February 28, 2002

ARISS space talk with a Russian school

Commander Yury Onufrienko, RK3DUO, staked out new ARISS territory today by chatting with students at a Russian school. Onufrienko, using the call RS0ISS, chatted for 10 minutes with five students at RW3WWW, the club station at Kursk Technical University, about 250 miles south of Moscow. The event, 47th in a series of scheduled Q and A sessions with students, was the first ISS contact with a Russian school.

Club director Valery Pikkiev, RW3WW, reported, "The students were very excited and happy to talk to Yury!" Pikkiev, assisted by his son Dimitry, RA3WPS, battled reception problems perhaps caused by obscuration of the space station's antenna. The same problem was reported by an Italian listener, Andrea Bonaiuto, IT9GSV. However, the contact was considered a success by the students and the small crowd of about 25 observers and reporters.