Slow-Scan Television Activity August 4 – 5 from ISS will Commemorate Apollo-Soyuz

Russian cosmonauts on board the International Space Station plan to transmit slow-scan television (SSTV) images on August 4 – 5. The SSTV images will commemorate the joint Soviet-US Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first international space mission, which took place in mid-July of 1975. The activity will use the RS0ISS call sign, and transmissions will take place on 145.800 MHz, likely using SSTV PD-120 mode. European Space Agency (ESA) Education anticipated the commemorate transmissions in a July tweet.

“We are expecting the ISS to transmit pictures in the next weeks for the 45th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz test project. This is a perfect opportunity to try this activity for yourself,” ESA Education said.

A subsequent announcement appeared on the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) blog on July 27.

“The final crew schedule for the week of August 3 – 9 was released recently, and it showed a MAI-75 activity scheduled for August 4 and 5,” the ARISS blog post said. The SSTV activity comes just days after the SpaceX Demo 2 undocking from the ISS. SpaceX Demo 2 marked the first time space station crew members have been launched from US soil since the end of NASA’s space shuttle program.

The schedule calls for setup and day 1 SSTV operation to begin on August 4 at 1225 UTC and continue until 1810 UTC. Day 2 SSTV operation on August 5 will begin at 1115 UTC and continue until 1845 UTC.

While typical MAI-75 SSTV passes are scheduled to occur above Moscow and Russia, and will be visible in the UK and parts of Europe, individuals elsewhere in the world may be able to capture images using their own software via one of the many remotely accessible software-defined radios (SDRs) that cover 2 meters.

ESA has released a video aimed at non-amateurs, “How to get pictures from the International Space Station via Amateur Radio,” along with a collection of tutorial videos explaining how to receive ISS slow-scan television (SSTV) pictures for different computers and mobile devices. See also the article, “Pictures from space via ham radio.” AMSAT-UK offers an ISS SSTV tutorial for beginners. — Thanks to AMSAT News Service, ESA