The crew of the International Space Station astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, and Gennady Padalka, RN3DT could be on the air for Field Day 2004. In 2001, astronaut Susan Helms, KC7NHZ, thrilled Field Day participants by showing up unexpectedly on the air and working several dozen stations. ISS crew members have participated in the event each year since. ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth G. Ransom, N5VHO, says he's sent Field Day operating instructions and pass times to the ISS support team at Johnson Space Center for relay to Fincke this week.
See www.arrl.org for full details
Tnx to ARRL and Ken, N5VHO for info
73, Gerry VE6GP

Hi all ,

With just hours to go before the Venus transit starts I managed to catch the station crossing the sun from here in the UK at 1422 gmt today.
This is probably the last glimpse we will get of ISS before tomorrows event, and it was important that the capture showed the full transit in order to verify.....

Further to Gerry's comment about the simultaneous transit of ISS across the sun and Venus , as one of the contributors to the Spaceweather.com feature , I would like to add that we are looking for help to capture the magic moment.

Despite our efforts it seems that there will be no professional film crews on centre line to capture this unique event.

Should any fan club members be lucky enough to be under the predicted track of ISS , and manage to capture images ( Care re solar viewing precautions ).......please let me know immediately at.... john@satcom.freeserve.co.uk

Many thanks,

John

SPACE STATION TRANSIT: Astronomers like to point out that no one alive today has seen Venus transit the Sun. It's a rare event. True. But something rarer still is about to happen. On June 8th, Venus and a spaceship will cross the Sun at the same time. No one has ever seen that!

Observers located along the thin black line can see the ISS and Venus cross the Sun at the same time on June 8th.

The International Space Station (ISS) will cross the Sun four times during the 6+ hour transit of Venus. Traveling 17,000 mph, the ISS races across the solar disk in a split second, and it can only be seen from inside a narrow corridor only about one mile wide. Four of these corridors will criss-cross Europe, Africa and Asia on June 8th.

For more information check www.spaceweather.com
Many Tnx to Spaceweather.com for info
Gerry, VE6GP

Nasa TV is now available on Direct TV Channel 376

I am in South Central Wisconsin so this info might not be accurate for the intire Direct TV network.

I have monitored both the Direct TV feed and the NASA Bird feed and they are doing a direct feed off of the bird.

HAPPY VIEWING

73's de N9OEW