TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Local children will get the chance to talk to an astronaut this weekend as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station Program (ARISS)
Students ranging from high school to as young as eight years old will have the chance to ask an astronaut a question.
This has been a long process to get everything set up, including setting up an antenna on top of the Candlewood Suites so they can communicate with an astronaut.
Organizers said the kids who got the chance to ask a question are getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“We have twenty children who have been selected to ask questions out of a pool of over 100 questions. We narrowed it down to 20 by a selection of a committee. It will be a 10-minute pass from horizon to horizon. They each get to come up and ask a question, barring any technical difficulties, and that is how long the Q&A will last,” Laurel Tincher, Program Manager for the Terre haute Children’s Museum.
Organizers added that this wouldn’t be possible without the help of the one local radio association that was already wanting to do something like this.
“It’s actually something that we had been looking at. Doing it at some scale for some time and this was just an absolutely perfect opportunity for us,” said Kevin Berlen, President of the Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association. “There’s a number of things that had to be checked and tested to make sure that we’re ready to go whenever the time comes. We don’t get a second chance at this. This is something we have to get right. So there’s been a lot of preparation and we just want to make sure we have all the bases covered and that we’re one hundred percent ready to go for it.”
Both the children’s museum and the Wabash Valley Amateur Radio Association wanted to thank the Candlewood Suites for allowing them to use their roof. They also wanted to thank the mentors from ARISS who helped them prepare for the event.
