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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – The bathroom lines just got a lot longer at the linked space shuttle and space station. One of the two toilets on the international space station malfunctioned Sunday morning. The pump separator apparently flooded. Mission Control advised the astronauts to hang an "out of service" sign on the toilet, until it can be fixed. In the meantime, the six space station residents will have to get in line to use their one good toilet. And Endeavour's seven astronauts will be restricted to the shuttle bathroom. There have never been so many people — 13 — together...

N. Korea marks month since 'satellite' launch SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday reiterated its claim to a successful satellite launch, marking a month of its purported "normal operation" in orbit. Pyongyang insists its April 5 rocket launch orbited a communications satellite, Kwangmyongsong-2, while outside monitors say no such object has entered space.

/begin my translation N. Korean Rocket Went Up 485km from Ground [JoongAng Ilbo] (S. Korean Aegis ship) King Sejong tracked it ... fell short of orbit due to lack of speed. It is confirmed now that the long-range rocket(Taepodong-2) N. Korea launched on Apr. 5 reached the maximum altitude of 485 km flying above Pacific. Intelligence sources said, "It is our understanding that, due to lack of propulsion, it fell short of reaching earth orbit, and failed." The sources added that Aegis ship King Sejong was also able to track it and determine its maximum altitude." Altitude of 485km above...

Big satellites collide 500 miles over Siberia CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Two big communications satellites collided in the first-ever crash of two intact spacecraft in orbit, shooting out a pair of massive debris clouds and posing a slight risk to the international space station

A computer virus is alive and well on the International Space Station (ISS). Nasa has confirmed that laptops carried to the ISS in July were infected with a virus known as Gammima.AG. The worm was first detected on Earth in August 2007 and lurks on infected machines waiting to steal login names for popular online games. Nasa said it was not the first time computer viruses had travelled into space and it was investigating how the machines were infected. [snip] The laptops carried by astronauts reportedly do not have any anti-virus software on them to prevent infection.

MOSCOW, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. and Russian officials changed the International Space Station's orbit to keep it clear of debris from a satellite destroyed by China, a report says. "We are diverting the orbit of the ISS to prevent a possible collision with large fragments of space debris, a decision the Russian Mission Control took together with the Johnson Space Center in Houston," a Russian Mission Control spokesman told Novosti Friday. The spokesman said the debris did not threaten the space station, and that an anti-meteorite system protected it from smaller fragments. China set off an international protest when...

Huge 'launch ring' to fling satellites into orbit 16:00 03 October 2006 NewScientist.com news service David Shiga A ring of superconducting magnets fires a projectile off a ramp at 8 kilometres per second, fast enough to reach orbit (Artist’s conception: J Fiske/LaunchPoint) A cone-shaped shell would protect the payload during its passage through the atmosphere into space, and includes a rocket at the back end to adjust its trajectory (Illustration: J Fiske/LaunchPoint Technologies) An enormous ring of superconducting magnets similar to a particle accelerator could fling satellites into space, or perhaps weapons around the world, suggest the findings of a...

PASADENA, Calif. - The most powerful spacecraft ever sent to Mars has settled into a nearly circular orbit, a move that allows scientists to begin studying the planet in unprecedented detail, NASA said Tuesday. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter fired its thrusters for 12 minutes Monday to adjust to its final position six months after it arrived at the planet. Its altitude ranges between 155 to 196 miles above the surface. "Getting to this point is a great achievement," said Dan Johnston, deputy mission manager at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $720 million mission. Over the next...

Corkscrew Asteroid 06.09.2006 A tiny asteroid looping around Earth for the past seven years is about to leave the neighborhood. Asteroid 2003 YN107 is looping around our planet once a year. Measuring only 20 meters across, the asteroid is too small to see with the unaided eye—but it is there. This news, believe it or not, is seven years old. "2003 YN107 arrived in 1999," says Paul Chodas of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at JPL, "and it's been corkscrewing around Earth ever since." Because the asteroid is so small and poses no threat, it has attracted little public attention....

'Russia has left the western orbit' Missile deals with the 'axis of evil' are just the latest sign that Moscow is sick of kowtowing to the US and Europe, writes Tom Parfitt Thursday April 27, 2006 Moscow could be on the verge of clinching an arms deal with Syria or Iran that would send the US and Israel into pop-eyed rage. A few days ago a Russian arms manufacturer let slip at an arms fair in Kuala Lumpur that his state-run weapons design bureau was close to sealing a foreign sale of Iskander-E missiles. The destination of the hardware was...

When you're in orbit, which way is Mecca? 12:14 21 April 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kelly Young Dan Bursch, Yuri Onufrienko and Carl Walz pose with their Christmas tree aboard the International Space Station in 2001 (Image: NASA)Malaysia's National Space Agency is trying to determine how its astronaut candidates will practice Islam in space. Three of its four astronaut candidates are Muslim, and two will be selected for a future Russian space flight. Once in their orbiting spacecraft, they will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes. Traditionally, Muslims pray five times per day, at times connected to the position...

The International Space Station (ISS) failed to reach a higher orbit Wednesday during a test of two long-dormant engines mounted near a Russian-built docking port. Russian ISS flight controllers hoped to test two engines along the aft end of the station's Zvezda service module during a 14-second burn planned for 3:49 p.m. EDT (1949 GMT), NASA officials said. The engines have not been fired since Zvezda docked at the ISS in July 2000, they added. "We were all set for it but the engines never fired," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias told SPACE.com. The two dormant Zvezda engines are located at...

Entrepreneurial breakthroughs in technology have always hinged on producing workable designs at affordable cost, and this usually required “radically minimal” design. Such a focus allowed Jacques Cousteau to prove that an affordable SCUBA system could replace a submarine for personal exploration of the ocean deeps. It allowed the Apple and Sinclair computers to make the “personal computer” more than a science fiction idea. It made the “funky” Aeronca C-2 the first certified (and successful) light aircraft in 1929. A “Personal Spacecraft” could weigh less than this 184-kilogram airplane. For orbital launch, the complete fueled system would of course weigh one...

Iranian set to become first Muslim woman in orbit 25/03/2006 An Iranian entrepreneur Anoushe is set to become the first Muslim woman to travel in space. Ansari, founder and president of the US-based Telecom Technologies Company will be part of the crew of the Russian Soyuz space mission scheduled for 2007. "Exploring space has been my dream since childhood which I am about to realise," says Ansari 38, adding that to be "the first Middle Eastern woman to travel in space is a great honour." In 2005 Telecom Technologies sponsored the award of a 10 million dollar prize to the...

LOS ANGELES - A high-resolution camera aboard NASA's latest spacecraft to reach Mars sent back its first view of the Red Planet from orbit, the space agency said Friday. The crisp test image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was taken late Thursday at an altitude of 1,547 miles and shows a 30.9-mile-by-11.7-mile area of the planet's mid-latitude southern highlands. The mosaic of 10 side-by-side exposures shows a cratered surface with ravine- or canyon-like channels on both sides. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said the smallest discernible objects are about 25 feet across, but that the camera will be able to capture...

Mars orbiter reaches Red Planet It will take six months for the MRO to attain its final orbit Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has survived a critical phase in its mission by parking itself in an elliptical orbit around the Red Planet. News of its success followed a tense period of radio silence while the spacecraft passed behind Mars. Over the next six months, the probe will steadily reduce the size of its orbit until it reaches an optimal position to start scientific studies. MRO will examine the Martian surface and atmosphere in unprecedented detail. At 2124 GMT (1334 PST),...

WASHINGTON - Try sleeping on your head, strapped in with a bungee cord, in a noisy little room with five other people. Oh, and the air's stale, the windows don't open and the world outside cycles from daylight to darkness 15 times a day. That's what former NASA astronaut Jerry Linenger endured for 143 nights in space, most of it aboard Mir, the old Russian space station. Mars-exploring astronauts would have to put up with the same nasty conditions for more than a year. Although NASA has almost no money for sleep research these days, a new low-budget study is...

Huntsville AL (SPX) Nov 17, 2005 We'll soon know the answer: A NASA/Stanford physics experiment called Gravity Probe B (GP-B) recently finished a year of gathering science data in Earth orbit. The results, which will take another year to analyze, should reveal the shape of space-time around Earth--and, possibly, the vortex. Time and space, according to Einstein's theories of relativity, are woven together, forming a four-dimensional fabric called "space-time." The tremendous mass of Earth dimples this fabric, much like a heavy person sitting in the middle of a trampoline. Gravity, says Einstein, is simply the motion of objects following the...

The Russian military satellite Mozhayets-5 that was launched on Thursday failed to separate from its booster rocket Kosmos-3M. The satellite is currently rotating in a near-earth orbit with the booster’s third stage and is sending no signals to Earth. Officials say there was no emergency situation during the launch. All the other seven satellites were orbited successfully. The booster was launched from the Plesetsk space center. The rocket also carried the Iranian Sina-1, China’s DMC, Norway’s NCube-2, the European Space Agency’s SSYTI Express, the UK’s TopSat, Germany’s UWE-1, and Japan’s XI-V. The launch of the Chinese-origin Sina had been twice...

Scientists are over the moon at the W.M. Keck Observatory and the California Institute of Technology over a new discovery of a satellite orbiting the Solar System's 10th planet (2003 UB313). The newly discovered moon orbits the farthest object ever seen in the Solar System. The existence of the moon will help astronomers resolve the question of whether 2003 UB313, temporarily nicknamed "Xena," is more massive than Pluto and hence the 10th planet. A paper describing the discovery was submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters on October 3, 2005. "We were surprised because this is a completely different type of...

Saturday, 15 October 2005, 08:48 GMT 09:48 UK Space date set for Scotty's ashes Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played Scotty in the series, will have his final wish granted when his ashes are sent into space on 6 December. Doohan died of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia in July, aged 85. His ashes will be accompanied by thousands of tributes from fans of the sci-fi show. "James spent so much time with fans and many want to come to his space blast," a Space Services Inc spokeswoman said. The firm will fire the ashes into orbit from a California...

The US Air Force has launched a micro-satellite that could lead to an autonomous robotic mechanic that fixes satellites in orbit. The launch is the first of two such technology-demonstration satellites to lift off this week. The 138-kilogram XSS-11 - which stands for Experimental Spacecraft Systems 11 - blasted off at 0635 PDT (1435 GMT) on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US, aboard a Minotaur rocket. “Nobody’s ever done anything like this in space,” says Vernon Baker, XSS-11 programme manager at the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, US. He says developing an...

Buried deep in the appalling announcement of Cuba's new place on the UN's Human Rights Commission was the name of the country that nominated that outpost of tyranny for the honor: Argentina. It's not the first time the southernmost country in the New World has done the bidding of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Last December, a Cuban dissident who sought de-facto asylum in Havana's Argentine embassy was unexpectedly denied an exit visa and forced back into the hands of Castro's waiting agents. Such events underline Argentina's political direction. A few years ago, Argentina was one of the U.S.'s major non-NATO...

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The Cassini spacecraft successfully fired its engine for 51 minutes Monday to raise its orbit so it will not pass through Saturn's rings on its next close approach to the planet and to set itself on course for another flyby of the big moon Titan on Oct. 26, NASA said. Confirmation of the successful burn was received at 11:51 a.m. PDT, according to a statement from Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the international mission. The maneuver was designed to raise its altitude during the next close approach to Saturn by 186,000 miles. Cassini arrived at Saturn...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 May 23 Working in Space Credit: , NASA Explanation: High above planet Earth, a human helps an ailing machine. The machine, in this potentially touching story, is the Hubble Space Telescope, which is not in the picture. The human is Astronaut Steven L. Smith, and he is retrieving a power tool from the handrail of the Remote Manipulator System before resuming in 1999 December. For most astronauts,...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2004 March 27 Mir Dreams Credit: STS-76 Crew, NASA Explanation: This dream-like image of Mir was recorded by astronauts as the Space Shuttle Atlantis approached the Russian space station prior to docking during the STS-76 mission. Sporting spindly appendages and solar panels, Mir resembles a whimsical flying insect hovering about 350 kilometers above New Zealand's South Island and the city of Nelson near Cook Strait. In late March...

Space dust to unlock Mexican pyramid secrets Muon detector could point scientists to hidden burial chambersTwo vendors sit near the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, where physicists are using a muon detector to look for hidden burial chambers. TEOTIHUACAN, Mexico - Remnants of space dust that constantly shower the world are helping unlock the secrets of a 2,000-year-old Mexican pyramid where the rulers of a mysterious civilization may lie buried. Deep under the huge Pyramid of the Sun, north of Mexico City, physicists are installing a device to detect muons, subatomic particles that are left over when cosmic...

Ancient desert markings imaged from orbit20 February 2004 Visible from ESA's Proba spacecraft 600 kilometres away in space are the largest of the many Nasca Lines; ancient desert markings now at risk from human encroachment as well as flood events feared to be increasing in frequency. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1994, the Lines are a mixture of animal figures and long straight lines etched across an area of about 70 km by 30 km on the Nasca plain, between the Andes and Pacific Coast at the southern end of Peru. The oldest lines date from around 400 BC...

Shiny and crinkly, the material looks more like something meant to wrap frozen foods than to provide a new way to travel through space. The aluminized Mylar reflects sunlight, thereby deriving a little kick from the recoiling photons. In principle, big sheets could act as solar sails that over time would reach speeds exceeding 100 kilometers a second—far faster than chemical rockets. The first solar sail, called Cosmos 1, will go for its test flight in early 2004. The demonstration of a revolutionary way to travel to the planets and maybe even to the stars would seem to be a...

Dear China, I know that you're proud of yourselves for beating us into space. Who wouldn't be? You've beaten the capitalist pigs at their own game. Communism is clearly superior. I welcome you to 1962. And I send my heartfelt thanks to Bill Clinton for getting you there. If you haven't already guessed, that last paragraph was dripping with sarcasm (except that last sentence). So, while your still living 40 years ago, a lot has happenned, so I'll get you up to speed right now. 1) Yes, Jack Kennedy did have sexual relations with Marilyn Monroe. 2) The Bennifer Lofleck...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 August 10 Lunation Credit & Copyright: António Cidadão Explanation: Our Moon's appearance changes nightly. This time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. As the Moon orbits the Earth, the half illuminated by the Sun first becomes increasingly visible, then decreasingly visible. The Moon always keeps the same face toward the Earth. The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 July 14 The Satellites that Surround Earth Illustration Credit: P. C.-W. Fu & A. Hanson (Indiana), P. Frisch (Chicago), NASA Explanation: Thousands of satellites orbit the Earth. Costing billions of dollars, this swarm of high altitude robots is now vital to communication, orientation, and imaging both Earth and space. One common type of orbit is geostationary where a satellite will appear to hover above one point on...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 June 21 A Crescent Earth at Midnight Credit: GOES Project, GSFC, NASA Explanation: The Earth's northern hemisphere is outlined as a sunlit crescent in this dramatic view from orbit, recorded near local midnight by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-8) on June 22, 1996. That date was two days after the Solstice, by astronomical reckoning, the first day of summer in the north and winter in the...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 June 13 Neptune: Still Springtime After All These Years Credit: L. Sromovsky and P. Fry (Univ. Wisconsin - Madison) et al., NASA Explanation: In the 1960s spring came to the southern hemisphere of Neptune, the Solar System's outermost gas giant planet. Of course, since Neptune orbits the Sun once every 165 earth-years, it's still spring for southern Neptune, where each season lasts over four decades. Astronomers have...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 24 Earth at Twilight Credit: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA Explanation: No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet Earth. Instead, the shadow line or terminator is diffuse and shows the gradual transition to darkness we experience as twilight. With the Sun illuminating the scene from...

PRESS RELEASEDate Released: Friday, April 18, 2003 Boeing Boeing Launches Orbital Space Plane Design Boeing engineers are designing the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) for NASA utilizing nearly 50 years of expertise in producing spacecraft.Boeing is one of three contractor teams developing proposals for the program which includes the spacecraft, ground operations and all supporting technologies needed to conduct missions to and from the International Space Station.Boeing was awarded a $45 million contract modification on the NASA Space Launch Initiative program for work on the space plane. The modification extends the current contract through July 2004.The Orbital Space Plane will...

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: National April 9, 2003, 12:01AM NASA chief vows to speed development of space plane By PATTY REINERT Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Whether they turn out to be Apollo-type capsules or shuttle-style orbiters with wings, NASA is determined to speed up development of orbital space planes that within the next decade could be docking two or three at a time at the international space station, the agency's top official told lawmakers Tuesday. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee on his agency's fiscal 2004 budget proposal, said he envisions a system...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 12 Mercury on the Horizon Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado Explanation: Have you ever seen the planet Mercury? Because Mercury orbits so close to the Sun, it never wanders far from the Sun in Earth's sky. If trailing the Sun, Mercury will be visible low on the horizon for only a short while before sunset. If leading the Sun, Mercury will be visible only shortly...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 11 London at Night Credit: ISS Crew, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Lab, JSC, NASA Explanation: Do you recognize this intriguing globular cluster of stars? It's actually the constellation of city lights surrounding London, England, planet Earth, as recorded with a digital camera from the International Space Station. Taken in February 2003, north is toward the top and slightly left in this nighttime view. The encircling...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 8 Aurora From Space Credit: Don Pettit, ISS Expedition 6, NASA Explanation: What do auroras look like from space? From the ground, auroras dance high above clouds, frequently causing spectacular displays. The International Space Station (ISS) orbits just at the same height as many auroras, though. Therefore, sometimes it flies over them, but also sometimes it flies right through. The auroral electron and proton streams are...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 April 6 Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars Credit: Viking Project, JPL, NASA; Image mosaic by Edwin V. Bell II (NSSDC/Raytheon ITSS) Explanation: This moon is doomed. Mars, the red planet named for the Roman god of war, has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos may well be captured asteroids originating in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or perhaps from even more distant reaches of...

<p>MOSCOW - A Russian cargo ship pushed the international space station to a higher orbit Friday in preparation for the arrival of the station's next crew.</p> <p>The Progress M-47 cargo ship fired its thrusters to raise the station's orbit by about 3 miles to 249 miles above the Earth's surface, the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin as saying.</p>

India plans moon landing 04apr03 SCIENTISTS have met to debate India's plans to send an astronaut to the moon, with the chairman of the country's space agency saying the project would "electrify the nation". The Indian Space Research Organisation, or ISRO, is holding the meeting amid criticism from some scientists that the mission would strain scarce resources without yielding much scientific benefit. In a project that needs to be approved by the Indian government, the ISRO hopes to send a small unmanned satellite to circle the moon by 2005 and an astronaut by 2015. The unmanned satellite project would...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 March 12 Lunar Farside from Apollo 11 Credit: Apollo 11 Crew, NASA Explanation: The far side of the Moon is rough and filled with craters. By comparison, the near side of the Moon, the side we always see, is relatively smooth. Since the Moon is rotation locked to always point the same side toward Earth, humanity has only glimpsed the lunar farside recently -- last century. The...

Space Shuttle Columbia is in a decent for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and will pass over the San Francisco Area around 6:00 AM Pacific Time. Route will take the Shuttle over Las Vegas, Flagstaff, etc. NASA has still not decided which runway will be used. Landing will be at 9:16 AM Eastern.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 January 30 Comet Kudo-Fujikawa: Days in the Sun Credit: SOHO - LASCO Consortium, ESA, NASA Explanation: Cruising through the inner Solar System, new Comet Kudo-Fujikawa reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, yesterday, January 29. Passing within 28.4 million kilometers of the Sun, this comet came much closer than innermost planet Mercury basking only 57.9 million kilometers from our parent star. So close to the Sun,...

Stealing a ride on a comet to the sun: spaceship's 10-year, 4bn mile odyssey European craft's audacious trip will give insight into our origins Tim Radford, science editorTuesday January 14, 2003The Guardian Some time in the next two weeks, European scientists hope to launch a spaceship the size of a delivery van and lob it across more than 4 billion miles of space to rendezvous 10 years from now with a dark lump of rock and ice the size of a city block. The spacecraft - called Rosetta after the stone that provided the key to the mystery of ancient...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 January 5 Atlantis to Orbit Credit: NASA Explanation: Birds don't fly this high. Airplanes don't go this fast. The Statue of Liberty weighs less. No species other than human can even comprehend what is going on, nor could any human just a millennium ago. The launch of a rocket bound for space is an event that inspires awe and challenges description. Pictured above, the Space Shuttle Atlantis...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 January 02 Mt. Etna Eruption Plume Credit: International Space Station Crew, NASA Explanation: Mt. Etna has been erupting for hundreds of thousands of years. In late October of last year, however, earthquakes triggered a particularly vigorous outburst from this well known volcano on the Italian island of Sicily. Local schools were closed and air-traffic re-routed as hot lava poured out and ash spewed out and settled as...