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International Space station set for busy spell
Paris (AFP) Jan 8, 2008 Three spaceships are set to rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) by the end of February, according to the latest programme unveiled by space agencies. The US shuttle Atlantis, bearing the European Space Agency's science module Columbus, has a launch window starting January 24, although liftoff is likelier between February 2 and 7, NASA said last week. Launch was initially scheduled for December 6 last year. On February 7, an automated Russian resupply vessel, Progress, is due to be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This will be followed "in the second half of February" by the maiden launch of the ESA's own robot supply ship, the head of launch operator Arianespace, Jean-Yves Le Gall, said in Paris on Tuesday. The launch of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), baptised Jules Verne, "will be fine-tuned in the coming days, depending on the launch of the shuttle and the Progress," he said. The ATV will be taken aloft by an Ariane-5 launcher from the European space base in Kourou, French Guiana. Kourou and Baikonur will shoulder operations to send materials, personnel and supplies to the orbital ISS after the shuttle's scheduled retirement in 2010. The ISS, a 100-billion-dollar (70.3-billion-euro) project involving 16 countries, is considered crucial to US ambitions for a manned mission to Mars and is set to be completed within three years. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Station at NASA Station and More at Roscosmos S.P. Korolev RSC Energia Watch NASA TV via Space.TV Space Station News at Space-Travel.Com
Progress M-62 docks Space Station
Moscow, Russia (SPX) Dec 31, 2007Russian logistics spacecraft Progress M-62, after three days in free flight, docked with the International Space Station (ISS). Proximity operations, final approach maneuvers and docking were performed in automatic mode. Initial contact with the docking port of the Pirs docking module-compartment occurred at 11:15 Moscow Time within coverage of Russian ground tracking stations. |
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