In ham radio space related news, word that special event station R45VT is on the air. This, to commemorate the 45th Anniversary of Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova becoming the first woman in space.

Tereshkova flew to orbit on June 16th 1963 as pilot onboard Vostok 6. Her call sign during the flight was Chaika. She spent 71 hours in space orbiting the Earth 48 times.

Since that time women have made a significant contribution to space exploration and many of them have been licenced Radio Amateurs. A few of the many notable women space explorers since Valentina Tereshkova include American Sally Ride and the United Kingdom's Helen Sharman to mention only a few.

Topics in this report: 1. Upcoming School Contacts 2. Successful Russian Contact 3. Robinson Elementary School Contact Successful 4. Astronaut Training Status 5. Under the Hood Posts SuitSat Article and Video 6. ARISS International Team Meeting Held 7. ARISS Delegate Recognized at Ham Fair 8. Amateur Radio Video Posted 1. Upcoming School Contacts Two simulated Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contacts are scheduled for Thursday, July 3. These training sessions are terrestrial-based amateur radio contacts using ARISS-equivalent equipment. There will be IRLP coverage of both contacts.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved a NASA authorization bill this week that would forbid the U.S. space agency from retiring the space shuttle before completing all remaining missions, including an additional flight to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station.

A similar provision was included in the NASA authorization bill already approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. But the Senate version, approved Tuesday, differs in that it would direct NASA to keep all space shuttle contracts open through 2010, the date NASA intends to stop flying the vehicle.

Veteran space shuttle astronaut Barbara R. Morgan will leave NASA in August to become an educator at Idaho's Boise State University.

NASA's first educator astronaut, Morgan logged more than 305 hours in space aboard shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 assembly mission to the International Space Station in August 2007. She operated the shuttle and station robotic arms to install hardware, inspect the orbiter and support spacewalks. Morgan also served as loadmaster for the transfer of supplies between the shuttle and station, taught lessons from space to schoolchildren on Earth and served on the flight deck during re-entry and landing.

For years scientists had to beg for access to the space shuttle to conduct microgravity research, until a well-timed salmonella discovery helped cinch a spot for Spacehab Inc. on all but one of the shuttle's remaining scheduled flights.

"The timing couldn't have been better," Spacehab President Jim Royston said June 16, two days after Space Shuttle Discovery returned from the international space station with test tubes of the salmonella bacteria.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080623-busmon-spacehab-biomed.html

NASA told a Senate panel on Monday that it anticipates losing 3,000 to 4,000 jobs at its launching site once the space shuttles stop flying in two more years, about half the cutback initially reported.

Although as many as 6,000 to 7,000 shuttle jobs will be eliminated at Kennedy Space Center, about 3,000 positions will open up in the new exploration program, said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Those jobs will be created to build and fly new spaceships to the International Space Station and, ultimately, to the moon.

http://www.space.com/news/ap-080623-nasa-shuttle-transition.html

An International Space Station Expedition 17 ARISS school contact has been planned with participants from the Robinson Elementary School, Robinson, Texas at the Mayborn Discovery Museum in Waco, TX on 25 June. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 15:45 UTC.

The contact will be a telebridge between stations NA1SS and WH6PN. The contact should be audible over Hawaii. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. The participants are expected to conduct the conversation in English. Audio from the QSO is planned to be fed into the EchoLink *AMSAT* (101 377) and *JK1ZRW* (277 208) servers during the contact.

Topics in this report: 1. Upcoming School Contacts 2. Astronaut Training Status 3. ARRL QST Articles on ARISS Activities 4. CQ VHF Article on SuitSat-2 5. AMSAT Videos Available 1. Upcoming School Contacts An Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact has been scheduled with Robinson Elementary School in Robinson, Texas on Wednesday, June 25 at 15:45 UTC via telebridge station WH6PN in Hawaii. This is the first ARISS contact to be held with astronaut Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ. Approximately 300 second and third graders are enrolled at the school. Round Rock Texas Scout Pack #304/Blackland Prairie Elementary School in Round Rock, Texas has been scheduled for an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact on Monday, June 30 at 18:06 UTC. This event will introduce scouts to the concepts required for their radio merit badges, giving them a practical example of amateur radio in action. It will also provide an activity for the scientist badge. The entire Pack (50-60 boys of various ranks) will be involved, as well as select Blackland Prairie Elementary School staff and students. Pack 304 will participate in a contest to determine the best questions to ask the astronaut. Media (newspaper, radio, television) coverage is planned and the governor will be invited to the event.

NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff is settling into life aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and gearing up for the long orbital haul.

Chamitoff, 45, is newest member of the station's three-man Expedition 17 crew, where he'll serve the dual role of flight engineer and NASA's science officer for the next six months of his long-duration spaceflight.

"It's amazing to be up here, but what makes it meaningful are our family and friends back there," Chamitoff said of Earth this week in a televised interview.

A native of Montreal, Canada, Chamitoff is a planetary geologist and engineer by training and grew up in San Jose, Calif. He is married and father to three-year-old fraternal twins, and is making his first career spaceflight on Expedition 17.

Over 100 space shuttles will land this November at the Kennedy Space Center, though NASA can take credit for only one. The additional orbiters will be courtesy the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which on Thursday formally announced the "Shuttles Orbiting the Space Coast" program, a public art exhibit organized to celebrate the first half-century of U.S. space exploration.

"It's appropriate to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary by showcasing its longest running manned space vehicle â€" the space shuttle," said Linn LeBlanc, the Foundation's Executive Director, in an e-mail to collectSPACE.com. "There were discussions with several of our astronaut members, if the vehicle should be shown in flight or fully-stacked, but it was unanimously decided to show the orbiter in all its glory â€" in flight!"