With all of the attention on NA1SS contacts and SuitSat-1, I have not been paying too much attention to the space shuttle program. Let’s face it, after the second round of stuff falling off the external fuel tank thereby grounding the shuttle, it is easy to lose enthusiasm for the program. When will it become operational? Well, NASA says it is aiming for “Return to Flight” with the launch of Discovery STS-121 as early as May 2006.
The STS-121 crew has been named and does include a number of licensed radio amateurs. Of course, that does not necessarily translate to actual contacts from the ISS. The enthusiasm of Bill McArthur for achieving WAS and WAC is quite unique and may be difficult to match. Astronaut Bill Reiter with ham call sign DF4TR is a member of the STS-121 crew and will remain on ISS after the shuttle returns to earth.
The current ISS Expedition 12 crew is Bill McArthur and Valery Tokarev. The NASA web site says that the Expedition 12 crew will return to earth on April 8th, being replaced by the Expedition 13 crew of Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams. Neither Vinogradov nor Williams shows up on the astronaut ham list as having their ham radio license. Of course, that is always subject to change.
Anyway, let’s hope we get the shuttle back in the air safely and move ahead with the ISS program. Some ham radio activity would be cool, too.
73, Bob K0NR