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Showing posts from April, 2010

Latest Space Shuttle News: Crew to Complete Transfers from Leonardo

At 12:21 a.m. EDT Mission Control awakened the STS-131 crew with the song "The Earth in the Color of Lapis Lazuli" by Seiko Matsuda for Naoko Yamazaki, who served as the loadmaster, supervising the unloading and loading activities for this mission. Space shuttle Discovery 's seven-member crew will begin their day by unloading the last transfer items in the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module and then closing the hatches between it and the Harmony node in preparation for its return to the shuttle's payload bay. Space Shuttle Mission: STS-131 Image above: A portion of the aft section of the docked space shuttle Discovery, Mexico, Baja California, and the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortez) are featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 23 crew member on the International Space Station . Image credit: NASA › Meet the STS-131 Crew No Fourth Spacewalk Needed; Crews to Finish Unloading Leonardo Space shuttle Discovery’s seven-member STS-131 crew will begin the

World wide daily news: Earthquake in China Over 600 dead “videos”

Exactly two years after an earthquake devastated this province in western China, another quake of similar magnitude tore through its neighbouring region, leaving at least 400 dead and more than 10,000 injured. A 7.1-magnitude quake struck a remote border area in north-west Qinghai province early on Wednesday morning, bringing down houses, temples, schools and government buildings, and leaving thousands trapped under the debris. The epicentre of the quake was in Yushu county, in a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture which borders Sichuan. State media reported that the quake, and a series of aftershocks including one measuring 6.3 in magnitude, left the worst-hit town of Jiegu in a pile of rubble and triggered landslides that had cut off many of the affected regions. Power supply to much of southern Qinghai had stopped, telecommunications had been disrupted and one reservoir had been feared to have cracked, said reports. “The streets in Jiegu are thronged with panic, with injured people, with

Nasa News Today: Expedition 23 and STS-131 Crews Work Together Aboard Station

Image above: STS-131 Mission Specialists Clayton Anderson (top) and Rick Mastracchio prepare spacesuits for the mission’s first spacewalk. Image Credit: NASA TV The Expedition 23 and STS-131 crews are continuing their joint operations aboard the International Space Station. The crews have begun to unload the Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module and transfer 17,000 pounds of science racks and other supplies into the station, a job that will take several days. STS-131 Mission Specialist Clayton Anderson and Expedition 23 Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchi opened the hatch to the "moving van" at 7:58 a.m. EDT Thursday. The module was relocated from Discovery’s payload bay to a port on the Harmony node at 12:24 a.m. The Italian-built module’s more than 17,000 pounds of cargo includes four experiment racks along with the final private crew quarters. This is the final roundtrip to the station for the 21-foot-long, 15-foot-diameter Leonardo. Once back on Earth, the module will be r

Latest Space Shuttle News:First STS-131 Spacewalk Begins Tonight

The crew of space shuttle Discovery awoke Thursday at 8:51 p.m. EDT to “Defying Gravity” by Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenoweth, played for Mission Specialist Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. Spacewalkers Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson spent the night in the International Space Station’s Quest Airlock, which was dialed down to a lower cabin pressure than the rest of the complex to rid their bodies of nitrogen and prevent the bends when they start their excursion. Preparations for the spacewalk resume at 9:26 p.m. and the activity is scheduled to begin at 1:41 a.m. Friday. Mastracchio and Anderson will undertake the laborious job of changing out a spent Ammonia Tank Assembly on the station’s exterior, a task that they will continue during the second spacewalk on Sunday and the third on Tuesday. They also will retrieve an experiment from the outside of the Japanese Exposed Facility and replace a failed gyroscope that is part of the station’s navigation system. Lindenburger will choreogr

Sports News: “Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik” the romance that gripped two nations

When Pakistan's former cricket captain announced his engagement to India's top tennis player, it was the start of a very tangled and intriguing affair . . . Sania Mirza with Shoaib Malik discusses his previous alleged marriage with the press on Monday Photograph: Mahesh Kumar A/AP Bring on the puns about love games, fine legs and bowling a maiden over. Pakistan's former cricket captain, Shoaib Malik, is to marry India's top-ranked female tennis player, Sania Mirza. In India, the rightwing Hindu nationalist political party, the BJP, has asked Mirza to "reconsider" her decision to marry a Pakistani, while more centrist parties have remained silent. In Pakistan, the Islamic rightwing political parties – who would usually have a lot to say about women who wear tennis skirts – have remained silent, while more centrist parties have voiced their congratulations. The contrasting attitudes each side of the border actually reveal the same assumption: a wife belongs to

Latest Space Shuttle News: Astronauts Head to Launch Pad 39A

Amid cheers and applause from space center workers, the seven STS-131 astronauts walked out of the Operations and Checkout Building that houses their crew quarters at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida . Dressed in their familiar, bright-orange launch-and-entry suits, they waved to the crowd before departing in the silver Astrovan. The trip to Launch Pad 39A takes about 25 minutes. There are no technical issues in work and weather remains favorable for the 6:21 a.m. EDT launch time. Image above: The STS-131 astronauts walk out of crew quarters to head to the launch pad. Image credit: NASA TV › Meet the STS-131 Crew Discovery and Crew Prepare for STS-131 Mission Commander Alan Poindexter is set to lead the STS-131 mission to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. Joining Poindexter will be Pilot Jim Dutton and Mission Specialists Rick Mastracchio, Clay Anderson, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, Stephanie Wilson and Naoko Yamazaki of the Japan Aerospace Exp

Nasa Latest News: New Expedition 23 Crew Members Welcomed Aboard Station

Image above: The Expedition 23 crew speaks with family members and representatives on the ground. Image Credit: NASA TV There are three new Expedition 23 crew members aboard the International Space Station . Following the completion of leak checks, the hatches between the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft and the station were opened at 3:19 a.m. EDT Sunday. A welcome ceremony for the new arrivals followed. NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko lifted off aboard the Soyuz TMA-18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan 12:04 a.m. Friday. › View Soyuz TMA-18 launch video › View Soyuz TMA-18 launch images The trio docked to the station at 1:25 a.m. Sunday, completing the Expedition 23 crew. The new crew members were welcomed by Expedition 23 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineers T.J. Creamer and Soichi Noguchi who arrived at the station Dec. 22 aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft. Space shuttle Discovery and the STS-131 crew are