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Space Travel Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Space Travel Editorial Team

Editorial Team

The Space Travel Editorial Team produces Space Travel's coverage of human spaceflight and access to space. We report on launch, crewed missions and space tourism, and the propulsion, vehicles and human factors of getting people to space. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Space Travel takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.

Legacy Reports

Explorers Flight Launch Set For June

Houston TX (SPX) Apr 25, 2008 - The Explorers Flight will be launched on board a Falcon 1 rocket from the Marshall Islands, which are located in the Western Pacific. Launch is projected to occur in early June 2008 (no earlier than June 10). As has been our practice in conducting our six previous launches, when we believe that we are approximately one month from launch we will e-mail you an invitation to the launch, providing you with a detailed agenda of our launch-related activities.

Apr 25, 2008
Legacy Reports

Prisma Satellites To Be Launched In June 2009

Solna, Sweden (SPX) Apr 25, 2008 - The Swedish Space Corporation has signed a contract with the Russian space company Kosmotras regarding launch of the Prisma satellites. The satellites will be launched onboard a Dnepr launcher in June 2009, either from Baikonur in Kazakhstan or from Yasni in southern Russia. The French climate research satellite Picard will probably be launched on the same launcher. The Swedish-lead Prisma project comprises two satellites which will demonstrate new technologies for formation flying and rendezvous, i.e. close encounters and interaction between space vehicles.

Apr 25, 2008
Legacy Reports

NASA Awards Launch Services Contract To SpaceX

Washington DC (SPX) Apr 23, 2008 - NASA has awarded Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, a NASA Launch Services contract for the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles. The NASA Launch Services contracts are multiple awards to multiple launch service providers. Twice per year, there is an opportunity for existing and emerging domestic launch service providers to submit proposals if their vehicles meet the minimum contract requirements.

Apr 23, 2008
Legacy Reports

Space Radiation May Cause Prolonged Cellular Damage To Astronauts

San Diego CA (SPX) Apr 22, 2008 - With major implications for long-duration space travel, a study from the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center demonstrates that the high-energy radiation found in space may lead to premature aging and prolonged oxidative stress in cells. The findings suggest that astronauts may be at increased risk of colon cancer due to exposure to the high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation found in space.

Apr 22, 2008
Legacy Reports

Russian Space Capsule Lands 260 Miles Away From Target Site

Moscow (RIA Novosti) Apr 21, 2008 - Russia's space capsule carrying International Space Station crew landed 420 km (260 miles) away from the target site in northern Kazakhstan, but the crew are safe, Mission Control said Saturday. The Soyuz-TMA-11 capsule carried U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian flight engineer Yury Malenchenko, and bioengineer Yi So-yeon - the first South Korean that traveled to the ISS. Tests showed their health was satisfactory.

Apr 21, 2008
Legacy Reports

Expedition 16’s Whitson Hands Over Command Of Station

Houston TX (SPX) Apr 18, 2008 - Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson officially handed over command of the International Space Station to Expedition 17 Commander Sergei Volkov. Thursday's ceremony took place inside the U.S. Harmony Node. The station crews have shifted their sleep schedules in preparation for Saturday morning's Soyuz TMA-11 undocking. Whitson and Flight Engineer Yuri Malenchenko will return to Earth with South Korean spaceflight participant So-yeon Yi.

Apr 18, 2008
Legacy Reports

Its A Go For Arianespace’s Second Ariane 5 Mission Of 2008

Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Apr 17, 2008 - The second Ariane 5 flight of 2008 was given a green light for its April 18 liftoff following the launch readiness review at the Spaceport in French Guiana. This review, which is conducted prior to each mission, validated the readiness of Ariane 5, its dual-passenger payload of the Star One C2 and Vinasat-1 satellites, the launch infrastructure at Europe's Spaceport, and the network of downrange tracking stations.

Apr 17, 2008
Legacy Reports

Orbital Awarded USAF Contract For Three Minotaur Space Launch Vehicles

Dulles VA (SPX) Apr 16, 2008 - Orbital Sciences has announced that the U.S. Air Force Space and Missiles Systems Center (SMC) has ordered three additional Minotaur space launch vehicles in support of the new Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office. The Program Office responsible for Minotaur vehicles is the Launch Test Squadron (LTS) of the Space Development and Test Wing (SDTW) at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.

Apr 16, 2008
Legacy Reports

Electric Sail Invention Approaches Implementation

Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Apr 16, 2008 - The electric solar wind sail developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute has moved in a rapidly pace from invention towards implementation. Electric sail propulsion might have a large impact on space research and moving in space more generally. The electric solar wind sail developed by Dr. Pekka Janhunen at the Finnish Meteorological Institute might revolutionise moving around in deep space.

Apr 16, 2008