Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report April 27, 2009

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. on Space Day, May 2 at 15:23 UTC. This will be a telebridge contact via station W6SRJ in California. Students will be pre-recruited, but Space Day participants will also be invited to ask questions. Visitors will participate in hands-on activities, meet astronauts and learn about space from experts and museum displays.

2. Ashland Contact Successful

On Monday, April 20, St. Edward School in Ashland, Ohio experienced an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA answered 13 questions posed to him by 12 children as approximately 170 students and teachers looked on. The audio was fed into the EchoLink AMSAT and JK1ZRW servers and received four connections from the U.S., England and Brazil. Television channel 39 and the Times-Gazette both covered the event. The newspaper article may be found here: http://www.times-gazette.com/news/article/4570900

3. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline

On April 24, the Amateur Radio Newsline Report 1654 included an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) news item. The story, "Ham Radio in Space: Work Continues on SuitSat" covers the meeting recently held in Phoenix and the progress being made on SuitSat-2. To view the story, go to: ftp://ftp.arnewsline.org/quincy/News/news.txt

4. Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Mike Fossum took and passed his amateur radio license exam on Wednesday, April 15. His new callsign is KF5AQG.

5. CQ Magazine Article on ARISS Contact

Bob Hopkins, WB2UDC wrote an article on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact between youth attending the Berkeley Heights Recreation Summer Playground in New Jersey and Expedition 17's Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ. NPARC (New Providence Amateur Radio Club) assisted with the contact which took place on August 13, 2008. The story, "Believe in Your Dreams - Anatomy of an ARISS Contact," was published in the April 2009 issue of CQ Magazine.

6. Marcelino Canino Canino Contact Video

Marcelino Canino Canino Middle School in Dorado, Puerto Rico, a 2005 NASA Explorer School, experienced a successful Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on March 31. The video of students speaking with Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP/HA5SIK is now available on YouTube. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toOAAxEhKRA

7. Article on Simonyi Contacts

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) member Maurice-André Vigneault, VE3VIG wrote a short story for the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club (OVMRC) news bulletin, The Rambler and Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) magazine, TCA. The article is about contacts made between the Canada Science and Technology Museum's VE3JW Amateur Radio Exhibit and Spaceflight Participant Charles Simonyi, KE7KDP/HA5SIK during his recent ISS flight. "Space Contact" may be found on page 7 of the April 2009 issue of The Rambler. See: http://www.pdfdownload.org/pdf2html/pdf2html.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ovmrc....