Tag Archive for 'Roskosmos'

Heads of the Five Space Agencies Meet; Is Bloody ISS Turf War Finally Over?

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Doug
on July 18, 2008
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Guy Bujold, Canadian Space Agency president; Jean-Jacques Dordain, European Space Agency director-general; NASA Administrator Michael Griffin; Anatolii N. Perminov, Russian Federal Space Agency head; and Keiji Tachikawa, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency president. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja

The Heads of the Five Families Space Agencies met in Paris this week to discuss ending the Mob war, dividing up the narcotics trade, and bringing Michael Corleone back from Sicily the future of the International Space Station.

Among other things, the meeting produced this statement supporting their own efforts on - of all things - the International Space Station, which they have spent the last 20 years building.

Heads of Agency International Space Station Joint Statement

PARIS — The heads of the International Space Station (ISS) agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States met at European Space Agency (ESA) Headquarters in Paris on July 17, 2008, to review ISS cooperation. As part of their discussions, they noted the significantly expanded capability that the ISS now provides for on-orbit research and technology development activities and as an engineering test bed for flight systems and operations that are critical to future space exploration initiatives. These activities improve the quality of life on Earth by expanding the frontiers of human knowledge.

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Parabolas: In Space, No One Can Hear You Beg; the Russians are Going (and so is Garriott)

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Doug
on June 28, 2008
in News, space tourism and tourism
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Weaver Makes Bid for Space Travel
PR-Insider.com

Actress Sigourney Weaver is begging Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson to let her be next celebrity to venture into space.

Weaver says, “I’d love to go (to space). Sure, if I had the opportunity. I read somewhere that I was going… I apparently was on the passenger list. I was apparently on the invitation (from Branson).”

Six Russians to Take First Virgin Galactic Space Ride in 2010
RIA Novosti

Six Russians are to be the initial clients of the world’s first space travel agency, Virgin Galactic, which is to launch suborbital passenger flights in 2010.

Igor Kutsenko, who runs an advertising firm in Moscow, told a Virgin Galactic news conference in the Russian capital that he and his business partner, Sergei Tyaglov, had bought tickets 18 months ago, and that he had also reserved tickets for his parents, both in their fifties.

Options for Space Tourists
Andrei Kislyakov
RIA Novosti

What we have here is a typically Russian paradox: although this country was the first to try out space tourism, it has failed to develop it further, letting other countries reap the fruits of this endeavor.

Furthermore, the ways in which Roskosmos (Russian Federal Space Agency) has been trying to branch out into tourism has no benefits for our national space program.

Way Later than 2001, Space Odysseys are Under Way
Helen Anders
American Statesman

“I grew up assuming all of us would go into space,” [Richard] Garriott says. Then he found out he had poor eyesight. Too bad, the family doctor told the youngster; you can’t be an astronaut.

“That’s when I realized,” Garriott says, “if I’m going it will have to be outside NASA.”

AP: Private ISS Flight Still Requires Consultations, Approvals from Partners

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Doug
on June 12, 2008
in News, space station, space tourism and tourism
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Space Adventure’s plan to fund a private Soyuz tourism flight to the International Space Station still requires consultation with and approval by the United States and other station partners, the Associated Press reports.

“NASA space station manager Kenny Todd said that consultation hasn’t taken place. He said that since NASA is a primary partner in the space station, ‘it certainly wants to have an understanding of how that’s going to happen and what all would be involved’ in the private flight.”

Top among the concerns: that Russia will not be overburdened building Soyuz spacecraft required to transport crews to the orbiting outpost. After two recent hair-raising re-entries, this is not a trivial concern.

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In ‘Paradigm’ Shift, Space Adventures Sells Two Tickets on Same Soyuz Flight

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Doug
on June 11, 2008
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Google Co-Founder Brin to Fly; Invests $5 Million to Join Exclusive Club of One

Space Adventures announced a deal with the Russian Space Agency on Wednesday to charter one Soyuz flight annually to the International Space Station beginning in 2011.

The flights will include one Russian cosmonaut and two paying tourists. Previously, space tourists have occupied the third seat on flights that swapped out older Soyuz vehicles attached to the station. The privately-funded mission will be conducted outside of the normal rotation of spacecraft and crews to and from the orbiting outpost, officials said.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin may occupy one of the two tourist seats on the 2011 flight. He has invested $5 million in Space Adventures, money that serves as a down payment on a space fight. The flight will apparently cost in excess of $35 million.

Brin is now the founding (and, to date, only) member of the new Orbital Mission Explorers Circle, which represent an effort “to build a definitive consortium of future private space explorers who share a lifetime goal of orbital spaceflight or the investment therein,” Space Adventures CEO Eric Anderson said. The circle will eventually include six members.

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Russia Says it’s Building Moonship with Europe; ESA: That’s News to Us

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Doug
on May 14, 2008
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The Russian space agency Roskosmos said on Wednesday that it will be teaming with the European Space Agency to build a new spacecraft capable of carrying up to six astronauts to low Earth orbit and the moon. Reuters reports that test flights of the winged vehicle would begin in 2015, with the first human mission three years later.

European officials confirmed that such a plan was being considered, but said that nothing had been decided yet. ESA’s space ministers will meet late this year at The Hague to map out the agency’s future direction.

“This is factually correct in the sense that indeed this is the outline of the system,” ESA spokesman Franco Bonacina told Reuters. “But we haven’t decided upon anything yet. … It’s too premature. It’s still at the level of studies. In November, at a ministerial meeting, it’s not taken for granted this option will be the one that finally takes shape.”

There are several plans being considered in Europe, including building a human-rated capsule for use on ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, which currently is used to ferry supplies to the International Space Station.