Science News

The International Space Station partners have begun reviewing their on-board hardware with the goal of certifying it for use until 2028 even as they seek ways to reduce the annual operating costs of the orbital complex, the partners said in a joint statement Thursday.

“[T]here are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020 .

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The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency said on Thursday.

“The partnership is currently working to certify on-orbit elements through 2028,” it said.

“There are no identified technical constraints to continuing ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020,” it said in a press release after a meeting of ISS partners in Tokyo.

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Space Exploration Technologies aborted a test firing of its Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, in what was to be a key milestone in its quest to fly cargo — and eventually astronauts — to the International Space Station.

During the test, flames and small puffs of smoke could be seen around the base of the rocket via a NASA video camera.

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Space Exploration Technologies fired up the engines of its debut Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, a key milestone in its quest to fly cargo — and eventually astronauts — to the International Space Station.

Results of the engine test, which had been expected to last about 3.5 seconds, were not immediately available.

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The International Space Station program has won a prestigious aviation award - the 2009 Collier Trophy - in recognition of its strides in advancing aeronautics.

We are honored to receive this prestigious award,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASAs Space Operations Mission Directorate.

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China’s space program will launch an unmanned experimental module next year, the first component of its permanent space station, state media reported Wednesday.

Xinhua quoted Liang Xiaohong, head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, as saying Tiangong 1 would be slung into space atop a modified version of the two-stage Long March 2F rocket capable of carrying payloads of more than eight tons.

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China has postponed the next step in its ambitious space station programme until 2011 for technical reasons, state media said Wednesday.

But the initial launch has now been delayed by a year due to “technical reasons”, Qi said, without elaborating.

China had originally planned to place the Tiangong-1 space module in orbit late this year and undertake experimental docking manoeuvres in subsequent missions, Xinhua news agency cited rocket designer Qi Faren as saying.

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A spacesuit worn by cosmonaut Anatoli Artsebarsky, pieces of Soyuz shuttles that rocketed into space and a Mir Space Station control panel are among dozens of Soviet space program items for sale this month in Canada.

“You get a sense of the magnitude of the Soviet space program handling all of these items.

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With the successful landing of the space shuttle Endeavour Sunday night, the International Space Station is on the verge of completion after $100 billion and 11 years of construction. NASA plans just four more missions to wrap up its few remaining station deliveries.

“Well go into that with our heads held high,” shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach said after the landing.

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When NASAs space shuttle Endeavour landed safely on Earth Sunday night, reporters werent the only ones pointing cameras at the returning spaceship. An astronaut took his own snapshot of the shuttle landing from space.

The image shows Endeavour as it is performing a so-called S-turn, one of several turns used to slow a landing space shuttle from Mach 25, the rate they fly when they enter Earths atmosphere.

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