ARISS News Release                                                          No. 23-03

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at Norwich Free Academy, Norwich, Connecticut, USA

January 27, 2023—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Norwich Free Academy located in Norwich, CT.  ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
 
Founded in 1854, Norwich Free Academy (NFA) is a secondary school in eastern Connecticut, with a student population of more than 2,100, and serving local communities as well as international students from China, Canada, and Finland.
 
Leading up to this ARISS contact, NFA integrated an array of topics into the science curriculums for all grades. Students investigated Newtonian gravitational laws and Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion using a hands-on lab, a PhET interactive simulation, and video lessons. Students learned about the systems in place to help keep astronauts alive while living and working on the ISS; one student used NASA resources for a research project to discover how basic human needs (air, water, sleep, exercise, etc.) are met on the ISS. The NFA Amateur Radio & Engineering Club (ham radio call sign W1HLO) members and advisors installed an amateur radio satellite ground station on campus last year, thanks to a generous ARDC grant. Students in the club now get hands-on learning at the ham station for how to communicate using amateur radio satellites and how to receive weather satellite images.
 
Students will ask their questions of Astronaut Josh Cassada, amateur radio call sign KI5CRH, who will use ARISS’s ISS call sign NA1SS. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and audio may be heard by listeners within the ISS footprint that also encompasses the ground radio station at NFA. NFA club advisors and members, using the call sign W1HLO, will establish and maintain the amateur radio operations for this ARISS connection.
 
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 30, 2023 at 1:55 pm EST (CT) (18:55:20 UTC, 12:55 pm CST, 11:55 am MST, 10:55 am PST).
 
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://youtu.be/pTkaCtam8m0 .
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. What was the journey like for you to become an astronaut and is there anything you would recommend to someone aspiring to become one?
2. Can you tell us about how the ISS is resupplied and what kinds of things get delivered to you?
3. What experiments are going on in the ISS?
4. Are you concerned about disuse osteoporosis and what do you do in space prevent it?
5.  If you get sick in space, what would you do?
6. How do you use the bathroom in space?
7. What does your routine look like on the space station from when you wake up to when you go to sleep?
8. What does the food you eat taste like?
9. How do you keep in contact with friends and family?
10.  What were the hardest things to get used to while in space?
11. How do you stay clean in space?
12. What was the most dangerous thing you’ve experienced in space?
13. Have you gotten taller in space and if so, has it caused any pain?
14. Is it possible for things to collide with the ISS and what would you do if that happened?
15. What do you do on your free time?
16. What does it feel like entering and leaving space?
17. Has being an astronaut changed your views about society and our planet?
18. How do you sleep?
19. What is your favorite and least favorite part about being on board the ISS?
20. Why did you decide to be an astronaut after hearing all the dangers that come with it?
21. What is the grossest thing in space?
22. What is it like to go on a spacewalk?
23. Will you bring back any souvenirs from space?

ARISS News Release                                                                No. 23-02

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at Brentwood Elementary School of Engineering, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

January 24, 2023—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Brentwood Elementary School of Engineering located in Raleigh, NC.  ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
 
Brentwood Magnet Elementary School of Engineering is located near downtown Raleigh and is part of the Wake County Public School System’s Magnet Programs. The school tries to inspire students’ interest in STEM, especially for those groups underrepresented in the STEM field. The school provides special engineering classes so that students are able to learn about engineering every day. The engineering challenges that students participate in are also related to their classes in language arts, math, science, and social studies. For instance, when pre-Kindergarten students are reading the story of the three little pigs, students work through a cycle of the engineering/design process to engineer a house that will withstand the huffing and puffing of the big bad wolf. In preparation for this ARISS contact, students have completed hands-on activities in the school’s MakerSpaces Labs that included coding space-related robots, and engineering rockets and parachutes that would meet certain NASA recommendations. Students have also met with a ham radio operator, guest speaker, and member of the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society.
 
This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of Astronaut Koichi Wakata, amateur radio call sign KI5TMN. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the telebridge station.
 
The ARISS amateur radio ground station (telebridge station) for this contact is in Aartselaar, Belgium. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the callsign ON4ISS, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
 
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 26, 2023 at 12:31 pm EST (NC) (17:31:24UTC, 11:31 am CST, 10:31 am MST, 9:31 am PST).
 
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://twitter.com/wcpssmagnets?s=20&t=wGpUbhsBiVLYDLbr88eM8g
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Have you met any of the astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo Missions?
2. What made you decide to become an astronaut
3. What does space look like from the ISS?
4. What types of jobs did you have before becoming an astronaut?
5. Is it scary to travel or live in space?
6. What do you do for fun while you are in space?
7. What type of plants are currently grown on the ISS?  Are any of them food for astronauts?
8. How long will you stay on the ISS?
9. How do you get electricity in space?
10. When you are not training for a trip to the ISS what else do you do as an astronaut?
11. What kind of exercise do you do on the ISS and how often do you do it?
12. Have you been in space before?  If so, how does your body react when you return to earth?
13. What is the most fun experiment you’ve worked on while in space?
14.  What was your favorite class when you were in elementary school?  Do you think it helped you become an astronaut?
15.  What is the toughest and the best thing about being in space?
16. What activities require you to put on a spacesuit?  How long does it take to put it on?
17. What is a problem you have had while in space?  How did you solve it?
18. What kinds of experiments are you doing on the ISS?
19.  Besides snow, are there any weather phenomena you can see from space?
20. What is the first thing you want to do when you get back to Earth?

ARISS News Release                                                                   No. 23-01

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at Escola Secundária de Lagoa, Lagoa, Azores- Portugal
 
January 17, 2023—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Escola Secundária de Lagoa located in Lagoa, Azores.  ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
 
Escola Secundária de Lagoa (Lagoa Secondary School), S. Miguel island at Azores – Portugal has more than 900 students, 120 teachers and about 30 employees and serves students in 7th through 12th grades. Lagoa Secondary School’s Astronomy and Geocaching Club is hosting this ARISS contact involving a core group of 11th and 12th grade students studying the Science Curriculum (Mathematics and Physics) and other students in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades. In addition to the school’s STEM curriculum, students are engaged in astrophysics activities as members of the Astronomy and Geocaching Club. To further a deeper scientific engagement and literacy in the community, the school created the Project ISU (in search of the uncertain) that has the main purpose of putting forward space knowledge and know-how. Partnering organizations include the national authority for communications in Portugal (ANACOM), providing facilities and expertise for the contact, the Science Center EXPOLAB supporting students’ activities related to space and rockets, the Astronomical Observatory of Santana Açores providing a mobile planetarium and telescopes for solar observation, and City Hall of Lagoa for logistical facilitation.
 
This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio and students will take turns asking their questions of Astronaut Josh Cassada, amateur radio call sign KI5CRH. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the telebridge station.
 
The ARISS amateur radio ground station (telebridge station) for this contact is in Casale Monferrato, Italy. The amateur radio volunteer team at the station will use the callsign IK1SLD, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
 
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 19, 2023 at 5:20 pm AZOT (Azores) (18:20:34UTC, 1:20 pm EST, 12:20 pm CST, 11:20 am MST, 10:20 am PST).
 
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: http://www.ariotti.com/ and at https://youtu.be/R2Rd5Eku5lA .
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Are your bones, muscles and organs affected by microgravity?
2. How does it feel to have achieved your life goal of being an astronaut?
3.  If an astronaut becomes very ill in space and needs urgent medical care, what happens? Do doctors travel with you?
4.  What would happen if planet Earth had Mars’ low gravity?
5.  What do you do while you’re on board of the International Space Station? (ISS)?
6.  If you could change anything about your work, what would it be?
7.  During their stay in space, do astronauts have any working schedule to keep?
8.  While they are in the Space Station, do astronauts play video games during their free time?
9.  What sensations or effects occur during re-entry into Earth's orbit?
10. Since there is no atmosphere in space, have you ever been woken up by the sun photons while you were sleeping?
11. Do astronauts have to follow any specific rules or laws when in space?
12. Let’s imagine that humans have, in some way, my planet Earth a place impossible to live in. would it be possible for humans to live in an exoplanet?
13. What should we study if we want to become an astronaut?
14. What do you like to do when you are bored in space?
15. Do you think your life dream of being an astronaut has, in some way, affected your social life?
16. During take-off, how do astronauts feel both physically and psychologically? 
17. How do astronauts entertain themselves during their free time in space?
18. What experiments, in the field of biology, are currently taking place on board the ISS?
19. How long does it take to prepare yourself for space?
20. In space, do astronauts have to have a special diet?