July 21: Kitaogura Elementary School in Uji, Japan, with 207 students, celebrated its 50-year anniversary by planning lessons for, and hosting, an ARISS contact. For their exciting radio contact with Kjell Lindgren, an audience of 70 watched the youth as he answered 20 of their questions. Reporters from five newspapers came to the event. A video recording for public viewing is at: http://www.ariss.jp/8n350k/IMG_5634.MP4. Students spent several months on a variety of lessons preparing for the event. For fifth graders interested in amateur radio, members of the KANSAI ARISS Project and the Japan Amateur Radio League-Kyoto Club mentored the girls and boys in radio communications protocol and making radio contacts over the airwaves.
July 25-28: ARISS team members Frank Bauer, Dave Taylor, and Kelly Cammarano represented ARISS at the ISS R&D Conference in Washington DC, setting up and staffing an exhibit area. Other ARISS team members, Ana Guzman, Randy Berger, and Melissa Pore helped at the booth for portions of the days. They discussed ARISS with an estimated 300 individuals. During daytime and evening receptions, Frank networked with many space industry people and was happy to talk about ARISS and potential future activity.
June 25: The All Terrain Amateur Radio Association set up a Field Day exhibit in a city park in Lancaster, OH; the display touted ARISS, the club, and amateur radio. Field Day is an exercise for ham radio operators to practice emergency communications skills in places without commercial power. Over 50 people came to the Field Day and saw the poster board. A gentleman who leads a youth group with a STEM focus talked at length to ARISS educator Diane Warner about ARISS contacts. The American Radio Relay League Section Manager (an official at the state level) drove a bit over an hour to come to the Field Day event and discussed the successes of a recent ARISS school contact that was sponsored at Bellefontaine, OH.
ARISS Upcoming Events
July 30 Youth in Almetyevsk, Tatarstan, Russia ARISS contact, ARISS Russia Team
July 30 State Aviation Technical University, Ufa, Russia ARISS contact, ARISS Russia Team
Aug 3 Swiss Guide & Scout Movement, Bern, Switzerland ARISS contact, ARISS Europe Team