• July 22-Aug 2:  The 24th World Scout Jamboree hosted at Summit Bechtel Scout Reserve, WV is for over 45,000 girls and boys of all races from 152 countries. On the 27th, many hundreds of scouts witnessed an ARISS radio contact with Drew Morgan who handled 12 questions. Scouts were from the US, Australia, Bolivia, Iceland, Japan, Pakistan, UK, and Sweden. Streaming on the Jambo radio Facebook page resulted in 6,500 live viewers and 112 shares, a reach of 8,300 and 1,500 clicks as of July 28. A scout group in Gilwell Park, UK met at their England activity centre to listen “long distance” on their own ham radio station to the ARISS contact. Jambo offers manifold education events and the Jambo ham staff hosted multiple hands-on STEM activities, as promised in their ARISS Education Proposal. Scouts learned about ham radio payloads (transmitters, receivers for data collection) and winds while participating in near daily balloon launches—one report showed landfall in Spain. Scouts aimed ham antennas and transmitters while trying radio direction finding in the woods. Each day 350-400 scouts took turns, visiting as small groups, trying out seven different ham radio stations, talking to hams around the globe and using ham radio satellites. An article on the ARISS contact is at https://www.amsat-on.be/2019/07/27/jamboree-speaks-with-drew-morgan-via-on4iss/.  Over a dozen ham news outlets ran pre-ARISS contact stories. YouTubes were made of balloon launches for the Jambo ham Facebook page (reach was 810). The second balloon launch’s countdown is at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2olTXDOCCWA.
  

• July 26: Kennedy Space Center Education Center was the site of the 2nd Space Port Area Conference for Education (S.P.A.C.E.). Science teachers and informal educators listened to Bob Cabana and other astronauts give presentations and took advantage of workshops on engaging students in space lessons and activities—one of these was presented by Melissa Pore, a teacher on the ARISS-US Education Committee.  On day 3, an ARISS display, worked in conjunction with, and funded in part by, the ISS National Lab and the CASIS Space Station Explorers (SSE) program, was one of many space education exhibitors. Melissa and two ARISS representatives, Charles Sufana and Dave Jordan explained ARISS to educators stopping by. Melissa received an award from the ISS National Lab and CASIS SSE for her “service, commitment, and desire to push the boundaries of STEM Education.” This related to her educational activities involving satellites and her 2018 ARISS contact for her STEM classes and the Engineering Club she sponsors at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA.    
  

       Upcoming Events  

• July 29 – Aug 1:  At the ISS Research & Development Conference in Atlanta, GA, ARISS team members will support outreach in conjunction with, and funded in part by, the ISS National Lab and the CASIS SSE program.   

 

• July 29 - 30: An ARISS Russia SSTV event from the ISS is planned using the Moscow Aviation Institute MAI-75 experiment. Image downlinks will be targeted primarily for areas of Russia.  

 

• Aug 1 - 4: An ARISS SSTV event from the ISS is planned for reception by radio operators and others worldwide.

 

• Aug 8: Kyoto Tachibana Junior & Senior High School students in Kyoto, Japan, will have an ARISS radio contact with Nick Hague.

 

• July 29 – Aug 1:  ARISS team members have been planning ARISS participation and outreach activity for the upcoming ISS Research & Development Conference in Atlanta, GA.  The team’s outreach is being worked in conjunction with, and funded in part by, the ISS National Lab and the CASIS Space Station Explorers (SSE) program. ARISS is an SSE partner.    
  

 

• July 7-12: ARISS was highlighted in the American Radio Relay League’s (ARRL) booth at the IEEE International Symposium in Atlanta, GA.  Attending were 1,400 delegates.  ARRL’s booth sported a ham radio station being operated, and the action received a lot of attention. Many people were not aware of amateur radio activities on the ISS or ham satellites, and expressed a big interest in the ARISS program and the various ham radio satellites.

 

• July 16: A successful ARISS contact was part of the About Gagarin From Space celebration at the 8th International Aerospace School, U.N. Sultanova summer camp in the Republic of Bashkortostan at Kalinovka, Russia.  Alexey Ovchinin was scheduled for the ARISS contact.  ARISS-Russia’s Sergey Samburov lectured students on space and Vyacheslav Dovgan spoke on his robot piloting experiences with Russia's Lunokhod 1 that landed and roved on the Moon in 1970.   

 

• July 8-12: ARISS was featured a number of times during the ARRL’s Teachers Institute (TI), a professional development course for educators, held in Newington, CT.  Besides a myriad of technical topics such as satellite operations, MAREA (Mars Lander/Marine Amateur Radio Robotics Exploration Activity that uses ARISS’s APRS network), and analog-to-digital converters, the TI instructor covered various hands-on activities students can do that are tied to ARISS. He said after his own school’s ARISS contact that students told him things like, “I get it now…I never liked math, but the ARISS activities made me see why math is important to space science. I want to get into ham radio and STEM.”

 

• The TI course was the theme of the online weekly show, “Ham Talk Live,” also.  ARISS was highlighted multiple times during the show’s hour-long program, which consisted of interviews with the TI instructor and the teachers.  

 

• July 19:  The final day of weeklong power quality and acoustic tests on the new InterOperable Radio System resulted in success. The tests were performed with the ARISS hardware team members working in concert with NASA Johnson Space Center’s test and certification team. The team is looking forward to the final set of comprehensive tests that can totally certify the system for flight.
  

• July 19:  ARISS was featured in a detailed ARRL web story about the upcoming ARISS contact for the 24th World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia.  The article described ham radio hands-on activities to be offered; a ham radio scouting team was already there setting up big antennas and ham stations for youth to try starting the first day of Jamboree. 

 
            Upcoming Events  

• July 26:  ARISS will be part of an outreach exhibit at the Space Port Area Conference for Educators (SPACE) at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.  ARISS volunteers are working in conjunction with, and funded in part by, the ISS National Lab and Space Station Explorers program (ARISS is an SSE partner). Equally important, one of the ARISS volunteers who is on the ARISS-US Education Committee will present her conference talk on her students’ experiences related to ARISS.  
  

 

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

 

• Early August:  Plans are moving forward for two ARISS-Russia SSTV downlink events.  One of the sessions will honor Owen Garriott, the first astronaut to bring ham radio to space.

• 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.