The ARRL Letter, Vol. 22, No. 03, January 17, 2003 from The American Radio Relay League reports that:

Youngsters at Sacajawea Middle School in Bozeman, Montana, conversed via ham radio on January 8 with International Space Station resident Don Pettit, KD5MDT. The contact between NA1SS and the school club station's K7BZN was the first Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) QSO this year with a US school.

William M. Shepherd, the first astronaut to command a crew aboard the ISS, was givin the congressional space medal of honor.

Get the full story at:

www.nasa.gov/today/

Check out the new beta version of the Human Space Flight Web’s Orbital Tracker. The beta version more accurately depicts the International Space Station and space shuttle in orbit and provides zoom and rendezvous features

spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/beta/index.html

Hello Fans, we are happy to inform you that finally the IAA ISS Achievement Award is ready to be sent.

Yesterday the Award has been improved with a better ISS image. Now the Award is totally in high resolution.

Today we will start printing and for sure we will send them beginning from the next week. Our goal is to send, normally, all IAA's requests received, within the following week ;)

The ISS FanClub Staff

17-01-2003

TWO LINE MEAN ELEMENT SET

SHUTTLE

1 27647U 03003A 03017.77182080 .00041100 00000-0 34010-3 0 9016

2 27647 39.0160 221.7493 0012102 358.3911 1.7025 15.97715753 196

For more info Sie Extended Text (Read more)

Columbia Launches to Begin 16-Day Research Mission
STS-107 got under way today when Space Shuttle Columbia launched from
Kennedy Space Center, Fla., at 9:39 a.m. CST (1539 GMT). The seven-member
crew is slated to spend to 16 days in space conducting research during.....

Shuttle Managers Announce STS-107 Launch Time
Space Shuttle Program managers announced Wednesday morning that STS-107 is slated to lift off at 9:39 a.m. CST (1539 GMT) Thursday.

Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew will spend 16 days in space during a mission devoted to research.

This isn't a Shuttle-ISS Mission.

Mission info and images here

Expedition 6 Commander Ken Bowersox and NASA Science Officer Don Pettit
continued the assembly of the International Space Station today and set
the stage for a series of complex shuttle construction flights to the
complex later this year during a 6-hour, 51-minute spacewalk staged out
of the Quest Airlock.

From NASA Website:

Expedition Six's only scheduled spacewalk at the International Space Station came to a close at 1:41 p.m. CST (1941 GMT) Wednesday. During the excursion, which lasted 6 hours and 51 minutes, Commander Ken Bowersox and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit continued outfitting the station's P1 (P-One) Truss.

Mobile Amateur Radio Club announces Partnership with Gulf Coast Exploreum and Science Center

On Saturday, January 11, 2003 the Mobile Amateur Radio Club Board of Officers approved the project to join with the Gulf Coast Exploreum and Science Center to set up an Amateur radio station at the Exploreum in downtown Mobile, Alabama.

The club will begin work immediately to set up the station, to be fully functioning on Monday, January 20, 2003 at 10:00 AM.