Category: Weekly Reports

June 25-28: ARISS Educators Kathy Lamont and Joanne Cozens Michael staffed an exhibit booth all about ARISS at the 2023 International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in Philadelphia, PA.  ARISS and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) had collaborated on this conference and ARRL sent two staffers for the booth who talked up ARRL’s Teachers Institute (TI). ARRL is an ARISS sponsor, and TI is a five-day professional development teacher workshop on radio technology in STEM classrooms, including ARISS. Also at ISTE, ARISS Educator Gina Kwid gave a forum on robotics and tied in details about ARISS she drew 153 forum attendees. At the booth, ARISS gave 230 flyers only to teachers who asked for them and ARRL handed out 250 more, just as judiciously. Joanne reported, “When we ran out, we gave people URLs for ARISS LinkedIn and Facebook.” Kathy said that they talked to a higher percentage of high school teachers over elementary, middle school, or college percentages. Two well-known education bloggers stopped at the booth; one did a social media post telling attendees to be sure to stop at the ARISS booth—over 1,000 saw the post. The other blogger videotaped Joanne and ARRL’s staffer Steve, each giving an “elevator pitch” on ARISS and TI; the lively video was posted on LinkedIn. 

June 29: In preparation for their upcoming ARISS contact in late 2023, Harbor Creek High School’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) in Harborcreek, PA launched a weather balloon with a payload full of amateur radio equipment they designed and fabricated. Students livestreamed a YouTube of the entire balloon event, even the landing and acquiring all the radio payload data. The livestream garnered many comments in the Chat while school staff and the public viewed the action. Students posted the recording for more people to see, reaping 473 views in two weeks: https://www.youtube.com/@AdvancedTechnologiesGroup. A video montage garnered another 24 views. Jet 22 Action News posted a story about the launch; the writer quoted Assistant Principal Drew Mortensen: “Dreaming big dreams is important for kids. They have to have the idea that they can do something that is beyond the pale…gives them the opportunity to do something different.” Students had attempted a launch earlier, and Mortensen said, “If at first you don’t succeed, we analyze the most recent attempt, consult experts, revise plans, and then launch again!”

July 11-12: ARISS-Europe team member Armand Budzianowski was selected by the ESA Education Team to present at the online conference, 2023 ESA Teach with Space. ESA scheduled Armand for the “Share Your Projects” session that introduced ways educators can use space as a conduit for teaching STEM. Armand produced a 3-minute video featuring ARISS: what it is, how European teachers can apply to support an ARISS contact, that it requires a team, and how ESA educational material can enhance STEM studies related to ARISS. 249 educators saw his video. The next day he offered the public a link for viewing his video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw7T3AhjQgw; in 6 days it garnered 144 views. Also at the conference, Matthias Maurer presented a talk and a Q&A. Two ARISS educators asked him questions related to their earlier ARISS school contacts. Maurer then encouraged educators to learn about ham radio and employ it to teach STEM. David Honess of ESA Education also gave a conference talk, discussing the popular ARISS Slow Scan TV sessions (picture downlink events).

July:  ARISS educator Melissa Pore from Arlington, VA is working on space projects this summer with Twiggs Space Lab.  The lab’s tweet stated: “We are excited to be working with Melissa Pore on some amazing space science projects. Twiggs Space Lab will roll out new hardware this summer to support these projects. Melissa is a very creative STEAM educator and many of her new STEM education initiatives are applicable to students across a broad level of skill sets.”  In order to inspire future generations of engineers and scientists, the lab works with teachers and students who “share a passion for STEM education, especially space science and systems engineering.” Melissa said she’s working with Twiggs Space Lab and NASA SEES (STEM Enhancement in Earth Science) high school interns through University of Texas at Austin.  

ARISS Social Media

ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported these June 2023 highlights:

• ARISS passed 29,000 Followers in June
• Top posts continue to be ones on assorted topics

ARISS Total June Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS Twitter – Total Impressions / Views 143,559,  Interactions / Engagements 3,825 
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 67,267,  Interactions / Engagements 2,012
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 3,584,  Interactions / Engagements 408
• ARISS Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 114
• ARISS LinkedIn – 5 new Followers,  120 Reactions     
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.95k

June Social Media Top Posts & June Total Metrics and images 

• Top June Tweet – 2 ham radio operators are part of Crew-7 on later 2023 launch: Impressions 6,798, Interactions / Engagements 77
• Top June Facebook Post – ARISS team at biggest Europe ham convention: Reaches / Impressions 5,600,  Engagements 129
• Top June Instagram Post – Congrats to ARISS *STAR* SIP intern Unsh Rawal: Reach 220,  Interactions / Engagements 24
• Top June Mastodon Post – ARISS to hire part-time director of education: Interactions 14

ARISS Upcoming Events  
July 18: Youth On The Air (for youth in the Americas), Ottawa ON – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team

June 24-25: The ARISS STEREO (Student Teacher Education via Radio Experimentation and Operations) project team held its second Educate the Educator workshop at Kennedy Space Center (FL) Visitor Complex Center for Space Education. 22 formal and informal educators, who work with youth in grades K-12, attended from across the US. They loved the venue with its space theme and backdrop. ARISS education mentors led the workshop coordinated by ARISS STEREO Project Manager Diana Schuler. ARISS Executive Director Frank Bauer and ARISS SIP Intern Sruthi Sankararaman helped teach some learning modules, as well. Lessons focused on a variety of hands-on activities the educators practiced in order to teach the concepts in their own schools and education groups. Topics included radio waves, radio frequencies, and basic electricity; codes and ciphers; manipulating hand-held ham radios and antennas to listen for spacecraft transmissions; and putting together and operating software-defined radio set-ups. The ARISS SPARKI electronics kit contained all needed materials for the kit’s activities and the guide with lesson modules and how to lead the learning activities. Each educator received a kit to take home. Many teachers expressed outstanding praise for all they’d learned to do, with one commenting that in her 25 years of teaching, this was the best run and organized and useful workshop she ever attended, adding, “This process has had a profound impact on me and my assistant!” Many others said how useful the training was and how it will help them to better convey STEM concepts to their students.  ARISS thanks SCaN for assisting with securing the room for the workshop.

June 21-23: In addition to the ARISS workshop described above and the ARISS radio contact detailed in ARISS’ last report, both at the SPACE Conference at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Center, ARISS volunteers set up and staffed an ARISS exhibit table. They talked constantly to visitors coming by, and based on the number of materials handed out, 150 educators stopped to learn about ARISS. ARISS Education Ambassador Martha Muir presented a forum to 9 attendees on how to prepare an ARISS Education Proposal in the hopes of having their school chosen for an ARISS contact. She touched on ideas for talking to the school principal about ARISS, ways to get the whole school and families involved, and how to find an area ham radio club to help with technical aspects of the contact.

June 22: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) successfully sponsored a fifth ARISS contact with astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi who spoke with 150 students of various grade levels at GEMS Wellington International School in Al Sufouh, Dubai. He answered 12 of their questions. The contact culminated the GEMS Wellington youths’ educational experience titled “A Call from Space.” This included learning about MBRSC projects and how the Centre operates, space stations, and using ham radio equipment. The activities were carried out in association with the Emirates Amateur Radio Society and Emirates Literature Foundation. Zawya.com posted an article at https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/events-and-conferences/5th-ham-radio-session-featuring-sultan-alneyadi-from-the-iss-takes-place-in-dubai-u24zaimr. The writer cited UAE Astronaut Programme Mission Manager Adnan Al-Rais’s comments on engaging with Al Neyadi live from the ISS offering “a unique experience to students that showcases the marvels of space.” Al-Rais described how amateur radio employs many radio frequencies for communications to nearby places and in remote regions and space, making it “a valuable communication tool.”

May 30: Some previous graduates from Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, VA, returned for this year’s graduation ceremonies and three of them had been officers in the high school’s engineering and ham radio clubs. The three made plans to meet up with ARISS educator Melissa Pore who sponsored these clubs and supported an ARISS contact. She welcomed back Elaine and William from class of ’21 and Nya from class of ’20 and celebrated that they are all studying engineering at different universities!  They posed in the Bishop O’Connell High School senior courtyard, next to “a visiting robotic dog that showed off some of its tricks.” 

June 23-25: Four people on the ARISS-Europe team represented ARISS at Ham Radio 2023, the largest amateur radio convention in Europe. The annual event, held in Friedrichshafen, Germany, saw 11,100 attendees this year who enjoyed visiting exhibits and listening to forums.  ARISS-Europe set up a booth and estimated 250 people and kids visited. ARISS presented 3 forums, garnering 140 listeners. For youth, event organizers created a “Ham Rally” and participating booths designed a task to challenge kids. For their task, ARISS placed Morse code characters in the background of a litho of the Axiom 2 crew—kids decoded the message: “Ad astra.” ARISS volunteers reported it as a great way to meet and talk to the youth. To let hams know ARISS was at Ham Radio 2023, one team member cleverly coded an APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) ham radio beacon to transmit “MEET ARISS at A1-872” (ARISS’ booth designation), and people did! 

ARISS Upcoming Events  
July 18: Youth On The Air (for youth in the Americas), Ottawa ON – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team
July 21: Camp William B. Snyder, Haymarket VA – ARISS contact, ARISS-USA Team

June 21:   Day 1 of the Space Port Area Conference for Educators (SPACE) featured a special ARISS radio contact at the Center for Space Education in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. For this contact, instead of having students talk with the astronaut, ARISS invited educators to prepare and ask questions. Sultan Al Neyadi answered 12. Staff from the Astronauts Memorial Foundation livestreamed a YouTube for the public and projected views on the meeting room wall.  40 guests and on-line viewers saw: 1) the teachers asking questions, 2) amateur radio operator Shane Lynd at his home radio station in Australia downlinking Sultan’s ham radio audio from the ISS, 3) an image of Al Neyadi, and 4) an image of the Earth as seen from the ISS.  A reporter taping the action represented Space Coast Daily.  Ground News out of Titusville picked up the story. The URL is https://www.facebook.com/SpaceCoastDaily/videos/1573829529811488. Next week’s ARISS report will cover other ARISS activities tied to the conference—our exhibit booth, an ARISS forum, and a two-day ARISS Educate the Educator Workshop.

May 26: ARISS educator Melissa Pore of Vienna, VA, won a grant from the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) D.W. Steele Chapter in Arlington, VA.  The AFA’s grant will enrich her students’ STEM experiences through providing funding that supports what students have been asking for: to get their hands on drones and learn about them. AFA’s Steele Chapter Vice President for Aerospace Education Mike Maxwell presented the award to Melissa at her school, Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington. 

June 20: The fourth of seven planned ARISS radio contacts with Sultan Al Neyadi and students took place at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai, UAE.  The MBRSC has invited different UAE schools’ students to each radio contact, and this time, from Mushairif School, Cycle 1-Ajyal in Ajman. A several-minute video posted on MBRSC social platforms showed clips from the contact, garnering 919 views.  The Emirates Amateur Radio Society and Emirates Literature Foundation collaborated on activity for this radio contact. The MBRSC works to promote space science and research in the region. MBRSC does this through educational programs designed to promote a culture based on discovery and exploration in future generations at all education levels.   

June 8: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona Beach, FL created an education initiative where the school and undergrads will invite 500 area sixth through eighth graders to engage them in a year of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activities. The target: students in socioeconomically challenged conditions. The program has the support of Nicole Stott. The capstone will be an ARISS contact. The school will involve Embry-Riddle student groups, the Daytona Beach Amateur Radio Association, and the educational non-profit group Tier One Two Aspire Leap Inc..  Pamela Peer, Embry-Riddle Director of Community Outreach & Summer Programs said activities like the ARISS initiative are essential for bringing young people into science and technology.  Dr. Jim Gregory, College of Engineering Dean at Embry-Riddle said, “Through the ARISS radio project, Embry-Riddle will work to foster relationships with underserved students in our community to open meaningful pathways to STEM education and professions.” ERAU’s great web story about all of this is at  https://news.erau.edu/headlines/stem-outreach-embry-riddle-to-connect-students-astronauts.

June 23-25: Three people on the ARISS-Europe team represented ARISS at Ham Radio 2023, the largest European amateur radio convention. Sponsors of the event (in Friedrichshafen, Germany) expected 14,000 people.  ARISS-Europe supported a booth and a forum. More details will be shared when available.

ARISS Upcoming Events  
TBD

June 13: ARISS team member Ana Guzman gave a presentation to 13 junior high and high school teachers; she described activities she and others on the staff manage at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) ISS Research office. Some of their many duties include those tied to ARISS and ham radio. Kjell Lindgren came by to share with teachers some aspects of his ARISS school contacts and ham radio experiences on the ISS. Ana’s presentation was just one activity at JSC for these teachers during a week-long program that offered Continuing Education Credits. They received tours and presentations about many areas of JSC including the Neutral Buoyancy Lab, Moon Rock Lab, and visits to other fascinating departments. The program, sponsored by the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, focused on teachers from many neighboring municipalities in the Houston metropolitan area.

May 27: At the Griffith Observatory Public Star Party in Mt. Hollywood, CA, ARISS volunteer Liam Kennedy set up a tent from 1:00 pm to 9:30 pm to capture the attention of some of the day’s 7,000 visitors. He arranged his table with monitors showing ARISS activities, the ARISS-Pi software-defined radio equipment, everything needed from the ARISS SPARKI kit for people to monitor amateur radio (and other) satellite activity, and small posters in English and Spanish about the ISS,. As people walked near, they stopped to watch how to monitor satellites and ask questions. Liam reported that at least 900 of the public—parents, youth, teachers, and radio and space enthusiasts—interacted with him. He said, “Other people heading to or from the observatory listened a few minutes.”  An observatory staffer told Liam they had never seen so many of the public so attentive to actions at a tent.

February-March-April: ARISS learned that educators and students at Augusta Preparatory School in Augusta, GA have been readying quite a while for their upcoming ARISS contact. Technology teacher Mary White, who took part in an ARISS Educate the Educator workshop in March, worked with faculty and ARISS volunteers to devise a variety of monthly workshops for the Lower, Middle and Upper schools’ students to introduce them to communications, ham radio, and electronics. ARISS volunteer Rachel Jones with members of the Amateur Radio Club of Columbia County (ARCCC), helped plan exciting hands-on activities. The first month, the club guided kids in listening to Morse code, researching codes, and trying Morse code for themselves.  ARCCC members led the next session, “Radio Day,” helping teachers introduce students to radio waves and to reinforce the lesson by having students “make radio waves” with Slinkies. Youth put together and tried tin-can-and-string telephones and then explored getting on the air using ham radio equipment and making radio contacts with area ham operators.  The next month was declared “All School Picnic Day;” ARCCC members led students in building VHF antennas and then trying out their antennas by making radio contacts and participating in a hidden radio transmitter “Fox Hunt.”

May 28-June 2: After John Stoffner delighted ham radio operators and space enthusiasts by making radio contacts with them before heading back to earth, Warren Hoburg got on the mic to do the same. Hams reported their excitement about making radio contacts with both crew members using the ISS’s ham radio station.  One ham operator posted this to the ARISS

Facebook page: “Talked with Woody yesterday! Too Cool!”  Reports showed 13 crew contacts were made on one particular day. Ham operators love “meeting” crew members on the air.

ARISS Upcoming Events  

June 20: Youth at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai UAE–ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team
June 21: Space Port Area Conference for Educators, KSC, FL–ARISS contact, ARISS Educator Forum, ARISS Educate-the-Educator Workshop, ARISS-US Team
June 22: Youth at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai UAE–ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team

May 28:  ARISS educator Kathy Lamont, a Prince William County Schools (VA) gifted-education teacher at Belmont Elementary School in Woodbridge, was nominated and selected as the 2023 Air & Space Forces (AFA) Gabriel Chapter Teacher of the Year awardee. That made her eligible as a candidate, among other educators, for the 2023 Air & Space Forces Virginia Teacher of the Year—and she won!  AFA officials presented the state-level award to her at her school.

June 5: Students at Harbor Creek High School in Harborcreek, PA, have an ARISS contact late this year and recently, launched a weather balloon with ham radio equipment on board. Youth in the school’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) carried out the balloon project as a learning mission in preparation for the ARISS contact.  A student said, “We are using this event as a first-round test of our [radio] systems to shake out any bugs.” The payload consisted of an APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System) unit that transmitted position, a Morse code radio beacon for tracking, and a digital Amateur TV transmitter experiment for youth to view and monitor the launch. Youths hope to launch two balloons in the fall; over 20 students enjoy the ATG. The past three years, many developed a keen interest in ham radio, earning ham licenses. The instructor said, “Five recently took and passed FCC exams, with another dozen studying. A few who graduated last year come back to launches.”  The school honors students with a display on the school radio room wall, recognizing those who earn FCC licenses. On this “Wall of Call Signs,” each student has a special brick celebrating their achievement, showing name and call sign, level of license earned, and date.

June 1: The ARISS-Russia Team carried out an ARISS contact and taught the About Gagarin from Space set of lessons at the Amur Mission Control Center area of the Amur State University in Blagoveshchensk.  This contact benefited the city’s students from the MAOU Ust-Ivanovo Secondary School.  16 students, a teacher, and a parent took part, along with university staff who gave tours and talks about the university’s space programs and careers. Sergey Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin supported the ARISS radio contact.

June 4: Another ARISS radio contact sponsored by the ARISS-Russia team was hosted during the Children’s Creative Competition for the Day of Cosmonautics held in Orel, Russia. Eleven youth communicated with Andrey Fediaev during this ARISS radio contact; 30 people attended the event.  Youth learned lessons from the About Gagarin from Space program. Mission Control-Moscow scheduled this contact.

May 31 & June 1: Students from over 50 schools in many parts of the United Arab Emirates visited the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai. They commented happily about their tour of the facility, glimpsing labs and workstations, seeing a presentation on space stations, and taking part in ARISS contacts. The MBRSC reported that:      

“Students received comprehensive training on ham radio, unravelling the complexities of the critical communication tool used since the 20^th century. The highlight of the programme was the live ARISS contact, one each day, with Sultan Al Neyadi. Youth were spellbound.”

The UAE Astronaut Programme mission manager said, “Through these ham radio sessions with Sultan, we strive to ignite a passion for space and science in the next generation.” A short video created for MBRSC featured smiling girls and boys of various ages asking Al Neyadi their questions. A video of the action posted on Facebook earned 255 views.  A Centre web story is at https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/people-in-the-news/sultan-alneyadi-engages-in-live-interaction-with-students-during-ham-radio-sessions-from-the-iss-ac6dn5p6. MBRSC planned more events like these.

ARISS Social Media

ARISS social media leader Jim Reed reported these highlights for May 2023:

• 332,663 impressions on ARISS social media for May, surpassing 300,000 for the second time this year.
• 249 posts created, averaged 1,688.6 impressions per post. 
• Post volume was driven by a higher number of reported ARISS events for May (11 school contacts, a convention, Ax-2 crew actions, and crew members making radio contacts with hams in addition to the scheduled school contacts).

ARISS Total May Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS Twitter – Total Impressions / Views 236,933,  Interactions / Engagements 6,824 
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 91,541,  Interactions / Engagements 3,229
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 4,189,  Interactions / Engagements 545
• ARISS Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 198
• ARISS LinkedIn – 10 new Followers,  27 Reactions     
• ARISS YouTube – 30 new Subscribers, Total Subscribers 1.95k

May Social Media Top Posts & April Total Metrics and images 

• Top May Tweet–on ARISS contact at Saudi Space Commission: Impressions 21,787, Interactions / Engagements 433
• Top May Facebook Post – list of ARISS radio frequencies: Reaches / Impressions 9,535,  Engagements 435
• Top May Instagram Post – viewers favorite radio to use for ARISS contacts: Reach 124,  Interactions / Engagements 31, 30 Likes
• Top May Mastodon Post – viewers’ favorite software to track the ISS: Interactions 16

ARISS Upcoming Events

June 20: Youth at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai UAE–ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team

June 21: Space Port Area Conference for Educators, KSC, FL–ARISS contact, ARISS Educator Forum, ARISS Educate-the-Educator Workshop, ARISS-USA Team

June 22: Youth at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai UAE–ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team

May 26: The Children’s Inn at National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD hosted an ARISS radio contact with Axiom Ax-2 crew member John Shoffner. 10 very special children ages 6 through 16 talked with him and he answered 17 of their questions. ARISS leaders Frank Bauer and Dave Taylor engaged with 22 people taking part in this contact, including the youth, children’s parents, The Inn’s administrators, and professionals helping to coordinate the event. Staff had taught some STEM lessons and ARISS reviewed aspects such as orbital mechanics, radio communications, and details about the ISS and astronauts.  The Inn posted Social Media items and a nice web story; the latter is at https://childrensinn.org/stories/ariss/.  

May 26:  St. Francis Xavier High School students took part in an ARISS contact in Gloucester, ON, Canada.  Warren Hoburg answered 16 questions. The school gym held a few hundred youth and faculty, and the other 2,000 students watched via livestream.  CFRA talk radio posted a story after interviewing two ninth-grade girls. One said she was “fascinated about everything up there” [space]. The other wants a career that is “something in space science.” Go to  https://www.iheartradio.ca/580-cfra/audio-podcasts/oaw-local-students-connect-with-us-astronaut-on-iss-via-ham-radio-1.19710775?mode=Article Grade nine students had participated in special lessons on radio communications and the ISS and had engaged in the school’s “Study of the Universe and Space Exploration” science curriculum.

May 25: Students at Middlesboro Middle School asked questions of John Shoffner during an ARISS contact; he answered 14 questions. Despite school having closed for the summer and some friends and family not back yet from Shoffner’s SpaceX launch, a mix of 80 watched—youth, parents, faculty, ARISS team members, and some of Shoffner’s boyhood teachers. WATE-TV, St. Charles Herald Guide, Lexington Herald-Leader, Pineville Sun-Cumberland Courier, and AOL ran stories about the event. About 30 companies in town decorated front windows in space themes.  Middlesboro School District STEM director Chris Stotts said, “We have plans to build a STEM lab that MIT will help design [for] middle and high school. There’ve been great things that have been channeled through John’s generosity.”  The school became a Verizon Innovative Learning School, receiving technology and unique learning tools for students and faculty. They joined STEM initiatives connected to NASA and Axiom Space. Youth engaged with rocket launches, robots, and lunar and Martian habitat design. Shoffner gave middle and high school students an inside look at life on the ISS and his required launch preparations, and taught lessons such as how to “play catch” with a ball in microgravity versus on Earth and how water and power are generated on the ISS.

May 27-28: The ARISS-Russia team led by Sergey Samburov supported two ARISS contacts for youth and taught them the series of lessons titled About Gagarin From Space. The SBEI Secondary School No. 285 of the Krasnoselsky District of Saint Petersburg hosted the first ARISS contact, which was in conjunction with the children’s festival “Die Hard.”  About 2,000 watched as youth talked to Andrey Fediaev. The second contact involved students of the village of Muslyumovo in the Republic of Tatarstan. They engaged in talking with Dmitry Petelin during their ARISS contact.  As with other ARISS-Russian sponsored ARISS contacts, Mission Control Center-Moscow scheduled these contacts.

May 21:  Axiom Ax-2 crew members Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi engaged in an ARISS contact with selected students hosted by the Saudi Space Commission (SSC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The youth had 14 questions for the two crew members who took turns answering. The activity was part of Saudi Arabia’s first sustainable Human Space Flight program designed to, among other things, conduct research in many areas of science. The SSC posted a Tweet with a video that is a little over a minute in length, highlighting the ARISS contact and featuring a few of the students—it has garnered 156.4k viewers as of June 2!  See https://twitter.com/saudispace/status/1661452020237193222?s=20.

May 20: ARISS educator Kathy Lamont and her daughter traveled to The Plains, VA for the American Rocketry Challenge National Finals, a major competition for middle school and high school youth. The two set up an exhibit table with the ARISS slide show, an ARISS roll-up banner, brochures, and ham radio station equipment that would attract kids’ attention and entice them to handle it. Kathy talked to 60 people, and said, “It was non-stop talking for over five hours—a lot of techy kids, their rocket team leaders, and parents.” 

May 18-21: ARISS volunteers put on a show at Hamvention 2023 (the world’s largest ham radio convention—33,000 people!) in Xenia, OH.  Ten ARISS team members, including two SIP interns, set up and staffed a two-space booth featuring ARISS hardware and education programs and a giant poster kicking off a year-long anniversary celebration of 40 years of amateur radio contacts made from a human spaceflight vehicle. All told, ARISS volunteers talked to over 1,460 people.  ARISS felt honored to garner an official Hamvention forum for the third year in a row; 130 people attended. They listened to Frank Bauer and Rosalie White give introductions of speakers including ARISS Director of Engineering Randy Berger and three high school youth. One, a SIP intern, presented his part in the development of ARISS’ new telerobotics education program. The other two spoke on their paths after taking part in an ARISS contact (one girl wants to be an astronaut—the other girl plans a STEM career).  An attendee Tweeted about the forum: “There’s a good size crowd here for this interesting topic; I learned some things to bring back to my school.” A surprising number of folks stopped at the booth the next two days to express compliments on the forum. ARISS hosted four mini-forums next to the booth; topics covered ARISS education, ARISS engineering, ARISS operations, and a Q&A with a meet-and-greet of ARISS volunteers. At both the Hamvention educator forum and the Hamvention youth forum, a team member gave cameos about ARISS.

May 22: ARISS Director of Education Kathy Lamont, ARISS Technical Mentor Fred Kemmerer, and Frank Bauer led an ARISS Orientation Webinar with 45 attendees. This webinar focused on next steps for the 11 newest educational institutions selected to host ARISS radio contacts. The educators and informal educators will plan when to move forward with their education activities and be assigned ARISS Operations Team members to give assistance with equipment plans. The ARISS radio contacts would be scheduled between January and June 2024.  

May 31: The ARISS contact with students at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, UAE was successful. More details will be in next week’s report, which will cover a second contact at the Centre, which was hosted on June 1.

ARISS Upcoming Events
June 4: Children’s Creative Competition for Cosmonautics, Orel, Russia-ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team
June 10: Youth in Saint Petersburg, Russia-ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team

May 19: Webb Bridge Middle School in Alpharetta, GA hosted an ARISS contact for the students with Warren Hoburg answering 18 student questions. A crowd of 250 made up of students, faculty, Fulton County School District officials, and reporters attended the event. They appreciated seeing taped greetings to the students from Frank Culbertson. A livestream offered to the public garnered 455 viewers within a week’s time. All students had been learning things about space, and 6^th graders were targeted to focus on geology and space sciences throughout the year. The school partnered with North Fulton Amateur Radio League and helped youth experiment with Morse code, get on the air to make amateur radio contacts, and learn about satellites, orbital mechanics, and the Earth’s atmosphere.

May 19: During their ARISS radio contact with Warren Hoburg, students at Fairview Elementary School in Olathe, Kansas asked him 25 questions about what it is like to live and work on the ISS.  815 students and faculty watched the action. Four Kansas City TV reporters came to the event; three stories have been spotted—one on Fox news (https://bit.ly/3ICrQys) claiming market viewership of 23,557, and ABC-TV stories on their early evening and late night  news (https://bit.ly/3WG3Nog) claiming market viewership average of 51,316. Viewer count of the livestream after 6 days totaled 436. Students had studied astronomy and STEM careers, and in the science club, they discovered radio satellites and radio communications. School counselor Mitchell Cloud said, “Thank you for this incredible opportunity to talk with Astro Woody.”

May 22: ARISS thanks NASA’s Spanish engagement team at HQ for preparing NASA web and social media stories in Spanish about the 63 schools in 12 Caribbean and Central America nations who loved their ARISS contact of late 2022. A teacher was quoted on how ARISS inspired her students to become interested in science and technology, and curious about space.  Story URLs are—

Twitter: https://twitter.com/NASA_es/status/1660648739604766721?s=20

Web article: Cómo hablar con un astronauta en el espacio | Ciencia de la NASA

Facebook: NASA en español | Facebook

May 20: Students of the State Budgetary Educational Institution of Secondary School No. 285 in the Krasnoselsky District of St. Petersburg, Russia held a successful ARISS contact with Dmitri Petelin. Those involved in the event numbered 120. As with other ARISS-Russian sponsored ARISS contacts, this one was scheduled by Russia’s Mission Control Center-Moscow.

ARISS Upcoming Events
May 31: Youth at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Dubai UAE – ARISS contact, ARISS-Europe Team

                                 

May 11: ARISS intern Unsh Rawal gave a presentation to 10 ARISS senior leaders, summarizing his work of the past year for ARISS.  He assembled Java and Python code, built a user interface, and linked communications resources to remotely command and control a Makeblock mBot robot used in educational environments. The mBot is one item in the ARISS *STAR* kit that in the future, teachers will receive and use.  Open source code Unsh assembled allows an educator’s students to work with schools locally and around the country; schools register their robots and can see a list of other schools that registered their robot.  Schools can check a box that permits another school’s students to send commands that remotely control the other school’s robot. Modes to command the robots include Bluetooth or a radio mode using APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System).

May 18-21: Each May, ARISS pulls out the stops exhibiting to ham radio enthusiasts who travel to Xenia, OH from all over the world to Hamvention. This convention is the world’s largest amateur radio convention—31,000 attended last year.  The ARISS team has been planning its activities for months, including a booth with displays of hardware and education programs, a forum and mini-forums, and importantly, a kick-off of a 40-year anniversary celebration of amateur radio contacts made from a human spaceflight vehicle. More details on ARISS at Hamvention will be reported soon.     

May: ARISS-US Education Committee members are planning their activities for two educator conferences in late June. Kathy Lamont and Joanne Cozens Michael will attend the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference in Philadelphia. Kathy recognized the importance of sharing the ARISS program at ISTE saying, “It draws like-minded educators together around the focus of technology and educational impact … who are open to using varied technologies including wireless activities involving ham radio.”  For the 2023 Space Port Area Conference for Educators at Kennedy Space Center, six ARISS team members will attend. In addition to a presentation, ARISS aims to offer a special Q&A ARISS radio contact for selected educators. Following the conference, ARISS will hold an “Educate the Educator” workshop for educators who’ve signed up to receive instruction on using SPARKI (Space Pioneers Amateur Radio Kit) as a basic electronics teaching tool in their school. More details will be coming.  

May 10:  ARISS thanks NASA’s Applied Sciences group for its new web story on students at 63 schools in 12 Caribbean and Central America nations who loved an ARISS contact late last year– https://appliedsciences.nasa.gov/our-impact/story/caribbean-and-central-american-classrooms-connect-nasa-astronaut-space. The NASA Earth Applied Sciences Disasters program and other world organizations had supported a collaborative awareness initiative, Disaster Fighters. This group helped the students discover more about NASA and platforms in space such as the ISS that monitor natural hazards on earth. Students researched how information provided by this monitoring work can help their families better understand impacts of climate change and potential disasters. The article’s author wrote that the ARISS contact “was a way to connect [students’] curiosity with science’s role in creating a more resilient future for the communities where they live.”

ARISS Upcoming Events    
May 19: Webb Bridge Middle School, Alpharetta GA – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
May 19: Fairview Elementary School, Olathe KS – ARISS contact, ARISS-US Team
May 20: Youth in Saint Petersburg, Russia – ARISS contact, ARISS-Russia Team
May 26: St. Francis Xavier H.S., Gloucester ON, Canada – ARISS contact, ARISS-Canada Team              

                                 

May 1: The Council Rock South Amateur Radio Club, along with the Technology Club, facilitated students at Council Rock High School South in Holland, PA in trading questions and answers with Steve Bowen during their ARISS radio contact. He answered 17 of their questions. In the auditorium, 618 students, faculty, and parents watched the action. The contact was live streamed and is at www.crsarc.org/live. Within days, 1,744 people had watched the recording. A reporter from CBS TV station KYW in Philadelphia came, and quickly posted a short video at https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/council-rock-high-school-south-speaks-with-astronauts-on-international-space-station/. Several reps from the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) attended and the ARRL Pennsylvania Section ran an online article covering the contact; it is at https://epa-arrl.org/council-rock-south-high-school-has-out-of-this-world-contact-with-international-space-station/.  Before students initiated the contact, everyone watched a video from Pennsylvania Auditor General Timothy DeFoor congratulating students for their work preparing for the ARISS contact. The school engineering team and the Technology Club received recognition for accomplishments in constructing the radio antennas and for participating in the ARRL School Club Roundup’s on-the-air radio activities. A division of the school’s Technology Club is a HUNCH group–High schools United with NASA to Create Hardware. Members of the Warminster Amateur Radio Club lent a hand, and among other things, taught youth to build and solder electronic projects and do transmitter hunts.

ARISS Social Media

ARISS’ social media leader Jim Reed reported these highlights for April 2023:

• ARISS had 259,881 impressions on social media in April. 
• ARISS gained >1% Followers per month since January 1, 2023, equating to ~1,200 new Followers for the year so far, and ARISS now has more than 28,000 total Followers.

April Social Media Top Posts & April Total Metrics and images 

• Top April Tweet–Steve Bowen to talk to Montross Middle School: Impressions 20,132, Interactions / Engagements 124

• Top April Facebook Post – ham radio operators are part of Artemis 2 crew: Reaches / Impressions 9,691,  Engagements 194

• Top April Instagram Post – times the ARISS Radio must be powered down for ISS work: Reach 203,  Interactions / Engagements 21

• Top April Mastodon Post – ARISS’ anniversary of 1,000^th ARISS radio contact: Interactions 15

ARISS Total April Social Media Metrics:

• ARISS Twitter – Total Impressions / Views 192,766,  Interactions / Engagements 3,931 
• ARISS Facebook – Total Impressions 64,843,  Interactions / Engagements 1,910
• ARISS Instagram – Total Reach 2,272,  Interactions / Engagements 258
• ARISS Mastodon – Interactions / Engagements 123
• ARISS LinkedIn – 5 new Followers,  126 Reactions     
• ARISS YouTube – Total Subscribers 1.92k, an increase of almost 100

ARISS Upcoming Events
May 19: Webb Bridge Middle School, Alpharetta, GA – ARISS Contact, ARISS-US Team
May 19: Fairview Elementary School, Olathe, KS – ARISS Contact, ARISS-US Team

April 20: West Michigan Aviation Academy (WMAA), a Grand Rapids no-tuition high school, hosted an ARISS contact. It took place in the gym, full of 200 students and faculty, listening to Sultan Al Neyadi answer 15 student questions.  Before and after the contact, students came to a podium to present talks on research they’d done on space.  Both the school and the ARISS team livestreamed the event (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIXqiqqK5KU), resulting in 500 viewers.  A ham in Atlanta, GA, created a YouTube of Al Neyadi’s transmission and garnered 83 views. The media came: WKTV, WOOD TV, WXMI TV, and a web news service. During a WKTV interview (https://www.wktvjournal.org/aviation-academy-students-connect-with-international-space-station-astronaut), sophomore Keira Amis expressed excitement, “It was kind of scary in front of all these people, but it was incredibly worth it!” Science teacher Bryan Forney explained, “Every academic department found a way to tie [space] in curriculum … teachers were writing content and presenting lessons related to space. It’s great for students to hear and understand more about what it takes to put something into space, get people to space, what’s required of astronauts, and it helps put that career path in the realm of the possible for our students.” The area ham radio group assisted with radio communication studies and they transported and set up the ham radio station equipment for the contact.

April 21: Montross Middle School, a rural school in Montross, VA with limited resources and opportunities, was thrilled to host an ARISS radio contact for students with Steve Bowen. It was obvious the 12 students chosen to speak had rehearsed well when they asked their 23 questions. The pre-contact programming featured presentations from Principal Leah Segar and Westmoreland County School Superintendent Dr. Michael Perry.  The school district website offered a livestream (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFFmf9e0pZs), as did the school’s YouTube channel.  Over 1,000 students and 107 educators, administrators, and parents viewed the livestream. 5 days following the event, the school’s YouTube report showed 480 views. A copy posted at the ARISS YouTube channel reported 400 more views.  The Westmoreland News ran a nice story about the contact. For almost a year, students engaged in a STEM curriculum focusing on space-based subjects. The Westmoreland Amateur Radio Club mentored students in enjoying getting on the air to make ham radio contacts, learning about ham radio emergency communications practices, and how ham radio would be used to make their ARISS contact.

April 18-20: ARISS-International Chair Frank Bauer led the 2023 ARISS-International Annual Meeting, the first held in person since the start of COVID.  The meeting, held at the European Space Agency’s ESTEC facility in Noordwijk, Netherlands welcomed several ESA Education and ISS program leaders. 20 of the ARISS group traveled from around the globe to attend—delegates, board, and team members—with 9 joining virtually. ARISS Delegates came from three ARISS Regions; other Delegates were online. Meeting sessions covered crew training, crew support, Axiom private astronaut support, a review of the past year’s successes, and strategic discussions on implementing the ARISS 2.0 initiative, which encompasses ARISS as a NASA Implementation Partner, the three ARISS education programs in development (STEREO, STAR, and Student Mission Control) and the planned expansion to include commercial space stations and missions to the moon. Other topics included planning/coordination for the upcoming 40th anniversary of amateur radio on human spaceflight missions, ARISS Ham Video launch and operations readiness status, plans to restart ARISS slow scan (picture downlink) sessions, and new engineering projects, i.e., an ARISS Digital Communicator based on software defined radio technology that could support ISS and Lunar missions.   

April 21:  Schoolchildren at Rostov on Don, Russia engaged in the About Gagarin From Space lessons with the ANO FIRON group (Foundation for Innovative Development of Education and Science).  As with other ARISS-Russian sponsored ARISS contacts, this one was scheduled by Russia’s Mission Control Center-Moscow.  50 people were present for the contact where 9 young participants spoke with Andrey Fedyaev. 

April 22: Students in Portugal from a group of five João de Barros schools (AEJB) in Corroios and also the Escola Secundária da Baixa da Banheira (a vocational training school–VET) in Moita shared an ARISS contact with Steve Bowen. He answered 20 of the students’ questions.  200 people attended the contact as did a web news outlet. While waiting in the Moita school auditorium for the scheduled contact time, students listened to talks presented by the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences on black holes, characteristics of the ISS, and how astronauts live in space. AEJB offers a curriculum in, among other things, science and technology, socioeconomic sciences, visual arts, and computer technologies. Some of the Moita VET school curriculum includes IT, logistics, and pharmacy technician courses. The Amateur Radio Association in Portugal helped support the schools for this contact.

April 21: The Stone Magnet Middle School in Melbourne, FL invited Charlie Sufana to an awards ceremony; he had been their ARISS Technical Mentor for their recent ARISS contact.  30 people attended the celebration honoring volunteers who had done something special for the school this semester.  He networked with community members, answering questions about ARISS.

ARISS Upcoming Events
May 1: Council Rock High School South, Holland, PA – ARISS Contact, ARISS-US Team