the landing of Soyuz TMA 11 witnessed by outsiders

Soyuz TMA-11 landing through the eyes of outsiders

Although rescue helicopters often manage to document Soyuz landings, the Soyuz TMA-11 apparently made a rare touchdown, which was actually witnessed by people on the ground from a relatively short distance.

On April 24, Almira Alishbaeva of the Kazakh publication Diapazon published a remarkable account of the landing by the members of the Shalkar agricultural community based in the town of Kumkuduk in the Aitekibiysky Region of Kazakhstan. According to Zhalgaskan Shurenov, the head of the community, on April 19, he and his brigade went to their fields to prepare them for planting seeds.

Around 1 p.m. workers stopped for lunch:

"Suddenly, there was a boom in the sky and the black smoke appeared," Shurenov said, "It was like the aircraft exploded. It split into three parts in the sky (perhaps a reference to the heat shield separation) and one of them started descending under a white cupola. It looked like somebody was coming down on a parachute. Object was flying in our direction and soon landed around three kilometers from us."

Shurenov and several tractor drivers took UAZ and ZIL trucks and headed toward the landing site:

"On the ground there was a black apparatus, which looked like a pot. A moment we approached there was a boom. We jumped back. Immediately, a cover, which looked like a fry pan flew off and an antenna jumped out. The apparatus was so hot that ground started burning. We were waiting what would happen next. Then a man fell out of the pot. He was in the cosmonaut outfit. As we approached we could read "Yuri Malenchenko." "We are cosmonauts," he told us, neither his hands or feet were moving. He was pale and sweaty. We put him on the ground, gave a pillow under his head, while he asked to get others out. There were two women. I carried in my hands Peggy (Whitson) and So-yeon Yi, who appeared from the capsule. The American removed her glove and shook my hand. I said that this is Kazakhstan, Aitekibisky Region, but she did not understand Russian. Neither did So-yeon Yi, so I mostly communicated with Malenchenko. He asked us to take some gadget out of the capsule. The capsule was very small, while all our guys were huge. We picked the skinniest in our brigade -- Kanat Kydyralin -- he pulled the radio and some other electronic device.

Sometimes later the aircraft appeared in the sky. On the radio, we heard that cosmonauts landed safely, local people were helping them."

Upon realization that they can't document the event, Shurenov sent one of his workers to Kumkuduk, some 15 kilometers away. From there many townsfolk set out to see cosmonauts, some even walked. Locals still managed to take still photos and even a 15-minute video at the site. Some of the images were taken by Shurenov's grandson, Abai Duisenov, a fifth grader.

According to Shurenov, seven helicopters arrived to the landing site. Soon after professional rescuers landed, the site was cordoned off and local people were no longer allowed to approach cosmonauts or the crew. Radiation was quoted as one of the reasons for the restrictions to the landing site.

source : http://www.russianspaceweb.com/iss_soyuztma11.html#witness

ISS is now 10 years old!

Nations Around the World Mark 10th Anniversary of International Space Station

Nations around the world will join together to mark a milestone in space exploration this week, celebrating the 10th birthday of a unique research laboratory, the International Space Station.

Now the largest spacecraft ever built, the orbital assembly of the space station began with the launch from Kazakhstan of its first bus-sized component, Zarya, on Nov. 20, 1998. The launch began an international construction project of unprecedented complexity and sophistication.

The station is a venture of international cooperation among NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, and 11 members of the European Space Agency, or ESA: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. More than 100,000 people in space agencies and contractor facilities in 37 U.S. states and throughout the world are involved in this endeavor.

"The station's capability and sheer size today are truly amazing," said International Space Station Program Manager Mike Suffredini. "The tremendous technological achievement in orbit is matched only by the cooperation and perseverance of its partners on the ground. We have overcome differences in language, geography and engineering philosophies to succeed."

Only a few weeks after the U.S.-funded, Russian-built, Zarya module was launched from Kazakhstan, the space shuttle carried aloft the Unity connector module in December 1998. Constructed on opposite sides of Earth, Unity and Zarya met for the first time in space and were joined to begin the orbital station's assembly and a decade of peaceful cooperation.

Ten years later, the station's mass has expanded to more than 627,000 pounds, and its interior volume is more than 25,000 cubic feet, comparable to the size of a five-bedroom house. Since Zarya's launch as the early command, control and power module, there have been 29 additional construction flights to the station: 27 aboard the space shuttle and two additional Russian launches.

Frightening isn't it? Floating up the earth, looking down on earth, feeling like to fall and that's what astronauts do!Well, being astronaut, hold a big responsibilities right?

One hundred sixty seven individuals representing 15 countries have visited the complex. Crews have eaten some 19,000 meals aboard the station since the first crew took up residence in 2000. Through the course of 114 spacewalks and unmatched robotic construction in space, the station's truss structure has grown to 291 feet long so far. Its solar arrays now span to 28,800 square feet, large enough to cover six basketball courts.

“Sixty years ago, people in Europe were fighting one another,” said Alan Thirkettle, ISS Program Manager, European Space Agency. “Now, they’re working together, working on spacecraft and space stations. Two decades ago, the Cold War was still going on and here we are working with the Russians, the Americans, the Japanese, the Europeans, everyone working together. It seems a far better thing to be doing than what we were doing 60 years ago."

The International Space Station hosts 19 research facilities, including nine sponsored by NASA, eight by ESA and two by JAXA. Cooperation among international teams of humans and robots is expected to become a mainstay of space exploration throughout our solar system. The 2005 NASA Authorization Act recognized the U.S. orbital segment as the first national laboratory beyond Earth, opening it for additional research by other government agencies, academia and the private sector.

By the time the first element launch anniversary rolls around on Nov. 20, the space station will have completed 57,309 orbits of the Earth, a distance of 1,432,725,000 miles. If the station had been traveling in a straight line instead of in orbit, it would have passed the orbit of Pluto and be in the outer reaches of our solar system.

"With the International Space Station, we have learned so many things -- and we're going to take that knowledge and apply it to flying to the moon and Mars," said Expedition 18 Commander Mike Fincke, now aboard the station. "Everything we're learning so close to home, only 240 miles away from the planet, we can apply to the moon 240,000 miles away."

ISS map

source : http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/10th_anniversary.html

"Colours Of Fingers" In Space!

This image gives the first clear view of the faint boundary of the Crab Nebula's X-ray-emitting pulsar wind nebula. The nebula is powered by a rapidly-rotating, highly-magnetized neutron star, or "pulsar" (white dot near the center). The combination of rapid rotating and strong magnetic field generates an intense electromagnetic field that creates jets of matter and anti-matter moving away from the north and south poles of the pulsar, and an intense wind flowing out in the equatorial direction.

The inner X-ray ring is thought to be a shock wave that marks the boundary between the surrounding nebula and the flow of matter and antimatter particles from the pulsar. Energetic electrons and positrons (antielectrons) move outward from this ring to brighten the outer ring and produce an extended X-ray glow.

The fingers, loops, and bays in the image all indicate that the magnetic field of the nebula and filaments of cooler matter are controlling the motion of the electrons and positrons. The particles can move rapidly along the magnetic field and travel several light years before radiating away their energy. In contrast, they move much more slowly perpendicular to the magnetic field, and travel only a short distance before losing their energy.

This effect can explain the long, thin, fingers and loops, as well as the sharp boundaries of the bays. The conspicuous dark bays on the lower right and left are likely due to the effects of a toroidal magnetic field that is a relic of the progenitor star.

source : http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/multimedia/photos08-162.html

Miss BLOG SOO Much!!

Hello to all!!!

Long time since i haven't update this blog. I'm sorry. recently I'm busy with school works, diagnostics and about HOUSE OF KRIPTON!!..(yellow house)..huh, i almost finish creating kripton's blog at url http://kriptonbeekingdom.blogspot.com now, i have free time since I have finished my exams and school holidays are getting nearer but I can't be too enjoy with holidays, next year is my SPM and on this holidays, I want to focus on ADD MATH!!!huh... It's freaks me out. Hurm, 2008 will go and rose with a new year,2009. I have been at SBPISB for almost 1 year. I can't believe that I manage to stand strong. I thought I will surrender, but I'm wrong. I learnt many things at here, about friends, leaderships and more. It give me a lot of useful experiences! Recently, I saw two bright stars shinning brightly in the sky. It's touch my heart soo much, how amazing Allah's creations! I wonder what those stars? Is it really a stars? or a planet or maybe satellite because it doesn't twinkle. Hurm....

To all my readers, I had posted new posts special to my readers! hope you enjoy and please, I hope you'll leaves your comments because I need to improve my blog so it can be better. Any suggestions or ideas, please e-mail me at starlunac_nina@yahoo.com.my I will appreciate all your comments and ideas.

Thank you!
-niNA-