NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson of Iowa, who returned to Earth April 19 after approximately six months on the International Space Station, will be available for satellite interviews from 6 to 8 a.m. CDT on Friday, May 2.

Whitson, the first female commander of the space station, has accumulated more time in orbit than any U.S. astronaut in history. She launched to the complex on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Oct. 10, 2007, spending 192 days in space. Whitson previously spent 185 days in space after serving as a flight engineer on Expedition 5, which launched June 5, 2002, and returned to Earth Dec. 7. She conducted five spacewalks on her recent mission and one on her previous flight, totaling 39 hours and 46 minutes of spacewalking time, more than any other female.

WASHINGTON - NASA has assigned crews for the STS-127 space shuttle mission and the Expedition 19 International Space Station mission. The STS-127 mission will deliver the final components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory to the station. Expedition 19 will double the size of the resident crew on the complex, expanding it to six people.

Mark L. Polansky will command the shuttle Endeavour for STS-127, targeted to launch in 2009. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Douglas G. Hurley will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Navy Lt. Cmdr. Christopher J. Cassidy, Thomas H. Marshburn, David A. Wolf and Julie Payette, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut.

HOUSTON - NASA will hold four media briefings next week to discuss International Space Station activities and provide a status of launch preparations for space shuttle mission STS-122. NASA Television also will provide live coverage of a Jan. 30 space station spacewalk, featuring Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Dan Tani.

The first briefing at 1 p.m. CST on Monday, Jan. 28, will preview the spacewalk. NASA TV coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 3 a.m. on Jan. 30 and after its completion, a briefing will be held at approximately 1 p.m. During the spacewalk astronauts will replace a motor that enables one of the station's solar arrays to pivot toward the sun. The motor experienced electrical failures in early December 2007.

When did the U.S. launch its first satellite? What day did the first crew arrive at the International Space Station? A new calendar that highlights 50 years of NASA milestones and a decade of station assembly can be downloaded at: http://www.nasa.gov/station

The colorful 2008 calendar is packed with historical tidbits and photographs that capture the work and wonder of a decade building the world's largest orbiting laboratory. Each month of the calendar has a specific theme with images, photographs, significant NASA historical events and Web sites for educators.

"Teachers inspire. We hope this calendar also will inspire a new generation of explorers," said Mike Suffredini, manager, International Space Station Program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Launch of the Explorer 1 ( http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/GAL100/exp1.html ) satellite on January 31, 1958 marked the dawn of the Space Age for the United States, as well as the beginning of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's ( http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm ) exploration of space. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this historic event, the JPL Amateur Radio Club will be operating W6VIO ( https://pitfall.org/jplarc/Station/ExplorerIAnniversary ) from 1600 UTC January 28-0400 UTC February 4 using the following frequencies: 3.535, 7.035, 7.185, 14.035, 14.240, 21.035 and 21.285 MHz. An Explorer I commemorative QSL card will be available. QSL to JPL ARC, PO Box 820, La Canada, CA 91012-0820.

The HF Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/ ) in Alaska and the Long Wavelength Array (LWA http://lwa.nrl.navy.mil/ ) in New Mexico are planning an additional lunar echo experiment for January 19-20. Interested radio amateurs are invited to participate in this experiment by listening for the lunar echoes and submitting reports. On January 19, listen on 6.7925 MHz from 0500-0600 UTC, and on 7.4075 MHz from 0600-0700 UTC. On January 20, listen on 6.7925 MHz from 0630-0730 UTC, and on 7.4075 MHz from 0730-0830 UTC (depending on frequency occupancy at the time of operation, it may be necessary to adjust the frequency slightly).

The ANDE satellite (NO-61) is about to deorbit within the next four weeks, possibly as early as Dec 16.
See: http://www.ew.usna.edu/~bruninga/ande-ops.html

There is a award certificate available for operations in the last ten days of the life of ANDE.
See: http://www.ande-deorbit.com/award.shtml

Ron H, AH6RH
Honolulu, HI

The Wright Flyer got only a few feet off the ground during its maiden flight in 1903, but traveled to the moon 66 years later.

A lead cargo tag that took months to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to the nascent colony at Jamestown recently made the same crossing in minutes.

Now a plastic handle whose sole role was to make the fictional world of Star Wars look realistic is ready to take a real trip to the stars aboard space shuttle Discovery for mission STS-120.

From pieces of history to articles of pop culture, the assortment of items astronauts have taken with them into space is as varied as the world the artifacts represent.

On October 4, 1957, shortly after midnight local time, the treeless steppe near Tyura-Tam in central Kazakhstan lit up as the rocket motors of a converted ICBM pushed its way into the night sky. After 324.5 seconds of flight, a compressed air release mechanism separated a small payload from the rocket booster sending it on an elliptical path around our planet. This was the dawn of the space age. The former Soviet Union had successfully placed the first man-made object into orbit. Sputnik I, as the world came to know the first artificial earth satellite, was not only an important scientific and technical achievement but also an important historical milestone that marked the beginning of human space exploration and shaped many social and political events over the remainder of the 20th century.

WASHINGTON - Starting Oct. 1, NASA Television and the agency's Internet homepage will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Space Age, which began with the launch of Sputnik I on Oct. 4, 1957.

NASA TV news feeds and a special interactive web presentation on www.nasa.gov will feature interview excerpts with former astronauts, engineers, scientists, flight directors and other NASA employees who offer historical perspectives on the Sputnik launch. Also provided will be file footage of Explorer I, the first satellite launched by the United States on Jan. 31, 1958, 3-D spacecraft models, and the subsequent announcement by NASA's first administrator T. Keith Glennan on the establishment of the agency on Oct. 1, 1958.