School for Deaf Children to Talk to an ISS Astronaut

A group of children at the Mary Hare School for deaf children in Newbury will be talking to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as it orbits above them at 11,000 miles per hour. In October 2021 the school will be using amateur radio equipment set up with the help of members of the Newbury and District Amateur Radio Society (NADARS). This will be a world first, where a group of deaf children will each ask a question to the astronaut who will answer the question live over amateur radio. The reply will then be interpreted into subtitles and sign language for the children to ‘hear’. The event is made possible by the worldwide organisation ARISS (Amateur Radio International Space Station) that heads up the amateur radio contacts for space agencies NASA and ESA. As well as being able to listen on the ISS frequencies, there will be a live web feed available on the internet.

Radio amateur and contact co-ordinator Lloyd Farrington from NADARS states: “This is a truly exciting event for both the school and NADARS. It’s a great privilege to be able to speak to an orbiting Astronaut and we’ll have NASA and ESA watching and listening to us due to it being the first contact of this kind in the World!”