It will be a long time before students at the Mary Graham Bicentennial High School forget the lessons delivered to them from space by NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway KJ5NIV, who was using the callsign NA1SS. As the space station passed into visible orbit over Chile, the teenagers read the questions they had prepared to ask on space exploration, technology and microgravity.

The ARISS contact on the 28th of September was a first for a direct contact by a Chilean public school. An ARISS contact made five years ago with two schools in Chile was accomplished with the help of a telebridge with a ground radio station in Belgium.

This recent contact came about with the help of the Los Molinos Radio Club CE2CQ, which had first approached the high school about it in 2025. To prepare for the moment, antennas were installed with automatic tracking rotators for 145.800 MHz. Students attended workshops to learn about the space station and the science behind their hoped-for contact.

Even though the ARISS contact was over quickly, as the ISS moved along in its orbit, one contact was made that is certain to last. Club president Lorenzo Passalacqua CE2LTA said that hams in the Los Molinos club hope to continue working in cooperation with the school to promote the continued study of science and satellites.