ISS Commander on a Roll, Completes Another Set of Back-to-Back School QSOs:

With Expedition 12 drawing to a close in April, ISS Commander Bill McArthur, KC5ACR, has been working hard to speak via Amateur Radio with students at as many schools as possible. This week, he took time to thank the worldwide Amateur Radio community for its help in achieving several ham radio milestones from space. McArthur has been more active from NA1SS than any other astronaut or cosmonaut who's lived aboard the ISS since the first crew arrived in 2000. Among other accomplishments, he completed DXCC and WAS from space (the awards will be honorary). In addition, he holds the record for handling the most Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contacts of any ISS crew member--34 as of March 23.

"I would like to express my deep gratitude to the worldwide amateur radio community for your participation in this great adventure," McArthur said. "Clearly, one of the benefits for Amateur Radio is bridging the distances between us. Through your participation, you helped realize the potential for the human exploration of space to do exactly that. Thanks to you, over the past six months, the International Space Station has been more international than ever before."

Hams in Space