The future of travel beyond Earth.

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.

Satellite Launcher Arianespace Seeks To Boost US Business

Washington (AFP) Feb 22, 2007 - Europe's satellite launch group Arianespace hopes to boost its US business on rising demand for high-definition television, but said Thursday it remains locked out of lucrative US government contracts. Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace's director general, told AFP in an interview that the company has ambitions to muscle into the commercial US market for satellite launch services during the next two or three years.

Feb 22, 2007

Detecting Radiation On Lunar And Mars Missions

Houston TX (SPX) Feb 22, 2007 - Astronauts on lunar and Mars missions will need to continually assess their radiation risk and exposure. The faculty and midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy (USNA) are developing a small device to do exactly that, as well as alert crews during high-radiation events.

Feb 22, 2007

Expedition 14 Continues Preperations For February 22 Spacewalk

Houston TX (SPX) Feb 21, 2007 - The Expedition 14 crew continued with preparations for a Feb. 22 spacewalk this week. The spacewalkers have conducted leak checks and have installed lights and additional equipment on their Russian Orlan space suits. The crew conducted its Orlan dry run Tuesday morning. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin began preparing their Russian suits around 5 a.m. EST and donning their suits for a communications and systems test.

Feb 21, 2007

Atlantis Countdown Testing Begins

Cape Canaveral (UPI) Feb 21, 2007 - The final countdown testing in preparation for the March 15 launch of space shuttle Atlantis began Wednesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the flight crew of mission STS-117 will participate in the full launch dress rehearsal that continues through Friday.

Feb 21, 2007

Russia Space Agency Hopes Sea Launch Will Resume Operation In 2007

Moscow (RIA Novosti) Feb 21, 2007 - Rocket launches under the Sea Launch project could resume as early as in 2007 following the explosion of a rocket in January that damaged a launch platform, a deputy head of the Russian Space Agency said Wednesday. A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket carrying a commercial communications satellite exploded shortly after lift-off from an oceangoing platform in the Pacific on January 31.

Feb 21, 2007

Space Radiation Could Be A Mars Mission-Killer

Paris (AFP) Feb 21, 2007 - Among the many physical risks facing astronauts sent to the Moon or Mars, the biggest danger will also be the least visible: radiation. This is nuclear particles that are spewed out by the Sun -- and which in storms called solar flares can be potentially lethal -- or arrive at almost light speed from beyond the Solar System, a phenomenon called cosmic rays. The particles slice through strands of DNA, boosting the risk of cancer and other ailments.

Feb 21, 2007

ISS Crew Continue Preparations For Spacewalk

Houston TX (SPX) Feb 20, 2007 - This week, the Expedition 14 crew continued to focus on preparation for their final planned spacewalk ahead of the space shuttle Atlantis' arrival in March. This comes following Sunday's unexpected circuit breaker trip on the International Space Station and subsequent resetting of affected equipment.

Feb 20, 2007

Russia Confirms Start Of Countdown For Fifth Space Tourist

Moscow (AFP) Feb 20, 2007 - The world's next space tourist, Hungarian-born US billionaire Charles Simonyi, will blast off on his journey to the International Space Station on April 7, Russia's space agency said Tuesday. Simonyi will become only the fifth space tourist in the world when he makes the trip the research facility aboard the Russian vessel Soyuz TMA-10.

Feb 20, 2007

United Launch Alliance First East Coast Launch A Total Success

Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Feb 20, 2007 - A Delta II expendable launch vehicle successfully launched NASA's Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) spacecraft today marking the first east coast mission conducted by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since its formation Dec. 1, 2006. The Delta II rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 17-B at 6:01 p.m., EST. Following a nominal 73-minute flight, the rocket deployed the payload.

Feb 20, 2007

South Korean Astronauts Set For Training In Russia

Seoul (AFP) Feb 18, 2007 - South Korea's first two potential astronauts will this month start a year of training in Russia before one of them heads to the International Space Station, officials said Sunday. The Korea Aerospace Research Institute said the pair will leave on February 27 and begin training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center from March 7 after a week of medical check-ups.

Feb 18, 2007

Next Space Tourist Dreams Of Library In Orbit

Moscow (AFP) Feb 18, 2007 - The world's next space tourist, Hungarian-born American software developer and billionaire Charles Simonyi, said Sunday he would like to see a library in outer space. Everywhere where humans are I think there should be a library, 58-year-old Simonyi, who is scheduled to become the world's fifth space tourist in April, told AFP in an interview in Moscow.

Feb 18, 2007

Rosetta Correctly Lined Up For Critical Mars Swingby

Paris, France (ESA) Feb 16, 2007 - ESA mission controllers have confirmed Rosetta is on track for a critical 250-km Mars swingby on 25 February. Engineers have started final preparations for the delicate operation, which includes an eclipse, a signal blackout, precise navigation and complex ground tracking.

Feb 16, 2007

Atlantis Arrives At Pad 39A

Cape Canaveral (SPX) Feb 16, 2007 - The Space Shuttle Atlantis arrived at Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 3:09 p.m. EST. Atlantis began its 3.4 mile journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building at 8:19 a.m. It traveled just under 1 mph. The launch of Mission STS-117 will be the first liftoff from Pad 39A in four years. The next milestone for this mission is a full launch dress rehearsal, known as the terminal countdown demonstration test from Feb. 21 to 23 at Kennedy. The flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis to the International Space Station has been targeted for March 15.

Feb 16, 2007

Arianespace And Astrium Sign Agreement On Ariane 5 Production Increase

Bremen, Germany (SPX) Feb 16, 2007 - A declaration signed in Bremen, Germany today (February 15) confirmed the increase in Ariane 5 production rate to meet growing demand in the launch services marketplace. With this agreement, the production of Ariane 5 ECAs - the most powerful version - will be raised to seven launch vehicles per year beginning in February 2008. The agreement also provides for an additional mission annually in a specific Ariane 5 version - for instance to orbit the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which is to service the International Space Station.

Feb 16, 2007

ILS Proton To Launch Ciel-2 Satellite To Serve North America

McLean, VA (SPX) Feb 16, 2007 - International Launch Services (ILS) has signed a contract for the launch of the Ciel-2 satellite on a Proton Breeze M vehicle in late 2008. Financial details were not disclosed. The Ciel-2 satellite will be the inaugural launch undertaken by the Ciel Satellite Group, Canada's newest satellite operator. SES Americom was the contracting agent for the launch. This award is a very important win for us, said Frank McKenna, ILS president.

Feb 16, 2007

Rosetta Trajectory Correction Manoeuvre On Route For Mars Flyby

Paris, France (ESA) Feb 15, 2007 - The reporting period covers a period of 2 weeks characterised by preparatory activities for the Mars swing-by (MSB) phase. The Mars swing-by phase formally started on 28 July 2006. The actual swing-by will take place on 25 February 2007, followed by a Deep Space Manoeuvre in April 2007.

Feb 15, 2007