The next ARISS event that will be supported by the ARISS Audio Distribution Project is planned to take place on Monday, May 1 2006 at 1836 UTC. Live audio will be avaliable through IRLP and Echolink.

Students from Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama, USA will be asking questions of Expedition 13 Flight Engineer and Science Officer Jeff Williams operating NA1SS. Tony, VK5ZAI, will act as the ground station in this telebridge supported event.

IRLP "Discovery" Reflector 9010 will be providing live audio beginning at 1827 UTC. The "Discovery" Reflectors companion website will be providing streaming audio through www.discoveryreflector.ca:8000/listen.pls (expect a 2 to 3 minute delay on this stream).

From http://www.arrl.org
(Apr 28, 2006) -- Tossed into orbit three months ago from the International Space Station, SuitSat-1 continues to orbit Earth--although its batteries are long since dead, http://Spaceweather.com reported this week that skywatcher Kevin Fetter videotaped SuitSat-1 as it passed over his Brockville, Ontario, Canada, home (the bright star in the movie is Vega). A spare Russian Orlan spacesuit equipped with a battery-operated voice transmitter, slow-scan TV system, voice recordings and various sensors, SuitSat-1 was the brainchild of the Russian Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) team.

AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS TO COMMEMORATE THE 25TH SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH!

Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL,

Members of the Titusville and the North Brevard Amateur Radio Clubs performed a week of Amateur Radio operating from April 9 thru 15 at the Florida Space Authority facility at the Kennedy Space Center/ Cape Canaveral Air Force Station complex.

Operators made radio contact worldwide to celebrate America's successful Space Shuttle Program. Thru these contacts operators increased the awareness and accomplishments of the many NASA men and women of space technology.

Few weeks after Marcos Pontes returned from his ISS mission he attended a public speech in the city he was born: Bauru (São Paulo).
Thousands of people welcomed the Astronaut as he arrived piloting a small airplane.

Fabiano PY5RX was able to contact Pontes during his short mission, so he got invited to join the speech and receive from Marcos hands a special gift that commemorates the contact.

Pontes spent some nice words about Amateur Radio explaining how important it is for the crew to contact people on the ground.

Mark Shuttleworth, has just joined the ISS Fan Club!
I was reading an article about him when I tought about sending him an e-mail. He replied and signed up in less than one hour. Here is the message he left on our guestbook:

Just dropped by at Alain's request and am very impressed at the site! It was one of the best aspects of my 2002 flight that I could speak with amateur radio enthusiasts around the world from the ISS, and it's great to see that this community is as strong here on the web as is evident from the comments on this site. I know many of my colleagues have said they really appreciate having the ability to connect with you! Mark Shuttleworth

Mark is one of my greatest idols. Not only he flew in the ISS, but he is the leader of my favourite GNU/Linux distribution: Ubuntu.

Thank you for stopping by Mark!

China will launch Shenzhou VII with three astronauts in September 2008, after the Beijing Olympic Games, said Song Zhengyu, deputy director-designer of carrier rocket F of March II and research fellow of the first institute of the China Aerospace Science & Technology Corp (CASTC). The preparation work goes smoothly, with the rocket to be ready at the end of this year. The selection and training of the three astronauts is getting under way.

As various sources reported, ISS Expetion #13 commander Pavel V. Vinogradov is being active in Russian almost everyday over Siberia, sometimes over European Russia as well.
After these contacts take place, the radio is often left on the Region 1 uplink by mistake even when packet radio is active.
Few days before easter, American Astronaut Jeff Williams exchanged greetings over the Houston area.

NASA space shuttle managers decided Thursday to adjust the flight plan for the upcoming STS-121 mission aboard Discovery, a move that maximizes launch options while reducing stress on the orbiter's external fuel tank, space agency officials said.

Discovery's next launch - currently set for no earlier than July 1 - will follow a "Low Q" flight profile that subjects the orbiter and its fuel tank to slightly lower aerodynamic stresses during launch, NASA spokesperson Kyle Herring told SPACE.com Thursday.

source: space.com

A Russian cargo ship packed with new equipment, fresh food, a golf club and crustaceans blasted into space Monday on a two-day trek to the International Space Station (ISS).

The unmanned - but not lifeless - Progress 21 supply ship rocketed into orbit atop a Russian-built Soyuz booster at 12:03 p.m. EDT (1603 GMT) from its Baikonur Cosmodrome launch pad in Central Asia's Kazakhstan.

source: space.com

Two Malaysian cosmonauts will start training for a journey to the International Space Station in Russia in the summer of 2006, a source in the Russian delegation to the DSA-2006 weapons show in Kuala Lumpur announced on Monday.

"The Federal Space Agency Roscosmos is expected to sign an agreement with Malaysia shortly and two cosmonauts will start preparing for the flight at Russia's Star City in June or July. One of them will undergo training as a back-up cosmonaut," he said.

"Four candidates have been selected for the flight. But only two of them will travel to Russia for training, one of them as a backup cosmonaut," the source said.