Konstantin Feoktistov, who was aboard the first multiple-passenger spaceflight—and helped to develop the spacecraft—has died at 83.
Feoktistov helped revise the one-man Vostok spacecraft to fit as many as 3 cosmonauts aboard, as the Voskhod spacecraft did in its initial flight with Feoktistov aboard. He had been dubious about sending the craft up with 3 aboard, [...]

While the Augustine Commission and the U.S. government contemplate further curtailment of NASA’s manned space program, Russia is planning to boldly go where no man has gone before.
The Russian president has said he is committed to funding a Russian effort to send cosmonauts to Mars. And with a recent technological breakthrough, the Russians believe they [...]

The Russians have been working on something exciting for more than a decade—and now they’ll have to wait a little bit longer.
The Phobos-Grunt mission will launch in 2011 (not 2009 as originally planned) and, if all goes well, will return rocks and soil from the Martian moon.

The three year mission will also carry a Chinese [...]

With Ares/Orion and NASA’s Constellation program apparently on the ropes, that raises a question. Who will be the next person to approach the moon? And when?
There are a number of possibilities. For example, China is methodically expanding it’s manned space flight capabilities. And they’ve announced plans to get people to the moon. But they’ve had [...]

With the scheduled retirement of the shuttle fast approaching, and the questionable ability of the United States to launch astronauts anytime soon after, Europe is looking toward Russia.
The Soyuz spacecraft, in operation since 1967, may soon be the only real alternative for European astronauts to get in to space. And, to ensure the accessibility to [...]

It’s kind of shocking to think that the International Space Station—which is still not complete—is scheduled to be retired and de-orbited in 2016.
And some are questioning whether it will even make it that long. Also, how can such a huge structure be safely de-orbited?
First, a few words about the planned retirement. It seems silly. Why? [...]

The Chinese space program has some impressive accomplishments: sending a probe to the moon, several manned flights including a space walk; and next, a probe to orbit Mars.
But so much of their accomplishments depend on Russians. The Chinese manned spacecraft bears a striking resemblance to the Russian Soyuz—and Russians are heavily assisting the Chinese space [...]

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—to be launch in July 2009—is expected to take photos of the old Apollo lunar landing sites, and more.
History in pictures
From orbit, even with powerful cameras, the images will be tiny and few details will be available. But, whatever it gets, the LRO will (if all goes well) get the first images [...]

I must admit, I didn’t know a thing about this. In passing, in this article, it mentions the planned 2016 retirement of the International Space Station.
Retirement? So soon? We’re just about to complete building it!
Big meeting on future space station
The thrust of the article is that some groups—including the European Space Agency and Roscosmos (the [...]

Business Week writes about the symbiotic relationship between Russia and the U.S. in space exploration. It re-iterates the biggest upcoming situation—that for five years or more, the U.S. will depend on Russia to get its astronauts into space. After the shuttle retires, only the Russian Soyuz will be available to ferry people to the International [...]