[jamsat-news:852] * SpaceNews 29-Jun-98 *

[John Magliacane <magliaco@email.njin.net> (by way of Paul Williamson <kb5mu@amsat.org>)]

SB NEWS @ AMSAT $SPC0629
* SpaceNews 29-Jun-98 *


BID: $SPC0629


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			       SpaceNews
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			  MONDAY JUNE 29, 1998


SpaceNews originates at KD2BD in Wall Township, New Jersey, USA.  It
is published every week and is made available for non-commercial use.


* MIREX NEWS *
==============
Astronaut Andy Thomas is safely back on earth after being the USA/NASA
represenative on Mir since 1998-Jan-22.  The remaining crew onboard MIR
are Russians Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin.  They speak and read
Russian only.  Therefore, any messages addressed to R0MIR will not be
understood by any of the crewmembers unless it is in Russian.  According
to Dave Larsen, N6CO, the messages that are sent up to the crew are not
being read.  Late word indicates that the PMS has been shut down and may
remain so for several months.


* NO SAREX ON STS-95 *
======================
The Space Amateur Radio Experiment (SAREX) payload originally scheduled
to fly on Shuttle Mission STS-95 this October has been removed, along with
nine other payloads from the flight manifest due to tight constraints on
the crew's payload activity timeline.

Flight managers after reviewing all of the planned STS-95 activities
concluded that there was a need to reduce the overall manifest and took
the action of removing SAREX and some other secondary payloads to insure
sufficient time to accomplish the major objectives of the flight and
insure the overall success of the busy mission.

NASA expressed regret at having to take the unfortunate action, in
particular, having to delete educational activities from STS-95.  NASA,
SAREX, ARRL and AMSAT were in the throes of planning the activities for
STS-95 when official word came concerning the mission.  Four US schools
that had been selected for SAREX QSOs will now be first in line for
consideration on future missions, such as STS-93 and the International
Space Station.

All future shuttle missions are heavily loaded with activities that revolve
around building the International Space Station.  But SAREX has an imminent
place in NASA's future plans for the few shuttle missions that will support
it, such as January's STS-93.  The SAREX Working Group is looking at another
mission for 1999 that may be suitable, too.  SAREX also continues to have a
big place within NASA's International Space Station plans, which involve a
temporary and a permanent Amateur Radio station onboard.

Submitted by Frank H. Bauer, KA3HDO for the SAREX Working Group


* TMSAT-1 NEWS *
================
The launch of the TMSAT-1 has been delayed until futher notice.


* KO-25 NEWS *
==============
The KITSAT-OSCAR-25 satellite is back in operation.  The 145.980 MHz uplink
is active while the 145.870 MHz uplink appears to be off.  The satellite was
observed on 1998-Jun-27 at 14:23 UTC reporting a kernel uptime of 16 days,
one hour and 21 minutes.


* FEEDBACK/INPUT WELCOMED *
===========================
Comments and input for SpaceNews should be directed to the editor
(John, KD2BD) via any of the paths listed below:
 
WWW       : http://www.njin.net/~magliaco/
PACKET    : KD2BD @ KS4HR.NJ.USA.NA
INTERNET  : kd2bd@amsat.org, magliaco@email.njin.net
SATELLITE : AMSAT-OSCAR-16, LUSAT-OSCAR-19, KITSAT-OSCAR-25


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/EX

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