SB SAREX @ AMSAT $STS-71.012 SAREX Update & Keps 7/5 @ 1:30 UTC The Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully completed its historic visit to the Russian MIR space station about 14 hours ago with a successful undocking and separation burn maneuver. During this undocked phase of the STS-71 mission, the Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) activities have begun in earnest. Today, the Shuttle crew completed two antenna tests: one using the payload bay antenna with Doug Loughmiller, G0SYX in Surrey, England and the other using the window antenna developed for MIR operations through the Amsat Phase 3D facility in Orlando, Florida. Stan Wood, WA4NFY was at the microphone in Orlando. STS-71 Pilot Charlie Precourt, KB5YSQ, supported both these tests on the Space Shuttle flight deck. The Benbrook Elementary School in Benbrook, Texas initiated the first of five scheduled school group contacts today. The contact went very well and all (students, astronauts and ground operations personnel) were pleased with the contact. The following represents the latest Keplerian Element from the Johnson Space Center: STS-71 1 23600U 95185.65699487 .00023042 00000-0 31629-3 0 146 2 23600 51.6460 70.2477 0005392 182.9719 177.1211 15.57635469 1088 Satellite: STS-71 Catalog number: 23600 Epoch time: 95185.65699487 = (04-Jul-95 15:46:04.35 UTC) Element set: 014 Inclination: 51.6460 deg RA of node: 70.2477 deg Space Shuttle Flight STS-71 Eccentricity: .0005392 Keplerian element set JSC-014 Arg of perigee: 182.9719 deg from NASA flight Day 7 vector Mean anomaly: 177.1211 deg Mean motion: 15.57635469 rev/day Gil Carman Decay rate: 2.3042e-04 rev/day^2 NASA Johnson Space Center Epoch rev: 108 Checksum: 310 Submitted by Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO for the SAREX Working Group /EX