Deserted Hotel A meeting place for seekers of truth.

February 15, 2008

Two astronauts have performed the third and final spacewalk, or Extra-vehicular activity (EVA), of the STS- 122 mission. Rex Walheim and Stan Love began the spacewalk at 13:07 GMT, departing the Quest airlock of the International Space Station (ISS). The EVA ended with their return to the airlock, seven hours and 25 minutes later, at 20:32 GMT.

February 15, 2008

The United States military has announced their intention to use a missile to destroy USA-193, a spy satellite which failed immediately after launch in December 2006. Since launch, the satellite's orbit has decayed and it is approaching the point at which it will re-enter the atmosphere and potentially fall to Earth. The missile will be used as a kinetic anti-satellite weapon (ASAT), and will destroy the satellite through hitting it at high speed.

February 13, 2008

Two astronauts have performed a spacewalk, or EVA, to replace a depleted nitrogen tank in the Integrated Truss Structure of the International Space Station. The Space Station's Nitrogen Tank Assembly (NTA), was successfully replaced with a new one, launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis, which is currently visiting the station, on mission STS-122. The old tank will be returned to Earth aboard the Shuttle. The NTA forms part of the Space Station's cooling system.

February 11, 2008

In the sixth orbital launch of 2008, an International Launch Services Proton-M/Briz-M rocket has launched from area 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with the Norwegian Thor 5 communication satellite aboard. Liftoff of the 53 metre long Russian rocket occurred at 11:33 GMT, and the launch ended with the satellite's injection into a geosynchronous orbit, some 9 hours and 23 minutes later.