[singlepic=301,180,,left]We have two amateur radio antennas on the ISS. This week I made contact with two classrooms from Spijkenisse and Schiedam in the Netherlands. They had won the first mission of the educational project Ruimteschip Aarde and were allowed to speak to me via radio. The mission task was to turn their classroom into a spaceship. Almost 100 classrooms sent in excellent videos with their solutions to space travel. The videos from Spijkenisse and Schiedam were complete with film music and many smart solutions for a long duration flight. So I chose them as the winners.

The radio contact went very smoothly. As soon as the ISS flew into range, I made contact. Nineteen [singlepic=300,220,,right] children asked a question and I tried to answer as best as I could. There were some very interesting questions. Which smells from Earth would I like to take with me to space? Will children in the future also undertake long journeys in space? And how long can we hold out up here without fresh supplies? I enjoy involving children with my mission in this way.

ARISS
The radio contact was organised by ARISS, or Amateur Radio on board International Space Station. A recording was made. If you are interested you can listen to the radio contact (in Dutch) here.