City of Light - 50 years in space

[meg]

Hi all,

My workplace is one of the organisations involved in this event and I thought it might interest many of you - we will be holding a public ARISS (Amateur Radio International Space Station) event in the Northbridge Piazza on Feb 20 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's orbit of the Earth when Perth was nicknamed the City of Light.

Some press info...

“City of Lights” – a joint event between State Records Office of Western Australia, the Western Australian Museum and the City of Perth to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Perth’s naming as the City of Lights

On February 20 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in the Friendship 7 spacecraft. On this mission, Glenn flew over Perth, Western Australia and the city became known worldwide as the “City of Lights” as the population all turned on their lights and Glenn observed that the city was visible from space.

This mission set the stage for the Gemini and Apollo programs which culminated in NASA landing men on the moon, and 20 February 2012 is the 50th anniversary of this event.

Western Australia has had a close involvement with NASA in these programs, running tracking stations from Muchea and Carnarvon. Many astronauts and engineers spent time working at these facilities, bringing high technology and the “space race” to the other side of the planet.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Glenn’s orbit, on Monday 20 February 2012 from 5pm an outdoor public event will be staged in the Northbridge Piazza, featuring a live audio and video link to the International Space Station as it orbits the Earth.

This free public event is being co-presented by the State Records Office of Western Australia, the WA Museum, the City of Perth, the Hills Amateur Radio Group, Amateur Radio International Space Station and NASA.

School aged children are able to enter the competition to ask a question of an astronaut onboard the International Space Station at the event, by submitting their question at the Western Australian Museum website http://www.museum.wa.gov.au/city-lights

Entries close on 29 January 2012, so hurry to get your entry in!

[Zebedee]

Wow - what an event.

Massive congratulations to HARG, the WA Museum, the State Records Office, ARISS, the City of Perth and everyone else who contributed to the event this evening in Northbridge.

It was really good to see all the families there, enjoying the afternoon sun, and seeing how amateur radio can facilitate the communications between the event and the ISS.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Here's some video I took with my phone of the kids asking their questions of the astronauts.

http://youtu.be/iWOWZYLgKTA

[meg]

Thanks Doug - I really didn't get to appreciate the event at all, so fantastic to see it now!

And thankyou to everyone who came along - I think we've written a new chapter in the story of the City of Light