Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point

26-30 June (30 June 2009)

Orbital Sciences may use former Soviet NK-33 engines – planed for the planned manned moon missions - for the Taurus 2.

Sodium salts in material ejected from plumes from Saturn’s moon Encaladus may indicate that liquid water could be in the interior of the moon.

A Delta IV was launched from Pad 37 at Cape Canaveral on 27 June carrying the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite, GOES-O (GOES 14).

The US Air Force warns that violent shaking could destroy the Ares I-X rocket which will could eventually fly astronauts to the moon.

Russia’s Voronezh-based Design Bureau of Chemical Automatics has successfully tested an Angara booster engine beyond its design limit.

NASA has selected a new group of astronaut candidates who will not fly International Space Station missions but to prepare for potential manned moon missions. They are:

Serena M. Aunon, 33, of League City, Texas; University of Texas Medical Branch flight surgeon for NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation Programs; born in Indianapolis. Aunon holds degrees from George Washington University, University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Jeanette J. Epps, 38, of Fairfax, Va.; technical intelligence officer with the Central Intelligence Agency. Born in Syracuse, N.Y., Epps holds degrees from LeMoyne College in Syracuse and the University of Maryland.

Jack D. Fischer, major, U.S. Air Force, 35, of Reston, Va.; test pilot; U.S. Air Force Strategic Policy intern, Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon. Born in Boulder, Colo., Fischer is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Co., and MIT.

Michael S. Hopkins, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Air Force, 40, of Alexandria, Va.; special assistant to the Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon. Born in Lebanon, Mo., Hopkins holds degrees from the University of Illinois and Stanford University.

Kjell N. Lindgren, 36, of League City, Texas; University of Texas Medical Branch flight surgeon for NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Constellation Programs. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Lindgren has degrees from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado State University, the University of Colorado, the University of Minnesota and the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Kathleen (Kate) Rubins, 30, of Cambridge, Mass.; principal investigator and fellow, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT. Born in Farmington, Conn., Rubins conducts research trips to the Congo and has degrees from the University of California-San Diego and Stanford University.

Scott D. Tingle, commander, U.S. Navy, 43, of Hollywood, Md.; test pilot and assistant program manager-Systems Engineering at Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Born in Attleboro, Mass., Tingle holds degrees from Southeastern Massachusetts University (now the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth) and Purdue University.

Mark T. Vande Hei, lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army, 42, of El Lago, Texas; flight controller for the International Space Station at the Johnson Space Center as part of the U.S. Army NASA Detachment. Born in Falls Church, Va., Vande Hei is a graduate of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minn., and Stanford University.

Gregory R. (Reid) Wiseman, lieutenant commander, U.S. Navy, 33, of Virginia Beach, Va.; test pilot; department head, Strike Fighter Squadron 103, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, in Oceana, Va. Born in Baltimore, Wiseman is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Johns Hopkins University.

The European Court of Auditors says that the European Union’s Galileo project is ill-prepared and badly managed. The EU project which should now start in 2013 and has a budget of 3..4 billion Euros ($5.4 billion) but has to take money from the massive agriculture budget.

The European Space Agency’s $1.4 billion solar orbiter, Ulysses which was launched from the Space Shuttle in 1990 and which flew passed Jupiter in 1992 en route to its station out of the solar system’s ecliptic plane will be shut down today (30 June).

50 years ago

The first US Air Force operational Thor IRBM squadron was deployed on the Great Britain in June

40 years ago

27 June

The Soviet Union launched Cosmos 288 aboard a Soyuz booster, from Baikonur on a high-resolution reconnaissance mission. The film capsule returned to Earth on 5 July.

Britain’s Black Arrow satellite launcher failed to reach Earth orbit from Woomera, Australia. The rocket was destroyed after it lost control at T+50s.

29 June

NASA launched the 1,532lb Biosatellite 3 carrying a Macaca pigtail monkey called Bonnie aboard a Thor Delta booster from Cape Canaveral into a 225-232 mile, 22deg inclination orbit. The 30 day mission ended after just 8 says after Bonnie became ill.

25 June (25 June 2009)

The Space Florida Board has reassigned Cape Canaveral’s Atlas 5 Complex 41 to the United Launch Alliance which employs 700 people in the Cape Area.

The NASA-ESA Saturn Cassini orbiter has detected sodium salt in ice grains in the planet’s E ring which is replenished by material from the plumes of water vapour and ice grains from the moon Encaladus, indicating a reservoir of liquid water, which could indicate an ocean beneath its surface. Water plumes were first discovered by Cassini in 2005.

Damage to a pressure pane of Space Shuttle Atlantis number 5 window could delay the launch of STS 129 for six months from November.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has released stereo coverage of the moon’s surface from the Terrain Camera on the Kaguya prior to its controlled impact on the Earth’s nearest neighbour.

Russia’s Khrunichev has delivered the first stage of the South Korea’s KSLV 1 aboard an AN 124 100 Ruslan aircraft.

40 years ago
25 June 1969

The popular space travel Willy Ley died on 25 June aged 62. He wrote over 30 books in German and English and was a frequent lecturer. In 1927 he and colleagues established the German Rocket Society with Wernher von Braun. Ley escaped the Gestapo and managed to get to England and later lived in America.

“Moon landing to be shown live”. Millions of viewers all over the world will see Neil Armstrong place the US flag on the moon on 21 July.

Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter “is to retire in July”, while James McDivitt, the Gemini 4 and Apollo 9 astronaut “will resign” from the astronaut corps to work in the Houston control centre.

“Now its Frost on the Moon”. David Frost will anchor Britain’s ITV coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing”.

24 June (24 June 2009)

NASA’s $504 million Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter entered into a 39deg inclination, 136-1,926 miles lunar orbit on 23 June after a 40-minute retro firing. Four more firings will place the spacecraft into an 18.5 by 134 mile orbit, which will finally settle into an operational 31 miles circular orbit.

Asia Broadcast Satellite has ordered the 6,000kg 14kW ABS 2 communications satellite from Space Systems/Loral for launch by an Ariane 5 ECA booster from Kourou in 2012. ABS 2 will be equipped with 78 C-band and Ku-band transponders and will be co-located with ABS 2 at 75degE longitude.

Sea Launch has filed voluntary petitions to reorganise under Chapter 11of the US Bankruptcy Code in the best interests of the company and its customers, shareholders, employees and will continue operations.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems and NASA’s Ames Research Centre have been selected to develop a Small Explorer Mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph to fill a crucial gap in the ability to advance Sun-Earth connections.

40 years ago
24 June 1969

The Soviet Union launched a Zenit 2 booster carrying the 10,400lb Cosmos 287 recoverable area photo surveillance satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome into a 51 degree inclination, 117-164 miles orbit. The film capsule returned to Earth on 2 July.

20-23 June (23 June 2009)

Astrium and the Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary company have signed a contract to build a satellite integration centre in Astana as the first step of a major co-operation agreement between Kazakhstan and the European company, which will first lead to an Earth observation satellite project.

The Sea Launch company launched a Land Launch Zenit 3SLB from Baikonur, carrying the Orbital Sciences-built 5,216lb Measat 3A communications satellite on 21 June. The Star 2 space platform carries 12 C and 12 Ku band transponders.

The University of Colorado says that is have uncovered an ancient lake on Mars “boosting hopes of discovering past life”. Researchers believe that the lake apparently dates back to 3.4 billion years and covered 80 sq miles. “This is the first unambiguous evidence of shorelines”. This is of course only a theory.

The STS 128 mission to be launched to the International Space Station in August will perform an experiment for the Orion programme. Two of Discovery’s thermal protection system tiles will be coated with a catalytic material proving Orion refined aero-heating data.

40 years ago

21 June 1969

The USA launched the 383lb Explorer 41 aboard a Thor Delta from Vandenberg AFB, California on a magnetosphere research mission operating in a 49,941-60,993 mile, 86deg inclination orbit.

18-19 June (19 June 2009)

A Lockheed Martin Atlas V was launched on 18 June from Cape Canaveral to start NASA’s plans to return to the moon with a $583 million mission featuring a $504 million 4,200lb Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter with seven cameras and other instruments to study topology, mineralogy and chemical composition of the moon. A $79 million piggyback orbiting Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite will impact on the moon on 9 October at a speed of 5,600mph blasting a 66ft wide, 13ft deep crater in a permanently shadowed crater near the south pole. The mission is the first by NASA since the Lunar Prospector in 1998. The ultimate plan is to establish a permanent manned moon research station by 2020.

During the first meeting of the Augustine committee reviewing NASA’s future plans for manned spaceflight, the United Space Alliance of Boeing and Lockheed Martin has proposed the use of Delta IV and Atlas V boosters instead of the troubled Ares project. The first public meeting of the review of US Human Space Flight Plans the opinion was that “NASA simply can’t do the job it has been given”. The SpaceX company has suggested that use of the Falcon booster for space station flights, while NASA concentrates on the return to the moon and flights to Mars.

Intelsat has ordered two new 1300satellite platform based C and Ku-band communications satellites from Space Systems/ Loral to be launched in 2011-12. Intelsat 19 will replace Intelsat 8 at 166degE and Intelsat 20 replacing Intelsat 7 at 68.5degE.

12-18 June (18 June 2009)

Senator Bill Nelson - who hitched a ride on the Space Shuttle in the 1980s – says that the plan to fly astronauts to the moon by 2020 and then to Mars is unrealistic as the funds are now available. “NASA simply can’t do the job”. For a start the budget for the Ares mega booster has ballooned from $28 billion to $44 billion and will no doubt increase further. NASA also will need to hitch rides to the International Space Station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

ST-2 SatelliteVentures - comprising Singapore Telecommunications and Chunghwa Telecom - will launch a Mitsubishi-build ST-2 satellite aboard an Ariane 5 in 2011, while the Space Systems Loral-built Asia Broadcast Satellite has booked a flight for the ABS-S ssatellite aboard an Ariane 5 to be launched in 2012.

The life of the International Space Station, which was originally to have been retired in 2015 is likely to be extended to 2020, to be replaced by low Earth orbit in infrastructures, leading to moon and Mars missions in 2030. The European Space Agency envisages space shipyards in low Earth orbit using uprated Ariane X booster comprising of six Ariane 5 boosters and a twin Vinci upper stage.

The first launches of Russian Soyuz ST-Fregat and ESA Vega boosters have slipped to 2010. The first Galileo navigation satellites have been scheduled for launch aboard Arianespace Soyuz ST boosters in 2010 under a launch services contract for the first four satellites.

The Hughes Spaceway 3 satellite Space Systems/Loral has been selected to operate a communications satellite to be launched in 2012, based on a Space Systems Loral 1300 spacecraft bus.

Russia is ending the use of Kosmos 3M boosters to launch foreign satellites as the fleet is on the point of retirement. The first Kosmos 3M was launched on 1967 and has a 98% reliability.

The launch of the STS 127 Endeavour mission was cancelled for a second time on and will now fly in July. The scrubs were due to fuel leaks.

40 years ago

14 June 1969

The Soviet Union attempted a flight by a Proton K booster on 14 June to return the first moon soil back to the Earth in an attempt to beat the manned Apollo 11 in July. The spacecraft did not even reach Earth parking orbit.

15 June
The Soviet Union launched a Soyuz booster from Plesetsk carrying Cosmos 286, a Zenit 4 reconnaissance satellite with a recoverable film capsule, which returned to Earth on 26th June.

10-11 June (11 June 2009)

With space budgets being restricted, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are likely to join together for future exploration projects starting by 2016. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory in 2011 and ESA’s ExoMars in 2016 could be the last solo country missions. A mission to Mars to return samples back to the Earth could cost $5 billion. In any case, Mars could be replaced as a “life” habitat. Jupiter’s moon, Europa and the Saturnian moon, Titan are looking more promising for those that believe that “life” is on other planets. NASA and ESA are looking at Europa for a joint mission to Europa in 2020.

South Korea has completed its Naro Space Centre, 485km south of Seoul and its first launch will be of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle 1 (KSLV 1) on 30 July.

International Space Station astronauts, Gennady Padalka and Mike Barratt made an internal EVA lasting 12 minutes to complete rigging a port in the Zvezda module. A new docking module, the MRM 2 to support the six-crew will be launched aboard a Soyuz booster from Baikonur on 10 November.

ILS International Launch Services has been awarded a contract for two Proton launches and one option for Intelsat.

Japan’s Kaguya lunar orbiter was deorbited and impacted at 80.4degE and 65.5degS on 11 June. The spacecraft was launched in 2007. The Anglo Australian Telescope IRIS2 observed the flash of the impact.

40 years ago

10 June

The Department of Defense cancelled the $3 billion Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) programme, which was to be launched from Vandenberg AFB, California. One of the major reasons was that fleets of unmanned spy satellites were providing ample reconnaissance data.

9 June (9 June 2009)

Belguim’s Thales Alenia Space company has signed a contract with Astrium to provide electronic equipment and services for Ariane 5 boosters to be launched between 2011 to 2015.

The US Air Force has confirmed the cancellation of the Lockheed Martin-built $26 billion a network of satellites called the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT).

NASA has unveiled the final American hardware for the International Space Station to be launched in February 2010 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Thy are US Tranquillity module - Node 3 - and the Cupola, an observation post with a 369deg view which will also be the control station that will control the mobile transporter and remote manipulator systems. It will also host air revitalization system, oxygen generator and a toilet.

Ageing microsatellites pose a serious threat as a growing space debris threat. Most become space debris. The US Air Force tracks 18,000 objects in orbit and its population growing every year. There are no initiatives to remove orbital debris but “there might be a opportunity for an entrepreneur to step up”, said Gary Payton the deputy undersecretary of the US Air Force for space. Coincidentally, Euroconsult estimates that 1,185 satellites will be launched during 2009-2018 - an increase of 50% compared with the 1999-2008 period. Euroconsult says, “this growth reflects two distinct trends: The maturity of the commercial geostationary communications satellite industry (GEO comsat) - This dominant segment of the commercial market is now driven by replacement of in-orbit satellites with fewer new entrants, resulting in cyclical investments for such systems (nearly three quarters of the 88 satellites ordered in the past four years are for the replacement or expansion of existing orbital slots). Euroconsult forecasts 235 satellites to be launched over 2009-2018 with a market value of $52 billion. The peak of the cycle will occur early in the decade with over 30 units to be launched per year, declining to fewer than 20 units per year at the end of the period. Growth in commercial satellite services outside the geostationary orbit, with a total of 180 satellites to be built and launched during the period, up from 104 the previous decade. These are communications satellites being launched into low Earth orbit for the second generation of Orbcomm, Globalstar and Iridium and into medium Earth orbit (O3b) in addition to optical and radar Earth observation satellites launched into low Earth orbit (e.g. Infoterra, GeoEye, RapidEye). According to Euroconsult, at $9.5 billion, the market value generated by these satellites will jump 73%, though will remain small compared to GEO comsat.”

Jim Walker who trained astronauts and who worked in Mission Control for Gemini and Skylab missions died aged 69 on 31 May.

5-8 June (8 June 2009)

The House Appropriations subcommittee has cut five   hundred million dollars from the NASA’s 2010 budget of resulting in an $18.2 billion amount, while the space agency’s exploration budget was reduced by $67 billion from $3.96 billion to $3.29 billion.

Wearing Russian Orlan-MK computerised spacesuit,   International Space Station crewmen, Russia’s Gennadi Padalka and NASA astronaut Mike Barratt made a 5hr 54 min EVA on 5 June to install the aerials for the Kurs auto-docking system on the Zvezda module. The spacesuits were fitted with a mini-computer, which processes data from the spacesuit’s systems and an LCD screen on the breats of the suits to provide data. The second of the two scheduled spacewalks is set for June 10, when Padalka and Barratt will work in the depressurized docking bay of the Zvezda module to install a docking cone for MIM-2.

The mission of the European Space Agency’s Envisat environmental polar orbiting satellite, which was launched on 2002 has been extended through to 2013.

NASA’s four-segment booster with a dummy upper stage and boilerplate Orion crew module is being stacked in the Kennedy Space Centre’s VAB in preparation for a launch no earlier that 18 September after a series of previous delays. There has been much criticism of the test flight, as the booster does not fully resemble the actual booster, which has five segments. The Ares 1-X will however have an inactive fifth segment. The test will evaluate Max Q performance and other stresses. Florida Today has revealed a memo from Brigadier General Edward Bolton, commander of the 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base close to the Kennedy Space Centre has questioned the survivability of the crew module in the fratricide environment from destructing first stage solid rocket booster. NASA has rejected the statement and says that supercomputer analysis will prove that the Ares 1, the Orion and the launch abort system will be OK.

A pilot plant has been inaugurated in Barcelona, Spain to test regenerative life support system technologies that could eventually recycle waste production and supply essential food, water and oxygen for humans on the moon and Mars. The system is called the Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative (MELiSSA).

50 years ago

8 June 1959

Scott Crossfield flew the first glide flight of the X-15 No 1 rocketplane after being released from a B-52 mother ship from 38,000ft.

40 years ago

“Russia still stands a chance of beating America to the first manned moon landing, says Dr Heinz Kaminski, director of the Bochum Observatory and Space Research Centre, West Germany”. The Daily Telegraph

“America now plans ten trips to the moon by the end of 1972”, said the Daily Mail’s space correspondent Angus Macpherson.

“Plans for two grand tours of the most distant planets in the late Seventies are under active development by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory”. The Guardian

“Moon colonies run by the US and Russia were proposed by America’s Lt Gen Sam Phillips the head of NASA’s Apollo project”. Daily Express

“The Nixon Administration believes that the space budget now running at $4,000 millions must be restored to its former peak level of $6,000 millions a year if the USA is to stay in the space race.”

“Russians Plan Moon Scoop” Daily Express. “The Russians are going to make a hit-or-bust bid within four weeks to pip the Americans to the post and bring back a sample of the moon”. (Using an unmanned craft).

4 June (4 June 2009)

NASA has cleared the launch of STS 127 Endeavour to the International Space Station for June 13 carrying the Japanese laboratory, Kibo. The ambitious mission will feature five EVAs for the 16-day flight.

Eumetsat’s Meteosat 9 satellite captured an infrared image of the major thunderstorm clusters in the region of the Air France Airbus 330, which disappeared from radar off the coast of Brazil on 1 June.

Two Canadian astronauts and two others have published an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal regarding the effects of microgravity which leads to bone loss and muscle wasting even on those that stay in space for a short period. Other dangers are radiation and galactic cosmic rays, particles in the Van Allen Belts and solar flares. Astronauts have been found to suffer from cateracts in their 50s, rather than the average 70 on Earth. High radiation causes nausea and vomiting in the short term and in the long term can kill cells and damage genetic material.

The obvious under-funded - even at its current $40 billion - Constellation project with the ultimate goal of returning to the moon is stumbling along with key milestones falling behind each month due to design flaws and technical challenges. The first Orion emergency crew escape system test will not be tested until November at the earliest and will probably be pushed into 2010. It is described as designing an entire rocket - the first new NASA booster for 30 years. As it is now, the actual Ares booster will provide a violent shaking lift-off and launch and will therefore likely to also be delayed to next year, while the launch of the prototype Ares 1-X mock-up rocket has also been delayed to no earlier than September from its original date of April. The ten-member Constellation project review led by Norman Augustine will report in August, while an optimistic NASA KSC chief, former Space Shuttle commander, Bob Cabana says that the programme only needs “minor course corrections”. The reality is that the Constellation project is facing an uphill battle with Congress. The first crewed Orion flight to the International Space Station has already been pushed to March 2015. Meanwhile, former NASA administrator, Mike Griffin says that the USA not look at “on the cheap” designs but “to spend what it takes”. The most interesting comment from Augustine is the potential use of uprated Delta IV and Atlas V boosters.

40 years ago
5 June 1969

A Thorad Agena D booster launched from Vandenberg AFB, California carried the 1,397lbs NASA Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO) into a 246-676 miles, 82deg inclination orbit packed with 26 experiments.

2-3 June (3 June 2009)

Russia’s Energia company plans the first flight of a Soyuz TMA spacecraft equipped with a digital control system in 2010 commanded by an Energia cosmonaut. The system has been tested on board two Progress tankers flights to the International Space Station.

NASA’s Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee have selected Norman Augustine, a former chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin. The nine members of the review include former Space Shuttle astronauts, Leroy Chiao and Sally Ride.

Scaled Composites has successfully completed the first phase of tests of the hybrid nitrous oxide-hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene rocket motor for the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo space tourist spacecraft, which will reach up to 65 miles at speeds of 2,500mph.

The ever-hopeful NASA and universities in the USA say that evidence is growing that Mars harboured life in its past or that microbes exist now. The next spacecraft to be launched on the quest for life is the Mars Science Laboratory, which has been named “Curiosity”. It is costing an incredible amount of money for a quest, which wants to prove that the Earth is not a unique in the universe. “It the beginning…..”.

The Space Shuttle Endeavour has been rolled-out to Pad Complex 39 for its planned launch to the International Space Station with the Japanese Experimental Space Laboratory 13 June.

Canada’s Telesat company relinquished its leasehold of the Telesat 10 communications satellite to APT Satellite for US $69,500,000.

The Brazilian Space Agency launched a German Orion 1 rocket from Alcantara on 29 May on a suborbital flight code-named Maracati 1 to an altitude 93km with a range of 80km from the Brazilian coast. It was the first launch from Alcantara since 2003 when a rocket explosion killed 21 people and destroyed the launch pad. The next launch is scheduled for 2010.

South Korea plans to launch its first satellite from the Naro Space Centre in Goheung, 475km south a Seoul, no earlier that 30 July using 33m high, 3m wide Korea Space Launch Vehicle called Naro 1. The first stage of the rocket with a thrust of 170 tons was based on a Russian stage and the second stage has been developed by South Korea.

Japan has approved the development of a new missile early warning system of attacks from North Korea. Japan launched four spy satellites following North Korea’s launch of a long-range missile in 1998.

The KSC’s Space Shuttle Pad 39B has been handed over to the Ares 1-X launch no earlier that August 30 to start the Constellation project to return to the moon - funds depending of course.

Canadian Guy Laliberte, the founder of the Cirque du Soleil will likely fly to the International Space Station in September, aboard Soyuz TMA 16 as a space tourist.

50 years ago
3 June 1959

The US Air Force Discoverer 3 failed to enter orbit.

40 years ago
3 June 1969

The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos 2 booster from Plesetsk carrying Cosmos 285, a 325kg military target for the development of systems for air defence, while at Vandenberg AFB, California a Titan IIIB was launched into a 110deg inclination orbit carrying a KH-8 reconnaissance satellite with a recoverable film capsule.

30-31 May-1 June (1 June 2009)

Astronomers has observed for the first time the phases of an “hot-Jupiter” extrasolar planet, CoRoT-1b, 1,600 light years away in the constellation Monoceros in visible light as its orbits its mother star. The reality is that astronomers can only detect a very large difference between the dayside and nightside and cannot actually “see” the planet.

The legendary Paul Haney, who joined NASA in 1960 as an information officer and who became the “Voice of Apollo”, has died of cancer, aged 80. He started as an information officer in Washington DC and moved to the NASA Manned Spaceflight Center, in Houston in September 1963 commentating on Gemini and Apollo missions to Apollo 9.

The maiden flight of the Space-X nine-engine Falcon 9 booster from Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral has been delayed until the autumn.

The International Space Station is hosting the first full six-crew in orbit comprising astronauts from Russia, the USA, Belgium (representing ESA) and Japan: Gennadi Padalka, Roman Romanko from Russia; NASA’s Mike Barratt; Belgium’s ESA astronaut, Frank DeWinne and Koichi Wakata from Japanese Space Agency. The first two modules of the ISS were docked together in 1998.