 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||
|
|
![Previous (earlier) Story](/images/sty-down.gif "ARRL Cites "Additional Authorities" to Buttress BPL Reconsideration Petition"){kind=small} Previous: ARRL Cites "Additional Authorities" to Buttress BPL Reconsideration Petition |  Next: An Explorer at Heart, Astronaut Tells Japanese Students |
 |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 12, 2005--When the US space shuttle Discovery launches on its long-awaited "Return to Flight," its crew of seven will include six Amateur Radio licensees. Eileen Collins, KD5EDS, will serve as commander of the STS-114 shuttle mission, now set to go into space Wednesday, July 13, at 1951 UTC--although weather developments could alter that schedule. The launch will mark the first shuttle flight since the loss of shuttle Columbia and its crew--including three Amateur Radio licensees--on February 1, 2003. Collins says she's a "huge believer" in human exploration and also recognizes the risks involved in space travel.
"For me, it's almost a need to explore," she said in a
pre-flight interview for NASA. "I like to get out and do new things and see new
things. When it comes to flying in space, we're taking very, very small steps.
We're flying the space shuttle right now, we're building a space station, we're
going to go on from the space station, back to the moon and on to Mars. To me,
it is very important for humans to get off the planet and go do these things."
 The STS-114 crew: (Front) Astronauts Eileen M. Collins, KD5EDS (right), commander; Wendy B. Lawrence, KC5KII, mission specialist; and James M. Kelly, KC5ZSW, pilot. (Rear) Astronauts Stephen K. Robinson (left), Andy Thomas, KD5CHF; Charlie Camarda, KC5ZSY, and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, all mission specialists. Noguchi represents the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). [NASA Photo] |
A veteran of three space flights, Collins has logged more than 530 hours in space. She says space travel is "safe enough that I'm willing to take the risk" and significantly safer than the sailing vessels explorers used in past centuries. Discovery is named for two famous sailing ships commanded by explorers Henry Hudson and James Cook.
The other STS-114 crew members are James Kelly, KC5ZSW;
Charlie Camarda, KC5ZSY; Wendy Lawrence, KC5KII; Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP; Andy
Thomas, KD5CHF/VK5MIR, and Stephen Robinson. Thomas and Lawrence both did tours
of duty aboard the Russian Mir space station and conducted many SAREX
(Space Amateur Radio EXperiment) school group contacts.
 At the Shuttle Landing Facility on NASA's Kennedy Space Center, STS-114 Pilot James Kelly, KC5ZSW, and Mission Commander Eileen Collins, KD5EDS, join support personnel after completing practice runs on the Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA). [NASA/KSC Photo] |
Ham Radio Activity Dubious
During its 12-day mission, Discovery will transport
supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), where astronauts will carry
out three spacewalks. At this point, it's not clear if any of the licensed
STS-114 crew members will have a chance to get on the air from NA1SS, the
Amateur Radio station aboard the ISS.
 The shuttle Discovery, now 21 years old, is set to launch July 13, weather permitting. [NASA Photo] |
"The crew has been made asked to try and make contacts during their visit, but with all the activities planned, I wouldn't be too optimistic," Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, told ARRL. He notes that ARISS already has had to cancel two school group contacts prior to and during the STS-114 mission time frame because of the intense activity level. "This is likely to be the busiest schedule a shuttle crew has had docked to the space station," he said.
PCSat2 Installation Part of Busy Mission
During the third space walk, astronauts will deploy and install PCSat2, an Amateur Radio payload that will be externally mounted on the ISS as a Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE). PCSat2 will provide a multi-user PSK31 transponder on 10 meters, an FM voice repeater for possible use with ISS crew communications and an AX.25 packet system for use as a UI digipeater and for telemetry. PCSat2 was constructed by United States Naval Academy midshipmen, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and ARISS under the direction of Bob Bruninga, WB4APR.
The Discovery and ISS crews also will transfer tons
of equipment and supplies to and from the ISS. Ransom notes that some ISS experiments
have been waiting a long time to come back to Earth. While the NASA crew has
been grounded, unmanned Russian Progress rockets have been transporting
supplies to the ISS. Crews--reduced from three to two members in the wake of the
shuttle tragedy--have been arriving at and departing from the ISS via Russian Soyuz
vehicles.
 Commander Collins participates in a training exercise at the Johnson Space Center. [NASA Photo] |
NASA at the Ready
At the launch readiness briefing July 11, NASA Space Shuttle Deputy Program Manager Wayne Hale said it was an exciting time "like Christmas." Shuttle Weather Officer Mindy Chavez says NASA is monitoring an approaching weather system but there are no new weather-related issues. Weather conditions indicate only a 40 percent chance for a launch delay due to weather. NASA has until the end of July to send Discovery on its flight to the ISS. If it doesn't go into space by month's end, it must wait until September to ensure a daylight launch.
Columbia Families Express Support
The families of the lost shuttle Columbia crew released an expression of support for the Return to Flight mission and its crew. "We have had two and one half years to reflect daily on the loss of our loved ones as the shuttle Columbia (STS-107) broke apart over Texas on February 1, 2003," the families' statement said. "In the aftermath of the Columbia tragedy we saw our nation's space program reinvent itself."
The families said NASA and the various bodies that investigated the STS-107 tragedy "have done an exemplary job in defining and reducing the technical risk as much as possible" for the STS-114 flight.
"Godspeed Discovery," their statement concluded.
| Previous: ARRL Cites "Additional Authorities" to Buttress BPL Reconsideration Petition | Next: An Explorer at Heart, Astronaut Tells Japanese Students |
