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British scientists led by Nathaniel Szewczyk from Notthingham University believe that microscopic worms, which are biologically similar to humans, may hold important clues as to how we can adapt to long-term living in space environments, such as a colony on Mars.  

His team sent 4,000 microscopic worms, Caenorhabditis elegans, into space aboard the space shuttle Discovery, and were able to successfully remotely monitor 12 generations of them over a period of 6 months, whilst they were housed on the International Space Station.

This type of worm has long been used by scientists to further our understanding of human biology. They were the first multi-cellular organism to have its genetic structure completely mapped, and many of their genes perform the same function as found in humans, such as promoting muscle function.

According to Szewczyk, in a study recently published in the journal ‘Interface’, many of the biological changes that occur during space flight affect astronauts and worms in the same way.

"We have been able to show that worms can grow and reproduce in space for long enough to reach another planet and that we can remotely monitor their health. Worms allow us to detect changes in growth, development, reproduction and behaviour in response to environmental conditions such as toxins or in response to deep space missions," Szewczyk said.

This makes the worms an ideal and cost-effective way to study the possible effects of both long term and long distance human space exploration, which are known to have major challenges associated with them, including exposure to high levels of radiation, rapid loss of bone density and muscle weakness.

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Congratulations are in order for the folks of the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA) after the safe return of the latest Shenzhou 8 mission.

The capsule launched at the beginning of November on board a Long March 2F rocket and returned safely 17 days later after completing two successful docking maneuvers with the already orbiting Tiangong 1 space laboratory.

No astronauts were onboard this time, however, sophisticated ‘dummies’ that simulate the metabolic functions (including respiration) of humans took their place, providing invaluable data regarding the life-support and environmental control systems of the space capsule.

It is another important step for the Chinese on their path to fulfilling their space ambitions of human spaceflight missions in 2012 to the Tiangong 1 Space Lab, and eventually having a 100ton Earth orbiting space station by the end of the decade.

Plans beyond this include a manned mission to the Moon by the 2030’s, requiring huge financial investment and more importantly hefty advances in current Chinese space technology. Not an easy dream to fulfill but one that appears to have backing right from the very top of Chinese politics, and a dream set to inspire the national pride of a nation.  

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Take a look at this interesting video clip showing the effects of a re-boost on the astronauts onboard the International Space Station. This took place last week, 26th October  2011, and raised the ISS back up to an altitude of around 242 miles (390km). The clip shows the effects of the ISS accelerating, in effect leaving behind all of the astronauts onboard.  

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Illustration showing Tiangong 1 (left) visited by Shenzhou 8 (right)
Thursday 29th September 2011 saw the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA) take another step along the road to achieving their ambition of creating a mini orbiting space station.

The 19,000 pound Tiangong 1 (translation Heavenly Palace) module was successfully launched aboard a Long March 2F rocket, witnessed by many leading Chinese politicians and dignitaries, including President Hu Jintao, watching from the Beijing control centre.

The Tiangong 1 spacecraft will steadily make its way up to maintain an eventual orbit of approximately 220 miles (354km), where it will wait to be joined by an unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft sometime in November. The two vessels will then take part in China’s first space docking manoeuvre, forming a mini-space station some 60 feet long for 12 days,  before the Shenzhou module returns to Earth.

Further missions will visit Tiangong 1 next year, potentially carrying Chinese astronauts on board as China seeks to consolidate its place in the future of space exploration. The very best of luck to them.    

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First man to walk on the Moon Neil Armstrong
Neil Armstrong, first man to set foot on the Moon in 1969, is usually known as a quiet man of few words who would rather avoid the spotlight. 

Yesterday, however, saw him take part in a 4 man committee testifying before Congress about the current state of the American human spaceflight program, with the words “embarrassing” and “unacceptable” being freely used.

"We will have no American access to, and return from, low Earth orbit and the International Space Station for an unpredictable length of time in the future", Armstrong told the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

"For a country that has invested so much for so long to achieve a leadership position in space exploration and exploitation, this condition is viewed by many as lamentably embarrassing and unacceptable."

His words echoed the sentiments felt by many with the cancelation by President Barack Obama of the Constellation program that would have returned man to the Moon, and with the recent final flight and retirement of the space shuttle program, leaving no capability for the US to send humans into space.

Armstrong was joined by fellow astronaut and last man to step on the Moon in 1972, Eugene Cernan, who was equally dismissive of the current administration at NASA.

"Today, we are on a path of decay. We are seeing the book close on five decades of accomplishment as the leader in human space exploration", Cernan said.

Given the current poor economic situation of the United States and a new determination to encourage commercial companies to supply the next generation of crew and cargo transport vehicles, it is difficult to see how the US can lead at the forefront of future space exploration – but I guess time will tell.  


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Space programs of the largest agencies in the industry are currently suffering the effects of the global economic crisis. NASA recently retired the Space Shuttle program despite not having a working substitute. Yet these financial hiccups are not enough to discourage everybody.

Ugandan Chris Nsamba, founder of the African Space Research Program, has an ambitious dream - to put someone in orbit in just six years. To this end, he has turned his own back garden into a spaceship construction site. Although lacking in the sophisticated tools and machinery generally needed for this type of work, all those involved in the project seem to be happy and proud of what they are trying to do. 

The first step undertaken by Nsamba and his volunteer team, mostly made up of engineering students, is to build an aircraft, giving the group valuable experience to help them with the next task of designing a real spaceship capable of flying around the Earth with a Ugandan onboard.

"The plane is still far from being completed and it has no engine," confessed the future aerospace engineers in a recent interview, and though the aircraft is not much more than a rough prototype, it is sufficiently motivating for the group, who have decorated it with the Ugandan flag on the fuselage.

Nsamba is a restless dreamer who tries to think of everything. He is the one to train the team, helped by his experience as an astronomy student, and it is he who will one day certify the future Ugandan astronaut. He does not allow a lack of local facilities to hamper their progress and has even come up with a plan to simulate microgravity: "I've got a jet engine on order so I'm planning to build a tunnel, put the engine at one end and when I throw a guy in he'll float in a similar way to how he would in space."

Possibly not all Nsamba’s dreams will become reality and probably the launch of a spacecraft from Kampala, Uganda will not take place in the next decade. However, it is good to see that there are still dreamers out there in the world, willing and able to battle against disadvantage, adversity and disbelief. 

So many have so much in this world and yet do so little – by contrast, Chris Nsamba does so much with practically nothing. For him, quite literally, not even the sky is the limit!

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The possibility has emerged that the International Space Station (ISS) may be left unmanned for a period of time if launch problems with the Russian Soyuz rockets cannot be rectified soon.

Earlier this month, 24th August 2011, saw the crash soon after launch from Kazakhstan of an unmanned Soyuz carrying food and fuel to the ISS, following the failure of one of the booster rockets. The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos has delayed the next manned mission by at least a month to allow time for safety checks to be carried out, and it is likely that at least two test launches of an unmanned rocket will be conducted before sending anymore astronauts up.

 The delay means that replacement crew will not go to the ISS until late October at the earliest, assuming that all goes well with the testing. The station is currently manned by a team of 6, with 3 likely to return to Earth in mid September and a decision needing to be made about the remaining crew.

Alexei Krasnov, head of manned flights at Roscosmos recently indicated that: 'If for any reason we will not be able to deliver the crew before the end of November, we will need to review all possibilities including leaving the station unmanned.'

The ISS has been continuously manned for more than a decade. It can in fact be flown without a crew if needed, though this is not an ideal situation as repairs can be made and problems fixed faster with crew members onboard, reducing the possibilities of major damage occurring. 

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This week in London saw the unveiling of a tribute to Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, 50 years after he became the first man in Space on 12th April 1961, and also half a century after he visited London and was greeted by cheering crowds on July 14th that same year.  

 The statue, which is a gift from the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos, is placed just off The Mall outside the British Council offices, and opposite the statue of another great explorer Captain James Cook. The monument showing Gagarin standing on a globe in his spacesuit, is a copy of one that can be found just outside Moscow, in the town of Lyubertsy where Gagarin worked in his teens as a foundry worker. 

In addition to the statue, an exhibition called 'Gagarin in Britain' is also taking place at the British Council from 19 July to 13 September 2011. The display includes items from the Vostok manned space program, the first space suit, and an ejector seat from the model used by Gagarin when he parachuted out of Vostok 1 at an altitude of 7km.

It is an excellent opportunity to see some of the earliest space items that marked the beginning of space exploration so get along there if you are in the city – I certainly hope to in August!
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Tiangong 1 Space capsule CNSA
Just as the thirty year era of the USA Space Shuttle program is about to come to an end, China has shipped its Tiangong 1 mini space station to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, where it will be prepared for launch in the next three months.

This module weighing in at 9,500 kgs and being just 9 metres long is about half the size of the first space station ever to go into orbit, Salyut 1, sent by the Russians in 1971. Tiangong, which in Chinese means ‘heavenly palace’ is equipped with a docking port, navigation/communications instruments, as well as a pressurized cabin for future visitors.  

According to the Chinese National Space Agency (CNSA), launch should take place by the end of September this year on a Long March 2F rocket, with plans to test the docking system a few weeks later using an unmanned Shenzhou 8 vehicle. All being well, two more manned Shenzhou flights to the mini space station should follow in 2012. 

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The final touchdown of US space shuttle Endeavor took place at 06.34 GMT, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida today, bringing an end to the space craft’s last 16 day mission to the International Space Station.

For the record, Endeavour flew into Space a total of 25 times, orbited the Earth 4,671 times, covered 123 million miles, and spent 299 days in Space.

Retirement now beckons for the craft that was named after the ship commanded in 1769 by British explorer James Cook, with Endeavor going on public display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

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