Mission Specialist Ron Parise (WA4SIR) speaks to amateur radio enthusiasts from the Space Shuttle
ARISS has been active in Low-Earth Orbit since 1983 when we partnered with NASA to operate the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, or SAREX. In the late 1990s, ARISS became a key part of the Russian Mir space station as part of the joint program with the U.S. to prepare for the launch and construction of the International Space Station (ISS). When the ISS went operational in November 2020, ARISS was the payload to be declared operational. We celebrated our 25th year of operations on ISS in November 2025. Starting in 2022, we became an operational payload on multiple commercial space vehicles, starting with the AX-1 flight in April 2022. To date, we’ve been a payload on all for AX flights, as well as the Fram 2 Crewed Dragon flight in June 2025.
