Radio Amateur Takes Part in Historic First Commercial Human Spaceflight to ISS

Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, was one of two NASA astronauts who recently made spaceflight history. Behnken and Doug Hurley were the first astronauts since the 1970s to make a water landing, after their Crew Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico. On May 30, the pair made history as the first live crew to be launched into space in a commercial vehicle, for a stay on the International Space Station (ISS), marking the return of human spaceflight to US soil for the first time in nearly a decade.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine proclaimed that the US was entering a new era of human spaceflight, noting that NASA was no longer the only option for US space travel. “We are going to be a customer,” he said. NASA has contracted with two companies — SpaceX and Boeing — to ferry astronaut crews to and from the ISS.

While part of the space station crew for 2 months, Behnken and Astronaut Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR, the sole American on board when their Endeavour capsule docked, carried out four spacewalks to install new batteries on the ISS.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle was designed for short-term missions, and Behnken and Hurley’s mission had only been expected to last a week. As a result, Behnken did not receive Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) training on the radio gear in the Russian sector. NASA subsequently decided to monitor the mission and make a decision on how long the Crew Dragon would stay. Cassidy fielded all ARISS school contacts.

Source: ARRL News

Greetings fellow GERATOLers. We hope you are all well, and enjoying the summer as best you can, given the current environment.

We have a few items of interest for our net members:

First, we would like to welcome a new registration member to our website: Bill – W6ST, who hails from AZ. Bill has been a licensed ham operator for 50 years, so we hope he can join us on the air this fall. Especially for those of you looking to complete your 50/50 Award. Bill, that award is available for everyone on the net to work toward, and the requirements include working all 50 states, and also to work 50 operators, like yourself, who have been licensed for 50 years or more, hence the 50/50 aspect. Some of the guys have finished that challenging award, but I am sure there are several more who are looking to wrap it up in the coming GERATOL 2020/2021 Season. At any rate, welcome aboard, and we hope to hear you on this fall.

Second, our Awards Manager Dave, KJ8V has posted some sad news on the website, listing a few of our fellow GERATOLers as Silent Keys: Dave writes: “K3TX Dave PA #990, WU6I Dave CA #1078 call reissued and Fred N9TA IN # 2031. RIP Guys you will be missed – Dave, KJ8V“

Third, it won’t be very long, and before you know it, October 1st will be upon us, and the net will once again be in session. So if you have any antenna work remaining (As do I) let’s take advantage of the warm weather to make those changes/improvements, or in my case full replacements done before the net starts off. Thanks to fellow GERATOLer – Steve, N9SC G#2370, for kicking me in the butt, and getting me to purchase a new antenna as well as using his “Pressurized Launcher” to get the antenna rope up and over a huge pine tree !!

Finally, I’ve been speaking to our Awards Manager Dave, KJ8V about a new award for the coming season to whet the appetite of old and new net attendees, and he confirmed with me last time we spoke, that he and Sandy, KJ8W are brewing up a good one. I won’t let the cat out of the bag, but rest assured it should be fun, and if only one net member works toward this new award, it will reflect more activity than last year’s “dud” known as “The GERATOL INVITATIONAL AWARD” Hey, you can’t say I didn’t try….win some and lose some. At least everyone seemed to enjoy the 50/50 Award chase !!!

All the best, and take a minute to place a “Comment” on this POST, to welcome Bill aboard, or to make any comments about this POST.

Regards, Kevin N1KL Website Administrator