By ANN Senior Editor Pete Combs
As the world's first commercial astronaut prepares to take his
space vessel and its mothership on an unprecedented cross-country
flight to Oshkosh, WI, for AirVenture 2005, Mike Melvill and Scaled
Composites are working hard to develop a second generation
commercial space vehicle.
Journal By Israel's First Astronaut Survived Fiery Columbia
Fate
Deciding to even attempt it was hard enough for Israeli police
document examiner Sharon Brown. IDF Colonel Ilan Ramon, one of the
seven astronauts who died when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated
upon re-entry February 1, 2003, had kept a diary of his first space
flight. Not only did the pages survive Columbia's destruction, the
38 mile-long fall to Earth and two months' exposure to the Texas
elements.
Russia is preparing to put as many as six men -- perhaps an
international team -- in a simulated space vehicle which will
remain on Earth for 500 days to test technology in a simulation of
a mission to Mars.
In the tiny town of North Pole, Alaska, the sun currently creeps
into view for just three or four hours a day. Temperatures
typically crash in February to -30 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. And
bears aren't uncommon in these parts -- mother grizzlies have on
occasion sheltered their cubs in the woods near the local high
school.
Read More
