ARISS Equipment Blasts into Space Aboard Atlantis

ATLANTIS FERRYING INITIAL ARISS HAM GEAR INTO SPACE

The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on schedule September 8, bringing Amateur Radio operation from the International Space Station a giant leap closer to reality. On board Atlantis is the initial Amateur Radio on the International Space Station equipment as well as other supplies needed by the Expedition 1 ISS crew members.

As part of the multinational ARISS project, the gear will be stowed aboard the ISS until the Expedition 1 crew comes aboard in late October. The Expedition 1 crew will consist of US astronaut Bill Shepherd, KD5GSL, and Russian Cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, and Yuri Gaidzenko, whose call sign was not available.

Although astronaut Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX, is aboard Atlantis, there will be no Amateur Radio operation from the shuttle or the ISS during this mission, STS-106. Atlantis will deliver the ARISS VHF and UHF hand-held transceivers as well as a TNC for packet, a specially developed headset and signal adapter module plus power adapters and interconnecting cables.

The shuttle Atlantis rockets into space from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. [ARISS Photo]

The ARISS initial station gear will be installed temporarily aboard the Functional Cargo Block module and use an existing antenna that’s being adapted to support FM voice and packet on 2 meters but not on 70 cm. The ARISS gear will get a more-permanent home aboard the Service Module next year, once VHF and UHF antennas can be installed.

During the nearly two-week STS-106 shuttle mission, the seven-member crew will unload space station supplies from both the shuttle and from a Russian Progress cargo ship that’s now docked at the ISS.

NASA and the Russian space organization Energia have signed agreements that spell out the place of Amateur Radio aboard the ISS. A technical team, called ISS Ham, has been officially set up to serve as the interface to support hardware development, crew training and operations from space.

A Russian call sign, RZ3DZR, has been issued for the ISS ham radio station. A German call sign, DL0ISS, also has been issued, and a US call sign will be applied for.

The $60-billion International Space Station is being built jointly by the US, Russia, the European Space Agency, Canada and Japan. NASA this week extended the deadline to complete the ISS to 2006. The ISS partners have agreed to spread out the assembly missions.

For more information about Amateur Radio on the ISS and SAREX, visit the ARISS Web site.

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