The Baltic nation of Lithuania is hoping that its first two satellites will be launched later this year from the International Space Station (ISS). The nanosatellites carrying Amateur Radio payloads could be among the CubeSats sent by payload handler NanoRacks LLC to the ISS on the SpaceX CRS-3 mission in November 2013. The Kaunas University of Technology is developing LituanicaSAT-1, while the Lithuanian Space Association is working on LitSat-1. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the historic flight by Lithuanian pilots Steponas Darius and Stasys Gireėnas in the Lituanica aircraft. On July 15, 1933, they took off from Floyd Bennett Field in New York and flew across the Atlantic, covering a distance of 6,411 kilometers in 37 hours and 11 minutes. Tragically they perished after crashing in Germany, just 650 kilometers from their destination of Kaunas, Lithuania. LituanicaSAT-1 will carry a VGA camera, GPS receiver, 9600 bps AX25 FSK telemetry beacon and a 150 mW V/U FM voice transponder. LitSat-1 is planning a U/V linear transponder for SSB/CW communications. — AMSAT News Service/AMSAT-UK