February 3, 2006
Tune in to transmission from orbiting spacesuit
An unoccupied spacesuit will be launched into space by Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev from the International Space Station during a spacewalk on Friday. SuitSat, as it is known, is equipped with a radio transmitter, an antenna in the helmet, batteries, and data of interest to students all over the world. It will transmit special messages and a slow-scan TV image to Earth.
NASA TV coverage of the spacewalk will begin Friday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and the launch is scheduled for 5:20. Anyone with an amateur ham radio receiver and an FM/VHF scanner can listen for the signal.
SuitSat will be free-floating and should stay in orbit about six weeks after which it will burn up in the atmosphere. Transmissions should last up to a week and include specially recorded voice messages, information on the spacesuit's condition, and a special image.