SOYUZ DOCKS TO STATION. NASA EXTENDS RUSSIAN CONTRACT - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two fresh crew members and a wealthy American space tourist docked with the international space station today to close out a two-day orbital chase. NASA, meanwhile, announced a $719 million contract extension with the Russian federal space agency to, in part, provide the Soyuz lifeboats and supplies needed to eventually boost the station's crew size from three to six. More (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com - Apr 10)
RUSSIAN ROCKET LAUNCHES CANADIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE INTO SPACE - A Russian booster rocket launched a Canadian telecommunications satellite into space in the early hours of Tuesday. The heavy-lift Proton-M rocket blasted off from Russia's main space facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, carrying the European-built Anik F3 satellite and briefly lighting up the night skies over desolate steppes. More (Source: International Herald Tribune - Apr 10)
ASTRO SATELLITE HOOKS SPACECRAFT UP WITH FUEL WHILST ORBITING - Launching a few birds into space is quite a feat in its own right, but pumping hydrazine fuel into an orbiting counterpart autonomously is really something to be proud of. Just about a month after launching the two unmanned crafts into space, the ASTRO satellite "successfully pumped vital hydrazine fuel into its NextSat counterpart as part of Scenario 0-1, the first in a series of increasingly challenging tests." More (Source: Engadget.com - Apr 9)
RUSSIAN SATELLITE KO'D - LATEST GLOBAL WARMING COVER-UP? - On the 7th of March, a Russian research satellite called "Universitetsky-Tatiana" stopped functioning, and some Russian experts believe it may have fallen victim to a US anti-satellite weapon. According to reports, the satellite stopped working at about the same time the United States were conducting a military experiment. However, the Pentagon has dismissed claims that the Russian satellite was intentionally crippled, although the craft itself was not damaged. More (Source: American Chronicle - Apr 9)
SOYUZ TMA-10 LAUNCHES AMID ISS PROBLEM - A Russian Soyuz launch vehicle has launched with Expedition 15 cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin (commander), flight engineer Oleg Kotov, along with American billionaire Dr. Charles Simonyi to the International Space Station. Launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was on time at 6:31pm UTC. More (Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Apr 7)
WATCH LAUNCH OF EXPEDITION 15 CREW TO SPACE STATION ON NASA TV - April 7, 2007 is launch day for the Expedition 15 crew to ISS. They are expected to lift off aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft at approximately 1:31 p.m. EDT and then dock at the station at about 3:12 p.m. These events and more will be shown live on NASA TV More (Source: iTWire - Apr 7)
ENGINEERS FUEL ROCKET FOR SOYUZ LAUNCH WITH U.S. BILLIONAIRE ONBOARD - Russian engineers made last-minute preparations for the Saturday launch of a Soyuz capsule bound for the international space station with two cosmonauts and U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi aboard. More (Source: MyFoxDC.com - Apr 7)
SATELLITE LEAVES HALF OF RUSSIA WITHOUT TV AND INTERNET - At about 3am Moscow time problems occurred with the connection to the Yamal-201 satellite. The most part of Russia remained without main TV channels and internet access. For about 6 hours specialists of the Gazcom company which controls the Yamal satellites managed to solve the problem. More (Source: CNEWS.ru - Apr 7)
FOURTH US CIVILIAN SPACE TRAVELER - The fifth civilian to visit the International Space Station will accompany the station's Expedition 15 crew into space Saturday, April 7. A client of Vienna, Virginia-based Space Adventures Ltd, Simonyi, 58, will be the third passenger aboard the Soyuz TMA-10 "taxi mission" that will carry Expedition 15 Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin, RN3FI, and Oleg Kotov, to the ISS. Simonyi will pay an estimated $25 million for the privilege of spending eight days in space. More (Source: The Amateur Radio Relay League - ARRL - Apr 6)
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