ARISS News Release No. 24-85

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at

Woodland Middle School, Columbia, South Carolina, USA

November 30, 2024—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at Woodland Middle School located in Columbia, SC. ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.

South Carolina Regional Workforce Advisors are hosting this ARISS contact for students at Woodland Middle School. Woodland Middle School opened in the summer of 2024, is part of Dorchester School District 4, and was created by merging two schools, Harleyville-Ridgeville Middle and St. George Middle. This consolidation enables Woodland Middle School to optimize resources and provide students with expanded access to modern technology, academic programs, and extracurricular activities. This unified approach allows students to explore a wider curriculum, gain exposure to diverse fields, and develop essential skills for high school and beyond, all within a single, state-of-the-art facility.

Woodland Middle School participates in the district’s ROVER program, an initiative that brings mobile STEM learning labs directly to students. Through hands-on activities and real-world applications, the ROVER program expands students’ learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math. This ARISS contact is being supported by members of the Trident Amateur Radio Club (N4EE).

This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Nick Hague, amateur radio call sign KG5TMV. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.

The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Columbia, SC. Amateur radio operators using call sign N4EE, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for December 2, 2024 at 11:22:26 am EST (SC, USA) (16:22:26 UTC, 10:22 am CST, 9:22 am MST, 8:22 am PST).

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As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. I have read where you are doing experiments to help Alzheimer's, how is that working?

2. How do you creatively solve problems when traditional tools or resources on Earth aren’t available on the ISS?

3. What advice do you have for aspiring astronauts?

4. How would you describe your daily life now compared to your life when you were on earth?

5. What are necessities people normally think you wouldn't need on a spacecraft but actually need?

6. What experiments have you done in space so far that have had a different result on Earth?

7. What unique skills or knowledge did you gain from your training that surprised you the most?

8. What is your scariest experience you had being in space so far, and how did you handle that situation?

9. What drove you to become an astronaut and explore the wonders of space?

10. What is the most enjoyable part of researching and experimenting in microgravity, exposure to space, and our unique orbit?

11. What project are you currently working on in space?

12. Makalia, Aubri (grade 8): Is there a place on board the space station where the astronauts go to protect themselves from Radiation or Space Debris?

13. What new things have you discovered?

14. Have you ever had to make a scientific breakthrough or discovery based on an accidental observation in microgravity?

15. Can you describe the procedure of when there is an emergency on board the space station?

16. What is the best part of a spacewalk?

17. Are there any moments when zero-gravity works in your favor?

18. How does the constant view of Earth from space change your perception of distance, time, or even human culture?

19. If you could research more about space, would you and what would you research about?

20. What is the maximum amount of time you can stay up in space?

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the ISS. In the United States, sponsors are the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program (SCaN) and the ISS National Lab—Space Station Explorers. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see http://www.ariss.org.

Media Contact:

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

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