Departing Trio Aboard Soyuz Crew Ship Awaiting Undocking

Departing Trio Aboard Soyuz Crew Ship Awaiting Undocking

Expedition 59 crew members
Expedition 59 crew members (from left) Anne McClain, Oleg Kononenko and David Saint-Jacques are wearing the Sokol launch and entry suits they will wear on the way back to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-11 crew ship.

At 4:15 p.m. EDT, the hatch closed between the Soyuz spacecraft and the International Space Station in preparation for undocking. NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain, Expedition 59/Soyuz Commander Oleg Konenenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency are scheduled to undock their Soyuz at 7:25 p.m.

NASA Television will air live coverage of the undocking beginning at 7 p.m.

Their landing in Kazakhstan is targeted for approximately 10:48 p.m. and will conclude a more than six month mission conducting science and maintenance aboard the space station, in which they circled the globe 3,264 times, covering 86.4 million miles.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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NASA TV Broadcasts Earth-bound Trio Saying Farewell to Crewmates

NASA TV Broadcasts Earth-bound Trio Saying Farewell to Crewmates

Expedition 58-59 crewmembers
NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques pose for a portrait inside the Zvezda service module.

Three people who have been living in space for a 204-day mission conducting science and maintenance aboard the International Space Station are set for return to Earth at 10:48 p.m. EDT Monday, June 24.

Coverage of the farewell and hatch closure is now underway on NASA TV and the agency’s website. Hatch closure is expected at approximately 4:10 p.m.

After closing the hatch to their Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft, NASA Flight Engineer Anne McClain, Expedition 59/Soyuz Commander Oleg Konenenko of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency will undock from the station’s Rassvet module at 7:25 p.m. for their return to Earth, landing southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

On Sunday, Konenenko handed over station command to Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos in a change of command ceremony. Expedition 60 officially will begin following the undocking of the Expedition 59 crew.

The Expedition 59 crew contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science; conducted a total of four spacewalks; and saw the arrival and departure of six visiting spacecraft – including the first commercial crew flight test with the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

Their return will conclude 204 days in space since they launched Dec. 3. It was the fourth spaceflight for Konenenko and the first for McClain and Saint-Jacques, who now holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a Canadian astronaut.

Learn more about station activities by following the space station blog, @space_station and @ISS_Research on Twitter as well as the ISS Facebook and ISS Instagram accounts.

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Mark Garcia

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Amateur radio satellites launch on SpaceX STP-2 mission

Amateur radio satellites launch on SpaceX STP-2 mission

Falcon Heavy STP-2 - credit SpaceXFalcon Heavy STP-2 – credit SpaceX

Amateur radio satellites are expected to be launched between 0330-0730 GMT on June 25, 2019 on SpaceX Falcon Heavy STP-2 from LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Among the satellites (see links for IARU coordinated frequencies) are:

• Prox 1 ( Nanosat 7)
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=437
http://www.prox-1.gatech.edu/beacon.html
• LightSail B – (Deploying from Prox 1)
http://www.amsatuk..me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=489
• ARMADILLO
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=237
http://Armadillo.ae.utexas.edu
• PSat-2
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=473
http://aprs.org/psat2.html
• BRICSat-2
http://aprs.org/bricsat-2.html
• CP-9
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/_detail.php?serialnum=481
• Oculus-ASR
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=266
• E-TBEx-a
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=502
• E-TBEx-b
http://www.amsatuk.me.uk/iaru/finished_detail.php?serialnum=502
https://exploration.engin.umich.edu/blog/?page_id=3257

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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144 and 1240 MHz Bands – RSGB information

144 and 1240 MHz Bands – RSGB information

RSGB volunteers continue to be engaged with IARU and Ofcom on WRC matters including the 144 MHz and 1240 MHz bands as well as WRC-19 Agenda Items in CEPT-PTD (50 MHz, WPT, 5GHz) and CEPT-PT1 (24/47 GHz).

At UK level, RSGB are members of the Ofcom IFPG groups that consider these matters.

The RSGB has updated their special focus page with the latest documents and CEPT meeting minutes. See Proposed WRC-23 Agenda Items at
https://rsgb.org/main/news/special-focus/wrc-19/wrc-19-papers/

June 21 – RSGB Update on 144MHz and 1240 MHz band threats
https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/headlines/2019/06/21/update-on-144mhz-and-23cm-threats/

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CEPT Project Team A, responsible for some aspects of the CEPT position for WRC-19, met in Prague from June 17-21. The meeting minutes are available for download

Regarding the 1240-1300 MHz band the minutes say:

The representative of the European Commission (EC) stated that, RNSS systems are global by nature, and that the radio amateur service is allocated in all regions. Once RNSS receivers (including Galileo E6 receivers) are deployed ubiquitously, the number of interference cases coming from radio amateur emissions will increase significantly and represent an important burden to Administrations, unless clear guidelines are available in order to drive the amateur community towards an appropriate usage of their allocation.

For these reasons, the EC believes that the French proposal of a WRC-23 agenda item is essential in order to complement the work being started within CEPT, and to find a sustainable solution for all parties. Also, the EC considers that WRC-23 is the right time for a decision enabling the better regulation of the RNSS-amateur coexistence at international level, as Galileo will start providing freely available high accuracy services in the 1260-1300 MHz band on a global basis from 2020.

The EC noted that some of the 7 Administrations which objected to the French contribution are open to consider a revised version of the proposal, and therefore believes that relevant support may be achievable at CPG level, following further discussions until end August.

Regarding the 144 MHz band the minutes say:

The representative of the IARU stated that, the IARU views with grave concern the element of the WRC-23 agenda item proposal 1.6 in the AI10 ECP, on studies towards a possible new allocation to the aeronautical mobile service in the band 144-146 MHz. This band is an important and the only globally harmonised primary allocation to the amateur and amateur satellite services in the VHF range. Examination of the RR below and above the 144-146 MHz range suggests that alternative proposals could be developed that could provide further spectrum for the aeronautical applications without impacting on this amateur service spectrum. The proposal provides no justification for addressing this band and the IARU believes that sharing with airborne systems is likely to be difficult and will lead to constraints on the development of the amateur and amateur satellite services in this band.

Meeting minutes https://cept.org/Documents/cpg-pt-a/52280/pta-19-105_minutes-pta-7

See the WRC-23 Agenda Items update issued by IARU Region 1 June 21
https://amsat-uk.org/2019/06/21/144-and-1240-mhz-bands-wrc-23-agenda-items-update/

Some background on previous CEPT WGFM and CPG/PTA discussions on the 1240-1300 MHz band
https://amsat-uk.org/2019/05/31/1240-1300-mhz-band-discussed-by-cept-wgfm-and-cpg-pta/

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m5aka

AMSAT-UK

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