Royal Radio: Duchess Talks Space with ISS Astronaut!
The Duchess of Edinburgh engaged young girlguiding members in a live amateur radio chat with astronaut Sunita Williams aboard the International Space Station while on a visit to Brooklands Museum. The event was aimed to inspire girls in science and technology and as the new Patron of Girlguiding, Sophie emphasised the importance of pursuing careers in STEM. Report by Etemadil. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00I'm going to take a walk in the park to see what's going on.
00:30I'm going to take a walk in the park to see what's going on.
01:01APPLAUSE
01:16Now, today we're talking to Sunita Williams, or Sunny Williams,
01:19as she likes to be referred, and take part as well.
01:23Yeah?
01:25OK.
01:27So if you would like to come up.
01:30And...
01:32..but it's a little bit garbled, GB4GGB.
01:36This is November Alpha 1SS, over.
01:40Hello, Sunita.
01:42This is Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.
01:45I'm here today with over 100 brownies, guides and rangers
01:49from Girlguiding Surrey West
01:52for our contact with you on the International Space Station
01:56from Brooklyn's Museum in Surrey,
01:58the original home of British motorsport and aviation.
02:02As president of Girlguiding...
02:04No, actually, now patron of Girlguiding Association in the UK,
02:09I want to thank you for the inspiration you show to our young girls
02:13to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
02:17Are you ready for your first question, Sunny? Over.
02:21Your Royal Highness, yes, I am ready.
02:24I'm glad to hear your voice.
02:27Thank you. I'm glad to hear you too.
02:29This is all really exciting.
02:31So, your first question.
02:33Who or what inspired you to become an astronaut?
02:37And what advice would you have for any of these girls here today
02:40who might want to follow in your amazing footsteps?
02:44Well, I think my biggest influence had to be my parents,
02:49you know, who...
02:51..who just allowed me or, you know,
02:54showed me the way to try anything and don't worry about failing,
02:58don't worry about having a little bit of trouble,
03:01but just try different things and be encouraged.
03:04I think those were my biggest advocates for when I was a kid
03:08and trying to do things that were a little bit different.
03:11So I would have to say my parents, and I would say to the girls there,
03:15that same advice, just try anything and see what you like.
03:18You know, don't be stuck in one thing or another.
03:21See what science, technology, engineering, math, arts,
03:25what you find that you like and pursue it. Over.
03:29Do you have any free time?
03:31And if so, what do you spend your time doing? Over.
03:34So, yes, we do have free time.
03:36And so a lot of the times we want to look at our beautiful planet.
03:39So we have an amazing window called the Cupola
03:42where we can look down, like I was looking just earlier
03:45and saw this big hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean.
03:48And right now we're coming off the coast of Spain,
03:51so coming close to you.
03:53So those are some of the best things to do
03:55and take pictures of our wonderful planet
03:57as well as I write a journal. Over.
03:59What is the hardest part of your job? Over.
04:02Probably the hardest part is leaving family and friends for a period of time.
04:06But being up here on the space station,
04:08we actually have the opportunity to talk to them, which is great,
04:11so we could bring them along with us.
04:13But I also do really miss my dogs
04:15because I can't talk to them while I'm up here. Over.
04:18How does the food and drinks you have in space compare to foods on Earth? Over.
04:23Well, you know, it really is no comparison
04:25because we don't have the opportunity to eat what we can eat on Earth.
04:29So what we have up here is pretty good.
04:31Actually, we had ice cream last night after dinner
04:34and I had some chicken fajitas with a tortilla,
04:38so it's not bad. Over.
04:41What do you miss about Earth? Over.
04:44You know what I miss about Earth is rain and wind,
04:47like taking my dogs for a walk.
04:49That's what I usually get to experience
04:51and we don't have any of that up here. Over.
04:54What was your reaction when you found out
04:56you had been selected to fly to the International Space Station? Over.
05:00Great question. I actually didn't really even believe it.
05:03I went through the motions for all the training,
05:05but really I didn't believe it until the rocket that I was on
05:08started leaving the planet
05:10and I could feel all that vibration that we were going
05:12and then it became a reality. Over.
05:14Does space smell of anything? Over.
05:17Yes, it does.
05:19When we open a hatch,
05:21after a portion of the space station's been exposed to the outside in space,
05:26it smells a little bit like burning.
05:28I think that's ionisation that we're smelling.
05:31So it does smell like something after a piece of equipment's been in space. Over.
05:39Thank you to the Duchess of Edinburgh.
05:41Thank you to the Duchess of Edinburgh
05:43for inviting us to this event today.
05:46November Alpha 1SS. Over.
06:12Yeah, it's a shame we weren't able to say thank you to her music.
06:16I remember ages and years ago listening to Radio Caroline.
06:19We all did that.
06:21In the middle of nowhere. Not Radio Caroline.
06:24We're trying to get young people into engineering,
06:27especially groups in engineering,
06:29RF engineering, because everything depends on people.
06:32We've got radios everywhere.
06:34Yes, a cell phone, everything.
06:37We're trying to get them into computers.
06:41The girls are really good at studying.
06:43They really are.
06:44So what Thomas said is the challenge,
06:46to get them a lady spectrum engineer.
06:49So there.
06:51That's our challenge.
06:53Off you go then.
06:55Hello, nice to see you.
06:57How are you?
06:58Did you enjoy it?
07:00This is for you.
07:01Oh, thank you.
07:02How wonderful.
07:03That's very exciting.
07:05Did you enjoy today?
07:07Yes, it was so good.
07:08It was great to hear her.
07:09I know.
07:10It's kind of like, well, yeah.
07:12It's like mind-blowing.
07:14So what kind of STEM are you interested in?
07:17I prefer like the maths rather than the science.
07:20Yeah.
07:21But obviously I'm interested in STEM.
07:23You like the picture.
07:25Yeah.
07:26Have you seen the film?
07:27I haven't, no, not yet.
07:28I promise you, it's one of the most amazing films.
07:31It's really, really good.
07:33It's called Hidden Figures, and it's about the women,
07:36but particularly this one woman who solved the equation
07:40of how to get the astronauts into space.
07:45And she, not only was she a woman,
07:50very much in the man's world back then,
07:52when if you think in NASA,
07:53they didn't even have ladies' looms.
07:55There wasn't anything really happening.
07:57And not only that, she was a woman of colour.
08:00And she was amazing.
08:02And she started this whole department,
08:05and she went on to do incredible things.
08:08She was a very clever, very wise woman,
08:10and very determined.
08:11But yeah, there was one guy who just suddenly realised
08:14that actually what she was saying made sense.
08:16But there were others that had claimed credit for her work,
08:20and then he suddenly realised that she was happy.
08:23Yeah, she was amazing.
08:25Very exciting.
08:26Very exciting women in science, actually.
08:28But you have to slightly look for them.
08:30They're definitely there.
08:32Hidden gems.
08:33Definitely.
08:34They shouldn't be hidden.
08:36We need you to do amazing things with them.
08:39And go up into space and do amazing things.
08:42I'm very honoured to present you with another badge
08:45for being our patron.
08:46Oh, thank you.
08:47We have a new brooch today.
08:48Isn't that wonderful?
08:49Oh, we haven't had to replace this one in years.
08:52It's lovely.
08:53Thank you so much.
08:54We're very honoured to have you as our patron.
08:56So kind.
08:58Look at that.
08:59And that's fine.
09:00I'll leave it here.
09:01That's great.
09:02Thank you very much indeed.
09:03Unique.
09:04Yes, unique.
09:05One of a kind.
09:06Oh, well.
09:08I should wear it often.
09:09Replace it with a new one.
09:10It's going to have to go into the box now.
09:12Just seeing the girls kind of so excited to hear this.
09:15It was the forest of hands that started to go up.
09:17Yes.
09:18A little bit tentative to begin with, and then it's like,
09:20no, no, no, I really want to ask the question.
09:22And we weren't in time to get through all of them.
09:24And I love the toilet question.
09:25Who wasn't thinking about that?
09:26Yes.
09:28We knew it was going to come.
09:29Yes, absolutely.
09:30It's actually a very important and fundamental question.
09:33Probably the most interesting one.
09:35That's what we want to hear, don't we?
09:37And having a shower.
09:38Yes.
09:39So these were so chatty as well.
09:41She was really, really lovely.
09:43We got really long responses to the questions.
09:45There were so many questions I wanted to ask her,
09:47and I knew I was going to be given a script,
09:49and I had to stick to it.
09:51Yeah, okay, all right, I have to ask you this question,
09:53but there's some others I really want to ask.
09:58LAUGHTER
10:01Oh, well, it's all right.
10:02We like to get to the times, don't we?
10:04Yeah.
10:15Thank you very much.
10:16Thank you for coming.
10:18No, I'm not.
10:21Thank you very much.
10:24Congratulations.
10:26Hello.
10:27Hello.
10:29Ah!
10:30It's the Space and Rocket!
10:32Look!
10:33You like going into space, don't you?
10:35Is this a new T-shirt?
10:36We can talk into it.
10:37I struggle.
10:38He's been very excited.
10:42Hi, are you having a lovely time?
10:44Yes, we are, thank you.
10:45It's a lovely museum, isn't it?
10:47Such fun.
10:48I used to bring my children.
10:49Did you?
10:50Yes, absolutely.
10:51I loved it.
10:52Take care.
10:53Lovely to meet you.
10:54Bye.
10:59Bye.
11:10Well done.
11:11Good job.
11:16Great stuff.