Russia has been forced to extend the application period for those who wish to become cosmonauts due to of a lack of response.
Only 151 applicants responded to this first-ever open astronaut application process in Russia’s history. This contrasts badly with NASA’s recent application call, which received the second highest response ever, 6372 applicants.
Thank you Barack! Europe, dumped by Obama administration and NASA, has teamed up with Russia to build its ExoMars orbiter and lander.
You can’t make this stuff up: It appears that the reason Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Russia’s space agency, was hospitalized last week was because he got into a fight at a party over a woman.
The woman in question was apparently General Popovkin’s press secretary, Anna Vedischeva, 28. Vedischeva was appointed despite criticism when it was revealed that she was an ex-glamour model who, by her own admission, knew nothing about space or public relations. The party where the incident allegedly took place was to celebrate International Woman’s Day on 8 March.
Competition rules! Russia’s space agency has proposed a space exploration plan through 2030, including missions to the Moon and Mars, in an effort to catch up with the U.S.
The director of Russia’s manned program told the press today that the Russians do not have that a signed contract with NASA to fly astronauts to ISS after 2015, despite NASA’s announcement that such an agreement exists.
If true, NASA’s management has committed a very serious error which will cost the U.S. a great deal of money in the coming years, especially if there are significant delays in getting the new commercial companies online to provide the U.S. an American capability for ferrying humans to orbit.
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The head of the Russian space agency has been hospitalized.
Russian scientists have resurrected a plant from 30,000 years ago, using fruit tissues that had been frozen in the Arctic.
The Russians celebrate drilling into Lake Vostok.
The Russians have confirmed that their scientists have successfully drilled into Lake Vostok in Antarctica.
Still no results, but this is not surprising, as these scientists will need time to analyze their data.
Update: More details from Science:
On Saturday, the drill had encountered water at about 3766 meters depth, but the team determined that it was a water lens sitting above the surface of the lake rather than the lake itself. The team collected water samples from the lens, and then kept drilling until reaching the lake surface itself. As expected, the pressurized water of the lake rose about 30 to 40 meters through the borehole and froze, plugging the borehole; the team will return next fall to retrieve the plug and examine it for signs of life.
More bad news for Russian science: A fire has damaged Russia’s most productive heavy ion accelerator in Moscow.
The final Russian investigation has admitted that it was a programming error that doomed Phobos-Grunt, not cosmic radiation or U.S. radar.
Reality trumps science fiction: The Russians have safely left Lake Vostok, but the official word is that it is “too soon” to say whether they successfully drilled into the lake.
