• July 15-19:  The Interoperable Radio System (IORS), ARISS’s next generation radio system, is undergoing a battery of stress tests to certify it for operation on the International Space Station. Hardware team members Lou McFadin and Kerry Banke are at the NASA Johnson Space Center supporting the tests in concert with the NASA test and certification team.  The week of July 8 the JVC Kenwood D-710GA radio and the AMSAT-developed Multi-Voltage Power Supply successfully completed a series of Electro-magnetic Interference (EMI)/Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) tests to ensure the ARISS hardware will not interfere with the ISS systems or other payloads.  This week, the IORS is going through power quality tests to verify the hardware will not introduce harmful signals back into the ISS power system.  Acoustic tests will be performed also, to ensure that noise produced by the radio and power supply fans is sufficiently low and will not impact overall noise level on the ISS.  Successful completion of these tests is a key milestone in preparing the IORS for launch. ARISS expects the IORS to be ready for launch before the end of the year.   
  

• July: ARISS member Dave Jordan has been coordinating aspects of ARISS’s outreach at the Space Port Area Conference for Educators (S.P.A.C.E.).  Two ARISS-US Education Team members will support the event.  One will give a presentation she had submitted that was accepted by S.P.A.C.E.  Both will staff an ARISS exhibit in conjunction with, and funded in part by, the ISS National Lab and Space Station Explorers program (ARISS is part of this program).

 

• July 11: The ARISS contact with Alexey Ovchinin and the Youth at the Aerospace School of U.N. Sultanova summer camp was successful; other details have not been received.

 

• July: The ARISS-US team worked with ARISS-Russia to prepare for an SSTV downlink session for August.  This session will honor Owen Garriott, the first astronaut to use amateur radio in space.

 
         Upcoming Events 
 

• July 16: Youth at the Aerospace School of U.N. Sultanova summer camp are scheduled for ARISS contacts with Alexey Ovchinin.
  

• July 27: Girl scouts and boy scouts from around the globe will be speaking with Drew Morgan during the 24th World Scout Jamboree at Summit Bechtel Scout Reserve in West Virginia.

• June 28:  Traverse City, Michigan was the site for an ARISS contact with Nick Hague and youth at the Traverse Area District Library. He answered 16 questions. Over 100 people were in the library’s largest room, and more people in several overflow areas saw the library’s live-stream on monitors.  Media coverage included two TV stations and a cable TV system, which aired the event real time. The city had set up a visit from the NASA Journey to Tomorrow Exhibit, and the exhibit staff attended the ARISS contact.  Greg Johnson, former CASIS President and CEO and former NASA astronaut corps member, who now manages the Traverse City Space Accelerator, Boomerang Catapult, enthralled the youth with stories and video about his shuttle missions and a fun Q&A.  The TV reporter wrote: “Eleven-year-old Adeline, eyes bright behind a pair of round wire-framed glasses, said, ‘I liked Greg Johnson talking about his astronaut days. That was pretty cool.’” The library communications manager said: The ARISS program is “…meant to create that bridge for young people—to think, ‘Maybe that’s what I want to do someday.’” The library sponsored weeks of activities including pre-taped Storytime from Space, Write like an Astronaut, Robot Arm Challenge, Astronaut Portrait, Astronomers without Borders. Astronaut Training Week certificates were awarded to those completing all activities.
  

         The library’s YouTube video is at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OnrVCbWW9E

• Jun 19: King Island District High School students in Currie, TAS, Australia had the time of their lives as they spoke with David St-Jacques. He answered 13 of their questions and 100 people came to listen despite bad weather.  In the lead up to the radio contact ARISS received positive PR from a Tasmanian TV station, ABC Radio, and the King Island Courier newspaper. The Australian and New Zealand Echolink Network broadcasted the audio of the event and live-streamed video was provided through an ARISS telebridge station.

        The ABC Radio ARISS story is at: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/northtas/programs/drive/king-island-nasa-talk/11234472
 
          The Tasmania TV Nightly News story (clip begins at the 11:48 minute mark) is at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmlfJpfU4Js
                                                

• June 20:  Students at Rowan Preparatory School (an all-girls school) at Claygate, UK, held their ARISS radio contact with Nick Hague who answered 9 of their questions as an audience of 300 enjoyed the action. A radio station covered the event, and it was live streamed by the ARISS team.

 

• July 3: Santa Barbara Public Library in Santa Barbara, CA hosted an ARISS contact for students with Nick Hague; they asked 15 questions before a packed gallery of 120. Streaming was on the library’s Facebook page and on the city’s web page. On hand were news reporters and the City Cable TV System, which live-streamed the contact.  The library reported great support from the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club and the Hughes Amateur Radio Club.  In prior months, the library sponsored a robotics camp and a space camp with hands-on engineering and technology projects, invited a NASA JPL engineer to talk about Mars, and hosted activities on ham radio including satellite contacts, circuit boards, and the ham radio tie to astronomy.  More related programs are scheduled through July.   

 
         KCSB FM Radio’s interview is at:
https://soundcloud.com/kcsbfm/santa-barbara-students-speak-with-iss-astronaut
 
         Two news outlets’ stories are at:
https://www.noozhawk.com/article/santa_barbara_library_contacts_international_space_station_20190703

https://www.edhat.com/news/santa-barbara-public-library-to-contact-international-space-station

• June 26-28: The 2019 Annual ARISS-International Delegates Meeting was hosted by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the ARISS-Canada team.  Eleven nations were represented by 37 people attending and 9 tying in remotely.  The ARISS hardware team had met a day earlier. CSA Program Manager of the Lunar Gateway Program Ken Podwalski gave a talk on CSA Gateway planning. The ARISS team discussed its ideas for participating in NASA’s Deep Space Gateway program, such as ham radio communication, equipment development, education and public outreach. During the meeting the JVC Kenwood company presented two Kenwood D710GA transceivers to ARISS-Russia; one radio will replace the aging ISS ham station and one is for training cosmonauts. Dave Honess, ESA HE Space Operations ESTEC ISS & International Education Operations Coordinator talked about ideas for enhanced ARISS education. A future SSTV session was discussed to honor the late Owen Garriott, the first astronaut to use ham radio in space. VIPs at the meeting included the president of the AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), the president of the Canadian national ham radio organization (Radio Amateurs of Canada); a board member of the US national ham radio organization (American Radio Relay League); and the president of the Italian national ham satellite organization (AMSAT-Italia).

 
                                                               Social Media
 
                                               ARISS Facebook statistics for June:

ARISS Twitter followers at the end of June 2019 totaled 10,916, a gain of 149 or 1.4% over the end of May.
 
Upcoming Events  
 

• July 11 & 16: Youth at the Aerospace School of U.N. Sultanova summer camp are scheduled for ARISS contacts with Alexey Ovchinin.
  

 

• Early August:  Plans are moving forward for another ARISS-Russia SSTV downlink event.  

• June 15:  The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy in Chantilly, VA hosted an ARISS radio contact with Nick Hague for Innovations in Flight Family Day, which saw 16,000 visitors.  Over 300 people watched students ask 17 questions and saw Museum Director Ellen Stofan address the students.  In conjunction with SCaN, Virginia and Washington DC area ARISS team members coordinated the event set up under Space Shuttle Discovery.  Marty Kelsey, the museum’s education outreach director, host of the museum’s show, “STEM at 30,” led students from Sterling Middle School (Sterling, VA) and Westfield High School (Chantilly, VA) in the ARISS action. Two exhibit tables showcasing ARISS, space, ham radio and STEM were visited by many people. One was staffed by ARISS volunteers, the other by Bishop O’Connell High School students interested in engineering and ham radio, with their teacher who is an ARISS team member. PR pieces were posted on NASA SCaN Twitter, ARISS Facebook, and ARISS Twitter.
  

• May 18: Galileo STEM Academy has an ARISS contact scheduled in September, and recently, ten 4th to 8th graders in the recently established school ham radio club, several teachers, and ham volunteers staged a public demo at Meadow Lake Village in Meridian, ID. They exhibited a satellite tracking antenna system and set up a 10’ by 20’ tent divided in two sections.  One section was for students to explain their displayed ARISS-STEM storyboards to visitors. The other section sheltered an operating ham radio station. Visitors listened to satellite radio contacts while students demoed the portable ham radios and explained how to aim hand-held antennas they had constructed. A ham was to lead interaction with visitors, but after a brief time, he turned it over to students; he said this resulted in it “becoming a major attraction for visitors.” He commented, “They were impressed with the students’ knowledge and enthusiasm, and THAT is what STEM is all about!  STEM is like a buzz word and what we learned is … it's not a buzz word, they [students] live it!”  Two Boise TV crews interviewed  students and posted or aired stories.  In previous days, one newspaper article ran and a TV story aired. Two teachers will attend ARRL’s Teachers Institute in July.
  

 
        KIVI-TV’s URL about the demo day is: https://www.kivitv.com/news/galileo-stem-academy-students-getting-ready-for-space

• June 13:  Students at Peninsula Grammar, a K-12 school in Melbourne, Australia, enjoyed a successful ARISS contact with Nick Hague. Students asked 15 questions before an audience of 200. The event was live-streamed, having over 1,100 views, and it was carried on the ham radio Echolink system. A group of students felt privileged to have been able to go to Space Camp in Alabama.
  

         Upcoming Events  

• June 19: King Island District High School in Currie, TAS, Australia hosts their ARISS radio contact with David St-Jacques.     
  

 

• June 20: An exciting day is ahead for students attending Rowan Preparatory School in Claygate, UK as they engage in an ARISS contact with Nick Hague. Live streaming is planned.

 

• June 28:  Youth at the Traverse Area District Library in Traverse City, MI will speak to Nick Hague during an ARISS radio contact.  

 

• June 6: The ARISS contact at the Moriah Central School in Port Henry, NY, was thrilling for students.  Eighteen of their questions were answered by David St-Jacques.  Afterwards an 11th grade girl said, “I could tell by his voice that he was excited talking with us.”  The school auditorium was packed with 800 students in grades 4 through 12, faculty, parents, and community leaders.  The K-3 students watched a livestream from their classrooms (225 views). WPTS TV carried a story about events as did The Press-Republican, Denton Publications, and Sun Community News.  The technology teacher said as students learned about the ISS and decided on questions to ask, it was during this time that he realized the most rewarding experience out of this for him was ”the growth of confidence he saw in the students.” He added, “We’re such a small school. I feel very fortunate to have been a part of this.”  Members of the Champlain Valley Amateur Radio Club donated equipment to the school to start a ham radio club.     

 
          Media links are: 
https://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/it-was-out-of-this-world/article_5a6af5c2-7e89-5eb6-8652-b0401eba10e6.html
https://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/the-sun/space-talk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr8kPVKzU94

• June 8:   Students at the Dům dětí a Mládeže (House of Children and Youth) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, talked with Nick Hague during a successful ARISS contact.  With an audience of 40 people listening, Hague answered 18 of the students’ questions.  The youth center sponsors camps throughout the summer.

 

• June 5:  Students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia took part in a successful ARISS contact with Aleksey Ovchinin.  

                                                          Social Media
 
                                                        ARISS Facebook

ARISS Twitter followers at the end of May 2019 totaled 10,767, a gain of 1.5% over the end of April.
 
 
         Upcoming Events          

• June 13: The Peninsula Grammar school in Melbourne, Australia will host an ARISS contact for students with Nick Hague.

• June 15:  An ARISS contact is scheduled for Innovations in Flight Family Day at the National Air and Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy Center) in Chantilly, VA.  Washington DC area ARISS team members will sponsor the contact and set up an exhibit table and plan things with SCaN.  ARISS teacher Melissa Pore will also have an exhibit table on STEM and amateur radio.

• May 18: ARISS teacher Melissa Pore coordinated an exhibit about ham radio and ARISS for Kites of Asia Family Day at the National Air and Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy Center) in Chantilly, VA.  She and ARISS volunteer Bob McCown set up the display, which was staffed by members of the Engineering Club sponsored by Melissa at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington. The students demonstrated amateur radio, how to build weather stations, and Morse code. Many passersby were quite interested in handling the radios and trying Morse code; 8,000 people were in the museum that day.

• June 2019: The monthly magazine, The Spectrum Monitor, featured a 2½-page article about ARISS activities. Much of the story covered ARISS school contacts shepherded by ARISS Mentor Keith Pugh to honor him after his death in May. Photos of students were featured and the article described their STEM-related activities. The story also highlighted several ARISS outreach events Keith led for the general public and ham operators; photos were included of him showing people how to manipulate satellite tracking antennas and talking about ARISS.

 

• June 2019: The American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) monthly journal, QST, contained several items related to ARISS. The first was in the “Social Media Snapshot” column, which showcased recent highly-viewed Facebook postings, one of which was of astronaut-ham radio operator Nick Hague during his March spacewalk…395,142 views.  The second item covered activities planned for the 2019 World Scout Jamboree to be held July 22-August 1, which includes a coveted ARISS contact. The third piece was a tribute to Astronaut Owen Garriott and remembrances, upon his death, of him being the first ham radio operator in space, ushering in the SAREX era (Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment). QST goes to approximately 158,000 people.

 
          Upcoming Events          

• June 5:  Students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia are planning an ARISS contact with Aleksey Ovchinin.     
• June 6:  Moriah Central School in Port Henry, NY, has an ARISS contact with Nick Hague.
  
• June 8:   The Dům dětí a Mládeže (House of Children and Youth) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic will have an ARISS contact with Nick Hague.
  
• June 13: The Peninsula Grammar school in Melbourne, Australia will host an ARISS contact for students with Nick Hague.
  
• June 15:  An ARISS contact is scheduled for Innovations in Flight Family Day at the National Air and Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy Center) in Chantilly, VA.  Washington DC area. ARISS team members will sponsor the contact and set up an exhibit table and plan things with SCaN. ARISS teacher Melissa Pore will also have an exhibit table on STEM and amateur radio.
  

• May 27: Costa Rica Institute of Technology coordinated students in Cartago and San Carlos, Costa Rica for a successful ARISS contact with David St-Jacques. A crowd of 400 watched the activity at the institute as 9 student questions were answered. Activities were organized by TECSpace, the space engineering student university group with over 100 members, and the Space Systems Engineering Laboratory that was in charge of the design of the first satellite of Central America, launched in 2018.  The ARISS contact was live streamed and The Tico Times prepared and posted an online story. 
  

• May 27: Students at Walter Murray Collegiate Institute in Saskatoon, SK, Canada enjoyed an exciting afternoon when they got the chance to speak with David St-Jacques during their ARISS contact.  St-Jacques answered 13 student questions before an audience of over 150.  University of Saskatchewan engineering faculty, through the University of Saskatchewan Space Design Team, had demonstrated CubeSats and a rover project.  The school has a tech club working with robots and a science club that took part in the Tomatosphere project. The Global TV station was on hand covering the event. 
  

• May 27: Faculty and students at the Mildred Hall School in Yellowknife, NT, Canada, were thrilled to take part in an ARISS contact with David St-Jacques.  Over 200 people were in the audience; the contact was live-streamed.  Students learned about space vehicles, space research, and robots.  Today’s Parent magazine had chosen the school as one of the Top 40 Schools in Canada.  The school was selected from a field of over 600 others partly because of diverse programs including the Aboriginal Language and Culture Program (80% of students are indigenous).  Mildred Hall was Yellowknife’s first teacher and the original log school still sits on school property.
  

• May 25:  The About Gagarin from Space program’s ARISS contact was conducted at The Session Of Radio Loving Communication with participants of Project "Space Odyssey" in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia.  Supporting was Aleksey Ovchinin. 

 

• May 26:  The About Gagarin from Space program was conducted at The Session Of Radio Loving Communication with participants of "One Planet – One Future!" in Ufa, Russia.  Oleg Konenenko support the ARISS contact. 

 
          Upcoming Events          

• June 5:  Students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia are planning an ARISS contact with Aleksey Ovchinin.     
  

• June 4:  Moriah Central School in Port Henry, NY, is scheduled for an ARISS contact with Nick Hague.

 

• June 8:   The Dům dětí a Mládeže (House of Children and Youth) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic will have an ARISS contact with Nick Hague.

• May 17:  Aranzadi Ikastola in Bergara, Spain hosted an ARISS contact with Nick Hague.  He answered 18 questions from the students.  The 380 people attending watched from the main room and a linked hall.  Covering the event were 3 TV stations and 5 print news services.  Earlier PSC weekly reports described several of the hands-on STEM activities involving students.
  

• May 20: Youth at the Curtin Primary School in Canberra, Australia spoke with Nick Hague during their ARISS contact.  He answered 14 of the students’ questions. The school auditorium was packed with 400 people.  The Canberra ABC radio station covered the contact and held a special re-broadcast the next day across its regional networks.  Their outstanding 19-minute segment begins with youth excitedly telling what is about to happen and ends with a thrilled teacher; the link is: https://www.abc.net.au/radio/canberra/programs/mornings/iss-ariss-curtin-primary/11133128
  

• May 16-19: The ARISS team had a major presence at the largest amateur radio convention in the US (32,000 attendees), Hamvention in Xenia, OH.  A booth was set up with banners, posters, a roll-up, and hardware for convention-goers to handle. Team members were Dave Taylor, Frank Bauer, Rosalie White, John Kludt, Ruth Willet, Lou McFadin, Ed Krome, Chet Latawiec and Dan White. They were involved in TV interviews, talks with ham radio industry (potential donors), and special photo shoots. ARISS donated a prize (a wooden display box with 2 ARISS Challenge Coins) to Hamvention that was featured along with a short message on ARISS, first thing at the convention’s highly-attended drawing for big prizes.  Months ago, the team worked hard to win a coveted forum time; the ARISS Forum’s estimated audience count was 120.  The forum featured ARISS teachers and students, a flight surgeon, a video greeting from Serena Aunon-Chancellor, the hardware team, video clips including Tim Peake describing the ARISS station, and a summary of ARISS activities that all ages can do.  Frank Bauer and Rosalie White met with the new CEO of ARRL, an ARISS sponsor; Rosalie met with numerous ARRL Board Members.  The ARISS Team carried out a fundraising effort, running a raffle, distributing updates on Twitter and Facebook and a news release about fund-raising efforts, which was picked up by online ham news services.
  

• May 17:  The cover of the current issue of Make magazine features a story on educational projects in space.  The lead article highlights ISS National Lab programs including ARISS and features a photo of an ARISS contact at the 2018 S.P.A.C.E. conference in Titusville, FL. 
  

           Upcoming Events          

• May 26:  Youth in the Republic of Bashkortostan in Ufa, Russia, will speak with Oleg Kononenko during an ARISS contact.  
  

• May 27: Mildred Hall School in Yellowknife, NT, Canada will have their second attempt at an ARISS contact with David St-Jacques.

 

• May 27: An ARISS contact with young people at the Walter Murray Collegiate Institute in Saskatoon, SK, Canada is planned with David St-Jacques.

 

• May 27: Students at Pacific Coast Schools in Los Suenos, Costa Rica are scheduled for an ARISS contact with David St-Jacques. 

• May 5:  Students and faculty at Aranzadi Ikastola in Bergara, Spain have been involved in STEM projects in preparation for their upcoming ARISS contact. They developed an amateur radio module that was installed on a balloon they have launched. The module captured in-flight images.

• Apr 15: The Huntington High School in Huntington, TX sponsored an ARISS contact with David St-Jacques.  The teacher went from crying in relief to laughing and grinning upon hearing St-Jacques’ voice coming through the speakers. She was at the ham radio set-up because she had earned her ham license prior to the ARISS contact. Attending the day’s events were 350 students, 30 educators, 5 administrators and a contingent of parents and the community. Another 125 students and 30 educators watched the live-stream from a neighboring school’s classrooms.  The lead teacher reported that students were very interested in ARISS and the related STEM lessons.  The area CBS-TV affiliate ran a story, as did the ABC-TV affiliate; the teacher said the latter’s story was “well-played.”  Immediately after the ARISS contact, faculty and students began final prep for a trip to Louisville, KY, leaving two days later to compete in the World Vex Robotics competition.  

 

• May 5: The Park County District Library in Fairplay, CO had hosted STEM projects with the Boys & Girls Club and several schools for months prior to its ARISS contact on April 15. The principal at South Park High School in Fairplay, sent a thank you letter to the library on behalf of the faculty and his students. He wrote: “Our kids are still talking about that day, two weeks later.  It had an impact on our students.  Anytime we can have days like what we did with the ISS, where some kids change their career goals based on that experience, is an exceptional experience and day in education.  Thanks for all the hard work and allowing us to be a part of it.”  
• The CBS-TV story about Fairplay reported, among other things, that parents were pleased, and quoted one as saying, “They [students] have never been so excited about learning. It’s very awesome, what with all the stuff that’s going on in space.”

 
          Upcoming Events          

• May 17: The faculty at Aranzadi Ikastola in Bergara, Spain is planning for their ARISS contact with Nick Hague.
  

 

• May 20: The Curtin Primary School in Canberra, Australia will get to talk to Nick Hague.

• May 2-4: Bradley University in Edwards, IL hosted the final round of the NASA 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges.  ARISS team member Dave Johnson took part in the weekend events. He was invited to be in the NASA Room to represent ARISS; he handed out information on ARISS and talked to people interested in the program.  Friday was Education Day and Saturday was Community Day.  Students from local schools were able to go to learn more about the challenge and about space technology, and to see some of the 3-D space technology at work first-hand.  The NASA Room hosted 270 junior high students, 240 high school students, and 800 people from the general public.

• Apr 25: A news story aired on the WWTV-Channel 9 & 10 and was posted online regarding the Traverse Area District Library’s staff sponsoring an upcoming ARISS contact in Traverse City, MI. The contact will occur in late June.  The library staff is working on hands-on activities and their summer reading club has the theme, “A Universe of Stories.”  Area ham radio operators from the Cherryland Amateur Radio Club are building the antennas to be used for the ARISS contact. 

• May 3: An ARISS contact was attempted by Mildred Hall School in Yellowknife, NT, Canada with David St-Jacques. The contact was unsuccessful due to a technical problem on the ground that is currently being investigated. Work is in process to reschedule the contact. A radio station posted an online story about the effort along with STEM lessons involving a robot; the link is:
• https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.myyellowknifenow.com/39424/well-be-back-organizer-will-try-to-once-again-connect-yk-school-to-space/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTI0Mjg0NjU1NzY2NDQ4NzM4ODcyGjJjYTM2OGU5ZmRjYWQ1ZjM6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNE6GwLjBPjr7P7dIvIJ043mdb2GrQ

• May 7: Moriah Central School in Port Henry, NY was scheduled for an ARISS contact but it was bumped because the SpaceX launch slipped a day. Work proceeds on re-scheduling this contact.

 
                                         ARISS Social Media - April 2019
                                            ARISS Facebook Page Report

 (Spikes were due to interest in the SSTV Cosmonautics Day events and the passing of       astronaut Owen Garriott.)

• ARISS Twitter followers at the end of April totaled 10,607, a gain of over 2% from the end of March.

 
      Upcoming Events          

• Two ARISS contacts are to be re-scheduled, as described above.
  

• Apr 24: Students at Hidden Oaks Middle School in Prior Lake, MN, had a successful ARISS contact with David St-Jacques. The faculty and 1,000 students were in the audience watching. The Prior Lake American newspaper story is at: https://www.swnewsmedia.com/prior_lake_american/news/education/welcome-to-the-iss-hidden-oaks-students-contact-space-station/article_7851e854-6f92-5592-b1e5-04c5e3cbae06.html Each year 8th graders take part in a high-altitude balloon launch and use ham radio to track the balloon during flight and for recovery.  The 7th grade technology students learn about space education as they construct rockets.  Students in all grade levels are involved in annual E-STEM Day with 8th graders focusing on STEM career exploration.
  

• Apr 29: Two Spanish schools shared an experience of a lifetime at the Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca in Costitx, Spain.  This observatory hosted an ARISS contact for the following two schools in Palma de Mallorca: Colegio San José Obrero and Colegio Luis Vives. Nick Hague handled things from the ISS answering 15 student questions. A crowd of 236 were in the auditorium and live-streaming was viewed by 1,800 students in classrooms at the two schools. On hand was a media entourage of two radio and two TV stations and three newspapers covering the event. The observatory sponsors many STEM activities for students. Some publicity posted prior to the contact is at: https://sites.google.com/santjosepobrer.es/contacto-con-la-iss/inici

• Apr 24: Upper St. Clair High School Education Coordinator Patricia Palazzolo in Upper St. Clair, PA was one of three recipients who received recently, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Foundation Educator Achievement Award.  This award recognizes K–12 educators for their outstanding work promoting STEM subjects among America’s youth. Patricia’s students have been involved in ham radio contacts with astronauts on both the Space Shuttle and the ISS.  She and her students presented a paper on her STEM programs at the 2004 AMSAT Symposium in Washington DC. The article about her award is at:   https://www.aiaa.org/home/news/news/2019/04/18/three-k-12-educators-win-aiaa-foundation-educator-achievement-awards Her school’s website write-up is at: https://www.uscsd.k12.pa.us/Page/1105 Her AMSAT Symposium paper is posted at: https://www.amsat.org/amsat/ariss/Presentations/AMSAT%20Symposiums/2007%20Symposium/Launching%20Dreams.pdf
  

 

• Apr 15: Huntington High School, Huntington, TX sponsored an ARISS contact with David St-Jacques.  Immediately after, faculty and students began preparing for a trip to Louisville, KY, leaving two days later to compete in the World Vex Robotics competition. Their ARISS information will be in next week’s report.
  

 

• Apr 23: The Dům dětí a Mládeže (House of Children and Youth) Olomouc in Olomouc, in the Czech Republic, was scheduled for an ARISS contact with Nick Hague. Radio contact was not established and the team is attempting to determine the problem.
  

 
         Upcoming Events          

• May 3: Students at Mildred Hall School in Yellowknife, NT, Canada will hold their ARISS contact with David St-Jacques.
  
• May 6: Walter Murray Collegiate Institute in Saskatoon, SK, Canada will host an ARISS contact with David St-Jacques.
  
• May 7: Moriah Central School students in Port Henry, NY, will talk to Nick Hague for their ARISS contact.