SB SAT @ AMSAT   $ANS-155.01
STS-70 SAREX POSTPONED

HR AMSAT NEWS SERVICE BULLETIN 155.01 FROM AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD  JUN 5, 1995
TO ALL RADIO AMATEURS BT
BID: $ANS-155.01

STS-70 SAREX Mission Postponed  (Special ANS Bulletin)

The Space Shuttle Discovery mission, which was planned for a June 8
liftoff, has been postponed at least until July.  Discovery is being
rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building hangar.  Once there, it
will be inspected and repaired after some yellow-shafted flickers, a 
type of woodpecker, pecked over 100 holes, some as large as 4 inches
in diameter, into the foam insulation of Discovery's brownish-red 
external tank.

The STS-70 Space Shuttle Discovery mission's primary objective is to
deploy the last in the current series of Tracking Data Relay Satellites.
These satellites are used by NASA and the Air Force for Shuttle
communications as well as for scientific and military payload data 
transmissions.  STS-70 will also fly Configuration C of the Shuttle
Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX).  This configuration allows 
Radio Amateurs to communicate with the Space Shuttle Discovery
crew on 2-meters using packet radio and FM voice.

With STS-70 delayed, the next Space Shuttle mission will be the MIR
docking flight--STS-71.  STS-71 is currently scheduled for launch
on June 24.  When the Space Shuttle Astronauts and Russian cosmonauts
lift off from the Kennedy Space Center on this historic mission, they
will carry along SAREX.  During the flight, Pilot Charlie Precourt,
KB5YSQ, and Mission Specialist Ellen Baker, KB5SIX, will talk to 5
schools in the US and Russia.  SAREX will fly Configuration M (2 meter
voice-only).  More details on this upcoming SAREX mission will be
provided in future ANS bulletins.

[Thanks to Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, and the SAREX Working
Group for the information that went into this Special ANS Bulletin.]

/EX