Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has announced the addition of two more educational organizations to the Phase 2 list to host an ARISS ham radio contact with an ISS crew member. The selected schools submitted proposals before the deadline last November and join the 13 schools and groups announced in mid-December. The two extra scheduling opportunities are special events, thanks to ARISS’s two major sponsors, the NASA Space Communications and Navigation group and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. Students of the two organizations will travel to aerospace conferences, where their ARISS radio contacts will be featured.

Chosen were Quest for Space/Quest Institute for Quality Education, San Jose, California, whose ARISS contact will be a highlight of the July 23-26 ISS R&D Conference in San Francisco, and Burns Science & Technical Charter School in Oak Hill, Florida, whose ARISS contact will be featured at the July 11-13 S.P.A.C.E. Conference at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

The ARISS-US Education Committee selected the initial 13 candidates from a field of 25. The schools and organizations are:

• Allen Park Elementary School, Lee County School District, Fort Myers, Florida

• Ashford School, Ashford, Connecticut

• Bishop O’Connell High School, Arlington, Virginia

• Delcastle Technical High School, Wilmington, Delaware

• Hudson Memorial School, Hudson, New Hampshire

• Kopernik Observatory & Science Center, Vestal, New York

• Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School, Santa Ana, California

• Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School, Palmer, Massachusetts

• Pearl Technology STEM Academy, Peoria Heights, Illinois

• Pell Elementary School, Newport, Rhode Island

• St. Catherine of Bologna School, Ringwood, New Jersey

• Tallmadge Community Learning Center, Lancaster, Ohio

• Valley High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico

ARISS anticipates that NASA will be able to provide scheduling opportunities from July to December of next year. These schools and organizations now must submit Amateur Radio equipment plans to host a scheduled contact with a member of the ISS crew, as well as an equipment plan that demonstrates their ability to execute a ham radio contact with the ISS.

Once the ARISS technical team approves their equipment plans, the remaining finalists will be scheduled as their availability and flexibility match up with the scheduling opportunities.

ARISS’s primary goal is to engage young people in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activities, and to involve them in activities related to space exploration, Amateur Radio, communications, and areas of associated study and career possibilities.

ARISS is a cooperative venture of international Amateur Radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS). In the United States, sponsors are ARRL, AMSAT, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and NASA.