Greeting from Space, Change of Guard Highlight AMSAT-NA Gathering

Outgoing AMSAT-NA President Robin Haighton, VE3FRH (left), shakes hands with incoming President Rick Hambly, W2GPS.

Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, works ISS astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, from NA1SS, during the AMSAT Symposium. ARISS-Russia delegate Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, looks on. [Carrie Cunningham, KA7SKY, Photo]

(L-R) ARISS International delegates Keigo Komuro, JH1KAB; Rosalie White, K1STO; Robin Haighton, VE3FRH; Sergei Samburov, RV3DR; and Frank Bauer, KA3HDO. Bauer. ARISS-Europe delegate Gaston Bertels, ON4WF, was teleconferenced into the gathering. The delegates updated AMSAT Symposium attendees on the status of ARISS projects.

ARISS-DL President Peter Gülzow, DB2OS. His organization is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Banquet speaker and astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE.

Special guest and longtime AMSAT supporter Harry, JA1ANG (left), and AMSAT-NA's newest board member Paul Shuch, N6TX.

AMSAT Manager Martha Saragovitz tends the AMSAT products table.

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, and his wife Janet co-chaired the 2004 AMSAT Symposium and Annual Meeting. The 2005 event will be held in Lafayette, Louisiana.

NEWINGTON, CT, Oct 11, 2004--A congratulatory greeting via ham radio from the crew of the International Space Station was among the highlights of the 2004 AMSAT-NA Symposium and Annual Meeting October 8-10 in Arlington, Virginia. The gathering--for the first time held in conjunction with this week's Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) International delegates meeting--attracted upward of 300 attendees--among them some of the best-known names in the amateur satellite world. ISS astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, joined the celebration vicariously by working ARISS Ham Radio Technical Manager Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, from NA1SS during an ISS pass October 9.

"I'd like to send a greeting to all the people attending the AMSAT conference and congratulate you all on 35 years of Amateur Radio in space," Fincke said from NA1SS on behalf of himself and Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka, RN3DT. "Wishing you all the best from the International Space Station!" Fincke jumped in to work Ransom and several other stations while the ARISS amateur gear was in FM repeater mode.

"Thanks to you guys, people in the world are a little bit closer together," Fincke added. In a second QSO with WF5X, Fincke reiterated his greeting and expressed gratitude to AMSAT--an ARISS partner--for the amateur equipment aboard the space station.

Fincke briefly switched to Russian to also greet ARISS-Russia delegate Sergei Samburov, RV3DR, who was with Ransom in Arlington during the QSO. Playback of the contact audio during the AMSAT Symposium banquet later that day drew a hearty round of applause. Symposium attendee and former NASA astronaut Ron Parise, WA4SIR, also witnessed the contact.

The annual gathering marked the official changing of the guard at AMSAT-NA as Robin Haighton, VE3FRH, presided over his last Board of Directors meeting October 8 before turning over the gavel to incoming president Rick Hambly, W2GPS. At the board session, members agreed to file a Petition for Reconsideration of the recent FCC Second Report and Order in IB Docket 02-54 dealing with orbital debris.

Haighton's four-year tenure spanned this year's success of the Echo/AO-51 satellite, which has helped the organization to rebound from the earlier, less-than-successful outcome of the now-defunct Phase 3D/AO-40--the most expensive and elaborate amateur satellite project in history. Planning for the proposed Project Eagle satellite also got under way under Haighton's AMSAT-NA leadership. That work will continue under Hambly's management.

The outgoing president took obvious pleasure in announcing during the banquet that AMSAT finally was able to recover the entire $110,000 cost of launching Echo earlier this year--thanks to donations from individuals attending the AMSAT Symposium and matching funds.

Hambly hopes to proceed with new satellite projects already on the drawing board as well as to expand AMSAT-NA's educational mission. He also faces the challenge of finding a new home for the AMSAT Lab. The Orlando building where Phase 3D was integrated was damaged beyond repair by Hurricane Charley. Two universities have offered facilities, and, Hambly said, AMSAT may develop relationships with educational institutions in the future.

Hambly introduced the 4000-member organization's new leadership team during the AMSAT annual meeting and awards ceremony October 9. Among his key appointments, Hambly named Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, as vice president for human space flight. Bauer, a NASA employee, also chairs the ARISS International Team. The incoming AMSAT-NA president also tapped Barry Baines, WD4ASW, as vice president of marketing and user services. Both are new VP positions within AMSAT-NA. Lee McLamb, KU4OS, was named executive vice president. Other appointments include: Vice President for Operations Mike Kingery, KE4AZN; Vice President for Engineering Stan Wood, WA4FNY; Treasurer Gunther Meise, W8GSM, and AMSAT Manager Martha Saragovitz.

In addition to hearing updates on satellite projects present and future, Symposium attendees were able to choose from a rich menu of presentations. Among them, AMSAT-DL President Peter Gülzow, DB2OS, outlined plans for a Phase 3 Express (P3E) satellite--essentially a scaled-down and less-complex version of AO-40. AMSAT-NA is a partner in the P3E high-altitude-orbit satellite, which will be a prelude to an ambitious Mars-orbiting spacecraft. Other presentations covers such diverse topics as Voice over Internet Protocol communication for the ARISS program, the AMSAT-UK Student Space Exploration and Technology Initiative (SSETI) satellite, CubeSats, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence and a proposal for a satellite with an onboard robot to repair it.

ISS Expedition 4 crew member and astronaut Carl Walz, KC5TIE, keynoted the October 9 banquet. Among the many high points of his duty tour was a 2002 space walk with Expedition 4 Commander Yuri Onufrienko, RK3DUO, to install the first of four ARISS antennas on the ISS. Walz, Onufrienko and astronaut Dan Bursch, KD5PNU, also was aboard the ISS for the visit of the second so-called "space tourist" Mark Shuttleworth of South Africa. In addition, Walz and Bursch set a new NASA human space flight endurance record during their slightly extended mission.

Walz described himself and his crewmates a "human guinea pigs" for various NASA physiological experiments aimed at determining the ability of the human body to endure the effects of long-term space flight, such as might be required for a mission to Mars. The Expedition 4 crew also assisted in adding some new ISS structural components that had been transported via the space shuttle.

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