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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from around the world, plus a roundup of reporting from the Christmas weekend. The International Space Station resumes sustained six person crew operations with the arrival of U.S., Russian and European astronauts on Friday. A Russian State Commission probes another Soyuz booster loss during the pre-Christmas launch of a military communications satellite. NASA needs more focus on its priorities, less external analysis, according to one columnist.  In Argentina, an asteroid is named for an aspiring child astronomer who “disappeared” during a period of military rule three decades ago. NASA retires long lived communications satellite. New pre-Christmas photos of comet Lovejoy.  The moon and Venus sparkle in the night sky.

1. From Space.com, Dec. 23: Russia’s Soyuz 29S mission successfully reaches the International Space Station with NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers. With their arrival, the station resumes sustained six person crew operations for the first time since mid-September. Russia’s recovery from an Aug. 24 Soyuz launch failure prompted the interruption.     http://bit.ly/tMF4zQ

2. From Spaceflightnow.com, Dec. 23: Russia faces another rocket loss, with the failure of a Soyuz 2-1b that crashed early Friday, shortly after lifting off from Plesetsk with a Meridian military communications satellite. Though Soyuz 2-1b is configured differently than the Soyuz-U that was lost in late August with a Progress cargo carrier bound for the International Space Station.      http://bit.ly/teBUXG

A. From Florida Today, Dec 23: A NASA spokesman says there are major differences in the third stages of the Soyuz 2-1b and the Soyuz -FG used for the launch of astronaut crews to the International Space Station. The latest mishap is unlikely to affect future crew missions, the spokesman says.       http://bit.ly/swbMAq 

B. From Ria Novosti of Russia, Dec. 23:  Russia’s space program is in the midst of a “crisis,”  Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin suggests hours after the Meridian loss. Several launchers in the stable of Russian rockets have experienced failures in 2011.     http://bit.ly/umpuBb

C. From Ria Novosti of Russia, Dec. 24: A piece of the lost Meridian satellite falls through a man’s home in remote Siberia.       http://bit.ly/rAF36D

D. From Itar-Tass, Dec. 23: A State Commission begins an investigation into the Soyuz-2-1b loss.       http://bit.ly/sWCR9o

3. From Florida Today, Dec. 24: What NASA needs in the new year is direction and a focus on the priorities, writes columnist John Kelly.  The agency’s mission has been over analyzed, he asserts.       http://on.flatoday.com/roT39J

4. From the Associated Press via Yahoo.com, Dec. 23: Argentine military rule produced some tough times in the South American country between 1976 and 1983.  “Anadiego Franz” was an aspiring astronomer, when she as a child she became one of the country’s “disappeared ones.”  Now, an asteroid bears her name, Anadiego.     http://yhoo.it/vZBygm

5. NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 4 was retired in early December. Launched aboard the shuttle Discovery in March 1989, TDRS 4 provided a 22 year link between Mission Control and astronauts aboard shuttle flights and the International Space Station. The larger TDRS network provides a link between control teams and Earth observing spacecraft as well as the Hubble Space Telescope.      http://bit.ly/vcv8wF

6. From Discovery.com, Dec. 23: NASA Astronaut Dan Burbank, commander of the International Space Station, provides another in a recent series of spectacular photographs of comet Lovejoy. Lovejoy grazed the sun earlier this month.      http://bit.ly/ueUrI4

7.  From Space.com: Dec. 25: Find the crescent moon and Venus in the night sky early this week.     http://bit.ly/vWgusw

Brought to you by the Coalition for Space Exploration, CSExtra is a daily compilation of space industry news selected from hundreds of online media resources.  The Coalition is not the author or reporter of any of the stories appearing in CSExtra and does not control and is not responsible for the content of any of these stories.  The content available through CSExtra contains links to other websites and domains which are wholly independent of the Coalition, and the Coalition makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site or domain and does not pre-screen or approve any content.   The Coalition does not endorse or receive any type of compensation from the included media outlets and is not responsible or liable in any way for any content of CSExtra or for any loss, damage or injury incurred as a result of any content appearing in CSExtra.  For information on the Coalition, visit www.space.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@space.com.