NASA has chosen a substitute spacecraft communicator to replace astronaut Lisa Nowak during the upcoming STS-117 shuttle flight to launch next month, mission managers said Thursday.

Cathy Koerner, lead shuttle flight director for NASA's STS-117 mission aboard the Atlantis orbiter, said Thursday that astronaut Terry Virts will take Nowak's position as lead spacecraft communicator -- or Capcom -- during the upcoming construction mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA placed Nowak on a 30-day leave last week after she was charged with attempted murder, attempted kidnapping and other counts stemming from a confrontation with a woman whom police said the astronaut believed to be a romantic rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot.

HOUSTON - This week, the Expedition 14 crew continued to focus on preparation for their final planned spacewalk ahead of the space shuttle Atlantis' arrival in March. This comes following Sunday's unexpected circuit breaker trip on the International Space Station and subsequent resetting of affected equipment.

As Atlantis was moved to the launch pad this week, station Commander Mike Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin conducted leak checks of the Russian Orlan spacesuits they will wear for their Feb. 22 venture outside the station. They installed some additional equipment on the suits, including lights that will assist in their tasks.

Tuesday 26th February 2007 childrens and young students aged between 6 and 18 from the Portuguese secondary school Camilo Castelo Branco and primary school Jorge Mineiro and Manuel Vaz will attempt to communicate with astronauts onboard the International Space Station.

Camilo Castelo Branco Sschool is located in Carnaxide, Portugal. It's a school for students aged between 12 and 18. The ARISS School Contact involves high-school students from the scientific and technological area. These students have in their curriculums Physics, Chemistry and Philosophy courses. Many of the students will continue their studies in the university, choosing areas related to aerospace engineering.

This morning I stumbled upon a Albert Einstein [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox]twin paradox[/url] reading. Einstein took years to come out with this: If we placed a living organism in a box ... one could arrange that the organism, after any arbitrary lengthy flight, could be returned to its original spot in a scarcely altered condition, while corresponding organisms which had remained in their original positions had already long since given way to new generations. For the moving organism the lengthy time of the journey was a mere instant, provided the motion took place with approximately the speed of light.