Dallas: After 5-year wait, elementary school talks to astronaut via radio

08:11 AM CST on Wednesday, February 8, 2006

By ALLISON WISK / The Dallas Morning News

Outer space may be utterly silent, but the buzz inside DeGolyer Elementary School on Tuesday was loud during a cosmic chat between students and the International Space Station.

CHERYL DIAZ MEYER/DMN

'Have you taken animals or other organisms into space to test?' asks DeGolyer Elementary fifth-grader Daryl Barth, with help from ham operator Bob Landrum.

After applying five years ago to speak with the space station, current and former DeGolyer students finally broadcast to outer space.

The northwest Dallas school's ham radio club is one of a few school groups worldwide selected to speak with the station. Other clubs are from schools in Oklahoma and Australia.

Just before the event, students stared anxiously at a computer projection of the space station's place in orbit.

"NA1SS, NA1SS, this is K5DES, DeGolyer Elementary Dallas calling," announced ham operator Bob Landrum of Decatur, holding the mike for the students. "How're you doing?"

"We just had swimming time," broke in Commander Bill McArthur's first words, drawing applause. "But, I guess it's floating time up here!"

About two dozen students waited quietly for airtime. With only minutes to speak with Mr. McArthur, the licensed amateur radio operators fired questions at lightning speed from the school's stage. The queries ran the gamut from serious to humorous.

Sixth-grader Claire Matlock asked about micro-gravity's negative effects on astronauts.

"One thing we have to work hard to counter is the atrophy of the muscles we don't have to use very much," Mr. McArthur said.

"How does it feel when you return to Earth, and has anything strange or funny happened to you when you did?" asked sixth-grader Alyssa Kuklinski.

"You feel very dizzy and weak when you first return to Earth," Mr. McArthur said.

He also spoke about a complication during a re-entry to Earth.

"When I came to make a right turn, I couldn't turn. I could only go straight ahead," he said to laughter.

Tuesday's chat between the astronauts and students was part of a joint program of the NASA and several amateur radio organizations called ARISS, or Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.

As the pilot school in The American Radio Relay League's Big Project, spearheaded in 2001, DeGolyer received equipment to operate an amateur radio outfit.

Designated as station K5DES, DeGolyer's ham radio club is sponsored by art teacher Sanlyn Kent and teaching assistant Richard Aguilar.

A labor of love, the club quickly became popular. Years later, all students speaking to the space station had a mandatory Federal Communications Commission license.

"It's an adult federal test," said Ms. Kent of the process her students underwent for an FCC license. "It's not easy."

Learning a new way to communicate has proved beneficial to the students' education.

"I wanted to get into ham radio because I thought the technology was cool," said fifth-grader Daryl Barth. "Ham radio is kind of like a rescuing agency – it can work even in storms."

Staff writer Alan Melson contributed to this report.

E-mail awisk@dallasnews.com