How’s this for your evening television entertainment: Beginning 8 pm on Saturday, NASA TV will show the docking of the next Russian Progress freighter to ISS.
A new deal has been announced to fly tourists to ISS using Russian Soyuz capsules. According the arrangement between Space Adventures and the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia), three seats will be made available on Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013.
These seats will be made available through the increase of Soyuz production, from four to five spacecraft per year. Each flight will be short duration, approximately 10 days, and will contribute to the increase of launch capacity to the ISS.
The bright outlook in 2011 for Russia’s space industry.
Two old unused Soviet Almaz space stations have been sold to a private company and have arrived in their new home on the Isle of Man. Key quote:
The stations will be initially stored in Jurby, but there plans for research, testing and possible launch into orbit.
For those who do not know, the Almaz station was built in the 1970s by the Soviet Union to do manned military reconnaissance. Two manned Almaz stations were eventually flown, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. The station hull itself became the fundamental module for all subsequent Soviet/Russian stations, including Mir and ISS.
Russian space officials are fired over rocket failure.
The Soyuz capsule, carrying the next crew to the International Space Station, has docked safely with the station.
This is more a kerfuffle in the press than a real emergency: for about three hours today Russian mission control had problems communicating with either ISS or the Soyuz spacecraft that is on its way to it. Neither spacecraft was in any danger during the down time.
At least the Russians can still do this: At 2:09 pm (Eastern) today a Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off, carrying the next crew to the International Space Station.
Engineers say that the cause of the Russian rocket failure yesterday appears to have been a programming error.
Bad news for the Russian space industry: A Proton rocket, carrying three Russian Glonass navigation satellites (their version of our GPS) failed at launch, crashing into the Pacific.
Three astronauts from ISS landed safely in Kazakhstan this morning. Meanwhile, the next crew contingent passed its exams in Russia.
This week the Russians will give “final exams” to the main and backup crews for the next expedition to ISS.
Though NASA constantly rates its astronauts, it does not give them “exams.” This whole procedure (as well as how this Russian article is written) gives a nice flavor of the cultural differences between the U.S. and Russia.
Is this real, or a call for funding? The Russian space company Energia says it will begin work next year on nuclear engines for Russia’s space program.
Except for the failure to install a video camers, two Russian astronauts successfully completed a six hour spacewalk on ISS today, doing a variety of construction tasks on the station’s exterior.
The Baikonur space port: a movie set.
Because of damage sustained during the railroad trip from Russia to Kazakhstan, the Russians are flying in a replacement descent module for the Soyuz capsule scheduled for launch to ISS on December 13.
The December Soyuz flight to ISS will be delayed due to the damage the capsule received during its transport by rail to Baikonur.
The container used to ship a Soyuz capsule to Baikonur was damaged in transport. No word yet on the condition of the capsule, which was scheduled for a December launch to ISS.
Global warming? Russian meteorologists are predicting one of the coldest winters in centuries.
A Russian company says it plans to launch its own commercial space station by 2016.
After a 24 hour delay due to an undocking problem, the Soyuz capsule with its three astronauts landed safely last night without a hitch.
The scheduled return of three astronauts on a Soyuz spacecraft has been delayed tonight because of a malfunction in the docking port.
Update: The return to Earth has definitely been canceled for tonight. The problem was caused when latches on the Soyuz, designed to secure it safely to ISS, refused to release on command. As of 12:43 am the plan was to recycle and try to land on Friday evening.
A Russian astronaut has been twice denied a routine but financially important honor after returning from space, and the Russian astronaut corps might strike over it.
South Korea and Russia fighting over rocket construction.
India announced today the scientific instruments it plans for its second lunar probe, scheduled for launch in 2013. India is building the orbiter and Russia is building the lander/rover.
The Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reports that all the “i”s have been dotted on the plans to build a new spaceport in the far east of Russia. Construction is set to begin next year.
Let’s have some conspiracy silliness. A Russian political scientist is claiming that the U.S. military “is using climate-change weapons to alter the temperatures and crop yields of Russia and other Central Asian countries.”
During a spacewalk at ISS yesterday, two Russian cosmonauts successfully replaced a broken camera and installed new wiring for the recently added Russian Dawn module. They also lost a washer and an “attachment fixture” used to fasten the wiring in place, both of which were spotted floating away.
Russian mission control has indicated that the debris left over from destruction of a Chinese satellite in 2007 poses a “danger” to the International Space Station. Key quote from a Russian official:
“If the calculations show that the debris is approaching the station at an unacceptably close range, the six astronauts will receive the order to take shelter in the two Russian Soyuz spacecraft which are docked with the ISS.”
