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پرواز انوشه انصاري 4 روز به تعويق افتاد
شنبه،
11 شهريور 1385 پرتاب
سايوز TMA-9 كه قرار است اولين بانوي گردشگر فضايي را با
خود به ايستگاه بينالمللي فضايي واقع در مداري به ارتفاع
400 كيلومتر بالاتر از سطح زمين حمل نمايد، چهار روز به
تعويق افتاد.
The launch of the
Russian spacecraft scheduled to carry the first
female space tourist into orbit has been postponed
by four days, according to the Russian space agency.
The craft is now slated to blast off on Sept. 18 and
will travel to the international space station.
The Russian space agency on Thursday postponed by
four days its launch next month of a Soyuz capsule
carrying an American who is the first female space
tourist to the international space station, a
spokesperson said.
The postponement until Sept. 18 follows repeated
delays in the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis
to the ISS. That launch, initially scheduled for
Aug. 27, was pushed back to an unspecified date
because of Tropical Storm Ernesto and a lightning
strike at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Damage Check
Spokesperson Igor Panarin confirmed the Soyuz
postponement to The Associated Press, but did not
comment on the reason. The news agency RIA-Novosti
quoted him as saying "the decision was taken in
connection with the postponement of the launch of
the shuttle Atlantis."
NASA will do a damage check Thursday to make sure
Ernesto caused no harm, then will fine-tune its
launch times. It could try a liftoff Sept. 6, 7, or
8.
Riding in the Soyuz TMA-9 capsule will be Anousheh
Ansari, an Iranian-born U.S. entrepreneur who is
traveling as a space tourist. Ansari's contract bars
her from revealing the trip's cost, but she noted
previous space tourists have paid some $20 million.
In the capsule with her will be Russian cosmonaut
Mikhail Tyurin and Spanish-born U.S. astronaut
Miguel Lopez-Alegria. Ansari will spend 10 days
before returning to Earth with its current crew,
Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams, who have been
aboard since April 1.
Fourth Space Tourist
Ansari, who with her husband co-founded the
Texas-based company Telecom Technologies, is
following in the path of space tourists Dennis Tito,
Mark Shuttleworth and Greg Olsen, who also traveled
to the international space station aboard Russian
capsules.
The Russians were worried that a shuttle launch past
Sept. 7 would force them to change their Soyuz
launch date and land in the dark of night --
something they did not want to do because they have
a new private firm handling capsule recovery.
However, in negotiations, they determined NASA's
mission would not interfere as long as the shuttle
left the station by Sept. 17.
During the long shutdown of the U.S. space program
after the breakup of the shuttle Columbia in 2003,
Russia's Soyuz manned spacecraft and unmanned
Progress cargo ships were the only way to send new
crew members and supplies to the space station.
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