More repairs ordered for Discovery fuel tank

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA ordered additional repairs to space shuttle Discovery after more cracks were discovered in the ship”s fuel tank, but the flight remains targeted for early February, officials said.

The shuttle”s cargo run to the International Space Station, one of the final missions before the United States ends the 30-year-old shuttle program, has been on hold since November 5 when a hydrogen fuel leak scuttled a launch attempt. Technicians later found a 21-inch- (53-cm) long crack in the foam insulation that covers the tank, a potential debris hazard for launching.

Further investigation revealed underlying cracking in structural supports, the cause of which has not been determined.

X-rays of the backside of the tank, completed this week, showed additional cracks in three more of the aluminum lithium tank support structures, Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Buetel said late on Thursday.

Those cracks will be repaired while managers consider if additional modifications to the tank will be needed, work that could delay the scheduled February 3 launch to later in the month.

The shuttle fuel tanks have been a top safety issue for NASA since the 2003 Columbia accident, which killed seven astronauts. A piece of foam insulation broke off Columbia”s tank during launch and smashed into the ship”s wing. The damage caused the shuttle to break apart as it flew through the atmosphere for landing 16 days later. NASA redesigned the tanks after the accident and developed new in-flight inspection procedures.

NASA is ending its space shuttle program in 2011 after two or three more missions to complete the space station, a $100 billion project of 16 nations that has been under construction 220 miles above the planet since 1998. Russia already has taken over the job of transporting crew members to and from the outpost – at a cost of $51 million a seat – in anticipation of the shuttles” retirement.

NASA is also investing in commercial companies with the hope that private industry will be ready to provide launch services for astronauts by about 2015.

NASA finds faulty seal after delayed shuttle launch

CAPE CANAVERAL: A potentially dangerous hydrogen leak that forced NASA to cancel last week’s launch of space shuttle Discovery may have been due to a misaligned seal, a NASA spokesman said on Thursday.

“They’re analyzing the flight seal, which they found wasn’t properly aligned,” NASA spokesman Allard Beutel wrote in an e-mail to Reuters.

NASA called off its planned Nov. 5 launch of Discovery on a mission to deliver a storage room, spare parts and a prototype humanoid robot to the International Space Station when gaseous hydrogen began leaking from a vent line as the spaceship was being fueled for flight.

After the scrub, NASA discovered a large crack in the insulating foam on the shuttle’s fuel tank, which likely would have canceled the launch if the leak had not been discovered.

The crack, initially believed to be about 7 inches long, turned out to

ISS marks decade in space

The International Space Station celebrates its 10th birthday a decade of constant service. It is the longest period of continuous human habitation outside the atmosphere of the Earth.
The first permanent crew reached the International Space Station on November 2, 2000. It is arguably humanity’s most ambitious engineering project to date, a mixture of science, technology and political cooperation between former sworn enemies.
In the 10 years since, the ISS has expanded to the size of a football field, and received 200 visitors. Now the station is nearly complete, but the jury on what it has achieved is still out.
The ISS is a breakthrough of cooperation, said Yury Gidzenko from ISS Expedition 1. Before, there were separate space agencies. Now they work together. It is a leap forward.

ISS marks decade in space

The International Space Station celebrates its 10th birthday a decade of constant service. It is the longest period of continuous human habitation outside the atmosphere of the Earth.
The first permanent crew reached the International Space Station on November 2, 2000. It is arguably humanity’s most ambitious engineering project to date, a mixture of science, technology and political cooperation between former sworn enemies.
In the 10 years since, the ISS has expanded to the size of a football field, and received 200 visitors. Now the station is nearly complete, but the jury on what it has achieved is still out.
The ISS is a breakthrough of cooperation, said Yury Gidzenko from ISS Expedition 1. Before, there were separate space agencies. Now they work together. It is a leap forward.

Discovery to start space mission on Nov 1

NASA made it official that Shuttle Discovery will launch on an 11-day mission to the International Space Station next Monday. If all goes according to plan, it will be Discoverys last scheduled flight before becoming a museum piece.
Discoverys launch date was announced at the end of a flight readiness review at Kennedy Space Center. During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle and the necessary equipment, support systems and personnel were ready. Over the weekend, engineers successfully replaced suspect seals in the orbital maneuvering system the twin engines in the shuttles tail that are used to steer the ship on orbit. Workers noticed an on-again, off-again fuel leak in the engines last week but believe they have fixed it. Discoverys flight will include two spacewalks and delivery of a cylindrical module that will help create more storage on the station.

ISS be used as Launching Point for human expeditions to Moon

The international space station is being considered to be made as launching point for future human space expeditions to Moon.
For this purpose Russian, US and the European Space agencies are continuously coordinating with each other. The space agencies aspire to make the space station such a technological focal point as could be used productively in future by humans for exploring and investigating different astronomical as well as heavenly bodies.

Russian company announces to launch space hotel

A Russian company has announced plans to launch a comfortable space hotel for tourists who up to now have shared cramped accommodation with astronauts.
The company, Orbital Technologies plans to launch the first module of the hotel in 2015-16, its chief executive Sergei Kostenko told at a presentation. A cosy fit, the first module will measure just 20 cubic metres (706 cubic feet) and have four cabins, designed for up to seven passengers, who would go into orbit using the Soyuz shuttle, Kostenko said.
Up to now space tourists, who have included the Canadian founder of the Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, have squeezed into the International Space Station (ISS) along with cosmonauts and animal life including fruit flies.
The new hotel will offer more comforts than the ISS, Kostenko said. Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes, Kostenko said, calling it a cosmic hotel. The space hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space, Kostenko said.
The space tourism program was halted earlier this year as the crew numbers on the ISS increased, leaving no room for extra passengers. Kostenko said that the project has found Russian and American investors, and we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, without elaborating. At the moment, the project is already at the design stage, he said.
The space hotel would be built by Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia, the company’s website said. It would follow the same orbit as the ISS.
Kostenko told that a number of agreements on partnership have already been signed with Energia and the Russian space agency.
The company’s website cites the deputy head of Russian space agency Roskosmos, Vitaly Davydov, as saying that the suggested project is extremely interesting.

Russian company announces to launch space hotel

A Russian company has announced plans to launch a comfortable space hotel for tourists who up to now have shared cramped accommodation with astronauts.
The company, Orbital Technologies plans to launch the first module of the hotel in 2015-16, its chief executive Sergei Kostenko told at a presentation. A cosy fit, the first module will measure just 20 cubic metres (706 cubic feet) and have four cabins, designed for up to seven passengers, who would go into orbit using the Soyuz shuttle, Kostenko said.
Up to now space tourists, who have included the Canadian founder of the Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberte, have squeezed into the International Space Station (ISS) along with cosmonauts and animal life including fruit flies.
The new hotel will offer more comforts than the ISS, Kostenko said. Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes, Kostenko said, calling it a cosmic hotel. The space hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space, Kostenko said.
The space tourism program was halted earlier this year as the crew numbers on the ISS increased, leaving no room for extra passengers. Kostenko said that the project has found Russian and American investors, and we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, without elaborating. At the moment, the project is already at the design stage, he said.
The space hotel would be built by Russian spacecraft manufacturer Energia, the company’s website said. It would follow the same orbit as the ISS.
Kostenko told that a number of agreements on partnership have already been signed with Energia and the Russian space agency.
The company’s website cites the deputy head of Russian space agency Roskosmos, Vitaly Davydov, as saying that the suggested project is extremely interesting.

Russian-US space crew lands in Kazakhstan

KOROLYOV: A Soyuz capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut back to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) landed safely in Kazakhstan on Saturday, an announcer at Mission Control said.

“The TMA module has landed,” the announcer said to applause. The descent took place a day after an initial attempt to return was aborted after latches holding the Soyuz TMA-18 craft to the orbital station failed to open. AGENCIES

Talk Like A Pirate Day 2010

It may be one of the most ridiculous idea of this century. Which would in their right mind that comes from ever with the idea to start a vacation when you talk like pirates? Actually did two of his friends, John Baur and Mark Summers, quite the opposite.

The idea was born in Albany, Oregon, which as far as we know it is not known at the national level in connection with the pirates. This is what happened.

Mark and John play tennis when, for reasons not clear to either of them now, and they started insulting each other in the language of pirates. And realized that there was a lot of fun and one of them said: “We should be talking like pirates on.”

They decided to start talking like pirates on, and chose September 19 to Summers that the former wife of Holiday date. And could have ended the story there, if not for Dave Barry, who stated in his column is widespread national and talk like pirates on and then took off.

In all parts of the world, and even hundreds of miles above it, people celebrate international talk like pirates on September 19 each.

It was celebrated by millions of people in all seven continents – yes, even Antarctica – and on the International Space Station! The two friends – Go Now by the characters of pirates Chumbucket Ol ‘and Slappy Cap’n and Swashed Buckles them from the Gulf of Mexico to Puget Sound, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Philadelphia. They have performed in Las Vegas glamorous resort, in bookstores, libraries, schools and non-normal in several bars.

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