We had just received this message from Frank Bauer, KA3HDO - ARISS Chairman and ISS FanClub Staff extends his condolences to Thomas's family and his wife Gaby. Sure we have lost an important Technical Manager

With a major milestone of the STS-112 mission behind them, Space Shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station crewmembers will have a quieter day today. Following some time off to relax, the joint crews later will begin transferring equipment and supplies to the orbiting laboratory.

Astronauts Dave Wolf and Piers Sellers completed all planned International Space Station assembly tasks today during a 7-hour, 1-minute spacewalk, an excursion focused on attaching the next segment of the station's backbone – the Starboard One (S1) Truss – to the Starboard Zero (S0) Truss.

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC

The International Space Station is a construction site in orbit once again as Space Shuttle Atlantis and Expedition Five crewmembers today prepare to install the next segment of the station's backbone – the Starboard One (S1) Truss.

Mission Specialists David Wolf and Piers Sellers began STS-112’s first spacewalk at 10:21 a.m. CDT (1521 GMT) today. Their main objective is to begin activating and outfitting the International Space Station’s newly installed S1 (S-One) Truss.

Miles Mann, WF1F sent this message: "..Reports are now coming in from across the USA. ISS packet has now moved to 145.825 simplex for a test cycle. When I talked to Valery and Dave Wolf last night they had suggested it would be 2 more days. Looks like the moved the schedule ahead"

Submitted by Arthur - N1ORC

The crew of the International Space Station welcomed the first visitors to its home in space today when the hatch between the space station and the space shuttle Atlantis was opened at 11:51 a.m. CDT.

Heard David Wolf in several QSOs while I quickly switched over from packet to voice uplink frequency. Didn't Seem to be much of a pileup. David signed saying they needed to get up early for the EVA.

Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to the International Space Station at 1517 GMT today and the hatches were opened at 1651 GMT. The two crews will conduct a week of joint operations.

....WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DOCK WITH SHUTTLE TOMORROW
AT 17:25 GMT.
....WE ARE GOING TO MAKE THE TEST WITH PACKET MODULE VIA SATELLITE
DURING THE NEXT WEEK... said this afternoon in two messages Valery