Buljit The launch has been postponed yet again.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/29/shuttle.endeavor/index.html Ram da On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 2:01 PM, Buljit Buragohain <buluas...@yahoo.co.in>wrote: > Fincke on yet another space mission > Staff Reporter > GUWAHATI, > April 29 – U S astronaut Colonel E. Michael Fincke, popularly known as > Mike Fincke, the NASA Astronaut, is on his third sojourn to outer space. > The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to be launched to the > International Space Station (ISS) from the Kennedy Space Center in > Florida this night. The mission named STS-134 will have a six-member > crew and Mike is the Mission Specialist No.1 in this mission, said a > press release of the Friends of Assam and Seven Sisters (FASS) here > today.Mike is a > household name in Assam and happens to be a son-in-law of the State by > virtue of his marriage to an Assamese-origin girl Renita Saikia, who is > also a NASA engineer. Colonel > Finke will sit up on the flight deck in the cockpit and help the > launching and landing of this complex aerospace vehicle, the space > shuttle. He along with two other astronauts will perform four > spacewalks. During the 14-day mission, Endeavour and its crew will > deliver the Express Logistics Carrier-3, Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 > (AMS), a high-pressure gas tank and additional spare parts for the > Dextre robotic helper to the ISS. It’s a very important mission in terms > of science. The AMS is going to be installed on the outside of the > International Space Station and collect some amazing data and detect > some things that will help to understand the universe a lot better. Mike > had been to the outer space twice before – in 2004 and 2008-9 and > stayed there for a year. Mike > Fincke, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alumni, had come > to the NE region of India in September 2009 and interacted with the > students in Guwahati and Shillong, which was organized by the FASS. It > had also organized a direct talk between Mike Fincke, while he was in > Outer Space, and the students of four educational institutions of > Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Imphal and Shillong in 2008-09.The > International Space Station (ISS) is the largest and most complex > international scientific project in history. The ISS is a research > facility in outer space and orbits at an altitude of approximately 350 > km above the surface of the Earth, and travels at an average speed of > 27,700 kilometres per hour, completing 15.7 orbits per day, making > roughly one orbit every 90 minutes and it passes over 90 per cent of the > world’s surface. The ISS’s length and width is about the size of a > football field. The International Space Station marked its 10th > anniversary of continuous human occupation on November 2, 2010. The ISS > can accommodate six persons and it is larger than a conventional > five-bedroom house, and has two bathrooms, a gymnasium and research > laboratories. FASS > wishes Mike Fincke a very successful voyage during his third visit to > the ISS. It will invite him again to Assam to interact with the students > and teachers of the North East. Mike Fincke’s wife Renita and their > three children Chandra, Tarali and Surya and his in-laws Rupesh and > Probha Saikia have already arrived in Florida for the launching of the > Space Shuttle, said the FASS in its press release signed by its > secretary general Bidyananda Barkakoty. > > ( The Assam Tribune , 30.04.2011) > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org > _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
