Copernical Team
China plans to launch four manned spacecraft in next two years
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China plans to launch four manned spacecraft as part of its space station construction program in the next two years, said an official with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) Thursday.
China's manned space program will be very busy in 2021 and 2022, said Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of the CNSA, at a press conference on China's Chang'e-5 lunar mission.
Wu said a total of Success of lunar mission hailed
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President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Thursday on the success of the Chang'e 5 mission, China's most sophisticated and challenging space adventure, which has brought back the world's first lunar samples in more than 40 years.
On behalf of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the State Council and the Central Military Commission, Xi extended warm congratulations a Mission accomplished, now on to the next: China Daily editorial
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The Chang'e 5 lunar mission has been declared a complete success after the reentry capsule carrying rock and soil samples from the moon landed safely in the designated area early on Thursday.
Congratulations to all those who have participated in and contributed to this groundbreaking accomplishment. This is no doubt a solid step forward for the indigenous space industry, and potentially of SpaceX launches U.S. spy satellite; Falcon 9 first stage returns
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orlando FL (UPI) Dec 21, 2020
SpaceX launched the company's second spy satellite mission for the U.S. government Saturday morning.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 9 a.m. EST from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The payload fairing separated about 2 1/2 minutes after liftoff.
The reusable Falcon 9 rocket landed at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station about 8 1/2 minutes afte Russian cosmonaut says new air leak on ISS Zvezda module not critical
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Russian cosmonaut and former commander of the International Space Station (ISS) Pavel Vinogradov told Sputnik on Saturday that the new air leak on the ISS Zvezda module did not pose any serious danger.
On Friday, experts from the Moscow Region-based Mission Control Center asked the ISS crew to help locate the air leak in the Russian module Zvezda, as the station's gas reserves to compensat Telescope photographs the next target asteroid for Hayabusa2
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On December 10, 2020 (Hawai'i Standard Time), the Subaru Telescope imaged the small asteroid 1998 KY26, the target of Hayabusa2's extended mission. The positional data for 1998 KY26 collected during the observations will be used to more accurately determine the orbital elements of this object.
Operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the asteroid explorer Hayabusa2 delivered a reentry capsule to Earth containing samples from the asteroid (162173) Ryugu on December 6 (Japan Standard Time).
Recently discovered comet seen during 2020 total solar eclipse
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NASA's Webb sunshield successfully unfolds and tensions in final tests
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Lengthened to the size of a tennis court, the five-layer sunshield of NASA's fully assembled James Webb Space Telescope successfully completed a final series of large-scale deployment and tensioning tests. This milestone puts the observatory one step closer to its launch in 2021.
"This is one of Webb's biggest accomplishments in 2020," said Alphonso Stewart, Webb deployment systems lead for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Russia lifts UK telecom satellites into orbit
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A Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia's Far East on Friday, putting into orbit 36 UK telecommunications and internet satellites, the Roscosmos space agency said.
The launch was the first and only one to take place from the cosmodrome this year, Roscosmos told AFP.
The rocket took off at 1226 GMT, the space agency said, carrying satellites made by the British-based company OneWeb.
Nearly five hours later space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said that all the satellites had reached their intended orbit.
"The mission has been successfully completed. Congratulations!" he said on Twitter.
Originally planned for April, the launch was delayed after OneWeb collapsed and was forced to declare bankruptcy.
Last month, the UK government and Indian telecommunications giant Bharti took control of the company, investing $500 million a piece.
The London-headquartered company is working to complete the construction of a constellation of low earth orbit satellites providing enhanced broadband and other services to countries around the world.
OneWeb's first six satellites were launched by a Russian-made Soyuz rocket from the space centre in Kourou in French Guiana in February 2019.
The company launched 34 more in February this year from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan, then another 34 in March.
Week in images: 14 - 18 December 2020
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Week in images: 14 - 18 December 2020
Discover our week through the lens