An experimental satellite for a much-delayed European Union rival to the United States' GPS navigation system blasted into orbit Sunday after a successful launch atop a Russian rocket, the Russian and European space agencies said.
The crew of the Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan hundreds of miles off-target after an unexpectedly severe descent was in serious danger, a Russian news agency reported.
With Discovery back on Earth, NASA is confident the orbiter can be turned around in time for a December 2006 launch, though ground crews have their work cut out for them to redress the orbiter for that STS-116 mission.
With NASA's beleaguered shuttle still grounded over safety concerns -- and given the unanswered questions about its replacement, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which won't be ready to fly until 2012 -- the European Space Agency (ESA) is mulling an option to buy its own ride to space.
NASA is considering a proposal from its Russian partner to double the length of missions to the International Space Station from six months to one year.
The two-man crew aboard the international space station will stay in space one extra day, returning to Earth April 30, to enable the returning crew to extend its handover operations with the crew that will take its place, a NASA spokesman said.
An experimental satellite for a much-delayed European Union rival to the United States' GPS navigation system blasted into orbit Sunday after a successful launch atop a Russian rocket, the Russian and European space agencies said.
The crew of the Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan hundreds of miles off-target after an unexpectedly severe descent was in serious danger, a Russian news agency reported.
With Discovery back on Earth, NASA is confident the orbiter can be turned around in time for a December 2006 launch, though ground crews have their work cut out for them to redress the orbiter for that STS-116 mission.
With NASA's beleaguered shuttle still grounded over safety concerns -- and given the unanswered questions about its replacement, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which won't be ready to fly until 2012 -- the European Space Agency (ESA) is mulling an option to buy its own ride to space.
NASA is considering a proposal from its Russian partner to double the length of missions to the International Space Station from six months to one year.
The two-man crew aboard the international space station will stay in space one extra day, returning to Earth April 30, to enable the returning crew to extend its handover operations with the crew that will take its place, a NASA spokesman said.
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