• November 18:  Students at Lakeside Elementary School in West Point, UT had an ARISS contact with Drew Morgan who answered 10 questions. An audience of 200 attended the event.  The school live-streamed the activity on its Facebook page and afterwards, posted a YouTube. One parent wrote:  “Thank you for letting those of us who couldn’t attend be part of this--how amazing! It almost brought me to tears!”  Reporters came from the Standard Examiner and the Davis School District offices. The audience watched a video all about Morgan, one about ARISS, and took part in a Q&A on the ISS.  Lakeside sponsors Robotics Club for 3rd through 6th  graders; they work with Spheros and learn robotics from Mr. Roboto, an “astronaut robot.”  Students made models of the planets and large space vehicles, enjoyed a portable planetarium that was brought in, and designed space-related bulletin boards and poster boards. The school partnered with the Hill Aerospace Museum. A video was created showing an overview of ARISS-related activities and it garnered 4,872 viewers. 
  

• November 21:  Luca Parmitano spoke with students at two Italian schools, Istituto San Paolo delle Suore Angeliche in Milano and Istituto Comprensivo di Merone–Monsignor A. Pirovano in Merone.  The latter school covers three levels of instruction: primary, elementary and middle school, which has several laboratories.  Students asked 14 questions and each school live-streamed the events at their school.  Afterwards, the schools posted a YouTube; Milano’s is at:  https://youtu.be/60bCSohKn54 (participants are speaking Italian).
  

• October 8:  ARISS recently received a report on an ARISS contact held at the Mission Control Center at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. Thirty people attended, and 11 children talked with two Russian cosmonauts, Oleg Skrypochka and Alexander Skvortsov.
  

                                                           ARISS Social Media
 
                                                              ARISS Facebook

                                                               ARISS Twitter
ARISS Twitter followers at the end of November 2019 totaled 11,634, a gain of 92 over the end of October 2019.
 
 
          ARISS Upcoming Events    

• December 5:  After much planning and student STEM and ARISS activities, Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA has a schedule to speak with Drew Morgan.
  

 

• December 7: Luca Parmitano will speak with students at two Italian schools, the B. Pascal Institute-Public School in Rome and the Instituto Comprensivo Lipari S. Lucia in Lipari.

• November 13:  A Italian double-school ARISS contact was held with Luca Parmitano for European High School in Brindisi and I.I.S.S. Majorana-Laterza in Putignano. A large crowd of 945 people watched students as Parmitano answered their questions. Both schools live-streamed the events from their separate locations. Five TV station reporters covered the event. Teachers use various technologies and teach sciences and the classics, among other things.
  

• November 11: Italian students at Alcide De Gasperi Secondary School, part of the Istituto Comprensivo Statale E.L. Corner in Vigonovo and Istituto Comprensivo di Pederobba in Onigo di Pederobba enjoyed an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano. He answered 18 of the students’ questions before an audience of 350. The schools aim for student competency in math, science, technology, and digital skills along with other subjects. Two local newspaper writers covered the event. Both schools provided live streaming for their locales, and viewer total was nearly 2,400.  Video from Vigonovo is at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDwdfkmV7_z2xtZP07Js3Rw
  

• November 8: Linda Nowicki, coordinating teacher for the upcoming ARISS contact at River Ridge High School in Port Richey, FL reported a visit from the local ABC TV news affiliate station. Reporters interviewed several students who will take part in the school’s ARISS contact in March 2020. Teachers created multiple STEAM-related activities in preparation for the contact.
  

• November: Ham operator Paulo Leite works with students, helping physics and geography teachers at Goncalves Dias School in Boa Vista, Roraima, Brasil. They utilize lessons called “Antennas as a Teaching Tool."  This includes regular studies about ARISS and listening to ARISS contacts, building their own satellite antennas, and learning to make ham radio satellite contacts. Paulo partners with a LAPAN satellite team who leaves the transponder on for students to use, and the FUNcube satellite team that leaves messages using telemetry. Very important lessons are when students learn to receive NOAA satellite thermal images to identify sources of heat or fire in the Amazon forest. The teachers hope to multiply efforts to protect the forests, the people, and the over 200 indigenous schools. The students were featured on the Brasil ham radio national organization's web site and on the AMSAT-UK web site.  A video that will inspire you after watching even 3 minutes is at:  https://youtu.be/zq3eGpnj5nY    

          ARISS Upcoming Events    

• November 18: Students at Lakeside Elementary School in West Point, UT are excited about their upcoming ARISS radio contact with Drew Morgan. The contact will be live-streamed.
  

 

• November 21: Istituto San Paolo delle Suore Angeliche in Milano, Italy & Istituto Compresive di Merone-Mons. A. Pirovano in Merone, Italy will share an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano. This contact has live streaming scheduled from both schools.

 

• November 30: An ARISS contact with MAOU Lyceum #39 in Nizhny Tail, Russia is planned with Alexander Skvortsov.

• November 6: For their upcoming ARISS contact, students at Jovan Jovanović  Zmaj in Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia created a blog titled “To The Moon and Back” to showcase activities they’ve engaged in. One of these was preparing a collage of graphics they collected on music from classical to modern about space and planets. Another blog item featured photos of their events during 2019 World Space Week, including establishing the “Zmajevci Space Crew” whose crew members wore elaborately-designed costumes. The blog URL is: https://022tothemoonandback.zmajsm.edu.rs/
  

• November 5:  Students at Private Ukeb School in Izmir, Turkey had a great time speaking by ham radio with Luca Parmitano. He answered 19 student questions with a listening audience of 400. The school sponsors a program that provides “an intense use of technology and science.” The ARISS contact was live-streamed. The YouTube of the contact is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGOFtGLgdD4 -- the first 10 minutes show very excited students and staff, and the last minutes have short statements by some students.
  

• November 6: A successful ARISS contact took place for two schools in Italy—Istituto Comprensivo G.B. Perasso in Milano and Istituto Comprensivo Montignoso, Scuola secondaria I grado G.B.Giorgini in Montignoso. Students spoke with Luca Parmitano who answered 15 questions with 950 people on hand for the event. A newspaper reporter covered the action.  The contact was live-streamed by both schools.  
  

• November 8: Several Nashua Area Radio Society (NH) members drove to Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA to help its teachers and students prepare for their December ARISS contact. A set of Pennsylvania students hope to operate the ham radios for the contact. The New Hampshire group, who had hosted an ARISS contact a year ago, shared ideas for hands-on STEM and radio lessons with Pennsylvania educators.
  

• November 2-3: ARISS volunteers John Kludt and Martha Muir led outreach activities done by North Fulton Amateur Radio League members at the Stone Mountain Hamfest in Lawrenceville, GA. A number of youth and educators and 150 of the general public heard about ARISS and radio-related STEM youth activities at a forum and during ham radio satellite demos. Two young hams who are sister and brother, Audrey and Jack, made radio contacts catching the eyes and ears of passersby. 
  

• November 1: ARISS PR Committee Chair Dave Jordan distributed a news release as a reminder that a window was open for accepting ARISS Education Proposals with a deadline of November 30. This is for ARISS contacts to take place between July 1 and December 31, 2020.  The release also informed readers that the next window opens in February. Distribution of the release went to various outlets including the NASA EXPRESS newsletter. ARISS volunteers supported a webinar to answer questions about submitting ARISS proposals. 
  

• November 9-10: ARISS-Europe team members presented two talks at the AMSAT-DL Symposium in Bochum, Germany, which saw 130 attendees.  Both days’ forums were live-streamed via the QO-100 satellite. One ARISS talk covered the new radio station to be launched to the ISS and insights into ARISS’s future exploration ideas. The other talk was by a German ARISS Technical Mentor on his support for three ARISS school contacts in 2018-2019, including providing the ham radio equipment and the expertise to ensure a successful radio contact.  The talks were summarized on the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club’s main web page.
  

• November 11: Italian students in two schools prepared for their ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano, and details will be shared soon. The schools are Alcide De Gasperi Secondary School, part of Istituto Comprensivo Statale E. L. Corner in Vigonovo, and Istituto Comprensivo Di Pederobba in Onigo Di Pederobba.  
  

 
          ARISS Social Media

• November 7: ARISS thanks Johnson Space Center staff for their outstanding 35-second “NASA Knowledge” Twitter video posting, now with nearly 30,000 views, 213 re-tweets, and 1,072 likes!  See it at: https://twitter.com/NASA_Johnson/status/1191807398203269120?s=20.  ARISS retweeted it and posted a descriptive blurb on ARISS Facebook.
  

 
         ARISS Upcoming Events    

• November 13: Two Italian schools, European High School in Brindisi and I.I.S.S. Majorana – Laterza in Putignano will have an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.
  

 

• November 18: Students at Lakeside Elementary School in West Point, UT will speak with Drew Morgan.

 

• November 21: These two Italian schools will share an ARISS contact: Istituto San Paolo delle Suore Angeliche in Milano and Istituto Comprensivo Di Merone-Mons. A. Pirovano in Merone.

• October 29: Farmwell Station Middle School in Ashburn, VA was the site of an ARISS radio contact with Drew Morgan. This event had an attendance of 500 students filling the auditorium. Listening to the live stream were students at Discovery Elementary School, Cedar Lane Elementary School, and Broad Run High School. Morgan answered 13 questions.  Students in the middle school’s Space Dreamers group led the effort to get faculty to submit an outstanding ARISS Education Proposal in order to win an ARISS contact. Several students were ham operators or studying for their license exam. A TV reporter did interviews and local newspapers were present at the event. The contact was live-streamed to the general public. NBC4 TV station in Washington DC posted at: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Astronaut-Space-Chats-With-Virginia-Middle-School-Students_Washington-DC-564073312.html
• Loudon Now news coverage is at:  https://loudounnow.com/2019/10/29/ham-radio-provides-ashburn-students-with-link-to-space-station/

• Oct. 28: Golden Oak Montessori School in Castro Valley, CA hosted an ARISS contact with Drew Morgan. He answered 13 student questions while an audience of 325 listened. The event was streamed by the school (start viewing at 17:45--you’ll see some students’ nervous energy!) at: https://www.goldenoakmontessori.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=884592&type=d&pREC_ID=1787594
• A video was also posted online as a YouTube.  Students studied space exploration, earth science, and astronomy in preparation for their contact. Golden Oak parents were ecstatic, saying: "I squealed like a kid when I heard Colonel Morgan's voice!" and "Today was probably the coolest thing that will happen to my kid all year." 

 

• October 28:  The Young Scientists Program (YSP) at University of Southern California (USC) and Vermont Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA sponsored an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano who answered 20 student questions. The YSP educator, who is a new ham operator, began working with the school in April and told reporters she spent the summer amending YSP curriculum with “some quality space education, a little bit of ham radio, and a little bit of ISS-specific information.”  Attending the day’s events were 666 people including 230 students in the main room and others watching via a live video streamed to their classrooms by USC's Annenberg Media Center. Special guests were a contingent from US Congresswoman Karen Bass's office who presented students with certificates commemorating the event; her office posted a news release and video on her Congressional web site’s home page at: https://bass.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/office-congressmember-karen-bass-presents-certificates-congratulations
• The YSP Facebook page had 3942 viewers of their posts about ARISS.  The USC student independent news outlet, Daily Trojan, story is at: https://dailytrojan.com/2019/10/30/young-scientists-program-helps-kids-connect-with-the-iss/ and its stats are: 10,000 print circulation, 64,000 social media followers. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Section Manager attended and wrote an article to be published. The Annenberg Media Center posted a YouTube video and a story at: http://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2019/10/28/lausd-students-contact-astronauts-in-space-for-the-first-time/     

 

• October issue:  The Spectrum Monitor magazine’s VHF and Above column carried an article titled “USMA Cadets Contact Alum Aboard ISS” describing an October 19 ham radio contact a number of cadets had with West Point alum Drew Morgan.  The guys and gals were aided by Colonel Steve Hamilton, Officer In Charge of the West Point (NY) Ham Club radio station where the contact took place. The article also related Morgan’s achievements as an engineer a doctor of medicine, being accepted as a NASA astronaut, and how he chose to get a ham license.

  


                                                  ARISS Social Media
 
                                                     ARISS Facebook

                                                      ARISS Twitter
Followers at the end of October totaled 11,398, a gain of 144 or 1.3% over the end of September.
 
 
        ARISS Upcoming Events    

• November 5: Students at Private UKEB School in Izmir, Turkey will engage in an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

 

• November 6: Two schools, Istituto Comprensivo G.B. Perasso in Milano, Italy and Istituto Comprensivo Montignoso-Scuola secondaria I grado G.B.Giorgini in Montignoso, Italy will join together in an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

September 27-28 & October 2: ARISS-Russia and ARISS Europe assisted Space Flight Participant Hazza Al Mansouri in supporting 3 ARISS contacts in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  Students had received invitations to the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre where the special events were held. His answers to student questions explained research he had been doing and he encouraged them to study hard.  For the 3 contacts, he spoke with a total of 22 students. In addition, 110 VIPs and media personnel attended the events. A few of the numerous articles that included notes about the ARISS radio contacts were:
 
Emirates News Agency, WAM:  https://wam.ae/en/details/1395302790502
 
Spacewatch Global:   https://spacewatch.global/2019/09/uaes-first-astronaut-hazza-al-mansoori-begins-stint-on-board-international-space-station/
 
Emirates 24/7:  https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/space-mission-hazza-al-mansoori-back-to-earth-covered-in-uae-flag-2019-10-03-1.689885
 
Gulf News:  https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-in-space-students-ask-hazzaa-how-he-lives-and-works-in-space-1.66746237

• October 14: Two Italian schools, SM Calvino-Istituto Comprensivo Settimo IV in Torinese, and Istituto Comprensivo Statale Don Milani in Monza, shared an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano. During the event, 100 people filled the activity room as Parmitano answered 21 of the students’ questions over two consecutive orbits.  More than 100 students watched the live-stream from the lab and another 100 in the Turin planetarium.  An impressive gathering of media covering the event consisted of RAI 3 TV, who re-broadcast the contact two hours later, TV Leonardo with its national audience, and several newspaper outlets. The contact was live-streamed from the Monza location and is at: (listen at 12.5 minutes into the file): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B8YzbxEtdA  

   ESA posted an article at:  https://www.esa.int/ita/ESA_in_your_country/Italy/Perche_hai_deciso_di_andare_nello_spazio_Luca_Parmitano_in_collegamento_radio_con_le_scuole

• October 17:  Science & Technologies e.V (school)
• Part 1--During its Science Days event, Science & Technologie e.V. in Teningen, Germany sponsored an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano. Over 180 attendees looked on as they listened to him answer 17 questions. The event was well covered by the media with 2 radio stations, SWR Radio and Radio Europapark, the TV station SWR TV, and the German newspaper Badische Zeitung with a readership of 409,000.
• Part 2--ARISS team member Oliver Amend set up handheld ham radio equipment at the Airbus facility in Bremen so colleagues and some trainees could listen to Teningen’s Science Days event.  They followed the ISS pass, students’ questions, and Parmitano’s answers.  Afterwards, Oliver presented a 15-minute intro to ARISS for the colleagues and trainees and a 15-minute Q&A.  He wrote, “It was nice to see their astonishment about ARISS and its successes!”

 

• October 19: Italian students at Istituto Comprensivo Statale Diego Valeri in Campolongo Maggiore, and Istituto Comprensivo Ladispolil in Ladispoli took part in an ARISS school contact with Luca Parmitano. Over 2 consecutive orbits, Parmitano answered all 20 of the students’ questions and for most, he gave very detailed answers. Over 260 people (about 130 at each site) watched the students.  The live-stream from the Ladispoli school garnered 600 views. The Campolongo Maggiore live-stream is at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDwdfkmV7_z2xtZP07Js3Rw?fbclid=IwAR2cvdFuG_oNRGmstWkJ5IPpWN7xjENlMwW4Xrpr4RGh6EhG7BsA3TWtCKU.  Media included the national television Canale 10, Telematic newspaper civonline, and several local news outlets.   Every Ladispoli student in all grades levels made space-related poster boards, models, and drawings

 

• October 19: West Point Cadet Amateur Radio Club students at the US Military Academy in West Point, NY, had a lively ham radio conversation sharing a Q&A session with Andrew Morgan, a West Point alum. He had requested that this special ARISS contact be scheduled. The West Point Facebook pages featured a video, and lists 54,310 views thus far.

 

• October 21:  ARISS team members Frank Bauer, Joanne Michael, and Kathy Lamont gave a presentation on ARISS Lunar education opportunities, particularly Deep Space Gateway, at the International Astronautical Conference in Washington DC.  The three, along with Oliver Amend, had authored the paper. The audience of 35 included 5 students.  The paper covered many possibilities for hands-on ARISS educational activities for classrooms.  Additionally, ARISS educator Melissa Pore displayed some of her student initiatives in the exhibit hall.

 

• October 18-20: Several ARISS team members gave presentations at the 2019 Annual AMSAT Symposium in Arlington, Virginia. An estimated audience of 100 attended each of the three sessions.  Dave Taylor’s talk featured updates on the ARISS program including recent ARISS contacts, work by ARISS Technical Mentors, and ARISS-US Education Committee members who guide teachers who have upcoming ARISS contacts. ARISS engineering team members (Lou McFadin, Ken Ernandes, Frank Bauer, Ed Krome) did a multimedia presentation on the status of the new ham radio station that will fly in 2020. Frank Bauer gave a report on ARISS’s work on Lunar opportunities, such as Lunar Gateway.  

 

• October 15:  Frank Bauer announced that the first flight model of the new radio station that will launch to the ISS in 2020 is totally assembled.  Currently, it is going through internal quality and verification testing before heading to the final certification tests. The team is targeting SpaceX 20, which is currently looking at a March lift-off. The new ARISS radio system must be delivered for launch by December 20, 2019.

 

• October 15:  Frank Bauer gave updates on two more ARISS hardware projects.  He reported that good progress was made on the repair of the Ham Video module that had failed and was brought back to Earth.  The problem was identified; a memory bit had taken a radiation hit. Repairs are underway and the team hopes to launch the repaired Ham Video unit in the middle of 2020.  Frank stated that for the Bartolomeo platform, testing of the antenna cable that will replace the current one has been delayed, but should happen in November.  Kenneth Ransom reported that the packet system began working again!  It has been intermittent, off more than on.  He is unsure how power-downs for upcoming EVAs will affect the packet module.

 

• October 17:  Kenneth Ransom related that Astronaut Chris Ferguson had studied for and taken his ham radio license exam.  He was successful and is waiting to learn what his FCC ham radio call sign will be.

 

• October 17:  The November issue of the monthly journal, QST, received by 160,000 ARRL members (American Radio Relay League) featured a two-page photo story on last fall’s ARISS contact for students from three Albuquerque, NM public schools and orbiting astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor.  One of the photos showed Astronaut Mike Mullane who presented an inspiring talk to students at the ARISS contact.  The article explained that the ARISS Education Proposal had been superb and one aspect was Chaparral Elementary having developed a program for students to launch high-altitude balloons using ham radio APRS for tracking. The ARISS activities inspired a number of students to acquire their ham radio licenses. 

 
         Upcoming Events     

• October 24:  Two Italian schools, Liceo Scientifico Teresa Gullace in Rome, and I.S.I.S. Zaccagna-Galilei sede G. Galilei in Carrara are planning an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

 

• October 25: Students at two Italian schools, I.I.S. Ciampini-Boccardo in Novi Ligure, and I.T.I.S. Magistri Cumacini in Como are preparing for their ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

• Oct 8:  Bampton School in Devon, UK hosted an ARISS contact for students with Drew Morgan who answered 17 questions.  An audience of 175 watched the action.  Media coverage included the BBC-TV, two regional TV channels, and three radio stations.  The contact was live-streamed. A YouTube video was made from the BBC-TV cameraperson’s footage and can be found at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAZm3FJazR8  The school’s ARISS- and STEM-related lessons were part of a program named “A Term of Space.”
  

• Oct 8: Luca Parmitano talked with students at Collège Robert Doisneau in Sarralbe, France during their ARISS contact.  He spoke in fluent French and answered 20 questions. A crowd of 400 people were present; special visitors included city hall and region officials along with a region academic inspector. The contact was webcast to 99 colleges in France. Media on hand represented Regional TV France 3, Mirabelle TV, Regional Radio France Bleu, and the newspaper, Le Republicain Lorain.
  

• Oct 4: Woodridge Middle School in High Ridge, MO will sponsor an ARISS contact in late 2019. To publicize their ARISS activity, teachers set up an ARISS table at the St. Louis Science Center’s “Stranger Things” exhibit.  They handed out ARISS flyers and stickers, and 300 people stopped to talk. 
  

• Sep 7: Space Station Explorers Senior Education Manager Dan Barstow of the ISS National Lab gave the keynote banquet speech at the ARRL New England Division Convention in Boxboro, MA.  The speech, which went over very well, took the audience (250 adults, 15 students and 10 educators) on a simulated mission to the ISS and highlighted where the ham radio set up and antennas are located.  He described “the power of combining ham radio and space exploration into a magical elixir to engage students.”  Dan said of the Q&A portion, “They all asked good questions and appreciated how Amateur Radio on the ISS appeals to younger folks.”
  

 

• Oct 12:  ARISS Mentor Charlie Sufana gave a talk about ARISS at the Melbourne Hamfest in Melbourne, FL. Twelve people were quite attentive, including some students.
  

• Oct 4: ARISS Mentor Norm Thorn donates ISS-Above units to schools he mentors.  One went to Oakwood School in Morgan Hill, CA, which will have an ARISS contact in first half 2020.  The unit was deployed in the school office, which gets “a fair bit of student and parent traffic.”  Roofers were work soon on top of the building putting up the ham radio mast, antenna, and receiver preamplifier.
  

• Oct 1:  The Milan Amateur Radio Group in Milan, Italy, got an audience of 25 including several students for an ARISS talk.  Miss Micol Invancic, a teacher and ARISS volunteer who is passionate for space, presented a multimedia presentation covering the ARISS radio station, how ARISS radio contacts work, the passion students have for space, and Luca Parmitano as ISS commander.  A man in the audience said, “The almost two-hour talk went by without attendees realizing it, and like an exciting spacewalk, it enhanced the club members’ knowledge of STEM and space.”
  

 

• Oct. 9 - 10: The Moscow Aviation Institute experiment, MAI-75, operating from on board the ISS, downlinked Slow Scan TV (SSTV) images allowing hams and space enthusiasts on Earth to download them for a space history lesson.  Over 807 images were posted at the ARISS SSTV Gallery (https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/) for the world to view.  
  

• Oct 5: ARISS Mentor Tony Hutchinson in Australia was featured in an online article by the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC). The quite lengthy write-up covered Tony’s 30 years of dedication to ARISS and unique relationships in the NASA field and ARISS family that he’s developed during those years.  ABC also featured Tony on the evening ABC News broadcast.
  

          Upcoming Events     

• Oct 14: Students at two Italian schools, S.M. Calvino-Istituto Comprensivo Settimo IV in Settimo Torinese and Istituto Comprensivo Statale Don Milani in Monza will have an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

• Oct. 17: Istituto Comprensivo Statale Diego Valeri in Campolongo Maggiore, Italy along with Istituto Comprensivo Ladispoli1 in Ladispoli, Italy will together host a contact with Luca Parmitano.

• Oct. 18: Science Days, a special event at Science & Technologie e.V. in Teningen, Germany, will feature an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

 

• Oct 18-20: ARISS-US team members will give ARISS presentations at the annual AMSAT-NA Symposium in Arlington, VA.

• Sep 27: ARISS volunteers Darrell Wilson and Norm Thorn gave an ARISS presentation at the Vermont Avenue Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA.  Faculty members, educators from the USC Young Scientists Program (YSP), and 91 third through fifth graders took part.  The school will have an ARISS contact sponsored by YSP in late October. The youth engaged in a “gallery walk” of ISS-related photos such as ones showing ISS research experiments; students formulated questions to pose about these. They got on the air to ask questions of area ham operators. The youth handled ham equipment and antennas and learned how the ISS is tracked.  They received NASA stickers and bookmarks. A teacher commented on the students’ high level of involvement, saying they were “totally into it” and excited by the upcoming ARISS contact. The producer of the USC Annenberg Media Center was there and plans to do a radio interview following the school’s ARISS contact.   

• Oct 1:  Sonoma County Main Library in Santa Rosa, CA hosted an ARISS radio contact for youth from Santa Rosa Middle School with Nick Hague.  He answered 17 student questions. Over 100 people attended the day’s events and over 150 watched the live-stream. Media coverage was done by the Press-Democrat, the largest area paper, and an area radio station.  The library staff had sponsored Star Parties and a city-wide STEM arts contest.  They distributed information to thousands of people through packets going to all of the area schools and because of posters and flyers handed out the month before at all of the library branches.  The area ham operators presented talks and gave area schools the ISS-Above kits and ISS-Above’s accompanying astronomy lessons plans.

 

• Oct. 1: River Ridge High School in Port St. Richey, FL has been engaging students in preparations for their upcoming ARISS contact. A StarLab planetarium dome was purchased and many of the school’s classes used it as a starting point for their ARISS-related STEM activities. This week, the StarLab will be taken to Hudson Elementary School for younger students.  A MakerSpace Challenge was sponsored for high schoolers to build hand-held antennas to use in upcoming radio transmitter hunts. From September 17 to November 15, a “Spot the ISS” contest will be held for students to download the ISS Finder app to their phones, learn how to spot the ISS, and take photos of the ISS to display in the school’s media center. In December, students in Earth Space Science classes will work in groups to build ISS models.  The school purchased two different food dehydrators for students to use, do taste testing, and track the results. Last week, space was integrated into movie night and a dance that featured a laser show of shooting stars.

 

• Oct 2:  A school in the United Arab Emirates had a successful ARISS contact with the Space Flight Participant.

 

• Oct 8:  Collège Robert Doisneau students in Sarralbe, France will have had an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano and details will be in next week’s report.

 

• Oct 8:  Alexander Skvortsov supported an ARISS contact for students at Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia.  The ARISS-Russia team said it went very well.

 

• Oct 8:  The Bampton School in Bampton, UK, will have hosted an ARISS contact for students with Drew Morgan. A report will be sent, including publicity garnered from the live-streaming.
  

 ARISS Social Media    
ARISS Facebook

                                                               ARISS Twitter
 
ARISS Twitter followers at the end of September 2019 totaled 11,398, a gain of 1.1% over August.
 
 
         Upcoming Events     

• Oct 9-10: The Russian ISS on-board experiment, MAI-75, will downlink Slow Scan TV images allowing ham operators and other radio enthusiasts on Earth to receive them. Those receiving the images can post them at the ARISS SSTV Gallery at: https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/.

 

• Oct 12-13: A UK ARISS team member will give a presentation at the annual AMSAT-UK Colloquium in Milton Keynes, UK.

 

• Oct 18-20: ARISS-US team members will give a presentation at the annual AMSAT-NA Symposium in Arlington, VA.

• Sept. 23:  To the delight of all the children under their care, The Children’s Inn at NIH (National Institutes of Health) in Bethesda, MD hosted an ARISS radio contact with Nick Hague. Forty people attended the event where Hague answered 11 of the children’s questions. All the kids got to interact with him including a child too sick to come to the event room; this youth got the question answered by videotape. The event, carried over Facebook Live, had 2,000 viewers logged in.  Frank Bauer brought ARISS radio station hardware for the youth to handle and operate.  Students also learned facts about the NIH Tissue Chip experiments on the ISS.
  

• Sep 24:  The University of Colorado (UC) Amateur Radio Club undergrads in Boulder, CO, with the help of hams in the Boulder Amateur Radio Club in Boulder, sponsored an ARISS contact for students at Northridge Elementary and Nick Hague. All 16 fourth graders had their questions answered along with questions from 4 teachers, while an audience of 100 watched.  Kristen Brohm, program manager at St. Vrain Valley Innovaction Center was pleased with STEM lessons the students took part in; UC students had led youngsters in STEM activities for four weeks. The day’s events were streamed to the entire school district, which has 67,591 students.  The school posted an article at:  https://www.svvsd.org/updates/cu-boulder-connects-longmont-northridge-elementary-fourth-graders-iss-astronaut  The story was picked up by the Boulder Daily Camera, Longmont’s Times Call, and Lyons’s Lyons Today; other reporters attending were from Denver’s TV-7 and KOA News Radio. A live-stream from the ARISS radio telebridge station in Italy reported 110 viewers. 
  

• Sep 24:  An ARISS contact was supported by the ARISS-Russia team at a school in Plovdiv, Bulgaria—details will be forthcoming.
  

 

• Sep 27-28: ARISS-Russia team set up ARISS contacts for two United Arab Emirates (UAE) schools with the Space Flight Participant.  Next week’s report should contain the details.
  

 

• Sep 21: ARISS volunteer Dave Jordan helped teach an intensive weekend ham radio Technician Class License course.  Over half of the class, which was held at the Winter Springs, FL Police Department, were students, including one who took part last February in an ARISS school contact.

 

• Sep 20:  ARISS-Italia volunteer Micol Ivanci gave a talk about ARISS to an amateur radio club in Treviglio, Italy. She plans the day and time of her talks so the audience can watch live-streamed ARISS school contacts.  This audience began watching a live-stream of the Australian ARISS ground station just before watching the school contact, and the Aussies waved and said hello to the Italians.  Micol said, “I was happy like a child!”  She will give a talk near Venezia in October.  
  

• Sep 28: Rosalie White gave a talk about ARISS to the Monroe County Hamfest near Bloomington, IN.  Ten people including two students who assisted Rosalie with handouts, enthusiastically listened to details about ARISS and a status of the ham radio station to be launched to the ISS.
  

 

• Sep 20:  The October issue of the monthly journal, QST, mailed to 160,000 ARRL members (American Radio Relay League) carried a half-page photo story on ARISS.  The article covered the ARISS volunteers working with AMSAT on efforts to design an amateur radio station for Lunar Gateway. 
  

 
          Upcoming Events   

• Oct 1:  Sonoma County Library in Santa Rosa, CA will host an ARISS contact with area youth and the community and Nick Hague is the supporting astronaut.
  

 

• Oct 2:  UAE school #3 has its ARISS contact scheduled with the Space Flight Participant.

 

• Oct 8:  College Robert Doisneau students in Sarralbe, France will have an ARISS contact with Luca Parmitano.

 

• Oct 8:  The Bampton School in Bampton, UK, will host an ARISS contact for students with Drew Morgan.

• Sep 18:  Students at Templestowe College in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia held their ARISS radio contact with Nick Hague who answered 9 student questions. The auditorium was full. Over 315 students, family, and community members watched the evening begin with a talk by the mayor, then an ABC radio interview, and a discussion on astronaut selection tests.  The events were live-streamed from the school and garnered 690 real-time viewers. Activity at the ARISS Australian ground station was also live-streamed for other viewers. A teacher wrote: “A number of students had nervous dispositions, so seeing them rise to the occasion and prove to themselves what they were capable of was wonderful to see. Their newfound confidence could be life changing, and that comes from the passion you [the ARISS team] showed and what you did for us.  This was worth every hour and minute students spent preparing.”   All 1,100 students had taken part in build-up activities over the school term.
  

• Sep 20: The Fort Meade Middle School Teen Center hosted Boys and Girls Club youth at Fort Meade, MD. They enjoyed speaking with Nick Hague, and he answered 16 of their questions while nearly 70 attendees listened.  They participated in several ARISS activities and ham radio demonstrations, including a Slow Scan TV demonstration, and watched a fast-moving ARISS video explaining how the ham radio connection happens. Personnel from Fort Meade and Raytheon were present, and one of the latter spoke on aerospace careers. Several news reporters were on hand including the Baltimore Sun Sound-off and WNAV. Fort Meade Facebook’s pre-contact YouTube publicity got 698 views. Fox News (Good Morning DC) and Meade TV planned to interview youth on September 25. Youth are from Meade Middle School, Meade High School, and MacArthur Middle School.  In July and August, teens had participated in STEM hands-on activities during an Apollo 50 “Moon Shot Celebration,” put together and soldered electronic kits, and did the Tomatosphere experiment.  
  

• Sep 23:  Youth at the Children’s Inn at NIH in Bethesda, MD, spoke with Nick Hague during their re-scheduled ARISS contact.  Next week’s report will contain the details.

 
         Upcoming Events   

• Sep 24:  Members of the University of Colorado Amateur Radio Club with the help of hams in the Boulder Amateur Radio Club in Boulder, CO will sponsor an ARISS contact with Nick Hague for youth at Northridge Elementary School.
  

 

• Sep 24: For an ARISS contact at a school in Plovdiv, Bulgaria--the cosmonaut will be scheduled soon.

 

• Sep 27: ARISS-Russia team has set up an ARISS contact for United Arab Emirates (UAE) school #1 with the Space Flight Participant.

 

• Sep 28: The UAE school #2 will have its ARISS contact sponsored by ARISS-Russia with the Space Flight Participant.
  

• Oct 1:  Sonoma County Library in Rohnert Park, CA will host an ARISS contact with area youth and the community and Nick Hague is the supporting astronaut.
  

 

• Oct 2:  UAE school #3 has its ARISS contact scheduled with the Space Flight Participant.