Sarasota Military Academy cadets spoke live with NASA astronaut Luke Delaney aboard the International Space Station on Thursday, Oct. 22, using ham radio equipment set up on the school's Sarasota campus.

The contact, scheduled for 12:23 p.m., came during a narrow window as the station passed overhead. Cadets used the school's amateur radio call sign, W4SMA, to reach Delaney on a frequency of 145.800 MHz, WWSB first reported.

SMA was one of 13 schools and organizations nationwide chosen for a contact through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program, known as ARISS, during the 2026-27 school year. The program arranges 60 to 100 live radio connections each year between students around the world and crew members who hold ham radio licenses aboard the station.

Volunteers from the Tamiami Amateur Radio Club helped operate the ground station equipment. The Venice-based club, founded in 1960, has more than 160 members.

SMA's on-campus radio club, W4SMA, was started in 2009 by George Becht at the request of founding headmaster Dan Kennedy, according to an ARISS news release. The club went dormant in 2014 and was rebooted by Becht and John Geimer in the spring of 2024. It now offers a science elective in radio, wireless communications and electronics. More than 30 cadets have earned amateur radio licenses, with some upgrading to General and Amateur Extra classifications.

Cadets had prepared 17 questions for Delaney. Topics ranged from how solar storms affect ISS experiments to whether commercial space travel could become affordable within 20 years. The approximately 10-minute window limited how many could be asked.

Delaney, a naval aviator from DeBary, Fla., is on his first trip to space as pilot of NASA's Crew-13 mission, which launched Oct. 1 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, NPR reported. His alma mater, Deltona High School, declared "Luke Delaney Day" on launch day as students gathered to watch.

SMA is a tuition-free military public charter school founded in 2002, serving students in grades 6 through 12. All high school students are enrolled in the Army's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) curriculum.

ARISS selected the 13 U.S. schools and organizations in July from a competitive proposal process, according to ARISS-USA. Three additional groups were approved in September, bringing the total to 16 contacts scheduled through June 2027.