Astronauts.

Space Two stories which remind me to rewatch Contact and Space Camp soon. Firstly, perhaps there'll be an Ellie among students at Lewiston-Auburn in Maine who will soon have the chance to talk to astronauts on the International Space Station, thanks to a ten minute window when ham radios in the area will be able to reach the atmosphere:

"Last year the Bates art museum held a “Starstruck” exhibit, which Shostak called the first major art exhibit of photos of space that was cataloged and documented. The exhibit held more than 100 photographs of space, many taken by cameras on telescopes; a few were from NASA.

"Shostak's brother-in-law, Dave Taylor, is an amateur radio operator and member of the Maine chapter of the American Radio Relay League. He saw the space exhibit and told Shostak about NASA's national call for proposals for radio operators to talk to orbiting astronauts."

Meanwhile there's a real sparkle of Kathryn Fairly in the eyes of Astronaut Abby:

"Abby Harrison, 15, a sophomore at South High in Minneapolis and an aspiring astronaut, will travel to Russia and Kazakhstan in late May when three astronauts head to the International Space Station.

"The trio includes Vinning, Minnesota native Karen Nyberg, of NASA, Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Luca Parmitano, an Italian astronaut from the European Space Agency. They will launch from Kazakhstan May 28 aboard a Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft for Expeditions 36-37, conducting scientific research during the six month mission."

Abby's blog is here.