Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD will command Expedition 16, set to begin this fall

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Radio Amateurs among future International Space Station crews

NASA and its International Space Station partners have announced the expected ISS crew complements for the next two years, and the list includes several Amateur Radio licensees.

The crew members comprise three ISS expeditions and represent four space agencies. Assignments include the first long-duration station flight for a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, astronaut and the second long-duration station flight for a European Space Agency, ESA, astronaut.

Columbus laboratory - cutaway view. Credits: ESA / D.Ducros

"The assignments include the first long-duration station flight for a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA, astronaut and the second long-duration station flight for an astronaut from the European Space Agency, ESA," NASA said this week.

"The JAXA and ESA astronauts will work on the installation and checkout of the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo and European Columbus laboratories on the station."

NASA astronaut and ISS Expedition 5 crew member Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD - an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, ARISS, veteran - will command Expedition 16, set to begin this fall.

Flight engineers for that mission include cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP - who was ISS Expedition 7 commander - ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts, KE5FNO - a Mir veteran - and NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, KE5HAE. They will join NASA astronaut Daniel Tani, KD5DXE, aboard the station.

Léopold Eyharts, KE5FNO, Astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA)

Eyharts will fly to the station on space shuttle mission STS-122, which is expected to deliver the Columbus lab module this fall. He'll remain aboard to oversee activation and checkout of the laboratory while Tani takes the shuttle home. Reisman will replace Eyharts and remain on the station for about six months.

Cosmonaut Sergei Volkov, arriving in the spring of 2008, will command Expedition 17. Flight engineers include cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, RN3DX, and NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus, KE5FYE.

Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, will command Expedition 18

NASA astronaut and ISS Expedition 9 veteran Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, will command Expedition 18.

Flight engineers include cosmonaut and veteran station crew member Salizhan Sharipov, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, KC5ZTA, and NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, KD5PKZ.

Amateur Radio licensees also appear among the list of back-up crew members NASA announced this week:

Expedition 16 back-up crew members:
Fincke for Whitson
Sharipov for Malenchenko
ESA astronaut Frank DeWinne, ON1DWN, for Eyharts
NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra, KE5LUT, for Reisman

Expedition 17 back-up crew members:
Cosmonaut and veteran ISS crew member Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, for Volkov Cosmonaut Maxim Suraev for Kononenko
NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, KE5GJN, for Magnus

Expedition 18 back-up crew members:
NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, KD5MIJ, for Fincke
Cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov, RA3DT, for Sharipov
JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, for Wakata
NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer, KC5WKI, for Chamitoff

Under the current system of ISS crew rotations, there are three crew members aboard during any given expedition, with the duty tour of one astronaut or cosmonaut bridging two expeditions. All ISS crew members spend approximately
six months aboard the orbiting outpost.

NASA/ARISS

Our thanks to Mike Terry for this article

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