International Space Station Expedition 34 crewmembers Kevin Ford, Evgeny Tarelkin, and Oleg Novitskiy had expected to be back on Earth on March 15. But bad weather at their landing site forced the crew to postpone their homecoming. One day later, the trio landed their Soyuz TMA-06M on the Kazakh steppe in the midst of fog in freezing winter temperatures. On [...]
Post Tagged with: “Russia”
Next up for NEOs: Political Game Plan
The Chelyabinsk meteorite shower on February 15 stressed the necessity of revitalized international cooperation efforts on detection and diversion of near Earth objects (NEOs). The Scientific and Technical subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) discussed that very issue February 11-22 at a prescheduled meeting that only fortuitously coincided with the biggest meteor strike [...]
Comprehensive Report on What Exploded Over Russia
Two weeks after an asteroid exploded over Russia’s Ural mountains, scientists are making progress understanding the origin and make-up of the unexpected space rock. This week’s NASA ScienceCast video presents their latest results. Staff WritersMore Posts
Russian Meteor Explosion vs. Hiroshima Bomb: The Real Comparison
On February 15 at 3:20:26 UTC, a supersonic flying space rock, roughly the size of a van or a small truck, entered Earth’s atmosphere, exploded at 24,140 meters over Russia’s Chelyabinsk, and produced a total destructive blast power of 500 kilotons. This means the destructive power yield was 30 times the blast yield of the U.S. atomic bomb, named Little [...]
ISS Loses Communication with Mission Control for 3 Hours
NASA officials confirmed that the International Space Station (ISS) lost contact with Houston’s Mission Control for just under 3 hours on February 19. NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said that something went wrong around 9:45 AM EST during a computer software update on the station and ISS abruptly lost all communication, voice and command from Houston. Flight controllers were in the [...]
Eyes on the Sky Find More Meteors
With so much attention focused on cosmic events in the past week, reported sightings of meteor fireballs are on the rise. Between concerns about safety of the close passing asteroid 2012 DA14 and the devastating meteoroid that hit Russia, more people are paying attention to the sky. Californians and Cubans are among those who found something to report. San Francisco [...]
Russian Meteor Update: Russia Talks Asteroid Defense
New facts and figures have emerged with regards to the meteor that detonated above the Ural region in Russia on February 15th. The current casualty toll stands at over 1200, although thankfully, most are small injuries related to flying glass shards which resulted from windows destroyed by the sonic boom. This toll now ranks as the highest amount of injuries [...]
A Day Full of Space Rocks
February 15 was expected to bear witness to a historically close asteroid passage; it just wasn’t expected to see one come crashing down to the surface. In the morning hours of February 15, the city of Chelyabinsk and the surrounding Ural region of Russia came to a screeching halt as residents saw a streaking projectile – clearly too close for [...]
Breaking News: Meteorite Hits Ural Region Causing Panic and Injuries
A meteorite has hit the Ural area, in Russia at 09:22 local time, on February 15. Officials say that the chaos began after a large meteorite disintegrated above the Ural mountain range and partially burned up in the lower atmosphere, resulting in a blast wave, emitting light and resulting in smaller fragments falling down to the ground throughout the Chelyabinsk region. Unofficial reports thought [...]
Kazakhstan Reduces Proton Launches From Baikonour
Kazakhstan has approved only 12 Proton launches from the Baikonour space launch facility in 2013, instead of the 17 originally planned by Russia. Baikonour, which is the Russian main launch site, is currently at the center of a heated political discourse. The tension between Russia and Kazakhstan has grown in the last few months, since Taglat Musarbayev, head of Kazakh [...]
