HOUSTON -- In early November, NASA will seek applicants for its next class of astronaut candidates who will support long-duration missions to the International Space Station and future deep space exploration activities.

Three simulated ARISS contacts were held on Wednesday, September 21. Chris Hadfield, KC5RNJ/VA3OOG spoke with youth at the Euro Space Camp in Belgium. Kevin Ford, KF5GPP contacted the Manhattan Challenger Learning Center (CLC) and Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC answered questions from students at the CLC of Indianapolis. The training sessions were terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS equivalent equipment that will prepare the astronauts for participation in ARISS contacts during their upcoming missions on the ISS.

20111002 1513 UTC Orb.927 Robot36

Hello everybody.

I'm not sure this is the right place to post the following text. I've always been fascinated by the ISS, and sometimes I daydream of different aspects of this adventure.

The following text is prompted by the fact that a lot of material is lost in the functioning of the ISS, and in space programs in general, so I tried to imagine how to resolve the issue.