Girton students reach giddy heights

THIRTEEN Girton Grammar students took the opportunity of a lifetime last Saturday night as they made radio contact with Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi on the International Space Station (ISS), 400 kilometres high in the sky.

The conversation took place shortly after 9pm, thanks to a global network of amateur radio ground stations that regularly connect earthbound students with the crew aboard the spacecraft.

The occasion was all the more profound as they called in from the grand Shamrock Hotel in Williamson Street, built in 1855, when the telegraph, using morse code, was in its infancy.

At the time of the call Onishi was on his second spaceflight as part of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which launched on 14 March.

The students were selected after a school-wide competition in which they suggested questions to ask the 49 year-old mission specialist.

“The students submitted some incredibly insightful questions they were burning to ask an astronaut living aboard the ISS, and choosing just a handful was not an easy task,” Girton’s Head of Science and Technology Prue Beckwith said.

Questions ranged from the effects of microgravity to the various experiments being conducted, as well as how the crew members deal with stressful moments while in space.

In addition to confirming that “floating in space is the best stress relief ever,” Onishi shared his excitement about a recent spacewalk and spoke warmly about the future of space exploration and the students’ potential role in it.

“(I’m) a big fan of the Star Wars movies, so I hope that one day we can travel faster than lightspeed and enter deep space – and I think you guys are the generation who could make that happen,” he said.

“Exploring new frontiers is what excites me the most, because I believe that is how we continue to progress and make our lives better on earth.”

Following the 10-minute window the ISS disappeared beyond the horizon, prompting an enthusiastic cheer from everyone in the room.

The event served as a prelude to the Bendigo Amateur Radio and Electronics Club’s Bendigo Technology Festival, organised in collaboration with the Wireless Institute of Australia.