ASI W9600552r1.1
#92 February 1996
Section 6.9.3.2.092.of the Artemis Data Book
by Ben Huset
February, 1996 -- The C.I.S. manned space station Mir with Mir-20 (call sign 'Uran') Cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko, Sergei Avdeyev and Thomas (DF4TR / DP0MIR) Reiter and will be appearing in the mid west US morning skies Jan 11th to Feb 7th, and return to evening skies Feb 11th to March 3rd.
Amateur radio operators can log into the Mir 'Packet' (R0MIR-1) BBS on 145.550MHz simplex -- and soon on 435.775MHz uplink / 437.975 downlink MHz. The cosmonauts also use the freq. 145.200MHz, up and 145.800MHz down or 435.725MHz up / 437.925MHz down or 145.550Mhz simplex to talk or send SSTV video with amateur radio operators on the ground during their off-hours.
Look for MIRWATCH and other great space stuff on my web page at http://www.skypoint.com/~benhuset/
"Hello you people on Earth. This is not Santa Claus here, this is the Russian Space Station Mir calling, crew 20. As you are on Earth, we are celebrating Christmas Eve today, here in Earth Orbit, and we wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Peaceful and Happy New Year and I will hand over now to Yuri who will also direct some words to you."
"Hello folks. This is your space station calling with a recorded TGIF Message. I guess this will be the last TGIF message for this year, so we all wish you an especially nice Friday Evening, and hope you have some especially nice drinks, please don't forget to have some drinks for us, for Yuri, Serge and myself. Many Greetings, 73 and Bye Bye."
"Roma-zero-MIR Roma-zero-MIR Russian Mir Space Station wishing you a Happy New Year! This is Crew Number 20 of Space Station Mir here working. Yuri Gidzenko Board commander, Board Engineer Thomas Reiter, and myself Sergei Avdeyev Board Engineer #1. We wish you hello and A Very Happy Next Year!!! This is Mir Space Station."
"MIR-station, 1/1/1996. Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all we want to wish you a happy, healthy, peaceful and successful new year! In case some of you tried to contact us yesterday afternoon or during the night might have recognized, that there was some interruption from our side. We are very sorry for that, but the power-supply for our two radios had failed. So we installed the old power supply and reset everything. Unfortunately, we will not be able to run the TM733 with this old power-supply, as it doesn't provide enough current. So let's see, what we can do about this. In the meantime the 'old' ICOM-station and the 'old' TNC are running. Once again, all the best for the new year, 73's from Yuri, Sergei, Thomas."
The two Russian cosmonauts and a German saw the New Year on the Mir space station with brandy because it is hard to sip champagne in zero gravity, Itar-Tass news agency said. One of the three men dressed up as Santa Claus, or Father Frost as he is known in Russia. A cargo craft recently brought small artificial fir trees, food and gifts for the cosmonauts.
February 21, 1996 Soyuz TM-23 / EO-21. Primary crew: Yuri Onufrienko, Yuri Usachev. The crew of Mir EO-20 is scheduled to return on Feb. 29th.
The Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment, or SAREX will fly again on Shuttle Mission STS-76 which will dock again with Mir. Launch is set for March 21, 1996 at 08:34 UTC (2:34 AM CST) from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. Landing is scheduled for March 30, 1996 at 17:07 UTC (11:07 AM CST) at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. It will be a 9-day mission.
Among those in the crew who hold amateur licenses are, Astronaut Richard A. Searfoss KC5CKM who will serve as the Shuttle's Pilot, Mission Specialist Linda M. Godwin, N5RAX and Ronald M. Sega, KC5ETH. The remaining crew members include Commander Kevin P. Chilton, and Mission Specialists Shannon W. Lucid (who is expected to have her amateur license by that time) and Michael R. Clifford. Shannon will stay aboard Mir for 5 months.
Space Shuttle Astronaut Dr. Norman E. Thagard has retired from NASA and returned to his alma mater, Florida State University. He leaves the space agency following five space missions, STS-7, 51-B, 30, 42, Mir-18/STS-71, including a U.S. record four-month stay aboard Russia's space station Mir. Thagard has spent over 140 days in space -- more than any other American.
Thagard accepted the position of Visiting Professor and Director of External Relations for the Florida A&M University -- Florida State University College of Engineering, Tallahassee. His initial assignment, effective Jan. 5, is teaching electronics, an area that has been a long-time hobby. Thagard has published several articles on digital and analog electronics design.
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