SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0129 * SpaceNews 29-Jan-96 * BID: $SPC0129 ========= SpaceNews ========= MONDAY JANUARY 29, 1996 SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA. It is published every week and is made available for unlimited free distribution. * SAREX TO FLY ON STS-76 * ========================== The Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment, or SAREX will fly again on Shuttle Mission STS-76 set for launch March 21, 1996 at 0834 UTC (3:34 AM EST) from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Landing is scheduled for March 30, 1995 at 1707 UTC (12:07 AM EST) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-76 will be a 9 day mission. Among those in the crew who hold amateur licenses are, Astronaut Richard A. Searfoss, KC5CKM, who will serve as the Shuttle's Pilot, Mission Specialist Linda M. Godwin, N5RAX, and Ronald M. Sega, KC5ETH. The remaining crew members include Commander Kevin P. Chilton, and Mission Specialists Shannon W. Lucid (who is expected to have his amateur license by that time) and Michael R. Clifford. STS-76 will be Linda Godwin's third shuttle flight. She used ham radio aboard the shuttle Atlantis during STS-37 in April 1991, and from aboard Endeavour during STS-59 in April 1994. Searfoss last operated SAREX from the Space Shuttle Columbia during mission STS-58 in October/November 1993. This will be his second Shuttle flight. Ronald Sega used SAREX from Discovery during the first joint US/Russian shuttle mission, STS-60, in February 1994. During the mission, the shuttle will rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. Later, the shuttle will return to Earth, leaving Shannon Lucid on Mir for a 5 month stay aboard the Russian complex. The launch will place the shuttle into Earth orbit at an altitude of 196-245 statute miles (315-394 km) and an inclination of 51.6 degrees. During SAREX missions, the astronauts will typically make Amateur Radio scheduled contacts with schools, personal contacts with family members and random contacts with the Amateur Radio operators. Additional STS-76 mission information can be obtained from NASA: * NASA Spacelink computer information system (look under Spacelink.Hot.Topics) BBS: (205) 895-0028 [VT-100, 8-N-1] Telnet, FTP, and Gopher: spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov World Wide Web: http://spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov Internet TCP/IP address: 192.149.89.61 * NASA Shuttle World Wide Web Home Page: http://shuttle.nasa.gov The Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX) is sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), The Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). SAREX is supported by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). [Info via The AMSAT News Service] * MIR NEWS * ============ 1996 will be a year filled with interesting activities on the Russian space station MIR. The crew currently on-board MIR (Main Expedition ME 20) will continue the Euromir-95 program and make a third space walk (EVA) on 08-Feb-96. This EVA, originally an EVA to be executed by Russians in the interest of ESA, will now be made in the framework of Euromir-95 and one of the 2 participants will be Thomas Reiter. This became possible due to the 44 day extension of the ME-20/Euromir-95 mission. During the EVA, the Cosmonauts will retrieve the ESEF (European Science Exposure Facility), which had been installed on the outer surface of the MIR-complex by Reiter and Avdeyev on 20-Oct-95. The crew of ME-20 will be relieved by the crew of ME-21, which will include Cosmonauts Onufriyenko and Usachov. They will start with the Soyuz-TM23 on 21-Feb-96 and link up with MIR on 23-Feb-96. The ME-20/Euromir-95 crew will return to Earth in the Soyuz-TM22 on 29-Feb-96. Other events scheduled for MIR in 1996 will be three docking missions with Space Shuttle Atlantis. Docking will occur on STS missions: STS-76 (23-Mar-96) STS-79 (03-Aug-96) STS-81 (05-Dec-96) Soyuz-TM ships will bring relief crews to the MIR space station three times in 1996. Foreigners, including a French woman and German man will be involved in two of these missions. Soyuz-TM ships will return to Earth three times with relieved crews. During 1996, four Progress-M supply ships will link up with MIR. The last big module, Priroda, will be launched to MIR in March 1996. This will be the fifth and final module for the MIR orbital complex. A few days after the docking of Priroda and its redocking from the axial to a radial port, the first Atlantis docking mission will begin. During this mission, Astronauts will make an EVA and work outside the huge complex. One of the American astronauts, Shannon Lucid, will be added to the MIR crew and return to Earth by Atlantis during the second docking mission in August. The crew of MIR-ME-21 (launch 21-Feb-96) will perform five EVAs. The following crew (ME-22), scheduled for launch on 06-Jul-96, will make four EVAs. The most spectacular operation will be during the last Atlantis mission in 1996 (STS-86). In the period in which the Atlantis is docked to the MIR complex, the freighter Progress-M34 will undock and decay in the atmosphere. One day later, the Soyuz-TM 25 with a relief crew will dock to the complex. On the following day, Atlantis will undock and return to Earth. [Info via Chris v.d. Berg, NL-9165/A-UK3202] * SpaceNews NEWS * ================== The SpaceNews World Wide Web "finger" site has received a favorable review and rating by the McKinley Group's Professional Editorial Team. The McKinley Group sponsors "Magellan", a comprehensive Internet directory of over 1.5 million sites and over 40,000 reviews. The SpaceNews "finger" Web site may be accessed on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.cs.indiana.edu/finger/pilot.njin.net/magliaco/w A Magellan Web Search may be conducted from: http://www.njin.net/~magliaco Entering "SpaceNews" in the form at the bottom of the page will allow access to the McKinley Group's review, as well as the latest copy of SpaceNews. * FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED * =========================== Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor (John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below: FAX : 1-908-747-7107 FTP : pilot.njin.net cd to /pub/SpaceNews WWW : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/ PACKET : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA INTERNET : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@pilot.njin.net SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19 MAIL : John A. Magliacane, KD2BD Department of Engineering and Technology Advanced Technology Center Brookdale Community College Lincroft, New Jersey 07738 U.S.A. <<=- SpaceNews: The first amateur newsletter read in space! -=>> /EX