HOUSTON -- NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Capt. Mark Kelly has announced his plans to retire from the agency on Oct. 1. He is a veteran of four space shuttle missions.

"We salute Commander Mark Kelly and his contributions to NASA as an extremely accomplished member of the astronaut corps and the final commander of the space shuttle Endeavour," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "We deeply respect his achievements and his decision to focus on his family. We continue to send out our thoughts and prayers to Mark and his wife, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as she makes a remarkable recovery. We know that Mark will continue to do great things for his country no matter what he chooses to do next. He has helped us build a space program poised to take advantage of the many opportunities in our bright future."

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA managers will hold a news conference on Tuesday, June 28, at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to discuss the status of the final space shuttle launch.

The ARRL reports that the International Space Station could be on-the-air on 2m FM or packet for Field Day weekend June 25-26.

Finally heard the ISS digipeater switched back on 145.825 MHz today at 1958UTC 21st june 2011 over UK, but digipeater call was RS0ISS-3 and not the usual RS0ISS-4, also the signal was very weak although the pass was close to my QTH at 658 km.

Something has changed on board, but not sure what?

Regards

Philip G0ISW

http://www.qsl.net/g0isw