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Soyuz capsule successfully docks at International Space Station with Olympic torch on board – Video

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Soyuz capsule successfully docks at International Space Station with Olympic torch on board
A space capsule carrying two Russian cosmonauts, one US NASA astronaut, and the 2014 Olympic torch has successfully docked with the International Space Stati...

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Soyuz capsule successfully docks at International Space Station with Olympic torch on board - Video

China Invites Foreign Astronauts to Fly On Future Space Station

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Chinese space officials are rolling out a welcome mat to other nations eager to gain access to their future space station.

The Chinese government has designed a multiphase station program aimed at launching a Tiangong 2 space laboratory around 2015, an experimental space station in 2018, followed by a 60-ton multi-module space station in the 2020 time frame.

The invite to countries to participate in China's space station was one aspect of the United Nations/China Workshop on Human Space Technology, jointly hosted by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the China Manned Space Agency, held in Beijing on Sept. 16-19. [China's Vision for Space Exploration (Video)]

According to Chinese news reports, some 150 participants from more than 20 countries, regions and international organizations took part in the four-day event, exchanging views on space technology cooperation.

The workshop covered a wide swath of space topics, ranging from national, regional and international space programs to the role of Asia-Pacific space cooperation in advancing space technology. Other topics included microgravity science, space mineral resources, and the development of manned space science activitiesfor Chinese youth.

Human spaceflight players

Elliot Pulham, chief executive officer of the Space Foundation in Colorado Springs, Colo., took part in the workshop and branded the gathering as significant. He was the only U.S. citizen to make remarks at the ceremonies commemorating Chinas 10th anniversary of human spaceflight.

"There were many presentations from countries that we are accustomed to viewing as 'space applications' users, and not human spaceflight players," Pulham told SPACE.com. "And yet the degree to which space experts from the various nations have thought through all the benefits and applications of human spaceflight technology was striking," he said.

"It is clear that the many, many countries with space programs of varying complexity and maturity have all thought exhaustively about what makes human spaceflight special, and how we can all leverage it to change the world for the better," Pulham said.

'Missing links' of Russia and U.S.

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China Invites Foreign Astronauts to Fly On Future Space Station

Spacecraft with American, 2 Russians blasts off and docks with space station

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A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut blasted off from Kazakhstan Wednesday, climbed smoothly into orbit and docked with the International Space Station after an abbreviated six-hour rendezvous, boosting the lab's crew back to six.

The mission kicks off an exceptionally busy few months aboard the space station, with the arrival and departure of multiple cargo ships, a visit by the Olympic torch for a spacewalk photo op in early November and an unusual interlude with an expanded crew of nine astronauts and cosmonauts.

The station has been staffed by a reduced crew of three -- Expedition 37 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and Karen Nyberg -- since mid September when two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut departed after a five-and-a-half-month stay in orbit.

But the Soyuz TMA-10M launch Wednesday boosted the lab crew back to six just a few days before the delayed arrival of an Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus cargo ship making its maiden flight.

Soyuz TMA-10M commander Oleg Kotov, a space station veteran, rookie flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy and first-time NASA flier Michael Hopkins lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:58:50 p.m. EDT Wednesday (GMT-4; 2:58 a.m. Thursday local time).

Trailing a brilliant plume of flame from its liquid-fueled engines, the Soyuz booster climbed away to the northeast, launching almost directly into the plane of the space station's orbit.

Hopkins is the first of his 14-member 2009 astronaut class to win a flight assignment. Raised on a farm in Missouri, captain of his University of Illinois football team and an Air Force flight test engineer, Hopkins made the climb to space strapped into the right seat of the cramped Soyuz command module.

Kotov, the veteran commander, monitored cockpit displays from the center seat with Ryazanskiy strapped in to his left.

The ascent appeared to go smoothly and live television from inside the cramped Soyuz command module showed all three crew members calmly monitoring their instruments amid routine calls to and from mission control near Moscow.

"Vibration, oscillations, within norms," Kotov reported at one point. "Nominal operation of the systems."

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Spacecraft with American, 2 Russians blasts off and docks with space station

China aims for space station by 2023

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26 September 2013 Last updated at 08:39 ET By Clive Simpson Beijing

China expects to complete its first orbiting space station within a decade.

The station, in low-Earth orbit, will be able to support six crew on short-term missions and three for long-term stays.

Its design consists of three capsules - a core module attached to two laboratories - with a cargo vessel to transport supplies.

The 2023 launch target was revealed at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Beijing.

According to the China Manned Space Agency, the space station will cover an area of 60 sq m.

Its core module (18.1m long) will weigh 20 to 22 metric tonnes and will be attached to two self-contained labs.

Once operational, astronauts would be able to make long-term missions in orbit and conduct technical tests and science experiments, said Wang Zhaoyao, the director of the space agency.

But before all this, China must first test technologies in renewable life support and in-orbit refuelling.

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China aims for space station by 2023

China Plans to Launch First Orbiting Space Station in 2023

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China has announced that it will launch its first orbiting space station 10 years from now, Sept. 26, 2013.

China plans to launch its first orbiting Space Station by 2023, officials announced at the 64th International Astronautical Congress that began Sept. 23 in Beijing.

The station itself will consist of three capsules. One capsule contains a core module while the other two contain laboratories. The space station will also be equipped with a cargo craft to ferry supplies to and from the station. The core module alone is expected to weigh at least 20 metric tons.

[READ: Voyager 1 Enters Inrerstellar Space]

The space station is expected to hold six individuals for short-term missions and three for lengthier ones.

Xu Dazhe, general manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, told the BBC that his company's primary effort will be to research and develop improved orbit refueling technologies and sustainable life support.

Xu told reporters that China will launch Tiangong-2 in two years, in preparation for the launch of the space station. Tiangong-2 will act as a trial capsule allowing China's team to adjust and experiment with the technologies the space station will require.

[MORE: Astronaut Describes Nearly Drowning In Space ]

Once the space station is functioning and ready for orbit, the Chinese plan to use it to collect data on technical tests that require long-term orbits into space.

China's first female astronaut, Liu Yang, told the IAF that China would welcome foreign astronauts for possible missions in the future. Some say this is a huge step toward partnership and unity in an industry that has sustained considerable competition on a global scale.

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China Plans to Launch First Orbiting Space Station in 2023


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