Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Status Report June 20, 2011

1. Upcoming School Contact

An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled for Nankan 4th Elementary School in Tamanagun, Kumamoto, Japan on Tuesday, June 21 at 09:00 UTC. Through this opportunity students will learn about the mission of the International Space Station and about amateur radio technology.

2. Germany Contact to be Rescheduled

The ARISS contact that was scheduled with Hochtaunusschule in Oberursel, Hessen, Germany on Tuesday, June 14 was not successful. The ARISS team is trying to determine what happened and hopes to reschedule the contact sometime in the future.

3. AMSAT Covers ARISSat-1

The AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation) News Service bulletin (ANS-170) published on June 19 included two ARISS-related items. "It's Time to Get Ready For ARISSat-1" provides information about the features of the ARISSat satellite and "ARISSat-1 Team Pointers to Get Ready for SSTV Reception" talks about the satellite cameras and how the amateur radio operator can capture SSTV images. See: http://amsat.org/pipermail/ans/2011/000523.html

4. Astronaut Training Status

Astronaut Mike Hopkins (Expedition 37) passed his amateur radio Technician exam on Thursday, June 9. He was issued the call sign KF5LJG.

On Monday, June 13, several astronaut candidates passed their Technician License exams and were issued the following callsigns: Takuya Onishi, KF5LKS Gregory Wiseman, KF5LKT Jeremy Hansen, KF5LKU In addition, Kjell Lindgren, KO5MOS upgraded from Technician to General. Another round of tests for the latest class of astronauts may be conducted in the near future.

A successful ARISS simulated contact was held between Kevin Ford, KF5GPP and youth from John McCrae Secondary High School, Ottawa, Canada on Monday, June 13. The training session was a terrestrial-based amateur radio contact using ARISS equivalent equipment and helped to prepare Ford for participation in ARISS contacts when he flies with Expedition 33 in September 2012.

Don Pettit, KD5MDT and André Kuipers, PI9ISS are scheduled for an ARISS preflight session on June 22. The two astronauts are part of Expedition 30 which will launch in November 2011.

5. Debrief Session Held with Expedition 26/27 Crew Members

On Wednesday, June 15 ARISS members participated in an ISS Ham debrief session with Expedition 26/27 crew members Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli. The astronauts provided good feedback on the ARISS program.