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ARRL Products:
History/Adventure(More)
The Story of the Queen Mary and W6RO -- Now Shipping!
-- DVD. A story about W6RO and its impact on the Amateur Radio Service through its operation aboard the Queen Mary.
Keys III: THE WORLD OF KEYS -- Now Shipping!
-- The World's Most Unique, Exotic, and Glamorous Keys.
The Secret Wireless War -- New 2007 Printing. Now Shipping!
-- The Story of MI6 Communications--1939-1945 (World War II). This is an extraordinary story that includes hams among those patriots that undoubtedly helped the allied war effort.
50 years of Amateur Radio Innovation -- Coming October 1!
-- This guided tour of more than 400 legendary radios from 1930 to 1980, depicts the “golden age” of American radio technology.
World War II Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion -- Now Shipping!
-- A story about ham radio operators and others who helped ease worries during a time of war.
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Past SAREX Missions
Amateur Radio has been carried aboard orbiting US space shuttles for nearly 15 years now. It all began in the fall of 1983 with shuttle mission STS-9. The following text from the Johnson Space Center Amateur Radio Club's Web page (http://www.ghg.net/mbordel/jscarc/shuttle/) tells the story of the first space shuttle flight to carry Amateur Radio:
"On November 28, 1983, STS-9 was launched carrying Mission Specialist Owen Garriott, Amateur Radio call sign W5LFL, and his ham radio into orbit. For 10 days the Space Shuttle Columbia streaked through the skies, and for the last 7 of those days, hams around the world
were sent emotionally into orbit when they heard Dr. Garriott's voice break their squelches calling earthbound stations. But it was just the beginning. Amateur Radio had moved into its newest frontier, and it was there to stay."
In addition to the possibility that earthbound hams could make random contacts with the ham-astronauts aboard orbiting space shuttles, beginning with STS-35 in 1990, Amateur Radio took
on a new role: The dawn of the Space Shuttle Amateur Radio EXperiment (SAREX). This new secondary payload called SAREX brought the opportunity of scheduled radio contacts between the orbiting ham-astronauts and schools, putting astronauts and the space program in direct contact with school children around the world!
Past SAREX missions include:
| Mission |
Shuttle |
Duration |
Primary mission / Notes |
| STS-35 |
Columbia |
Dec 2 - 10, 1990 |
UV Astronomy Spacelab ASTRO / The 1st SAREX |
| STS-37 |
Atlantis |
Apr 5 - 10, 1991 |
Gamma Ray Observatory deployment mission |
| STS-45 |
Atlantis |
Mar 24 - Apr 2, 1992 |
ATLAS-1 spacelab mission |
| STS-50 |
Columbia |
Jun 25 - Jul 9, 1992 |
U.S. Microgravity Lab-1 (USML-1) mission |
| STS-47 |
Endeavour |
Sep 12 - 20, 1992 |
First Japanese Spacelab mission |
| STS-56 |
Endeavour |
Apr 8 - 17, 1993 |
ATLAS-2 spacelab mission |
| STS-55 |
Columbia |
Apr 26 - May 6, 1993 |
Spacelab-D2 (German) spacelab mission |
| STS-57 |
Endeavour |
Jun 21 - Jul 1, 1993 |
Spacehab-1 mission |
| STS-58 |
Columbia |
Oct 18 - Nov 1, 1993 |
Spacelab for Life Sciences-2 (SLS-2) mission |
| STS-60 |
Discovery |
Feb 3 - 11, 1994 |
1st Wake Shield Facility, Spacehab-2 mission |
| STS-59 |
Endeavour |
Apr 9 - 20, 1994 |
Space Radar Lab-1 (SRL-1) mission |
| STS-65 |
Columbia |
Jul 8 - 23, 1994 |
International Microgravity Lab-2 (IML-2) |
| STS-64 |
Discovery |
Sep 9 - 20, 1994 |
Spartan-3 mission |
| STS-63 |
Discovery |
Feb 3 - 11, 1995 |
Shuttle/Mir rendezvous; Spacehab-3 mission |
| STS-67 |
Endeavour |
Mar 2 - 18, 1995 |
ASTRO-2 spacelab mission |
| STS-71 |
Atlantis |
Jun 27 - Jul 7, 1995 |
First Shuttle/Mir docking mission |
| STS-70 |
Discovery |
Jul 13 - 22, 1995 |
TDRS-G deployment mission |
| STS-74 |
Atlantis |
Nov 12 - 20, 1995 |
Second Shuttle/Mir docking mission |
| STS-76 |
Atlantis |
Mar 22 - 31, 1996 |
Third Shuttle/Mir docking; Early return: No SAREX |
| STS-78 |
Columbia |
Jun 20 - Jul 7, 1996 |
Spacelab-LMS mission |
| STS-79 |
Atlantis |
Sep 16 - 26, 1996 |
Fourth Shuttle/Mir docking mission |
| STS-83 |
Columbia |
Apr 4 - 8, 1997 |
Returned early; No SAREX contacts (See STS-94) |
| STS-94 |
Columbia |
Jul 1 - 17, 1997 |
Microgravity Sciences Laboratory mission; Made 17 school, and over 160 random, ham radio QSOs! |
| *STS-93 |
Columbia |
August 1998 |
* Tentatively scheduled for launch: August 27, 1998. |
Page last modified: 09:05 AM, 22 Nov 2000 ET
Page author: ariss@arrl.org
Copyright © 2000, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
