NASA

Two space shuttle Atlantis astronauts began the second of their mission's three spacewalks Saturday for maintenance work and to install more high-tech gadgets outside the International Space Station. The sortie was delayed by over an hour after false depressurization alarms earlier rang through the orbiting outpost and jolted mission specialists Mike Foreman and Randy Bresnik awake after just two hours of sleep, rattling preparations. The second exterior work effort of the shuttle's 11-day mission got underway at 1431 GMT. It was shortened by 30 minutes due to the false alarms and set to last six hours. Planning to get all of their scheduled tasks ... Read Full Story

Space shuttle Atlantis astronauts aboard the International Space Station delayed their second spacewalk Saturday after being jolted awake by a false alarm, NASA said. Mission specialists Mike Foreman and Randy Bresnik had just two hours of sleep before a depressurization alarm sounded around 0253 GMT, forcing them to exit the Quest airlock, where astronauts "camp out" before spacewalks to purge nitrogen from their bloodstream to prevent decompression sickness. Mission control in Houston, Texas confirmed the original alarm and subsequent alerts set off around the orbiting outpost were false. The astronauts were allowed 30 extra minutes to snooze before their six-hour spacewalk, which will be ... Read Full Story

Shuttle Atlantis astronauts began the second of their mission's three spacewalks Saturday to maintain and install more high-tech gadgets on the International Space Station. The sortie was delayed by over an hour after false depressurization alarms earlier rang through the orbiting outpost and jolted mission specialists Mike Foreman and Randy Bresnik awake after just two hours of sleep, rattling preparations. Bresnik, venturing out into space for the first time, was most likely already restless as he awaited the birth of his daughter back on earth. His wife Rebbeca Burgin was due to give birth to the couple's second child on Friday. If the baby ... Read Full Story

Astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis have completed the first space walk of their mission, replacing a vital communications antenna on the exterior of the International Space Station. Mission specialists Mike Foreman and Robert Satcher completed their task with two hours to spare on Thursday and so began work, intended for a second space walk, on a new system for storing spare parts, NASA said. After "camping out" overnight in the Quest airlock, which purges nitrogen from their bloodstream to prevent decompression sickness, Foreman and Satcher moved out into the vacuum of space at 1424 GMT. Satcher, on his first space walk, was lifted by ... Read Full Story

Russia lacks a viable program for developing a new spacecraft and will likely fall behind in the space race, a veteran Russian cosmonaut said in an interview published Friday. Efforts to build a successor to the 40-year old Soyuz spacecraft have dragged on with no end in sight, Mikhail Tyurin told the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Tyurin, a veteran of two missions to the International Space Station in 2001 and 2007, blamed the slow progress on a lack of clear goals and poor coordination. "They have issued an order for a new spacecraft without having any concept," Tyurin said. He said officials' talk of using ... Read Full Story