European Association for Astronomy Education

Source: ESA

Caenorhabditis elegans, a transparent nematode worm.
Image credits: Creative Commons ShareAlike license–B. Goldstein.

Astronauts return to Earth weakened and unsteady after weightlessness and radiation in space take their toll on the human body. New research now shows that the humble nematode worm adapts much better to spaceflight.(read  more)

Source: ESA

Liftoff of Vega VV01. Image credits: ESA - S. Corvaja, 2012.

Vega, ESA’s new launch vehicle, is ready to operate alongside the Ariane 5 and Soyuz launchers after a successful qualification flight this morning from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.(read more)

Source: ESA

At last the 'journey' is at an end for the Mars500 crew of six, who complete their simulated mission to Mars on 4 November. Watch the replay of the hatch opening and the egress of the crew, including the two ESA volunteers Romain Charles from France and Diego Urbina from Italy.

Source: ESAPR 30 2011

The Vega launch vehicle programme has recently taken several major steps towards operation: the decision has been made to start the qualification launch campaign; ESA and Arianespace have ordered four new launchers; studies for the launch of the LISA Pathfinder mission have started. (read more)

Source: NASA

The International Space Station with ATV-2 and Endeavour.
Image credits: ESA/NASA.

NASA is releasing the initial version of a Global Exploration Roadmap (GER) developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group. This roadmap is the culmination of work by 12 space agencies, including NASA,  during the past year to advance coordinated space exploration.

The GER begins with the International Space Station and expands human presence throughout the solar system,  leading ultimately to crewed missions to explore the surface of Mars.

The roadmap identifies two potential pathways: "Asteroid Next" and "Moon Next." Each pathway represents a mission scenario that covers a 25-year period with a logical sequence of robotic and human missions. Both pathways were deemed practical approaches to address common high-level exploration goals developed by the participating agencies, recognizing that individual preferences among them may vary. (read source)

Source: ESA

The International Space Station with ATV-2 and Endeavour.
Image credits: ESA/NASA.

For more than a decade, the International Space Station has been a busy orbiting research lab. But it could soon take on a new role as a testbed for ambitious missions deeper into space.

Future ventures could include Mars missions, lunar habitats or travelling to an asteroid – all needing new technologies and techniques that could be tested on the Station. Following yesterday's meeting of the orbital outpost's Multilateral Coordination Board, member agencies expect to begin identifying specific technology initiatives based on sample exploration missions.(read more)

Source: NASA Langley Research Center

As NASA closes the chapter on the Space Shuttle Program, a new era of exploration vehicles is beginning to take off.

Testing began this month at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., in the new Hydro Impact Basin to  certify the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) for water landings. The Orion MPCV will carry astronauts into space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and ensure safe re-entry and  landing.

Engineers have dropped a 22,000-pound MPCV mockup into the basin. The test item is similar in size and shape to MPCV, but is more rigid so it can withstand multiple drops. Each test has a different drop velocity to represent the MPCV's possible entry conditions during water landings.

The last of three drop tests to verify the new facility is scheduled for the end of this month.

Testing will resume in September with a slightly modified test article that is more representative of the actual MPCV.

The new Hydro Impact Basin is 115 long, 90 feet wide and 20 feet deep. It is located at the west end of Langley's historic Landing and Impact Research Facility, or Gantry, where Apollo astronauts trained for moon walks.

For images and video of the tests, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/exploration/hib.html

To follow the progress of the Orion MPCV on social networking sites,
visit:

http://www.facebook.com/nasampcv

Source:NASA News

Atlantis lands for the final time at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Wrapping up 30 years of unmatched achievements and blazing a trail for the next era of U.S. human spaceflight, NASA's storied Space Shuttle Program came to a "wheels stop" on Thursday at the conclusion of its 135th mission.

Shuttle Atlantis and its four-astronaut crew glided home for the final time, ending a 13-day journey of more than five million miles with a landing at 5:57 a.m. EDT at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was the 25th night landing (19th night and 78th total landings at Kennedy) and the 133rd landing in shuttle history. (read more)

Source: ESA and NASA

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station.
Credits: NASA / KSC

Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched yesterday at 17:29 CEST (15:29 GMT) to the International Space Station on a mission that will end the multi-purpose spaceplane programme’s three-decade era of human spaceflight.(read more)

Source: NASA

Space Shuttle approaching ISS. Image credit: NASA.

Space shuttle Atlantis' Commander Chris Ferguson and his three crewmates are scheduled to begin a 12-day mission to the International Space Station with a launch at 11:26 a.m. EDT on July 8, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-135 mission is the final  flight of the Space Shuttle Program.(read more)

Source: ESA

All space missions have one inescapable dependency: the electricity flowing through their systems to keep them alive. Take away its power and a spacecraft is nothing more than space debris – an eventuality the space power professionals strive to avoid. (read more)

Fifty years ago, on April 12, 1961 Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit around Earth . Gagarin was transformed into an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and honours, including Hero of the Soviet Union.

Vostok 1 marked his only spaceflight, but he served as backup to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash. Gagarin later became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow, which was later named after him. Gagarin died in an accident in 1968 while piloting a training jet.

View ESA's Euronews video about the event: