ARISS News Release                                                                                                     No. 21-03

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISSContact is Scheduled with Students at

Maine Regional School Unit #21, Kennebunk, Maine,USA

January19, 2021—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has receivedschedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. ARISS is thegroup that puts together special amateur radio contacts between students aroundthe globe and crew members with ham radio licenses on the International Space Station (ISS).

This will be a Multipoint Telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio between the ISS and students fromMaine Regional School Unit #21 (MRSU21). Students will take turns asking theirquestions of ISS astronaut Mike Hopkins, amateur radio call sign KF5LJG, duringthe ARISS radio contact. Thedownlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz.

TheARISS team in Casale Monferrato, Italy will use call sign IK1SLD to serve asthe ARISS relay amateur radio groundstation. Each student asking aquestion will be conferencedin from home or social-distanced at school.

TheARISS radio contact is scheduled for January 21, 2021 at 1:27 pm EST (Kennebunk,ME) (18:27 UTC, 12:27 pm CST, 11:27 am MST, 10:27 am PST).

ARISSinvites the public to view the live stream of the upcoming ARISS radio contact at:https://youtu.be/LN70OpJFMgs.

The MRSU21 includes three elementary schools(with about 512 students, ages 8 – 11) on the southern coast of Maine. These arethe Sea Road School in Kennebunk (hosting the ARISS contact), Mildred L. DaySchool in Arundel and Kennebunkport Consolidated School in Kennebunkport. Duringthe year prior to this contact, MRSU21 implemented cross-curriculum courses (forgrades 3-5) that highlighted space-related subjects developed under various STEMfield of studies. Students also explored aspects of space travel throughvarious courses and activities in the subject categories of Art, Music,Physical Education (astronaut training), Food and Nutrition (space foodfavorites), and Library studies. All students in the district, starting atpre-Kindergarten, are immersed in STEM class and methodology. This ARISScontact project came into being due to a collaboration with Sea Road School’sSTEM team and members of the local Amateur Radio club (New England RadioDiscussion Society) who offered to do a free course in electronics and radiofundamentals, radio demonstrations, and electronics project-building.

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Astime allows, students will ask these questions:

1.  How do you communicate with your family athome?

2.What do you miss the most from home?

3.How did you feel when you looked back and saw earth for the first time?

4.What are your favorite scientific experiments on the ISS right now?

5.Do magnets behave the same way in space as they do on Earth?

6.What is the most dangerous part of being in space?

7.What does it smell like in the space station?

8.How do you stay in shape on the ISS?

9.What happens if someone gets hurt in space?

10.How long and hard did you train to be an astronaut?

11.What are the side effects of being in space?

12.How do you conquer your fear in space?

13.What does a day in an astronaut's life look like?

14.Have you seen any super rare and awesome things in space?

15.Do stars look closer when you're in space?

16.What's your favorite part of being an astronaut?

17.Does the food you eat taste different than it does on earth?

18.Do you think we are the only intelligent life forms in the universe?

19.What classes in school helped you the most as an astronaut?

20.What surprised you most about being in space or on the ISS?

ARISS – Celebrating 20Years of Amateur Radio Continuous Operations on the ISS

About ARISS:

Amateur Radio on the InternationalSpace Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radiosocieties and the space agencies that support the International Space Station(ISS).  In the United States, sponsorsare the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio RelayLeague (ARRL), the ISS National Lab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s SpaceCommunications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISS is to promoteexploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematicstopics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew membersaboard the ISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students,educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, andamateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org

MediaContact:

DaveJordan, AA4KN

ARISSPR

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