Launches, launches, and more launches
on your SpacePod for June 21st, 2010.
There are a few launches from this last week that we have not covered. So lets take a look.
First up we have the Chinese Shijian 12 research satellite that was launched aboard a Long March 2D.
There is not a whole lot of footage from this, but here's what we could find.
(Chinese commentary)
Now, not a lot is known about the Shijian or "Practice" 12 satellite other than it is a research bird.
The launch took place at 1:31 UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 14th, 2010.
And please, forgive my pronunciations.
Next up we have Prisma and Picard launched aboard Dnepr, Dee-nup-er, Dee-nep-er,
which is a decommissioned ICBM.
The Primsa demonstration mission is a Swedish payload that will test
new inexpensive technologies for rendezvous in space.
Now, the Picard payload is a French satellite that will be studying the Sun.
THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS! See what I did there?
Little Star Trek reference? Nevermind.
This launch took place on June 15th at 14:42 UTC from Russia.
And, who could forget the Human Space Flight that also happened on June 15th at 21:35 UTC
with Expedition 24/25 aboard a Soyuz Rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome?
And why is it that Russia can have a camera INSIDE of the spacecraft but NASA can't?
The crew has already docked with the ISS and for those who like to know
about the firsts, this will be the first time Station has seen two women on a long duration mission,
although not the first time two women were on the station itself.
And finally we have another Dnepr, Dep-ner, Dee-nup-er. They're missing a vowel in that thing.
This one had no sound, but it's cool nonetheless. Another ICBM from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
that launched at 2:14 UTC on June 21st.
The payload on this rocket is TANDEM-X, which stands for Terrastar
X Add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement. The satellite will fly in close formation with the
Terrastar X spacecraft to gather precise elevation data.
And of course we have more launches coming up this week, so stay tuned to
SpaceVidcast.com and twitter.com/spacevidcast for our live coverage of what we can get our hands on
and more awesome launch videos.
More videos at http://www.spacevidcast.com