NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman squeezed in some laughs amid his busy day aboard the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday during an orbital call from comedian Stephen Colbert.

Riesman, a flight engineer for the station's Expedition 17 mission, spoke with Colbert about life in space and his three-month mission for tonight's episode of the faux-conservative show "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.

"I can't believe my voice is being broadcast to space right now. I should say something really profound," Colbert said during the interview broadcast on NASA TV. "Eat it, Jon Stewart, I'm talking to space!"

The crew of the space shuttle Discovery successfully completed a dress rehearsal today for their upcoming launch. They capped off their practice run at Cape Canaveral with a simulated countdown to liftoff at 11:00 a.m. EDT.

The seven STS-124 astronauts are scheduled to launch May 31 at 5:02 p.m. EDT to deliver the International Space Station's largest room, the 32,500-pound Japanese Kibo Laboratory. Crewmembers are slated to perform three spacewalks during their planned 13-day mission.

Source http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080509-sts124-launch-rehearsal.html

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of a great friend, colleague and fellow ham radio operator. Dr. Ronald A. Parise, WA4SIR, left this Earth today, Friday May 9, 2008 after a very long and courageous battle with cancer.

Ron Parise was--and continues to be--an inspiration to countless students, ham radio operators, and friends the world over. His accomplishments were many, including: space explorer, pioneer, astrophysicist, pilot, ham radio operator, avionics and software expert, inspirational speaker and motivator, student satellite mentor, husband, father, and friend. While he certainly did some truly extraordinary things in his lifetime, Ron Parise is best known and cherished for keeping family and friends first…and for this, we will miss him most.

Students from coast to coast will have the opportunity to make an out of this world call to the International Space Station on Monday, May 12, from 11:20 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. CDT. The students and educators from One Stop Richmond Hill Community Center, Richmond Hill, N.Y., and Valley Christian Elementary School, Bellflower, Calif., will participate in the event.

The two locations will be part of a 20 minute in-flight education downlink, allowing students from across the country to share in this unique collaborative experience. During the event, students and educators will interact with Expedition 17 astronaut Garrett Reisman. Both locations used NASA education resources to enhance their existing curriculum and worked together to develop a comprehensive education plan to compliment the downlink. Students designed mission patches, learned about space station science experiments, made models of the space station, and explored the NASA Web site for student research and activities.

Amateur Radio recently got some good publicity when Tony Hutchison VK5ZAI appeared in an interview on the Australian Channel 7 Today Tonight show.

The show was broadcast on the 11th April and provided some great insights as to how Tony and others over the years have provided support to Nasa and how amateur radio helps to promote public awareness of the NASA space program through school contacts with the astronauts aboard the ISS.

Read the full story and view or download the video from the WIA website at http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2008/20080504-2/index.php

Source: http://w