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)
ASTRONAUTS LOOK ON AS SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP DIES A FIERY DEATH - A robotic spacecraft filled with waste from the International Space Station meets its fiery end in a series of newly released photos. The amazing new images captured by an astronaut onboard the station depict the European Space Agency's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4) - named the Albert Einstein - dramatically disintegrating high above an uninhabited part of the Pacific Ocean on Saturday. More (Source: NBC News - Nov 7)
SPACE STATION CREW FACES ORBITAL TRAFFIC JAM THIS WEEK - It's a busy week in orbit at the International Space Station. With nine astronauts set to crowd the station this week, part of its crew moved a Russian transport vehicle to a different dock to make room for the new arrivals. Three members of the six-person Expedition 37 climbed into the Soyuz TMA-09 spacecraft Friday (Nov. 1) to bring the vehicle from the Rassvet cargo and docking module to the Zvezda service module, which has another Russian docking port on the other side of the station. The maneuver began at 4:33 a.m. EDT (0833 GMT) and lasted 21 minutes. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 6)
INDIAN SPACECRAFT SOARS ON HISTORIC JOURNEY TO MARS - India's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasted off Tuesday with the country's first Mars mission, a low-budget project marking India's foray into an elite club of space powers. The 146-foot-tall rocket, specifically tailored for the Mars mission, launched at 0908 GMT (4:08 a.m. EST) Tuesday from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, India's spaceport on Sriharikota Island about 50 miles north of Chennai. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 5)
OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY HEADS TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - While the Olympic torch relay courses through Russia ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games in February, a veteran international crew from Russia, the United States and Japan will launch into space next week with an unlit replica for a ceremonial orbital handoff. Russia is sending the torch to the International Space Station as officials gear up for the Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. The opening ceremony is set for Feb. 7. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 1)
LAUNCH OF EUROPEAN SATELLITE TRIO DELAYED BY TECHNICAL PROBLEMS - mission using three satellites to investigate the mysteries of Earth's magnetic field has been delayed, the European Space Agency said Wednesday. Originally scheduled for Nov. 14, the launch of the Swarm mission is expected to be delayed by about one week, the mission's launch service provider, Eurockot, said. The delay follows a decision to replace a part in the upper stage of the Rockot launcher, ESA officials said. The three-satellite Swarm mission is intended to study the magnetic field that protects the planet from cosmic radiation and charged particles that bombard Earth in "solar winds," ESA scientists said. More (Source: UPI - Oct 31)
CHINA LAUNCHES REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - China launched a remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in China's Shanxi province on Tuesday , according to the centre. The Yaogan XVIII remote-sensing satellite was successfully launched at 10.50 a.m. on the back of a Long March 2C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in China's Shanxi province, Xinhua reported citing a press release of the centre as saying. More (Source: IANS - Oct 30)
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