*ARISS News Release No. 24-90*

*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 *

*Hillsboro Charter Academy, Purcellville, Virginia, USA*

December 9, 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 Hillsboro Charter Academy located in Purcellville, 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.

Hillsboro Charter Academy (HCA), founded in 2016, is a public charter school with an emphasis on STEAM—Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. Nestled in the hills of Hillsboro, Virginia, HCA has 144 students in kindergarten through 5th grade. In their bi-weekly ‘Flight Funday’ class, students learn about aviation and Space history, experimentation, and aerospace design challenges by drawing on students’ teamwork skills, critical thinking, and innovative ideas. HCA also integrates the engineering design process into every grade level through their signature E3 framework: Explore! Engage! Engineer! Students learn this by building marshmallow towers, coding with Spheros, and experimenting with amateur radio and wireless technology, to list a few. Members of the Loudoun Amateur Radio Group are supporting this ARISS contact with equipment and student training.

This will be a direct 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 relay ground station.

The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Purcellville, VA. Amateur radio operators using call sign KQ4MAM, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for December 11, 2024 at 1:51:41 pm EST (Purcellville, VA) (18:51:41 UTC, 12:51 pm CDT, 11:51 am MST, 10:51 am PST).

The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqKx6ytN96k and also https://live.ariss.org/

*_______________________________*

As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. Who was the most influential person in your life during your journey to becoming an astronaut?

2. What is the scariest moment you've experienced in space?

3. How do you think the ISS has changed human perception of space exploration?

4. How does it feel different to walk back on Earth after being on the ISS for a while?

5. What do the stars look like in space when you are closer to them?

6. Is being in outer space anything like being in Star Wars, like do you have special helmets and star trackers?

7. During a space walk, what does it feel like to be in space, not inside the ISS?

8. When you go upside down in microgravity, do you FEEL upside down or does it feel like the rest of the world is moving around you?

9. What is one innovation in space that would be useful to have here on Earth to use in our everyday lives?

10. Can you listen to music in space and does it sound different?

11. What happens if you get sick in space? How do you cure it or know what to do?

12. What is the best part about being an astronaut?

13. What does an aurora look like in outer space?

14. How does space food taste and which food is your favorite?

15. If you could wish for one item right now, what would it be?

16. We all know that the human body sweats, but how do you keep so you're not stinky in outer space?

17. How much food do you need to survive on the ISS and does it take up a lot of space?

18. How do you wash your clothes in space?

19. How do you keep track of time?

20. How do you stay motivated during long missions?

*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

Find us on social media at:

X: ARISS_Intl

Facebook: facebook.com/ARISSIntl

Instagram: ariss_intl

Mastodon: ariss_intl@mastodon.hams.social

Check out ARISS on Youtube.com.