EUROPEAN GOCE SATELLITE FALLS TO EARTH IN FIERY DEATH DIVE - A European satellite met its fiery doom in Earth's atmosphere late Sunday (Nov. 10), succumbing to the same gravitational pull of the planet that it spent the last four years mapping like never before. The European Space Agency's GOCE satellite fell from space Sunday at 7 p.m. EST (0000 Nov. 11 GMT) while flying on a path that would take it over Siberia, the Western Pacific Ocean, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica, ESA officials said.   More
(Source: Huffington Post - Nov 12)

SOYUZ RETURNS TO EARTH, COMPLETING ORBITAL TORCH RELAY - Three station fliers strapped into their Soyuz TMA-09M ferry craft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Sunday, settling to a jarring rocket-assisted landing on the frigid steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 166-day stay in space. Packed safely away in the Soyuz spacecraft was an Olympic torch that was launched last Wednesday with another three-person crew and carried outside the station Saturday for a dramatic spacewalk photo op. Olympic organizers plan to use the torch in the opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.    More
(Source: SoaceFlight.com - Nov 11)

OLYMPIC TORCH TAKES SPACE WALK - The torch for the Sochi Winter Olympics made a historic trip to open space Saturday, with Russian cosmonauts saying they hoped to "make it look spectacular." A three-man crew of astronauts accompanied the torch to the International Space Station Thursday in a Russian spacecraft that blasted off from Kazakhstan, the BBC reported. Cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky brought the unlit torch into open space Saturday afternoon and took pictures and videos of each other holding it.    More
(Source: UPI - Nov 10)

SOYUZ TMA-11M DOCKS INCREASING ISS TO NINE PERSON CREW - The three person crew of Soyuz TMA-11M have arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, just six hours and 14 minutes after being launched by their Soyuz FG rocket. Using the fast track rendezvous, the arrival has temporarily increased the orbital outpost’s crew compliment to nine. Veteran Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin was joined on the Soyuz by NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and JAXA’s Koichi Wakata, with additional focus on the launch due to a publicity stunt related to the 2014 Winter Olympics.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Nov 8)

MASSIVE SATELLITE 'CLUSTER' LAUNCH SET FOR NOVEMBER 21 - A Dnepr launcher set to lift off from Dombarovsky, near Yasny, Russia, on November 21 will carry more than two dozen satellites from 13 countries. Individual satellite teams are now in Yasny preparing their payloads for launch. Several of the satellites will carry Amateur Radio payloads, marking this as the largest single deployment of ham radio satellites. Paving the way for this month's event was the August 22 Dnepr launch of the KOMPSAT-5 satellite from Korea -- the first Dnepr launch in 2 years.    More
(Source: eHam.net - Nov 8)

THREE-MAN STATION CREW LIFTS OFF CARRYING OLYMPIC TORCH - A Russian Soyuz booster roared to life late Wednesday and rocketed away from Kazakhstan carrying a crew of three and an Olympic torch bound for the International Space Station, the centerpiece of an out-of-this-world photo op to herald the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. With commander Mikhail Tyurin at the controls, flanked on the left by NASA flight engineer Rick Mastracchio and on the right by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:14:15 p.m. EST (GMT-5; 10:14 a.m. Thursday local time).    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 8)

OLYMPIC TORCH AND NEW SPACE STATION CREW LAUNCHING TONIGHT: WATCH IT LIVE - A Russian rocket is counting down to launch toward the International Space Station tonight (Nov. 6) with some unusual cargo: an Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games and three space travelers representing Russia, the U.S. and Japan. NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata will blast off toward the orbiting lab aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at 11:14 p.m. EST (0414 Nov. 7 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. You can watch the Soyuz launch live here on SPACE.com starting at 10:15 p.m. EST (0315 GMT).   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 8)

SATELLITE WILL FALL TO EARTH, BUT NO ONE IS SURE WHERE - A European satellite that mapped Earth’s gravitational field in exquisite detail will be pulled down by gravity to its fiery destruction sometime in the next few days. Where and when it will crash no one knows. It could be almost anywhere on the globe. About 25 to 45 fragments of the one-ton spacecraft are expected to survive all the way to the surface, with the largest perhaps weighing 200 pounds.    More
(Source: New York Times - Nov 7)

NEW SPACE STATION CREW TO LAUNCH JAPANESE SATELLITE - The crew of a new expedition to the International Space Station said Wednesday they are planning to launch a small Japanese satellite, receive two cargo spacecraft and spacewalk with an Olympic torch during their six-month mission. A Soyuz rocket carrying Expedition 38, which includes Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, NASA's Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata of Japan, is due to be launched 8:14 a.m. Thursday Moscow time from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome.   More
(Source: RIA Novosti - Nov 7)

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