Author: cmejackson500

May 19: ARISS educator Kathy Lamont and daughter Kailey supported an ARISS display in an exhibit tent at the American Rocketry Challenge in The Plains, VA for middle and high school youth. The tables sported an ARISS slide show and hand-held radio equipment to attract kids’ attention for stopping by to handle it.  The Lamonts described ARISS to students (75) and educators, informal educators, and parents (55) who took ARISS brochures; Kathy reported that every person exclaimed, “That’s really cool!”  The Washington DC FAA STEM outreach staff came from their tent to learn about ARISS; they’re thinking of networking further. Two other area ARISS team members helping with the challenge encouraged attendees to go to the ARISS booth. VIP attendee astronaut Warren Hoburg stopped by and Kathy thanked him for supporting ARISS contacts to help ARISS inspire youth for STEM and space. While autographing his NASA photo for them, he replied, “I was happy to do it!”

April 20: ARISS educator Diane Warner and her ham club’s members presented ARISS at the First Annual Seeds of Change event at Rising Park in Lancaster, OH.  It featured 20 booths offering free activities revolving around Earth Day and Arbor Day and science for people of all ages. Diane’s club brought their STEM trailer with its hands-on STEM displays—some tied to ARISS, and showcasing various ham radio equipment that kids could use with help from a ham control operator. As families viewed the trailer’s exhibits, some of the students, parents, and educators asked Diane to explain more details about the ARISS program.

May 17-19: ARISS volunteers pulled out all the stops for Hamvention 2024 (the world’s largest ham radio convention—32,000 people!) in Xenia, OH. ARISS team members set up and staffed a two-space booth featuring ARISS engineering and education programs. All told, at the booth ARISS staff talked to over 1,460 people who expressed enthusiasm for ARISS programs. ARISS felt honored to garner an official Hamvention forum for a fourth year; 125 people attended. They listened to Frank Bauer and Rosalie White give introductions of speakers including ARISS Director of Engineering Randy Berger, ARISS Director of Education Tanya Anderson, ARISS Social Leader Jim Reed, and a high school and a college youth on experiences at their ARISS contacts. A large number of folks stopped at the booth to give compliments on the forum. ARISS sponsored four mini-forums in a small space near the booth; topics included what’s next for HamTV, ARISS’s three education programs, developing a winning ARISS Contact Proposal, and a demo of ARISS’s newest Lunar Operations module. At a Hamvention educator forum and the Hamvention youth forum, speakers gave cameos about ARISS.  

May 8: The Post Eclipse Symposium, a virtual event organized by President and CEO of Lewis Center for Educational Research Lisa Lamb and ARISS teacher Melissa Pore, featured the Goldstone Apple Valley (CA) Radio Telescope (GAVRT) team sharing early results of radio observations of the Sun gathered during the April eclipse by Deep Space Station 28. Scientists showcased in this YouTube included NASA JPL scientists Steve Levin, Velusamy Thangasamy, and Marin Anderson who shared GAVRT’s early data; Bob Twiggs of Twiggs Space Lab, who spoke about upcoming activities; and astronaut Dan Tani, who described his experience during totality. Student Eclipse Ambassadors discussed data gathered during the eclipse by their Eclipse Monitors around the US. The event spotlighted student research and collaboration and Lisa moderated their discussions. A student asked about radio communications and the eclipse; Melissa seized that opportunity to describe ARISS, an ARISS school contact that took place on eclipse day where a student asked about seeing the eclipse from the cupola, and astronaut Matthew Dominick’s answer. Over 60 educators and students watched the symposium YouTube; it will be posted for hundreds more to view. In addition to JPL and Twiggs Space Lab, NASA SEES helped make this event possible.

May 22: The ARISS-Russia team mentored an ARISS contact for students of the Municipal Budgetary Institution of the Secondary School in the village of Ulukulevo in the Karmaskalinsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia. The crew member chosen to support the contact was Aleksandr Grebyonkin.

May 11: ARISS educator Diane Warner, a leader at the Afterschool Programs of Lancaster, OH, helped her organization design and sponsor five Family STEM Nights. The organization provides services at five area elementary schools to educate, improve, and nourish youth and families. Diane and her ham club set up hands-on activities for these nights. But beforehand, at their regular afterschool hours, 210 students had enjoyed ARISS SPARKI Kit lessons, such as building basic FM radios, putting together electrical circuits on paper, using gadgets (Energy Stick®) to test if an object was conductive, experimenting with Play Doh Squishy Circuits® that used LEDs and battery packs, and building mini-telegraphs. During Family STEM Nights, youth showed off what they learned at each of the hands-on tables to their parents, and helped parents build more mini-telegraphs. Diane wrote: “It was awesome watching the students teach their parents what they had learned.”

April-May: Activities tied to the ISS, astronomy, and science took place at several Polish education facilities for schools with upcoming ARISS contacts. Over the 17 sessions, students’ ages ranged from 8 to 14 and the number of students participating varied between 10 and 120. Some activities covered facts about the ISS and watching a video of an ARISS contact. Students visited Warsaw Kopernik Science Center and the BioGen Laboratory where they used microscopes and tried out techniques involved in performing experiments.

ARISS Upcoming Events  
TBD

May 4: Bundaberg State High School students from Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia engaged in an ARISS radio contact held at the Wireless Institute of Australia’s (WIA) Annual General Meeting and Convention. WIA is the national association for amateur radio in Australia and WIA members and radio enthusiasts from around the country attend the convention. Mike Barratt supported the ARISS contact and answered 13 questions from students. His light humor here and there in his answers made the contact special.  87 students from grades 9 – 12 and 80 others in the convention room, including parents, professionals, and community members, witnessed the contact.  The high school has an active ham radio club and many STEM courses.

April 10: ARISS thanks NASA for taking a photo of Jeanette Epps immediately after she spoke to an Italian school’s students during their ARISS contact. They asked her questions about her work in space and what it’s like to live there. The Italian teacher was beyond ecstatic when she saw the photo; she has shown it to all of her students.

May 1: ARISS volunteer Joanne Cozens Michael, working with faculty and students at El Rincon Elementary School in Culver City, CA, successfully launched a pico balloon. 500 very excited students along with 70 adults watched as the balloon began its journey heading toward the Atlantic. The balloon carried a ham radio transmitter identifying the craft with Joanne’s ham call sign; this radio signal allowed students to track its flight path. Prior to the launch, Joanne led STEM lessons about balloon flights to students in 13 classrooms. She showed them how they could track it and record its travel/progress by coloring in squares on a special grid-square map she prepared. The teachers handed out the maps to each of the students. 

May 4: Frank Bauer and Tanya Anderson led a mini-workshop in Crystal City, VA on using the ARISS SPARKI kit of educational tools for 12 educators working with the East Coast Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen. This professional development workshop prefaces an upcoming August 2024 Tuskegee Airmen conference for approximately 80 youth who belong to Tuskegee Airmen chapters. The four-hour workshop put educators through their paces in how to do projects tied to ARISS and the SPARKI kit, such as working with electrical circuits using Snap Circuits®.  These educators will be guiding the 80 youth at their August conference.

May 3: ARISS educator Micol Ivancic gave a presentation on ARISS and the International Space Station at a conference in the municipality of Castelnuovo Scrivia in Italy. 35 people attended the event, including two educators, one from an Italian school that will host its ARISS contact later in 2024. Micol wrote, “People were very interested [in the talk, giving] positive feedback!”

May 1: Students from Chrześcijańska Szkoła Podstawowa Daniel (Daniel Christian Primary School) in Warszawa, Poland enjoyed time at Kosmopark in Kielce in preparation for their upcoming ARISS contact. They engaged in activities tied to rockets, space suits, Moon landings, first flights into space, and took part in an attraction enabling them to feel what it’s like to be weightless.  At their school, students built models of rockets and spacecraft and educators had conducted school competitions about space. Area amateur radio club members will do communications activities with students. A school leader wrote: “…the more we do, the more excited we get.”

ARISS Upcoming Events  
May 17-19: Hamvention, Xenia OH—ARISS forum, ARISS exhibit booth, ARISS-USA Team

April 22: The American International University (AIU) in Salmiya, Kuwait hosted an ARISS radio contact with Mike Barratt for undergrads, some area elementary and high school students, and a large viewing audience.  14 news reporters wrote items about the contact and created numerous social media posts, some with video, offering many highlights such as student interviews. Their posts and reels reached tens of thousands of viewers, for example an Instagram reel reached 96.8k and an X post reached 177.1k.  AIU Director of University Events & Engagement said: “Hearing students’ feedback about their ISS connection experience has been truly inspiring. We are excited about the possibilities ahead and grateful for the ARISS team’s support in coordinating events that inspire and empower Kuwait’s youth.” Students had studied communication theory.   

April 22: ARISS Director of Operations Will Marchant visited Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA and introduced undergrads to ham radio antennas, hand-held ham radios, and how these can be used for radio space communications.  Will topped off his visit by showing students how to manipulate the antennas to tap into a live ARISS contact happening at Pleasant Knoll Middle School in Ft. Mill, SC.  The college students listened to Matthew Dominick answering the younger kids’ questions.

May 1: Students at the Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School Center for Innovation in Raleigh, NC engaged in an ARISS contact. Matthew Dominick answered 20 student questions with time to spare for the students’ farewell and a big “Thank You!” Nearly 50 people watched the contact from a media room while the entire student body in their classrooms and several area schools’ students in their classrooms viewed live video of the action. Before talking to Dominick, students watched area ham operator John Brier give a presentation on fun amateur radio activities students can do. During the semester, seventh and eighth graders took several field trips and enjoyed hands-on technology activities, such as at the Plant Sciences Initiative (PSI–part of North Carolina State University). The school had set up a year-long partnership with PSI for an elective course, “Destination Innovation.”

April 23: After ARISS recently announced the schools accepted for upcoming radio contacts, one school, Bayou Academy in Cleveland, MS, decided on an innovative way to tell students their school was chosen. Administrators held a “STEM Pep Rally,” cheerleaders and all. 465 students and the staff assembled in the gym. After several interactions that built up kids’ excitement, the principal announced the news about the school’s selection for an ARISS contact and students went crazy! The school captured the pep rally on video—including very loud screaming, clapping, some hands raised to mouths in shock—and posted it on social media. Their reaction was moving to hear. What a unique way to tell the kids they had been chosen!

ARISS Social Media for April 2024

ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported April 2024 Social Media highlights:

• April impressions were up year over year and month over month.
• A short video of Mountain View Elementary students cheering at their ARISS contact pulled the top spot in April on Facebook

April Total Followers – X (in blue) and Facebook (in red)–32,650

April 2024 X and Facebook Total Followers

• ARISS X – 20,157
• ARISS Facebook – 12,493

April 2024 X and Facebook Total NEW Followers

• ARISS X – 115
• ARISS Facebook – 214

April Total Impressions – X (in blue) and Facebook (in red)–319,357

April 2024 X and Facebook Total Impressions and Total Interactions/Engagements

• ARISS X – Total Impressions / Views 179,155, Interactions/Engagements 4,877
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions/Views 140,202, Interactions / Engagements 3,617

April Top Posts on X and Facebook  (see images below)

• Top X post (9,835 Impressions, 132 Engagements): Jeanette Epps’ ARISS contact
• Top Facebook post (17,379 Impressions, 219 Engagements): a video—Georgia students cheer loud after their ARISS contact

Also for April:

• ARISS Total New Followers on ALL ARISS Social Platforms (not just X and FB) – 435
• ARISS You Tube – Total subscribers 2,150
• ARISS Web pages – Unique Visits 16,863 & Page Views 54,278

ARISS Upcoming Events
May 11: Eric Knows CIC, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK—ARISS contact – ARISS-Europe Team

April 22: Thrive Home School Academy and Stratton Meadows Elementary School in Colorado Springs, CO successfully completed their ARISS radio contact with Jeanette Epps. She answered 11 of their questions. One student who stood out in her Space Camp blue jumpsuit told a TV reporter, “I want to be an astronaut, a flight director, mission controller, and an aerospace engineer.” Officials in the gym (filled with 300 people) included those from the school district, the Edge of Space Sciences, and the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program. The ARISS contact received good media coverage with stories done by three TV stations and one newspaper. The latter reported the lead teacher’s quote: “Students used the school district’s VR goggles … so they got to simulate being on the space station themselves.”  The stream captured 209 live views which equaled over 650 viewers–district officials polled families watching live and reported that homes had an average of 3.2 people watching. The URL is (begin at 43 minutes)   https://vimeo.com/937773019/78b8e5e170. Youth took part in many space lessons and some radio activities led by Pikes Peak Amateur Radio Association members.   

April 22: The Pleasant Knoll Middle School team in Ft. Mill, SC came through with a successful ARISS radio contact for students with Matthew Dominick. The entire student body, over 900, gathered in the gym for the unforgettable experience of listening to Dominick answer 23 questions, with time to spare for a grand thank you. Two TV stations’ reps came. The contact team offered the general public three different live streams. This one (start at 1:12:15),   https://youtube.com/live/L-7BmSktTNg?feature=share, captured 116 views during the contact and 179 in three days’ time. Another stream’s total is now 541, and the third one now has 445 views. During the hour prior to the contact, York County Amateur Radio Society (whose members had provided radio contact equipment) had tables set up with hands-on STEM activities for students. During the semester, teachers taught from a space science curriculum.

April 18: After preparations over several months, students at Mountain View Elementary School in Marietta, GA had their wish come true, talking with Jeanette Epps on the ISS; she answered 11 of their questions.  838 students, 88 teachers and 118 VIPs and other guests sat in the gym.  Media people provided coverage for two TV stations, one radio station, and the Cobb County school district. The latter published a fine write-up (including a link to the contact) at https://www.cobbk12.org/_ci/p/97720. The story reported that students loved the school’s annual Launchapalooza and launching a satellite that collected data on burning biofuels. The story quoted ARISS teacher Dr. Zielinski saying, “I’ve heard more times than once that they’re too young and can’t handle it. I guarantee you they handled it!” Preparations also involved using ARISS SPARKI kits and downloading ARISS Slow Scan (SSTV—picture downlinks) images.

April 18:  ARISS volunteer Will Marchant led a communications presentation to an area school’s kids who were visiting the Winchester STARBASE in Winchester, VA. He helped them manipulate a held-hand radio and a simple antenna to listen to Mountain View Elementary School (in Marietta, GA) students’ ARISS contact with Jeanette Epps (see preceding news item). ARISS was thrilled that the Winchester STARBASE program director wrote: “Thank you for providing a unique experience for students. I loved how the questions started slowly but then they kept coming. I think they could have asked questions for another hour!”

ARISS Upcoming Events  
May 1: Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School for Innovation, Raleigh NC – ARISS Contact, ARISS-US Team
May 4: Bundaberg High School, Bundaberg, QL, Australia, ARISS-Japan Team

April 17: Students at Mrs Ethelston’s CE Primary Academy in Lyme Regis, UK experienced a great day as they spoke with Matthew Dominick for their ARISS contact; he answered 20 student questions. The faculty had invited six other area schools (for students age 4 to 11) in the Acorn Multi Academy Trust to take part in activities. Over 200 students and adults came to watch the action as did reporters from the BBC and Independent Television networks. The public saw the livestream; viewer count throughout contact day topped 1,000.

April 18: Belmont Elementary School students in Woodbridge, VA designed special t-shirts for their ARISS contact scheduled in June. To prepare youth for the contact, teachers post daily space facts in the school’s morning news. In addition to hands-on space and communications activities, the staff showed short videos featuring the ISS and also the SpaceX Crew-8 launch. Every one of the school’s student population is preparing questions; the student selection team will pick the questions for the contact.

April 18: ARISS announced in news releases and social posts the US schools/host organizations newly selected to move forward toward hosting ARISS contacts between July and December 2024. Nine of the ARISS Education Proposals submitted during the recent proposal window were chosen to begin preparation processes to host a scheduled amateur radio contact with an onboard ISS crew member. The educators will start implementing the four- to six-month education plan they outlined in their proposals—STEAM educational lessons involving space science and radio communications activities that help prepare students for the ARISS contact. Organizations are also completing an acceptable equipment plan for ARISS to review.  

Table: schools and education organizations whose ARISS education proposals were chosen

ARISS Upcoming Events
May 4: Bundaberg High School, Bundaberg, QL, Australia, ARISS-Japan Team