Maggie, VK3CFI & Soviet Cosmonaughts

Maggie, VK3CFI. (B 27/2/45- D 21/7/2014) was an amateur pilot, folk dancer and amateur radio enthusiast. (Noting her call of CFI is usually a label for Chief Flying Instructor at a flying school)

A fascinating and entertaining interview audio from the ABC rating to the experiences of Maggie VK3CFI, based in Colac Vic. 

 

“Last year Maggie Iaquinto found she was a character in an opera called Cosmonaut. It told the story of Soviet citizen Sergei Krikalev, who was orbiting the earth in MIR when his country fell apart.

During this time he kept himself sane by chatting to a Colac housewife, Maggie Iaquinto VK3CFI. Over a period of five years she spoke to 19 cosmonauts on ham radio and made history by establishing the first computer-to-computer civilian communication with a space station.”

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/verbatim/cosmic-conversations/3585990

Some additional links:

VK3CFI MIR Presentation – YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com › watch  Jack, VK3WWW’s has a link to this video of a presentation to EMDRC contains more detail on her experience.

Musa U2MIR Goes to School – World Radio Historyhttps://worldradiohistory.com › Amateur-Radio

Reflections on the History of Computers in Education: Early …https://books.google.com.au › books