Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report June 1, 2009

1. Upcoming School Contacts

Mahopac Public Library in Mahopac, New York has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Wednesday, June 3 at 15:47 UTC. This contact will be facilitated by telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium. This school district public library serves six public and five private schools, with a total of 26,485 served. The library will coordinate this question and answer session with the Putnam Emergency Amateur Radio League.

Kawanishi Seiwadai Community Center in Hyogo, Japan has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, June 6 at 07:55 UTC. This question and answer session will be conducted in Japanese. The community center was established in 1987 and serves the area's 5000 households. To prepare for the contact, children researched the ISS and studied space and the global environment.

Tongfu Road No. 1 Primary School in Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Thursday, June 11 at 08:24 UTC. The school is over 70 years old with an enrollment of over 1000 students. An amateur radio club was established at the school in 2007 and won the national youngster's amateur radio contest that same year. Elective courses on amateur radio, space technology and ARISS are offered to the students. Media coverage is planned with newspapers, television and the internet.

Liceo Scientifico "A. Bafile" in L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy has been approved for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Friday, June 12 at 06:52 UTC. L'Aquila was hit by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on April 6. The schools suffered major damage and students are now being taught under school-tents provided by Italian Ministry of Education (MIUR) and by Civil Defense (DPC). Teachers have redesigned their educational proposals in order to keep the attention of students that are still shocked by the quake. Teachers believe that an ARISS school contact can give students a wider look on their future.

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been tentatively scheduled for Vrije Basisschool Terbank-Egenhoven in Heverlee, Belgium on Friday, June 12 at 11:38 UTC via telebridge station ON4ISS in Belgium. This elementary school will use the topic of space travel to pique students' interest in science and technology. The school houses a science classroom with 4 hands-on experiments related to physics, chemistry, technology, and computer science that change every three weeks. Fifth and sixth grade students participated in an electronics project and built small AM radios. Technopolis, Scientastic and "Professor Atoom" in collaboration with the University of Leuven Chemistry Department are providing scientific activities for the children as well.

2. Miyahara Junior High has Successful ARISS Contact

On Tuesday, May 26 youth from Miyahara Junior High School in Saitama, Japan participated in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA on the ISS. Wakata answered nine questions prepared by the students and with extra time available, answered two additional questions. Approximately 40 people were in attendance at the event which was covered by a newspaper and two magazines.

3. ARRL Article on President's Award Recipient

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) ran an article on its Web site on past Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) chairman's ARRL award. "Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, Receives ARRL President's Award" may be found at: http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/27/10838/?nc=1 There are approximately 100,000 readers of the ARRL Web site.

The item also ran in the ARRL Letter (circulation of approximately 77,000). See: http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter/09/0529/

4. ARRL QST Covers ARISS News

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) picked up on a few Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) news items in its June 2009 issue of QST.

Under "In Brief" covering the month of May was a mention of Frank Bauer, KA3HDO stepping down from his ARISS duties.

Under "Happenings" was an item about Frank Bauer stepping down from ARISS and his successor.

5. Garriott Interviewed at Dayton

Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, attended the Dayton Hamvention held May 15-17 and gave several interviews on his ISS flight and amateur radio activities. One of these interviews was with Ciprian Sufitchi, N2YO. This interview was translated and placed on the Romanian amateur radio Web site. See: http://www.radioamator.ro/articole/view.php?id=578

6. Astronaut Training Status

The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team provided training sessions on May 27 and 29 to prepare astronaut Doug Wheelock for his amateur radio license exam. Wheelock is a scheduled crew member of Expeditions 24 and 25 and will fly in the spring of 2010.

7. CQ VHF Article on ARISS

Keith Pugh, W5IU wrote an article on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program that was published in the Spring 2009 issue of CQ VHF. See: http://www.cq-vhf.com/Spr09Satellites.html