ARISS News Release                                                                                                    No.21-52

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISSContact is Scheduled with Students at Various Schools in the

Prescott Unified School District, Prescott, AZ, USA

October4, 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 froma number of schools in the Prescott Unified School District based in Prescott,AZ. Students will take turns asking their questions of ISS Astronaut Mark VandeHei, amateur radio call sign KG5GNP, during the ARISS radio contact. Appropriatelocal Covid-19 protocols are adhered to as applicable for each ARISS contact. The downlink frequency for this contact is145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprintthat also encompasses the ARISS radio telebridge station.

ARISS team member Fred Kemmerer, using his callsign AB1OC in New Hampshire, will serve as the ARISS relay amateur radiostation.

TheARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 5, 2021 at 11:08 am MST (Prescott,AZ) (18:08 UTC, 2:08 pm EDT, 1:08 pm CDT, 12:08 pm MDT, 11:08am PDT).

The PrescottUnified School District is the host of this ARISS contact for students (about4,500, grades K-12) in seven public schools in rural and suburban areas of theDistrict. During the school year prior to this ARSS contact, the students studiedvarious STEAM subjects and engaged in various learning activities that followedlesson plans developed by NASA, the ARRL, and ARISS. This year-long event,referred to as “Prescott Radio & Space Science 2021” incorporated 10 linkedprograms, including 8 programs in the District’s class curriculum and twospecial community activities.  The twoactivities, “Community Radio Science Day” and the “ARISS Contact Day,” weresupported by many community organizations and agencies. Other supportingorganizations include: World Genesis Foundation (coordinator of specialactivities), and the Yavapai Amateur Radio Club (YARC). Members of the YARChelped introduce amateur radio to students in addition to leading student study-groupsfor FCC ham license testing, and providing technical assistance in setting up anHF radio station. YARC members will also provide continued education in amateurradio to the students.

Viewthe live stream of the upcoming ARISS radio contact at     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjieZD0zdvMt-k6Lf17dOkQ

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Astime allows, students will ask these questions:

1)What do you do in your free time?

2)Why did you choose to be an astronaut?

3)My favorite thing to read about in outer space is solar tsunamis caused bysolar flares. Have you ever studied or seen them and how they affect planetEarth?

4)After being in space with no gravity, what does it feel like to return to Earthwith gravity?

5)Is this your first mission? What has been the best part of it so far?

6)Is your job hard?

7)Is it hard to sleep in space and how do you sleep?

8)Are there any games or activities that you do for fun in space?

9)Do you think you can apply what you’ve learned from living on the ISS to livinglong-term on the moon or Mars?

10)Can you describe the launch process and what is the best and worst part?

11)What kind of schooling/career path prep do you have to do to become anastronaut in space?

12)Have you ever cooked for your crew in space?

13)When you went up into space, were you scared?

14)What types of problems do you have to fix on the space station?

15)What are you studying right now or what experiments are you doing on the spacestation?

16)Do you get viruses (flu, cold) in space and what do you do when one of you getssick?

17)Do you think there is another life form in space?

18)How far away are you from the earth?

19)What changes do you notice in your body when you arrive on the ISS and when youreturn home to Earth?

20)Do you ever feel homesick, scared, or nervous in space? If so, what do you do?

21)How much living space is there in the Space Station and do you have anyprivacy?

22)I am wondering about the five senses. Are there unique smells? What is thetemperature in the station? What does the food taste like?

ARISS– Celebrating 20 Years 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, sponsors are the Radio Amateur SatelliteCorporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS NationalLab-Space Station Explorers, and NASA’s Space communications and Navigationprogram. The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science,technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics topics. ARISS does this byorganizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard theISS and students. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators,parents, and communities take part in hands-on learning activities tied tospace, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.

MediaContact:

DaveJordan, AA4KN

ARISSPR

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