Live webcasting from outer space!

In association with ARISS (Amateur Radio on International Space Station) we relayed a live webcast interview between pupils of The King's School Canterbury and Michael Foale, the British astronaut whilst he was orbiting aboard the International Space Station 250km above the earth.

ARISS provided all of the technology including antennas, masts and radio equipment to set up the ground comms link to NASA, which in turn was relayed via our servers to listeners around the UK. The press release follows.

In October 2003, Michael Foale embarked on his fifth space mission, this time to the International Space Station. At the same time, Michael's school, The King's School, Canterbury, began preparations an historic highlight in the life of the community that traces its roots back 1400 years, as its former pupil turns teacher. In this exciting event, Michael Foale, resident onboard the International Space station, will have a live radio link up with the school and will be answering questions as he passes nearly 250km overhead in the ISS.

The contact will be unique. Michael recently spent two days talking to pupils at The King's School and has a prestigious school award named after him. The award is for outstanding achievement and enthusiasm for science. The current award holder will be speaking with Michael during the contact.

The Space station contact is scheduled will take place on Wednesday, 28 January 2004 at 17:42 local time.

The event will involve boys and girls from the school using an amateur radio station with antennas that will track the International Space Station as it passes overhead. As the Space Station appears over the horizon in the West, the pupils will ask Michael a series of questions. The Space Station will be tracked and the contact continued until it disappears over the horizon in the East. The estimated contact time will be about ten minutes.

Space Station contacts with the ISS are arranged under an agreement between NASA and an organisation known as ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station), with European representation by a sub group of ARISS-EU. Using Amateur Radio equipment on board the space station and on the ground, Amateur Radio operators facilitate the communication link necessary for the school to communicate with the astronauts on board.

See also ARISS-EU http://www.ariss-eu.org for further details on the ARISS organisation.

The school has a website, see http www.kings-school.co.uk for the latest information, a copy of this press release and some digital photos for press use.

Media contacts can be facilitated by calling the head of science, Dr Jonathan Allday, or the ARISS representatives Charles Riley and Howard Long.