Astronauts on the International Space Station are working to restore communications with Earth.  The communication link was lost with the space station at about 9:45 Eastern this morning.  Mission controllers had to wait until the station orbited closer to Russian ground stations to send a message to the crew. 

They instructed the astronauts to boot up a backup computer to restore the usual communication system.  The station crew reported they're doing fine and there are no more urgent problems on the station.