LEAKY VALVE ON SPACE STATION DELAYS SPACEWALK - A suspected leaky valve on the International Space Station stalled the start of a spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts for nearly an hour today (Aug. 20), forcing them to wait in bulky spacesuits until it was deemed safe to venture outside. Veteran cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko were preparing to begin their space station spacewalk when the leak was detected during air pressure tests. Russian flight controllers at the station's Mission Control Center in Moscow asked the cosmonauts to stay put until the leaky valve could be isolated. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 22)
SEA LAUNCH DEPLOYS TV SATELLITE FOR LATIN AMERICA - A telecommunications satellite for broadcasting cable and direct-to-home TV programming across Latin America and the Caribbean was blasted into orbit today atop a 20-story-tall booster rocket launched from a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. A commercial Sea Launch Zenit 3SL booster began its successful 30-minute ascent carrying the Intelsat 21 spacecraft from a converted oil-drilling rig positioned in equatorial waters of the Pacific about 1,400 miles south of Hawaii. Liftoff occurred at exactly 0654:59.145 GMT (2:54:59.145 a.m. EDT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 20)
ATV-3 VEHICLE FAILS TO ADJUST SPACE STATION ORBIT - The European Space Agency’s ATV-3 space freighter failed on Wednesday to readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS), a space industry source said. Another attempt could be made on Friday. Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos said earlier in the day the engines of the Edoardo Amaldi spacecraft, docked at Russia’s Zvezda module on the ISS, would be fired to raise the ISS orbit by 7.7 kilometers, to 414.42 km. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Aug 16)
EXTERNAL PAYLOADS DELIVERED TO STATION BY JAPANESE VESSEL - The International Space Station's robotics systems, under manual and remote control by astronauts and ground controllers, have transferred a cache of experiments from a Japanese resupply craft to external platforms aboard the orbiting outpost. The Japanese and U.S. experiments were launched July 21 aboard the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's H-2 Transfer Vehicle, an automated cargo freighter designed to ferry pressurized and exposed supplies, spare parts and experiments to the space station. More (Source: Spaceflight Now - Aug 16)
NASA TO BROADCAST LIVE SPACEWALKS FROM THE SPACE STATION - NASA Television will broadcast live two spacewalks of astronauts and cosmonauts outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 20 and Aug. 30, 2012. The Aug. 20 spacewalk will begin at 10:40 a.m. EDT. Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts, Expedition 32 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko will take the first spacewalk. They will be outside for about 6.5 hours to relocate a cargo boom from Pirs to the Zarya module and to finish the installation of micrometeoroid debris shields on the Zvezda service module. They will also deploy a small science satellite. More (Source: Examiner.com - Aug 16)
ISRO CLOSE TO SIGNING DEALS TO LAUNCH 3 FOREIGN SATELLITES - Bangalore: Indian Space Research Organisation is close to signing contracts for launching three foreign satellites on board its home-built Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from Sriharikota spaceport. ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said Antrix Corporation, the space agency's marketing arm, is in advanced dialogue for three launch services contracts. More (Source: Zee News - Aug 14)
NASA SATELLITES TO PROBE EARTH'S HARSH RADIATION BELTS - A pair of spacecraft in suits of armor will brave one of the toughest environments in space when they launch later this month to study radiation around Earth. NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) will fly through the thick belts of charged particles that encircle our planet to try to understand these dynamic environments. To withstand the damage such harsh radiation can inflict, the satellites are shrouded in strong layers of shielding. More (Source: NBCNews.com - Aug 12)
RUSSIAN PM ANGERED BY FAILED RUSSIAN SPACE LAUNCH - Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that this week's failed space launch has dented the nation's prestige and that those to blame must be held responsible. A Proton-M booster rocket launched Monday failed to place two communications satellites into target orbits, a mishap that followed several other botched launches. An official investigation is under way. More (Source: Businessweek - Aug 11)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION VISIBLE THE NEXT FEW NIGHTS - Stargazers will get a treat the next few nights as the International Space Station makes a few passes. The space station will be visible from the tri-state the next several nights, including Wednesday night at 8:42 or 10:22 cdt. The ISS will approach from the north/northwest sky. Other times for viewing include Thursday night at 9:29, Friday night at 8:35 and 10:13 and Saturday night at 9:19. More (Source: 14 News WFIE Evansville - Aug 9)
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