SOYUZ SPACE CAPSULE WITH MULTINATIONAL CREW TOUCHES DOWN IN KAZAKHSTAN AFTER 193-DAY MISSION - A Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man multinational crew touched down safely Sunday on the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, bringing an end to their 193-day mission to the International Space Station. Around a dozen recovery helicopters zeroed into the vast uncultivated land mass, where NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, Russia’s Oleg Kononenko and Dutchman Andre Kuipers landed in the Russian-made capsule. More (Source: Washington Post - Jul 2)
SPACE STATION CREW TO RETURN TO EARTH SUNDAY - astronauts living on the International Space Station will return home to Earth Sunday (July 1) after spending more than six months in orbit. NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are scheduled to undock from the space station in their Russian-built Soyuz capsule at 12:48 a.m. EDT (0448 GMT) Sunday. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 1)
SPACE STATION SCIENCE AT CRITICAL POINT, NASA OFFICIALS SAY - It's time to get serious about science in space, and the International Space Station is the perfect place to start, NASA officials said earlier this week. "We are in a position in space research and space exploration where we have to push the ball and advance forward or we're about ready to retreat from space," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a crowd of researchers here at the first annual ISS Research and Development Conference. More (Source: MSNBC - Jun 30)
CHINESE CREW RETURNS TO EARTH AFTER SPACE STATION TEST FLIGHT - China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft parachuted to a jolting rocket-assisted landing in Inner Mongolia on Friday, safely returning three astronauts to Earth after nearly 13 days in orbit. Landing occurred at around 0202 GMT (10:02 p.m. EDT; 10:04 a.m. Beijing time) in Siziwang Banner, a county in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Commander Jing Haipeng and crewmates Liu Wang and Liu Yang, China's first female space flier, were helped from the capsule about one hour later. The astronauts were placed in chairs and carried nearby for a photo opportunity. More (Source: Spaceflight Now - Jun 29)
AIR FORCE LAUNCHES US SPY SATELLITE ON SECRET MISSION - A new U.S. spy satellite launched into orbit Wednesday (June 20), kicking off a clandestine national security mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. The NROL-38 reconnaissance spacecraft lifted off at 8:28 a.m. EDT (1228 GMT) from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket. It marked a milestone flight for the rocket company, a partnership between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. More (Source: Fox News - Jun 29)
CHINA'S FIRST PILOTED DOCKING TEST GOES SMOOTHLY IN SPACE - Three Chinese astronauts will temporarily depart their quarters inside the orbiting Tiangong 1 space lab early Sunday, backing away inside a Shenzhou spacecraft before pilot Liu Wang takes control of the capsule to complete the first manual docking in China's burgeoning space program. The maneuver is planned for about 0400 GMT (12 a.m. EDT) Sunday, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, a division of the Chinese military responsible for the country's human space endeavors. More (Source: Spaceflight Now - Jun 25)
MEASAT TO LAUNCH THREE SATELLITES IN NEXT TWO YEARS - Measat Satellite Systems Sdn Bhd (Measat) plans to launch three satellites in the next two years to provide customers with innovative and 'best-in-class' satellite solutions. Its Senior Vice-President for Space Systems Development Dr Ali R. Ebadi said AFRICASAT-1a is scheduled for launch in February next year, MEASAT-3b at the end of 2013 and MEASAT-3C in 2014. More (Source: Bernama - Jun 24)
SPACE STATION LIVE! NASA APP PUTS ORBITING LAB AT YOUR FINGERTIPS - Ever wonder what the crew on board the International Space Station is doing right now? Or what is the temperature of each of the orbiting outpost's modules? Or how much power is being generated at this very instant by the space station's solar array wings? If so, NASA has an app for that. The agency's Space Station Live! website and companion ISSLive! mobile application offers the public a new inside look at what is happening aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and in the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 23)
NASA FUNDS SATELLITE MISSION TO MEASURE HURRICANE WINDS - NASA's decision this week to fund a University of Michigan proposal to build a small satellite constellation, the first full mission award in the agency's low-cost Venture-class Earth science program, could help forecasters predict the intensification of tropical cyclones. Data from the mission will help researchers study how tropical cyclones grow stronger over warm ocean waters, and meteorologists could use real-time information to help formulate hurricane forecasts. More (Source: Spaceflight Now - Jun 23)
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