Japanese space tourists arrive at launch site ahead of ISS trip
Friday, 19 November 2021 13:41
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa arrived at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday for training ahead of his flight to the International Space Station on a Russian-operated spacecraft.
Maezawa's mission—set for departure on December 8—will be the first to take space tourists to the ISS in over a decade.
The 45-year-old tycoon is the founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall and the country's 30th richest man, according to Forbes.
He will travel to the ISS for a 12-day mission with his assistant Yozo Hirano where Maezawa plans to document his journey for his YouTube channel.
They will travel to the orbital station in a Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
The trio arrived at the Russia-leased cosmodrome on Friday "to complete pre-launch training", said Russia's space agency Roscosmos which has organised the flight together with US company Space Adventures.
Maezawa will be the first space tourist to travel to the ISS with Roscosmos since Canadian Guy Laliberte, co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, in 2009.
Maezawa's mission rounds off a year that has seen several space journeys completed by non-professional astronauts and more players emerging in the market.
Rocky roads through Lanzarote
Friday, 19 November 2021 13:36
Image:
Take away the clouds, bulk up the humans with suits and add an orange-red filter and this could be an image from a future mission to Mars.
The actual site, the Corona lava tube in Lanzarote, Spain, is closer than one might think to the Red Planet.
That’s why participants of ESA’s Pangaea course came here this week for the third session of their planetary geology training.
ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, ESA engineer Robin Eccleston and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins are this year’s students learning from geologists how to best explore the Moon and Mars right here on Earth.
Before ending up in
Week in images: 15 - 19 November 2021
Friday, 19 November 2021 13:10
Week in images: 15 - 19 November 2021
Discover our week through the lens
Japan, Australia condemn Russia for ‘irresponsible’ anti-satellite missile test
Friday, 19 November 2021 12:47
Japan and Australia have joined international condemnation of Russia for testing an anti-satellite weapon Nov. 15 that created over 1,500 pieces of debris in low Earth orbit.
IMM21: inflight call with ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer
Friday, 19 November 2021 12:30
Video:
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ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer talks to ESA ministers in charge of space from the International Space Station.
Decisions from the Intermediate Ministerial Meeting 2021
Friday, 19 November 2021 12:00Press Release N° 39–2021
Government ministers in charge of space activities in ESA’s Member States today met at an Intermediate Ministerial Meeting held in Matosinhos, Portugal.
The Council of Ministers unanimously adopted a Resolution to accelerate the use of space in Europe (the “Matosinhos manifesto”) to tackle the urgent and unprecedented societal, economic and security challenges faced by Europe and its citizens.
Court ruling describes rejection of Blue Origin HLS lawsuit
Friday, 19 November 2021 11:15
A federal judge rejected Blue Origin’s lawsuit again NASA’s Human Landing System procurement on nearly every ground, even after the company offered to further increase its contribution to the program.
Sierra Space raises $1.4 billion
Friday, 19 November 2021 09:35
Sierra Space, the space subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corporation, has raised $1.4 billion in a Series A round that values the company at $4.5 billion.
Plus Ultra aims to provide communications infrastructure for incoming wave of moon missions
Friday, 19 November 2021 09:08
Spanish-German company Plus Ultra Space Outposts is making moves to be the provider for essential communications and navigation infrastructure for upcoming moon missions.
Rocket Lab launches 107th satellite; Tests helicopter recovery operations
Friday, 19 November 2021 08:02
Rocket Lab has successfully deployed two satellites to orbit for real-time geospatial monitoring company BlackSky. Rocket Lab also successfully introduced helicopter operations to a recovery mission for the first time, using a helicopter to observe and track the Electron rocket's first stage as it descended to Earth under parachute as part of the company's program to make Electron the world's fi Crew operations aboard Space Station return to normal
Friday, 19 November 2021 08:02
NASA and U.S. Space Command continue to monitor the debris cloud created by a recent Russian anti-satellite test. The International Space Station and crew members are safe and have resumed normal operations.
The largest risk from the debris was in the first 24 hours and telemetry from the space station indicates no issues during that time. About 1:20 a.m. EST today, radial hatches extendin NASA's Perseverance captures challenging flight by Mars Helicopter
Friday, 19 November 2021 08:02
Video footage from NASA's Perseverance Mars rover of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter's 13th flight on Sept. 4 provides the most detailed look yet of the rotorcraft in action.
Ingenuity is currently prepping for its 16th flight, scheduled to take place no earlier than Saturday, Nov. 20, but the 160.5-second Flight 13 stands out as one of Ingenuity's most complicated.
It involved flying Rocket Lab signs exclusive deal to use APL space radio technologies
Friday, 19 November 2021 08:02
Rocket Lab USA entered into an exclusive license agreement with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to commercialize near and deep space capable small spacecraft telemetry and control radio technology. The Frontier-S by Rocket Lab software defined radio (SDR) enables affordable communications and radio navigation for planetary and other missions beyond low Earth orbit ( Bezos' Blue Origin hires lobbyist after 'Space Tax' proposed
Friday, 19 November 2021 08:02
This year, the company spent over $1.3 million on lobbying, in addition to $2 million in 2020. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin hired Mac Campbell from Capitol Counsel - a lobbyist who had relations with the Obama administration, CBS reported. Campbell was an assistant US trade representative while working under Obama and then served as the general counsel and deputy staff director of the Senate Finance Twin of NASA's Perseverance Mars rover begins terrain tests
Friday, 19 November 2021 08:02
OPTIMISM, the full-scale engineering model of Perseverance, begins a series of rigorous tests to assess the risk of potential driving hazards on the surface of the Red Planet.
On a recent day in November, the car-size rover rolled slowly forward, then stopped, perched on the threshold of a Martian landscape. But this rover, named OPTIMISM, wasn't on the Red Planet. And the landscape was a