ARISS News Release No.24-04
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at
Ömer Cemile Güler Imam Hatip Secondary School, Selçuklu, Konya, Turkey
January 29, 2024—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an Axiom Mission (Ax-3) astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at Ömer Cemile Güler Imam Hatip Secondary School, Konya, Selçuklu, Türkiye. 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.
This will be a telebridge contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Alper Gezeravci, amateur radio call sign KJ5DIY/TA5TRU. As a fighter pilot with the Turkish Air Force, Gezeravcı has 15 years of flying experience on multiple aircrafts including the T-41, SF-260, T-37, T-38, F-5, KC-135 and F-16. In addition, he served as a captain with the Turkish Airlines for seven years. Gezeravcı has also served as a flight leader, flight safety officer, and commercial airlines captain. He is now serving as a mission specialist for Axiom Space’s Ax-3 mission to the ISS on the SpaceX Dragon.
Born in Silifke, Türkiye, Gezeravci is honored to be a part of the Ax-3 mission as the first Turkish astronaut to go to space. Through the Ax-3 mission, Gezeravcı hopes to inspire the next generation of explorers and ignite a passion for STEM education in teachers and students worldwide to each pursue their ambitions. 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 telebridge station.
The ARISS amateur radio ground station (telebridge station) for this contact is in Glenden, Australia. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the call sign VK4KHZ, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 30, 2024 at 16:38:20 pm EEST (Turkey) (13:38:20 UTC, 8:38 am EST, 7:38 am CST, 6:38 am MST, 5:38 am PST).
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. How does it feel to look to the International Space Station from the Dragon spacecraft while approaching to dock?
2. Are you going to have some adaptation period after landing to Earth since you are exposed to microgravity for 14 days in International Space Station?
3. Besides yourself, which countries' astronauts are currently active on the International Space Station? Can you communicate with them?
4. What is the meal you miss the most while you're there?
5. How is life on the International Space Station, and how do your days pass? What do you do to spend your time?
6. Although it hasn't been a very long time, you are now farther from Earth than ever before. What is the thing you missed the most there?
7. When you look from the windows, do you see any other satellite?
8. Were you able to see Moon from the International Space Station?
9. How is the air condition in ISS? Is it cold or hot?
10. How was the docking process to the International Space Station? Were you excited?
11. Which experiment did you enjoy most?
12. How much time do you sleep?
13. Do you wish to be back to International Space Station one more time?
14. What kind of benefits the experiments that you made there provide us?
15. What kind of foods do you eat in International Space Station?
16. How does it feel to look Earth from Space?
17. Would you like to set foot in another planet on the universe as an astronaut?
18. What was the most challenging part of the mission until docking?
19. Do you feel the high orbital speed of International Space Station which is approximately 7 km/s?
20. Have you ever looked to the Türkiye from ISS? If yes, how does it feel?
About Axiom Mission 3:
As the first all-European commercial astronaut mission to the ISS, Axiom Mission 3 (Ax-3) redefines the pathway to low-Earth orbit for nations around the globe. This mission marks a new era of opportunity for countries to join the international space community and access low-Earth orbit to advance exploration and research in microgravity.
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 International Space Station (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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