"After a rocky start and then a stellar 26-year performance, NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite - 1 (TDRS-1) is scheduled for decommissioning on October 28. Communications equipment that links TDRS-1 to the ground has failed and without this capability it can no longer relay science data and spacecraft telemetry to ground stations located at the White Sands Complex in Las Cruces, N.M., and on Guam." More information.
Satellite In The Wrong Orbit Works for 26 Years

- 7 Feb: NASA Commercial Crew Forum [New]
- 7 Feb: NASA Talk Features Pioneer Researcher and Inventor [New]
- 8-9 Feb: NASA and Industry Join Forces for Virginia Aerospace Day [New]
- 9 Feb: NASA International Space Station Advisory Committee Meeting
- 9 Feb: NASA Hosts Special Event With Recent Space Station Residents [New]
- 10 Feb: Media Invited to see Space Hardware Bound for Japan [New]
- 10-11 Feb: Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee Meeting
- 11 Feb: NASA Astronaut to Honor Black History at Virginia Air and Space Center [New]
- 13 Feb: ESA Briefing on New Results from Planck Mission
- 14 Feb: Astronauts' Discussion Of Recent International Space Station Mission
- 14 Feb: NASA Tweetup With Space Station Astronaut Ron Garan
- 15 Feb: STA reception with Mike Coats
- 15-16 Feb: 15th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference
- 21 Feb: ISU 16th Annual Symposium: Sustainability of Space Activities: International Issues and Potential Solutions
- 22 Feb: 2012 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
- 22-23 Feb: 2012 NASA PM Challenge
- 23 Feb: NASA Advisory Council Science Committee Planetary Science Subcommittee Meeting
- 26-28 Feb: Space Exploration Alliance 2012 Blitz
- 27-28 Feb: Second International MEPAG Meeting
- 27-29 Feb: Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference
- 28 Feb - 1 Mar: 4th Annual NASA STEM Educators Workshop Series
- 2 Mar: NASA Glenn Tweetup Celebrating 50th Anniversary Of First American To Orbit Earth
- 6-7 Mar: JPL Hosts High-Tech Small Business Conference
- 22 March: Symposium on Suborbital and Small Satellite Missions
- 22-23 Mar: NASA Adminstrator Bolden Speaks at Aerospace and Defense Conference [New]
- 27-29 Mar: 50th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium
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Slightly off topic, but about communications with the shuttle and ISS...
A few days ago, on CNN there was a video of communications between Bono and the Edge with the ISS.
I was struck about the quality of the audio signal from the Space Station. It was a high fidelity audio quality level.
For how long has the audio communcations with the space station been upgraded to this quality?
(as opposed to communcations with the shuttle which still seem to be on an older system).