October 18: Benjamin O. Davis Aerospace Technical High School, part of the Detroit (MI) Public Schools (DPS), hosted an ARISS radio contact with Soichi Wakata who answered 15 students’ questions. Attendance in the room totaled 65 and 267 others watched the livestream; within a few days, views of the recording reached 760. Strong media coverage included a national-level CBS team, reporters from area ABC, Fox, and NBC TV stations, Axios, Detroit News, Michigan Chronicle, and WWJ radio. Cindy Steele, NASA HQ Chief of Public Engagement—alum of nearby Cass Technical High School and Northern Michigan University—shared a testimony on public schools leading to great careers like hers. Other VIPs came from US Senator Gary Peters’ office and the American Radio Relay League. DPS Assistant Superintendent of Operations Machion Jackson stated that the Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club, Davis Advisory Group, ARISS, and others helped students to see opportunities in space exploration, communications, and STEAM careers, and to research the ISS and space. She added, “Please know you assisted the development of future leaders and helped the students ‘rise.’” She described the school aviation and aerospace programs that prepare students to become pilots, drone operators, aircraft mechanics, engineers, and more. A recent graduate proudly explained about his earning the school’s certification led to his career flying drones. A 10th grade girl piped up, “Anyone can become part of NASA. Doesn’t matter…your race, your age…you can do it.” The school is named for Benjamin O. Davis Jr. who organized/commanded the 99th Pursuit Squadron & 332nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen) and was the first African-American brigadier general in the USAF. (Ret) USAF Lt. Col Lawrence Millben (formerly the first African-American commander of Selfridge Air National Guard Base and now on the Davis Advisory Board, a technical advisory committee) and others from the Tuskegee Airmen Detroit chapter gave each student a Tuskegee Airmen quarter and a dog tag engraved with the six principles of Tuskegee Airmen. The Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club had set up a complex radio ground station to carry out the ARISS contact and they had mentored students in the school ham radio club. Media hits:
- Detroit News:
- WDIV NBC ClickOnDetroit:
- Axios:
https://www.axios.com/local/detroit/2022/10/19/aerospace-students-astronaut-space-station-detroit
- ChalkbeatDetroit
- Bollyinside
- Michigan Chronicle
October 17: The ARISS-Russia team led Gagarin From Space lessons with students from MBOU Gymnasium No. 136 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Nest, several adults guided the 12 youths with their successful ARISS radio contact, talking to cosmonaut Anna Kikina. This was Anna’s first chance to support an ARISS contact.
October 11: ARISS-USA Director of Education Kathy Lamont, Belmont Elementary School’s Gifted Resource Teacher (Woodbridge, VA) guided students in researching how to handle radios and antennas in order to listen to an ARISS contact. When Harris Middle School in Spruce Pine, NC had its ARISS contact, Kathy’s 4th and 5th graders aimed antennas and tuned the radio to listen. She helped them follow the questions by handing them the list of what the Spruce Pine kids would ask. Besides her 13 students, another student who was overseas with her family was listening to the contact via Zoom, excited to be part of the action from afar. Kathy posted on Twitter a 20-second video of one student listening intently to the contact; the video garnered 101 views.
October 9: ARISS Technical Mentor Bob Koepke and wife Jann, both American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) county advisors, recognized a need for more STEM education in their North Carolina county and decided to help promote fun activities and of course, ARISS contacts. The Gates County Public Library in Gatesville hosted an all-day open house and the Koepkes set up and staffed a table with eye-catching STEM items. They created and handed out flyers on balloon launches, rocketry, ARISS, and STEM project boxes. Visitors totaled 50—20 were students and some were parents and teachers who were especially piqued by ARISS. Earlier, Bob and Jann had coordinated with Science Heads and AIAA to present the library with STEM Project Boxes for students to borrow; these included Green Energy from Veggies, Tiny Robots, Snap Circuits, Learn Morse Code, Arduino Basic Starter Kit, and Motor Kit.
October 9: ARISS volunteer Ciaran Morgan gave a presentation on ARISS at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium, held in Milton Keynes, UK in conjunction with the Radio Society of Great Britain’s annual convention. Ciaran’s talk attracted 89 listeners, some in-person and some via the livestream. AMSAT-UK will post recordings of the talks. Ciaran networked with a number of convention-goers throughout the day, as well, discussing ARISS.
October 13: Another successful ARISS contact sponsored by the ARISS-Russia team had crew member Dmitry Petelin talking with 15 students from the Center for Continuous Improvement of Professional Skills of Pedagogical Workers in the Republic of Mordovia, Russia. ARISS volunteer Dmitry Pashkov supervised the youth during the radio contact and he produced a video to post on Twitter; see https://twitter.com/R4UAB/status/1581001939130912769 .
October 17: ARISS thanks NASA for its web story titled “The Scientific Journey of NASA’s Space-X Crew-4 Aboard the Space Station,” which details science experiments and technology demonstrations the Crew-4 astronauts performed and how these benefit people on Earth. The ARISS program was showcased in two photos—Samantha Cristoforetti and Kjell Lindgren, each using the ARISS radio system to talk to students. See https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/crew-4-scientific-journey-on-iss.
ARISS thanks the ISS National Lab, as well, for its web feature, “Crew-4 Astronauts Return to Earth After Working on ISS National Lab Research.” The photo story highlighted science experiments the astronauts performed including ARISS radio contacts, demonstrating the scientific and educational significance of the ARISS experiments as part of the ISS National Lab education programs. See https://www.issnationallab.org/iss360/crew-4-science/?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=crew4&utm_content=pe
October 13: ARISS leaders Kathy Lamont, Fred Kemmerer and Frank Bauer moderated an ARISS Proposal Webinar to introduce interested educators to ARISS. The teleconference meeting guided educators wanting to submit an ARISS Education Proposal during the current window opening from October 1 through November 13 to receive proposals. The ARISS contacts would be scheduled between July 1 and December 31, 2023. Kathy reported, “We discussed the ARISS Education Proposal process, examples of implementations of space and communications in school curriculum, and options needed for ham radio support at an ARISS school contact.” 19 educators and ham operators attended the webinar and they represented 13 different states.
ARISS Upcoming Events
TBD