Lehman High School’s Radio Club member David Simoneaux, left, and Project Lead the Way teacher Ross Russell go over last-minute radio exchange plans just prior to the International Space Station’s flyover of Texas and the memorable question and answer session with U.S. astronaut Cady Coleman. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by JIM CULLEN
Local high school students asked questions and listened intently to answers from a voice from far above recently. It was a human voice – that of a woman – and in some ways it seemed as normal a conversation as one you’d have with the person standing next to you on a street corner. It wasn’t normal, though, and the person’s voice streaming into a Lehman High School lab wasn’t coming from anyone on any nearby street corner.
In fact, the voice that drew a packed room of students to listen in, was that of U.S. astronaut Cady Coleman and her voice was coming to them from more than 200 miles up in space, her platform the International Space Station.
The unforgettable experience took root from Lobo teacher Judy Cooper’s first proposal two years ago of doing the once-unthinkable project. A Hays CISD Education Foundation Innovative Teaching Grant eventually underwrote the costs of installing a satellite radio system as students worked their way through the process under the watchful eye of Project Lead the Way teacher Ross Russell. Lehman High School’s Radio Club got on the long waiting list of those wishing to experience direct communication with the space station as it passed overhead.
Ultimately, the window of time during which students got the chance to ask their question of Coleman was only about 10 minutes. A countdown of time to the communications “window opening” clicked down the minutes and seconds until Coleman’s voice was expected. When the countdown clock hit 0:00, calls from the lab began seeking the eagerly-anticipated response from above. It didn’t happen immediately and the clock began counting time elapsed since the window was supposed to have opened.
Lehman Principal Don Ruisinger aptly drew the recollection of the older members of the audience who could recall the agonizing seconds the world waited as Apollo 13’s unforgettable flight returned from its star-crossed mission so many years ago. Subsequent astronaut tragedies unavoidably added to the moments of increasing apprehension of those who remember them.
But that voice did come, to the relief and excitement of every student and adult gathered for the moment. Rusinger said, “To hear the ISS finally come into range at plus 45 seconds was a cool, cool feeling.” Austin area television crews recorded the event, involved students and teachers were interviewed, and everyone left satisfied, including many who watched and listened to the entire process through a distance learning hook-up in the Lobo cafeteria.
Judy Cooper and her counterpart, Ross Russell, who oversaw the details in preparing for the event, received special praise from Rusinger. Asked for his final read on the project revealed how deeply he perceived the impact. “This was a very important experience for the school and especially for all of those who were involved. Congratulations!”
