I come from the HOPE-1/HO 68 Web site : I read all ON/OFF date/time for the transponder operation Wonderful !! . Why it is not possible for the ISS AMSAT Station . The ISS AMSAT Station is used mainly for ARISS/public relation purpose ( and some time personnal purpose ) . It is a Ham equipement payed by ham subscription and NASA/ESA/AMSAT agreement . In the minimum after programing the stuff ..... Transponder mode is automatc ! If SOME TROUBLE IN THE EQUIPMENT TELL US ! Best 73 for all . Bernard FY1LE

WASHINGTON -- Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi landed their Soyuz-17 spacecraft in Kazakhstan Tuesday, June 1, wrapping up a five-and-a-half-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

Kotov, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 8:04 p.m. EDT from the aft port on the station's Zvezda module. The crew landed at 11:25 p.m., east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after 163 days in space. Kotov will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow. NASA astronaut Creamer and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Noguchi will return to Houston on Wednesday.

Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. ARISS Contact Highlights WIA Centenary Event
3. ARISS News on Amateur Radio Newsline

1. Upcoming School Contacts
Istituto Comprensivo Camaiore - Scuola Secondaria 1° Grado "M. Rosi," Camaiore, Italy has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Saturday, June 5 at 10:21 UTC. Students participating in the contact have learned about space science, principles of radio communications and the benefits of space exploration and have prepared to use English in a real life situation.

ISIS Andrea Ponti, located in Gallarate, Varese, Italy, has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, June 7 at 09:40 UTC. The contact is the final event of several cross-curricular activities involving different school subjects including Science, History, Geography, Math, Information Technology and English. Students have learned about the solar system and its origins, the Space Conquest and its wide range of applications in everyday life (television broadcast by satellite, Internet, meteorological conditions) and scientific research.

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi will end their stay on the International Space Station as Expedition 23 crew members on Tuesday. They will enter the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft and undock for the ride back to Earth and land in Kazakhstan.

Remaining behind will be new station commander Alexander Skvortsov and Flight Engineers Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko. Joining them in two weeks and beginning the Expedition 24 increment will be Flight Engineers Doug Wheelock, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Shannon Walker. They will launch to their new home in space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on June 15 in the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.