With the agreed upon lifespan of the International Space Station coming upon us, the European Space Agency are first to call for an extension of the ISS's life span from 2015 to 2020.  With no current funding planned after 2015, many are wondering what the fate of the ISS will be after this date. The ESA's Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, is worried that the fact that the ISS's lifespan is coming to a close, possible research is not being planned for fear that it will never come... Full Story

It's hard to imagine a clown being a billionaire, but here he is. In reality he's far more, but a Soyuz spacecraft carrying Canadian Guy Laliberte and two crew mates lifted off on schedule Wednesday headed for the International Space Station, while his partner, former model Claudia Barilla, watched with tears streaming down her face.While the headlines read "billionaire clown," Guy Laliberte, 50, is actually the founder of Cirque du Soleil. And while billed as a "circus" there are no animals... Full Story

It seems that NASA has finally decided on what to do about sending payloads to space once they retire their Shuttle fleet.  SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft will be providing transportation of pressurized and unpressurized cargo, including resupply, to the International Space Station (ISS) starting in 2010.  Last year, SpaceX, along with a rival in the private launch-vehicle business, Orbital Sciences, received a $3.5 billion NASA cargo resupply contract to provide payload deliveries to... Full Story

Space Charles Simonyi has arrived at the International Space Statio, his second and final trip.  The spacecraft docked to the ISS at 9:05 a.m. (EDT) with Dr. Simonyi and Expedition 19 crewmembers Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka and NASA astronaut Michael Barratt. They were greeted at approximately 12:30 p.m. (EDT) by the Expedition 18 crew, which includes NASA astronaut Michael Fincke, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, when the hatch to the... Full Story

Space, ISS The title seems to be from an 80's futuristic science fiction thriller, which does make it a real one in 2009. Today (March 12th 2009), the crew of International Space Station had a close call with space junk. All the three astronauts on board the ISS had to take refuge on a Russian escape capsule before returning inside the space station. The debris was a part of a mechanism to put a satellite in orbit. I measured 5 inches only but with a speed of 5.5 miles per second or 20,000 miles per... Full Story