Wednesday 21 March 2012 at 08 :39 UTC, 09 :39 CEWT, Swiss Air Force Museum Clin d'Ailes,
located on the Swiss Airforce Base in Payerne, Switzerland, established an ARISS contact with ESA
astronaut André Kuipers, PI9ISS, aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut André Kuipers
operated with the ISS callsign OR4ISS. This was a direct contact performed by the Amateur radio
Club station HB9SPACE, located in the museum.
Located in Payerne, Switzerland, the museum of military aviation "Clin d'Ailes" shows the military
aeronautics of the second half of the XXth century. The president of the Museum Foundation is Claude
Nicollier, HB9CN, first Swiss Astronaut. The HB4FR "Clin d'Ailes" Swiss Air Force HAM-Radioclub
wants to foster youngsters' interest in sciences, technology and radio.
The Centre de Formation de la Base Aérienne de Payerne (Swiss Air Force Base) is located in the town
of Payerne, 40 km southwest of Bern, in the french speaking part of Switzerland. This centre offers young
people an apprenticeship in a well-equipped environment. Four teachers are taking care of 30 students,
aged between 15 and 20 years. All of them were involved in the ARISS event. Their studies will procure
them a Certificate of Apprenticeship in Electronics or Polymecanics and a Certificate of Maturity.
As part of the ARISS QSO preparation, the students had to realize a stratospheric balloon project.
They equipped the balloon with video and photo cameras, sensors and beacons and launched it one
week ahead of the ARISS QSO. The students could present beautiful pictures and videos to the
audience attending the ARISS contact.
At 08:39 UTC, contact with OR4ISS was established by HB9SPACE, operated by Bertrand Bladt,
HB9SLO. Swiss Astronaut Claude Nicollier, HB9CN, welcomed Astronaut André Kuipers and handed
the mike over to the first student. All 20 questions prepared by the students were answered by
André Kuipers. To close the communication, Claude Nicollier addressed a great thank you to
André Kuipers. A big applause underlined André Kuipers finals words.
The conversation with ESA Astronaut André Kuipers was conducted in English. Audio was excellent
and the signal from the ISS was loud and clear without loss of any word during the whole communication.
120 people were present to follow the communication on site. We noted several civil and academic
personalities as well as representatives of the ITU, Swiss OFCOM and Swiss Amateur Radio Clubs.
A live video streaming was performed by the Swiss Online Media 20 Minutes: www. 20min.ch, using
the signals produced by Swiss Amateur TV (SwissATV) group.
The Swiss TV reported about the ARISS event during the 21 March Regional News at 19:00 Swiss Time.
The local Radio Station Radio Fribourg covered the event starting one week ahead with interviews
and reports, many of them at the most important listening rate.
The local TV station la Tele also covered the event.
The Swiss Radio will broadcast a report Tuesday morning 27 march at 07:00 Local Time.
The following Newspapers covered the event starting one week ahead of the QSO:
La Liberté (regional newspaper)
La Gruyère (regional newspaper)
Le Républicain (local newspaper)
La Broye (local newspaper)
24 heures (newspaper covering the french part of Switzerland)
20 minutes (Swiss free daily newspaper)
The Swiss 20 Minutes Online Media published two reports:
http://www.20min.ch/ro/news
http://www.20min.ch/ro/news/suisse/story/29216037
as well as two videos:
http://www.20min.ch/ro/videotv/?vid=244405&cid=120
http://www.20min.ch/ro/videotv/?vid=244395&cid=120
The following online reports are available:
http://laliberte.ch/node/357752
http://www.24heures.ch
http://www.labroye.ch/node/17912?photo=1#photo
http://medioline.ch/
Here you can find more photos and reports:
www.hb4fr.ch
73,
Herbert Aeby, HB9BOU
President "Clin d'Ailes"
Swiss Air Force Museum
HAM Radio Club HB4FR
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