STATION CREW TO CELEBRATE GAGARIN ANNIVERSARY - A multinational crew aboard the International Space Station will take time Thursday to share special meals and celebrate the 51st anniversary of the world’s first human spaceflight. On April 12, 1961, Russian Air Force pilot Yuri Gagarin rocketed into the history books, launching into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. “That was a momentous for all of humankind,” U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank said in a space-to-ground news conference Wednesday. “It basically set the foundation a very wonderful and robust space program that now we enjoy cooperatively, internationally.” More (Source: Florida Today - Apr 12)
NORTH KOREA OPENS ITS WINDOW FOR ROCKET LAUNCH - As the window opened for North Korea's latest rocket launch opened Thursday morning, the nation's neighbors were watching developments at the remote base nervously. Japanese Patriot missile defense systems scanned the clear skies in Tokyo and an air base in Okinawa, underlining the regional tensions. ''We would like to call (on North Korea) for restraint until the very end," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said outside his office as he arrived Thursday, according to news agency Kyodo. More (Source: CNN - Apr 12)
AMAZING PHOTO CAPTURES ROBOT CARGO SHIP'S SPACE STATION ARRIVAL - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured an extraordinary photo of an unmanned European cargo ship as it docked to the orbiting outpost last week. The European Space Agency's third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) launched into orbit on March 23, and arrived at the space station five days later, on March 28. The robotic cargo ship delivered about 7 tons of supplies, including water, oxygen, food, clothing, experiments and propellant. More (Source: Fox News - Apr 10)
NORTH KOREA SHOWS OFF ITS LAUNCH PAD AND SATELLITE - North Korean space officials have moved all three stages of a long-range rocket into position for a controversial launch, vowing Sunday to push ahead with their plan in defiance of international warnings against violating a ban on missile activity. International news agencies, including The Associated Press and NBC News, were allowed a firsthand look at preparations under way at the coastal Sohae Satellite Station in northwestern North Korea. More (Source: MSNBC - Apr 9)
NEAR-MISSES BETWEEN SPACE STATION AND DEBRIS ON THE RISE - Statistics show the International Space Station came under growing danger from space junk after 2007, with half of the orbiting lab's close calls since then due to near-collisions with debris from a Chinese anti-satellite missile test, the mysterious explosion of a Russian military spacecraft, and the cataclysmic high-speed crash of two satellites. The space station, assembled in orbit beginning in 1998, has fired its thrusters 14 times to avoid space debris, with half of the maneuvers coming since August 2008. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 7)
ROCKET WITH SECRET PAYLOAD LAUNCHES FROM CALIF. - A rocket carrying a top-secret payload blasted off Tuesday from the California coast. The Delta IV rocket lifted off at 4:12 p.m. from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. "We've just seen the successful liftoff" of the rocket, launch commentator Don Spencer said in a webcast. More (Source: USA Today - Apr 5)
SPACEX TAPS SPACE EXPERTS TO REVIEW PRIVATE SPACESHIP SAFETY - The private spaceflght company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is aiming to launch the first crewed commercial spaceship to the International Space Station and has assembled a team of experts and former astronauts to help make it happen. To that end, the Hawthorne, Calif., based SpaceX has established an independent safety advisory panel has been established to provide an objective review of the company's Dragon space capsule and its carrier, the Falcon 9 rocket, the company announced Thursday More (Source: Space.com - Apr 3)
ATV PRODUCTION TERMINATED AS DECISION ON FOLLOW-ON NEARS - Confronted by parts obsolescence and waning political support, the European Space Agency has shut down subsystem production lines for the Automated Transfer Vehicle as member states debate how they will contribute to future international space exploration efforts, according to top spaceflight officials. The huge cargo freighters, weighing more than 20 tons fully loaded, will stop flying in 2014 when the fifth resupply craft delivers equipment to the International Space Station. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 3)
EUROPE’S ATV-3 SPACE FREIGHTER ADJUSTS SPACE STATION ORBIT - Europe’s ATV-3 unmanned resupply spacecraft, which docked with the ISS earlier this week, readjusted the space station’s orbit on Sunday, the Mission Control said. Two main engines of ATV-3 were switched on at 1:54 Moscow time on Sunday [21:54 GMT on Saturday] to raise the International Space Station (ISS) orbit by 1.7 km, to 389.8 km. "Engines of Europe’s ATV-3 spacecraft remained switched on for 411 seconds (almost seven minutes), giving the ISS an additional acceleration of one meter per second,” the source said. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Apr 1)
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