Click here to email Thomas Dias
2/14/2009
A man-made piece of the sky almost fell on Alberta Friday morning. NORAD called the federal government warning space debris from a Russian rocket appeared to be headed for the Calgary area. And a spokesperson for the Alberta Government says they were about to activate the Emergency Response Centre to warn affected areas. But the government suddenly received word the rocket debris had changed course, falling instead into the Atlantic Ocean.
Elsewhere experts say Tuesday's collision of a U-S and Russian satellite in orbit could threaten other satellites for the next ten thousand years. One expert called the collision `a catastrophic event' hoping it would force the U-S administration to address the issue of debris in space. The satellite collision has generated an estimated tens of thousands of small pieces of space junk that are now circling Earth high above the space station.
And NASA is once again delaying the launch of space shuttle Discovery. NASA wants to ensure three valves controlling the flow of hydrogen gas into the external fuel tank will not put the shuttle and its crew at risk if they break. A small piece of one valve cracked off in November during the last space shuttle flight. Discovery is being preparing for a trip to the space station to deliver the last set of solar wings. The launch was originally planned for Thursday, but shuttle are putting the liftoff on hold until at least February 27. (TD, CTV Calgary, The Associated Press)
|
«
Return to previous page
»
Send to a friend
|
|