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Friday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related events from across the globe. In Kazakhstan, a Russian Soyuz rocket moves to the launch pad for the launch late Sunday of a new U. S. and Russian crew to the International Space Station. A Mars bound Russian space probe remains stranded in Earth orbit. NASA prepares its own Mars probe, the Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity rover, for a late November launching. New observations of distant interstellar gas clouds back up reigning theories of cosmic evolution. NASA’s Swift observatory captures this week’s close pass of asteroid 2005 YU55 on video.
1. From Itar-Tass of Russia: A Soyuz rocket and capsule were transported to a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Friday in preparation for the launch of a three man, Russian/American crew to the International Space Station. The launching is set for Sunday at 11:14 p.m., EDT, and will be the first use of a Soyuz for a crew launch since the Aug. 24 loss of the Progress 44 cargo capsule prompted a suspension of Soyuz operations. The mission had been set for late September.
http://bit.ly/tRpl89
2. From the Associated Press via USA Today: Concerns mount Thursday for the fate of a Mars bound Russian space probe. The spacecraft, loaded with toxic fuel, was stranded in Earth orbit following a successful launch on Tuesday. U. S. experts say the spacecraft can circle the Earth for a couple of weeks before it makes an uncontrolled re-entry.
http://usat.ly/w0DsQP
A. From Ria Novosti of Russia: Efforts to establish contact with the Russian spacecraft are unsuccessful for a second day.
http://bit.ly/sC6HM1
B. From Spacepolicyonline.com: Russian space officials are saying little officially about the prospects of regaining control of their stranded Mars spacecraft.
http://bit.ly/sVmIXp
3. Space.com: NASA prepares for the Nov. 25 launching of the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Fla. Also known as Curiosity, MSL will head for Gale Crater on Mars where it will check the soil and rocks to see if the environment is/was suitable for microbial life. An August landing is planned.
http://bit.ly/uGt2Ql
A: From the Los Angeles Times: NASA’s Curiosity rover is not equipped to detect life on Mars, say NASA scientists. Instead, it will look study the mineral environment and look for the chemical precursors for life on the Red Planet.
http://lat.ms/t5IR5b
4. From Space.com: Astronomers find two clouds of interstellar gas that seem to confirm reigning theories about the evolution of the universe. Comprised of hydrogen and helium, the distant formations are of the type that compressed into the first stars. The observations were made by studying distant quasars with the Keck observatory in Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
http://bit.ly/uNrL19
5. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: NASA’s Swift space observatory was aimed toward the large asteroid 2005 YU55 as it sped by the Earth on Wednesday. The pass was captured in a video from Swift.
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