July 21, 2026—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 Orizaba Planetarium located in Veracruz, Mexico.  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.

The Orizaba Planetarium in Veracruz is a public venue offering an immersive digital dome experience, created to bring science and technology closer to the citizens of central Veracruz. Models of the Solar System and the ISS are displayed in the newly renovated Rodolfo Neri Vela Hall.

This will be a telebridge Contact via Amateur Radio allowing students to ask their questions of astronaut Sophie Adenot, amateur radio call sign KJ5LTN. 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 Aartselaar, Belgium. The amateur radio volunteer team at the ground station will use the call sign ON4ISS, to establish and maintain the ISS connection.

The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for July 23, 2026 at 11:07 am CST (Veracruz) (17:07 UTC, 1:07 pm EDT, 12:07 pm CDT, 11:07 am MDT, 10:07 am PST).

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As time allows, students will ask these questions:

1. If you could bring one thing from space to Earth, and one thing from Earth to space, what would they be?
2. What would you like everyone to be able to see from where you are now?
3. How does your sense of taste change over months in microgravity?
4. What did you feel when you saw your country from the cupola?
5. What did you feel when you saw the sun from the cupola?
6. Can a child with cerebral palsy become an astronaut, and where could they study to become one?
7. How could I help support space research?
8. What moment in space made you feel most proud of your work?
9. When did you first feel the urge to become an astronaut?
10. Of all the experiments you’ve done, which was the most complex?
11. What’s the hardest part about bathing in space?
12. What image of Earth, seen from the cupola, has stayed in your memory?
13. What advice would you give the next generation, based on your knowledge and experience on Earth and in space?
14. What does it feel like to be moving at 27,500 km per hour?
15. How can you sleep when the sun rises 16 times a day?
16. During a spacewalk, how does the spacesuit protect you from the harsh environment outside the space station?
17. What skill you learned in childhood has been most useful for facing the challenges of a space mission?
18. If you could keep just one memory from your trip to space to share with every child in the world, which one would you choose, and why?
19. Was there anything that scared you before traveling to space, and how did you overcome it?
20. What kind of activities do ISS astronauts do to stay happy and healthy during long stretches in space?