Glanmire students gear up to make airwaves in space

Students from Glanmire Community College will make history this year as they have been announced as one of two schools who will make direct radio contact with the International Space Station (ISS) while in orbit. 

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station programme (ARISS), which will see the Cork school and Tallaght Community School students speaking with Italian astronaut Paulo Nespoli while he orbits the Earth on the ISS.

Nespoli and the rest of the crew on the ISS will be traveling at 27,600 km/h south west from the New York horizon towards Italy and Poland, and for six to 12 minutes will be passing directly over Glanmire Community College.

Speaking with excitement at this announcement, Principal Ronan McCarthy said: “I speak on behalf of myself and all the students and staff here at Glanmire Community College when I say that our excitement levels have hit another stratosphere! We are extremely proud of our science programme and are delighted that it has been recognised globally with this amazing opportunity.”

Full report in next week’s edition