'Space' Pictures + News
Mission Accomplished For Hubble Astronauts
Final Mission To Space Telescope A Success… Astronauts Went Through Grueling, Dangerous Spacewalks…
“The launch of Chandrayaan-1, as the vehicle is called (it means, roughly translated, ‘Moon Craft-1’) comes about a year after China’s first moon mission. The Indian mission is scheduled to last for two years, prepare a three-dimensional atlas of the moon and prospect its surface for natural resources, including uranium, a coveted fuel for nuclear power plants, according to the Indian Space Research Organization, or I.S.R.O. Allusions to an Asian space race could not be contained, even as Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, was due for a visit to China later in the week.” [Link]
“The British firm that plans to launch tourists into space from Spaceport America has turned down a $1 million offer to shoot a sex video in space. Space.com reported on its site Thursday that Virgin Galactic declined the offer to film sex scenes while the participants are floating in zero gravity” [Link]
Shuttle Endeavour picture
“The shuttle Endeavour is on standby in case the seven astronauts who go up on Atlantis next month need a safer ride home. Atlantis and its crew are headed into space for one last repair job on the 18-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. It’s a venture that was canceled when first proposed a few years ago because it was considered too dangerous.” [Link]
“The comedian’s DNA will be digitized and sent to the International Space Station, Comedy Central was to announce Monday. In October, video game designer Richard Garriott will travel to the station and deposit Colbert’s genes for an ‘Immortality Drive.’ ‘I am thrilled to have my DNA shot into space, as this brings me one step closer to my lifelong dream of being the baby at the end of 2001,’ Colbert said in a statement, referring to the 1968 landmark science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.” [Link]
