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News briefs: January 26-27
Posted: Mon, Jan 28, 2002, 9:04 AM ET (1404 GMT)
- A Russian Space Forces satellite control center in the Russian Far East lost power Saturday because of a failure to pay bills. The utility company Kamchatenergo decided Saturday to cut power to the facility on the Kamchatka Peninsula because the Russian military owed the utility an undisclosed sum of unpaid electricity bills. Power to the center, which communicates with military satellites and the International Space Station, was restored by late Saturday.
- NASA's Stardust spacecraft completed a key maneuver recently that puts the spacecraft on course for its comet flyby in two years. The spacecraft fired its thrusters for 111 seconds on January 18, increasing its speed by 2.65 meters per second, according to a project status report published late last week. Stardust is scheduled to fly by the comet Wild 2 in January 2004 and collect cometary dust samples, which will be returned to Earth in 2006.
- The second launch of Japan's H-2A rocket has been rescheduled for February 3 from the Tanegashima Space Center, the Japanese space agency NASDA reported. The launch was pushed back from January 31 because of a cryogenic test earlier in the month was delayed by poor weather. The booster will launch the MDS-1 experimental satellite and the DASH reentry demonstrator.
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