Russia to Ban US From Space Station in Sanctions Retaliation:
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Moscow would reject a U.S. Request to prolong the orbiting station's use beyond 2020. It will also bar Washington from using Russian-made rocket engines to launch military satellites. Ref. Source 5
Both Boeing & SpaceX are expected to be awarded contracts by NASA to take U.S. Astronauts to and from the International Space Station starting in 2017, according to a source in the space industry.
The space agency said it will hold a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4 p.m. ET to discuss "The return of human spaceflight launches to the United States," According to a brief statement on its website. NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011. Ref. CNN
Crew evacuates U.S. Section of International Space Station after cooling system alarm
Six-member crew moved from U.S. Section to Russian section after an alarm related to the cooling system went off around 4 a.m. ET. News reports cited the Russian space agency as saying the evacuation was due to an ammonia leak, but NASA tweeted that no leak has been confirmed, The crew are all safe as they investigate the problem, NASA said. Ref. USAToday
NASA Astronaut Kate Rubins Available for Interviews Before Space Station Launch
Rubins will launch to the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, along with her Expedition 48/49 crewmates, cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos and astronaut Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Rubins was selected as an astronaut in 2009, and this will be her first spaceflight. Ref. Source 1i.
Very cool indeed. I was born about 300 years too late. I should have been an explorer in the interior of North America, learning what was out there. Since I missed that I need to hope they'll need someone in charge of security when they shoot people to another world.