SPACE STATION CREW NOT PREPPING FOR SHUTDOWN YET - The astronauts aboard the International Space Station said Tuesday that ground controllers are figuring out how best to leave the vast complex running — what lights to leave on, which vents to keep open — in case it needs to be temporarily abandoned. A Russian rocket carrying space station supplies failed during liftoff two weeks ago and crashed into Siberia. It's the same type of rocket used to launch people to the station. Until Russian engineers can figure out what went wrong, all Soyuz launches are on hold. More (Source: The Associated Press - Sep 7)
SPACE JUNK RISING EXPONENTIALLY - The amount of junk in space is rising exponentially, with continuous collisions between abandoned equipment, spent rockets and other debris creating ever growing clouds of dangerous fragments. A study, commissioned by Nasa, says the quantity of hazardous material circling the Earth has reached a “tipping point” and poses a real and increasing danger to satellites and the International Space Station. More (Source: Golf News - Sep 5)
IRAN’S RASAD SATELLITE ACCOMPLISHES MISSION - Director of Iran’s Space Agency has said the Rasad satellite has accomplished its mission and entered the atmosphere. Hamid Fazeli told IRNA news agency that Rasad was designed to orbit the earth for about one month and 2 to 3 weeks. Fazeli also said all the objectives behind sending the satellite into space have been achieved. He went on to say that the satellite split up when entering the Earth’s atmosphere due to its low weight, high temperature and speed. On June 17, Iran successfully launched its second domestically-manufactured Rasad into orbit. More (Source: Tehran Times - Sep 4)
RUSSIA DETERMINES CAUSES OF BACK-TO-BACK LAUNCH FAILURES - Investigators have identified the causes of consecutive launch mishaps with the Proton and Soyuz rockets, clearing a major hurdle in preparing to return the workhorse launch vehicles to flight. In an announcement Monday, the Russian space agency said the investigation into the Soyuz launch failure Aug. 24 was focusing on a malfunction in the rocket's third stage gas generator. The launch was carrying an automated Progress cargo ship to the International Space Station, and debris from the mission crashed in the Altai region of southern Russia. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Aug 31)
ASTRONAUTS MAY HAVE TO ABANDON SPACE STATION - Astronauts will abandon the International Space Station, probably in mid-November, if rocket engine problems that doomed a Russian cargo ship last week are not diagnosed and fixed. Even if unoccupied, the space station can be operated by controllers on the ground indefinitely and would not be in immediate danger of falling out of orbit. More (Source: New York Times - Aug 29)
PRIVATE US SUPPLY SHIP FOR SPACE STATION ARRIVES AT LAUNCH SITE - A private U.S. rocket company building robotic spaceships to carry space station supplies for NASA has delivered the first of its cargo ships to its launch site in Virginia. The company Orbital Sciences Corp. delivered the first cargo module for its Cygnus spacecraft fleet to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., on Aug. 23 to prepare for a test flight to the International Space Station in February. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 29)
ALASKA ROCKET SATELLITE SET FOR SEPTEMBER - A research satellite is set to be launched from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Sept. 27. The Kodiak Daily Mirror says (http://bit.ly/rlgqB3 ) the satellite is a Naval Research Laboratory project that has been in the works for several years. Naval Research Laboratory spokesman Tim Duffy says the satellite is smaller than a typical military satellite, weighing in at just under 1,000 pounds. Duffy says the satellite is designed to be effective at high latitudes and in mountains, unlike most satellite communications systems. More (Source: Houston Chronicle - Aug 29)
RUSSIA ORDERS EXTRA TESTS BEFORE SATELLITE LAUNCH - Russia will go ahead with the launch of a navigation satellite on Friday only after it has carried out additional safety checks following the crash of a supply craft, the Russian space agency said on Thursday. An unmanned Progress spacecraft using a Soyuz booster rocket failed to reach orbit and burned up in the atmosphere shortly after launch on Wednesday. It had been carrying food and fuel to the International Space Station. More (Source: Reuters - Aug 25)
RUSSIAN SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP CRASHES IN FAILED ROCKET LAUNCH - An unmanned Russian cargo ship carrying tons of supplies for astronauts on the International Space Station suffered a major malfunction after launching today (Aug. 24) and ultimately crashed back to Earth, NASA officials say. The robotic Progress 44 cargo ship blasted off atop a Soyuz U rocket at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) from the central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and was due to arrive at the space station on Friday. "Unfortunately, about 325 seconds into flight, shortly after the third stage was ignited, the vehicle commanded an engine shutdown due to an engine anomaly," NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters today. "The vehicle impacted in the Altai region of the Russian Federation." More (Source: Space.com - Aug 24)
Previous Next
