May 25:  ARISS gets late reports on ARISS radio contacts, sometimes, and here is one.  Amur State University’s Mission Control Center had 17 students and their teacher as visitors on March 31 from the village of Ust-Ivanovka to talk with cosmonauts on the ISS.  The ARISS-Russia team assisted the youth in asking about “the life and work of Commander Sergei Ryzhikov of the long-term expedition ISS-64, and Flight Engineer Sergei Kud-Sverchkov.” Students learned the duration of a spacewalk can be 6-9 hours, how cosmonauts spend their free time on the ISS and what they eat, and heard comments on the future of Russian cosmonautics.

May 31: French students at Collège of Saint Pierre Marboz in Marboz took part in an ARISS telebridge radio contact with Thomas Pesquet who answered 20 questions. Present were 60 social-distanced people—students, teachers and guests, including city hall officials, regional academy officials, TV station reporters (2 national stations, 1 regional station), and a newspaper reporter. The school created a video for viewers featuring many student STEM-related projects prior to the contact along with a video of Pesquet from his pre-launch training days. Two livestreams captured 258 viewers, and 6 days later, another 6,113 had watched the recording. The URL is:  https://youtu.be/HnPoFku7DXg. The school integrated these topics into their STEM program: space-habitation and exploration, the solar system, orbital mechanics, astronomical phenomena, and radio science including satellites, radios, and circuit board kits (e.g. Arduino).

June 2: Students from The Father’s House Christian School, a provider of homeschooling in Morinville, AB, Canada engaged in an ARISS radio contact with Akihiko Hoshide. He answered 20 student questions, many good ones that aren’t asked often. This contact was held as a multi-point telebridge with students conferenced in. A video highlighted projects the 500 students enjoyed in preparing for their contact. The livestream garnered 213 views, and 5 days later, 585 people had watched the recording; the URL is: https://youtu.be/S0_-QFkXdi4.  Students and parents engaged in activities about space exploration, ISS living and topics drawn from these websites: ESA Space & Exploration, NASA KidZone, and Primary Science Teacher College.

June 3: ARISS leader John Kludt gave a presentation about satellites and ARISS to the Atlanta (GA) Radio Club. Men and women members of the club, attending via Zoom, totaled 31.

May 29: A Gagarin From Space ARISS contact event involving All-Russian Ufa Olympiad winners was sponsored by Ufa State Aviation Technical University in Bashkortostan, Russia. Oleg Novitskiy supported the contact.

Social Media
Facebook – May 2021

Twitter:
As of May 31, 2021, ARISS Twitter followers totaled 14,718, a gain of nearly 1% over the end of April.

Instagram:
As of May 31, 2021, Instagram Followers increased 1.9% over the end of April and now total 325.

YouTube Members:
As of May 31, YouTube members totaled over 1.4K, an increase of 1% over the end of April.

ARISS Web Unique Pageviews:
In May, ARISS Web Unique Pageviews totaled 22,767.

Upcoming Events
June 10: St Joseph’s Catholic Primary, Bombala, Australia, ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team
June 11 & 12: Students in Lipetsk, Russia, ARISS contacts, ARISS-Russia team
June 12: Students in Velikiy Ustyug, Russia, ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team