ARISS News Release                                                                                                    No.22-57

Dave Jordan, AA4KN

ARISS PR

aa4kn@amsat.org

FORIMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARISSContact is Scheduled with Students at

Canterbury School of Fort Myers, Fort Myers, Florida,USA

October23, 2022—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has receivedschedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboardthe International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Canterbury School ofFort Myers located in Fort Myers, FL. ARISS conducts 60-80 of these special amateur radio contacts each yearbetween students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboardthe ISS.

Canterbury School is a private, pre-K3 through 12, collegepreparatory school (about 700 students, ages 3-19 years) in Fort Myers,Florida. Beginning in the fall of the 2021-2022 school year, students in everyclass, club, and activity have been studying topics of space, rockets, radios,and the ISS. Students in Upper School astronomy, engineering, and robotics havebuilt a satellite tracking antenna that will be used during this contact. And membersof Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club (W4LX) are supporting the school by providing studentswith technical instruction, radio equipment setup and radio operation duringthe ARISS contact. Then, during the summer of 2022, as students were in themidst of designing and building rover models for Mars and the Moon, they sawthe first pictures of Hurricane Ian, as seen from the ISS, bearing down on thecoast of Florida. Evacuations were ordered in advance of the catastrophic windsand storm surges, which eventually affected many of the homes of students,faculty, and staff. In the wake of this destruction, it was uncertain whetherthis ARISS contact could occur. However, if only for a moment of reprieve fromtheir loss and destruction, the entire Canterbury school community, includingthe school’s staff/faculty, amateur radio operators, students and students’families, decided to pull together to support this ARISS contact and thereby renewtheir sense of hope and inspiration in human space exploration.

This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions ofAstronaut Josh Cassada, amateur radio call sign KI5CRH. Local Covid-19protocols are adhered to as applicable for each ARISS contact. The downlinkfrequency for this contact is 145.800 MHZ and may be heard by listeners thatare within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.

The amateur radio ground station for this contactis in Fort Myers, FL, USA. Amateur radio operators using call sign W4LX, willoperate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

TheARISS radio contact is scheduled for October 24, 2022 at 1:36 pm EDT (FortMyers, FL) (17:36UTC, 12:36 pm CDT, 11:36 am MDT, 10:36 am PDT).

Thepublic is invited to watch the live stream at: https://vimeo.com/762320321

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Astime allows, students will ask these questions:

1.Can you make cupcakes in space?

2.How do you not get lost in space?

3.Does the sun look different from the ISS compared to Earth?

4.If you could travel to any planet, which one would you go to?

5.What is your favorite meal in space?

6.Are more women astronauts training to go to the moon?

7.What is the most extraordinary thing you have seen in space?

8.How does space debris affect satellites and the ISS?

9.How old were you when you decided that you wanted to go on the InternationalSpace Station?

10.Is it hard to get used to Earth’s gravity after spending so much time on theISS?

11.What would you say or show to people who are convinced that space and the ISSis a hoax?

12.What kind of research are you currently working on?

13.Would you be willing to live on the new moon base once it is built?

14.What does it feel like to experience that many g’s of acceleration when takingoff from Earth?

15.What do you enjoy doing during your free time on the ISS?

16.What went through your head while blasting off from Earth?

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, Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) andNASA’s Space communications and Navigation program. The primary goal of ARISSis to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, the arts, andmathematics topics. ARISS does this by organizing scheduled contacts viaamateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students. Before andduring these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities takepart in hands-on learning activities tied to space, space technologies, andamateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org.

MediaContact:

DaveJordan, AA4KN

ARISSPR

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