This project is co-funded by the European Space Agency as part of a programme dedicated to telemedicine. The aim is to test a satellite communication system, the only technology that would remain fully operational in the event of a natural disaster. The exercise demonstrates the efficiency of satellite telecommunications for intervention in the field while offering the possibility to inform the rest of the world about the evolution of the situation. This is a good example of what ESA wants to develop: a truly user-driven system enabling satellites to safely connect the health world.
ESApod video programme

Venus Express is the first mission dedicated to the study of the composition and dynamics of the planet’s atmosphere. The European orbiter has identified broad meteorological regimes, all influenced by the gigantic hurricane-like vortices at the poles. From these double-eyed vortices, swirling in the atmosphere, around the planet in just a couple of days, to smoother streams at mid-latitudes and wave-dominated phenomena at lower latitudes - these regimes are, surprisingly, clearly delineated. The spacecraft’s elongated orbit has allowed its instruments, notably the VMC camera and the VIRTIS imaging spectrometer, to obtain long-shot views of the planet’s weather patterns, mosaics showing different types of cloud formation and wind speeds, varying according to altitude and latitude. Venus Express has obtained much information on the composition and physical processes active in the atmosphere, and has been able to measure the loss of molecules, stripped away by the solar wind. Rates of oxygen depletion […]

Columbus, with its planned operational lifetime of ten years, is Europe’s first laboratory for long-term research in space conditions. Scientific experiments will be performed on board in the weightlessness of orbit. Once in orbit, Columbus will be taken out of the cargo bay by the Shuttle’s robotic arm. The European laboratory will then be moved to the Italian-built Node 2 connector, where it will be permanently fixed to the Station. Each rack inside Columbus is a laboratory in its own right. Experiments in life sciences, physiology and physics can all be carried out within the one structure. These facilities are pre-installed inside Columbus so experiments can start immediately after it arrives at the ISS. Experiments can also be mounted outside Columbus, to examine the effects of exposure to the space environment. Two such experiments will be launched along with the laboratory.
ESApod video programme

In his weekly radio address President Bush said, “Good morning. This week our Nation celebrated Thanksgiving. American families and friends gathered together to express gratitude for all that we have been given. We give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy. We give thanks for the loved ones who enrich our lives. And we give thanks for the many gifts that come from this prosperous land. Thanksgiving is a time when we acknowledge that all of these things, and life itself, come not from the hand of man, but from Almighty God.”

Schlegel has been preparing for his upcoming mission to deliver Columbus since starting his training as mission specialist with the NASA astronaut class of 1998 at the Johnson Space Center, Houston. All astronauts have to go through this extensive training to prepare for any given situation that might occur during a mission.
Following his assignment to the STS-122 Shuttle mission that will deliver the European Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station, recent months have seen a period of even more intensive briefings and further training for Schlegel, for his colleague French ESA astronaut Leopold Eyharts, and his STS-122 crewmates. Returning to space 14 years after his first visit, Schlegel is already wondering if his body will remember microgravity.
ESApod video programme