Yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex a really special exhibition was inaugurated as it’s about the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis, which has thus become a tourist attraction. Astronauts who have been part of the 33 Atlantis missions attended the ceremony that opened an exhibition of over 8,000 square meters (about 90,000 square feet) dedicated to one of the spaceships that have made the history of space missions.
The star GJ 667C (also known as Gliese 667C) rose to the spotlight a little more than a year ago, when a scientific study led to the identification of three planets and the one called GJ 667Cc was in the habitable zone of its star. Some doubt was expressed regarding this discovery but a new research, conducted by Guillem Anglada-Escudé of the University of Göttingen, Germany, and Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, led to the conclusion that the star has at least 6 planets of which 3 in its habitable zone.
It was evening in the U.S.A. when the IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) space probe was launched using an Orbital Science Pegasus XL rocket brought to an altitude of about 13,000 meters (about 39,000 feet) by an airplane Orbital Science L-1011 modified for this purpose. In a short time, IRIS has been brought into a Sun-synchronized polar orbit, where its solar panels deployed regularly and it sent the first signals.
The IRIS spacecraft will aim an ultraviolet telescope towards the region of the Sun between its surface and the area of the outer atmosphere called the corona. With its observations it will allow us to understand how energy moves from the surface to the corona warming from a temperature of about 6,000 degrees Kelvin to reach millions of degrees.
The novel “Matter” by Iain M. Banks was published for the first time in 2008. It’s part of the Culture series.
Prince Ferbin was almost killed during a battle. When he finds his father, King Hausk, he discovers that he’s injured but, even worse, he realizes that Mertis tyl Loesp, the man who is supposed to be the King’s best friend and his most trusted adviser, is taking advantage of the situation to kill him. Ferbin can get away without being noticed and flees, leaving everyone to presume that he died during the battle. Not knowing who is involved in the betrayal his only hope of defeating the traitor and save his brother Oramen is to get away from Sursamen and seek help in the Culture.
In China it was morning when the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft landed in Inner Mongolia. The three crew members, Zhang Xiaoguang, Nie Haisheng and Wang Yaping, were assisted by the ground staff and are in good physical condition. Their mission started on June 11, so it was the longest Chinese manned mission.
