Two astronauts to spend a year in space

The International Space Station, where Scott Kelly of Nasa and Michael Komienko of Roscosmos will spend a year orbiting Earth. Photograph: Nasa/Getty Images

Like characters in a sci-fi movie, two astronauts will soon learn what it is like to spend a year orbiting Earth on board the International Space Station.

An American and a Russian will undertake the mission together to test the physiological and psychological effects of long-term space flight.

The aim is to see how the human body will bear up on future voyages to a distant asteroid or Mars, which might last several months.

Unlike the residents of many fictional space stations, the two volunteers will not enjoy the benefits of artificial gravity.

Extended periods spent in microgravity are known to cause increased bone and muscle loss, reduced heart and artery function and impaired sensory motor performance.

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft will carry Scott Kelly of Nasa and Michael Komienko, from the Russian space agency Roscosmos, to the ISS in March.

Dr Michael Barratt, from Nasas Human Research Programme at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, said: This will build on the rich experience of long-duration flights, including four flights of a year or more conducted by our Russian colleagues on the Mir station.

We have progressed considerably in our understanding of the human physiology in space and in countermeasures to preserve bone, muscle and fitness since then. The space station programme provides us a robust framework for international collaboration that enables us to realise tremendous returns from such an experience.

John Charles, chief of the programmes International Science Office, said data from six-month spells in space did not suggest that the human body adjusts to a new adapted state over that period of time.

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Two astronauts to spend a year in space

Ready For Blast Off: Billionaire Charles Simonyi On What To Pack For Space Travel

Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft will take tourists to the International Space Station from U.S. soil as early as 2017.

Looking for a vacation that costs up to $50 million, has no showers and is likely to make you sick? Its no luxury resort, but traveling to outer space can be the ultimate adventure for thrill-seekers with lots of disposable income. Its as exclusive as it gets fewer than 550 people have ever been, only eight of them paying tourists. But the journey will get more accessible in the next few years, as a handful of companies compete to launch the first commercial space flights.

Until now, the only way to buy a trip to the stars has been through Space Adventures, a Virginia-based company that has facilitated trips to the International Space Station on Russian Soyuz rockets since 2001. Clients have included billionaire Cirque du Soleil cofounder Guy Laliberte, British-American game designer Richard Garriott and South-African software millionaire Mark Shuttleworth.

Charles Simonyi, the Hungarian-born billionaire behind the creation of Microsoft Word and Excel, is the only tourist whos gone twice. He flew to the ISS in 2007 and 2009, paying a total of around $60 million (Space Adventures now charges $50 million per trip).

Before his first take-off, Simonyi spent six months training alongside cosmonauts in Star City, near Moscow, where he exercised, learned about spaceflight and survival, and studied Russian. He had to see nearly 100 doctors and pass dozens of medical tests.

Simonyi then joined a pair of cosmonauts on a two-day trip to the ISS, which is about the size of a three-bedroom house. He spent 12 days there, taking part in medical experiments, getting to know the long-term residents and channeling Earth on amateur radio. He played a bit of space golf and called home. Of course, he spent a lot of time gazing out at the globe.

Its the speed thats the most amazing. Every 90 minutes, you see spring, you see fall, you see the Arctic, you see the tropics, you see night, you see day, he said. I realized it was an extraordinary experience, and I just had to take it all in.

Anousheh Ansari, who traveled a year before Simonyi and was the first female space tourist, wrote, The stars up here are unbelievable. It looks like someone has spread diamond dust over a black velvet blanket.

On his first flight, Simonyi brought two books: Robert Heinleins sci-fi classic The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and a dual-language edition of Goethes Faust. The last lines of the latter became his personal slogan for the mission: The eternal feminine draws us upward. On his second trip, Simony took his wedding ring and photos of his new wife. He also brought flags American, Hungarian and Swedish to get stamped at the ISS.

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Ready For Blast Off: Billionaire Charles Simonyi On What To Pack For Space Travel

Deepika Padukones 10 best public appearances

/entertainment/hindi/top-10/deepika-padukones-top-10-public-appearances/eventshow/45742762.cms

01

Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone is counted among the top fashionistas of the film industry and is known for making heads turn on the red carpet. The Ram-Leela girl has often shown her love for red and has walked the red carpet in the same shade numerous times. Her halter neck backless gown at an award function was just perfect to bowl out her fans. The diva completed the look with a neat hairdo as she sizzled in the figure-hugging gown topped with a matching lip colour.

Deepika Padukones top 10 public appearances

02

Bollywood divas always make a style statement at the Cannes Film Festival every year and Deepika is one of the very few who have nailed every look. While the popular Hollywood celebs sizzled in western gowns at the On Tour Premiere at the Palais des Festival during the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, Deepika made India proud in France in a beautiful white and golden saree complimenting her curves. She completed the look with a bindi.

Deepika Padukones top 10 public appearances

03

Known for her love for red outfits on the red carpet, Deepika Padukone knows how to differentiate one look from the other. The red and nude-tone gown worn by her at an award function in Florida in 2014 was one of her best till date. Leaving a bit to the imagination, Deepika raised the oomph factor in the full-sleeved gown by Zuhair Murad. The diva, however, kept it to her favourite bun hairdo, so as not to not steal the attention from the stunning gown.

Deepika Padukones top 10 public appearances

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Deepika Padukones 10 best public appearances

Edmonton woman heads to Africa to help battle Ebola

Chandra Lye, CTV Edmonton Published Sunday, January 4, 2015 2:16PM MST Last Updated Sunday, January 4, 2015 6:30PM MST

An Edmonton woman is heading to West Africa to help in the fight against Ebola.

Laura Keegan left Sunday as a delegate with the Red Cross, something she said brought up many emotions for her.

I am excited because I am ready to go. I am ready to help. Nervous because I dont really know everything about what Ill be doing.

Just knowing the reality of what I am going to is nerve racking but knowing that I can help, hopefully, makes me feel like I am doing the right thing.

Keegan will be based in Kenema, Sierra Leone for a month offering psychological support.

It is a dire time for them but there is always resilience and hope in that.

I am looking forward to celebrating survivals and helping them move forward with a sense of hope for the future.

Skills that she uses in her day-to-day work at HIV Edmonton will come in handy, she explained.

I do a lot of behaviour and communicating around stigma and discrimination and that will be very similar.

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Edmonton woman heads to Africa to help battle Ebola

After Rajan, PSU banks' heads now question farm debt waivers

Pune, Jan 4, 2015 (PTI)

To check adverse impact of farm debt waiver programmes on the banking sector, heads of the public sector banks have now joined the chorus to seek elimination of such schemes after the issue was red-flagged by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan last month.

Last month, the RBI Governor had said that debt waiver schemes have constrained flow of credit to farmers.

"In some states on certain occasions we have had debt waivers. How effective these debt waivers have been? In fact the studies that we have typically show that they have been ineffective. In fact they have constrained the credit flow post waiver to the farmers," he had said. Doing away with debt waivers schemes of the government was one of the recommendations by the bankers at 'Gyan Sangam' or Bankers' Retreat which concluded here yesterday.

Besides, they have also sought removal of interest rate caps on agriculture loans of less Rs 3 lakh so that there is no artificial distortion in credit market.

Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments had declared loan waivers for the farmers hit by cyclone Phailin last year.

While the Telangana government has given the mandated 25 per cent of the written off loan amount to the banks, Andhra Pradesh has not done it so far.

Banks have over Rs 1.3 lakh crore exposure to the farm sector in these two states. In 2008, the then UPA government at Centre had come out with Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS) 2008 under which 3.69 crore small and marginal farmers and 60 lakh other farmers were given debt relief to the extent of Rs 52,516 crore.

Government auditor CAG had found in several cases that ineligible farmers were given benefit while deserving were left out, pointing to large-scale possibility of fraud.

Besides, top management of the bank also sought digitisation of top 30 processes including land records so that risk of frauds could be minimised. Sensing opportunity from ambitious Digital India campaign of the government, bankers in the 2-day retreat also pitched for enabling infrastructure for Digital Banking under the campaign.

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After Rajan, PSU banks' heads now question farm debt waivers

No Red whine for self believer Greg

Andy Gregory claims strong self belief is needed to allow the Salford Red Devils to stand toe to toe and trade blows with Super Leagues heavyweight challengers this season.

Gregory who spent four years coaching Salford from 1995, maintains he always tried to make sure this key trait was prominent and strong within the teams he selected and enjoyed success with.

Most importantly, he labels it a must have component especially for clubs of Salfords stature.

He certainly expects to see it in Iestyn Harris' side that includes a galaxy of stars ranging from Kiwi ace Kevin Locke at full back to star halves Michael Dobson and Rangi Chase.

Harris also has a formidable pack to select from.

Self belief is so very important, says Gregory.

It is so vital and it is surprising what can be achieved when a team has it.

If a player believes in himself, he can do so much for himself, his coach and for his team..

The importance of self-belief was certainly seen at Salford back in 1996 when we beat Wigan in the Challenge Cup and ended their 43 match unbeaten run with a famous victory.

I remember us training on the Saturday morning and John Wilkinson, the then chairman, was watching us.

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No Red whine for self believer Greg

Before explosion, NASA knew aging Soviet engines could crack, leak fuel

Years before an unmanned rocket erupted in a fireball in October, NASA officials knew the metal in its 50-year-old Soviet-made engines could crack, causing fuel to leak and ignite, government documents show.

As early as 2008, a NASA committee warned about the "substantial" risk of using the decades-old engines, and a fire during a 2011 engine test in Mississippi heightened the agency's concern.

The engines had a "fundamental flaw in the materials," said a top manager for NASA's contracted rocket builder, Orbital Sciences, in a 2013 interview with an agency historian. The Soviet engines were built in the 1960s and 1970s in a failed attempt to take cosmonauts to the moon.

"They were never designed to be in storage that long," said the Orbital manager, Ken Eberly, deputy director for the rocket program.

The explosion, just seconds after liftoff from a Virginia launch pad on Oct. 28, destroyed tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded supplies, experiments and equipment, all bound for the International Space Station. The episode has raised questions about NASA's oversight of a new program to hire private contractors to carry cargo and astronauts to orbit, rather than operate the spacecraft itself.

The program aimed to encourage private industry to develop innovative, safe and reliable spacecraft, and ideally save money. But NASA and Orbital officials knew the decades-old engines posed a danger before the agency awarded the company a $1.9-billion deal to launch eight missions.

The company and NASA tried to address the risk by X-raying the engines to find cracks and patching them with welds.

NASA officials knew before the October explosion that the fix had not worked as well as intended. In May, an overhauled engine exploded during a test at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Under NASA's contract with Orbital, taxpayers shoulder most of the risk of a catastrophe. The company receives as much as 80% of its fee for each launch even if the rocket explodes.

NASA has not said how much the destroyed cargo was worth. The government will also spend up to $20 million to repair damage the explosion caused to the Virginia launch facility, according to legislation approved in December.

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Before explosion, NASA knew aging Soviet engines could crack, leak fuel

Before explosion, NASA knew aging Soviet engines posed risks

Years before an unmanned rocket erupted in a fireball in October, NASA officials knew the metal in its 50-year-old Soviet-made engines could crack, causing fuel to leak and ignite, government documents show.

As early as 2008, a NASA committee warned about the "substantial" risk of using the decades-old engines, and a fire during a 2011 engine test in Mississippi heightened the agency's concern.

The engines had a "fundamental flaw in the materials," said a top manager for NASA's contracted rocket builder, Orbital Sciences, in a 2013 interview with an agency historian. The Soviet engines were built in the 1960s and 1970s in a failed attempt to take cosmonauts to the moon.

"They were never designed to be in storage that long," said the Orbital manager, Ken Eberly, deputy director for the rocket program.

The explosion, just seconds after liftoff from a Virginia launch pad on Oct. 28, destroyed tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded supplies, experiments and equipment, all bound for the International Space Station. The episode has raised questions about NASA's oversight of a new program to hire private contractors to carry cargo and astronauts to orbit, rather than operate the spacecraft itself.

The program aimed to encourage private industry to develop innovative, safe and reliable spacecraft, and ideally save money. But NASA and Orbital officials knew the decades-old engines posed a danger before the agency awarded the company a $1.9-billion deal to launch eight missions.

The company and NASA tried to address the risk by X-raying the engines to find cracks and patching them with welds.

NASA officials knew before the October explosion that the fix had not worked as well as intended. In May, an overhauled engine exploded during a test at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Under NASA's contract with Orbital, taxpayers shoulder most of the risk of a catastrophe. The company receives as much as 80% of its fee for each launch even if the rocket explodes.

NASA has not said how much the destroyed cargo was worth. The government will also spend up to $20 million to repair damage the explosion caused to the Virginia launch facility, according to legislation approved in December.

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Before explosion, NASA knew aging Soviet engines posed risks

NASA launching spacecraft with 19 foot lasso

PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 4 (UPI) -- NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive, SMAP, will measure moisture in the Earth's soil, which will help farmers combat the effects of drought.

Set to launch on Jan. 29 in California, SMAP will orbit the Earth every three days or less to measure moisture in the top two inches of soil with the highest accuracy and resolution, NASA said in a press release.

The spacecraft is equipped with radar to transmit and receive microwaves it sends toward Earth, a radiometer to measure microwaves caused by water in soil and a 19.7 foot rotating mesh antenna, the largest ever deployed in space.

The almost 20 foot antenna will spin at about 14 revolutions per minute, one per four seconds, and was designed to fit into a one-by-four-foot space by engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

"We call it the spinning lasso," NASA instrument manager Wendy Edelstein said.

SMAP will help scientists and farmers by giving them earlier warnings of droughts and providing more detailed moisture maps.

"SMAP can assist in predicting how dramatic drought will be, and then its data can help farmers plan their recovery from drought," Narendra Das, a water and carbon cycle scientist for NASA, said.

2015 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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NASA launching spacecraft with 19 foot lasso

Before explosions, NASA knew aging Soviet engines could crack, leak fuel

Originally published January 4, 2015 at 5:25 PM | Page modified January 4, 2015 at 9:21 PM

Years before an unmanned rocket erupted in a fireball in October, NASA officials knew the metal in its 50-year-old Soviet-made engines could crack, causing fuel to leak and ignite, government documents show.

As early as 2008, a NASA committee warned about the substantial risk of using the decades-old engines, and a fire during a 2011 engine test in Mississippi heightened the agencys concern.

The engines had a fundamental flaw in the materials, said a top manager for NASAs contracted rocket builder, Orbital Sciences, in a 2013 interview with an agency historian. The Soviet engines were built in the 1960s and 1970s in a failed attempt to take cosmonauts to the moon.

They were never designed to be in storage that long, said the Orbital manager, Ken Eberly, deputy director for the rocket program.

The explosion, just seconds after liftoff from a Virginia launchpad on Oct. 28, destroyed tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded supplies, experiments and equipment, all bound for the International Space Station.

The episode has raised questions about NASAs oversight of a new program to hire private contractors to carry cargo and astronauts to orbit, rather than operate the spacecraft itself.

NASA and Orbital officials knew the decades-old engines posed a danger before the agency awarded the company a $1.9-billion deal to launch eight missions. The company and NASA tried to address the risk by X-raying the engines to find cracks and patching them with welds.

NASA officials knew before the October explosion that the fix had not worked as well as intended. In May, an overhauled engine exploded during a test at NASAs Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

Under NASAs contract with Orbital, taxpayers shoulder most of the risk of a catastrophe. The company receives as much as 80 percent of its fee for each launch even if the rocket explodes.

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Before explosions, NASA knew aging Soviet engines could crack, leak fuel

SUNDAY NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS: Midatech, Michelmersh, Hayward Tyler, Prezzo & the Restaurant Group.

By Ed Monk for Thisismoney.co.uk

Published: 08:25 EST, 4 January 2015 | Updated: 08:26 EST, 4 January 2015

We round up the latest share tips from the Sunday newspaper. This week,Midatech, Michelmersh, Hayward Tyler, Prezzo & the Restaurant Group.

Paper profits: What is Fleet Street tipping?

Mail on Sunday

Midas starts 2015 by outlining some of the keys risks to stock market performance in the coming year, and offers three very different tips.

Midatech Pharma floated on AIM only last month and specialises in nano-technology, using tiny particles of pure gold to treat cancer, diabetes and other medical conditions.

The shares are 264p and should gain ground, as the boards members are ambitious, experienced and have a history of success.

The Oxford-based company has developed two innovative processes in the healthcare field. The first uses gold nano-particles to make cancer treatments work more effectively.

When the nano-particles are combined with existing drugs, chemotherapy becomes much more targeted, so it attacks the cancer and not the healthy tissue around it.

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SUNDAY NEWSPAPER SHARE TIPS: Midatech, Michelmersh, Hayward Tyler, Prezzo & the Restaurant Group.