Category Archives: News

The space shuttle Atlantis is preparing for the final mission of the U.S. shuttle program next month.  Atlantis’s crew is excited and reflective before the space craft’s last flight.

The crew, led by mission commander Christopher Ferguson, met journalists at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Ferguson, a retired U.S. Navy Captain said he and his crewmates feel a special obligation to do well.

“I think, and we have not talked about this, each of us feel extra burdened to make sure we put on the best possible face forward for the last go around of this, and the crew is very prepared,” said Ferguson.  “We are going to go out and do a very fantastic job.”

Ferguson, Pilot Doug Hurley and mission specialists Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim will deliver spare parts and supplies to the International Space Station during their flight.  Atlantis will also test whether it is possible to robotically refuel orbiting satellites during its 12-day mission.  

The shuttle will return with a failed ammonia pump module to help NASA better understand the failure mechanism and improve pump designs for future systems.

Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff July 8 and Ferguson says he expects the final landing to be a poignant moment for everyone involved with the shuttle program.

“Like I said, when it is all over at the very end I think that is when the enormity of it is going to hit us,” added Ferguson.  “You know that last wheel stop call is going to be a little tough.”

The mission is the last of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.  During its 30-year-history the shuttle fleet – Columbia, Atlantis, Challenger, Discovery, and Endeavour – has logged more than 825 million kilometers of space travel. The first shuttle, Enterprise, never flew in space.

Two of the shuttles – Challenger and Columbia – and their crews were lost.  Challenger exploded during launch in January 1986.  Columbia disintegrated just minutes before landing in February 2003.

NASA expects to start testing the shuttle’s replacement, the Orion spacecraft, with astronauts on board sometime in 2013.

The head of China’s General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has confirmed that China’s first aircraft carrier is under construction.

Gen Chen Bingde refused to say when the carrier – a remodelled Soviet-era vessel, the Varyag – would be ready.

A member of his staff said the carrier would pose no threat to other nations.

The 300m (990ft) carrier, which is being built in the north-east port of Dalian, has been one of China’s worst-kept secrets, analysts say.

Symbol of power

The PLA – the largest army in the world – is hugely secretive about its defence programme.

The carrier was constructed in the 1980s for the Soviet navy but was never completed. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the rusting hull of the Varyag sat in dockyards in Ukraine.

A Chinese company with links to the PLA bought the Varyag claiming it wanted to turn it into a floating casino in Macau.

The carrier is thought to be nearly finished, and is expected to begin sea trials later this year.

But the BBC’s Michael Bristow in Beijing says that does not mean it will then be ready to undertake operational duties.

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The space shuttle Atlantis will make one final trip to its Florida launch pad tonight (May 31) as NASA prepares the orbiter to launch the last mission of its 30-year shuttle program on July 8.

The shuttle’s rollout, set for 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT Wednesday), also comes on the eve of the final landing of Atlantis’ sister orbiter, Endeavour. Endeavour is slated to return to Earth at 2:35 a.m. EDT (0635 GMT) on June 1, carrying six astronauts home after a 16-day mission to the International Space Station.

Both Endeavour’s landing, and Atlantis’ rollout, will take place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The rare confluence of the two milestone events is expected to draw several thousand employees and reporters as spectators.

STS-134 MISSION

Space Shuttle: Endeavour
Primary Payload: Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and ELC-3
Launched: May 16
Launch Time: 8:56 a.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing: June 1
Landing Time: 2:35 a.m. EDT
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 16 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

STS-135 MISSION

Mission: STS-135
Space Shuttle: Atlantis
Primary Payload: Raffaello Multi-purpose Logistics Module
Launched: July 8 (Targeted for)
Launch Time: ~11:40 a.m. EDT
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 12 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

REDMOND, Wash., and LUXEMBOURG – May 10, 2011 – Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) and Skype Global S.à r.l today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Microsoft will acquire Skype, the leading Internet communications company, for $8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake. The agreement has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Skype.

The acquisition will increase the accessibility of real-time video and voice communications, bringing benefits to both consumers and enterprise users and generating significant new business and revenue opportunities. The combination will extend Skype’s world-class brand and the reach of its networked platform, while enhancing Microsoft’s existing portfolio of real-time communications products and services.