Successful combined contact for two schools in central Italy with Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA

Saturday, 21 October, 2017 at 09:31 UTC, 11:31 local time and at 11:06 UTC, 13:06 local time, students at Istituto Scolastico Comprensivo “Nardi”, Porto San Giorgio, Italy and I.C. Michelangelo Buonarroti, Marina di Carrara, Italy established a combined direct contacts with ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli IZØJPA, onboard the International Space Station.

Istituto Scolastico Comprensivo “Nardi”
It hosts about 450 students, for a total of 19 classes, placed on two school placements, one north and one south of town. A section have a musical address and the students study a musical instrument, in addition to the regular daily curriculum, one of the activities that accompany the individual study of an instrument, the boys play in the orchestra and this activity particularly promotes the cohesion of the group and offers A social alternative. The "middle school" age group requires a special commitment and expose itself to a charge of empathy such as to pass on our children the passion for knowledge, study and curiosity towards everything that is being presented to us. Our school is very committed to the issues surrounding the environment, research and scientific evolution, communication and legality. Large space is reserved for languages: music, motor, chart through multimedia equipment and radio. It actively collaborates with the various educational agencies of the territory and with the local body that allow us to expand our training offer and favor the social development of our boys.

I.C. Michelangelo Buonarroti
The name of our school derives from the great Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. It is a primary and secondary ( first grade) school in Marina di Carrara, between the sea and the mountains ( Alpi Apuane). Our students are about 900 divided into five structures. We have a lot of laboratories and a planetarium too. We have activities related to astronomy, scientific, humanistic and artistic area and we are working about a lot of scientific projects. (age 11-14)

Mentor Francesco De Paolis IKØWGF proposed to the Radio Contact coordinators a combined direct contact and proposed both schools to share the event, alternating questions from both sites. Mr. Renzo Ciarpella I6KZR and Mr. Alessandro Tesconi IK5EHI, coordinating the events, agreed and set up a combined direct. The questions were read, alternatively, by Istituto Scolastico Comprensivo “Nardi”, Porto San Giorgio, Italy and I.C. Michelangelo Buonarroti, Marina di Carrara, Italy. More than 800 students, parents, visitors and media attended to both events.

Contact was established at 09:31 UTC, 11:31 UTC local time, with IRØISS. Astronaut Paolo Nespoli answered 19 questions and before LOS the radio contact coordinator proposed to astronaut complete the sequence of the questions during the following orbit. Nespoli agreed.
At 11:06 UTC, 13:06 local time, contact was established again with Paolo Nespoli, who answered the additional 6 questions and before LOS exchanged the greetings with both schools.
Signals from the ISS was loud and clear during the both ISS passes.
In addition, the onboard HamVideo tramsitter was operational for both ISS pass and streaming video was available at:
https://ariss.batc.tv/hamtv/

Regional Television, local media and newspapers covered the event.

73 de Francesco - IKØWGF

Video recorded by IK1SLD GS during the scheduled contact: https://youtu.be/Ads6fxFxKVk

Video recorded by IK1SLD GS during the continued contact: https://youtu.be/R-zR--pQuWQ

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