June 21: Day 1 of the Space Port Area Conference for Educators (SPACE) featured a special ARISS radio contact at the Center for Space Education in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. For this contact, instead of having students talk with the astronaut, ARISS invited educators to prepare and ask questions. Sultan Al Neyadi answered 12. Staff from the Astronauts Memorial Foundation livestreamed a YouTube for the public and projected views on the meeting room wall. 40 guests and on-line viewers saw: 1) the teachers asking questions, 2) amateur radio operator Shane Lynd at his home radio station in Australia downlinking Sultan’s ham radio audio from the ISS, 3) an image of Al Neyadi, and 4) an image of the Earth as seen from the ISS. A reporter taping the action represented Space Coast Daily. Ground News out of Titusville picked up the story. The URL is https://www.facebook.com/SpaceCoastDaily/videos/1573829529811488. Next week’s ARISS report will cover other ARISS activities tied to the conference—our exhibit booth, an ARISS forum, and a two-day ARISS Educate the Educator Workshop.
May 26: ARISS educator Melissa Pore of Vienna, VA, won a grant from the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) D.W. Steele Chapter in Arlington, VA. The AFA’s grant will enrich her students’ STEM experiences through providing funding that supports what students have been asking for: to get their hands on drones and learn about them. AFA’s Steele Chapter Vice President for Aerospace Education Mike Maxwell presented the award to Melissa at her school, Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington.
June 20: The fourth of seven planned ARISS radio contacts with Sultan Al Neyadi and students took place at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai, UAE. The MBRSC has invited different UAE schools’ students to each radio contact, and this time, from Mushairif School, Cycle 1-Ajyal in Ajman. A several-minute video posted on MBRSC social platforms showed clips from the contact, garnering 919 views. The Emirates Amateur Radio Society and Emirates Literature Foundation collaborated on activity for this radio contact. The MBRSC works to promote space science and research in the region. MBRSC does this through educational programs designed to promote a culture based on discovery and exploration in future generations at all education levels.
June 8: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, FL created an education initiative where the school and undergrads will invite 500 area sixth through eighth graders to engage them in a year of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities. The target: students in socioeconomically challenged conditions. The program has the support of Nicole Stott. The capstone will be an ARISS contact. The school will involve Embry-Riddle student groups, the Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Association, and the educational non-profit group Tier One Two Aspire Leap Inc.. Pamela Peer, Embry-Riddle Director of Community Outreach & Summer Programs said activities like the ARISS initiative are essential for bringing young people into science and technology. Dr. Jim Gregory, College of Engineering Dean at Embry-Riddle said, “Through the ARISS radio project, Embry-Riddle will work to foster relationships with underserved students in our community to open meaningful pathways to STEM education and professions.” ERAU’s great web story about all of this is at https://news.erau.edu/headlines/stem-outreach-embry-riddle-to-connect-students-astronauts.
June 23-25: Three people on the ARISS-Europe team represented ARISS at Ham Radio 2023, the largest European amateur radio convention. Sponsors of the event (in Friedrichshafen, Germany) expected 14,000 people. ARISS-Europe supported a booth and a forum. More details will be shared when available.
ARISS Upcoming Events
TBD