* Astronomy

A Russian  Soyuz rocket is to launch the Expedition 16 crew and a Malaysian tourist aboard a  Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft to the International Space Station  from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 13:21 GMT (9:21 a.m. EDT), 10th October.
The capsule is to remain at the station for about six months, providing an escape pod for the crew.
The Expedition 15 crew and tourist  are expected to return  to Earth on  October 21st.

A crew that includes Malaysia's first astronaut and an American who will become the first woman to command the international space station prepared Monday for blastoff later this week.
The Soyuz-FG rocket is scheduled to blast off from the Central Asian steppe on Wednesday night to take Malaysia's Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, Peggy Whitson of Beaconsfield, Iowa, and Russian Yuri Malenchenko into orbit.
During his 12-day space trip, Shukor is to study of the effects of microgravity and space radiation on cells and microbes, as well as experiments with proteins for a potential HIV vaccine.
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