All,

I would like to extend my congratulations to the ARISS-Europe team on today's successful launch of our newest on-orbit hardware delivery---additional ARISS antennas!! The antennas are mounted on the European Columbus module which flew inside the payload bay of the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

The ARISS-Europe team have been working hard and diligently for over 5 years to realize this outstanding milestone. The team faced numerous challenges, including some very severe environmental testing to get approval to fly these antenna systems.

I would like to thank Gaston Bertels, ON4WF for his outstanding leadership on this project and Dr. Pawel Kabacik at the Wroclaw University of Technology in Poland for his efforts in the antenna design and testing. And I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all those who contributed to this project through their volunteer efforts, financial contributions and/or in-kind contributions. YOU helped us develop, test and fly these antennas.

For more information on the ARISS antennas, see:

http://www.ariss-eu.org/

73, Frank Bauer, KA3HDO ARISS International Chairman AMSAT-NA V.P. for Human Spaceflight Programs