3 Hams part of the Discovery crew

Credit-ARRL:

Shuttle Discovery crew includes three radio amateurs (Dec 1, 2006) -- NASA has set Thursday, December 7, as the launch date for the next space shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Shuttle Discovery will carry three radio amateurs, one of whom -- US astronaut Sunita Williams, KD5PLB -- will join ISS Expedition 14 in progress. She'll replace European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, DF4TR, whose duty tour has spanned Expeditions 13 and 14 -- the first time that's happened in the history of the ISS. Williams is said to be eager to do ARISS school group contacts from NA1SS. Also aboard Discovery will be European Space Agency astronaut and mission specialist Christer Fuglesang, KE5CGR/SA0AFS, Sweden's first astronaut, who will be making his first journey into space. Plans are in place for Fuglesang to carry out an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) school contact with students at Thunmanskolan in Knivsta, Sweden. The contact would be the first ARISS school QSO with Scandinavia. On November 20, Fuglesang attended an Amateur Radio training session at Johnson Space Center to prepare him for using the ARISS Phase 2 station for his school contact. Primary payloads on the 12-day mission are the P5 integrated truss segment, SPACEHAB single logistics module and an integrated cargo carrier. Mission specialist Nicholas Patrick, KD5PKY, also is on the seven-member STS-116 mission crew. This will mark the 20th shuttle flight to the ISS. -- NASA; ARISS