After more than 160 days in space, ISS Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock, KF5BOC -- along with Flight Engineers Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, and Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI -- has returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS), landing in Kazakhstan on Friday, November 26. While on board the ISS, both Wheelock and Walker participated in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program, and made 22 ISS-to-school and ISS-to-camp QSOs. In addition, Wheelock averaged about two dozen casual QSOs each week while on board the ISS.

Expedition 25 Commander Doug Wheelock and Flight Engineers Shannon Walker and Fyodor Yurchikhin safely landed their Soyuz spacecraft on the Kazakhstan steppe on Thursday, Nov. 25, 2010, wrapping up a five-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

Russian cosmonaut Yurchikhin, the Soyuz commander, was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 8:23 p.m. EST from the station's Rassvet module. The trio landed at 11:46 p.m. (10:46 a.m. on Nov. 26 local time) at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

China has formally begun its manned space station program, aiming to complete construction of a "relatively large" manned space laboratory around 2020, said a spokesman for the national manned space program.
China was aiming to develop and launch the first part of a space laboratory before 2016, focusing on breakthroughs in living conditions for astronauts and research applications, the spokesman said.

The country would develop and launch a core cabin and a second laboratory module around 2020, which would be assembled in orbit around the earth into a manned space station, he said.

Topics in this report:
1. Italian Students Question Astronaut via ARISS
2. Video of Wheelock Working Ground Stations

1. Italian Students Question Astronaut via ARISS

NASA, the US space agency, will assume more direct sponsorship of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program as an educational project. Among its activities, ARISS oversees the project that enables schoolchildren to speak via ham radio with astronauts aboard the International Space Station. NASA also will embrace ARISSat as an educational project for the ISS National Lab. A reconfigured, yet-to-be-named education planning group will pick up the mission of the ARISS Communications Council (ACC).

How come some people haven't made a single contact while some others have made dozens?

If you are one of those who thinks that making multiple ISS contacts is a matter of having the right equipment or having some special skills I believe you should think again.

Here is why...

For all you that wonder what it is like for the astronauts to work ground stations during a general pass, Col. Doug Wheelock gives you a personal video tour of the ISS ham radio station while he answers calls from amateur radio operators on the ground.

Watch - Space Station Crew Uses HAM Radio to Call Earth

On Sunday, November 21, 2010, Commander Doug Wheelock gave a tour of the ISS ham radio setup and QSO's. The video is about 20 minutes long and the QSO's start about 12:30 minutes into the video. So far, the video has been shown on NASA's web site & on NASA TV multiple times on Tuesday, November 23.

Here's the link to NASA's youtube link:

I'm honored to be one of his contacts during the video.

73, Brian KD0EXV

Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contact
2. Euro Space Center Contact Successful
3. Grand Junction Students Speak with ISS Astronaut
4. ARISS International Team Meeting Held
5. ARISSat-1 Approved for Shipping
6. QST Covers ARISS News

1. Upcoming School Contact

At today’s Program Requirements Control Board, or PRCB, the Space Shuttle Program clearly identified the analysis and repairs that are required to safely launch shuttle Discovery on its STS-133 mission. This analysis will be in work during the next five days and will be reviewed at a special PRCB on Wednesday, Nov. 24. Pending a successful review of the flight rationale at that meeting, a Launch Status Briefing would be held with senior NASA management on Monday, Nov. 29.

The Launch Status Briefing and news conference planned for Monday, Nov. 22 are cancelled.