Category Archives: Transhuman News

The robotic European cargo ship Albert Einstein was opened Tuesday morning at the International Space Station, a day late because of concerns that mold may have grown inside the vehicle, NASA officials said.

The unmanned Einstein spacecraft docked at the space station Saturday, June 15, but it was not opened Monday as planned due to worries that the vehicle and its cargo had not been disinfected properly before launch. The opening of the spacecraft's hatch was moved back a day to allow the space station partner nations to discuss the situation; ultimately, the partners agreed to have the station crew disinfect 21 bags of cargo on the spaceship to ensure they were clean of mold.

Whether or not any mold actually grew on the robotic spacecraft is unclear. The concerns may have arisen because Russian space agency officials were dissatisfied with the decontamination procedures European engineers took to prepare the vehicle for flight, a European Space Agency official told NBC News. [Photos: Europe's ATVRoboticSpaceCargoShips]

Furthermore, the Russian concerns might have been focused on the documentation of the decontamination procedures rather than flaws in the procedures themselves, according to NBC News space analyst James Oberg.

"It's a well-established principle of spaceflight safety that, under uncertainty, you don't 'assume the best,' you makesurethe worst cannot be true," Oberg said, according to NBC News. "And if you're notsureyou decontaminated these items to rigorous standards, then you do it again, tomakesure."

Tiny lifeforms aren't unheard of on the space station in fact, they're often launched there on purpose for scientific experiments. One study on the International Space Station between 2006 and 2008, for instance, found that Salmonella bacteria grown there in microgravity were more virulent than their counterparts on Earth.

The Albert Einstein spacecraft, also known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-4, is making the second-to-last of five unmanned cargo delivery flights to the station planned by the European Space Agency. The spaceship, about the size of a London double-decker bus, was packed with food for the crew, science equipment and spare parts for the orbiting laboratory. It lifted off from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French GuianaJune 5.

Like the other ATV ships, Albert Einstein is disposable; it will burn up on purpose in Earth's atmosphere after leaving the station.

Six astronauts currently live and work on the International Space Station: three Russian cosmonauts, two NASA astronauts and one European astronaut from Italy, Luca Parmitano. Parmitano was especially looking forward to Albert Einstein's delivery of some Italian space food delicacies, such as tiramisu, that he's planning to share with his crewmates.

"Apart from the experiments, oxygen and water, ATV-4 also brings personal clothing and food, among which of course the culinary art of Italian cuisine will be a cherry on the cake," Parmitano wrote on his blog hosted by the European Space Agency."There is nothing like the promise of an Italian dinner that I will offer from my personal supply to entice my colleagues to work quickly and well!"

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Mold Fears for Space Station

We may be familiar with the excellent series of experiments carried out by the likes of NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield on the International Space Station, but now a second orbital outpost is getting in on the science outreach act.

Wang Yaping, Chinese astronaut (or taikonaut) and second Chinese woman in space, has held the nations first orbital classroom lesson onboard the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace 1) module in an effort to boost the appeal of space science among schoolkids. The 33 year-old military pilot took questions live from 330 children who watched her inject floating spheres of water with air and spin pendulums to simulate orbits.

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Wang was launched to the Chinese prototype space station on the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft with Nie Haisheng, 48, and Zhang Xiaoguang, 47, on June 11 and docked with the orbiting module two days later. The mission is expected to last 15 days.

China is going it alone in space as NASA is banned from working with the nation because of fears of the transfer of technologies. The Chinese space program is a huge source of pride that has seen a steady pace of progress culminating in their first man in space in 2003, first spacewalk in 2008 and now its first manned space station prototype is being inhabited for the longest period yet.

NEWS: China Launches to Prototype Space Station

There are calls to motivate a new cooperation between NASA, the international community and China in space, but it looks like the nation is doing pretty well without an international partnership.

So, as Wang Yaping demonstrated Thursday morning, microgravity lectures are no longer exclusive to the partners of the International Space Station.

Watch clips of Wangs lesson via the BBC.

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Taikonaut Teaches Science on China's Space Station