In a somewhat surprising announcement, the South Korean astronaut Ko San was dropped from the upcoming Soyuz TMA-12 mission because he apparently removed some training manuals from Star City without authorization. The manuals are Soyuz flight manuals – not exactly state secret material – so they seem to have been making more of a statement about his doing things he wasn’t supposed to do:
“The Russian space agency has stressed that a minor mistake and disobedience can cause serious consequences,” Lee told reporters. Lee said he believed the materials in question were not classified.
It seems a bit harsh, though. His backup is a woman, Yi So-yeon, so she will get to go up instead. (James Oberg comments at FP Space.)
There were several comments at FP Space regarding the article “NASA wary of relying on Russia”, starting with Kirill Simon and replies following.
As reported at the Buran-Energiya site, the experimental space shuttle Buran OK-GLI will be shipped to the Sinsheim Auto & Technik Museum in Germany from Bahrain where it has been languishing for over 4 years during a dispute over its ownership. The model was exhibited in Sydney in 2000 but the organization that owned it then went bankrupt. It will at last be properly looked-after, though it’s a pity it could not be returned to Russia and exhibited. (CollectSPACE thread: Buran found, sold to German museum.)
The ATV Jules Verne ran into a technical problem after its successful launch: one of the four “electronics chains” controlling its propulsion system detected an anamoly and shut down. It is only a glitch so far; it’s unclear if the fault is with the electronics or the propulsion system.
