Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. Paolo Nespoli Speaks with Marco da Melo Students via ARISS
3. Successful ARISS Contact with Polish School
4. Nelson County Area Technology Center Sponsors ARISS Contact
5. Civitavecchia, Italy Students Radio ISS
6. AMSAT - ARISSat-1 Delivered to the ISS
7. ARRL Story on ARISSat-1 Launch
8. Amateur Radio Newsline Covers ARISS

Expedition 26 Flight Engineers Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli used the station’s robotic arm to attach the unpiloted Japanese Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV2) to the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module of the International Space Station at 9:51 a.m. EST Thursday.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched HTV2 aboard an H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 12:37 a.m. (2:27 p.m. Japan time) on Saturday.

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 26 Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineers Paolo Nespoli and Catherine Coleman brushed up on robotics and cargo transfer procedures Monday in preparation for the arrival of the Kounotori2 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV2) on Thursday. The crew will use the station’s robot arm to grapple Kounotori2 at 6:44 a.m. EST with berthing to Harmony’s Earth-facing, or nadir port a few hours later.

Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. Two Italian Schools Experience ARISS Contact
3. Expedition 24 Crew Debrief Session
4. ARISS International Meeting Held
5. Space Daily Article Includes ARISSat-1
6. QST Covers ARISS News
7. AMSAT Posts Update on ARISSat-1
8. ARRL Article on NASA’s NanoSail-D
9. Amateur Radio Newsline on ARISS

International Space Station Expedition 26 Flight Engineers Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka completed a five-hour, 23-minute spacewalk at 2:52 p.m. EST.

They installed an antenna for the Russian Radio Technical System for Information Transfer, a new high-speed data transmission system that will use radio technology to send large files at 100 megabytes per second from computer systems inside the station to Earth. It is similar to the NASA system already in use.

Late Tuesday night, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) officials postponed the launch of the “Kounotori” HTV2 cargo ship due to a forecast of thick clouds with freezing layers at the launch site at the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. Launch is now scheduled for 12:37 a.m. EST, 5:37 GMT, on Saturday. Rendezvous, robotic arm grapple and berthing to the International Space Station will remain the same, scheduled for Jan. 27. JAXA flight controllers will change the approach to a five-day rendezvous to accommodate the launch delay.

The Expedition 26 crew of the International Space Station conducted experiments and continued spacewalk preparations Tuesday as the pace of activity gears up for the arrival of visiting cargo vehicles and upcoming space shuttle flights.

In the Pirs docking compartment, Flight Engineers Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka donned their Orlan spacesuits for a full checkout of their suits’ systems and communications capability. Their spacewalk to outfit the Russian segment of the station and install a TV camera on the Rassvet module is slated to begin Friday at 9:20 a.m. EST.

Topics in this report:
1. Upcoming School Contacts
2. Japanese Contact Successful
3. ARISS Contact with Italian Students
4. Nespoli Speaks with Italian Youth via ARISS
5. Russian Article on ARISSat
6. AMSAT Posts Update on ARISSat-1

1. Upcoming School Contacts

The orbit of the International Space Station was raised Thursday during an 11-minute, 4-second reboost using the ISS Progress 39 cargo ship’s thrusters. The reboost puts the orbiting laboratory in position for the upcoming rendezvous, grapple and berthing of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s H-II Transfer Vehicle 2 (HTV2) on Jan. 27. It also brings the station to the correct altitude for docking opportunities with space shuttle Discovery in February.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is set to launch its second H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-2) next week. When it arrives at the station near the end of the month, the automated cargo craft will be grappled by Canadarm2, the station’s robotic arm, and berthed to a docking port on the Harmony module. Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineers Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli are training for their Canadarm2 tasks as they prepare for the arrival of the HTV-2 on Jan. 27.