‘Happy Birthday from space!’ Pinoy students chat with astronaut

After failing in their first attempt in February, several Filipino students managed to contact an astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) 400 kilometers above the earth.

Using an amateur radio, the Grade 11 students of University of the Philippines Integrated School (UPIS) and the electronics engineering majors of Holy Angel University (HAU) in Angeles, Pampanga, made a 10-minute call to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) astronaut Scott Tingle on May 15.

Tingle was part of the 55th expedition to the ISS via spaceflight Soyuz MS-07, which launched on Dec. 17, 2017.

He was one of five flight engineers on Expedition 55, which was commandeered by Anton Shkaplerov, along with Norishige Kanai, Andrew Feustel, Oleg Artemyev and Richard Arnold. The expedition ended when Soyuz MS-07 departed the ISS on June 1.

Astronauts lose body mass and bone density in space, especially on long missions at the ISS, Tingle told the students during their 10-minute chat.

This was because the astronauts’ bodies float in very weak gravity instead of working against the tug of earth while on land.

“We work out a couple of hours a day. We do resistance exercises … run on a treadmill or ride a bicycle,” the 52-year-old astronaut said, adding that these exercises are just what people do when they “want to lose weight.”

A greeting to remember

Tingle also sent birthday greetings to Harold Bryan Paler, one of the engineers of the Philippine Microsatellite (PHL-Microsat) projects, more commonly known as Diwata-1 and Diwata-2.

“Happy birthday, my friend. I hope you remember this forever,” the Nasa astronaut said.

“I think I can safely say that I am the first Filipino to receive birthday greeting from an astronaut at the ISS,” an elated Paler said.

The activity was designed to provide students with “unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance learning,” especially in the field of STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to Leo Almazan, an engineer who is helping the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) under its Balik Scientist program.

Interference

The program encourages foreign-trained Filipino scientists to return to the country and share their expertise.

The students and the DOST staff first tried to call the ISS on Feb. 17, but “illegal ham radio users (earth-bound radio amateurs) interfered with the communication link used by the UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute Amateur Radio Station,” Almazan recalled.

But at 4:20 p.m. on May 15 (Manila time), the DOST-Asti (Advanced Science and Technology Institute) finally established contact with the ISS, a low-orbit, habitable man-made satellite that serves as space environment for various experiments, as well as the testing of spacecraft systems and equipment for space missions.

The DOST-Asti first made a telebridge connection with Amateur Station W6SRJ based in California, which then established a communication link with Amateur Radio on the International Space Station.

Astronauts can receive and answer radio calls using the ISS’s 2-meter packet radio during their breaks, sleeping time, and before and after meal times.

Value of teamwork

Asked his advice for young Filipinos aspiring to become astronauts, Tingle said: “Get a really good education. Once you have it, you can apply in different jobs and opportunities that deal with space community or centered on human spaceflight.”

It would greatly help if one had “a lot of experience working in teams, which is very valuable in our community,” he added.

For HAU student Mariangela Miranda, the brief call was “historic, emotionally fulfilling and inspirational.”

With this experience, UPIS student Alexandra Arugay became more inclined to be an engineer and hopefully play a role as “the Philippines develops its space program for the future.”

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