HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 297.02 FROM AMSAT HQ

SILVER SPRING, MD, OCTOBER 24, 1999

TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS

BID: $ANS-297.02



As hinted in pervious ANS bulletin sets -- NASA now confirms the space

shuttle that will carry the initial Amateur Radio gear into space for the

International Space Station -- will launch no earlier than

February 10, 2000. The flight will be aboard shuttle Atlantis, on mission

STS-101, and will carry only the ham transceivers, not any external

Amateur Radio antenna setup. The good news is that the ARISS team

reports a suitable commercial external antenna on the service module

will be made available so that the crew can start using the ISS ham setup

immediately on 2-meters. It is important to note the arrival and installation

of the external ham antenna modules is sill a high NASA/ARISS priority.



The flight transporting the VHF and UHF hand-held transceivers and

associated antennas and accessories to the ISS had been scheduled

to launch in December of this year. NASA imposed a shuttle launch

hiatus to perform electrical inspections of the entire shuttle fleet,

however, disrupting the launch schedule. The inspections came in the

wake of problems during the July launch of the shuttle Columbia, when

astronauts and ground controllers struggled with power failures in

computers controlling two of the orbiter's three main engines.



NASA and Russian space agency officials also have agreed to delay the

Launch of the Zvezda service module that will house the amateur gear.

According to NASA, a U.S. delegation and the Russians agreed that "it

is no longer prudent to proceed with the current service module

schedule." 



For more information on the ARISS project, visit the following URL:



http://garc.gsfc.nasa.gov/~ariss/ariss.html.



[ANS thanks NASA and the ARRL for this information]