In an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program progress report this week, ARISS International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, has address some questions regarding ARISS operations and equipment upgrade and repair. Bauer says that with the successful space shuttle return to flight, ISS construction again has shifted into high gear, with the delivery and assembly of two new ISS modules now on the near horizon. But that activity's not without a downside for Amateur Radio activity from the ISS.

Complete story at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2007/04/25/101/?nc=1

I heard part of the I.S.S.contact with Christian Life Elementary school in Rockford Ill. today at 19:30 utc.
I made a short recording of it and will try to upload it when I get more time.

An International Space Station Expedition 15 ARISS school contact has been planned with students at Samuel-von-Pufendorf Gymnasium, Floeha, Germany on 28 April. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 14:19 UTC.

The contact will be a direct between stations NA1SS and DL0GYM. The contact should be audible in most of Europe. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English.

Samuel-von-Pufendorf Gymnasium leads the pupils to the Abitur in a 8 year course beginning with grade 5. More than 600 young people in all grades are taught by 65 teachers. The school amateur radio club DL0GYM was founded in 2003. The main purpose is to prepare pupils to pass the amateur radio examination and become licensees. The club station supports education by demonstrating the possibilities of modern amateur radio technologies like packet radio, satellite communication via the "OSCARs", ATV, SSTV and so on. The club cooperates with the German Amateur Radio Club "DARC e.V." and the "Arbeitskreis Amateurfunk in der Schule - AATiS e.V."

ISS Ham Radio Enthusiasts,

I wanted to provide a progress report on the ISS Ham Radio activities. And to address some questions that have come up related to ARISS operations and equipment upgrade and repair.

With the successful Shuttle return to flight, the International Space Station Program construction has moved into high gear with delivery and assembly of new ISS modules. If all goes well, the new European Columbus Module and Japanese Kibo module will be installed on ISS in the next 12 months. This substantial workload on the crew is impacting ARISS operations directly.

The launching of any new or replacement radios or computers has been significantly curtailed due to the extremely limited upmass capability. There are just too many higher priority activities from an international space agency perspective and frankly we are a lower priority. The extra workload on the crew has taken its toll on ARISS - they have had very little extra time for Amateur Radio activities beyond school contacts. This is somewhat frustrating to the general ham radio community and the ARISS International Team, though the team is pleased that the crew has been able to speak so often with youth groups worldwide, piquing their interest in Amateur Radio, science, technology, engineering and math.