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Russia's space agency preps for its first manned moon landing
NASA, the US government and American space corporations aren't the only ones with their eyes on the moon. Russia's Space Agency (Roscosmos) has begun planning for its first manned lunar landing, starting with a recruitment drive for potential cosmonauts. The agency is looking for six to eight trainees with a background in engineering or aviation, or those who already have experience working in the space industry. All interested candidates will go through several stages of psychological, physical and medical tests during the selection process. The chosen eight will have to undergo some intense training until four remain. Those who get the job will pilot Russia's next-gen reusable manned spacecraft Federatsiya.
Longest-ever space tether fails to deploy, flings capsule towards Earth
We've seen some pretty wild ideas for space tethers, but it seems like actually executing is a little trickier than people expect -- a joint Russian Space Agency / ESA Young Engineers Satellite 2 mission just screeched to a halt as the deployment of an 18-mile space tether went awry. The project, which was to involve the longest object ever deployed in space, was part of a challenge issued to European university students to safely return an object from space, but failed when the the capsule accidentally released after just 5 miles of tether had unwound. The team thinks the idea still has merit, saying that "they are extremely satisfied and would like to do more mission testing." Here's hoping the next time goes a little smoother.Read -- NewScientist article on the mishapRead -- Video of how the mission was supposed to go
