PictureCredit: Ivan Croft
October 2, 2025—ARISS will commemorate the 68th anniversary of the launch of the world’s first satellite—Sputnik-1— this week by transmitting a series of space cooperation-themed SSTV images from the International Space Station (ISS) starting tomorrow. Cosmonauts will begin transmitting the six images from the ham radio in the ISS’s Zvezda service module at 1220 UTC on October 3 through 0730 UTC on October 9, with several pauses during the period due to school contacts. The pauses are currently scheduled for 1000-1300 UTC on October 4 and 1340-1655 UTC on October 6. These pause times could change so check the ARISS social media feeds (listed at the end of this post) for the latest updates.

​Once downloaded, amateur radio enthusiasts can send their images to the ARISS SSTV gallery, where the images will be displayed. There will be an electronic award available to each person who uploads at least one recognizable image to the gallery.

​The SSTV activity is part of the broader slate of activities taking place during World Space Week, an annual event created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999 to celebrate the dawn of the human space age. It was on October 4, 1957, that Sputnik 1 became the first human-made earth satellite.

For more information and tutorials on SSTV, please visit the Frequently Asked Questions link on the ARISS SSTV gallery page. This video by European Space Agency provides the basics of SSTV.

The next planned ARISS SSTV event after World Space Week is slated for later this month as part of a three-day event for the World Scouting movement. Called Jamboree on the Air (JOTA), the event will take place over three days starting October 17, with four images being broadcast over the three days. Scouts (and anyone else listening) can download the images and send to the ARISS SSTV gallery.

For the latest updates on SSTV timelines for World Space week and other events, please check out and follow the ARISS Facebook, X and Instagram social media feeds.