Friday, July 29, 2011

Russia Wins The Space Race


© RIA Novosti. Alexey Kudenko

















Russia to Carry Out 3 Space Launches in August


Russia's space agency Roscosmos said on Friday it is planning to launch two satellites and a space freighter next month.
The Express-AM4 satellite will be launched on August 18 on board a Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan.
A Progress M-12M cargo spacecraft will be launched from Baikonur to the International Space Station on August 24 on board the Soyuz-U launch vehicle.
A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket will orbit a Glonass-M navigation satellite after the launch on August 25 from the Plesetsk Space Center in northern Russia.




It's pretty clear with NASA out of business that in the end, Russia won the space race.


I don't mean to harp on this as much as I do, I really don't.


But the US has ended it's Space Program, and while that's not to say that there are not some private companies out there doing their very best to keep us in orbit, that's just not the same as the what you can do with the backing of a government.

Like Russia


Russian Proton-M Carrier Rocket




















Or China...




Long March 4 Rocket



















Or even India...

Cartosat-2 Rocket
























The rest of the world is jumping into space just as we jump off.

Guess that means that in the end, Chekov gets to be Captain.


That's Captain, sir, to you, tovarich