Arizona Kids and teens are set to blast their local libraries into orbit after completing Outer Space Base, a library series of space science programs in Tucson. Nine- to thirteen-year-olds will participate in a live educational downlink with Expedition 17 astronaut Greg Chamitoff aboard the International Space Station on Friday, Aug. 15, from 1:10 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. CDT.

The Pima County Public Library is the first public library system to host a space station downlink. The downlink also will be a first for the State of Arizona.

Outer Space Base programs are the product of a partnership between the library, NASA, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the Mars Education Program at Arizona State University, in Phoenix.

Some new high-tech gear slated for launch this year will prepare the International Space Station (ISS) to permanently double its current three-astronaut population.

A new toilet, a pair of astronaut bedrooms and a handy new system that recycles urine into pure, drinkable water are on the docket for a fall shuttle flight to the space station, where they'll be tested before the outpost can scale up to six-person crews next year.

"Our biggest question right now is getting our life support systems working so we have enough for six-person crew," said NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, who will launch to the station in October to command the Expedition 18 crew that will oversee the new equipment's installation. "Right now, we're running kind of a water deficit and it's being supplemented by the shuttle."

The countdown to the lighting of the cauldron and the fireworks that followed its ignition were not the only rocket-related allusions that led to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Space explorers from at least three nations took part in carrying the torch to the Beijing National Stadium in China while the son of a U.S. astronaut prepared to compete as one of the athletes.

The flame's relay, which began in March from Greece, traveled longer than any previous torch -- over 85,000 miles (137,000 km), the equivalent of more than three orbits around the Earth's equator, visiting 130 cities in 130 days.

NASA Television will air interviews with each of the seven astronauts who will fly to the Hubble Space Telescope beginning at 8 a.m. EDT, on Monday, Aug. 11.

The crew includes Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson, and mission specialists Michael Good, Megan McArthur, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Andrew Feustel.

Media also may obtain copies of the interviews by contacting the Johnson Space Center Media Resource Center in Houston at 281-483-4231. For transcripts of the interviews, and more information on the space shuttle and the mission to Hubble, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4

Students take a microphone in hand and start speaking into it.

They're not making an announcement over their school's PA system; they're talking with crew members aboard the International Space Station. For an incredible few moments, students communicate with the space inhabitants, asking questions about what it's like living and working in space.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, is a program supported by a team of volunteer radio operators formed to build and operate radio equipment to facilitate communication between the orbiting outpost and Earth.

Since the discovery of wireless transmission, amateur, or ham radio operators, as they're often called, have been able to reduce the expanse of the globe by talking with radio enthusiasts in other countries who share their hobby.

Sorry for the long packet silence on ISS. The packet radio system was expected to be quiet for some time due to the EVAs that were done in early July. I was on business travel for three weeks after that and have not been able to check on the situation. The closure of the Johnson Space center due to the threat of a tropical storm has further delayed my efforts to investigate. I'll try and see what might be going on but at this point anything I would have to offer would be wild speculation. Hopefully, it is nothiing serious and the system can be quickly reactivated.

Kenneth - N5VHO
ISS Ham project engineer