* Astronomy

According to Nikolai Sevastyanov, the head of Russia's leading space corporation , the number of pressurised modules on the International Space Station (ISS) will be doubled to 12 in 2010 and international efforts will be increased.

ISS crews would be doubled to six members in 2007 and four Soyuz spacecraft and two Progress cargo ships would be launched to the station in the same year.
Sevastyanov also highlighted moves to ensure that the international community played a greater role in servicing and using the station.

"The launch of Europe's ATV [Automated Transfer Vehicle] has been scheduled for late 2007" - Nikolai Sevastyanov, the head and chief designer of Energia.

The ATV is designed partially as a replacement for Russia's Progress spacecraft, although at nine metric tons it will have three times its capacity. Like the Progress it will deliver liquids and relatively fragile cargoes. Likewise, the ATV will also serve as a container for the station's waste.
The spaceship will also be used to correct the orbital station's trajectory if needed.
In addition, Japan, which has been participating in the ISS program since its early stage, intends to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) in 2009. The spaceship will deliver pressurised cargo to the station. The vehicle will not dock with the ISS, but will be handled by a robotic arm.
Sevastyanov said that all these efforts meant that the ISS was "evolving in an international space port."

Among other projects to be implemented on the ISS, Sevastyanov mentioned biological, biotechnological, medical and other research efforts, long-term manned missions, and assembling vehicles for the exploration of the Moon.

"Future flights to the Moon are one of the most ambitious projects. Its aim is to start the production of helium on the Moon" - Nikolai Sevastyanov.

There were plans to establish a manned base on the Moon by 2020.
Russia also plans to start launching new Clipper space shuttles to the ISS from 2015. The Clipper will gradually replace the veteran Soyuz fleet. The Clipper is capable of taking six, instead of three, crew to the international station and 12 metric tons of cargoes, rather than two tons delivered today.
A future manned mission to Mars is also prominent on the international space agenda.

"A separate interplanetary mission segment and a special module to land on Mars will be created" - Nikolai Sevastyanov.

Source Novosti

The scheduled December 8th spacewalk by the Russian-American crew of the International Space Station has been postponed.

Russian Mission Control Centre Flight Director Vladimir Solovyov said the postponement was made possible since Valery Tokarev and William McArthur would not have to prepare to receive a U.S. shuttle, as had been planned.
It was initially planned that the American shuttle will come to the ISS in March, but now it is apparent that the 12th crew will not work with the shuttle.
NASA officials say the shuttle will not be launched earlier than May or July and set Feb. 2 as the date for the postponed extravehicular activity.

The ISS crew will instead conduct various experiments and remove spent equipment, loading it into a supply ship that will be dumped into the Pacific Ocean at the end of the month.
The next supply ship is to be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on Dec. 21.

Tomorrow, Valery Tokarev and William McArthur, the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) will undock the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to move it to another docking port.

"The re-docking will be performed tomorrow. According to the schedule, the crew will undock from the Pirs module at 08.45 GMT, and re-dock with the Zarya module at 09.20 GMT" - Valery Lyndin, Mission Control spokesman.

Re-docking is a routine procedure, which has to be performed by the crew before the docking of unmanned supply spacecraft, and before spacewalks. In both cases, the crew has to temporarily abandon the station.
The crew will deactivate all on-board systems before leaving the station for safety purposes, and reactivate them upon their return.

ISS crews have performed manual re-docking procedures six times since the first manned mission on board the station (Expedition 1) in 2000.

NASA TV will broadcast Space Station Soyuz Move

The residents of the International Space Station will move their Soyuz spacecraft on Friday. NASA TV airs live coverage of the move starting at 08:00 UT (3 a.m. EST).

Expedition 12 Soyuz Commander Valery Tokarev and station Commander Bill McArthur will move the craft from the Pirs Docking Compartment to the nearby Zarya module. Tokarev will undock from Pirs at about 08:40 UT. It will take about 40 minutes to complete the trip and dock at the Zarya port. The move clears Pirs for a spacewalk in early December.