2014

Present orbits of the fifth and sixth Galileo satellites launched together by Soyuz on 22 August 2014 , in red, compared to their intended position, in dashed green, and the position of the four satellites launched in 2011 and 2012, in solid green (Image ESA)

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ESA has announced that one of the two satellites of the Galileo constellation launched on August 22, 2014 and ended up in the wrong orbit will be moved in the course of this month. A problem of the Fregat last stage of the rocket caused the insertion of the two satellites in an orbit very different from the planned one. If the corrective maneuvers will be satisfactory, they’ll be repeated for the other Galileo satellite in the same situation.

The Philae lander seen by the Rosetta space probe during its descent on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Image ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA)

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ESA has just confirmed that the Philae lander successfully landed on the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It’s the first time that a spacecraft arrived from Earth manages to land on the surface of a comet. This success is the culmination of many years of effort but it’s just the beginning of a new phase of the Rosetta mission.

The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom (Italian edition)

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The novel “The Jesus Incident” by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom was published for the first time in 1979. It’s the sequel to “Destination: Void”.

Ship brought its crew in the Tau Ceti system and a colony was established on the planet Pandora. It’s far from a paradise, with native life forms lethal to humans who are somehow interconnected and they’re connected to the mystery of the Avata. Life for humans and clones is hard and Ship isn’t happy.

The settlers had to decide how to WorShip but what’s happening isn’t satisfactory. To change the situation, Ship awakens from hibernation Raja Flattery, the first chaplain-psychiatrist, and reveals him the nature of the test it’s conducting. Raja must help the settlers to pass the test, otherwise Ship will eliminate the colony.

Alexander Gerst, Maksim Surayev and Gregory Reid Wiseman assisted after landing in the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft (Photo NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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A few hours ago, astronauts Gregory Reid Wiseman of NASA and Alexander Gerst of ESA and Russian cosmonaut Maksim Surayev returned to Earth on the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft, which landed smoothly in Kazakhstan. The three of them spent about six months on the International Space Station, where they arrived on May 28, 2014. Initially, they were part of Expedition 40, in the second half of their stay they were part of Expedition 41 with Maksim Surayev as commander of the Station.

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Czech Republic won Federation Cup 2014 defeating Germany in the Final thanks to the wins by Petra Kvitova against Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber and by Lucie Safarova against Angelique Kerber. For Czech Republic this is the third Federation Cup won in four years.