Free Republic

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. Orbital outbreak Space news website SpaceRef broke the story about the virus on the laptops that astronauts took to the ISS....

Experts are growing increasingly concerned that the United States will have to rely entirely upon Russia to take astronauts to and from the international space station for at least five years. NASA's dependency upon the Russian Soyuz space capsules and rockets to carry astronauts to the station is the result of a five-year gap between the scheduled retirement of the shuttle in 2010 and the debut of its replacement in 2015. The agency had hoped it could narrow this gap by accelerating the initial launch of the craft to 2013 but announced Monday that because of inadequate funding and technical...

The troublesome toilet aboard the International Space Station appears to be working again, thanks to a replacement pump taken to the station by the shuttle Discovery. “The toilet appears to have been repaired,” said Rob Navias, the commentator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s video channel on the Web, NASA TV (www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/). The single toilet aboard the station has separate systems for dealing with solid and liquid waste, and the systems are designed to work without the help of gravity. The solid waste system was operating properly, but the liquid system, which uses air flow to direct urine and...

ISS = International Space Station To see if the pair will in fact pass and be visible over your particular location, schedules and other important information are available from the website just below (heavens-above.com):http://www.heavens-above.com/ NASA-International Space Station (official website):http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/ Important note for first time Space Station observers: Unless the Station is scheduled to pass 20 or more (depending on your viewing location--obstructions, etc) degrees above the horizon, you may not see it at all. But if the pass IS high enough above your local horizon, it will 'look' like a very bright white star, w/ no blinking or colored lights...

HOUSTON - The international space station's toilet trouble appeared to be taken care of Wednesday after a Russian cosmonaut replaced a malfunctioning pump. The space station's toilet broke two weeks ago. The problem — confined to the urine side of the commode — forced the orbiting outpost's crew of an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts to flush manually with extra water several times a day. Space shuttle Discovery brought up a new pump for the toilet, as well as the space station's newest room, a $1 billion Japanese lab. Oleg Kononenko spent more than two hours installing the new...

From spaceweather.com for Monday, May 19, 2008: The 2008 "ISS Marathon" gets underway this week when the International Space Station spends three days (May 21-23) in almost-constant sunlight. Sky watchers in Europe and North America can see the bright spaceship gliding overhead two to four times each night. Please try our new and improved Simple Satellite Tracker to find out when to look. The station is not only bright and easy to see with the naked eye, but also it makes a fine target for backyard telescopes: "I took these pictures during the early morning hours of May 12th using...

If you have ever wondered what they have built at the space station...have a look .... This is a great animation showing all the segments of the Space Station, the modules and the international partners that have helped create it. This is what we've been hauling in Shuttle flights for the past several years! This is far more complex and larger than most people know about...

The space shuttle Endeavour and the international space station will be visible to Antelope Valley residents early each morning for more than a week beginning Sunday. The Endeavour mission, to deliver the first component of a Japanese science laboratory and a Canadian robotic system to the station, is scheduled to end with a landing at 5:33 p.m. Wednesday, March 26, in Florida. The shuttle-space station combination will look like a very bright star moving steadily as they arc through the sky. If no variations are made to the flight plan, the only evening sighting of the shuttle and space station...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour pulled up to the international space station and docked Wednesday, kicking off almost two weeks of demanding construction work. Before the late-night linkup, Endeavour's commander, Dominic Gorie, guided the shuttle through a 360-degree backflip to allow for full photographic surveillance. It's one of the many safety-related procedures put in place following the Columbia tragedy in 2003. The space station crew used cameras with high-powered zoom lenses to photograph Endeavour from nose to tail, especially all the thermal tiles on its belly. The pictures — as many as 300 — will be scrutinized by...

Space freighter primed for launch By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC News The development of Europe's ATV has taken 11 years Mission Guide: Jules Verne Europe is set to launch the biggest, most sophisticated spacecraft in its history. The Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) is an unmanned ship that can carry up to 7.6 tonnes of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Its other primary role is to push the orbiting outpost higher into the sky to keep it from falling back to Earth. The ATV will launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana...

Police say the mother of a NASA astronaut who is on board the International Space Station died this afternoon when a train struck her vehicle at a crossing in a western Chicago suburb. Police say 90-year-old Rose Tani (TAH-nee) of Lombard is the mother of NASA astronaut Daniel M. Tani. Authorities say she was stopped behind a school bus that had halted at a crossing for a train. Officers said she apparently became impatient and drove around the bus. The train struck the passenger side of the vehicle. The woman was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Daniel Tani has...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts added a new room to the international space station on Friday in the way of Harmony. That's the name of the school bus-size compartment that was attached by a team of spacewalkers working outside and robot arm operators working inside. "I don't know that anybody's ever told our crew that we bring harmony with us, but we sure bring fun," Discovery's commander, Pamela Melroy, said as the spacewalk ended and the congratulations began. The Italian-built Harmony — 24 feet long and 31,000 pounds — was unloaded from the shuttle's payload bay and hoisted into place...

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan - A crew that includes Malaysia's first astronaut and an American who will become the first woman to command the international space station prepared Monday for blastoff later this week. The Soyuz-FG rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Central Asian steppe on Wednesday night to take Malaysia's Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Peggy Whitson of Beaconsfield, Iowa, and Russian Yuri Malenchenko into orbit. During his 12-day space trip, Shukor is to study of the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes, as well as experiments with proteins for a potential HIV vaccine. The rocket —...

CONTRACT RELEASE: C07-028 NASA Awards Contract for Space Station Hardware HOUSTON - NASA has signed a $46 million fixed price basic contract with S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Public Corporation, also known as RSC Energia, in Korolev, Russia, for various hardware items and their integration into the International Space Station. The basic contract includes $19 million to purchase a Russian-designed toilet system with a privacy enclosure and additional space station equipment. The additional equipment includes a spare depress air pump used to conserve air when the crew exits the Quest airlock for a spacewalk; technical and engineering support for...

Hoping for the best, space station commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Oleg Kotov hot wired two computers aboard the international space station today that engineers had feared were victims of fatal power supply failures. To everyone's delight, the machines promptly booted up and appeared to be running normally, two more successes in an improbable recovery from crippling computer crashes last week. Two of the three computers making up the Russian segment's guidance, navigation and control computers, along with two of three central control computers, were successfully revived Friday when Yurchikhin and Kotov used jumper cables to bypass suspect surge...

HOUSTON - A new set of solar panels gleamed in the sunlight Tuesday on the international space station as the freshly installed array started opening up. The first pair of solar wings was fully deployed by early afternoon. The other solar panel would be unfurled later in the day. It's a slow process. Each wing is unfolded halfway, then allowed to warm in the sun for about 30 minutes to prevented the solar panels from sticking together. The installation of the new array — part of the station's third pair of solar panels — started on Monday, when two astronauts...

08:27 Bill Gates considering space tourist trek to ISS MORE...

KOROLYOV, Russia - A Russian-built Soyuz capsule docked at the international space station late Monday, two days after blasting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome with U.S. billionaire Charles Simonyi and two Russian cosmonauts aboard. Once the capsule is secured to the station, it will take roughly two hours before the Soyuz crew are able to open the air locks and greet face-to-face the station's current crew — Russian Mikhail Tyurin and American astronauts Miguel Lopez-Alegria and Sunita Williams. Simonyi shelled out $20-25 million to be the world's fifth paying private space traveler. The arrival of a new crew is always...

Feb 4, 2007 — CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two astronauts left the International Space Station on Sunday to finish hooking up a new cooling system that will pave the way for installation of European and Japanese modules beginning this year. Station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and flight engineer Sunita Williams left the station's Quest airlock at 8:38 a.m. EST (1338 GMT) for the planned 6-1/2 hour spacewalk. It was the second of three planned spacewalks over nine days, the most ambitious station assembly work ever attempted without a U.S. space shuttle crew present. Lopez-Alegria and Williams, both U.S. astronauts, will...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Fresh from the success of an impromptu spacewalk, shuttle Discovery's astronauts awoke Tuesday to the strains of "Zamboni" by the Gear Daddies and got ready to undock from the international space station. "We can't offer you a Zamboni to drive today," said Mission Control astronaut Shannon Lucid, referring to the ice rink machine immortalized in the Minnesota band's country rock song. "But if you look at today's flight plan, you will see that we are offering you the opportunity to fly the shuttle for half a lap flyaround. That's not a bad tradeoff." Space shuttle Discovery's...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA began retracting via remote control a 115-foot solar panel on the international space station Wednesday, likening the tricky task to folding a road map back up and stuffing it in the glove compartment. The electricity-generating solar array served as a temporary power source aboard the orbiting outpost. NASA needed to move it out of the way so that a new, permanent pair of solar wings could rotate in the direction of the sun. The folding-up began shortly before 1:30 p.m. EST and was expected to take about five hours. A crease developed when the array...

A violent solar explosion sent a dangerous wave of radiation through space late Tuesday, prompting NASA to order the crews of Discovery and the International Space Station to take shelter overnight, according to Local 6 News partner Florida Today. The solar flare erupted around 9:40 p.m., unleashing enough radiation to disrupt radio communications on Earth and in orbit while endangering astronauts circling 220 miles above the planet.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - After a two-day journey, space shuttle Discovery reached the international space station Monday for a weeklong stay to continue construction on the orbiting lab and rotate out a crew member. Discovery commander Mark Polansky closed in on the station at a tenth of a foot per second before latches automatically linked the spacecraft as they flew 220 miles above southeast Asia during a sunrise. "Capture confirmed," Polansky told Mission Control and the space station. About an hour before docking, Discovery did a slow back flip so the space station crew could photograph its belly for any...

Russian Golf Event Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin tees off from the space station during the Expedition 14 spacewalk. Click 'View this Video' at the link.

MOSCOW — Russia's space agency announced Tuesday that Dallas-area businesswoman Anousheh Ansari will fly to the International Space Station next month. Russian news agencies say she'll be the first woman to make a paid voyage to the station. Ansari, a native of Iran, is a co-founder of Richardson-based company Telecom Technologies.

Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable, habitable space complex technology demonstrator, Genesis I, has been successfully deployed and is transmitting data from its 550km (341miles) altitude, 64° inclination orbit, writes Rob Coppinger. An International Space Company Kosmotras Dnepr rocket launched the spacecraft at 14:54GMT from Russia's Yasny base on 12 July. Once in orbit, the spacecraft, based on NASA-developed technology, inflated itself, deployed its solar arrays and transmitted data to Bigelow Aerospace's mission control centre in Houston. "The internal battery is reporting a full charge of 26V, which leads us to believe that the solar arrays have deployed," says Bigelow Aerospace....

An inflatable spacecraft designed to test technology for a future space hotel is to be launched from Russia on Wednesday. "Everything is on track and scheduled for launch," Robert Bigelow told New Scientist in a prepared statement. Bigelow is the founder of Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, which is behind the inflatable test vehicle. Called Genesis I, it is set to launch from Russia's Dombarovsky missile base in Siberia. If all goes well, it will be blasted into an orbit 550 kilometres above the Earth. Once there, it will inflate to its full size of 3 metres by...

Two views from the Space Station of a short minor eruption from Cleveland Volcano: Smaller image below: click for the bigger one:

Last month’s failure of a test of a pair of rocket engines on the International Space Station has taught a whole series of unexpected lessons and has answered questions that the station’s operators hadn’t even intended to ask. Yet since nothing actually happened, a senior NASA spokesman said it was a “non-story”. But that’s nowhere near the truth. The incident and repercussions of it further underscore that operating a space facility as complex and poorly documented as the ISS is an irremediably non-deterministic process. That is, anything can happen, at any time—and blindside everybody involved.

BREMEN, Germany (AFP) - Engineers formally handed over the Columbus science module, the European Space Agency's biggest contribution to the problem-dogged International Space Station (ISS). The 13-tonne lab was transferred to ESA at a ceremony attended in this northern German city, where a small army of technicians had spent four years fitting out its shell with control, communications and research equipment. German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the scheme as a "fascinating example" of European cooperation in hi-tech. Columbus, in gestation for 10 years and costing around a billion euros (1.25 billion dollars), is designed to enable European scientists to carry...

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...

CAPE CANAVERAL - A spacewalking Russian cosmonaut plans to hit a golf shot outside the International Space Station this summer as part of a publicity campaign that already has raised safety concerns. Clad in a cumbersome spacesuit and anchored to a specially designed tee box, Pavel Vinogradov will hit a six-iron drive along side the station's Russian segment, taking great care not to hook the ball into the outpost. ...

The past efforts of America’s space agency to develop a viable method of harnessing the undisputed power of free enterprise have, by general consensus, failed. The reasons include the fact that NASA is a government agency and thus subject to strong political pressure, as well as to sets of regulations that can make a brave man’s knees knock. Its mission is an exploration and research effort designed to fulfill several unarticulated goals, from national prestige to nurturing a cadre of scientists and engineers who have the skills and experience needed to work on any emergency military projects. Despite past failures,...

Did you ever want to participate in a International Space Station mission? Starting Friday, February 3rd, you may get your chance. An old, used Russian spacesuit has been transformed into a most unusual earth orbit satellite. Just add one Kenwood TH-K2AT handi-talkie transceiver, a battery pack, a sensor for temperature readings, a compact voice synthesizer and telemetry device and a small helmet-mounted antenna and you are good to go. The modified spacesuit will be thrust out of the space station into orbit and will begin broadcasting voice messages and slow scan television on 145.990 MHz FM in the two-meter amateur...

NASA is challenging U.S. industry to establish capabilities and services that can open new space markets and support the crew and cargo transportation needs of the International Space Station.

HONG KONG – Fresh from its second manned space mission, China's space program wants to be able to put a man on the moon and build a space station in 15 years, an official said Sunday. "I think in about 10 to 15 years, we will have the ability to build our own space station and to carry out a manned moon landing," said Hu Shixiang, deputy commander of China's manned space flight program. But the goal is subject to getting enough funds from the government, Hu said, explaining that the space program must fit in the larger scheme of...

The International Space Station crew, 220 miles above Earth, will receive a special live musical wakeup call from Paul McCartney Sunday during a first-ever concert linkup. The wakeup will come from McCartney's "US" Tour performance at the Anaheim, Calif., Arrowhead Pond. McCartney plans to play two songs, "Good Day Sunshine" and "English Tea," for NASA Astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian Cosmonaut Valery Tokarev. This is the first time a live concert will be linked to a U.S. spacecraft. The call will take place at 12:55 a.m. EST, Sunday, Nov. 13 (9:55 p.m. PST, Nov. 12) as the concert is nearing...

End of Howell's reign is part of a shuffle designed to focus NASA on space exploration NASA's Johnson Space Center Director Jefferson Howell Jr. announced Monday that he will leave the high-level post for a space agency liaison assignment with the University of Texas at Austin. The retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant general will remain as director of the 15,000-person installation in Houston's Clear Lake area until NASA Administrator Michael Griffin names a successor, probably by late November. Howell's departure is one of nearly 20 high-level personnel changes throughout the space agency since Griffin became administrator in mid-April. Griffin was...

There has been a successful blast off for the latest mission with a difference to the International Space station. The world's third space tourist is among the crew of three that has lifted off from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan. US businessman and scientist Greg Olsen has reportedly paid about 16.6 million euros for the place on board the Soyuz spacecraft. The crew is due to hook up with the international space station by Monday. Russian commander Valery Takarev and US astronaut William McArthur will replace two other astronauts who have been in orbit since April. They will...

(AP) - NASA's top official said Friday that the future of U.S participation in Russian space flights is in doubt due to a congressional measure that aims to punish countries that co-operate with Iran. NASA administrator Michael Griffin told reporters near the Baikonur cosmodrome that "an acceptable financial agreement" could be reached in response to Kremlin demands that the United States pay for its participation in future Russian flights. But Griffin said a U.S. law - the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 penalizing countries that sell unconventional weapons and missile technology to Iran, including Russia - could mean an end...

Summary - The 2-man crew onboard the International Space Station are going to be rationing their food carefully between now and the arrival of a Progress cargo ship on December 25 which will be carrying additional supplies. It appears that these astronauts, and the previous occupants, have been eating more food than engineers were predicting. This next Progress flight will contain extra food supplies, but if there's a problem with the mission and the cargo ship is destroyed, Commander Leroy Chiao and Russian flight engineer Salizhan Sharipov may have to evacuate the station, as additional supplies can't reach them in...

The US space agency NASA lost its way in the 1970s when it focused on the space shuttle and International Space Station, NASA chief Michael Griffin reportedly said. "It is now commonly accepted that was not the right path," Griffin said. "We are now trying to change the path while doing as little damage as we can." Asked whether the shuttle had been a mistake, Griffin told USA Today: "My opinion is that it was. It was a design which was extremely aggressive and just barely possible." Asked whether the space station had been a mistake, he said: "Had the...

NASA administrator says space shuttle was a mistake - actual link to article - Source URL points to Slashdot where I first came across it.

Agency’s Houston center evacuated as Hurricane Rita approaches NASA ordered the evacuation of its Johnson Space Center in Houston on Wednesday and turned over control of the international space station to its Russian partners as Hurricane Rita barreled across the Gulf of Mexico. Space agency officials said the center would be closed on Thursday and Friday, with "ride-out teams" staying behind to keep watch on critical systems. Rita is expected to make landfall near Houston by Saturday.

TOKYO - Japan is planning to develop a new rocket that will carry nearly double the payload of its troubled H-2A booster and carry cargo to the International Space Station, a news report said Tuesday. The new rocket, to be called the H-2B, will be launched in 2008 and carry a payload of up to 8 tons, compared with the payload of 4 to 6 tons for the H-2A, Kyodo News Agency said, citing unidentified officials at Japan's science and technology ministry. The main mission will be to carry the H-2 Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, to the International Space Station...

How many problems does it take for “one of the most sophisticated systems ever produced by man” to become just another white elephant? A lot of people have been asking that about the Space Shuttle lately. But the Space Shuttle’s downward spiral started long, long ago. In fact, it started in the Nixon Administration. In the days of triumph which were Apollo, NASA -- still capable of bold vision -- laid out a plan to explore and settle the Solar System. Among its more prominent features were a series of follow-on Moon missions which more resembled Lewis and Clark (or...

Waiting in the Wings: Expedition 12, Space Tourist Olsen Prepare By Tariq Malik Staff Writer posted: 11 August 2005 06:44 am ET HOUSTON—As the crew of NASA’s space shuttle Discovery celebrates their safe return to Earth, two astronauts are gearing up for their own launch toward the International Space Station (ISS). NASA astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev are set to ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the station in October on the twelfth expedition to the ISS. McArthur will command ISS Expedition 12, with Tokarev serving as flight engineer. Physicist Gregory Olsen, a paying spaceflight participant whose trip...

SPACE CENTER, Houston - Astronauts on Sunday loaded up supplies and hauled out mounds of trash that have accumulated on the international space station since shuttles were grounded after the 2003 Columbia tragedy. "It is kind of just like working in your closets and your garage," station flight director Mark Ferring said. "It's a lot of work." Discovery, which docked at the orbiting outpost Thursday, became the first shuttle to return to orbit last week. Among the mission's goals: Resupply the station and take out the trash.

Discovery Docking with Station Discovery is set to dock with the International Space Station at 7:18 a.m. EDT this morning. Astronauts will perform three spacewalks during their eight-day stay, as the Station gets new supplies and updated equipment.

Poised for Liftoff Space Shuttle Discovery rests in full view on the launch pad. Image above: The rolling back of Launch Pad 39B's Rotating Service Structure reveals orbiter Discovery. + Click for larger image. Image credit: NASA/KSC Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114, NASA's Return to Flight mission, is set for Tuesday at 10:39 a.m. EDT. The launch pad's Rotating Service Structure (RSS) was rolled away from Discovery at 3:38 p.m. on Monday. When in place, the giant enveloping appendage is used to install payloads into an orbiter's cargo bay and provide protection from inclement weather. With the...