The ARRL Letter, Vol. 22, No. 03, January 17, 2003 from The American Radio Relay League reports that:

Youngsters at Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman, Montana, conversed via ham radio on January 8 with International Space Station resident Don Pettit, KD5MDT. The contact between NA1SS and the school club station's K7BZN was the first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) QSO this year with a US school.

William M. Shepherd, the first astronaut to command a crew aboard the ISS, was givin the congressional space medal of honor.

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