April 2005 Space News |
- NASA Delays Shuttle's Return to Flight Two More Months to late July VOA 29 Apr 2005 -- The U.S. space agency NASA has postponed returning shuttles to flight for two months to give it more time to address safety issues that caused the Columbia disaster in 2003. The first shuttle mission in two-and-a-half years to the International Space Station is now scheduled for the second half of July instead of May.
- India plans CARTOSAT-1 in the first week of May IRNA 29 Apr 2005 -- The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its latest state-of-the-art remote sensing satellite, CARTOSAT-1, in the first week of May from Sriharikota, reports Press Trust of India.
- Training ensures reservists ready to go AFPN 28 Apr 2005 -- Air Force Space Command reservists tested a common training assembly concept here April 22 and 23 to ensure nearly 350 individual mobilization augmentees were trained and ready for mobilization.
- Promoters Foresee Booming Space Industry VOA 28 Apr 2005 -- Promoters of space tourism say private space flights could be available to the public by the end of the decade.
- Space, air, information warfare centers integrate capabilities AFPN 27 Apr 2005 -- The Air Force is integrating some forces to better manage air, space and information operations combat capabilities to support missions worldwide, Air Force officials announced April 26.
- NASA Hubble Space Telescope Celebrates 15th Anniversary Washington File 26 Apr 2005 -- During the 15 years NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has orbited the Earth, it has taken more than 750,000 photos of the cosmos.
- WASHINGTON READY TO DEPLOY ORBITAL MISSILE INTERCEPTORS RIA Novosti 26 Apr 2005 -- Miracles only happen in fairy tales, not in the high-tech world, which lives according to its own logic. In the middle of April, Lieutenant General Henry Obering, the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, addressed the 3rd Annual Missile Defense Conference in Washington, where he said new global threats highlighted the need to create space-based defensive systems.
- World: Soyuz Mission Complete; NASA Readies Shuttle For Next Flight To Space Station RFE/RL 25 Apr 2005 -- A Russian Soyuz capsule touched down on the Kazakh steppe early today -- bringing three men back to Earth safely from the International Space Station. The Soyuz rockets have been the only way of sending crews and cargo to the space station since the U.S. space shuttle "Columbia" disaster more than two years ago. But the next scheduled launch to the space station is due to be a return to flight by the U.S. space shuttle "Discovery."
- Soyuz Spacecraft Lands Safely in Kazakhstan VOA News 25 Apr 2005 -- A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a crew from the international space station touched down uneventfully Monday in Kazakhstan.
- Space Station Crew to Return Home VOA News 24 Apr 2005 -- Three astronauts from the International Space Station are scheduled to start their return to Earth Sunday.
- Shuttle exercise tests NASA, Edwards response teams AFPN 22 Apr 2005 -- Support crews from NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Kennedy Space Center and the base teamed up in a mock shuttle recovery exercise on the flightline here April 16.
- Hubble Space Telescope’s Future Still Not Certain VOA News 21 Apr 2005 -- Fifteen years ago, the U.S. space agency, NASA, launched a new era in astronomy.
- EU, China Near Signing Satellite Network Contracts VOA News 21 Apr 2005 -- As the European Union debates whether to lift its arms embargo against China, another issue is looming.
- RUSSIAN AND US SERVICEMEN JOINTLY PRACTICE IN MISSILE DEFENSE RIA Novosti 18 Apr 2005 -- Russian and American servicemen are participating in a missile defense exercise.
- New NASA Chief Makes Some Departures from Predecessor VOA News 18 Apr 2005 -- The new U.S. space agency chief, Michael Griffin, is taking a new look at several projects doomed by his predecessor, including the Hubble Space Telescope.
- RUSSIA / SPACE DOCKING VOA 17 Apr 2005 -- A Soyuz spacecraft carrying Russian, American and Italian crew-members has docked at International Space Station. The mission comes as part of the normal six-month crew rotation.
- RUSSIA / SPACE LAUNCH VOA 14 Apr 2005 -- A Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Friday local time carrying a three-man crew up to the International Space Station, or I-S-S. The mission is part of the normal six-month crew rotation, but this one should mark the return of U.S. shuttles to space after two years.
- CANADA AGAINST SPACE WEAPONS RIA Novosti 14 Apr 2005 -- Dr. Marc Garneau, president of the Canadian Space Agency, warns against deployments of weaponry in the outer space.
- U.S. Senate Confirms New Space Agency Administrator Washington File 14 Apr 2005 -- The U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination April 13 of Michael Griffin as NASA's 11th administrator. His swearing in is expected to occur this week.
- IVANOV: RUSSIA AGAINST DEPLOYING WEAPONS TO SPACE RIA Novosti 13 Apr 2005 -- Russia is categorically against deploying weapons to outer space, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters Wednesday.
- Space support vital to U.S. success in Pacific AFSPC 12 Apr 2005 -- Support from space capabilities earned a large vote of confidence from the commander of Pacific Air Forces during a National Space Symposium presentation at the Broadmoor Hotel April 7.
- Vandenberg launches micro-satellite AFPN 12 Apr 2005 -- Airmen of the 1st Air and Space Test Squadron launched XSS-11, a self-maneuvering, micro-satellite, into polar orbit from here April 11.
- US / NASA VOA 12 Apr 2005 -- The man nominated by President Bush to be the next NASA administrator says U.S. preeminence in space exploration is being challenged and must be reasserted.
- RUSSIA WANTS TO MAKE RUSSIAN-US MISSILE DEFENSE EXERCISES ROUTINE RIA Novosti 12 Apr 2005 -- Russia is going to keep on conducting combined Russian-US theater missile defense (BMD) exercises, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at a news conference in the city of Yaroslavl.
- RUSSIAN-US BMD CPX RIA Novosti 12 Apr 2005 -- The 4th central research institute of the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow is to host a combined Russian-US theater-wide ballistic missile defense (BMD) command-post exercise (CPX) from April 12 to 23.
- MOSCOW TO HOST RUSSIAN-US MISSILE DEFENSE EXERCISE RIA Novosti 11 Apr 2005 -- A joint Russian-US theater missile defense exercise will be held here April 12-23 at the Russian Defense Ministry's No. 4 central R&D institute.
- Space Shuttle Discovery at Launch Pad for Return to Flight Washington File 08 Apr 2005 -- After more than two years of safety modifications and vehicle upgrades, the Space Shuttle Discovery arrived at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida April 7.
- Corrective Action Defined for Delta IV Heavy Demo Early Cut-off Anomaly AF Space and Missile Systems Center 08 Apr 2005 -- The Boeing Company and the Air Force, supported by The Aerospace Corporation, have formally closed the investigation into the root cause of the premature Main Engine Cut-Off (MECO) on the Delta IV Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV) Demonstration mission that was launched December 21, 2004.
- U.S. must work to maintain lead in space AFPN 07 Apr 2005 -- Space industry leaders applauded a speech on maintaining the United States’ lead in space presented by the commander of Air Force Space Command during the National Space Symposium here April 5.
- SHUTTLE / RETURN TO FLIGHT VOA 07 Apr 2005 -- The U.S. space shuttle Discovery has been moved to the launch pad in advance of its planned liftoff in late May or early June. The roll out is a major maneuver in the two-and-a-half-year-long effort to return shuttles to flight after the orbiter Columbia's disintegration. Discovery and the two other remaining shuttles have undergone extensive safety modifications
- NASA Gives Mars Rovers Another Exploration Assignment Washington File 06 Apr 2005 -- The twin Martian rovers Spirit and Opportunity are now on duty until September 2006, NASA announced April 6, even though the vehicles roaming the surface of Mars have already lasted 11 months beyond their planned lifetime.
- Space Important to U.S. National Security, General Says AFPS 05 Apr 2005 -- Almost 70 years ago, actor Buster Crabbe first portrayed space swashbuckler Flash Gordon, battling Ming the Merciless to protect Earth. Few theatergoers then would have imagined that space would become an important component of national defense.
- U.S.-UKRAINE AIR DEFENSE STATEMENT IS POLITICAL DECLARATION - KOSACHEV RIA Novosti 05 Apr 2005 -- The George Bush-Victor Yuschenko statement on a possibility of cooperation between the United States and Ukraine in antimissile defense "is nothing more than a political declaration", RIA Novosti quotes chairman of the Duma international committee Konstantin Kosachev as saying.
- Guidebook to Help Mars Rovers Find Extraterrestrial Life Washington File 05 Apr 2005 -- To help NASA's rovers in future exploration of Mars, scientists are writing a chemical guidebook to aid the search for extraterrestrial life.
- International interest in Europe's satellite navigation system spreading IRNA 04 Apr 2005 -- International interest in the European Union's first civilian satellite navigation system, Galileo, is growing swiftly.
