ARISS News Release                                                                                            No. 24-30

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

 

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at

Belmont Elementary School, Woodbridge, Virginia, USA

 

June 1, 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 the Belmont Elementary School located in Woodbridge, VA.  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.

 

Belmont Elementary is a public-school south of Washington DC with about 500 students from pre-kindergarten to 5th grade.  In preparation for this ARISS contact, twelve of their 5^th grade students are helping with logistical support for this school event. Students have been participating in activities that included; how astronauts work in space during a spacewalk, how microgravity impacts life on the ISS, construction of straw rockets, and launching a mock Mars lander.  Members of the Woodbridge Wireless Amateur Radio Club are supporting the school during this event by conducting Technician level classes for students, and providing hands-on activities relating to basic electronics and amateur radio.

 

This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Jeanette Epps, amateur radio call sign KF5QNU. 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 Woodbridge, VA. Amateur radio operators using call sign KM4TAY, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

 

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for June 3, 2024 at 12:03 pm EDT (VA) (16:03 UTC, 11:03 am CDT, 10:03 am MDT, 9:03 am PDT).

 

The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://live.ariss.org/

 and a possible backup link is https://www.youtube.com/@PWCSNews/streams 

 

_______________________________

 

As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. What happens to sweat in space?

2. Do you ever get allergies in space?

3. How do you communicate with your family?

4. When you have free time, what do you do to pass the time?

5. What is your favorite thing to do in space?

6. Do you still have to learn Russian to be able to travel to the space station?

7. When you’re sleeping in space, do you get claustrophobia or uncomfortable?

8. When you are launched up into space, does your blood pressure feel like its goes up to your head, like on a rollercoaster?

9. Can microgravity impact the human body in any harmful ways?

10. If you get motion sickness, how do you deal with that?

11. How was the change to life in zero gravity?

12. When you were a kid, what was your dream job, and did you ever expect to be an astronaut in the future?

13. How do you get oxygen in the Space Station?

14. What would happen if you never worked out in space?  How badly would your bones hurt?

15. Have you seen any natural disasters on Earth from the ISS?

16. Do you have medicine for any sickness?

17. Where do you put the trash?

 

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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