Copernical Team
China's Shenzhou-18 mission docks with space station
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A spaceship carrying three astronauts from China's Shenzhou-18 mission safely docked at Tiangong space station Friday, state-run media reported, the latest step in Beijing's space program that aims to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030.
The crew took off in a capsule atop a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's northwest at 8:59 pm local time !1259 GMT) Thursday.
By early Friday the spacecraft had "successfully docked" with the space station, state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing the China Manned Space Agency.
The mission is led by Ye Guangfu, a fighter pilot and astronaut who was previously part of the Shenzhou-13 crew in 2021.
ESA opens ideas factory to boost space innovation in Austria
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A centre to innovate the design and manufacture of space hardware has today opened in Vienna. Driving commercialisation in space, it is the first of its kind of ESA-backed disruptive innovation centres outside ESA’s own premises.
NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications demonstration transmits data over 140 million miles
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Riding aboard NASA's Psyche spacecraft, the agency's Deep Space Optical Communications technology demonstration continues to break records. While the asteroid-bound spacecraft doesn't rely on optical communications to send data, the new technology has proven that it's up to the task. After interfacing with the Psyche's radio frequency transmitter, the laser communications demo sent a copy of engineering data from over 140 million miles (226 million kilometers) away, 1.5 times the distance between Earth and the sun.
China launches 3-member crew to its space station as it seeks to put astronauts on the moon by 2030
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China launched a three-member crew to its orbiting space station on Thursday as part of its ambitious program that aims to put astronauts on the moon by 2030.
The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwestern China atop a Long March 2-F rocket at 8:59 p.m. (1259 GMT).
The spacecraft's three-member crew will relieve the Shenzhou-17 team, which has been staffing China's Tiangong space station since last October.
The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup
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A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this decade to 2040.
The mission would be the first to try to return rock samples from Mars to Earth so scientists can analyze them for signs of past life.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference on April 15, 2024, that the mission as currently conceived is too expensive and too slow. NASA gave private companies a month to submit proposals for bringing the samples back in a quicker and more affordable way.
As an astronomer who studies cosmology and has written a book about early missions to Mars, I've been watching the sample return saga play out.
NASA astronauts arrive for Boeing's first human spaceflight
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The two NASA astronauts assigned to Boeing's first human spaceflight arrived at their launch site Thursday, just over a week before their scheduled liftoff.
Young Professionals’ YPSat headed to Ariane 6
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ESA’s YPSat has been shipped to Arianespace. Following a series of successful tests confirming its readiness for deployment, the payload is now headed to Europe’s Launch Site in French Guiana. The goal of YPSat is to capture all the key phases of Ariane 6's inaugural flight.
First Ariane 6 booster gets lift to launch zone
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First Ariane 6 booster gets lift to launch zone Ariane 6 media kit
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Ariane 6 media kit
China expands Space Station Program to include international astronauts
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China has announced its intention to expand the participation of foreign astronauts and space tourists in missions to its space station, emphasizing inclusivity and cooperation in its space endeavors. According to Lin Xiqiang, spokesman for the Shenzhou XVIII mission, this initiative aims to diversify the backgrounds of those participating in upcoming space station flights.
Three groups of