NEWPORT BEACH

A group of former students from Harbor View Elementary School will be going into space--almost. When the space shuttle Columbia passes over Harbor View on Wednesday, 15 former students will be waiting in the school’s multipurpose room, armed with a ham radio and a list of questions to ask mission commander Col. Eileen Collins. Members of the community are invited to attend.

Harbor View has been chosen as one of five schools around the country to make direct radio contact with the shuttle as it travels into space to deliver an X-ray observatory satellite. The students’ 15 minutes of fame will begin at 6:37 p.m. Wednesday, and not a moment too soon. This will be the last time that the shuttle will offer the amateur radio program on board--the program is moving to the international space station.