RUSSIA EYES KAZAKH COSMONAUT AS SPACE TOURIST - Russia on Monday proposed sending a Kazakh cosmonaut to the International Space Station in place of a space tourist in September after a Japanese candidate formally dropped out. Satoshi Takamatsu, a Japanese businessman, was gearing up to go to space after signing a contract to undergo training but said Monday that he was not ready for the launch expected in early September. "The Russian commission has proposed sending a national of Kazakhstan to the ISS," spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Igor Burenkov, told AFP.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Jun 23)

VEGA ROCKET READIED FOR LAUNCH OF SENTINEL-2A EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE - An Arianespace Vega launch vehicle is slated to send the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sentinel-2A Earth-observing satellite aloft at 9:52 p.m. EDT on June 22 (01:52 GMT on 23 June) from ESA’s spaceport located in Kourou, French Guiana. The preparations for the flight, which was previously scheduled to take place on June 12, are in full swing as the spacecraft having been fueled, mated with the launch adapter, and encapsulated in the rocket’s payload fairing. The upcoming mission, designated Flight VV05, will be the fifth launch of the lightweight Vega rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Jun 23)

SPACEX'S SPACE STATION RESUPPLY MISSION TO LAUNCH ON SUNDAY - Next Sunday, SpaceX's seventh International Space Station resupply mission will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:21 am. It will carry payload of 1,150-pound, which is a 5-foot diameter ring called a 'docking adapter', which is needed to connect with the orbiting research complex. The capsules, being developed, comprise an advanced version of the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship that will blast off on a Falcon 9 rocket, and Boeing's CST-100; the rockets will be assembled at Kennedy Space Center and United Launch Alliance Atlas V will launch them.   More
(Source: NY City News - Jun 22)

SPACEX NOW TARGETING JUNE 28 LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - SpaceX's next International Space Station resupply mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is now scheduled for 10:21 a.m. on Sunday, June 28, two days later than previously planned. The company is taking a bit more time to accommodate normal launch preparations, not working any problems with a Falcon 9 rocket or Dragon spacecraft, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported. The resupply mission is SpaceX's seventh of 15 under a NASA contract.   More
(Source: WKMG Orlando - Jun 20)

IT IS ABOUT TIME RUSSIA SHOULD END INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PROJECT - The 20th century was rich for events in the field of space exploration. First manned space flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's and US astronaut Neil Armstrong's landing on the Moon became one of he biggest achievements of mankind in conquering space. What can humans achieve in space exploration in the 21st century? Pravda.Ru conducted an interview on the subject with correspondent member of the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics named after Tsiolkovsky, Andrei Ionin.   More
(Source: Pravda - Jun 20)

INTERNATIONAL OCEAN RESEARCH OBSERVATORY FAILS IN ORBIT - An Argentine satellite hosting a NASA sensor designed to measure the saltiness of Earth’s oceans has ended its mission after four years in orbit, NASA said Wednesday. The Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-D, or SAC-D, spacecraft ended its mission June 8 when part of its power and attitude control system failed, according to NASA. The spacecraft shut down a year shy of its five-year design life, but scientists say its primary instrument — the NASA-built Aquarius ocean salinity and soil moisture sensor — achieved all its objectives and exceeded its three-year mission goal.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 20)

NASA INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ON-ORBIT STATUS - The three-member Expedition 44 crew is conducting biomedical science today to study the effects of living in space on a crew member's body. The International Space Station will raise its orbit tomorrow to allow another trio of space residents to join the orbiting residents at the end of July. Commander Gennady Padalka and One-Year crew members Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko took part in the Ocular Health study today. They looked at the interior of each other's eyes with a tonometer and checked their blood pressure. Scientists are exploring how microgravity affects an astronaut's vision and the eye's physiology.   More
(Source: Space Ref - Jun 19)

HOP ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION IN ULTRA HD - When astronaut Terry Virts headed to the International Space Station in December 2014 as commander of Expedition 43, he brought with him a camera capable of capturing content in 4K resolution. Back on Earth as of June 11, Virts and NASA are starting to share some of the footage captured during the mission, which included, among other things, astrophysics research and physical-science investigations.    More
(Source: CNET - Jun 18)

NOAA'S GOES-R SATELLITE SOLAR ARRAY SPREADS ITS WING - The solar panel array on NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) – R spacecraft has been successfully deployed in a test conducted at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Littleton, Colorado. The five sections of the solar array resemble a giant black wing. Engineers completed the deployment of the Solar Array Wing Assembly including the Solar Pointing Platform in a cleanroom facility where the GOES-R satellite is being assembled. The Sun Pointing Platform holds two of the GOES-R space weather instruments: the Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) and the Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI).    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Jun 18)

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