SOYUZ TMA-01M SPACE SHUTTLE WILL RETURN TO EARTH ON WEDNESDAY - NASA has unveiled that today, Monday, March 14th, Scott J. Kelly will leave the command of the ISS, International Space Station, to the flight engineer Dmitry Kondratyev. The commander of the 26th Expedition will return to Earth the day after tomorrow, Wednesday, March 16th, on the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-01M; with him will fly the flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka. With their departure, the Expedition 27 starts.    More
(Source: AVIONEWS - Mar 16)

GOOGLE RELEASES STUNNING BEFORE AND AFTER SATELLITE IMAGERY OF JAPAN - Japan is faced with its worst natural disaster in nearly 100 years following the devastation caused by a magnitude 8.9 earthquake on Friday and the tsunami that inundated hundreds of miles of coastline. Imagery from the ground is heart wrenching and now Google has released satellite imagery showing the hardest hit areas before and after the catastrophe as seen from space.    More
(Source: Examiner.com - Mar 15)

RUSSIA DELAYS LAUNCH OF SOYUZ TO SPACE STATION - Russia's Federal Space Agency has delayed the launch of its next Soyuz space capsule bound for the International Space Station after detecting a failure in one of the spaceship's systems. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was slated to blast off on March 29 (EDT), but now must wait until the faulty part has been fixed, Russian space officials said today (March 14). "Taking into account the necessity to run additional analysis of the glitch, Soyuz TMA-21 launch is postponed," officials with the Federal Space Agency (known as Roscosmos in Russian) said in a statement.    More
(Source: MSNBC - Mar 15)

RUSSIAN SATELLITE LOSES LINK WITH GROUND CONTROL - A Russian military satellite lost its communications link with the ground control centre, after it reportedly ran out of fuel, a media report said. The geostationary military satellite Raduga-1 might have run out of fuel and is not controlled by the flight control centre, Xinhua reported citing Interfax news agency. The Russian satellite became uncontrollable in space recently and came within three kilometres of a South Korean satellite.    More
(Source: Sify - Mar 12)

SHHH: U.S. SPY SATELLITE BLASTS INTO SPACE - An unmanned Delta 4 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Friday carrying a spy satellite. And that's about all that the general public really knows at this point. The rocket launch, which had briefly been delayed because of high winds, is hauling along a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. So what's going up there? Cue Hollywood and let your imaginations roam. For the record, the Air Force Space Command put out a terse comment under the byline of Col. James Ross of the 45th Space Wing vice commander. He explained that the mission "helps ensure that crucial NRO resources will continue to strengthen our national defense."    More
(Source: CBS News - Mar 12)

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LANDS ON EARTH AFTER FINAL VOYAGE - The space shuttle Discovery has returned to Earth from its final mission, never to soar in orbit again. In the end, Discovery — NASA's oldest and most traveled shuttle — flew its last mission the same way it flew its first: with grace and pride, and with keen eyes around the world watching it every step of the way. Discovery landed for the final time here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 11:57 a.m. EST (1657 GMT), capping a busy 13-day mission to the International Space Station. After 27 years and 39 flights, Discovery's wheels rolled to a stop for the very last time under the warm sun at the Florida spaceport's Shuttle Landing Facility.    More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 9)

OFFICIALS ANTICIPATE MORE FLIGHTS OF X-37 SPACE PLANE - The U.S. Air Force and Boeing anticipate more missions of the X-37B space plane to finish testing the craft's flight characteristics and carry top secret experiments into orbit, but there is no firm timetable for additional launches of the robotic mini-space shuttle, according to military officials. Boeing's Phantom Works division built two X-37 vehicles for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, a unit managed from the Pentagon that develops shadowy and fast-track programs for the military. The second X-37B, also called the Orbital Test Vehicle, launched several hundred miles above Earth Saturday on an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It will stay into orbit for up to 270 days, according to Air Force officials.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Mar 9)

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY HEADS HOME FROM FINAL MISSION - Discovery, the world's most traveled spaceship, left the international space station on Monday for the last time. Station skipper Scott Kelly rang his ship's bell in true naval tradition, as the shuttle backed away on the final leg of its final journey. "Discovery departing," he called out. Discovery is due back to Earth on Wednesday. It's being retired after touchdown and sent to the Smithsonian Institution for display. NASA's two other shuttles will join Discovery in retirement after their upcoming missions.    More
(Source: The Washington Post - Mar 9)

INDIA TO LAUNCH REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE IN APRIL - India will launch a remote sensing satellite, Resourcesat-2, in April, that will provide information on biophysical and geophysical parameters on the Earth's surface, local media reported Monday. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will launch the satellite from the Sriharikota Space Center in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, said local daily The Times of India. Youthsat, in collaboration with Russia, and Xsat, a venture with a Singapore laboratory, are the other two satellites that will also be launched then, the report said.    More
(Source: Xinhua - Mar 8)

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