By Cris Greer
While orbiting Grand Rapids about 250 miles overhead last Thursday, International Space Station astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi answered questions from 15 West Michigan Aviation Academy students in their high school gym on the grounds of Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
With help from local amateur radio enthusiasts, the conversation was loud and clear between the astronaut and the students … even while traveling overhead at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.
Neyadi, of the United Arab Emirates, is the second Emirati astronaut to go to space and the first Emirati astronaut to make a long duration space flight. He is a member of the SpaceX Crew-6 and ISS Expedition 68/69 and arrived at the space station on March 3, 2023.
Sophomore Keira Amis was one of the 15 Aviation students who asked astronaut Neyadi a question. She explained her “super rare opportunity” of talking to him in space.
“Nobody my age, except for my other 15 schoolmates here will get to talk to an astronaut like this, ever,” said Amis, who plans to get her pilot’s license at WMAA. “It was kind of scary in front of all these people, but it was incredibly worth it.”
There were many moving pieces that made this contact possible, which took about a year to come to fruition. Specifically, the ARRL (National Association for Amateur Radio) and ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) played the main roles in the event.
“ARISS is the organization that made this contact possible; they built the ham station on the space station and arrange the school contacts with NASA,” said Doug Papay, team lead for radio equipment setup. “Our mentor was Gordon Scannell … who facilitated the live stream for the event.”
The amateur radio team for this contact consisted of Papay, Tom Bosscher (audio) and Mike Wolthuis (loaned the equipment).
“Mike, Tom and I, with the help of Pioneer Construction, set up the station at the school the week prior to the contact,” said Papay, Lead Radio Frequency Design Engineer and Manager of Electromagnetic Compatibility Design at Gentex. “This involved assembling the antennas and lifting them up to the roof of the school, routing coax and cabling and connecting radios and audio equipment for a test run.
“I estimate that I have 60-80 hours of work into getting the station prepared for deployment and assembled at the school.”
All in the family
Papay said he “grew up with amateur radio.”
“I spent hours with my father at the workbench, in the yard building towers and antennas, in his radio shack listening to DX, attending hamfests, field day events and club meetings, but it was his hobby not mine. My interest at the time was 8-bit computers.”
Although he had little interest early on, his father’s love of radio eventually became his own.
“After becoming licensed in 2005, I quickly discovered the world of amateur satellite and ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) and started to pursue this aspect of the hobby. During the last 17 years of being in the hobby, I have made over 17,000 2-way amateur radio contacts, several of which have been with astronauts or space flight participants that were aboard the ISS.”
This was Papay’s second time facilitating an ARISS contact; both at WMAA. His daughter Grace, also a licensed amateur radio operator, made the contact to the space station at this event. A junior at Holland Christian High School, Grace holds an Amateur Extra Class license, which is the top level license assigned by the FCC for amateur radio operators.
“I encouraged her to pursue the amateur radio license in order to honor and celebrate her grandfather (my dad, John Papay) on his 60th year of amateur radio,” Papay added.
Aviation science teacher Bryan Forney said it was a really cool opportunity.
“I think we get so used to picking up a cell phone and being able to talk to anybody anywhere, and we don’t really think about the complexity of what it takes to do that,” said Forney, who teaches chemistry and AP physics at Aviation and is a retired Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps. “We didn’t even get into half of the complexity of just how hard it is to track and communicate with an object that’s moving 17,000 miles per hour across the sky. It’s a pretty amazing thing and I thought it was super cool.”
Interest in the ISS contact began with a few WMAA teachers several years ago, which led to a proposal from Aviation flight instructor Les Brown, who’s also an amateur radio operator.
“All the teachers were writing content and presenting lessons related to the space station and space travel,” Forney explained. “Every academic department found a way to tie this into the curriculum.”
Forney said WMAA is the place to study if you’re thinking about being an astronaut.
“I’d say that just about any one of the students that goes here is getting the academic background they need to prepare themselves for a career in space if they want one.”
Space Station Facts (Courtesy, nasa.gov)
• An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the International Space Station. Learn more about visitors to the space station by country.
• An international crew of seven people live and work while traveling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth about every 90 minutes. Sometimes more are aboard the station during a crew handover.
• In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 orbits of Earth, traveling through 16 sunrises and sunsets.
• The space station is 356 feet (109 meters) end-to-end, one yard shy of the full length of an American football field including the end zones.
• The station’s orbital path takes it over 90 percent of the Earth’s population, with astronauts taking millions of images of the planet below. Check them out at https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov.
• The space station travels an equivalent distance to the Moon and back in about a day.
• More than 50 computers control the systems on the space station.
