ESA PR 09-2008. With the Columbus mission well under way, the space station programme has assigned crews for the next flight opportunities. Belgian ESA astronaut Frank De Winne joins Expedition 19 and will spend six months on the ISS in 2009. In May 2009, he will fly together with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS.
ESA PR 08-2008. After the successful launch of ESA’s Columbus laboratory aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on Thursday (7 February), it is now time to focus on the next imminent milestone for ESA: the launch of Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to be sent to the International Space Station.
ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel was fully fit to launch with Columbus on 7 February. However, a condition developed that is not life- or mission-threatening in any way, but that could affect his efficiency during a spacewalk.
Originally scheduled for Sunday, the first spacewalk of the STS-122 mission is delayed by 24 hours to Monday. The main task for the first spacewalk is the installation of the European Columbus laboratory. For updates see NASA’s Shuttle website.
Space Shuttle Atlantis docked with the International Space Station today. Inside the Shuttle’s payload bay is the European Columbus laboratory which will be installed on the Station during a spacewalk on Sunday. Follow the mission on ESA’s Columbus Blog or live on NASA TV.
Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station at 18:25 CET (17:25 UT) today. The hatches between the two spacecraft will be opened 70 minutes later. Follow rendezvous and docking on ESA?s Columbus Blog or live on NASA TV.
Is there life on Mars? ESA’s Mars Express satellite, launched in 2003, has been scanning and mapping the surface of our rocky neighbour, and it has found that there are both substantial deposits of water ice below the Martian crust and traces of methane in the Martian atmosphere. The next step is ExoMars, due for launch in 2013, which will place a lander on the surface of the red planet with the express aim of searching for past or present signs of life. EuroNews talked to the scientists at the cutting edge of this research.
ESA’s test centre is buzzing with activity and anticipation as it welcomes its latest guest. The gigantic telescope of ESA’s space-based infrared observatory, Herschel, is being prepared to be assembled with its spacecraft in the next few weeks.
Cassini scientists have become out-of-this world ‘plumbers’ as they try to piece together what is happening inside the ‘pipes’ feeding the plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Read the full story on the NASA JPL website.
ESA PR 7-2008. Columbus, ESA’s advanced science laboratory in space, has just been launched into orbit and is now on its way to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).
ESA PR 06-2008. Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Asturias inaugurated this afternoon ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), located on the outskirts of Madrid, Spain.
The European Columbus laboratory is scheduled to launch on board Space Shuttle Atlantis later today. The STS-122 mission to the International Space Station is due to lift-off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 20:45 CET (19:45 UT) - follow the launch live on NASA TV and in ESA’s Columbus Blog.
The countdown continues towards Thursday’s launch of the European Columbus laboratory on board Space Shuttle Atlantis. Weather forecasts for the launch site in Florida currently predict a 70 percent chance of unfavourable weather at launch time. Atlantis is scheduled for liftoff at 20:45 CET (19:45 UT).
Two of Saturn’s rings have been found by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to contain orderly lines of densely grouped, boulder-size icy particles that extend outward across the rings like ripples from a rock dropped in a calm pond.
For more information follow this link
Despite more than a decade of winter darkness, Saturn’s north pole is home to an unexpected hot-spot, remarkably similar to the one at the planet’s sunny south pole. Now, the first detailed views of the gas giant’s high latitudes from the Cassini spacecraft reveal a matched set of hot cyclonic vortices, one at each pole.
For more information follow this link
Scientists have gotten their best look ever at the invisible ring of energetic ions trapped in Saturn’s giant magnetic field. They find that it is asymmetric and dynamic, unlike similar rings that appear around Earth.
For more information follow this link
As ESA’s Columbus module sits on the launch pad awaiting liftoff on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Europe will have a great view tomorrow night of its destination: the International Space Station (ISS).