Eutiners contact International Space Station
Stella, center, is pictured with ‘sister’ and ‘host mother’, Lindsey Tucker, last fall during the Eutin exchange in Lawrence. Read below about another once-in-a-lifetime experience Stella had in December.
This week some of our friends at the Carl-Maria-von-Weber Gymnasium in Eutin had an ‘out of this world’ experience when they successfully contacted the orbiting International Space Station. The sanctioned conversation lasted about eight minutes as the ISS passed overhead, 400 kilometers (249 miles) above Eutin. Reporters from a TV station in Hamburg, Norddeutscherundfunk (NDR), were present to record this unique event.
Several familiar faces appeared in both the video clip and article published later in the day, 12/4/23, by NDR. Stella Muss, a participant in this year’s Eutin-Lawrence high school exchange, played a role in the day’s events. Another key participant, amateur radio operator Wolf-Gerd Trewing, served as technical advisor to the school project. Last June he was a host father to one of our Lawrence exchange students. Both Stella and Mr. Traving were featured in the NDR video.
As reported by NDR, last Monday, December 4, in spite of a winter storm, students headed eagerly to the Weber Schule for this memorable event. At noon students gathered in the school’s atrium to witness the ‘pay-off’ for a year and a half of work - the ISS crew responded to their call. The ISS Commander, Andreas Enevold Morgensen, a Dane, answered student's’ questions about new scientific discoveries and what astronauts do in their free time in space. It was a brief conversation, but will be memorable for a lifetime.
After seeing the NDR interview of Stella, her host mother in Lawrence, Lindsey Tucker, said, “Stella is a very intelligent and involved student, I’m not at all surprised to see her speaking in front of the cameras about the project. She is incredibly adventurous, - the first time she flew in an airplane was to come to Lawrence [in September]!
Click here or the 3 minute video and report by NDR. Notes about the report photos. 1) Trewing and students set up for the call in the school atrium. 2) Trewing provided technical support for the entire project. 3) Stella (long dark hair, no head phones) is delighted to hear Commander Morgensen answer the call.