November 2007 - Sarex (INACTIVE)

A Fantastic Monday Morning Sky Show
by Arthur Rowe 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 > NASA Science News for November 2, 2007 > > On Monday morning, Nov. 5th, space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to > undock from the ISS while the pair are gliding over many US towns and > cities. The two spaceships will cut across a glittering expanse of > morning stars dotted by bright planets and a Venus-Moon conjunction. > And don't forget the exploding comet! It all adds up to "A Fantastic > Monday Morning Sky Show." > > FULL STORY at > > http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/02nov_nov5.htm?list833780 > > >

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Discovery Leaves Newly Configured Station
by Arthur Rowe 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Discovery Leaves Newly Configured Station* Image Above: The International Space Station as seen from space shuttle Discovery after undocking. Image credit: NASA TV TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Discovery undocked from the International Space Station at 5:32 a.m. today. The shuttle and station crews ended joint operations when the hatches closed at 3:03 p.m. EST Sunday. STS-120’s stay at the station began Oct. 25 and featured four spacewalks to continue the on-orbit construction of the station. Discovery also carried the Harmony Node 2 module and a new crew member, Daniel Tani, to the station. The crews installed Harmony Oct. 26 and conducted four spacewalks during STS-120. During the third spacewalk, the crews installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crews could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crews were able to fully deploy the solar array.

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Discovery Undocks From Space Station
by Arthur Rowe 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Discovery Undocks From Space Station* 5 November 2007 Image Above: The space shuttle Discovery as seen from the International Space Station after undocking. Image credit: NASA TV :TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html Discovery undocked from the International Space Station at 5:32 a.m. EST as they flew over the South Pacific. STS-120 Pilot George Zamka backed the orbiter about 400 feet from the station and performed a fly-around to allow crew members to collect video and imagery of the station in its new configuration. He completed the final separation engine burn at 7:15 a.m. Later in the day, shuttle crew members will use the shuttle robot arm and the 50-foot long Orbiter Boom Sensor System to conduct a late inspection of the thermal protection system. The crew will spend Tuesday preparing for landing. Discovery’s first landing opportunity is at 1:02 p.m. Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. During its stay at the station, which began Oct. 25, the STS-120 crew continued the on-orbit construction of the station with the installation of the Harmony Node 2 module and the relocation of the P6 truss. The crew installed Harmony Oct. 26 and did four spacewalks at the station. During the third spacewalk, the crew installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crew could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array. Discovery also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani. He replaced astronaut Clayton Anderson. Anderson arrived at the station in June with STS-117.

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Discovery Undocks From Space Station
by Arthur Rowe 05 Nov '07

05 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Discovery Undocks From Space Station* 5 November 2007 Discovery undocked from the International Space Station at 5:32 a.m. EST as they flew over the South Pacific. After STS-120 Pilot George Zamka backs the orbiter about 400 feet from the station, he will perform a fly-around to allow crew members to collect video and imagery of the station in its new configuration. He will perform the final separation engine burn at 7:15 a.m. Later in the day, shuttle crew members will use the shuttle robot arm and the 50-foot long Orbiter Boom Sensor System to conduct a late inspection of the thermal protection system. The crew will spend Tuesday preparing for landing. Discovery’s first landing opportunity is at 1:02 p.m. Wednesday at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. During its stay at the station, which began Oct. 25, the STS-120 crew continued the on-orbit construction of the station with the installation of the Harmony Node 2 module and the relocation of the P6 truss. The crew installed Harmony Oct. 26 and did four spacewalks at the station. During the third spacewalk, the crew installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crew could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array. Discovery also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani. He replaced astronaut Clayton Anderson. Anderson arrived at the station in June with STS-117.

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STS-120 Crew Closes Hatches to Station
by Arthur Rowe 04 Nov '07

04 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *STS-120 Crew Closes Hatches to Station; Discovery to Undock Monday* Image Above: The STS-120 and Expedition 16 crew members bid farewell to each other. Image credit: NASA TV TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html The STS-120 crew bid farewell to the Expedition 16 crew before the hatches closed at 3:03 p.m. EST Sunday between Discovery and the station. Attention now turns to Discovery’s undocking from the station a little after 5:30 a.m. Monday. STS-120 arrived at the station Oct. 25, delivering the Harmony Node 2 module to the station. The crew installed Harmony Oct. 26 and conducted four spacewalks during its stay at the station. During the third spacewalk, the crew installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crew could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array. Discovery also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani. He replaced astronaut Clayton Anderson. Anderson arrived at the station in June with STS-117. Before Discovery begins the journey home, Pilot George Zamka will perform a fly-around to allow crew members to collect video and imagery of the station in its new configuration. Discovery is scheduled to land at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., a little after 1:00 p.m. Wednesday.

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Hatches to Close Today
by Arthur Rowe 04 Nov '07

04 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Hatches to Close Today* 4 November 2007 The STS-120 crew is scheduled to bid farewell to the Expedition 16 crew before the hatches close at 1:43 p.m. EST between Discovery and the station. Discovery is slated to undock a little after 5:30 a.m. Monday. STS-120 arrived at the station Oct. 25, delivering the Harmony Node 2 module to the station. The crew installed Harmony and conducted four spacewalks during its stay at the station. During the third spacewalk, the crew installed the P6 truss and solar array pair in its permanent location outboard of the port truss. The fourth spacewalk was changed during the mission so that the crew could repair a torn solar array on the P6 truss. Following the successful repair work, the crew was able to fully deploy the solar array. Discovery also delivered a new station crew member, Flight Engineer Daniel Tani. He replaced astronaut Clayton Anderson. Anderson arrived at the station in June with STS-117.

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Fourth Spacewalk Successful; Undocking Ahead
by Arthur Rowe 03 Nov '07

03 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Fourth Spacewalk Successful; Undocking Ahead* 3 November 2007 Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully repaired a torn solar array Saturday during STS-120’s fourth spacewalk. The 7-hour, 19-minute excursion wrapped up at 1:22 p.m. EDT. Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm up to the damaged area of the array. After reaching the area of the damage, Parazynski installed the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time until the array was fully deployed. With that task behind them, the shuttle’s crew will prepare to leave the station. They will close the hatch between the shuttle and the station at 1:13 p.m. EST on Sunday, after a light day of interviews with European media, off-duty time, and farewells. Discovery is scheduled to undock from the station Monday morning.

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Spacewalkers Complete Array Repair, Deployment
by Arthur Rowe 03 Nov '07

03 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Spacewalkers Complete Array Repair, Deployment 3 November 2007 * Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully repaired a torn solar array today during STS-120’s fourth spacewalk. The 7-hour, 19-minute excursion wrapped up at 1:22 p.m. EDT. Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm up to the damaged area of the array. He was secured in a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS – the extension to the shuttle robot arm used for inspection of the orbiter’s thermal protection system. After reaching the area of the damage, Parazynski went to work installing the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time until the array was fully deployed. Mission Specialist Paolo Nespoli coordinated today’s spacewalk activities.

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ISS amateur radio status- Nov 2007
by Ransom, Kenneth G. (JSC-OC)[BAR] 03 Nov '07

03 Nov '07

Amateur radio operations on the ISS have had an interesting year. After being unavailable for months, the packet system was able to be partially restored when Suni Williams performed some basic manual reprogramming of the Kenwood D700 back it June. Unfortunately this occurred just prior to an expedition crew exchange and some miscommunication kept the system off an additional two months until some information about the radio got clarified to the new crew. Since early September, packet has been operational on 145.825 simplex and will stay there until a complete reprogramming of the D700 system is performed. A target date for fully restoring the radio has not been set but it is hoped that the access to a computer on orbit and certification of the reprogramming software can be finalized for implementation during Expedition 17. Due to continuing issues related to the radio misconfiguration, full operational capabilities are not available. Basic voice and packet operations are working but the crossband repeater is not available. Future SSTV operations are on hold until issues related to the system and the radio can be resolved or a plan to utilized another configuration of hardware can be implemented. On the plus side, school contacts have had a banner year so far with 74 contacts made from Jan 1, 2007 until Oct 31, 2007 (the most ever recorded in a calendar year) and Exp 15 set a new school contact record for most school contacts by an expedition crew with 39. Suni Williams contributed 16, Fyodor Yurchikhin had 3 and Clay Anderson finishing out the expedition with 20. The top 5 expedition school contact counts are: 1) Exp 15 - 39 2) Exp 12 - 38 3) Exp 14 - 25 4) Exp 10 - 23 5) Exp 3 - 22 In the individual operator standings for most school contact, Suni totaled 33 school contacts during her time on Expeditions 14 and 15 to move her into second place while Clay Anderson reached 21 contacts during his tour on Expeditions 15 and 16 to achieve fifth place. The top 5 individual school contact counts for a single tour are: 1) Bill McArthur - 37 2) Suni Williams - 33 3) Leroy Chiao - 23 4) Frank Culbertson - 22 5) Clay Anderson - 21 NASA has stated that the next several months will be extremely difficult with all the activity on the ISS. During Expedition 16, three new modules (Harmony, Columbus and the Japanese pressurized storage module) will be installed on the ISS. In addition, Expedition 16 is planned to have three shuttle flights, 2 Soyuz flights, 2 progress flights and the maiden launch of the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle). As such, the initial crew of Expedition 16 has declined to participate in any ARISS activities. This means no school contacts will be planned for the next several months and it is possible that unattended operational support will be sporadic. Once Leopold Eyharts replaces Dan Tani during the STS-122 mission, the opportunity to resume amateur radio related activities should be possible. Kenneth - N5VHO

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Crews Complete Array Repair, Deployment
by Arthur Rowe 03 Nov '07

03 Nov '07

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 *Crews Complete Array Repair, Deployment* 3 November 2007 Image Above: Astronaut Scott Parazynski, riding on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, assesses his repair work as the solar array is fully deployed. Image credit: NASA TO VIEW IMAGE GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html Mission Specialists Scott Parazynski and Doug Wheelock successfully repaired a torn solar array today during STS-120’s fourth spacewalk. Shortly after the spacewalk began, Parazynski rode the station’s robotic arm up to the damaged area of the array. He was secured in a foot restraint on the end of the Orbiter Boom Sensor System, or OBSS – the extension to the shuttle robot arm used for inspection of the orbiter’s thermal protection system. After reaching the area of the damage, Parazynski went to work installing the cufflinks that were built by the crew. Once the five cufflinks were in place, the crew inside then deployed the array half a bay at a time until the array was fully deployed. The spacewalk is scheduled to wrap up about 1 p.m.

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