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SP1KKO > SAREX 30.07.99 20:35l 72 Lines 3298 Bytes #-9645 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : STS-93.007
Read: GUEST OE7FMI
Subj: STS-93 SAREX Bulletin 7
Path: DB0AAB<DB0PV<DB0WGS<DB0RGB<OK0PPL<OK0PKL<DB0HOT<DB0DLN<DB0TUD<DB0GRL<
SR6DJG<SR6DBC<SP6YCU<SR3BLS<SR3DZG<SR1BBS<SP1KKO
Sent: 990727/1523z @:SP1KKO [Club TP SA Szczecin JO73GK op:SP1LOP] BCM1.41a
From: SP1KKO @ SP1KKO (Club_Station)
To: SAREX @ AMSAT
X-Info: This message was generated automatically
Silver Spring, Maryland USA
July 26, 1999 @ 0600 UTC
Columbia and Mir Linked in a Trilingual Conversation
Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia on the STS-93 mission
had the opportunity to talk with their fellow space travelers aboard
the Russian Mir space station on Sunday, July 25, at 12:33 a.m.
Houston time (0533 UTC). The contact was made through a combination
of ham radio and NASA communications networks.
The timing of the contact was tricky -- both crews had to be awake
and Mir had to pass over a properly equipped amateur radio station.
When Mir came over the horizon in Houston, Texas, volunteer amateur
radio operator Brian Zemba made contact with French cosmonaut-
researcher Jean-Pierre Haignere aboard Mir. Shuttle Columbia was
almost half a world away, traveling over Indonesia.
The space shuttle was patched in via NASA's communications network
and Tracking Data and Relay Satellite (TDRS). French Mission
Specialist Michel Tognini aboard the shuttle exchanged greetings
with Haignere. Tognini said, "Mir from Columbia. I hear you."
The reply came, "This is Mir space station speaking, this is
Jean-Pierre." The two French space travelers then conversed in
their native language. Jean-Pierre then suggested handing the
conversation over to the two commanders.
Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a space shuttle,
exchanged a few greetings with her Mir counterpart, cosmonaut
Viktor Afanasyev. Afanasyev said in broken English, "You are the
first woman commander of a shuttle crew." Collins replied,
"Hello Victor, this is Eileen. Dobrey-dien." Jean-Pierre
assisted with translating, "Victor is listening, he wanted to
congratulate you." Collins replied, "Spaseeba". [Sp?]
NASA has a .WAV file of Eileen and Viktor at the world wide web site
http://shuttle.nasa.gov/gallery/audio/shuttle/sts-93/wave/congrats.wav
that provides a "congratulations" sound bite of the radio contact.
Amateur Radio operator John Nickel, who helped coordinate the
contacts commented, "It came as a nice surprise to us when
Eileen greeted her fellow space travelers in Russian." Collins
worked with Russian cosmonauts on her previous two space flights,
STS-63 which made a close approach to Mir and STS-84 which
featured the sixth docking with the Russian space station.
Also on Mir is cosmonaut Sergei Avdeev who flew to Mir with
Tognini in 1992. They exchanged greetings in Russian.
All together three languages were used during the 10-minute
contact -- French, Russian, and English.
NASA flies Amateur Radio on the shuttle primarily as an
educational outreach project, permitting astronauts to talk to
schools. Russia flies Amateur Radio aboard Mir primarily as an
off-hours recreational activity. Amateur Radio equipment will be
installed on the International Space Station on the STS-101
mission scheduled for December 1999.
More information about the Space Amateur Radio Experiment - SAREX -
on the STS-93 shuttle flight is available on the worldwide web at
http://garc.gsfc.nasa.gov/~kc6rol/sts93.html
Submitted by Pat Kilroy, WD8LAQ, for Will Marchant, KC6ROL, and
the SAREX Working Group.
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