Space and astronomy news
Shuttle managers decided on Wednesday that Discovery’s leading wing edge is safe for it to make re-entry. This is the area that was damaged by falling foam during Columbia’s launch, and caused the catastrophe during re-entry. High resolution photographs have analyzed every part of Discovery, and the only concerning area were some protruding tile gap fillers, which will be fixed during a spacewalk on Wednesday.
The Soyuz capsule carrying the crew of Expedition 10 and ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori landed safely in north-central Kazakhstan early Monday, approximately 85 km (53 miles) from the town of Arkalyk. Recovery personnel reached the spacecraft within minutes of their touchdown, and the crew was airlifted out safely. Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov spent a total of 192 days in space, and completed two spacewalks.
Mission controllers have decided to give technicians an extra week to get the Space Shuttle Discovery ready for its return to flight. Originally schedule to lift off on May 15, Discovery is now tentatively set to return to orbit on May 22. One reason for the delay is to give technicians more time to test …
The newest residents of the International Space Station arrived at their destination on Saturday, as their Soyuz TMA-6 capsule docked automatically. Hatches between the spacecraft and station were opened a few hours later, and the three crew members joined the two men of Expedition 10 on board the station. Commander Sergei Krikalev and astronaut John Phillips will remain on the station until October 2005, while ESA Astronaut Roberto Vittori will return in about a week with Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov.
The 11th crew to man the International Space Station blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Thursday. The Soyuz TMA capsule carrying Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, Astronaut John Phillips, and European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori of Italy reached orbit a few minutes after launch. Krikalev and Phillips will replace the current crew, while Vittori will only remain on the station for a week and then return with Expedition 10. The Soyuz will dock on Saturday.
An unmanned Progress cargo ship is about to blast off from Kazakhstan, carrying much needed supplies to the International Space Station. If everything goes well, the 17th Progress mission will lift off today carrying a variety of supplies: food, water, air, spare parts, and life support equipment. One important piece of cargo is a new digital camera that the station crew will use to inspect the space shuttle for damage when it docks.
NASA has given a Canadian firm the green light to begin developing a robotic salvage mission that could repair and upgrade the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The agency awarded a $154 million contract to Canada-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates. This is the same firm that developed the Canadarm, and contributed to the Mobile Servicing System on the International Space Station. MDA’s solution is called Dextre: a two-armed robot that could perform all of the same maintenance tasks that had originally been designed for human astronauts. The move towards a robotic solution is still controversial, and NASA hasn’t made the final decision on what to do with Hubble yet.
NASA announced that the next crew of the International Space Station will be NASA astronaut John Phillips and Russian Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev. The crew of Expedition 11 is expected to launch to the station on board a Russian Soyuz rocket in May 2005. Both crewmembers have already visited the station. Phillips came aboard during the 12-day STS-100 mission in 2001 when helped install the Canadarm2. Krikalev was a member of the first crew to man the station, Expedition 1.
The ninth crew to man the International Space Station safely returned to Earth on Saturday. Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science Officer Mike Fincke landed in the steppes of Kazakhstan after being in space for 188 days – Russian test pilot Yuri Shargin was also along for the return trip to Earth (he was only in space for a little more than a week). After a few weeks of medical tests and debriefings, the team will travel to Houston for further post-flight activites.
The European-built Cupola module has arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and is now being prepared for an upcoming shuttle launch. When it’s finally installed on the International Space Station, it will give astronauts a panoramic view of the station and the Earth below. They won’t just be gazing dreamily at our planet, though, the Cupola will let crewmembers monitor spacewalks, docking operations and exterior equipment surveys. If all goes well, the Cupola will launch on STS-133, which is now due to lift off in 2009.