An International Space Station Expedition 14 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at International School of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium on 27 Mar. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 13:45 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and NN1SS. The contact should be audible in portions of Central and Eastern North America. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. Additional listening options are listed below. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

IRLP - Connect to the IRLP reflector 9010.

HOUSTON - The Expedition 14 crew continued work this week on scientific experiments and increased the bandwidth on the International Space Station's computer network.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Suni Williams spent time working with experiments that may hold the key to several aspects of long-duration space flight as NASA looks forward to missions back to the moon and on to Mars or other destinations.

Each served as test subject and operator for the Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' Central Nervous System experiment that examines how cosmic radiation affects brain waves. As test subjects, they wore an electroencephalograph cap that records readings of their brain functions, and over that, a special helmet with Italian-designed instruments that records the amount and types of cosmic rays passing through the station. Since cosmic radiation is even more prevalent at greater distances from Earth, the research could lead to countermeasures important to the safety and productivity of future explorers.

During a media teleconference Wednesday, March 21, NASA officials discussed the status of repair work to Space Shuttle Atlantis' external fuel tank, which was damaged during a Feb. 26 hail storm at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The teleconference followed a meeting to assess the ongoing work. Managers decided that more testing and analysis are needed to determine whether the tank will be used for the upcoming STS-117 flight or whether the tank will be replaced. On April 10, the teams expect to have the necessary data to make that decision and to establish a potential target launch date.

NASA will hold a ceremony April 17 at 9 a.m. EDT to officially welcome a new International Space Station component to the Kennedy Space Center. The Experiment Logistics Module Pressurized Section for the Japanese Experiment Module arrived at Kennedy March 12 to begin preparations for its future launch.

Complete press release at http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2007/mar/HQ_M07032_JEM_KSC.html