International

The man from Portland connects the children to the International Space Station

A Portland man in the Southeast is using his new hobby to connect kids to the International Space Station.

PORTLAND, Ore. You will find Nikko Payne’s home in Southeast Portland. Pretty much easy to distinguish from the large antenna on top of its roof. Payne is an amateur bacon radio operator and within his garage / workshop he connects students to space, especially the International Space Station.

“I just did it for about a month now,” Payne said. “I waited for my first contact and about two weeks ago I got my first.”

Payne is part of a program called ARISS, which stands for Amateur Radio International Space Station. It is a group of volunteers all over the world. Payne is what you call a telebridge operator. He voluntarily presents his time to enable children to talk to ISS astronauts.

“Kids of course, they’re excited about that,” he said. “It’s a one-time experience for them.”

It is not a simple task, given that the space station is traveling at about 18,000 miles per hour, 25 times the speed of sound.

“It comes over our horizon like the sun does, but sets about 10 minutes,” Payne said. “So we have 10 minutes to get 15 or 20 student questions before the space station disappears on the horizon.”

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The location of Portland on the west coast is ideal for this type of contact. “I feel really lucky to be at 45 degrees North,” Payne said.

With the space station at an altitude of only about 200 miles, Payne first calls ISS astronauts on the radio. He then connects them to a school via a telephone line in what resembles an Magnification meeting.

His most recent connection was Newcastle High School in Wyoming. “We’ve been working on this for about 18 months,” said Newcastle High School science teacher Jim Stith.

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The school was one of only a handful chosen to connect to the space station this year. The students had about 10 minutes to ask Commander Michael Hopkins questions.

It was 10 minutes that they will not soon forget.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said high school senior James Cox.

“He’s just a normal guy,” Stith said. “You think he’s a rock star. He’s an astronaut. He’s just a normal guy who has a really nice work day.

“The best thing we can say is thank you. It is an extraordinary issue that there are amateur radio operators who are able to devote their time and equipment to helping other people.”

For Payne, it is a chance not only to help, but to inspire the next generation of scientists.

“I think how can we talk to someone who revolves around space all the time and I never missed the wonder of it,” he said. “I just feel lucky to be able to do it.”

Any school can apply to connect to the space station. There is an application on the ARISS website.

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