International Spaceflight Museum

Today (29th September 2008), after a successful first mission, the Jules Verne freighter (also known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle – ATV), will fire its engines on two separate occasions to decay its current orbit and plunge towards the Pacific Ocean. On board, months of trash from the International Space Station. 4 more missions are currently planned for the $1bn price tag freight container. No one is really sure how much of the spacecraft will reach the Pacific ocean. Most of it should burn up as it re-enters the atmosphere at a whopping 27,360 km/h. There is a small chance though that the craft will reach the ocean, although in pieces. For this reason, an exclusion zone for air and sea traffic has been put around the possible landing area. A model of the ATV is on show at the ISM and a copy of the model is available for purchase in the ISM gift shop.

[Here's one YouTube vid of the spectacular reentry firestreak

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=bvfANdWKJio&feature=PlayList&p=8330EFB431CFDF08&index=3 ]

-Paradox

Congratulations to the Chinese Space Administration for successfully completing its first ever EVA.  Zhai Zhigang, at 42 years old, exited the Forward Orbital Module of the Chinese Shenzhou VII spacecraft today.  The hazardous space walk was completed within 15 minutes of its start and Zhai Zhigang waved the Chinese flag proudly with a shot of Earth in the background.  

A landmark feat for this fledgling space fairing nation.  China is only the third country to mount a manned space mission.  Congratulations from everyone at the ISM.

Watch some of the walk.

[EVA = Extra-Vehicular Activity, or "spacewalk."]

The past few weeks have seen quite a bit of activity in the background, and soon some of it will become obvious on this site as well.

Paradox Olbers (SL name) has taken on the day-to-day operational leadership of the ISM planning group in Second Life, and was elected to the ISM Corporation’s board of directors.

This website will have a new look soon, as well as a new “landing page”, so you won’t be immediately on this blog page in future, but will need to either navigate here or use a longer URL. If you’d like a preview or want to watch the work in progress, go here. You can leave comments about the new page design on this post if you like.

The new exhibit info wiki is acquiring translations into a number of languages, thanks to friends of Becka, who has been contributing articles to this blog as well. We will be adding more research results to that wiki as time goes on, too.

There is more in the works, but we’ll wait till the other things are closer to reality before mentioning them here. Congratulations (and thanks) to Paradox, and to all the planning group members who are working hard to help make the best museum in Second Life become even better!

I’m so lucky. I live in a town that has a long history in Space flight. In fact, for as long as I can remember, Stevenage in Hertfordshire, UK has had pioneering companies involved in space related activities. The first was British Aerospace and now EADS Astrium. Astrium have been involved in a long line of groundbreaking missions including many built (but maybe not assembled) in Stevenage. The Beagle 2 and the Automated Transfer Vehicle Jules Verne (ATV), to name two well known examples. The latter is a recent addition to the existing exhibits in the ISM and a model is available from the ISM gift shop. Now, ESA are proposing a sample return mission to a near Earth object. The mission has been named Marco Polo and Astrium have been appointed the prime contractor.  What’s more, the mission is a collaboration with the Japanese Space Agency JAXA, a potent mix of expertise. The proposed launch vehicle will be a Soyuz rocket, another ISM exhibit.

So when someone asks you where all those ESA space missions are built. You can now tell them Stevenage in Hertfordshire, UK. It’s where all the great European space stuff really goes on!

The ISM truly deserves to include the word “International” in its title. For example, in a few days time, China will launch it’s 3rd manned space flight and will include a space walk for the first time. The Shenzhou 7 mission will firmly put China on the map as world class player in the manned spaceflight arena. What’s more, China is so confident of the success of the mission that they have agreed to broadcast live for the whole world to see. If a fraction of the expertise shown by them in organising the recent Olympics is evident, it will be a spectacular event. The fireworks of the opening ceremony will be equalled by the awesome launch of the Long March 2F Rocket.

You haven’t seen the rocket?  Well then you better take a fresh look at the ISM. All the Chang Zheng [Long March] rockets, including the Long March 2F (known as CZ-2F) are on display. You could also be a part of the history by sponsoring one of them!  Want a taste of what it will be like?  Watch the launch of Shenzhou 7.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX-iGLG0gE4