Latest Expedition 10 Stories

Walz most recently served as director for the Advanced Capabilities Division in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. In the division, he played a key role in developing technologies that will lead to greater capabilities in robotic and human exploration of the solar system. He oversaw work in many fields, including nuclear power and propulsion, human adaptation to spaceflight, and lunar exploration. Many of these programs will help humans return to...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The recent repair of a zero gravity toilet aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is an object lesson in how astronauts can escape Earth, but not the facts of life. Station cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko patched up the orbiting laboratory's Russian-built commode last week by replacing a failed pump in its urine collection system in a mundane, but vital, space potty fix. "The toilet was kind of a single point failure," said NASA astronaut...

NASA -- Moroccan desert sand seas ripple in the sun. Rugged, snowcapped Himalaya Mountains pierce the heavens. Egyptian lakes spill liquid metal onto the Earth's surface while stretches of shoreline summon the eye. The eye widens, zeroes in and blinks. Whir, click-click. Captured! For more than a century, travels to exotic lands have inspired explorers to record their journeys in snapshots. However, no place on Earth lends a better view to these beautiful places than in space. Unlike most...

MOSCOW (AP) -- A German will become the first European Space Agency astronaut to spend a full six-month stint on the international space station, the Russian Space Agency said Wednesday. Thomas Reiter, 46, will participate in Expedition 11 in July and complete his mission to the orbiting space station when Expedition 12 is on board, the agency said in statement. Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Space Agency, signed a contract with ESA making Reiter part of the main crew. He will work...

NASA -- After traveling more than 78 million miles aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 10 Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov returned to Earth today. With them was European Space Agency Astronaut Roberto Vittori, who had spent eight days aboard the orbiting complex doing research. After a flawless descent by the ISS Soyuz 9 spacecraft, Chiao, Sharipov and Vittori landed on target in north-central Kazakhstan, about 53 miles...

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- Cosmonauts and astronauts exchanged joyful embraces Sunday and began loading the international space station with scientific equipment and fresh vegetables after their successful docking of the Soyuz cargo ship. A little more than two hours after the 6:20 a.m. linkup, Russian Sergei Krikalev, American John Phillips and Italian Roberto Vittori, who blasted off Friday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, met face-to-face with the two men who have spent the past six...

MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian cargo ship blasted off Monday for the international space station, carrying food, equipment and other supplies, Mission Control said. The unmanned Progress M-52 spacecraft lifted off as scheduled at 10:09 p.m. (2 p.m. EST) from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in the steppes of Kazakhstan, said Valery Lyndin, a spokesman for Mission Control in Korolyov just outside Moscow. It entered orbit 124 miles above the Earth about nine minutes later, Lyndin said in a...

NASA -- The Expedition 10 crew is getting set to venture outside the International Space Station for the first of the mission's two spacewalks. Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov will install a work platform, mount a robotics experiment, check vents on systems that help control the Station's atmosphere and install a scientific experiment in the early morning hours of Jan. 26. The spacewalk is to begin about 2:30 a.m. EST and should last almost 5.5 hours. Most of the...

NASA -- An unpiloted Russian cargo ship got a head start on Santa, lifting off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with 2.5 tons of supplies, equipment and Christmas gifts for Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov on the International Space Station. ISS Progress 16 launched on time at 5:20 p.m. EST. It reached orbit in less than 10 minutes. Moments later, automatic commands deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas. Engine firings were scheduled...

ESA -- Roberto Vittori will be the next ESA astronaut to fly to the International Space Station, on the 10-day Italian Soyuz mission, scheduled to be launched on 15 April next year from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission is called ENEIDE and takes its name from the epic tale written by the Latin poet Virgil in the 1st century BC. This story tells of the journey of Aeneas from Troy to Italy and the foundation of Rome. Vittori is a member of ESA's European Astronaut Corps and...