Tag: spacecraft

Black NASA astronaut is replaced in sudden crew shuffle

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Jeanette Epps, 46, a former CIA agent turned astronaut, was about to become the first African-American to embark on a mission lasting several months at the International Space Station. It’s still unclear why, but plans for her June liftoff suddenly changed, and another astronaut was chosen in her place, NASA has announced. “A number of factors are considered when making flight assignments; these decisions are personnel matters, for which NASA […]

Russia restores contact with Angolan satellite

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian specialists on Friday said they have restored communication with Angosat-1, the first national satellite it launched for Angola, days after they lost contact with it. “Specialists of Energia rocket and space corporation have received telemetry information from Angosat,” Energia said in a statement. “All parameters of the spacecraft systems are normal.” Energia is the maker of the satellite which Russia launched from its Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday evening. […]

UPDATE: Russia loses contact with Angolan satellite

by Olga Rotenberg and Anna Smolchenko Agence France-Presse moscow, Russia (AFP) — Russia has lost contact with Angola’s first national telecoms satellite launched from the Baikonur space pad, its maker said Wednesday — a fresh embarrassment for Moscow’s once proud space industry. The incident involving the Russian-made Angosat-1 followed a similar one in November when Russia lost contact with a weather satellite launched from a new cosmodrome in the country’s far east. Energia, Russia’s top […]

Russia loses contact with Angolan satellite — space industry source

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia has lost contact with Angosat-1, the first national telecoms satellite for Angola launched from its Baikonur space pad, a source in the space industry told AFP on Wednesday. “Contact has temporarily been lost,” the source told AFP by telephone, adding specialists were now looking into the matter. © Agence France-Presse

Russia launches telecoms satellite for Angola

MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Tuesday launched a rocket carrying Angosat-1, the first national telecoms satellite for Angola, from its Baikonur space pad, with rare use of a rocket from Ukraine despite collapsed ties between the two nations. Live footage aired by Roscosmos space corporation showed the spacecraft take off into the night from the freezing launch pad in Kazakhstan. It reached initial orbit shortly after. The Zenit-2SB rocket carrying Angosat to orbit was […]

McCandless, first astronaut to fly untethered, dies at age 80

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Bruce McCandless, an astronaut who was the first to fly untethered from his spacecraft in a gripping scene watched around the world, has died at the age of 80, NASA announced on its website. The US space agency did not give the cause of death on Thursday for the longtime resident of the western state of Colorado. The son and grandson of decorated war heroes, he graduated near the […]

NASA successfully fires Voyager 1 thrusters after 37 years

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft — cruising interstellar space billions of miles from Earth — was back on the right track Friday thanks to thrusters that were fired up for the first time in 37 years. The unmanned spaceship was launched along with its twin, Voyager 2, more than 40 years ago to explore the outer planets of our solar system, traveling further than any human-made object in history. But after […]

New spacecraft data re-writes the books on Jupiter

Reuters — Jupiter’s atmosphere features colossal cyclones and rivers of ammonia welling up from deep inside the solar system’s largest planet, researchers said on Thursday (May 25), publishing the first insights from a NASA spacecraft flying around the gas giant. The cyclones were discovered as the Juno spacecraft made the first of at least 12 planned close encounters with Jupiter, which scientists believe set the stage for the development of Earth and other planets in […]

NASA spacecraft Cassini prepares for final mission

Reuters –National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists gathered on Tuesday (April 4) to help usher in the final chapter of the spacecraft Cassini before it begins its “grand finale” on April 26 when it will descend to Saturn. The spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn since 2004, will make a series of dives through the 1,500-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer) gap between Saturn and its rings before crashing into the the solar system’s second largest planet. It will be the […]

Missing comet lander Philae spotted at last: ESA

by Pascale MOLLARD Mariëtte Le Roux PARIS, France (AFP) — Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft has finally spotted its tiny lander Philae, thought to be lost forever, stuck in a ditch on the surface of a comet hurtling through space, ground controllers said Monday. “THE SEARCH IS OVER! I’ve found @Philae2014!!” the European Space Agency (ESA) tweeted on behalf of Rosetta, orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at some 682 million kilometers (424 million miles) from Earth. The agency released […]

NASA’s Juno spacecraft sends first in-orbit view of Jupiter

REUTERS — NASA’S Juno spacecraft sent its first in-orbit view of Jupiter after it capped a five-year journey to the planet on July 4 with a do-or-die engine burn that looped it into orbit to probe the origins of the biggest planet in the solar system and how it impacted the rise of life on Earth, the U.S. space agency said. Juno’s visible-light camera was turned on six days after Juno fired its main engine […]

NASA prepares for Juno spacecraft’s Jupiter orbit

CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — After nearly a five year wait, scientists at NASA will get their very first close-encounter with Jupiter. Launched in August of 2011, the Juno spacecraft will enter into orbit around the largest planet in the solar system on July 04 after a 445-million mile (716-million km) journey. On Thursday (June 09), NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory opened the doors to one of their ‘clean rooms’ which held a large, 1/4 scale […]