International trio takes shortcut to space station

An international trio flying in a Russian capsule docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday with a busy schedule full of space walks and an encounter with a pioneering US cargo craft.

The six-month mission of Russian commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and his two flight engineers — Karen Nyberg of NASA and Italian Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency — began once their craft sidled up to the orbiting lab six hours after blasting off from the Moscow-owned Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

The Soyuz took a shortcut that slashed the travel time from the usual 48 hours thanks to a special orbit that catapaults the astronauts directly to their destination.

Read more about it at: Brisbane Times
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SpaceX makes first supply launch to ISS

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket blasted off on Sunday, launching the cargo-laden Dragon capsule into Earth’s orbit on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) first privately-run supply mission.

The engine fires traced a bright trail across the night sky over Nasa's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the site of many launches into space after the on-time lift off at at 8.35pm (8.35am Singapore time).

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Read more/See photo: ST

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Private space venture aborted at last second

A new private supply ship for the International Space Station remained stuck on the ground Saturday after rocket engine trouble led to a last-second abort of the historic flight.

All nine engines for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life Saturday morning. But with a half-second remaining before liftoff, the onboard computers automatically shut everything down. So instead of blasting off on a delivery mission to the space station, the rocket stayed on its launchpad amid a plume of engine exhaust.

Even NASA's most seasoned launch commentator was taken off-guard. "Three, two, one, zero and liftoff," announced commentator George Diller, his voice trailing as the rocket failed to budge. "We've had a cutoff. Liftoff did not occur."


Read more: Philadelphia Inquirer 

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Soyuz capsule brings back three astronauts in Kazakhstan

Full Story: The Times of India 22 Nov

Three astronauts aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule landed safely in Kazakhstan early Tuesday morning. 

Th three astronauts from International Space Station (ISS) included NASA astronaut Michael Fossum, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan's JAXA space agency.

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Russia Soyuz spacecraft docks ISS

Full Story: BBC Europe 16 Nov

Russian spacecraft Soyuz, carrying two Russians and one America, has successfully docked with ISS at 05:24 GMT. The spacecraft was sent off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday. The Soyuz is the only means of reaching the ISS after the US ended its shuttle programme earlier this year.

The BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow says the launch and progress of the Soyuz, designed in the 1960s, was a nervous moment for both NASA and the Russians, after the failure of the Progress cargo rocket in August this year.

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