Mission Specialist Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, KD5TVR, and Dan Burbank, KC5ZSX, will be the only US Amateur Radio licensees aboard the shuttle Atlantis, scheduled to head for the International Space Station Sunday, August 27, at 2030 UTC.

The only woman on Mission STS-115, Stefanyshyn-Piper will be making first trip into space since becoming an astronaut 10 years ago. Burbank previously flew on Mission STS-106. In addition to Stefanyshyn-Piper and Burbank, the STS-115 crew consists of Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Chris Ferguson and mission specialists Joe Tanner and Steve MacLean, who represents the Canadian Space Agency.

This mission will mark the first time in nearly four years that a space station component will be added to the orbiting outpost, which is home to NA1SS. During three spacewalks, Atlantis crew members will install a second set of solar arrays on the space station -- doubling the station's ability to generate power from sunlight -- and the P3/P4 truss to support the arrays. No Amateur Radio operation from Atlantis is planned. On August 23, the ISS is scheduled to perform an orbital "reboost," placing the station at the correct altitude to support the rendezvous with Atlantis and September's Soyuz launch of the Expedition 14 crew.