ARISS contact between Adler Planetarium and Ken Bowersox KD5JBP on the ISS
2002-12-29 at 18:20 UTC

Presented by Charlie Sufana AJ9N

 It is December, it is cold, the temperature is at the freezing mark, the winds are gusting at 30 to 40 miles per hour making for below zero wind-chill temperatures, some snow; so it must be time for another ARISS contact from the Chicago area (the first being Burbank, Illinois in December 2000).  Perfect weather for putting up antennas on the roof of the Adler Planetarium. 

Charlie Sufana AJ9N organized the ARISS contact along with Geri Smith from the Adler Planetarium.  Rita Wright, who coordinated the first ARISS contact at Burbank Elementary in Burbank, Illinois, was enrolled at a class at Adler and told Geri about the ARISS program. Charlie and Geri began planning a contact at Adler soon after they were introduced by Rita.

Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum opened in 1930 as the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. The facilities include 2 theaters: The Sky Theater, which uses a Zeiss (tm) Planetarium Projector and the Star Rider (tm) Theater which employs computer modeling and Digistar interactive technology to provide audience members with a real time, interactive sky show experience. The Education Department serves the public through dedicated Informal Programs, Formal Programs, and Technology Programs. The Adler Center for Space Science Education was recently established as a collaboration between NASA and Adler to provide education and public outreach experiences in the Midwest.

On 2002-12-22, Charlie and his crew along with a big assist from Adler personnel proceeded to put up the antennas on the roof of the Adler and pull approximately 450 feet of coax cable per each antenna into the gallery known as CyberSpace for the contact. The primary radio was a Yaesu FT847, an RFC 2-315 2 meter 150 watt amp, and Cushcraft OSCAR beam using a Yaesu G5400B rotor.  The back-up radio was an Icom IC-706, a 2 meter 150 watt amp, and a Ringo Ranger vertical.  The power amps were located on the roof of the Adler right next to the antennas.

 Perhaps the most difficult work involved pulling the coax cable into the building.  We went through air intake grates, down the side of catwalks, through a boiler room (had to be over 100 degrees in the room), through a cable pan about 15 feet above the floor and finally into CyberSpace.  Rotor control was done from a small room just inside a door leading to the roof in order to cut down on cable length.  In order for the rotor operators to hear the contact, 450 feet of audio cable were pulled into that location from CyberSpace.

 On the big day, well over 200 people were in attendance.  All of the major TV stations and newspapers in Chicago were present.  TV channels 2 (CBS), 5 (NBC), 7 (ABC), 9 (WGN), and 32 (FOX) were there and later showed their coverage during their normal evening news slots.  The Chicago Tribune and Sun Times newspapers were also there and had full color pictures in the paper the next morning.

 Here is the transcript of the ARISS contact between NA1SS Ken Bowersox KD5JBP and Adler Planetarium 2002-12-29 18:20 UTC with Charlie Sufana AJ9N as the control operator:

 1. Aaron Coxhead, Age 6: What happens if you run out of gas in space?  

 Ken Bowersox: Well Aaron, if you run out of fuel in space, it's like your out of fuel in your car, you have to find some first in order to get home.  Here in space there are no gas stations.

2. Sam Rosenberg, Age 5: What kind of plants are you growing and why are you growing them?  

Ken Bowersox: Well, we're trying to grow some tomatoes up here and also some herbs.  We are not sure how they're going to turn out but we're hoping they will be very tasty.

3. Katherine Shade, Age 6: What is your favorite space food and how do you cook it?  

 Ken Bowersox: Katie, my favorite space food is bread pudding and I don't have to cook it at all and I can just open a packet and eat straight out the packet with a spoon.

4. Corissa Goodrich, Age 8: How many sunrises do you see in a day?  

Ken Bowersox: Corissa, we have 16 sunrises and sunsets every day although we usually get to see 5 or 6 of them because that is all of the time we have to look out the window.

5. Dennis Sherlock, Age 6: Are the astronauts able to communicate with their families? And if so, how often?  

 Ken Bowersox: Yes, we talk with our families a lot.  We have a phone on board, an Internet phone, so we could call them probably every day if we wanted to but usually we are lucky to talk to them 2 or 3 times a week.

 Charlie Sufana AJ9N: Ok Ken, if you can get the packet turned off that would be great and make sure the mic is almost into the mouth. By the way, the handle here is Charlie and we'll go off to the next one.

6. Kate Kauffold, Age 9: When I try something new or different, sometimes I get a little nervous. Do you ever get a little nervous doing something new or different in space?  

 Ken Bowersox: Yes, I do up here because so many people are watching I get really really nervous but the important thing is to just keep going and the nervousness goes away once you start your work.

7. Anashya Srinivansan, Age 9: What is the most interesting and/or important thing you have learned in space?  

 Ken Bowersox: Oh, that is a big question but I'd say the most important thing that I have learned in space is that the people are very very strong and flexible creatures and we can adapt to all types of different environments.

8. Sanjay Sharma, Age 10: What do you feel (proud, scared...) when you are in space for the first time?  

Ken Bowersox: Well, the first time I came into space the thing I felt the most was that I was happy that my training was over; it was a lot like graduating from school.

9. Elizabeth Murphy, Age 9: How do you sleep in the ISS?    

Ken Bowersox: Elizabeth, on the ISS I sleep on a wall with my sleeping bag strapped to the wall and I bend my knees up so that it stretches my back so that I don't get a sore back during the night.

10. Ari Harris, Age 8: How do you eat and drink when there is no gravity?  

Ken Bowersox: Well, when there is no gravity your body still works very well.  There is a force called peristalsis where the body's muscles inside your body contract and move through the digestive system and it works great in space.

11. Vasaris Balzekas, Age 7: How big is the space station compared to the Sears Tower, which is 1,400 ft tall?  

 Ken Bowersox: Well, the space station is about one tenth as long as the Sears Tower and for us it seems like a really really long distance.  It take me, it seems like, 30 or 40 seconds to get from one end to the other if I need to go and get something I forgot.

12. Sam Rosenberg, Age 5: What was your favorite thing on the Hubble mission with Story Musgrave?  

Ken Bowersox: My favorite thing on the mission with Story Musgrave was getting to fly with Story.  He was so much fun.

 13. Katherine Shade, Age 6: What earth food do you miss the most while in space?

 Ken Bowersox: Katie, I wish I could have pizza.

14. Elizabeth Murphy, Age 9: What happens to the food and stuff that floats up and gets lost on the Station?  

Ken Bowersox: Well if it is something hard, usually it gets caught in an air current and it will end up on one of our air filters somewhere.  If it is something liquid, it will stick to the wall and if it sticks to one of the Velcro walls sometimes it soaks up just like it soaks up in a towel.  That's ok if it is water but if it is juice it leaves these big purple and red orange spots.

 15. Vasaris Balzekas, Age 7: How many people are aboard the station and what do they do?  

 Ken Bowersox: Right now there are 3 people aboard the space station; a Russian flight engineer, an American science officer, and then me the United States commander.  We all have different jobs and we all do a lot of the jobs that are the same.  The flight engineer takes care of the systems, the commander also helps take care of the systems, and the science officer does science experiments.  Of course, all 3 of us help with the science experiments.

16. Geri Smith, Adler Staff member: Now that you have spent a significant amount of time in space, if it were possible, would you want to be among those who eventually settle Mars?  

 Ken Bowersox: Well, if I was going to go to Mars, I would want to take my family.  But if my family would go with me, I think I would go.

17. Freddy Atkins, Adler Staff member: What happens if you are out in space and you sneeze inside your space helmet?  

Ken Bowersox: If you sneeze in your space helmet it makes a mess and you just have to look around the spot until you come back inside.

 18. Charlie Sufana AJ9N: Ken, he actually had a different question originally.  He wanted to know how to itch your nose or whatever when you're inside the space helmet?

 Ken Bowersox: That's easy, we have a little foam block that we use to help equalize pressure in our ears.  We, instead of squeezing our nostrils, we press against this foam block and the block is just great for scratching your nose and itches on your face.

 19. Kate Kauffold, Age 9: I like to play soccer and basketball, it's fun and it's good exercise.  What do you do for exercise while you are in space?

 Ken Bowersox: Great question, I just finished my exercise running on the treadmill today.  We also have an exercise bicycle and we have a resistance machine.  We can't call it a weight machine because it doesn't use weights but it sort of uses stretchy rubber cords that allows us to work out our muscles.

 20. Charlie Sufana AJ9N: Ok, Ken I've got the question that all of the kids also like to ask, how do you go and do the restroom shot?

 Ken Bowersox: How do you use the potty in space?  Well, we don't have gravity to pull everything where it is supposed to go in the toilet area.  We use airflow instead.  So we have a big hose, it looks like a vacuum cleaner hose for liquid waste and we have a can with a fan on the back of it that pulls air down inside of it; so it holds the solid waste and it works really well.

 21. Charlie Sufana AJ9N: Can you give us a real quick description of what all of you have been doing the last day or so?

 Ken Bowersox: Sure, the last day or so have been what we call days off.  Really, these are just not scheduled days.  We still have to exercise, do a lot of house cleaning; a lot like a Saturday probably around most people's houses down on earth.  I, for example, spent a lot of time trying to find things and put them in the right places like you spend time cleaning out your garage and sorting out all your tools.

 Charlie Sufana AJ9N: Very good, we're about a minute out from the end of the contact and I hate losing people in the middle so we're going to have Geri, who is actually the Adler person in charge here, and let her sign off and give her final greetings.

Ken Bowersox: Great.

 Geri Smith, Adler Staff member: I just wanted to say thank you Commander Bowersox and the rest of the crew.  You have made these children very happy and given them an unforgettable experience.  73 88 

Ken Bowersox: Thanks a lot.  It has been great talking with all of you. 

Charlie Sufana AJ9N: Thank you very much. 73 Godspeed NA1SS this is AJ9N

 This contact would not have happened without the efforts of many people.  I would like to thank Ken Bowersox for taking time out of his busy schedule to talk to the kids.  I also need to thank the Adler staff people: Geri Smith, Freddy Atkins, and Thom Brooks, and the building operations staff, particularly Bill Wilhelm, Robert Dominguez, Randy Anderson, and John Burke for their help.

 A special thanks goes to my crew who spent many hours often in cold weather to put the equipment in place:  Michael Sufana, George Kelly K9WWT, David Terpstra KC9ATX, Kevin Krikau KB9THY, Ed Perosky K9TZT, Mark Skowronski K9MQ, John Gianotti W9WY, Jay Gianotti, and Ken Brown KE9TC.

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