SB SAREX @ AMSAT $STS-076.001 STS-76 SAREX Misssion Begins Silver Spring, Maryland March 22 at 10:00 UTC The Space Shuttle Atlantis was lofted into the clear night time skies of the Kennedy Space Center this morning initiating the third Shuttle/MIR docking flight. During this flight, U.S. astronauts will conduct the first spacewalk while the shuttle is attached to the Russian Space Station Mir. In addition, Shannon Lucid will become the first American woman to serve as a researcher on-board the Space Station MIR. She will remain on MIR approximately four months. Her transfer to MIR will mark the beginning of a long-term U.S. presence on MIR. Crew transfers which will occur on future Shuttle/MIR flights are expected to allow long-term space research to be conducted by U.S. astronauts on the MIR space station until 1998. The STS-76 mission is scheduled to last approximately 9 days, 4 hours, 29 minutes. Docking with Mir is set for the third day of the mission. Shuttle mission STS-76 marks the 20th flight of the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX). Four of the six astronauts on-board Atlantis are amateur radio operators. They include: Kevin P. Chilton, Commander, KC5TEU Richard A. Searfoss, Pilot, KC5CKM Linda M. Godwin, Mission Specialist, N5RAX Ronald M. Sega, Mission Specialist, KC5ETH SAREX provides the opportunity for school students and ham radio operators to talk to the astronauts while on-orbit. Five school groups have been selected to have a 4-8 minute opportunity to talk to the Shuttle crew. The five school groups include: Yeso Elementary School, Artesia, NM Troy Middle School, Troy, TX S.J. Davis Middle School, San Antonio, TX Bethlehem Central Senior High School, Delmar, NY University of Colorado(College of Engineering and Applied Science), Colorado Springs, CO It should be noted that the extremely busy nature of this Shuttle/MIR docking flight is expected to severely limit the operations of the SAREX radio; however, the amateur community is encouraged to listen for the STS-76 crew and transmit only when the crew is on the air. Reports of SAREX general QSO operations should be forwarded by e-mail to sarex@amsat.org to quickly alert the amateur community of SAREX voice operations. Since this flight is a Shuttle-Mir docking mission, and SAREX and Mir Amateur Radio stations usually share the same downlink frequency (145.55 MHz), the SAREX Working Group has decided to use the following frequencies during this mission. The crew will use separate receive and transmit frequencies. PLEASE do not transmit on the shuttle's DOWNLINK frequency. The DOWNLINK is your receiving frequency. The UPLINK is your transmitting frequency. FM Voice Downlink: 145.84 MHz FM Voice Uplink: 144.45, 144.47 MHz The crew will not favor either uplink frequency, so your ability to communicate with SAREX will be the "luck of the draw." Transmit only when the shuttle is within range of your station, and when the shuttle's station is on-the-air. The on-time launch of Atlantis at 8:13 UTC this morning and the nominal orbit insertion means that the following pre-launch orbital elements should be good for the next 24 hours. These were generated by Gil Carman, WA5NOM, of the Johnson Space Center. JSC-001 --- 22-Mar-96 08:55:45 UTC to 22-Mar-96 11:53:46 UTC --- OMS-2 STS-76 1 99976U 96082.40158971 .02224506 00000-0 43339-3 0 10 2 99976 51.6479 199.2986 0102920 3.8722 356.3248 16.17834298 26 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JSC-002 --- 22-Mar-96 11:53:46 UTC to 22-Mar-96 23:51:53 UTC --- NC-1 STS-76 1 99976U 96082.52534876 .00428078 00000-0 56803-3 0 24 2 99976 51.6504 198.6230 0043554 358.5935 1.5126 16.04143369 47 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JSC-003 --- 22-Mar-96 23:51:53 UTC to 23-Mar-96 04:52:56 UTC --- NC-2 STS-76 1 99976U 96083.02367721 .00688944 00000-0 10828-2 0 30 2 99976 51.6506 195.9505 0037870 358.9601 1.1502 16.02879605 122 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Submitted by Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO, for the SAREX Working Group /EX