Hams travel to/from space station for duty

Started by WA4STO, September 19, 2013, 04:59:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

WA4STO

Amateur Radio in Space: Radio Amateurs Headed to, Return From ISS

Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, KF5LJG, and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryzanskiy are scheduled to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft September 25 to join their Expedition 37 crewmates aboard the International Space Station. Hopkins will be the first member of the 2009 NASA astronaut class to fly into space. While he's aboard the ISS, Hopkins will install the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Ham Video gear, although that is considered a low-priority assignment.

Hopkins will join Expedition 37 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Flight Engineers Karen Nyberg, and Luca Parmitano, KF5KDP. Yurchikhin, Nyberg, and Parmitano arrived in May and will return to Earth in November.

Meanwhile, US Astronaut Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR, and Russian Cosmonaut and Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov, RV3BS, came safely back to Earth from the ISS September 11 aboard a Soyuz capsule. Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Alexander Misurkin rounded out the trio that landed in Kazakhstan after 166 days in space.

A day earlier, Vinogradov handed over command of the ISS to another radio amateur, Cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, in a traditional change-of-command ceremony in the Zvezda service module.