Earth rarely out of sight or mind for ISS crew

While it's 220 miles distant, Earth seems never far from the thoughts of the International Space Station's Expedition 10 crew.

Gazing upon the home planet from their vantage point in space is among the most favourite activities of those who have done duty tours aboard the ISS, and the current crew members are no exception.

Speaking via Amateur Radio from NA1SS February 10, Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, told youngsters at Fairview Elementary School in Mt Prospect, Illinois, that his new hobby is taking pictures of Earth.
Chiao also informed Fairview Principal Kerry Swalwell that earthly topics dominate conversations between himself and
crewmate Salizhan Sharipov.

"We talk about things that you'd talk about on the ground, I guess," Chiao said. "We talk about the day's work, we talk about things we've seen out the window, and we talk about our families and friends and things we're looking forward to when we come back to Earth." Swalwell's "bonus" question came after her pupils had exhausted their own list of 20 questions, and the ISS was still in radio range.

In his answers to the youngsters' questions, Chiao spoke of missing his wife and family on Earth and of looking forward to having a real meal when he gets back. A dozen Fairview students took part in the contact, while parents, teachers and classmates looked on.

One youngster wanted to know about Chiao's funniest moment in space. The astronaut described an optical illusion he'd experienced while looking out the ISS window. "One time I thought I saw a satellite, and it turned out it
was just a speck of dust about three feet from the window," he said. "It was being very brightly lit up by the sun."

To a question about animals in space, Chiao quipped, "We don't have any animals on board. The only animals on board are the two of us right now." In his previous missions, he recounted, some small fish and jellyfish accompanied the space travelers.

Chiao visited the school in May 2004, and he has kept in touch with the youngsters via e-mail. The approximately 10-minute direct VHF contact between NA1SS in space and AJ9N at the Chicago-area school was arranged via the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program. Handling Earth-station duties was veteran ARISS mentor Charlie Sufana, AJ9N.

ARISS is an international educational outreach with US participation by ARRL, AMSAT and NASA.

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