Sea Launch Successful
The ocean-based Sea Launch, designed to launch rockets from the mid-Pacific, had its first successful test on Saturday – a Russian Zenit-3SL rocket equipped with a dummy satellite. The rocket lifted from the launch pad, and flew up to an altitude of 1,200 miles where it separated from the satellite.
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Astronomers Discover Asteroid with Moon
Astronomers have discovered a tiny moon orbiting the asteroid 45 Eugenia. Given the romantic name of S/1998 (45) 1, the moon is guessed to be no larger than 10 km long, and orbits the larger asteroid every 4.7 days.
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MIT Students Develop Business Plan for Mars Trip
Using the Internet to coordinate their activities, a group of MIT students have developed a business plan for an expedition to Mars. The students are taking part in a competition sponsored by NASA, who plans to incorporate the strategies into its own Mars mission.
ThinkMars Website
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NASA Plans Russian Hardware Purchases
NASA plans to spend $100 million of this year’s operating budget to purchase hardware from Russian manufacturers. The bulk of this money will be invested into Soyuz space station, which will serve as a crew return vehicle until the X-38’s larger implementation is completed.
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