Elementary school students in Raleigh use amateur radio to talk to International Space Station

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Students at Brentwood Magnet Elementary School of Engineering in Raleigh got an out-of-this-world lesson in engineering using some old-school technology.

The school was selected to take part in this year's program called Amateur Radio on the ISS. They connected through an amateur radio in Belgium to talk to astronauts living aboard the International Space Station.

"We've had to do a lot of explaining with our kids as far as this is not a Google meet," explained Kristen McBryde, a STEM teacher and magnet coordinator at Brentwood Elementary. "This is a different kind of communication. But, it's been really fun for our kids to start to understand it."

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Before the space talk, NASA educators talked to the students about the importance of STEM fields and careers, then the students were connected and had about a 12-minute window to ask dozens of questions voted on by the student body.

"What I loved about this was they got to hear that the astronauts have problems when they're on the International Space Station," McBryde said. "And that's what we do at Brentwood, we solve problems. We're engineers. So, it's really good for our kids to see no matter where you are in life, even if you're an astronaut on the International Space Station, you're going to encounter problems and you're going to have to solve them."

Brentwood Magnet Elementary School of Engineering is one of only nine in the country selected by Amateur Radio on the ISS to take part in this year's program.

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