*ARISS News Release No. 24-81*

*Dave Jordan, AA4KN *

*ARISS PR*

*dave.jordan@ariss-usa.org dave.jordan@ariss-usa.org*

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

*ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at *

*Erie Migration District School, Kingsville, Ontario, Canada*

November 16, 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 Erie Migration District School located in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada. 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.

Erie Migration District School, opened in September 2024, is a K-12 school located in Kingsville, Canada, and is state of the art. The school accommodates about 1000 Elementary and 800 Secondary students, and is a dual track school, offering French Immersion and English streams.

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Sunita Williams, amateur radio call sign KD5PLB. 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 Casale Monferrato, Italy. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the call sign, IK1SLD to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for November 18, 2024 at 11:41:47 am EST (ON, CANADA) (16:41:47 UTC, 10:41 am CST, 9:41 am MST, 8:41 am PST).

*_______________________________*

As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. How does your suit help you breath?

2. What do you do when you are up there? Are there certain tasks that you have to do every day?

3. How long would it take to build another space station and are there plans for one?

4. What happens if you get sick in space?

5. What is the process of becoming an astronaut? How long does it take one to get the opportunity to go to Space?

6. Have you learned anything that has a major impact on our planet by being in space?

7. When was your decision to become an astronaut and was there someone who inspired you to become an astronaut?

8. Have you ever had something scary happen to you in space?

9. Is it realistic for humans to one day live on another planet? Or even to use other planets as a travel destination for leisure?

10. Is it easier or harder for the human heart to pump blood through the body in space, because of the lack of gravity?

11. What projects are you working on and how will they affect us on Earth?

12. What does it look like when you are leaving the Earth's atmosphere?

13. How do you keep healthy and exercise in space?

14. Is there a certain sickness that you only get in space? If so, how do you treat it from space?

15. What's the greatest challenge you face as an astronaut?

16. Which planet, in our galaxy or other, is closest to having an atmosphere conducive to human life (water, temperature, oxygen)?

17. How do you know if it is day or night and is that important to know?

18. What happens if you throw a boomerang in space?

19. What do you have to do to prepare yourself to go into space?

20. What do you do with your spare time?

*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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