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http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090508/121498660.html
MOSCOW, May 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has launched a Progress M-02M cargo spacecraft from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on a resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS), a spokesman for Russia's space agency Roscosmos has said.
Progress M-02M took off Thursday at 22:37 Moscow time (18:37GMT) on board a Soyuz-U carrier rocket and separated from the rocket nine minutes later.
"According to our data, the separation was successful. The Progress has been switched to an automatic flight regime," the official said.
He added that it would take the spacecraft five days instead of the usual two to reach the ISS because a series of flight tests was planned.
The freighter is equipped with an on-board digital control system, and is the second in a new series to replace the analog-controlled Progress spacecraft.
The ship will deliver 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, including a new Orlan-MK spacesuit, food, fresh fruit and vegetables, medical and scientific equipment.
Docking with the ISS is scheduled for May 12 at 23:23 Moscow time (19:23GMT), the spokesman said.
Roskosmos denies that the piece of space rocket fell on the residential house roof
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13917951
MOSCOW, May 8 (Itar-Tass) -- The Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) rejected a news report that a piece of the space rocket Soyuz-U had fallen on the roof of a residential house in the Altai Territory.
“According to our information that coincides completely with the information of the emergencies department in the Altai Territory, a certain metallic piece – one meter long, 32 centimeters wide and five centimeters thick – was truly found, however, not on the roof of a residential house, but in the yard of a private house of resident from the village of Baranovka Antonov,” Roskosmos press secretary Alexander Vorobyev told Itar-Tass on Friday.
According to him, the specialists doubted that the found piece is actually a part of the booster Soyuz-U, which put into the orbit the cargo spaceship
Progress M-02M on Thursday evening, because “Baranovka is situated quite far from the area, where parts of the rockets were falling.” “We do not rule out that we faced another attempt to earn money, receiving a compensation for the damage from the falling pieces of rockets,” Vorobyev said.
A special committee is working at the accident site and should draw conclusions whether the found piece is actually a part of the booster Soyuz.
Home hit by Russian space debris
http://www.mosnews.com/society/2009/05/08/1550/
Today, 11:50 PM
A part of a Russian booster rocket used to deliver a spacecraft into orbit has fallen on the roof of a two-storey home in Russia’s Altai Region, in South Siberia, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Friday quoting a source in the local directorate of the Emergencies Ministry.
The source said that the incident took part in the village of Baranovka late on Thursday night. Local residents heard two sharp cracks and then something fell on the roof of a two-storey apartment block. Rescuers and fire fighters were summoned to the site and they found a piece of metal, roughly one by four feet in size.
A spokeswoman for the local Emergencies Ministry directorate has said that the experts had quickly established that the object was a piece of the booster rocket that was launched from the Baikonur launching pad at 22:37 Moscow time on Thursday.
No one was injured in the incident and the house was not seriously damaged.
However, the Russian Space Agency was skeptical about the report, saying that local residents could have found a piece of space debris somewhere else and then carried it to their roof in the hope of receiving compensation for damages. “There is only one fragment and the house is not within the calculated area of possible debris fallout. In any case, there are no casualties or material damage, according to our information,” the Space Agency’s spokesman has told the press.
The Soyuz booster rocket carrying the Progress-M-02M cargo spacecraft started for the International Space Station on Thursday night. The Progress-M-02M is expected to dock with the ISS on May 12 at 23:23 Moscow Time.
Dmitry Medvedev address the Georgian citizens
http://www.webnewswire.com/node/452795
Submitted by Business Desk on May 8, 2009 - 10:54
In his address to Georgian citizens Dmitry Medvedev congratulated Great Patriotic War veterans and people of Georgia on the 64th anniversary of Victory.
The address reads:
“I sincerely congratulate you on our common, great holiday that is Victory Day.
On May 9 we honour our fathers and grandfathers who fought shoulder to shoulder on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, crushed fascism, upheld our freedom, and influenced the entire course of world history.
The joint struggle against fascist invaders is one of the most memorable and heroic pages in the centuries-old chronicles of Russian-Georgian friendship. We will never forget that it was a Russian, Mikhail Yegorov, and a Georgian, Meliton Kantaria, who hoisted the flag on top of the disarmed Reichstag.
Our common historical heritage and tradition of good-neighbourliness and partnership remains a solid foundation for the restoration of trust and mutual understanding between our peoples, peoples who have never been enemies. And despite the fact that today relations between Russia and Georgia are being subjected to severe tests, direct human contacts, cooperation between social and cultural organisations, and links between Russian and Georgian Orthodox churches continue unabated. All this gives us hope that the mutual attraction between two spiritually kindred nations will help us work together and develop mutually beneficial, partner relations.
On this day I wish Great Patriotic War veterans health and well-being and the entire Georgian people peace, kindness and harmony!”
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