Local Scouts make contact with astronaut on International Space Station

Story and photos by Paul Forman

A year in the making, select Scouts from Cottam, Kingsville and Essex had the rare opportunity to take part in a question and answer session with an astronaut that is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS). 

The out of this world 10-minute conversation took place inside Cottam’s United Church on November 16 by means of an amateur radio tele-bridge network linked to Italy and involved astronaut Sunita Williams who will remain on the ISS until February of next year.

The brainchild of Leamington’s Bruce Peacock, the Scouting event began with a video of Williams providing a tour of the ISS, followed by a sound check for each child that would be providing a question and ending with the once in a lifetime chance to talk to Sunita who is orbiting the Earth at 28,000 kilometres per hour.

“I was hoping to bring something like this to a different part of Ontario,” said Peacock, a former aerospace technician who worked on the robotic Canadarm. “Canada is really making a lot of progress in the world of aeronautics and I wanted the kids to be part of something that might interest them down the road.”

Lexi Jackson of 3rd Essex Scouts was one of the lucky ones that was able to pose a question to Williams during the radio contact. 

“It’s so exciting to get to talk to an astronaut. I’ve always been interested in space and the planets,” said Jackson.

Astronaut Williams was very friendly in the Q and A session and the kids were clearly excited to get answers to questions such as: Can you see Lake Erie? How did you become an astronaut? What are you studying in the space station?

This was not the only local opportunity for young people to engage with an astronaut as intermediate students at Erie Migration District School also had a chance to talk to Williams at another fly-by on the morning of November 18.