New all Radio Amateur crew now safely aboard International Space Station

Expedition 11 crew Krikalev and Phillips

International Space Station Expedition 10 crew members Leroy Chiao, KE5BRW, and Salizhan Sharipov opened the hatches between the ISS and the newly arrived Soyuz transporter early Sunday, April 17, to welcome Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev, U5MIR, and US Astronaut and ISS Science Officer and Flight Engineer John Phillips, KE5DRY.
Accompanying them on the taxi flight was European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, IZ6ERU, of Italy.

"The two crews greeted one another with handshakes and hugs," NASA reported. The first scheduled activity for the five crew members was a safety briefing.

Krikalev, Phillips and Vittori docked with the ISS April 16. The five space travelers will conduct nearly eight days of joint operations. Expedition 11's Krikalev and Phillips will spend about six months aboard the ISS. During his ISS visit, Vittori will conduct experiments aboard the station under a commercial agreement between ESA and the Russian space agency.

On April 18, he conducted an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school group QSO with two technical schools in Italy. One of the schools was named for wireless pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, and his daughter, Princess Elettra Marconi, assisted in the event and sent greetings to the astronauts.

"With great enthusiasm I extend greetings to Roberto Vittori, who greatly honors Italy. All my admiration," Princess Elettra said. "I think that my father, Guglielmo Marconi, would have been proud of you for your marvelous mission. All my best wishes. I feel very close to you. Thank you."

Vittori will return to Earth with the Expedition 10 crew of Chiao and Sharipov, which has been living aboard the space station since October. The three will depart for Earth Sunday, April 24, in the Soyuz that brought the Expedition 10 crew to the orbiting laboratory last fall. They're scheduled to land that evening in Kazakhstan.

Over the next few days, Krikalev, 46, and Phillips, 54, will receive extensive handover briefings from the Expedition 10 crew. NASA says a third crew member may arrive at the ISS on the space shuttle Atlantis. This is Krikalev's second tour of duty aboard the ISS. He was part of the first ISS crew.

When they have spare time (they don't get much) the Astronauts will be calling CQ on 145.800 MHz FM. Replies to their calls should be made 600 kHz lower on 145.200 MHz (enable your rig's repeater shift)

AMSAT-UK is the Amateur Satellite organisation for the United Kingdom and they publish a bi-monthly newsletter packed with information on Space Communications.

For futher information contact Jim Heck G3WGM
Tel: 01258 453959
E-mail: g3wgm@amsat.org
Website: http://www.uk.amsat.org/