN's Magellan room 200 pairs of crossed
fingers waved in the air. A deep silence fell and the children looked at
each other smiling. After a few minutes wait and some radio interference
they heard Vittori's voice: "Hello, I'm Roberto Vittori, can you hear me
well?"

In the short time available Vittori answered around a dozen questions. What
is life like on the ISS? Did he miss not eating ice cream? How can you float
in space? The children also wanted to know if they could become astronauts
even though they misbehaved sometimes, which was the most interesting planet
to visit and what we can expect to find in the Solar System.

"Today," said Vittori, "access to space is still only for a few but the
technology is already fully developed. So when you are older you will have
the chance to travel in space if you wish. But you must study, study, study
and don't forget about sport!"

"Vittori is now 41 years old" remarked Elena Grifoni at the end of the link
up, "more or less the same age that the children visiting ESRIN today will
have in 2030. So the first man or woman to step foot on the red planet could
well be among them."


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info