Come In, Space Station, This Is Cambie

On Thursday morning Richmond high school students boldly went where no students had gone before - outer space.  Well, kind of.

Students from Cambie secondary school, along with their teachers, partnered with the American Radio Relay League to have their school become just the fourth in the province to host the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station event. Setting up the communication system was the Richmond Amateur Radio Club.

The stage was set. Star Trek's theme song blared over the gymnasium speakers and at 10:05 a.m. about 1,500 students from across the school district bore witness to verbal communication with International Space Station commander Koichi Wakata, a Japanese engineer and veteran astronaut, who is fulfilling the role Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield did in 2013.

The space station orbits the earth 15.5 times a day at an average speed of 27,600 km/h. The radio club and students had but a mere seven minutes .........

Richmond High School on The Air