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.”
The Russians unveiled today a new proposed replacement for their Soyuz capsule, capable of carrying six astronauts into orbit. Interestingly, the design does not use parachutes to land, but solid rocket engines.
The wild west — in Russia! Bandits broke into Khrunichev space center in Moscow yesterday, stealing money and jewelry worth 300,000 rubles.
The British are coming! Today the recently formed UK Space Agency signed deals of cooperation with both the Russians and NASA.
Russia is planning a new spaceport, in its far eastern Amur region near the border with China, to supplement the Baikonur spaceport located in Kazakhstan.
Equipment problems on the U.S. portion of ISS, and it takes the Russians to tell us.
