Excalibur Almaz
Excalibur Almaz Limited, formerly Excalibur Almaz Inc. (EAI),is an international commercial spaceflight company based in the Isle of Man. History Excalibur Almaz had its headquarters in Douglas, Isle of Man, with offices in Houston, Los Angeles, Moscow, and Tokyo. The company planned to provide a variety of deep space crewed exploration missions, micro-gravity science, and payload delivery. EA also aimed to offer Low Earth Orbit cargo and crew delivery and return. In 2009, Excalibur Almaz hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013. In October 2011, NASA signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement for work related to the Commercial Crew Development program. In July 2012, Excalibur Almaz Inc. (EAI) successfully completed its Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program. In 2010, Jonathan Clark, NASA flight surgeon on six Space Shuttle missions—and whose wife, Laurel Clark, died in the Space Shu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Private Spaceflight
Private spaceflight is any spaceflight development that is not conducted by a government agency, such as NASA or ESA. During the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology in collaboration with affiliated design bureaus in the USSR and private companies in the US. They entirely funded both the development of new spaceflight technologies and the operational costs of spaceflight. Following a similar model of space technology development, the European Space Agency was formed in 1975. Arianespace, born out of ESA's independent spaceflight efforts, became the world's first commercial launch service provider in the early 1980s. Subsequently, large defense contractors began to develop and operate space launch systems, which were derived from government rockets. In the United States, the FAA has created a new certification called Commercial Astronaut, a new occupation. In the 2000s, en ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Laurel Clark
Laurel Blair Clark (née Salton; March 10, 1961 – February 1, 2003) was an American NASA astronaut, medical doctor, United States Navy captain, and Space Shuttle mission specialist. She died along with her six fellow crew members in the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. Clark was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Early and personal life Clark was born in Ames, Iowa, but considered Racine, Wisconsin, her hometown. Clark was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and held a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued Technician Class amateur radio license with the call sign KC5ZSU. Clark is survived by her husband, fellow former U.S. Navy captain and NASA flight surgeon Dr. Jonathan Clark (who was part of an official NASA panel that prepared the final 400-page report about the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster), and son Iain who was born in 1996. Education *1979: Graduated from William Horlick Hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable automated cargo spacecraft, cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit five times, exclusively by the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. It effectively was a larger European counterpart to the Russian Progress (spacecraft), Progress cargo spacecraft for carrying upmass to a single destination—the International Space Station (ISS)—but with three times the capacity. History The five ATVs were named after important European figures in science and engineering: ''Jules Verne ATV, Jules Verne'', ''Johannes Kepler ATV, Johannes Kepler'', ''Edoardo Amaldi ATV, Edoardo Amaldi'', ''Albert Einstein ATV, Albert Einstein'', and ''Georges Lemaître ATV, Georges Lemaître''. Following several delays to the program, the first of these was launched in March 2008. These ATVs performed supply mis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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EADS Astrium Space Transportation
Astrium was a European aerospace company and subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), headquartered in Paris. It designed, developed and manufactured civil and military space systems and provided related services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Astrium was a member of Institute of Space, its Applications and Technologies. In late 2013 Astrium was merged with Cassidian, the defence division of EADS, as well as Airbus Military to form Airbus Defence and Space. EADS itself was rebranded Airbus Group, with three divisions: Airbus Commercial Aircraft, Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters. Business structure During 2006–2013, the three main areas of activity within Astrium were: * Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment * EADS Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Functional Cargo Block
The Functional Cargo Block or FGB (from the Russian ', ', GRAU index 11F77) was part of the Soviet TKS spacecraft. The TKS spacecraft was intended to be used as a resupply craft for Almaz space stations and saw some test flights in the Salyut space station program. The TKS spacecraft was formed by mating a FGB with a VA spacecraft, with both the VA and the FGB being capable of independent operation. Following the development of the FGB for the TKS spacecraft, the FGB (without VA spacecraft) formed the basis for space station modules in the Soviet and Russian space program – these space station modules are to some extent called Functional Cargo Block (FGB) as well, like the Zarya FGB module. The FGB provides "functional" support in the form of electrical power, propulsion, guidance and docking; The support for "cargo" operations is supplied in the form of a pressurized habitable cargo storage section (accessible by the crew) and the externally mounted fuel tanks. History Th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soviet Space Program
The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Europe, and the Ministry of Aerospace Industry in China), which had their programs run under single coordinating agencies, the Soviet space program was divided between several internally competing OKB, design bureaus led by Sergei Korolev, Korolev, Kerim Kerimov, Kerimov, Mstislav Keldysh, Keldysh, Mikhail Yangel, Yangel, Valentin Glushko, Glushko, Vladimir Chelomey, Chelomey, Viktor Makeyev, Makeyev, Boris Chertok, Chertok and Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev, Reshetnev. Several of these bureaus were subordinated to the Ministry of General Machine-Building. The Soviet space program served as an important marker of claims by the Soviet Union to its superpower status. Soviet rocketry, Soviet investigations into rocketry began with the fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Space Capsule
A space capsule is a spacecraft designed to transport cargo, scientific experiments, and/or astronauts to and from space. Capsules are distinguished from other spacecraft by the ability to survive reentry and return a payload to the Earth's surface from orbit or sub-orbit, and are distinguished from other types of recoverable spacecraft by their blunt shape, not having wings and often containing little fuel other than what is necessary for a safe return. Capsule-based human spaceflight, crewed spacecraft such as Soyuz (spacecraft), Soyuz or Orion (spacecraft), Orion are often supported by a service or adapter module, and sometimes augmented with an extra module for extended space operations. Capsules make up the majority of crewed spacecraft designs, although one crewed spaceplane, the Space Shuttle, has flown in orbit. Current examples of crewed space capsules include Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz, Shenzhou spacecraft, Shenzhou, and SpaceX Dragon 2, Dragon 2. Examples of new crew capsu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TKS Spacecraft
The TKS spacecraft (, , ''Transport Supply Spacecraft'', GRAU index 11F72) was a Soviet spacecraft conceived in the late 1960s for resupply flights to the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for both crewed and autonomous uncrewed cargo resupply flights, but was never used operationally in its intended role – only four test missions were flown (including three that docked to Salyut space stations) during the program. The Functional Cargo Block (FGB) of the TKS spacecraft later formed the basis of several space station modules, including the Zarya FGB module on the International Space Station. The TKS spacecraft consisted of two spacecraft mated together, both of which could operate independently: * The VA spacecraft (known mistakenly in the West as the ''Merkur spacecraft''), which would have housed the cosmonauts during launch and reentry of a TKS spacecraft, while traveling to and from an Almaz space station. * And the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist group Music Groups, labels, and genres * Independent music, a number of genres associated with independent labels * Independent record label, a record label not associated with a major label * Independent Albums, American albums chart Albums * ''Independent'' (Ai album), 2012 * ''Independent'' (Faze album), 2006 * ''Independent'' (Sacred Reich album), 1993 Songs * "Independent" (song), a 2007 song by Webbie * "Independent", a 2002 song by Ayumi Hamasaki from '' H'' News media organizations * Independent Media Center (also known as Indymedia or IMC), an open publishing network of journalist collectives that report on political and social issues, e.g., in ''The Indypendent'' newspaper of NYC * ITV (TV network) (Independent Television ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Almaz
The Almaz () program was a highly secret Soviet Union, Soviet military space station program, begun in the early 1960s. Three crewed military reconnaissance stations were launched between 1973 and 1976: Salyut 2, Salyut 3 and Salyut 5. To cover the military nature of the program, the three launched Almaz stations were designated as civilian Salyut programme, Salyut space stations. Salyut 2 failed shortly after achieving orbit, but Salyut 3 and Salyut 5 both conducted successful crewed testing. Following Salyut 5, the Ministry of Defense (Soviet Union), Soviet Ministry of Defense judged in 1978 that the time and resources consumed by station maintenance outweighed the benefits relative to automatic reconnaissance satellites. Still, it had some achievements along with the Salyut program, the heritage of the twin program continues, with the International Space Station module Zarya (ISS module), Zarya being one example. The space stations' cores were known internally as OPS (, M ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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VA Capsule
The Vozvraschaemyi Apparat (, GRAU index 11F74), or VA spacecraft, was a Soviet crew capsule, intended to serve as a crewed launch and reentry vehicle. Initially designed for the LK-1 human lunar flyby spacecraft for one of the Soviet crewed lunar programs, then the LK-700 redesign, it was later repurposed for the Almaz military space station program. The VA capsule on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum was labeled as ''Merkur'', following a mistranslation of the original documentation – while incorrect, the name is being used in the West for the VA spacecraft and capsule. The VA spacecraft was capable of independent flight – up to 31 hours in its last incarnation – it needed however to be combined with additional hardware (containing propulsion and storage) to achieve a longer flight duration. Different usage scenarios for the VA spacecraft were planned: * For the lunar flyby spacecraft LK-1 and LK-700, the plans by Vladimir Chelomei's design ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscription model, requiring readers to pay for access to most of its articles and content. The ''Journal'' is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp. As of 2023, ''The'' ''Wall Street Journal'' is the List of newspapers in the United States, largest newspaper in the United States by print circulation, with 609,650 print subscribers. It has 3.17 million digital subscribers, the second-most in the nation after ''The New York Times''. The newspaper is one of the United States' Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. The first issue of the newspaper was published on July 8, 1889. The Editorial board at The Wall Street Journal, editorial page of the ''Journal'' is typically center-right in its positio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |