Sunday, July 21, 1996

San Antonio Students Connect with Shuttle Astronauts

By KEN DILANIAN
San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO - "KC7NxHZ, this is KC5OPS. How copy, over?"

Fourteen-year-old Drew Hendricks had been rehearsing the moment for weeks, and when the time came, he sang into the handset clearly and strongly.

But there was no response.

"KC7NHZ, this is KC5OPS. How copy, over?"

A hush crept over three dozen people crowded into the cramped confines of a portable classroom at Eisenhower Middle School on Blanco Road. With the air conditioner turned off, the temperature climbed.

On a computer monitor next to Hendricks, a map of the world tracked the orbit of the shuttle Columbia, 150 miles above, as it flew into South Texas radio range.

Eight students crouched around a set of shortwave controls, using the computer coordinates to aim the 45-foot antenna jutting into the heavens outside. Nine others stood in line along the wall, waiting to ask written questions.

It was 2:27 p.m. - time for middle schoolers from San Antonio to talk to a shuttle astronaut in space.

But all they heard was static.

Hendricks repeated the shuttle's call sign once more.

"KC7NHZ, this is KC5OPS. How copy, over?"

Next to him, retired Air Force test pilot Ken Harwood coordinated by phone with the real Mission Control in Houston.

Hovering nearby was high-strung Walt Dubose, a Kelly Air Force Base computer guru. Dubose is one of many community volunteers who help run the North East School District Young Astronaut program, which offers after-school technology classes in rocketry and computers.
Static.

Hendricks tried again.

Nothing.
Again.

Finally, the speakers came alive. A scratchy, barely audible female voice repeated the call signs, concluding with the magic words:

"We copy it."

Twenty pairs of young eyes lit up. Dubose threw up his hands in triumph.

And in the back of the room, Young Astronaut program director Calvin Best - who looked relaxed in a straw hat and lizard-skin boots but joked about his nervous nausea - was overwhelmed with relief.

The voice on the speaker was Astronaut Susan J. Helms, the shuttle mission commander, live from space.

The kids had done it.

They had just seven minutes before the shuttle flew out of range, so they got right to the questions, which had been selected from among hundreds and screened by NASA.

Students asked Helms about weightlessness, lift-off, and fun in space. Brian Vranes and Tarry Logsdon asked about the current two-week mission, an effort to measure certain physical effects of space flight.

Jennifer Barnhill asked Helms if being in space was the highlight of her life.

"Yeah, I think this probably is the best thing that ever happened to me," the astronaut answered.
Lucky ham radio operators sometimes get to chat with shuttle occupants, explained Charles Thomas, a radio operator standing by to help the students.

And NASA often schedules air time for students. On this mission, the astronauts will try to contact nine other schools, including one in Australia and one in France.

The North East Young Astronauts learned in March they would talk to an astronaut and had been preparing ever since, Best said. He's particularly proud that his students, not their adult mentors, handled the radio equipment.

"We've got some real smart kiddos in this group," he said.

After Helms' voice faded into static, the youngsters milled about, talking excitedly to reporters and parents. For those minutes, they had held a forum unique on the planet: a dialogue with a space traveler.

"It was so cool," said 12-year-old Max Porterfield, who wants someday to follow in Helms' footsteps. "It was one in a million."