It's a shame there's not a more substantial colony in space than the ISS with its own stock of throwaway microcontrollers and paper. If there were someone could make a few transmitters with paper airplanes, fling them out on the next space walk, and we could have a pretty good idea of what actually happens.
Once you have a vehicle made from heat resistant paper that can survive re-entry, with a GPS receiver and a couple of control surfaces you can drop it within a few meters anywhere along your orbital path. If the weather cooperates. "Hi Mom, I'm up in space!"
