June 4: Boy and girl scouts of BSA Matinecock District in Suffolk County in Medford, NY took part in an ARISS radio contact with Kjell Lindgren who answered 18 questions. A reported 395 people, including the media, attended the event. 70 people watched two live streams, and a week later, 311 people had viewed the recording.  The URL is (begin at 41:42): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4epvt4cGtc. The scouts had done Radio Merit Badge activities and learned about radio communications, launched rockets, and examined Moon rocks. They participated in a STEM Fair sponsored by Camp Upton Army-Brookhaven National Lab, which included First Robotics activities.

June 2: The Moscow Autonomous Education Institution at Lyceum-Engineering Center in Kazan, Russia hosted an ARISS contact for students. Cosmonaut Sergey Korsakov supported the activity and the ARISS-Russia team set up the radio station for it.  

June 6: Students at Scuola Media S.Pietro, Nuoro in Sardegna, Italy spoke with Samantha Cristoforetti with 200 people watching; she handled 11 questions. The event was live streamed and a few days later the recording had 311 views. The school partnered with Nuorese Astronomical Association that had students utilizing its digital planetarium facilities. Students studied older and new data weather recordings from probes launched to 100,000 feet monitoring Earth’s stratosphere–helping students see some climate change. They studied the solar cycle, Earth’s electromagnetic field, radio communications, and learned about ISS research being conducted.

June 6: Students at Bauman Moscow State Technical University in Moscow, Russia had an ARISS contact with Denis Matveet that was reported to be successful. The youth learned about the ARISS program and how the radio contacts are performed.    

June 4: Students at the Istituto Comprensivo Losapio-S.F. Neri in Gioia del Colle in Puglia, Italy shared an ARISS session with Samantha Cristoforetti; she answered 20 questions. An audience of 80 people came and Radio Norba TV covered the event. The contact was live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmfI6IhajshGME8jZTdjBrA (begin at 52:12).  In a week’s time, 1,220 had viewed the recording. The primary-secondary school of 1435 students recently partnered with Cittadella Mediterranea della Scienza and Gioia del Colle Air Force base. Students took field trips to both and learned about space-related communication, radio communication, and radio equipment.

June 8: ARISS volunteer David Jordan, AA4KN presented the ARISS program to 21 members of the Sun City Center Amateur Radio Club (SCCARC) in Sun City Center, FL.  David shared ARISS’ historical accomplishments that reveal to students the possibilities of STEM careers. He covered ARISS’ new educational initiatives and invited attendees to become ARISS volunteers. Sun City Center is a retirement area near Ruskin and one of their activities for residents is the ham club, which is well-recognized for recreation and support during storm season.

June 4-5: ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up an ARISS exhibit at the entryway to the floor of the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention held in Seaside, OR for 2,000 ham radio operators to view walking in and out.  At the ARRL Forum (120 attendees), Mark reminded people to stop at the exhibit to read the materials and pick up a flyer. ARRL staffer Bob Inderbitzen also had a portion of the forum, and he discussed ARISS and its tie to youth STEM and radio activities.      

June 8-9: A Moscow Aviation Institute MAI-75 SSTV (picture downlink) event was held for space enthusiasts, students, educators, members of the public, and amateur radio operators. Cosmonauts downlinked the images. Thus far, 143 were posted at the ARISS SSTV Gallery (https://www.spaceflightsoftware.com/ARISS_SSTV/) by 80 people for the public to view.  

ARISS Upcoming Events 

June 14 Istituto Tecnico Industrile Allesandro Rossi, Veneto Italy ARISS contact ARISS-Europe team