RUSSIAN SPACE FREIGHTER UNDOCKS FROM ORBITAL STATION - A Russian cargo spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday for a weeklong flight to study the operation of its liquid-propellant engines in the ionosphere, which spans from 50 to 250 miles above the Earth’s surface. The Progress M-19M, which arrived at the space station on April 26 with over 2.5 tons of cargo – including food, water and oxygen for the crew – will be deorbited after the research is concluded on June 19 and “buried” in the Pacific Ocean, Russian space officials said. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Jun 11)
CHINA ANNOUNCES CREW FOR TUESDAY SPACE LAUNCH - China plans to launch three people on its fifth manned space mission Tuesday, officials announced over the weekend. China's Shenzhou 10 piloted spacecraft will be launched at 5:38 p.m. Beijing time (5:38 a.m. EDT) with a three-person crew from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert. Wu Ping, spokeswoman for China's manned space program, announced the names of the three Shenzhou 10 astronauts on Monday. They are... More (Source: NBCNews.com - Jun 11)
SPOT SPACE STATION & CARGO SHIP TOGETHER IN NIGHT SKY THIS WEEK - The International Space Station and a European cargo-carrying spacecraft are locked in a cosmic dance, and you can see it all unfold right from your own backyard. The European Space Agency's bus-size Automated Transfer Vehicle-4 (ATV-4) — a space cargo ship loaded with food, rocket fuel and experiments — launched toward the space station last Wednesday (June 5). This week, weather permitting, you can see both the station and the ship (named "Albert Einstein") pass overhead. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 11)
MULTIPLE BRIGHT PASSES OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION OVER EUROPE - Observers in Europe should be aware that during this week the International Space Station will be visible several times each night. The passes are very favorable and exceptionally bright. Under good seeing conditions both ISS and recently lanched ATV-4 Albert Einstein orbiter could be spotted on the sky. This web site provides a page dedicated to predictiong ISS visible passes from your location. More (Source: N2YO.com - Jun 9)
RUSSIA TO LAUNCH FOUR GLONASS SATELLITES - Russia plans to launch four more satellites for the GLONASS navigation system by the end of this year, the Aerospace Defense Forces head said on Saturday, June 8. “Three GLONASS satellites are scheduled to be launched on board of a Proton carrier rocket in July from the Baikonur space center and another one is planned to be launched in December from the Plesetsk space center,” Maj. Gen. Alexander Golovko said. The most recent launch of the GLONASS satellite took place on April 26, when a Soyuz 2-1b rocket blasted off from the Plesetsk space center to orbit a GLONASS-M satellite. More (Source: PanARMENIAN.Net - Jun 9)
RUSSIAN SPY SATELLITE LAUNCHED VIA SOYUZ 2-1B - A Russian Soyuz 2-1B launch vehicle has lofted the second Persona reconnaissance satellite into space on Friday. The launch was conducted at 18:37 GMT from launch pad 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, with a successful spacecraft separation confirmed by the Russian military. Soyuz 2-1B Launch: The Soyuz-2-1 rocket is a descendent of the R-7 Semyorka, the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 was designed by Sergei Korolev, and first flew in 1957. A modified version was used to launch the first satellite, Sputnik 1, on 4 October of that year. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 8)
NASA SET TO LAUNCH LATEST SATELLITE TO STUDY SUN, IMPROVE SPACE WEATHER FORECAST - NASA is preparing to launch its latest sun-monitoring satellite on a mission to improve space weather prediction. The Iris satellite will observe a little-studied region of the sun that emits ultraviolet light. Scientists hope examining the sun’s lower atmosphere would help them learn more about how this region drives solar wind and powers the corona, the sun’s outer atmosphere seen during eclipses. More (Source: Washington Post - Jun 6)
EUROPE’S ATV-4 FREIGHTER BLASTS OFF TO SPACE STATION - ATV-4, Europe's unmanned cargo carrier, blasted off from the Kourou space center in French Guiana on Thursday to deliver cargo to the International Space Station (ISS). The fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), named after 20th century theoretical physicist Albert Einstein, is scheduled to dock with the aft port of the Russian Zvezda module on June 15. The European cargo carrier that services the ISS is bringing to the station over 6.5 metric tons of cargo, including fuel, water, food and other necessities. It is scheduled to remain docked with the station until October 2. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Jun 6)
LAST LOOK AT ATV-4 BEFORE IT LAUNCHES - Engineers look on as the Ariane 5 launcher fairing is lowered over ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the largest and most sophisticated space ferry to supply the International Space Station. The smaller dark cylinder visible inside the white fairing is ATV Albert Einstein, the fourth spacecraft in the series that will be launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana tomorrow. More (Source: RedOrbit - Jun 5)
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