Space Station Astronaut Chats With PQ’s Adobe Bluffs Elementary School Students

Posted on February 8, 2011

Though she was miles above earth, astronaut Cady Coleman communicated directly with students at Adobe Bluffs Elementary School in Rancho Penasquitos last week.

School officials a few years ago applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to host an amateur radio link between the school and the International Space Station as part of project designed to get students around the world interested in math and science.

At 9:09 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 3, the space station had a 10-minute window of radio communication – and Adobe Bluffs students posed questions to Coleman. The astronaut answered each question, which was heard over a speaker by the entire student body. Local amateur radio operators assisted in setting up antennas and radio equipment to make the communications possible.