July 3, 2025—Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact between an Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and students at the NESAC located in Shillong, India. 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 Space Station.
NESAC provides space-based support for development and governance, disaster management support, capacity building and outreach activities promoting space science and technology in NE region of India.
Students participating in this ARISS radio contact are from seven schools in the states of Meghalaya and Assam.
Army Public School, Shillong is a CBSE-affiliated school, for students in classes I to XII. It serves Army and civilian children.
Alpha Higher Secondary School located at Nongpoh for students in Kindergarten to Class XII.
The ARYA Vidyapith High School in Guwahati, Assam for class VI to XII. Affiliated to the state board of Government of Assam.
The Christ Senior Secondary School, Umiam follows CBSE curriculum covering Nursery to Class XII.
PM SHRI Kendriya Vidyalaya, Barapani is part of the centrally-run Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and is within the North Eastern Police Academy (NEPA) campus for students in Class I to XII.
The Army Public School, Umroi catering primarily to children of armed forces personnel stationed at Umroi cantonment is a CBSE-affiliated school offering classes from Class I to X.
B. K. Bajoria School, Shillong co-educational school is a CBSE-affiliated school and teaches students in Nursery to Class XI.
This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, amateur radio call sign VU2TNI. 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 telebridge station.
The ARISS amateur radio ground station (telebridge station) for this contact is in Maryland, U.S. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the call sign K6DUE, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.
The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for July 8, 2025 at 2:08 pm IST (Shillong, India) (8:38:31 UTC, 4:38 am EDT, 3:38 am CDT, 2:38 am MDT, 1:38 am PDT).
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As time allows, students will ask these questions:
1. Can you share your experience of seeing the Earth for the first time from ISS?
2. Did being an Air force pilot helped prepare you for space travel?
3. For the germination experiment, what are the basic differences between the ambient condition in ISS and in Earth?
4. How do you think kids from small towns in India can become astronauts?
5. How likely you face an emergency in ISS and how you handle that as a team?
6. With almost 16 sunrise and sunset, how do you adjust your daily activity?
7. Did you experience space sickness and how do you cope up with it?
8. How did you prepare mentally and emotionally for this mission?
9. How do you stay healthy and fit in microgravity?
10. What role does artificial intelligence or robotics play in your missions?
11. What role do you see India playing in future space exploration?
12. What was the toughest part of your astronaut training?
13. What was the biggest challenge in preparing for deep space missions?
14. What are the prospects of ISS becoming self sufficient in food production?
15. Did you ever doubt yourself during training, and how did you push through those moments?
16. Do you face fear or loneliness in space and how do you deal with that?
17. How does ISS handle threats like meteoroids impacts?
18. Which is the most interesting experiment that you are conducting in ISS?
19. How does space travel change your view of Earth and humanity?
20. If you could talk to your younger self, what would you say?