Thirty-five campers arrived in Huntsville, Alabama from 17 states and 3 countries - the US, Mexico, and Argentina - but their focus quickly turned to matters high above the earth. They enjoyed an ARISS contact with astronaut Chris Williams, KJ5GEW, and a surprise visit from Penny Pettigrew, payload communications manager and others from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Payload Operations team. Closer to Planet Earth, campers sent up a balloon to near-space, topping out at 93,500 feet as it signaled as W4Y-11 on APRS. The balloon carried a successful biological experiment from Xavier University and a radiation experiment using Polaroid film. Two pico balloons - W9EAR-12 and KM4ZIA-1 - were also launched.
In between sharpening their kit-building skills and getting acquainted with how to work DXpeditions and use the DX clusters, they operated special event station W4Y, visited the US Space & Rocket Center and the SIGNALS museum. The week ended with an intercultural evening which brought everyone back down to earth.
Want to sample some of the fun vicariously? Visit the Youth on the Air channel on YouTube. Bring your own refreshments.
