An educational radio contact is planned with Sarasota Military Academy, Sarasota, FL, direct via W4SMA. The ISS callsign is presently scheduled to be NA1SS, the scheduled crewmember is Luke Delaney KJ5PPF, the ARISS mentors are KM4YHZ are W4NTR.
Contact is go for: Thursday 22 October 2026, 16:23:39 UTC, 24 deg. Downlink signals from ISS will be audible above areas within the ISS footprint on 145.800 MHz narrowband FM; the conversation will be in French, RX only! (Credit: AMSAT.)
Proposed questions generated by the Sarasota Military Academy students:
1. In your opinion, do you think military technologies have generally improved international relations in space?
2. How did looking down at Earth change the way you view everyday problems back home?
3. Do you think commercial public space travel is realistic within the next 20 years for anyone other than the ultra-wealthy?
4. Are there benefits or drawbacks to fielding astronauts with a purely civilian background?
5. Do you think there will be another chance for international cooperation in space after the ISS is retired?
6. How have experiments conducted on the Space Station influenced the lives of regular people in ways they might not be aware of?
7. What would you consider a “very bad” day on ISS?
8. How similar is the method of creating oxygen on a spacecraft to that of a submarine?
9. What are the most interesting physics demonstrations or experiments on the ISS that would have behaved differently if conducted on Earth?
10. Do auroras look different in space than they do on Earth?
11. In your opinion, do you believe that modern technology has reached the point that it has practically plateaued?
12. How much has the ISS contributed to advancing humans toward a higher class of civilization?
13. How do solar storms affect experiments on the ISS, and what happens if something requires you redo an experiment?
14. How have experiments onboard the Space Station affected the sciences and technologies of propulsion?
15. What is the most unexpected skill you have found yourself having to use during your time on the Space Station?
16. If you’re able to share, what experiments are you currently working on?
17. How dangerous are solar storms to the astronauts inside the ISS?