April 29: Students at Istituto Comprensivo 1 Chieti in Abruzzo, Italy conducted an ARISS contact with Samantha Cristoforetti, who answered 15 of their questions. As the ISS pass ended, the principal and the school gave Cristoforetti greetings and best wishes.  300 students in their classrooms watched the action via livestream (within a week, viewers of the recording totaled 715). After the contact, an ARISS Technical Mentor presented a talk to everyone about the ARISS program.  TV stations RAI3 and RETE8 covered the activities. A few ARISS Italy team members who were on standby at their ARISS ground station, livestreamed that activity with the contact’s audio; they garnered 47 views. Other European space-enthusiast hams provided YouTube videos of the ARISS radio transmissions for 88 viewers. A practice session before the contact gave students a lesson on radio communications and that session was livestreamed with 278 watching. This urban school enrolls 1,000 students ages 4-14. STEAM lessons and projects offered at every grade level cover things such as robotics and coding. Students participated in ESA’s “Zero Mission-Astro Pi” project, and in 2021 met Astronaut Luca Parmitano. Members of the amateur radio team from Pescara instructed students on the installation and types of ham radio equipment and antennas they would be using to make the ARISS radio contact.

April 21: Ben Davis Aerospace Technical High School (DATHS) in Detroit, MI hosted an ARISS Watch Party for students at Coleman Young International Airport. Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club members brought and set up a ham radio station so youth could listen to Kayla Barron answering Bellefontaine (OH) High School students’ questions during an ARISS contact. ARISS Technical Mentor Larry Koziel brought monitors so DATHS students could watch the Ohio livestream.  The mix of attendees included the DATHS Advisory Board and principal, a teacher, members of the area Tuskegee Airmen Chapter, and airport administrators. DATHS has an ARISS contact in the second half of 2022.

April 30: Istituto Comprensivo Tolfa in Lazio, Italy hosted an ARISS radio contact with Samantha Cristoforetti; she replied to 17 student questions.  24 students, a number of staff, TV representatives (RAI3, RAI Gulp, TGR Lazio, Canale10) and an Il Messaggero newspaper reporter were in the room.  2,036 others in school classrooms watched the livestream, which is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKlOwjvTpt8—begin viewing at 37 minutes 10 seconds (you could’ve heard a pin drop!).  Within a week, 3,709 viewers had watched the recording. This urban primary and middle school’s curriculum focuses on language skills and STEM. Students have taken part in ESA’s “Send your Drawing into space with Cheops,” Italian Space Agency’s “Send ARTEMIS-inspired Drawings to the Moon,” Institute of National Astrophysics’ “Learning about Light Pollution,” and NASA lessons on space exploration and the ISS. The area amateur radio club led student activities on radio science and demos of the radio equipment needed for the ARISS contact. 

May 3: ARISS educator Micol Ivancic presented a talk titled “Space—the Ultimate Frontier” to 80 engineering students at Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy.  She covered a little space history, Meteo weather satellites, and the ARISS Program.  Ivancic is a 5th grade teacher and this was her first talk to a university audience; she was thrilled to be invited to do so.

ARISS Social Media for April 2022

ARISS Facebook – April

Twitter: On April 30, 2022, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 16,580, a gain of 1.6% over March.
Facebook: Followers for April 2022 increased to 7,517.
Instagram: Followers at the end of April 2022 grew to 421.
ARISS YouTube: At the end of April, subscribers increased to 1.66k.

ARISS Upcoming Events 
May 12 Scuola Secondaria G Leopardi & Macherio, Lombardia Italy ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team
May 19-20 Hamvention, a US-wide big amateur radio convention: booth, forum, ARISS-US team
May 20 Forum Accademico Italiano eV, Koln Germany  ARISS school contact, ARISS-Europe team