ARISS News Release No. 21-29
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ARISS Contact Scheduled for Students at Monaro High School, Cooma, New South Wales, Australia
May 17, 2021—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is the group that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).
This will be a telebridge contact via amateur radio and students will take turns asking their questions of Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, amateur radio call sign KG5GNP. English is the language that will be used for this contact. Both onsite and remote access will be provided to the student body at the time of the contact per Covid-19 guidelines. 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.
ARISS team member David Payne, using call sign NA7V in Portland, Oregon will serve as the relay amateur radio station.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for May 19, 2021 at 7:25 pm AEST (Cooma, Australia), (9:25 UTC, 5:25 am EDT, 4:25 am CDT, 3:25 am MDT and 2:25 am PDT).
Monaro High School (MHS) (about 500 students, Years 7 to 12) is part of the Snowy Monaro region, 120 kilometers south of Canberra City. In advance of the ARISS contact, MHS modified student courses in all their Key Learning Areas by incorporating content relevant to communication and space habitation. All year levels at MHS will be involved in the ARISS contact as well as their feeder primary schools (Kindergarten to Year 6) and the surrounding high schools’ students. Members of the Snowy Mountain Amateur Radio Club are working with MHS in support of this ARISS contact.
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://www.facebook.com/monarohighschool/live/
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. What is the biggest thing you had to give up to go on the ISS? How did going to space make it worth it?
2. How do you stay fit in space?
3. As a young Australian woman who wants to go to the ISS later in my life, what skills should I focus on?
4. What is the best thing about microgravity, and is it difficult to go from the environment of the earth to that on the ISS?
5. Have you ever seen an unexplained occurrence or suspicious things in space?
6. From the ISS, can you see the climate of our planet changing or geo-physical hazards?
7. Why does finger delamination happen? Has it happened to you? And how painful is it?
8. What goes through your head while on the launch pad, about to launch?
9. What are the specifics of the sewage/water systems? And how different is going to the toilet on the ISS?
10. What inspired you to want to be an astronaut?
11. What is the most important aspect of your training in preparation for living in space?
12. The investigation on the functional effects of space flight on cardiovascular stem cells revealed anything promising? If yes, then what?
13. Is the Milky Way more beautiful in space than on earth?
14. Are you able to facetime people on earth?
15. How was the ISS built?
16. Have you been to the ISS and back many times? And if so, is it hard to get use to the gravity of earth and the atmospheric pressure?
17. What is the coolest thing you have done in space?
18. How do you cut your hair and shave in space without making a mess?
19. How do you plan enough food for up to 6 months while you are there?
20. What is the weirdest food you eat on the ISS?
21. Is there WIFI in space?
ARISS – Celebrating 20 Years of Amateur Radio Continuous Operations on the ISS
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 Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s Space communications and Navigation program. 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 www.ariss.org
Media Contact:
Dave Jordan, AA4KN
ARISS PR
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