The International Space Station (ISS) is mankind's outpost in Space. And even at this remote spot there are hams and a ham station. Most of the astronauts and cosmonauts are licensed hams and on board of the ISS there is a VHF/UHF ham transceiver. The callsign used on board the ISS is either OR4ISS, NA1SS or RS0ISS.
Besides the traditional amateur radio contacts this ham station is used for the ARISS program that let students worldwide experience the excitement of talking directly with crew members of the International Space Station (ISS), inspiring them to pursue interests in careers in science, technology, engineering and math, and engaging them with radio science technology through amateur radio.
The ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) program was created and is managed by an international consortium of amateur radio organizations and space agencies including National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA, Rosaviakosmos (RFSA) in Russia, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) in Canada, Japan Aeronautics Exploration Space Agency (JAXA) in Japan and European Space Agency (ESA) in Europe.
Building and maintaining a radio station on board of the ISS costs a lot of money. Therefore all donations are most welcome.