One all-ham crew has replaced another onboard the International Space Station. The new crew is entirely male. The crew change also marks the first time since Expedition 3 that a US astronaut will be in charge of the ISS crew. The Expedition 6 crew of Commander Ken Bowersox, KD5JBP, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, RV3FB and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, KD5MDT, lifted off November 23 on a four-month scientific mission.
The Expedition 6 team is the third all-ham crew to serve aboard the ISS. The team replaces the all-amateur Expedition 5 crew of Commander Valery Korzun, RK3FZ; Sergei Treschev, RK3FU and Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD. Whitson, Korzun and Treschev have been in space since June 5. They’re expected back on Earth December 4. A final farewell and formal change-of-command ceremony between the crews took place this week before the hatches between the ISS and the shuttle Endeavour were closed and latched.
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contacts will remain on hold for approximately the next three weeks as the crew settles in and takes care of its initial duties.
NASA says the Expedition 6 crew members will work with a total of 20 continuing and new experiments in the US Density Laboratory. Also,
Bowersox and Budarin are scheduled to perform a six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk this month.