RANCHO PENASQUITOS —— Students at Mt. Carmel High School gave a new meaning to the old saying "spacing out in class," Thursday, when they made contact with astronauts orbiting the earth.

With the use of an amateur radio and assistance from NASA, students in the school's Amateur Radio Club asked U.S. Commander William McArthur questions while he and Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev flew 220 miles over the Poway United School District.

The astronauts are aboard the International Space Station where they are doing maintenance in preparation for future space shuttle missions, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The two began a six-month stint in the space station in October.

Science teacher and club advisor John Earnest said he has worked on putting students in contact with astronauts for the last four years. The process involved an application to speak to the space crew, borrowing the necessary equipment —— including a 100-watt radio, back-up radio, computer software and an 18-foot antenna. —— and then quickly setting it up.

"When it actually happens, it's like 'Wow,' we are actually talking to these guys," he said. "It's just an interesting and exciting feeling."

Through thick static, students, parents, teachers, teacher's parents and school board members listened to the nearly nine-minute conversation that started just after 7:42 a.m. Thursday in room L-2.

Earnest made the first contact.

"NA1SS - NA1SS; This is KG6EQU at Mt. Carmel High School, over," he said.

After a few anxious minutes the class heard McArthur reply, "Mt. Carmel High School KG6EQU, this is NA1SS."

"I was a little nervous at first," Earnest said. "Then I was relieved, then I was thankful and then excited."

Students came up with a list of questions and took turns asking them, managing to get through 17 of 20 queries before the signal was lost. The astronauts were asked about everything from the temperature in the space station to descriptions of space, how they exercise and what they do for fun.

Student Cole Peters asked, "Have you tried throwing an object in one direction to get (it) moving in the opposite direction?"

"Cole, we do that all the time," McArthur said.

Sophomore and radio club member Jennifer Peterson, 15, asked, "Was it always your dream to become an astronaut?"

McArthur said he wanted to join the military when he was young. He retired from the Army as a colonel in 2001, after serving as an experimental test pilot earning numerous honors.

"The astronauts were cool. I would consider doing that because I like math and science," she said. "It was like 'Whoa, I'm talking to people up in space.' It was kind of nervewracking cause I don't like speaking. (But) it was cool."

Sophomore Libby Chapman, 15, wasn't a member of the radio club but said after talking to the astronaut, she wants to join.

"I can't wait to get started," she said, Thursday. "It was just a wonderful experience."

The students monitored the space station's 7,000-mile-per-hour travel online, while talking to the astronauts. The Amateur Radio in Space Station's Web site tells how far and high the vessel is and when it was expected to arrive over Mt. Carmel. By 8:17 a.m. it was already passing over South America and was on its way over Africa.

"It was right above us," said Marc Russell, the club's vice president. "That was amazing, knowing they're not on earth with us and they're up in space floating around on a big piece of metal. And just how radio waves can travel long distances and carry data."

Marc said his maternal grandfather helped set up the antennas for the amateur radio. His father Paul, a biologist, said he couldn't miss the big day and videotaped it for Marc's grandfather.

"(Marc) has really been excited about it for a long time," his father said. "It's an important day in his life."

It was also a big moment for Earnest, an 18-year science teacher who said he was interested in science from the time he was 3 years old. "There's a bunch of little dreams you have along the way and this would be one of them," he said. "I thought it would never arrive."

Earnest said his father is a geologist and his mother, who was there for Thursday's big event, taught middle school science. He said she was responsible for the pictures of space shuttles and planets that hang in his class.

"My mom's an even bigger science nerd than I am," he said.

Earnest said making contact with an American in space gave him a uniquely patriotic moment.

"You're kind of impressed and proud of the technology, the time and work that went into it," he said. "They are doing something important."

Contact staff writer Adrienne A. Aguirre at (760) 740-3526 or aaguirre@nctimes.com.