PRESS RELEASE
Lee Cooper, W5LHC
VP, Austin Amateur Radio Club
Public Information Officer
w5lhc@arrl.net
Richard Garriott to make contact from International Space station to students of the LBJ High School ham radio club
Austin, TX 10/10/08 - On Sunday October 19th students of the LBJ High School ham radio club along with members of the Austin Amateur Radio Club will be attempting a live contact with the International Space Station. The students will be speaking with Richard Garriott, W5KWQ legendary video game programmer and designer and Austin resident.
On Sunday, October 12, Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, is scheduled to begin his journey to the International Space Station (ISS) as he blasts off into space via a Russian Soyuz and docks with the ISS two days later; he
is due to return to Earth on Thursday, October 23. Richard, the sixth private citizen to be accepted by the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA) for a short-term mission on the ISS, is the son of Owen Garriott, W5LFL.
In 1983, Owen was the first ham to make QSOs from space. Richard said he plans to build on his father's legacy by also making QSOs from the ISS.During his time on the International Space Station, Richard will be talking to several schools via Ham Radio. Austin ISD LBJ High School is one of the schools selected. The schools ham radio club, K5LBJ will make contact with Richard on Sunday October 19th. The contact is scheduled for 8:19 am CST.
One of the most exciting aspects of living and working in space is the chance to look back at the Earth. Owen had one of the first opportunities to do this 35 years ago on Skylab. He also had the first opportunity to talk with the ham community from space 25 years ago aboard [NASA shuttle mission] STS-9. Richard now has the opportunity to connect with the ham community almost exactly 25 years after his father's shuttle flight and 35 years after Skylab. One of Richard's primary objectives with his flight is to photograph the Earth 35 years after the first orbital laboratory and look for changes on the Earth in the intervening time."
Amateur Radio operators are the only persons, other than NASA and the Military, allowed to directly contact the ISS. The International Space station has a complete Ham Radio station installed on board and most Mission Specialists are licensed hams. We would like to invite the press to attend and see one of ham radio's many capabilities.
