SPUTNIK AND SPACE: NEW YEAR'S WISHES FROM THE ISS CREW - Find out what life is like on the International Space Station - and what the crew has planned for New Year's Eve, in an exclusive interview with cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and astronaut Scott Kelly, who are currently on the world's first-ever year-long mission aboard the ISS. As the crew prepares to ring in the New Year, flight engineer Kornienko reflects on how professional spacemen celebrate the holidays.    More
(Source: Sputnik International - Jan 1)

PREVIEW: 2016 ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - With two days left in 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly looked out the window of the International Space Station before turning in for the night. Some 400 kilometers below, a range of craggy, snow-covered mountains stretched gently toward the horizon. Kelly tweeted the picture, identifying the scene as the Canadian Rockies. A few replies suggested he may have instead been looking at Canada's Coast Mountains.   More
(Source: The Planetary Society - Dec 31)

RUSSIA REDUCES RELIANCE ON FOREIGN SATELLITE DATA - Russia has significantly reduced its dependency on foreign remote sensing satellites, Russia's space agency Roscosmos said Tuesday. "A significant reduction has been noted in the use of foreign Earth remote sensing satellites, which is linked to the provision of similar data by Russian space devices," the agency said in a statement.   More
(Source: SpaceDaily.com - Dec 30)

STARGAZER SPIES SPACE STATION STREAKING THROUGH ORION'S BELT - The International Space Station hurled through Orion's Belt in this image captured by Laura Austin. Austin snapped this well-timed image on Sept. 10 from Sarnia, Ontaria, Canada. For Austin, any viewing of the space station is a special moment. "Wow! Honestly every time I see the ISS hurl across the sky I am in awe. I wonder what the six astronauts are doing aboard the space laboratory. Working off the Earth for Earth," Austin wrote in an email.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 30)

CHINA LAUNCHES HD EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - China on Tuesday launched its most sophisticated observation satellite, Gaofen-4, as part of the country's high-definition (HD) earth observation project. [Photo: people.cn] China on Tuesday launched its most sophisticated observation satellite, Gaofen-4, as part of the country's high-definition (HD) earth observation project. Gaofen-4 was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan at 00:04 a.m. aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket. It was the 222th flight of the Long March rocket series, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).   More
(Source: CRIENGLISH.com - Dec 29)

THIS GRAPHIC SHOWS THE MASSIVE GROWTH OF SPACE JUNK ORBITING EARTH SINCE 1957 - There's a lot of space junk orbiting the Earth these days. Right now, NASA is tracking about 20,000 pieces of spent rocket parts, defunct satellites and bits of debris larger than a softball that are hurtling around the planet at more than 17,000 mph. There are also about 500,000 objects the size of a marble or larger being tracked as they orbit Earth and millions more that are too small to track, according to NASA.   More
(Source: Mashable - Dec 27)

PROTON ROCKET LAUNCHES WITH RUSSIAN-EUROPEAN COMSAT - A Proton rocket lifted off from Kazakhstan on Thursday with a large European-built telecommunications satellite to broadcast television, radio and other services across Russia and sub-Saharan Africa. The 191-foot-tall (58-meter) Proton booster launched at 2131:19 GMT (4:31:19 p.m. EST) Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a sprawling spaceport in Kazakhstan leased by the Russian government. The launch was delayed from Wednesday due to adverse weather, according to Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.   More
(Source: SpaceFlightNow.com - Dec 26)

ASTRONAUT TIM PEAKE APOLOGIZES FOR DIALING WRONG NUMBER FROM SPACE STATION - An astronaut on the International Space Station made a technical error on Christmas Eve — but it was nothing a quick tweet couldn't fix. "I'd like to apologise to the lady I just called by mistake," astronaut Tim Peake wrote on Thursday. Apparently Peake had opened the call by greeting the person on the other line by saying: "Hello, is this planet Earth?"    More
(Source: NBCNews.com - Dec 26)

SPACE STATION PLAYS SANTA'S SLEIGH FOR KIDS IN UK - Good boys and girls -- and their kids -- watched Santa's sleigh (better known to grownups as the International Space Station) fly over the United Kingdom on Christmas Eve, thanks in part to a timely tip from the nation's weather service. "As excited children everywhere wait with anticipation for Father Christmas, why not take a look up into the night sky on Christmas Eve and see if you can spot him, (or rather, the ISS)," the Met Office wrote in a statement on their website days before Thursday's much-anticipated appearance.    More
(Source: CNN - Dec 25)

Previous Next