Image above: Thomas Reiter DF4TR (left), Pavel Vinogradov RV3BS and Jeff Williams KD5TVQ in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

ISS ham radio trio getting ready for space shuttle Atlantis

The International Space Station will be reboosted during a nine-minute, four-second burn of the ISS Progress 21 engines at 12:04 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

This will place the station at the correct altitude to support the rendezvous with Space Shuttle Atlantis for the STS-115 launch and for the Soyuz launch of the Expedition 14 crew in September. The reboost will increase the station's altitude by 2.5 statute miles.

The crew will also conduct another training session with digital cameras for the rendezvous pitch maneuver photography, which will document the shuttle's thermal heat shield. They will use these techniques to photograph Atlantis as it approaches the station from below in the final phase of its rendezvous for docking during the STS-115 mission.

Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, conducted a voluntary “Saturday Science” program by performing a full-beacon session of the Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) payload.

The SPHERES experiment, which includes three small balls that fly in formation in the station cabin, tests systems for controlling multiple spacecraft.

Last week, Williams activated the Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) hardware for a new session, giving school students around the world access to a digital still camera mounted in a window of the space station and enabling them to view the world from an astronaut's perspective.

Over 800 images were taken by 44 schools last week.

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