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NASA Announces New ISS Crew
by Arthur Rowe 18 Oct '06

18 Oct '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 > Oct. 18, 2006 > > Katherine Trinidad > Headquarters, Washington > 202-358-3749 > > Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters > Johnson Space Center, Houston > 281-483-5111 > > > > NASA ANNOUNCES NEW INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CREW > > NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency have named two astronauts > and two cosmonauts to the next International Space Station crew, > known as Expedition 15. Astronauts Clayton C. Anderson and Daniel M. > Tani will travel to the station next year and work as flight > engineers. Cosmonauts Fyodor N. Yurchikhin and Dr. Oleg V. Kotov will > spend six months aboard the orbiting laboratory. > > Anderson will get a ride to the station aboard Space Shuttle > Endeavour's STS-118 mission, targeted for launch in June 2007. He > will return to Earth on shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-120. That > flight will carry his replacement, Tani, to the station. Tani will > return on shuttle mission STS-122, targeted for October 2007. > > Yurchikhin will command Expedition 15, and Kotov will serve as station > flight engineer and Soyuz commander. Yurchikhin and Kotov will fly to > the complex aboard a Soyuz spacecraft scheduled to launch in March > 2007. Until Anderson arrives, astronaut Sunita L. Williams will serve > as Expedition 15's third crew member and flight engineer. She will > fly to the station on STS-116 in December. > > A native of Nebraska, Anderson was selected as an astronaut in 1998 > following a technical career in mission operations at NASA's Johnson > Space Center, Houston. He managed the Emergency Operations Center at > Johnson for several years before becoming an astronaut. He has a > bachelor's degree from Hastings College in Hastings, Neb., and a > master's from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. > > A native of Illinois, Tani has a bachelor's and a master's degree in > mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of > Technology, Cambridge, Mass. He was selected as an astronaut in 1996. > Tani's first spaceflight was aboard Endeavour in December 2001 on the > STS-108 mission. During that flight, he performed a four-hour > spacewalk. > > Yurchikhin previously visited the space station aboard Atlantis on > STS-112 in 2002. He is qualified as a mechanical engineer and has a > doctorate in economics. Before he was selected as a cosmonaut, > Yurchikhin served as a Russian flight controller and lead engineer > for several missions. > > Kotov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1996 and has trained for Soyuz, > Mir and space station missions. He is a graduate of the Kirov Medical > Academy in Russia. > > The Expedition 15 backup crew is astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff for > Anderson; Sandra H. Magnus for Tani; Russian cosmonauts Roman Y. > Romanenko and Mikhail B. Kornienko for Yurchikhin and Kotov. > > Video of the Expedition 15 crew members will air on NASA TV's Video > File. For NASA TV downlink, streaming video and scheduling > information, visit: > > http://www.nasa.gov/ntv > > For more about the station, visit: > > http://www.nasa.gov/station > > For more about upcoming space shuttle missions, visit: > > http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle > > > -end- > > > > > >

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STS-116 LATEST NEWS
by Arthur Rowe 18 Oct '06

18 Oct '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 Preparations Continue for STS-116 Crew http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html -** STS-116 crew members are familiarized with flight hardware. (Image above: Inside the SPACEHAB Payload Processing Facility at Port Canaveral, Fla., STS-116 mission specialists (from left) Joan Higginbotham, Sunita Williams and Nicholas Patrick look over flight hardware during the Crew Equipment Interface Test. Image Credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller)** The STS-116 crew members visited NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week for the crew equipment interface test. The test is a routine part of astronaut training and launch preparations, and allows astronauts to get hands-on with the equipment and flight hardware that will be used during the mission. During the STS-116 mission, Discovery will deliver the P5 integrated truss structure to the International Space Station, and carry the SPACEHAB module and other key components. Discovery is slated to roll over to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Nov. 1 for mating with the external tank and solid rocket boosters. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than Dec. 7.

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Become Part of Space History -- Help Name the Next Station Module
by Arthur Rowe 18 Oct '06

18 Oct '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468 > Oct. 17, 2006 > > Sonja Alexander/Allard Beutel > Headquarters, Washington > 202-358-1761/4769 > > Debbie Nguyen > Johnson Space Center, Houston > 281-244-1334 > > > > BECOME PART OF SPACE HISTORY -- HELP NAME THE NEXT STATION MODULE > > The International Space Station is growing, and NASA's Node 2 is the > next U.S. pressurized module scheduled for installation on the > orbiting laboratory. The node will provide more room for station > crews to live and work, but it needs a name. > > Students in kindergarten through grade 12 attending U.S. schools and > children of American personnel overseas are being asked to help NASA > name the module and become part of the history of the station. The > module is at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., and is targeted for > launch in late 2007. The node will be a connecting port and > passageway to additional international science labs and space supply > vehicles. It also will be a work platform for the station's robotic > arm. > > Name the International Space Station Node 2 Challenge requires > students to work together as a class or school to create their own > Node 2 model. Students will name their node, write a brief > description explaining the choice and take digital pictures to send > to NASA. > > The submitted image of the model will not be judged, but it will be > the ticket to enter the name challenge. Submissions will be reviewed > by a panel of NASA scientists, engineers and educators. The deadline > to submit model images and names is Dec. 1. The winning entry will be > announced in early 2007. To register a school or class, teachers or > administrators should send an email to: NASA-ESC(a)nasa.gov. For > information about Node 2, visit: > > http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/node2.html > > For additional information about the Space Station Node 2 Challenge, > visit: > > http://esc.nasa.gov > > > -end- > > > > > >

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2 Line ISS Keps 10-16
by Dave Larsen PhD 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

ISS 1 25544U 98067A 06288.96394316 .00009710 00000-0 62451-4 0 8678 2 25544 051.6353 285.2224 0013264 100.8545 348.1702 15.76908098452211

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Astronaut McArthur received CDROM!
by Cor 15 Oct '06

15 Oct '06

To SAREX, Astronaut McArthur was very active on amateur radio during his mission in the ISS Space Station. Earlier I have made a CDROM for astronaut McArthur with audio - recordings, pictures and comments of the operators which he has spoken to in the past. Kenneth Ransom (N5VHO) has given the CDROM during the amsat symposium (including a letter). See pictures of the CDROM (and letter) for McArthur on: http://www.pd0rkc.com 73's Cor PD0RKC

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2 Line ISS Keps 10-14
by Dave Larsen PhD 14 Oct '06

14 Oct '06

ISS 1 25544U 98067A 06286.79175926 .00007163 00000-0 47269-4 0 8558 2 25544 051.6355 296.4287 0013245 093.0617 256.5874 15.76856335451866

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ISS STATUS REPORT #06-44
by Arthur Rowe 13 Oct '06

13 Oct '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC AMSAT AC #31468 \ International Space Station Status Report #06-44 3 p.m. CDT Friday, October 13, 2006 Expedition 13 Crew The International Space Station’s Expedition 14 crew went for a short ride this week, performed maintenance and experiments aboard the growing outpost and celebrated one crew member's 100th day in space. Station Commander and NASA Science Officer Mike Lopez-Alegria, along with flight engineers Mikhail Tyurin and Thomas Reiter, boarded their Soyuz spacecraft and flew it from one docking port to another on Tuesday. The relocation was a routine procedure conducted ahead of the launch and arrival of the next Progress supply ship scheduled late this month. With Tyurin at the controls, the Soyuz undocked from the aft position of the Zvezda module at 2:14 p.m. CDT and docked to the Zarya control module’s Earth-facing docking port at 2:34 p.m. The 23rd Progress vehicle will launch Oct. 23 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will dock to the vacated Zvezda port three days later, delivering supplies to the crew. More than three weeks into a six-month stay, Lopez-Alegria and Tyurin are settling in to the routine of life in microgravity. They joined Reiter in celebrating his 100th day in space since his launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in early July. Reiter, a European Space Agency astronaut, will return home aboard Discovery when it returns in December and brings NASA astronaut Suni Williams as his replacement. Oxygen is being supplied in the station cabin by tanks on the outside of the U.S. Quest Airlock while an onboard Russian oxygen generation system, called the Elektron, is not working. Additional parts to repair the Elektron are expected to be among the supplies arriving late this month on Progress. The station’s orientation is being managed by three of the four electrically-driven Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs). One gyroscope, designated CMG 3, was shut down after exhibiting intermittently high vibrations early on Monday. Three gyros are sufficient, and there has been no impact to the safety or operation of the station due to the shut down of CMG 3. Flight controllers are evaluating future plans for CMG 3 and any changes that might be needed to assembly operations during the next shuttle mission, STS-116, as a result. During that mission, set for December, alternating systems on the station will be powered off as the complex is rewired to bring on line new supplies of electricity from the recently added solar arrays. Steering jets could be used to control the station's orientation if needed as gyroscopes are powered down during those procedures. This week the crew performed routine medical checks and took water samples while loading the docked Progress vehicle with unneeded items. Lopez-Alegria swapped a water separator in the Quest Airlock’s Common Cabin Air Assembly to ensure a filter doesn’t become clogged. The maintenance procedure was previously performed by the Expedition 5 crew. Also this week, equipment setup began for the Space Video Gateway checkout, which will demonstrate the station’s ability to transmit television in high definition. The next status report will be issued Friday, Oct. 20, or earlier if events warrant. For more about the crew's activities and station sighting opportunities, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station

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Shuttle Mission STS-116: A Hard Wire Job
by Arthur Rowe 13 Oct '06

13 Oct '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT AC #31468 Shuttle Mission STS-116: A Hard Wire Job 10.12.06 NASA has said it over and over again: The coming missions to finish the International Space Station are among the hardest and most complex ever. But if you ask the astronauts and engineers which of the final 14 assembly flights may be the most complex, many would point to Discovery's next mission, set to launch in December. JSC2006-E-23034 : Mark Polansky and William Oefelein"What makes this one singularly unique is the fact that we're going to rewire the space station," Mark Polansky, Discovery's commander, said. Image to right: STS-116 Commander Mark Polansky (left) and Pilot William Oefelein participate in a training session in the fixed-base shuttle mission simulator at Johnson Space Center, Houston. Image credit: NASA Since it went into orbit in 1998, the space station has been running on a temporary electrical system. Lead Space Station Flight Director John Curry compared it to the way you might build a house on the ground – until your electricity is hooked up, you probably plug your saws into a generator. That's basically what the astronauts building and living on the station have been doing for the past eight years. But with the installation of two new electricity-generating solar array panels in September, all the pieces are now in place to switch to the permanent system. At your house, it would just be a matter of unplugging the saw from the generator and plugging it back into the wall. But in space, it's not that easy. "Everything will be fine – if nothing breaks," Curry said. The plan is to send astronauts out on two spacewalks, each devoted to rewiring half of the station. Though it sounds complicated, that part shouldn't be too difficult. Spacewalks are inherently dangerous and should only be done if there is no alternative, Polansky said, but as spacewalks go, these are pretty straightforward. The astronauts will head outside, wait for the team on the ground to send commands to switch off the power, and then unplug the power cables and plug them in new places. There might be the occasional stiff cable to deal with – that can happen in the minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit of space – and the process will likely be slow, but not especially complex. The real pressure, Polansky said, will be on those back in Houston. "I hold my breath every time we do spacewalks because you never know what can happen," he said. "So I'll definitely be watching. But I don't think I'll be as worried as the guys in Mission Control and the folks who have been working on the hardware will be. I think I'll have a lot of company in the worry department." Curry confirmed that suspicion. He's been training for this mission for six years, and he said his team couldn't be any more prepared. But when asked what about the mission keeps him awake at night, he had no trouble coming up with a list. "My team is the one that has to turn everything back on and get it running," he said. JSC2003-00016 : Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang participate in spacewalk training Image above: Mission Specialists Robert Curbeam and Christer Fuglesang, wearing training versions of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit, participate in an underwater simulation of extravehicular activity scheduled for the STS-116 shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA Theoretically, everything should go fine. But there are a few things that could cause some big hitches. Several of them have to do with the unpredictability of equipment that's been in space for years. For instance, before any of the rewiring can be done, half of the solar array that's been providing the temporary electricity must be folded up to make room for the new solar arrays to rotate. That's never been tried before, and it may not be as easy as it sounds. "It's been sitting out there taking thermal cycles (moving from minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit to plus 200 degrees Fahrenheit every 45 minutes) since November 2000," Curry said. "It's like a map – if you keep a map out in your car for six years and then you decide to fold it up again, you may get some waves in it or it may not fold back the same way at all." Many of the main components of the electrical system have been flying that long and could cause similar large headaches. It's impossible to know for sure if the equipment will work until the power has been turned off, rewired and turned back on. And if it doesn't work, the astronauts can't leave it like that – the essential systems on the station would be running on whichever half of the station has power, but without both halves they won't have any backup. That's not a position anyone wants to leave the station in for any longer than necessary. So, if Mission Control flips the switch and the lights don't all come on, the astronauts will have to try and fix whatever the problem is before they run out of time. If they can't, then it's back to square one. "Then I have to tell the crew, stop what you're doing and undo everything," Curry said. To avoid that, plans addressing possible problems are made well in advance. "You put all your energy into being successful and doing it safely, while making sure you do it efficiently," Lead Shuttle Flight Director Tony Ceccacci said. "And then you step back after you get that completed and say, ‘What if?'" JSC2006-E-33306 : Robert Curbeam with virtual reality hardware Polansky said the crew spends a lot of time training for those what ifs. "They run through scenario after scenario," Polansky said. "Today we're going to do a main bus switching unit checkout, tomorrow we're going to do a pump module remove and replace. The next day we're going to a replace a direct current-to-direct current converter unit box. None of which we ever plan to do on orbit." Image to left: STS-116 Mission Specialist Robert Curbeam uses virtual reality hardware to rehearse some of his duties on the upcoming mission to the International Space Station. Image credit: GO TO:http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts116/mission… But, Ceccacci said, as much as you would like to, you can't plan for every contingency. You look at the most probable failure, impact to mission, complexity of recovering, then determine if you should spend the resources to develop the fix. If the old solar array won't fold up, the astronauts won't be able to do any of their rewiring spacewalks until they either fold it up manually or jettison it. If the pump that keeps the electrical system cool doesn't work, there would only be enough time to rewire half of the station after replacing it. But he believes NASA is up to the challenge. "Everyone has stepped up, is prepared, and is confident that this mission will be very successful," Ceccacci said. "As with all complex assembly flights, it's going to be interesting."

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NEW MISSION CONTROL ROOM
by Arthur Rowe 13 Oct '06

13 Oct '06

SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT AC #31468 Kylie Clem Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 10.11.06 NASA Revives Original Mission Control for Growing Space Station International Space Station flight controllers have a new home with increased technical capabilities, more workspace and a long, distinguished history. As NASA embarks on a series of space flights as complex as any in history to complete assembly of the station, station operations facilities needed an upgrade. The previous station control room, designated the Blue Flight Control Room, had been in operation since the first station component was launched in 1998. The newly remodeled facility is just down the hall at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. Known as Flight Control Room 1, it was first used to control a space flight 38 years ago today, the mission of Apollo 7 launched Oct. 11, 1968. It was one of two original control rooms for NASA's manned missions. Among historic flights the room controlled during its previous use were missions to America's first space station, Skylab, in the 1970s, and the first space shuttle mission, STS-1, in April 1981. Fittingly, the last full flight controlled from the room was the first time a shuttle visited a space station, the STS-71 mission to the Russian Mir station in June 1995. Following that, shuttle flight control transitioned to a new room, and the last service in FCR-1 was control of the ascent to orbit only of space shuttle mission STS-76 in March 1996. Since then, the room has been a science center. After nine months of remodeling, including changes to existing hardware to minimize expenses, the station team moved in on Oct. 6. They now staff the room around the clock and will continue to do so throughout the life of the station. The relocation was coordinated by Lead Station Flight Director John McCullough. A team of employees from across Johnson completed the renovations and systems testing on a tight schedule with no interruption of critical station operations. Today, that team gathered in FCR-1 for a ribbon cutting to commemorate the project's completion. At the ceremony, the team was joined by Johnson Director Mike Coats, Mission Operations Director Allen Flynt and Mission Operations Deputy Director Milt Heflin. Former Johnson Director and Project Mercury Flight Director Christopher Kraft, who is credited with developing NASA's original concepts of human space flight control, was a special guest. The old room had about 16 consoles for flight control disciplines, such as space station electrical and environmental systems. Several disciplines had to share consoles depending on station activities under way. "When we were doing complex operations, such as spacewalks, launches or rendezvous and dockings, we had to relocate to the larger shuttle flight control room or use back rooms," said McCullough. "In that configuration the team didn't have the best possible situational awareness of what was going on." The new room has 20 consoles and more space for safety and comfort. Its existing consoles and individual monitors were updated. Where the old room had only two front screens, the new facility has three large front screens to display information for the entire team and mounted high definition television cameras. To ensure a smooth transition, the station team has had temporary quarters in the Shuttle Flight Control Room since the last shuttle mission was completed in September. The temporary quarters allowed equipment to be moved and full check out of the new facility without interference to ongoing station expeditions. The walls of the new room reflect its long history, with 61 mission plaques displayed from flights supported there. New plaques will be added now for each mission the station team supports as the room again makes history. "I like to hearken back to the Apollo operations and think that the ghosts from that time are still in the room," said Chief Flight Director Phil Engelauf of the new station flight control room. "The symbolism is not lost on the new generation of flight controllers working there." The first new plaque to be added will be for shuttle mission STS-116, targeted to launch in December. Video of the remodeling work, the operational room and ribbon cutting ceremony will air as a NASA TV Video File beginning tomorrow. Video of the room in operation also is available as part of NASA TV's daily station coverage. For NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and digital downlink information visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/home

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2 Line ISS Keps 10-13
by Dave Larsen PhD 13 Oct '06

13 Oct '06

ISS 1 25544U 98067A 06285.98420664 .00007505 00000-0 49352-4 0 8498 2 25544 051.6353 300.5949 0013135 090.2623 352.0864 15.76844687451745

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