taikonaut

A Chinese taikonaut (Chinese astronaut) today became the first taikonaut to walk in space when he left his space craft for a total of fifteen minutes. The entire event, which marks a new stage in China's space program, was broadcast live on national TV.

The walk started at 1630 local time (0830 UTC) today when he exited the spacecraft, while attached to an umbilical cable. Zhai Zhigang, who has also worked as a fighter pilot, carried out the space walk. "I'm feeling quite well. I greet the Chinese people and the people of the world," he said as he walked out of his spacecraft to start the walk.

Money Collider

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) said on Monday that repairing the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will cost up to €16.6 million or US$21 million.

The LHC, which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, is located near the border of France and Switzerland and crosses the border four times. It has a diameter of 27 km (17 miles). It is designed to simulate the conditions shortly after the Big Bang, but it broke down on September 19 due to an electrical failure. Most of the repair time is covered by previously scheduled maintenance time, and CERN originally hoped to have the machine up and running again by early May. However, CERN officials now believe that it may take until the end of July or longer.

CERN spokesman James Gillies said: "If we can do it sooner, all well and good. But I think we can do it realistically by early summer."

The machine operates at temperatures colder than outer space and must be gradually warmed up for experts to assess the damage, causing much of the delay. CERN expects the repair cost to fall within the annual budget for the project.

Moon Base

Designed by Architects and Vision, MoonBaseTwo is a semi-permanent moon base which allows up to 4 astronauts to live there for 6 months. MoonBaseTwo is designed to be transported by the Ares V rocket. The base automatically deploys after landing and ready to accommodate astronauts.

Moon Base Two

photo: Mare Imbrium and Copernicus crater by the Apollo 17 Mission

PS: November 15, 2008 - At 8:34 pm Indian time Friday night (1504 UTC), India became the fourth country to land its flag on the Moon. The unmanned lunar orbiter Chandrayaan-1 (meaning 'Moon craft' in Sanskrit) ejected its Moon Impact Probe, which hurtled across the surface of the Moon at 1.5 kilometres per second (3000 miles per hour), and successfully crash landed near the Moon's south pole. Besides carrying three important scientific instruments, the lunar probe also carried the image of the Indian national flag, painted on all sides.

Smile

Appulse is an astronomical term that refers to the very near approach of one celestial object to another, as seen from a third body. Usually it refers to the close approach of two planets together in the sky, or of the Moon to a star or planet as the Moon follows its monthly orbit around Earth, as seen by an observer located on Earth. An "appulse" can also be referred to as a conjunction.
future conjunctions

photo credits
Jamie Russell
Rhoderic Lourens
Dave Jurasevich