Two Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station this week on a mission to protect it from a threat that could destroy the outpost or force a crew to abandon ship. Wearing protective spacesuits in a deadly vacuum environment, the cosmonauts aim to erect shielding to safeguard the $100 billion station from micrometeorites or tiny chunks of space junk that could strike it with the force of a rifle bullet.
The two Malaysian Angkasawan candidates will undergo three weeks' training at the United States National Space and Aeronautical Administration (Nasa) in Texas next month. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis said today the training was to familiarise them with the American section of the International Space Station. The candidates, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor and Capt Dr Faiz Khaleed, are currently undergoing training at the Yuri Gagarin Space Training Centre in Moscow, Russia.
A spacecraft automatically docked to the International Space Station early Tuesday, delivering 2.5 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the residents on board. The ISS Progress 25 linked up to the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module at 12:10 a.m. CDT Tuesday as the station sailed 208 miles above the Earth off the northeast coast of Australia. Within minutes, hooks and latches engaged between the two spacecraft to form a tight seal. The hatch to the supply ship will be opened overnight to enable its cargo to be unloaded. As the Progress approached for its docking, Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov stood by in Zvezda in case they needed to take over manual control of the linkup. The docking, under the guidance of the Kurs automatic rendezvous system, was smooth and uneventful. Flight Engineer Suni Williams monitored other station systems and photographed the Progress approach. The Kurs proximity antenna was retracted earlier than usual, at a distance of about 148 meters. This enabled Russian flight controllers to confirm it was functioning properly, since it failed to retract during the Progress 23 docking last October. In February, the Expedition 14 crew conducted a spacewalk to fix the problem. The unpiloted ship launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:25 p.m. CDT Friday for its three-day journey to the station. The Progress delivered more than 1,050 pounds of propellant, almost 100 pounds of air, more than 925 pounds of water and 3,042 pounds of dry cargo. Source NASA
The International Space Station crews sent their best wishes to Moscow Thursday in honour of the anniversary of the pioneering space journey of Yuri Gagarin. On April 12, 1961, the Russian cosmonaut became the first human launched into space. His 108-minute mission made him a world-wide hero. Gagarin died in 1968 at the age of 34 in a crash during a jet training flight.
A Russian-built Soyuz capsule docked at the international space station late Monday, two days after blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome carrying the American billionaire who helped develop Microsoft Word.