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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

Dawn Of The Ion Age

Pasadena CA (SPX) Dec 25, 2007 - Dawn is climbing away from the Sun on a blue-green pillar of xenon ions as it begins a new chapter in its mission. After the remarkably successful initial checkout phase, the project is now in the interplanetary cruise phase. When last we visited Dawn, it had superbly demonstrated that it was ready to fly the way it will for most of the mission. Although there will be many special activities during its journey to Vesta and from there to Ceres (and be sure to visit this site again to be among the best informed on your planet of what Dawn is doing), the probe will spend most of its time doing what it is doing today: patiently reshaping its orbit around the Sun with its amazingly efficient ion propulsion system.

Dec 25, 2007
Legacy Reports

Ariane 5 Wraps Up 2007 With Its Sixth Dual-Satellite Launch

Paris, France (SPX) Dec 24, 2007 - Arianespace performed its sixth successful Ariane 5 mission of 2007 on December 21, orbiting another dual-satellite payload and reinforcing its position as the world's leading commercial launch services company. Lifting off from Europe's Spaceport, the Ariane 5 GS vehicle deployed its RASCOM-QAF1 and Horizons-2 satellites during a 32-minute-long flight. With this latest success, Arianespace has launched 80 percent of the satellites placed in geostationary transfer orbit during 2007 - a new industry record.

Dec 24, 2007
Legacy Reports

SpaceX Completes Dragon Spacecraft Demonstration Systems Review For Berth At ISS

Hawthorne CA (SPX) Dec 20, 2007 - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed the Systems Requirements Review (SRR) for what will be the third Falcon 9 / Dragon demonstration under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. NASA representatives attended the event, held on the first day of regular business operations at SpaceX's new headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Dec 20, 2007
Legacy Reports

Sixth Ariane 5 Mission Of 2007 Set For December 20 Launch

Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Dec 20, 2007 - Arianespace's sixth mission with the workhorse Ariane 5 in 2007 has been given its go-ahead for liftoff on December 20, following the Launch Readiness Review at the Spaceport in French Guiana. This review is one of the final milestones before every Ariane flight, and it verifies the readiness of all mission elements - including the launcher, its payload, the infrastructure at Europe's Spaceport, and the network of ground tracking stations.

Dec 20, 2007
Legacy Reports

Whitson And Tani Complete The 100th Station Spacewalk

Houston TX (SPX) Dec 19, 2007 - Space station Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Dan Tani completed the 100th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance. The 6 hour and 56 minute spacewalk ended at 11:46 a.m. EST. The spacewalkers inspected the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and the Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA). They also removed a trundle bearing assembly, which moves along the race ring in the SARJ, and brought it inside the station for further examination.

Dec 19, 2007
Legacy Reports

Final Preparations For First Human-Rated Spacecraft To Be Launched From Europe’s Spaceport

Kourou, French Guiana (ESA) Dec 19, 2007 - For the first time in 40 years of space activities, a silent revolution is taking place at the European launch site in Kourou. Jules Vernes, the first human-rated spacecraft to be launched from Europe's Spaceport, is being prepared for launch. The 48 m3 pressurised module of the largest, most complex automated spacecraft ever developed in Europe has been inspected and closed, fulfilling the most stringent rules of human spaceflight.

Dec 19, 2007
Legacy Reports

Spacewalkers Preparing To Inspect SARJ, BGA On Tuesday

Houston TX (SPX) Dec 18, 2007 - Station Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Dan Tani have moved into the Quest Airlock to begin the overnight camp out before the 100th spacewalk in support of International Space Station assembly and maintenance. During the spacewalk, scheduled to begin about 6 a.m. EST Tuesday, Whitson and Tani will inspect the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ) and the Beta Gimbal Assembly (BGA). The SARJ and BGA have been temporarily locked in place while the solar arrays still produce power.

Dec 18, 2007
Legacy Reports

Constellation Services International And Space Systems Loral Team On NASA COTS Proposal

Laguna Woods CA (SPX) Dec 14, 2007 - Constellation Services International is collaborating with Space Systems Loral (SS/L) to pursue a funded Space Act Agreement with NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The two companies are working together, with SS/L as the prime, to produce a commercial cargo system to re-supply NASA's International Space Station (ISS), and to create new commercial space services and applications.

Dec 14, 2007