November 17:  ARISS educator Cassie Zielenski and her fellow teachers began engaging Mountain View Elementary School’s 841 students in Marietta, GA, in STEM activities tied to ARISS once her school’s education proposal was accepted for an ARISS contact. K-5 students got an introduction to some lessons in the ARISS SPARKI Kit, enjoyed a scavenger hunt tied to codes such as Morse code, and will soon engage in activities using the ARISS Radio Pi equipment. ARISS educator Martha Muir and six members of the nearby North Fulton Amateur Radio League and the Cherokee Amateur Radio Club traveled to the school to judge entries in the Balloons over Mountain View STEM Parade. Students had created balloons with designs of planets, space, space vehicles, and other STEM items. Cassie and other teachers guided students with their creations in marching by the judges for a quick review. 

November 17: Andreas Mogensen supported an excellent ARISS radio contact with students at New Heights School & Learning Services in Calgary, AB, Canada. Mogensen answered all 15 of the students’ questions.  120 students in this K-12 school viewed the event via Zoom. 53 staff members watched the youth asking their questions. The ARISS radio telebridge operators handling the radio contact streamed their radio activities, garnering 103 viewers.  No media was invited by the staff due to privacy concerns for these special students. The faculty had readied the youth for their ARISS contact by facilitating a month-long “whole-school activity” program and they designated November 14-17 as Space Week. Youth engaged in special projects on sky science, space exploration, and electromagnetic energy, among other things.

November 22: The National Research Lobachevsky State University in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia held a successful ARISS radio contact for students with Konstantin Borisov. 8 students and 50 visitors and administrators attended the event.  The ARISS-Russia team supported the youth with the About Gagarin from Space lesson series and the ARISS contact.

October 8-14: ARISS educator Diane Warner planned with fellow members of the All Things Amateur Radio Association (ATARA) to bring its STEM trailer to the Fairfield County Fair in Lancaster, OH for a week. The trailer houses ARISS and other displays such as a model of the ISS, and some hands-on STEM activities. These items engaged 350 adults and 80 youth who walked in. Club members set up a tent by the trailer also, and hung posters depicting the club’s activities—two were about ARISS. Three weeks later, the club brought the STEM trailer back to the fairgrounds for Freedom’s Never Free, an annual event honoring veterans. Club members also set up their STEM and ARISS posters inside a building filled with more exhibits for veterans.    

November 25:  An ARISS contact took place with pupils from schools in the Aznakaevsky District of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Tatarstan, Russia. Students held their contact with Konstantin Borisov after engaging in the About Gagarin From Space lessons. Children with disabilities were included in the contact event. As with other ARISS-Russia sponsored ARISS contacts, this one was scheduled by Mission Control Center-Moscow.

November 29: ARISS thanks NASA for posting a superb web article on their Space Station Research page about ARISS engaging and inspiring students worldwide for STEM, for 40 years. The story begins with a young man who took part in a 2018 ARISS contact. Today, he says it showed him how rewarding STEM careers could be, and it caused him to decide to get an electrical engineering degree. The writer ran his quote: “I hope the program continues for a long time. It is so important for kids trying to figure out what you want to accomplish in life.” The URL for the article is https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/ham-radio-in-space-engaging-with-students-worldwide-for-40-years/ 

ARISS thanks NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, also, for posting on Facebook about ARISS’ 40 years of connecting students to astronauts.                     

ARISS Social Media for November

ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported November highlights:

  • ARISS had 380,141 total impressions for November.  
  • Several videos were in ARISS posts, generating more than 1,100 minutes of viewing. 

ARISS Total September-October-November Social Media Metrics:

  • ARISS X – Total Impressions / Views 237,938,  Interactions / Engagements  5,943 
  • ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions / Views 133,553,  Interactions / Engagements 4,027
  • ARISS Total New Followers across platforms 591
  • ARISS LinkedIn – Total Impressions 306,  Reactions 13
  • ARISS YouTube – Total subscribers increased to 2,000
  • ARISS Web Pages – Unique Visits 16,706, Page Views 50,773 

November Top Posts

Top X post (53,199 Impressions, 544 Engagements): an update on an MAI Slow Scan TV (picture downlinks) session

Top Facebook post (15,470 Impressions, 241 Engagements): video of Bob Cabana, who had supported Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment radio contacts, now retiring from NASA.

ARISS Upcoming Events  
Dec 5: Orangeburg Christian Academy, Orangeburg SC—ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
Dec 11: Harbor Creek School, Harborcreek PA—ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
Dec 13: Youth in Obninsk, Kaluga Oblast, Russia, ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team
Feb 22-24, 2024: Human Spaceflight Amateur Radio: 40th Anniversary Celebration, KSC Center for Space Education, Titusville FL—ARISS conference & gala, ARISS- Team