*ARISS News Release No.24-74*

*Dave Jordan, AA4KN *

*ARISS PR*

*aa4kn@amsat.org aa4kn@amsat.org*

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

*ARISS Contact is Scheduled with Students at *

*Colegio Parroquial el Savador, Yerba Buena, Argentina*

October 28, 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 Colegio Parroquial el Savador located in Yerba Buena, Argentina. 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.

Colegio “El Salvador” is a 60-year-old, non-profit catholic school belonging to the archbishopric from

Tucumán, Argentina. The high school has about 400 students ages 12 - 17. Courses include economics and management, humanistic and social sciences, English, science, and computer science.

Every year, students participate in competitions (inter- school Olympics) in math, literature, economics and natural studies, and others. These competitions are carried out at a local, provincial and national level. Students also participate in various student clubs with teacher oversight. In addition, the school hosts a student exchange program (with students from Italy and Poland currently attending).

This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Don Pettit, amateur radio call sign KD5MDT. 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 Yerba Buena. Amateur radio operators using call sign LU5KHF, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 30, 2024 at 12:32 pm ART (Argentina) (15:32 UTC, 11:32 am EDT, 10:32 am CDT, 9:32 am MDT, 8:32 am PDT).

*_______________________________*

As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. Which kind of training course or studies do you take for being an astronaut?

2. Which medical test do you undertake before going on a space mission?

3. Do you need any special diet or physical training before a mission?

4. How do you deal with a lack of sunlight and vitamin D? How does it affect your health? Do you take supplements?

5. Which kind of food do you eat a mission? How do you eat?

6. How do you sleep in space? Do you take turns?

7. Do you have any means of entertainment during a space mission? Which ones?

8. What do you do with rubbish in space?

9. What does an eclipse look like from space?

10. What do you do to take care of your mental health?

11. What do you miss the most being on a mission?

12. How long does a mission to space last?

13. Do you have the same mealtimes that you do on Earth? How often do you eat? Is digestion different in space?

14. How do you drink water?

15. What kind of psychological training do you need for going on a mission?

16. What is the process of coming back to Earth?

17. Do your intestinal microbiota change by eating the same food? Do you have different diets?

18. How does space exploration help combat climate change?

19. Have you experienced any unusual situations in space? If so, could you give us examples?

20. What does the sun look like from space?

*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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