Latest Service module Stories

ESA’s Gaia mission to survey a billion stars has passed a grueling test to prove it can withstand the extreme temperatures it will experience in space when it is launched next year. After arrival at its working position some 1.5 million km from Earth, Gaia will operate at a temperature of –110°C, shielded from the heat of the Sun by a giant shade attached to the spacecraft to keep its instruments in permanent shadow. The focus of the most recent test was Gaia’s service module,...

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) [Xinhua: "4th-Ld: Chinese Taikonaut Debuts Spacewalk"] BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) - Chinese taikonaut Zhai Zhigang slipped out of the orbital module of Shenzhou-7 Saturday afternoon, starting China's first spacewalk or extravehicular activity (EVA) in the outer space. Donning a 4-million-USdollar homemade Feitian space suit, Zhai waved to the camera mounted on the service module after pulling...

"She is riding like a dream." So said mission commander Walter Schirra as Apollo 7 rocketed into history on Oct. 11, 1968. During the 10-day mission, Apollo 7's crew -- Commander Walter Schirra, Command Service Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele and Lunar Module Pilot R. Walter Cunningham--paved the way for the missions to follow.Once Apollo 7 cleared the pad, a three-shift mission control team-led by flight directors Glynn Lunney, Eugene Kranz and Gerald D. Griffin in Houston took over. A...