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DUKAS_22273667_POL
Full moon over US Capitol
February 7, 2012, Arlington, Virginia, USA: The full Moon and the U.S. Capitol are seen early in the evening on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 from Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (CNP/Polaris). Credit: CNP/ Polaris (FOTO:DUKAS/POLARIS)
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DUKAS_22273662_POL
Full moon over US Capitol
February 7, 2012, Arlington, Virginia, USA: The full Moon and the U.S. Capitol are seen early in the evening on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 from Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. (CNP/Polaris). Credit: CNP/ Polaris (FOTO:DUKAS/POLARIS)
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DUKAS_21624283_POL
Juno takes off for Jupiter - Pictures of the Year 2011
August 5, 2011, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA: The Juno spacecraft will make a five-year, 400-million-mile voyage to Jupiter, orbit the planet, investigate its origin and evolution with eight instruments to probe its internal structure and gravity field, measure water and ammonia in its atmosphere, map its powerful magnetic field and observe its intense auroras. ///An Atlas V rocket launches with Juno spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 41. Credit: Polaris (FOTO:DUKAS/POLARIS)
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DUKAS_115002456_EYE
Bepi before space.
Bepi before space.
Launched in 2018, the BepiColombo spacecraft is due to make its flyby of Earth this Friday 10 April, helping it slow down to allow the SunÕs gravity to pull it closer to Mercury. This picture comes from 2014, showing its main Mercury Planetary Orbiter module bathed in simulated sunlight during ground testing, to give an idea of how the spacecraft will be illuminated in space as it passes its homeworld.
BepiColombo is actually made up of three spacecraft modules: ESAÕs MPO seen here, the Japan Aerospace Exploration AgencyÕs Mercury Magnetosphere Orbiter and the Mercury Transfer Module transporting the other two modules on their way to the innermost planet. They are due to arrive in December 2025 after two Venus flybys and six Mercury flybys.
The full BepiColombo stack was too big for ESAÕs Large Space Simulator, so thermal vacuum testing of the three modules took place separately. Within this cavernous 10-m wide, 15-m high chamber, they were subjected to orbital-quality vacuum as well the temperature extremes prevailing in space.
Credit: ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_19912106_EYE
U.S.-NEW YORK-NASA-ATLANTIS SHUTTLE-CREW-VISIT
(110816) -- NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Four astronauts of the Space Shuttle Atlantis Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim (from R to L) sign for children at American Museum of Natural History, New York, Aug. 16, 2011. It was their first public appearance in New York after the Space Shuttle Atlantis completed its final mission STS-135 on July 21, 2011. (Xinhua/Fan Xia)
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DUKAS_19912105_EYE
U.S.-NEW YORK-NASA-ATLANTIS SHUTTLE-CREW-VISIT
(110816) -- NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Four astronauts of the Space Shuttle Atlantis Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim meet children at American Museum of Natural History, New York, Aug. 16, 2011. It was their first public appearance in New York after the Space Shuttle Atlantis completed its final mission STS-135 on July 21, 2011. (Xinhua/Fan Xia)
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DUKAS_19912104_EYE
U.S.-NEW YORK-NASA-ATLANTIS SHUTTLE-CREW-VISIT
(110816) -- NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Four astronauts of the Space Shuttle Atlantis Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim (from R to L) meet children at American Museum of Natural History, New York, Aug. 16, 2011. It was their first public appearance in New York after the Space Shuttle Atlantis completed its final mission STS-135 on July 21, 2011. (Xinhua/Fan Xia)
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DUKAS_19912103_EYE
U.S.-NEW YORK-NASA-ATLANTIS SHUTTLE-CREW-VISIT
(110816) -- NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Four astronauts of the Space Shuttle Atlantis Christopher Ferguson, Douglas Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim (from R to L) meet children at American Museum of Natural History, New York, Aug. 16, 2011. It was their first public appearance in New York after the Space Shuttle Atlantis completed its final mission STS-135 on July 21, 2011. (Xinhua/Wang Chengyun)
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DUKAS_104074424_EYE
Aarhus Mars Simulation Wind Tunnel
Aarhus Mars Simulation Wind Tunnel.
Part of Aarhus University’s Mars Simulation Laboratory in Denmark, this wind tunnel has been specially designed to simulate the dusty surface of planet Mars.
Constructed within an 8-m long, 2.5-m wide pressure chamber, the Aarhus Mars Simulation Wind Tunnel has attracted researchers from all over Europe and the United States, to test instruments and equipment for a wide range of Mars missions, including ESA’s ExoMars and NASA’s Mars 2020 rovers.
The air pressure within the wind tunnel can be taken down to less than one hundredth of terrestrial sea level and the temperature reduced to as low as -170°C using liquid nitrogen. Fans then blow the scanty atmosphere that remains at up to 30 m/s, along with Mars-style dust.
Researchers can evaluate how items such as sensors, solar panels and mechanical parts stand up to the clingy, abrasive particles, sourced from Mars-like, oxide-rich soil found in central Denmark.
“We’ve been in operation all through this decade,” comments Jonathan Merrison of Aarhus University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, overseeing the facility. “We’re the only wind tunnel that not only reproduces the low pressure and low temperatures of Mars, but also allows the introduction of particulates of sand and dust.
“Probably about a third of the testing carried out here has been ExoMars related, then there have been users related to other Mars missions, as well as industrial testing of high altitude terrestrial equipment.
“We are also a member of the Europlanet network, a grouping of planetary scientists supported by the European Union, supporting the usage of various planetary simulation facilities and analogues.”
The Aarhus Mars Simulation Wind Tunnel was based on a smaller, earlier version, which remains in use. Its development was supported by ESA’s Technology Development Element programme for promising new technologies as well as the philanthropic Villum Kann Rasmussen Founda
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DUKAS_103655484_EYE
European launcher family
Artist's view of the European launcher family.
Shown from left to right: Ariane 5, Vega, the two-booster Ariane 6 (A62), Vega-C, the four-booster Ariane 6 (A64).
Ariane 5 and Vega are operated from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Vega-C is set to debut in 2020, increasing performance from VegaÕs current 1.5 t to about 2.2 t in a reference 700 km polar orbit, covering identified European institutional usersÕ mission needs, with no increase in launch service and operating costs.
The first flight of Ariane 6 is planned for 2020. Ariane 6 provides a modular architecture using either two boosters (Ariane 62) or four boosters (Ariane 64), depending on the required performance. The P120C solid-propellant boosters will be common with Vega-C.
Credit: ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_18636060_EYE
CHINA-ZHEJIANG-SCIENCE WEEK-OPEN (CN)
(110515) -- HANGZHOU, May 15, 2011 (Xinhua) -- A child watches a space suit in the company of his mother in Zhejiang Science and Technology Museum in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, May 15, 2011. The 2011 Zhejiang Science and Technology Week opened Sunday. Popular science locations in Zhejiang provided free entrance and a series of interactive activities for the public. (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) (llp)
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DUKAS_18036225_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21
(110401) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 1, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Technicians work on the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft in the assembling hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, March 31, 2011. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, named after the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is due to blast off on April 5. (Xinhua) (zw)
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DUKAS_18036224_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21-PREPARATION
(110402) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 2, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen on the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 2, 2011. Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-21 has been transported to the launch pad and raised to a vertical position, ready to blast off on April 5. The launch is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first flight into space in 1961 carried out by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Xinhua) (wjd)
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DUKAS_18036223_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21-PREPARATION
(110402) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 2, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen on the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 2, 2011. Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-21 has been transported to the launch pad and raised to a vertical position, ready to blast off on April 5. The launch is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first flight into space in 1961 carried out by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Xinhua) (wjd)
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DUKAS_18036222_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21-PREPARATION
(110402) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 2, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen on the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 2, 2011. Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-21 has been transported to the launch pad and raised to a vertical position, ready to blast off on April 5. The launch is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first flight into space in 1961 carried out by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Xinhua) (wjd)
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DUKAS_18036220_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21-PREPARATION
(110402) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 2, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is being sent to the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 2, 2011. Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-21 has been transported to the launch pad and raised to a vertical position, ready to blast off on April 5. The launch is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first flight into space in 1961 carried out by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Xinhua) (wjd)
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DUKAS_18036219_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21-PREPARATION
(110402) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 2, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is seen on the launch pad at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 2, 2011. Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-21 has been transported to the launch pad and raised to a vertical position, ready to blast off on April 5. The launch is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first flight into space in 1961 carried out by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Xinhua) (wjd)
Xinhua News Agency / eyevine
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DUKAS_18036218_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21
(110401) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 1, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The rocket booster is seen as the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is assembled in the assembling hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, March 31, 2011. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, named after the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is due to blast off on April 5. (Xinhua) (zw)
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DUKAS_18036217_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21
(110401) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 1, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Technicians work on the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft in the assembling hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, March 31, 2011. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, named after the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is due to blast off on April 5. (Xinhua) (zw)
Xinhua News Agency / eyevine
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DUKAS_18036216_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21
(110401) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 1, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is assembled in the assembling hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 1, 2011. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, named after the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is due to blast off on April 5. (Xinhua) (zw)
Xinhua News Agency / eyevine
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DUKAS_18036215_EYE
KAZAKHSTAN-BAIKONUR COSMODROME-SOYUZ TMA-21
(110401) -- BAIKONUR COSMODROME, April 1, 2011 (Xinhua) -- The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft is assembled in the assembling hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, April 1, 2011. The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, named after the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, is due to blast off on April 5. (Xinhua) (zw)
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DUKAS_130649518_EYE
Soyuz launch site in
The Soyuz launch site is located in the northwest part of the Guiana Space Centre (CSG).
It consists of three main zones: the launch platform, made up of a five-level reinforced concrete structure, the preparation area, where the three stages are assembled horizontally and checked, and the launch control centre.
The Soyuz performance perfectly complements that of the Ariane and Vega launchers, and increase the competitiveness and flexibility of the exploitation of Ariane in the commercial market.Credit: ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_114285433_EYE
Antarctica losing ice six times faster than expected
Antarctica losing ice six times faster than expected . According to a new report, Greenland and Antarctica are losing ice six times faster than in the 1990s – currently on track with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s worst-case climate warming scenario. The findings, published in two separate papers in Nature, show that Greenland and Antarctica lost 6.4 trillion tonnes of ice between 1992 and 2017 – pushing global sea levels up by 17.8 millimetres.
Of the total sea level rise coming from melting polar ice sheets, around 60% (10.6 millimetres) was due to Greenland ice losses and 40% was due to Antarctica (7.2 millimetres).
The combined rate of ice loss has risen by a factor of six in just three decades, up from 81 billion tonnes per year in the 1990s to 475 billion tonnes per year in the 2010s. This means that polar ice sheets are now responsible for a third of all sea level rise.Credit: ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_115851124_EYE
A photo provided by NASA shows a mock-up of the Orion crew module during a news conference on the National Mall in Washington
A photo provided by NASA shows a mock-up of the Orion crew module during a news conference on the National Mall in Washington, March 30, 2009. In 2009, NASA started giving money to companies to start development on capsules that could carry astronauts to orbit. Paul E. Alers/NASA Photo Credit: NASA / eyevine
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DUKAS_103655489_EYE
Earth’s evil twin
EarthÕs evil twin. Appearances can be deceiving. This thick, cloud-rich atmosphere rains sulphuric acid and below lie not oceans but a baked and barren lava-strewn surface. Welcome to Venus.
The second planet from the Sun is often coined EarthÕs Ôevil twinÕ on account of it being almost the same size but instead plagued with a poisonous atmosphere of carbon dioxide and a sweltering 470¼C surface. Its high pressure and temperature is hot enough to melt lead and destroy the spacecraft that dare to land on it. Thanks to its dense atmosphere, it is even hotter than planet Mercury, which orbits closer to the Sun.
ESAÕs Venus Express studied the planet from orbit between 2006 and 2014, providing the most in-depth studies of its atmospheric circulation to date. This false-colour image was taken in ultraviolet light with the Venus Monitoring Camera on 23 July 2007. It shows a view of the southern hemisphere from equator (right) to the pole (left) from a distance of 35 000 km from the surface of the planet.
Scientists think that Venus once looked a lot like Earth, but underwent an irreversible climate change that is often used as an extreme example of what happens in a runaway greenhouse effect.
The main source of heat in the Solar System is the SunÕs energy, which warms a planetÕs surface up, and then the planet radiates energy back into space. An atmosphere traps some of the outgoing energy, retaining heat Ð the so-called greenhouse effect. It is a natural phenomenon that helps regulate a planetÕs temperature. If it werenÕt for greenhouse gases like water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, EarthÕs surface temperature would be about 30 degrees cooler than its present +15¼C average.
Over the past centuries, humans have altered this natural balance on Earth, strengthening the greenhouse effect since the dawn of industrial activity by contributing additional carbon dioxide (FOTO: DUKAS/EYEVINE)
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DUKAS_132132362_EYE
Vega VV20
Launch of Vega VV20 on 16 November 2021, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, carrying three CERES Earth observation satellites.
Credit: P PIRON/ESA/CNES/Arianespace / ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_105313195_EYE
ESA’s wandering eye.
ESAÕs wandering eye. Sitting 2400 m above sea level on the volcanic island of Tenerife, Spain, ESAÕs Optical Ground Station keeps watch on the skies.
The 1-m telescope nestled within the dome on the left of this image, spends its time surveying EarthÕs local environment for artificial debris objects, testing different strategies for observing risky asteroids (near-Earth objects) as well as testing and commissioning optical communication satellites. (The telescope is also used for quantum key distribution and feeder-link experiments.)
Part of the larger Teide Observatory, the optical ground station can detect artificial debris objects as small as 10-cm travelling in the Ôgeostationary ringÕ Ð a volume of space that comprises all geostationary orbits suitable for practical use, and one of the most valuable regions in space for telecommunications and Earth observation.
The search for fragments in the geostationary ring and a better knowledge of the current debris population are crucial to understand its future evolution, to assess the risk of collisions, and to define suitable and cost-efficient mitigation measures.
ESAÕs Space Safety activities are underpinned by such accurate data from observatories around the globe, not only on space debris and asteroids but on our energetic Sun.
Credit: ESO / eyevine
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Credit: ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_126427928_EYE
Space embrace
Space embrace.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, according to one of the three laws of robotics imagined by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. On board humanity’s only outpost in space, this obedience has turned into cooperation. Astronauts and robots are working together.
The latest robot to service the International Space Station is the European Robotic Arm (ERA). This android automaton is much like a human arm. It has an elbow, shoulders and even wrists, and it the first robot able to ‘walk’ around the Russian part of the Space Station.
The arm will be launched into space together with the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, called ‘Nauka’, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, on 15 July 2021 at 19:18 CEST.
ESA astronaut André Kuipers is seen in this picture during his first space mission in 2004, with a scale model of the European Robotic Arm. The real thing has a length of over 11 m, and has the ability to anchor itself to the Station in multiple locations, moving backwards and forwards with a large range of motion.
“I am happy to see the European Robotic Arm fly next month. It was a real pleasure to help prepare this fantastic piece of robotics for its duties on the International Space Station”, says André, who trained under water with a real-size model of the robot at Star City, in Russia, before his spaceflight.
Astronauts will find in ERA a most valuable ally – it will save them precious time to do other work in space. ERA will transfer payloads from inside to outside the International Space Station, but it will also help spacewalkers by transporting them around like a cherry-picker crane.
The crew can control ERA from both inside and outside the Space Station, a feature that no other robotic arm has offered before. The robotic arm can perform many tasks automatically, and (FOTO: DUKAS/EYEVINE)
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DUKAS_109782210_EYE
This image shows a dark interstellar cloud ravaged by the passage of Merope, one of the brightest stars in the Pleiades star cluster. Just as a torch beam bounces off the wall of a cave, the star is reflecting light from the surface of pitch-black clouds
The Hubble Space Telescope has caught the eerie, wispy tendrils of a dark interstellar cloud being destroyed by the passage of one of the brightest stars in the Pleiades star cluster. Like a flashlight beam shining off the wall of a cave, the star is reflecting light off the surface of pitch black clouds of cold gas laced with dust. These are called reflection nebulae.
Credit: ESA / eyevine
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DUKAS_124350976_EYE
Dragon fire
Dragon fire.
SpaceXÕs Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon spits fire as it lifts off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 23 April at 05:49 local time. On board are ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
The crew of four spent around 23 hours orbiting Earth and catching up with the International Space Station after their launch before docking to the Node-2 Harmony module, marking the start of ESAÕs six-month mission Alpha.
Thomas is the first European to be launched to space on a US spacecraft in over a decade. The new Crew Dragon ships four astronauts at a time, allowing more people to live and work on the International Space Station doing more research for scientists on Earth.
Alpha is ThomasÕ second space mission, and everything is set to be bigger and brighter. A Russian laboratory module, scheduled to arrive in the summer with a European robotic arm, will offer more ways of maintaining the International Space Station and supporting spacewalkers as they work outside. Thomas will help set up this arm and prepare it for use during the Alpha mission.
Over 200 international experiments are planned during ThomasÕ time in space. Of the 40 European ones, 12 are new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.
At the end of the Alpha mission in October, Thomas will take over commander of the International Space Station for a brief period and welcome ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer on his first flight to space.
Credit: ESA / eyevine
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