2011

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Czech Republic wins Federation Cup 2011 defeating Russian 3-2 in the final. This victory was decided by Petra Kvitova, who showed again that right now she’s the best player in the world, and by the couple Lucie Hradecka / Kveta Peschke, who won the decisive double match.

James Naismith with a basketball and the peach basket initially used

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Basketball inventor James A. Naismith was born on November 6, 1861 in Almonte, in then Canada West, now Ontario. The first game of what became basketball was played in December 1891. Naismith invented basketball to allow students to keep fit in a gym during winter.

The Mars500 mission virtual astronauts (photo ESA/IBMP - Oleg Voloshin)

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Today after 520 days the Mars500 mission that brought a group of virtual astronauts to Mars and back ended with their exit from their starship. A ceremony celebrated the end of the experiment. Actually the whole journey took place in Moscow in a reproduction of the starship and Mars environment.

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In China it was just past midnight when, after thirty orbits, the spacecraft Shenzhou 8 launched two days ago docked successfully with the Tiangong 1 module, which was put into orbit in September, at a height of about 343 km. Thus the first attempt by China to dock an unmanned spacecraft was completed.