March 29, 2025—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the Lakeside Junior High School located in Springdale, AR, USA. ARISS conducts 60-100 of these special amateur radio contacts each year between students around the globe and crew members with ham radio licenses aboard the ISS.
Lakeside Jr. High School serves 8th and 9th graders and Sonora Elementary serves students in Kindergarten through 5th grade, both are in the Springdale School District. Both Schools serve about 600 kids and the school district itself has more than 20,000 students.
The students leading this ARISS contact are in a program called EAST, Education Accelerated by Service and Technology. EAST allows students to explore their passions paired with technology and community service. Students have 3D-mapped caves, created weather apps, made videos, and 3d-printed a prosthetic leg.
This will be a direct contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Nichole Ayers, amateur radio call sign KJ5GWI. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800 MHz and may be heard by listeners that are within the ISS-footprint that also encompasses the relay ground station.
The amateur radio ground station for this contact is in Springdale, AR. Amateur radio operators using call sign KJ5ANC, will operate the ground station to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for March 31, 2025 at 1:05 pm CDT (AR, USA) (18:05:26 UTC, 2:05 pm EDT, 12:05 pm MDT, 11:05 am PDT).
The public is invited to watch the live stream at: https://www.youtube.com/@SpringdaleSchoolsTV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6O9pbMAP0E, and https://live.ariss.org/
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Growing up, how did STEM programs in your schools help you on your road to becoming an astronaut?
2. What is your favorite experiment that you’ve done in Space?
3. What was one part of living on the ISS that astronaut training could never fully prepare you for?
4. What is a spacewalk like?
5. How does being in space influence creativity, and have you or your fellow astronauts engaged in any artistic activities, like drawing, music, or storytelling?
6. What will you do when you return to Earth?
7. Can you describe a time when you had to solve an unexpected problem on the ISS using creativity and teamwork?
8. Have you seen or heard anything weird and/or unexplainable in space?
9. How does being in space and working closely with an international crew affect the way you view the world?
10. How often do you encounter space debris and what happens when you do?
11. Does being in micro-gravity for long periods affect how you see the size or scale of objects, and does that change when you return to Earth?
12. This semester, I was part of the NASA HUNCH Astronaut Culinary Challenge. Have you created any innovative recipes to improve the taste of space food?
13. Have you lost anything in the ISS?
14. After working out for 2+ hours on the ISS, how do you recover or relax in space?
15. What preparations are taken right before a launch?
16. When you leave the space station, what will you miss?
17. Based on what you’ve learned from living on the ISS, what do you think will be the biggest challenge when humans attempt to live on Mars?
18. What advice would you give to a student who wants to work for NASA or be an Astronaut?
19. Are there any specific clothing requirements while on the ISS?
20. What new technology onboard the ISS has had the biggest impact on daily life or research in recent years?