(Newport, RI) -- Students at Pell Elementary School in Newport had a history-making conversation on Tuesday with an astronaut on board the International Space Station. They became the first Rhode Island public school students to do so, speaking with American Ricky Arnold. The audio-only chat lasted ten minutes and was made possible by a European ham radio operator. Students at All Saints Academy in Middletown and Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick participated in similar events the last two years.