Statement on International Space Station Investigation, NASA “On August 29, 2018 a small hole was discovered on the International Space Station. This resulted in a pressure leak. The hole has been identified and fixed by Space Station crew. Russian media recently reported that General Director Rogozin said the hole was not a manufacturing defect. Ruling out a manufacturing defect indicates that this is an isolated issue which does not categorically […]

NASA, Roscosmos Statement on International Space Station Leak “NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Roscosmos General Director Dmitry Rogozin met for the first time yesterday via teleconference to discuss the status of International Space Station (ISS) operations in response to a request from Roscosmos. “As part of their discussion, Dmitry Rogozin informed his American counterpart about Roscosmos’ decision to establish a Roscosmos-led Commission to investigate the cause of the leak in […]

Russian ISS docking system test doesn’t go as planned, SpaceRef (With video) “According to veteran Russian space program reporter Anatoly Zak an ISS test of the cosmonaut-operated docking system on the Progress 62 cargo spacecraft didn’t quite go as expected earlier this morning.” Marc’s note: Despite a statement from Roscosmos saying the test was successful you can watch the video yourself and see docking with considerable pitch at the end. […]

Vladimir Putin dissolved Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency, Engadget “With the flourish of a pen earlier today, Russian president Vladimir Putin officially put an end to Roscosmos, the country’s federal space agency. That decree capped off over a year’s worth of organizational despair as the agency saw its ten-year budget cut (again), the loss of a handful of spacecraft and the misuse of over 92 billion rubles (or $1.8 billion) […]

Roscosmos Disavows Plan to Send Space Tourists to Moon, Moscow Times “Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, will not be involved in a plan to send two space tourists on a flight around the Moon and was not consulted about the project, the federal space agency said. The mission, hatched by U.S.-based space tourism firm Space Adventures and a major Russian spacecraft manufacturer, Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, would see two space […]

A Russian GPS Using U.S. Soil Stirs Spy Fears, NY Times “In recent months, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon have been quietly waging a campaign to stop the State Department from allowing Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, to build about half a dozen of these structures, known as monitor stations, on United States soil, several American officials said. They fear that these structures could help Russia spy on […]

Update on Russian Federal Proton Glonass Mission Failure, ILS “Personnel: Our number one priority at ILS is safety, and we are pleased to report that all personnel associated with the Astra 2E campaign were a safe distance away at the ILS safety area, and are all safe. Additionally, we have been told that there were no injuries or casualties to Russian or Kazakh personnel. Launch Pad facilities: The impact area […]

International Space Station Symposium 2012 Highlights (Videos), SpaceRef “Leader and researchers of the partners in the International Space Station (ISS) gathered in Berlin this week for the ISS Symposium 2012 to celebrate the completion of the ISS and to discuss the future path and priorities for research on the ISS. The three-day symposium covered case-studies in fundamental and applied research and the actual or potential spin-offs for the benefit of […]

Quebec City to Host Space Agency Leaders This Week, SpaceRef Canada “Starting today Quebec City is hosting approximately 80 delegates for the International Space Agency Heads of Agency meeting. Attending will be representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) along with the hosts the Canadian Space Agency.” Marc’s note: The Canadian Space Agency plans to issue […]

NASA Statement on Roscosmos, NASA, ESA, and Future Mars Missions According to NASA PAO: “Representatives from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) met in Paris on 7 December 2011 to explore partnership opportunities involving future Mars missions. Further technical discussions will continue over the coming months to confirm the interest of all three partners….”