Russia sends robot into space
Spacewalking astronauts add parking spot to ISS
MOSCOW, Aug 22, (RTRS): A Russian humanoid robot was making its way on Thursday to the International Space Station after blasting off on a two-week mission to support the crew and test his skills.
Known as FEDOR, which stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, the Skybot F-850 is the first humanoid robot to be sent to space by Russia. NASA sent humanoid robot Robonaut 2 to space in 2011 to work in hazardous environments.
“The robot’s main purpose is to be used in operations that are especially dangerous for humans on-board spacecraft and in outer space,” Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday after the launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The ISS is a joint project of the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
Travelling in an unmanned Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft, FEDOR is expected to dock at the ISS on Saturday with 1,450 pounds (660 kg) of cargo including medical supplies and food rations for the crew waiting at the station, NASA said.
FEDOR, who is the size an adult and can emulate movements of the human body, has apparently embraced his mission, describing himself as “an assistant to the ISS crew” on his Twitter page, which has 4,600 followers.
“Everything is normal,” a tweet posted on his account said a few hours into his flight.
Spacewalking astronauts added another parking spot to the International Space Station on Wednesday.
NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan successfully installed a docking port delivered by SpaceX last month. It will be used by SpaceX and Boeing once they start launching astronauts to the orbiting lab late this year or early next year.
The two had to wrestle with old, stiff cables in order to get power and data flowing to the port. “Slow and steady,” Morgan said. They also attached reflectors for navigation.
This is the station’s second docking port for commercial crew capsules. The first was attached three years ago. The newest port was a replacement for one that was destroyed during a SpaceX launch accident in 2015.
Ever since its space shuttles retired in 2011, NASA has been limited to Russian rockets for getting astronauts to the space station. While US companies have been delivering supplies since 2012, crew flights from Cape Canaveral remain on hold.
Destroyed
SpaceX launched its first crew Dragon capsule with no one aboard in March. The capsule was destroyed the following month during an engine test in Florida. Despite the setback, SpaceX still aims to squeeze in its first test flight with astronauts by year’s end.
Boeing intends to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew this fall, followed by a test flight with a crew sometime early next year.
It was the third spacewalk for Hague and the first for Morgan, an Army doctor who moved into the station a month ago. “Docs rock,” Mission Control radioed to Morgan as the work got underway.
Hague’s mother delivered homemade goodies to Houston flight controllers midway through the planned six-hour spacewalk.
“I heard she was busy in the kitchen yesterday,” Hague said. “I hope everyone enjoys it. I’m jealous.”
“Well,” replied Mission Control, “we have a certain jealousy of what you guys are doing as well, so I’d say it’s an even trade.”
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NEW DELHI: An unmanned spacecraft India launched last month began orbiting the moon Tuesday as it approaches the far side to study previously discovered water deposits.
The Indian Space Research Organization said it successfully maneuvered Chandrayaan, the Sanskrit word for “moon craft”, into lunar orbit, nearly a month after it left Earth. The mission is led by two female scientists.
Chandrayaan will continue circling the moon in a tighter orbit until reaching a distance of about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the moon’s surface.
The lander will then separate from the orbiter and use rocket fuel to brake as it attempts India’s first moon landing on a relatively flat surface between two craters in the south polar region on Sept 7.
The success rate of landing on the moon is only 37%, ISRO chairman Dr K. Sivan said in a news conference. When the semi-autonomous lander decides to land on its own, “it’ll be a mix of feeling, of happiness and tension and more anxiety,” Sivan said.
A rover will study permanently shadowed craters that are thought to contain 100 million tons of water, deposits that were confirmed by a previous Indian moon mission.
Scientists say water and mineral deposits could make the moon a good pit stop for further space travel.