European Space Agency: First Soyuz almost ready for launch from French Guiana

The final countdown before its maiden flight later this year has begun for Soyuz with a simulated launch campaign at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

This dry run ensures that the Soyuz and the new facilities work together perfectly, while allowing the teams to train under realistic launch conditions. It also validates all the procedures during the final phase before launch, except the fueling of the vehicle.

For more: ESA Portal - First Soyuz almost ready for launch from French Guiana

Space exploration: Russia - “I see Earth! It is so beautiful!'

Today is the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering flight into space. ESA is celebrating these five decades of human spaceflight with a collection of articles, videos and interviews.

“The world’s first spaceship, Vostok, with a man on board, was launched into orbit from the Soviet Union on 12 April 1961. The pilot space-navigator of the satellite-spaceship Vostok is a citizen of the USSR, Flight Major Yuri Gagarin.” To the world of 1961, this was an electrifying announcement, made while Gagarin was still in space. The Americans were stunned, but the congratulations they sent to Moscow were genuine.

This historic 108-minute flight, orbiting Earth once, made Gagarin the first human in space, and a global hero. He was only 27 years old.

For more: ESA Portal - “I see Earth! It is so beautiful!'

ESA Portal - OasISS mission heading to ISS with ESA astronaut Frank De Winne - first European to become Commander of International Space Station

OasISS mission heading to the International Space Station

For the complete report from the ESA Portal click on this link

OasISS mission heading to ISS with ESA astronaut Frank De Winne-first European to become Commander of International Space Station

ESA astronaut Frank De Winne is heading to the International Space Station at the start of his six-month OasISS mission. Together with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, De Winne launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 12:34 CEST (10:34 UT) today. Their Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) at 14:36 CEST (12:36 UT) on Friday 29 May. The arrival of De Winne, Romanenko and Thirsk at the ISS will mark the first ever six-member ISS crew, as they join the three Expedition crewmembers already in residence on the Station: Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, NASA astronaut Michael Barratt and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata.

For the first four months of his OasISS mission, De Winne will be a Flight Engineer as a member of the Expedition 20 crew, reporting to Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka. With a rotation of three of the six crew members due in October, De Winne will take over as Commander of the Expedition 21 crew until his return to Earth in November. He is the first European to take on this role.

FOXNews.com - Europeans Aim to Build Own Manned Spacecraft - by Jeremy Hsu

For the complete report from FOXNews.com click on this link

Europeans Aim to Build Own Manned Spacecraft - by Jeremy Hsu

Plenty of European astronauts and hardware have gone up to the space station or to other orbits around Earth, but now the European Space Agency (ESA) is thinking of ways to get them back down on their own. A Vega rocket on the drawing boards is slated to carry ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) into space in 2012. The stubby white-and-black spacecraft is designed to use two rear flaps in a paddling motion to steer itself during atmospheric reentry. Such a demonstration craft could perhaps pave the way for Europe to return its astronauts to Earth without relying on the U.S. or Russian space programs."With ATV [Automated Transfer Vehicle] and Columbus, the European space laboratory, we believe Europe has now become one of the major players in manned space exploration," said John Ellwood, ATV mission manager.