SB SPACE @ ARL $ARLS006
ARLS006 Two Radio Amateurs Set to Head for the International Space
Station

ZCZC AS06  
QST de W1AW  
Space Bulletin 006  ARLS006
From ARRL Headquarters  
Newington, CT  July 5, 2016
To all radio amateurs

SB SPACE ARL ARLS006
ARLS006 Two Radio Amateurs Set to Head for the International Space
Station

Two Amateur Radio licensees are part of the International Space
Station (ISS) crew increment bound for the orbiting outpost this
week. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, KG5FYJ, astronaut Takuya Onishi,
KF5LKS, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and
cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of Roscosmos will launch early on July 7
(0136 UTC) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio will
spend approximately 4 months on station and will return to Earth in
October.

An upgraded Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft will carry Rubins, Onishi, and
Ivanishin into space. They will test modified systems for 2 days -
34 Earth orbits - before docking with the ISS on July 9. According
to NASA, the modified Soyuz is equipped with upgraded thrusters that
are fully redundant, additional micrometeoroid debris shielding,
redundant electrical motors for the Soyuz docking probe, and
increased power with more photovoltaic cells on the spacecraft's
solar arrays. This week's launch will mark the first of at least two
missions in which enhanced Soyuz hardware will be tested and
verified.

Once the hatches between the Soyuz and the ISS have been opened,
Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams, KD5TVQ, of NASA, and Flight
Engineers Oleg Skripochka, RN3FU, and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos
will greet their new crewmates.

The Expedition 48 crew members will continue experiments in biology,
biotechnology, physical science, and Earth science.

Rubins, Onishi, and cosmonaut Ivanishin will replace Expedition 47
Commander Tim Kopra, KE5UDN; Flight Engineer Tim Peake,
KG5BVI/GB1SS, and Yuri Malenchenko, RK3DUP, who returned to Earth in
mid-June after a little more than 6 months in space.

NASA TV will cover the launch and the arrival online at,
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html#public .
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/EX