ARISS Weekly Status Report – 7/18/2022

July 13: Students who took part in STEM activities that are held at Il Cielo Itinerante (ICI) spoke with Samantha Cristoforetti during an ARISS radio contact; she answered 19 questions. For the contact, the ICI had invited youth from various Italian cities to come to the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in Matera, Italy, which hosted the contact events. ICI has close ties to the ASI’s Center for Space. 200 people attended the event and 194 watched the livestream. ARISS-International Vice Chair Oliver Amend wrote that ESA Education staff appreciated the ARISS-US team who, in very early morning hours, operated the ARISS radio telebridge station at Goddard Space Flight Center to support the contact. He added, “This was an important event for the ARISS-Europe team because of its collaboration with ESA Education.” ICI, an Italian non-profit association, was established with the goal of providing STEM classes to disadvantaged children ranging in age 9 to 14. ICI visits all regions of Italy to work with students where the need is greatest, setting up practical science lessons and professional telescopes for guided observations of the sky. 

July 13: The 2nd Sayama Group Saitama Council Scouts Association of Japan in Saitama hosted an ARISS contact for girl scouts and boy scouts of various ages who spoke with Kjell Lindgren. He answered 16 different scouts’ questions. An audience of nearly 100 watched the action, including 15 scout leaders and ham radio volunteers. The YouTube garnered 99 views; the URL is (begin at 1:07 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-bWCL_xzpE. Media representatives covering the event came from a cable TV station and an area newspaper. During the day of the ARISS contact, the scout association sponsored a class on electrical topics and on earning an amateur radio license, and prior to the contact, youth participated in scout activities related to space, electricity, and amateur radio.  

July-August: The Buehler Challenger & Science Center in Paramus, NJ, will host an ARISS contact in late July. The Center planned summer STEM camps for three weeks in July and early August for youth in kindergarten through high school. Activities for girls of middle school age, and boys and girls of junior high and high school age, included simulated space missions in the Center’s simulators, building and launching model rockets, learning about “barrier-breaking women in STEM,” designing and creating flying objects,  and design challenges.   

July 15: Students came to Ufa, Russia to participate in the 11th International Aerospace School named for test pilot and cosmonaut U.N. Sultanov. The young people studied a set of About Gagarin From Space lessons, and the highlight was an ARISS radio contact. Oleg Artemyev supported the ARISS contact; the ARISS-Russia team coordinated it.  

ARISS Upcoming Events
July 19-22 ARISS-International Annual Meeting, online, full ARISS world team
July 21: Kitaogura Elementary School, Uji, Japan ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team                                    

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 7/11/2022

July 7:  For an episode named Amateur Space Radio, host Gary Jordan of NASA’s “Houston, We Have a Podcast” interviewed Education Project Manager Courtney Black at the ISS National Lab (INL). Prior to joining INL in 2020, she taught at a school that hosted an ARISS contact.  The podcast covered many facets of ARISS, her school experiences coordinating the ARISS contact, and how it had come about. She recalled that beforehand, she’d suggested to her school a year-long space curricula; the idea was put on hold. A while later, the nearby Ft. Myers Radio Club contacted the school district about ARISS contacts. The district brought Black and the club together and soon, she submitted an ARISS Education Proposal, and then her school was selected for a contact.  During this podcast she re-counted things that happened during the ARISS contact and ended with sharing a former student’s comment, a junior at the time. The young lady told a news reporter, “…this was the catalyst; this was what started me on my trajectory to become an astronaut.” Black said, “…it wasn’t until I saw how it [ARISS] ignited their passions that I realized space inspires: it reaches everyone.”

June 24-26: The ARISS-Europe team put on a strong presence at Ham Radio 2022, an annual convention in Friedrichshafen, Germany with attendance totaling 10,200. ARISS-International Vice Chair Oliver Amend presented three ARISS talks from the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) national organization’s stage in the main conference hall. The education forums covered lesson ideas and the Matthias Maurer ARISS school contacts, and one forum was an in-depth seminar. A fourth forum was on doing experiments tied to space. For a fifth forum, Amend invited the Johannes-Kepler Gymnasium (German high school) students and staff to talk about the ARISS contact they hosted. Attendance at all presentations totaled 280. The ARISS team staffed an exhibit booth and talked to 250 people, including some from ESA. ARISS shared a booth with Germany’s AMSAT society that had helped with Maurer’s ARISS school contacts. Booth staff included Amend, ARISS educator Mic Ivancic, DARC’s education team, AMSAT members, and AATiS (a German association of teachers and engineers who developed STEM activities using Amateur Radio on the ground and in space). 

July: The Eaton (CO) Public Library hosted an ARISS contact in June and the staff continues to advertise to the community a summer-long reading program tied to space. The library is also sponsoring its Starship Artemis Game Nights (in-person and online) for teens and adults. 

July 9: An ARISS radio contact took place at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University in Moscow, Russia.  More details will be available for next week’s report.

ARISS Social Media

June 2022–Top ARISS Facebook Reach and Top ARISS Tweet:  both, a post on a Slow Scan TV session

As of June 30, 2022, slight gains were made over May on each ARISS social media platform; total followers were:  

  • ARISS Twitter—16,816
  • ARISS Facebook—7,664
  • ARISS Instagram—433
  • ARISS YouTube—1.68k

June 2022 Facebook

ARISS Upcoming Events 

July 13 Il Cielo Itinerante, ASI Center for Space, Matera, Italy  ARISS contact,  ARISS-Europe team
July 13 2nd Sayama Grp Saitama Council Scouts, Saitama Japan  ARISS contact, ARISS-Japan team
July 16 Celebration of Frigate Nadezhda, Vladivostok, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team   

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 7/4/2022

June 27: An online show, “Tank Radio,” featured a talk with Frank Bauer. He discussed ARISS’ new education programs, details about the ARISS radio system on the ISS, and how Astronaut Kjell Lindgren has been making radio contacts with ham operators who are very thrilled to talk to him.  175 people watched the live podcast, and within four days, 40 more people had viewed the recording.

June 24-26 The ARISS-Europe team presented three stage talks, a forum, and a teachers’ seminar at Ham Radio 2022, a large annual convention held in Friedrichshafen, Germany. The team staffed an exhibit booth, also and more details will be available for next week’s report.

June 24: Frank Bauer networked with Courtney Black, Education Project Manager at the ISS National Lab, updating her on the latest on ARISS education programs. The updates were in preparation for her being on “Houston, We Have a Podcast” to talk about formal and informal teachers’ interest in ARISS. More details on the podcast will be in next week’s report.

July 19-22: The annual ARISS-International Meeting will be held via Zoom due to continuing COVID concerns. ARISS-International delegates and team members will present and discuss topics on operations, development, and education initiatives, among others. More information will follow in future reports.

ARISS Upcoming Events 
July 9 Bauman Moscow State Technical U., Moscow, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team
July 13 Il Cielo Itinerante, ASI Center for Space, Matera, Italy ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team
July 16 Celebration of Frigate Nadezhda, Vladivostok, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team   

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 6/27/2022

June 22: Youth at Eaton Public Library in Eaton, CO had the privilege of talking with Kjell Lindgren during their ARISS radio contact. They asked 16 questions before the ISS traveled over the horizon. 233 people attended the event or watched the livestream. In 5 days’ time, 254 people had viewed the recording.  The New Hampshire News and Public Opinion Pros, two online news outlets, carried stories about the contact. The library’s livestream is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81zMIvrAnLU.  Days prior to the radio contact, library staff welcomed area students to a week-long Space Camp where they enjoyed soda-can-propelled rockets, Pin the Planet on the Solar System, Galaxy Slime, and Botly the Coding Robot. Ham operators from the Weld Amateur Radio Society taught the youth about ISS orbits and radio communications.

June 17: Students at South West State University (SWSU) in Kursk, Russia in conjunction with ARISS-Russia, designed and built eight Tsiolkovsky SWSU satellites. Some were launched to the ISS in February and some in June. Oleg Artemyev prepped all satellites, connecting them to the Service Module’s antenna feed device, and turned them on during orbits over Korolyov (Russian Mission Control Center) for controllers to monitor. They heard telemetry, confirming satellites’ operability. SWSU will post circuit board diagrams for other students to study. The mission of SWSU’s satellites is to: create a peer-to-peer information network, study Earth’s magnetic field and radio noise in outer space, and transmit photos and voice messages (each satellite’s phrase is different) in eight languages. Two other satellites were built by Ryazan State Radio Engineering University and were launched to the ISS. The Tsiolkovsky-Ryazan devices carry transmitters that can calibrate the sensitivity of radio telescopes at Pushchino Radio Astronomy Observatory at the Astro-Space Center of the Physical Institute. These two satellites can emit radio signals to aid the study of the ionosphere’s radio wave propagation. All satellites were named Tsiolkovsky satellites to honor what would have been Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s (Father of Russian Rocketry) 165th birthday. It is hoped that during a spacewalk in about a month, Oleg Artemyev will launch the satellites, which would orbit for about 1.5 years.

June 12-17: A popular STEM event offered at 2022 Youth on the Air (YOTA) Region 2 Camp was launching high-altitude and mid-altitude balloons with radio payloads. The camp, held at the National Voice of America Museum in West Chester Township, OH, hosted 21 youth ages 14 to 25. ARISS educator Neil Rapp, leader of the week-long camp, reported, “Balloon #1 reached 97,000’. We tracked it, 30 miles away in a field, recovering it all, including a video camera and biology experiment. Balloon #2, with an APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) and WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) beacon, was tracked hovering at 30,000’.” Students had engaged in hands-on lessons: how to build and protect ham radio payloads that transmit digital telemetry, attach ropes and lines, study weather issues for launch, and use telemetry to track the balloon’s progress and health.

June 15: Kjell Lindgren spent some of his leisure time this past week using ARISS’ InterOperable Radio System on the ISS to talk with ham operators on Earth. Then he decided to make radio contacts during the biggest annual on-the-air ham radio activity—ARRL Field Day—and at the last minute, announced this in a Tweet. Many hundreds of ham operators loved trying to hear him on the air, and his Tweet got 536 Likes. Amateur radio operators are some of the biggest fans of astronauts and space. Kjell generated a huge amount of goodwill and excitement.    

ARISS Upcoming Events 
July 9 Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, Russia, ARISS-Russia team

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 6/20/2022

June 14-15: ARISS leaders Frank Bauer and Marty Schulman and ARISS volunteer Alan Johnston mentored ARISS’ new NASA interns at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Undergrads Nitin Vegesna and Ashish Dhanalakota and high school student Unsh Rawal received indoctrination introducing them to ARISS, communications, wireless radio, and two of ARISS’ new education programs. But the colossal hit was when they got to speak with Kjell Lindgren on the ISS using the ARISS radio system! It happened while they toured the ARISS radio ground station at GSFC. As each young man spoke with Kjell, they said, “I’m a NASA intern!” The students will be working on tasks tied to two ARISS education programs, STEREO (Student and Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations) and ARISS *STAR* (Space Telerobotics using Amateur Radio). The interns had already taken part in a June 2 kick-off telecon.

June 14: Istituto Tecnico Industrile Alessandro Rossi (ITIS) in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy had invited two schools—Don Bosco Comprehensive Institute in Monticello Conte Otto and Antonio Barolini Comprehensive Institute in Vicenza—to take part in an ARISS contact and a variety of STEM activities. Samantha Cristoforetti supported the ARISS contact and answered 15 student questions. 143 people were on hand with the live stream garnering 250 views. Three days later, 2,581 people had viewed a YouTube recording of the contact. Reporters from a TV station and some newspaper services provided coverage. ITIS was founded in order to import the model of German technical schools to Italy for students age 14 to 19. The curriculum covers electrical technology, computer science, telecommunications, mechanics, artificial intelligence, introductory robotics and chemistry. The telecommunications students, supported by an area company, built the radio antenna for this ARISS contact.   

June 13-17: The Eaton (CO) Public Library partnered with area school students when planning to host its upcoming ARISS contact. This summer, library programs included their “Space Storytime” and star shows. A week-long Space Camp was put on, featuring hands-on STEM activities that engaged kids in space, communications, and radio topics, and they learned about the ISS and astronauts on board. The Eaton Library team conducted with students a full-dress rehearsal of their ARISS contact with ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer. He wrote: “The kids and parents are showing high excitement and interest as they anticipate their upcoming ARISS contact.”

June 24 -26: Drawing worldwide amateur radio operators and enthusiasts, Ham Radio, a conference in Friedrichshafen, Germany is back after two years of COVID restrictions. This is one of the largest amateur radio events in the world. The ARISS-Europe team will staff an ARISS booth and present forums; details will be in next week’s report.

June 6: The online space news group, SPACEREF, ran the NASA Space Station Status Report, which included a paragraph on an ARISS contact supported by Samantha Cristoforetti.  The posting, about the Scuola media S.Pietro in Sardegna, Italy, reported some questions students asked—about solar systems and life forms and if the crew would like to live or visit other planets. The report cited ARISS’ mission of providing amateur radio opportunities with astronauts to engage and educate students, teachers, parents and members of the community.

June 11-12: ARRL-ARISS Committee Chair Mark Tharp set up an ARISS exhibit at the Apple City Amateur Radio Club Hamfest held in East Wenatchee, WA.  The display area showcased an ARISS roll-up and handouts for 109 of the ham radio operators to see.      

ARISS Upcoming Events 

June 22: Eaton Public Library, Eaton CO  ARISS contact, ARISS-US team
June 24-25 Ham Radio, Friedrichshafen Germany  ARISS exhibit/talks, ARISS-Europe team

ARISS Offers More Fun to ARRL Field Day Operators

June 20, 2022—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) plans to have its ARISS InterOperable Radio System (IORS) in crossband repeater mode for ARRL Field Day. The IORS ham station is located in the Columbus Module of the International Space Station. 

ARRL Hq has confirmed that successful radio contacts made through the ARISS IORS, in crossband repeater mode, will count for an ARRL Field Day QSO point, but also for Field Day bonus points! Another fun opportunity for points. Don’t forget the rule limiting stations to 1 QSO per any single channel FM satellite. On-orbit astronauts always have very busy schedules, but if a voice contact were to be made with them, it would count as a QSO credit but not for satellite bonus points. Only an ARISS crossband repeater QSO qualifies for the bonus. Crossband repeater contacts are also valid for AMSAT Field Day for satellite operations, held concurrently with the ARRL event.  

Frequencies for ARISS crossband repeater operation are as follows: 145.990 MHz up, 67 Hz tone and 437.800 MHz down. If you haven’t used the ISS repeater yet, be sure to practice with it before Field Day (June 25 – 26, 2022). These contacts can be tricky, but hams can practice right now…can you do it?

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 6/13/2022

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

Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. (QCWA) Provides Donation to Support ARISS

June 7, 2022:  Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, Inc. (ARISS-USA) is very pleased to announce that the Quarter Century Wireless Association, Inc. (QCWA) has made a highly notable contribution–$4,500—to support the ARISS program.  QCWA President Ken Oelke (amateur radio call sign VE6AFO) presented the generous gift to ARISS-USA at the 2022 Hamvention in Xenia, OH, during the ARISS Forum. ARISS is the acronym for Amateur Radio on the International Space Station. 

Ken hopes the funding will catalyze individuals and other groups around the globe to follow suit and contribute to ARISS.  He commented: “I had asked Rosalie White (amateur radio call sign K1STO), the ARISS-US Delegate for ARRL, about new initiatives ARISS may have and learned of new education programs set into motion and about ARISS’s enhancements being developed for its amateur radio station on the International Space Station (ISS). Those things are in addition to the ARISS team’s daily operating activities—ARISS educational radio contacts for schools and education groups with astronauts orbiting on the ISS. I believe ARISS provides a great opportunity to the QCWA to stand out in the Amateur Radio Community, and to carry out QCWA’s education mandate described in its constitution.”

In late 2020, Astronaut Chris Cassidy (amateur radio call sign KF5KDR) installed ARISS’s new radio system on the ISS. Crew members with ham radio licenses began using it for scheduled ARISS education radio contacts. In addition to supporting these student interviews, the radio system allows amateur radio operators to engage with the ISS using Automated Packet Reporting System (APRS), making cross band repeater contacts, and downloading special slow-scan TV (SSTV) images downlinked by cosmonauts.

ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer (amateur radio call sign KA3HDO) thanked QCWA members for their tremendous support, stating: “This funding will help propel forward some of the ARISS educational activities that were recently put in motion. Also, the gift will spur on the ARISS team working on radio system enhancements.” He noted: “It is fantastic to see amateur radio groups such as QCWA generously offering a gift to ARISS. It shows potential future ARISS benefactors, foundations and corporations that the amateur radio community believes in ARISS and wants to further ARISS’s goals.”

Rosalie thanked Ken for the QCWA Board of Directors and members standing with ARISS, and said: “The entire ARISS team conveys its deep appreciation for this exceptional generosity! We hope your members are enjoying ARISS packet and cross band repeater contacts and ARISS SSTV sessions while knowing countless students are engaged in science and technology activities tied to space and radio.”

Individuals and groups wanting to help ARISS can go to https://www.ariss.org/annual-fund.html, and in many cases, gifts are tax deductible donations.  Donors giving $100 or more are awarded a beautiful ARISS Challenge Coin.     

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 6/6/2022

May 31: Old St. Mary’s School (OSM) students in Chicago, IL connected with Bob Hines via an ARISS radio contact. He replied to 12 students’ questions. Time remained before loss of signal over the horizon, so 2 teachers related 3 questions other students had asked during STEM studies. 500 students and faculty in classrooms watched the livestream, which was offered on two platforms. Before the contact, a teacher explained how the radio link would work and showed two short ARISS videos.An OSM teacher had attended Microgravity University for Educators at Johnson Space Center in 2017 and learned about ARISS; in 2021 she submitted an ARISS Education Proposal. OSM partners with the Museum of Science and Industry’s Science Leadership School Partners Program. It provided a framework that inspired teachers to enhance science curriculum and whole-school projects like the ARISS contact, and also widen communications with families and area stakeholders.

May 28: The Mindshub Association partnered with the Istituto Comprensivo Avio in Trento, Italy (337 students) to host an ARISS contact with Samantha Cristoforetti who answered 21 questions. 128 students and faculty watched the livestream; a week later another 160 people had viewed the recording. Mindshub was founded to create a “2.0 laboratory” for secondary, high school, and college students to experiment in electronics, 3-D printing, robotics, and information technology.  Mindshub volunteers sponsored STEAM-related activities and workshops on astronomical observing and model rocket building based on youths’ study of the Vega rocket. Students took part in the Problem Solving Olympics where they used computational thinking.

May 28: Youth involved in activities at the Voskresensky Children’s Center in the city of Nizhny Novgorod in Russia participated in an ARISS radio contact.  Cosmonaut Denis Matveev supported the activity and the ARISS-Russia team set up the radio station for it.  

May 27:  A big group of students from Ben Davis Aerospace Technical High School (DATHS) in Detroit, MI enjoyed a bus trip to the 2022 annual fly-in at Coleman Young International Airport. They got up close to aircraft from the Selfridge Air National Guard and the Coast Guard. Members of the Hazel Park Amateur Radio Club set up a demonstration ham radio station for students to try out amateur radio contacts and engage with the ARISS radio.  DATHS students look forward to an ARISS contact in the second half of 2022.

June 1: ARISS Director of Education Kathy Lamont and ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer along with Frank Bauer led an ARISS Orientation Webinar with 28 attendees. This webinar focused on next steps for the nine newest educational institutions selected to host ARISS radio contacts. The educators and informal educators will plan when to move forward with their education plans and have ARISS Technical Mentors assigned who will give assistance with equipment plans. The ARISS radio contacts would be scheduled between January and June 2023.  

May 26: An ARISS InterOperable Radio System was installed in the Service Module by cosmonauts after Russia had launched it recently to the ISS.  The additional radio system, identical to the system in the Columbus Module, allows for more onboard amateur radio capabilities. While one radio system is in use by crew members to support ARISS radio contacts for students at educational institutions, the other system can be engaged with by individuals on the ground making ARISS cross band repeater or automatic packet reporting system (APRS) radio contacts.

May 29: Students and employees of SWGU in Kursk, Russia took part in an ARISS radio contact after learning about the ARISS program and how the radio contacts are performed. Oleg Artemyev used the newly installed ARISS radio system to speak with participants.  

May 31: The Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk, Russia hosted an ARISS contact for students who have participated in the Gagarin from Space program. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev supported the radio contact.  

May-June:  ARISS contacts took place recently at these locations; more details will be available in time for next week’s report:

  • June 2: Moscow Autonomous Education Inst. at Lyceum-Engineering Ctr., Kazan, Russia
  • June 4: Istituto Comprensivo Losapio-SF Neri, Gioia del Colle, Puglia, Italy
  • June 4: Matinecock District, Suffolk County Boy Scouts, Medford, NY 

ARISS Social Media

May 2022 Top ARISS Facebook Reach:  a poster a school made for a Cristoforetti ARISS contact

May 2022 Top Tweet – 3.4K impressions for a post about the next 9 ARISS schools

As of May 31, 2022, slight gains were made over April on each ARISS social media platform; total followers were:  

  • ARISS Twitter—16,703
  • ARISS Facebook—7,563
  • ARISS Instagram—423
  • ARISS YouTube—1.67K

May 2022 Facebook

ARISS Upcoming Events 

June 6: Scuola Media S.Pietro, Nuoro, Sardegna, Italy  ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe team
June 6 Bauman Moscow State Technical U., Moscow, Russia ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia team

ARISS Weekly Status Report – 5/30/2022

May 13: ARISS announced the nine educational institutions selected to host ARISS radio contacts between January and June 2023 for students and a crew member on the ISS.  The groups were chosen based on the high-quality ARISS education proposals they each submitted. The institutions will now move forward with ARISS mentors who will assist with an equipment plan, and teachers will determine when to initiate their education plan.

Table: schools selected for ARISS radio contacts in January through June 2023

May 17:  The Virginia state chapters of the Air and Space Forces Association recognized ARISS’s Melissa Pore as 2022 Virginia State Teacher of the Year.  The group cited her for “achievements in advancing and motivating students and young people toward STEM disciplines.” It association vetted her for encouraging students at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA to “explore new frontiers beyond classrooms, leading the Engineering Club, Amateur Radio Club, Aviation Club, SeaPerch Underwater Robotics Club, and Astrobotany Club.” Besides teaching high school engineering and technology classes, she is on the ARISS Ops Team that works out of Goddard Space Flight Center to support ARISS contacts and she’s an ARISS-US Education Committee member.

May 19-20:  ARISS volunteers from multiple states pulled together an outstanding presence for ARISS at Hamvention 2022, the largest amateur radio convention in the US, which is in Xenia, OH each year. The ARISS team staffed its constantly-busy exhibit area, presented an ARISS Forum to 150 listeners, had a portion of an education forum, did multiple interviews with podcasters, networked with many VIPs in the field, interacted with three of its sponsors and several of its larger donors, gave a remembrance at the AMSAT dinner of a special ARISS volunteer on his passing, and was honored at the Hamvention Annual Banquet where ARISS team member Kerry Banke was vetted for being chosen by Hamvention for the nationwide annual 2022 Special Achievement Award.  The booth took up two exhibit spaces in order to display to the crowds three of ARISS’ education programs including items from ARISS’ educational radio kits, a monitor with a video loop of photos from ARISS school contacts and STEM activities, and a model of the ARISS InterOperable Radio System on the ISS.  Convention attendance reached 30,000.

May 20: An ARISS radio contact was hosted by the Forum Accademico Italiano e.V. (FAI) in Köln, Germany for students in three German schools and one Italian school: Am Zugweg School and Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Cologne, Herkunft Sprache Unterricht in Bedburg/Elsdorf and Istituto San Giuseppe in Firenze. Samantha Cristoforetti supported the contact. Due to a sudden storm alert in the city, FAI sent students home but the ARISS team quickly pivoted and got the youth engaged in the ARISS contact via Zoom using the ARISS multipoint telebridge radio contact system. The live stream URL is:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otZcANd1vXo. FAI aims to encourage interaction of Italian scientists in Germany with scientists in Italy to engage Italian youth attending German schools. For the ARISS contact, FAI involved students in human spaceflight-related STEM activities so that youth could see the role of space exploration and what it means to be an astronaut.  Staff at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne shared their expertise in human spaceflight with the youth.

May 21 & May 28: Students taking part in activities tied to the All-Russian Traveler Festival in Zadonsk, Lipetsk in Russia were part of two ARISS radio contacts.  For the first day’s radio contact, youth asked questions of Sergey Korsakov.  During the second radio contact, youth at the festival spoke to Oleg Artemyev.  The ARISS-Russia team set up the radio contacts.

May 14: Micol Ivancic, an educator on the ARISS team in Italy presented a talk to the Photo-Amateurs Club in Garlasco in Pavia, Italy.  50 people heard her presentation, which covered the ARISS program along with a discussion about the ISS and its systems.   

May 27: Youth in the city of Aznakayevo in the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia, who have been studying communications through the Gagarin from Space program, engaged in an ARISS contact.  Sergey Korsakov supported the activity and the ARISS-Russia team set up the radio station for it.

May: The following ARISS radio contacts took place recently, and more details about the events will be available for next week’s report.

  • MINDSHUB APS & I.C. Avio in Ala, Trento, Italy
  • Voskresensky Children’s Center in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
  • Students and employees of SWGU in Kursk, Russia

ARISS Upcoming Events 

May 31 Amur State University, Blagoveshchensk, Russia  ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team
May 31 Old St. Mary’s School, Chicago, Illinois  ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
June 2 Moscow Autonomous Education Inst. Engineering Ctr., Kazan, Russia, ARISS-Russia team