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Added on the 05/09/2019 15:46:32 - Copyright : Euronews EN
A space capsule carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, lands on the Earth's surface in Kazakhstan. IMAGES
Gijon (Asturias), Sep 27 (EFE) .- (camera: Eloy Alonso) NASA started an observation mission Monday in Asturias of the asteroids of planet Jupiter from different parts of Spain to obtain information on the origin of organic matter in the solar system.
OSIRIS-REx is ready to get the goods. On 20 October, after several years of patient study of its enigmatic target, NASA’s $800 million spacecraft will finally stretch out its robotic arm, swoop to the surface of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, and sweep up some dust and pebbles. The encounter, 334 million kilometers from Earth, will last about 10 seconds. If it is successful, OSIRIS-REx could steal away with up to 1 kilogram of carbon-rich material from the dawn of the Solar System for return to Earth in 2023.
Buzz Aldrin: A New "Race for Space" Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the second human to walk on the moon, is a leading advocate of space science and planetary exploration. He is the co-author of several books, including "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration" and "No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons From a Man Who Walked on the Moon." He lives in Satellite Beach, Florida. Given President-Elect Trump's interest in putting in place a space council, I envision a more unified approach to shaping and overhauling aspects of America's civil, military, and industrial space sectors. And get ready for intense competition in the development of human spaceflight systems, not only for use in low Earth orbit but also outward from our home planet. This commercial "race for space" will lead to technical and business innovations we don't yet appreciate or understand. I think the year ahead will see Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin group wring out its New Shepard reusable suborbital launch vehicle and press forward on its New Glenn booster. Similarly, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo will hasten the pace of testing to create suborbital passenger service. And keep an eye on the maiden flights of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and the SpaceX Dragon 2 capsules — stepping stones to restore our nation's capabilities for human spaceflight. I expect Elon Musk and his SpaceX rocketeers will fly their Falcon Heavy launcher from the refurbished Launch Complex 39 pad A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. That's the same site that I rocketed from with my Apollo 11 colleagues, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, to achieve the first human landing on the Moon in July 1969! China is headed for several milestone achievements. For one, they will use their new Long March 5 and Long March 7 boosters to advance their goal of building their own space station. In addition, look for China to fly to the moon the robotic Chang'e 5 spacecraft and attempt the first lunar sample return to Earth in more than 40 years. Lastly, look for surprises from mysterious Mars! Now orbiting the Red Planet is the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter that in 2017 will "sniff out" whether methane detected on that world is a product of Martian microbes. Personally, I'll be working as hard as ever to rally public and political willpower to hasten the day when those first footfalls on the Red Planet lead to permanent inhabitation of Mars.
Check out Russia's new generation space suit, meant to protect cosmonauts and astronauts from the harsh realities of space travel. The Polar Bear freeze-proof space suit was designed to be worn just before cosmonauts and astronauts at the Baikonur aerodrome depart for the final frontier, when temperatures fall below zero, so they don't catch a cold on their way to work in space. These same suits were worn by Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson shortly before they launched off to the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrone in Kazakhstan on November 17 of this year, becoming the 29th crew to serve on the ISS in orbit.
An all-European crew including Turkey's first astronaut arrives at the International Space Station on a voyage chartered by Axiom Space. The team is welcomed with hugs by the seven crew members already aboard the ISS. IMAGES