Foton-M2 Mission Returns to Earth

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: The reentry module of the European Space Agency's unmanned Foton-M2 mission has returned to Earth, landing in Kazakhstan, close to the Russian border. The Foton-M2 contained 39 space experiments, including fluid physics, biology, crystal growth, meteoritics, radiation and exobiology. It remained in space for 16 days, and then was de-orbited and landed safely. The spacecraft is being returned to Europe so the various experiments can be returned to the investigators.

View full article (http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/fotonm2_returns.html)
What do you think about this story? post your comments below.

[publiusr]

Just a reminder--that is an unmanned Vostok hull. Without the push for human spaceflight--it would not exist.

[Launch window]

What no bubbles? Results of the ARIEL experiment from Foton-M2 mission
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEM2JH0VRHE_research_0.html
4 January 2006
The Foton-M2 space flight mission, deployed in Low-Earth Orbit between 31 May and 16 June 2005, has produced some very interesting results in the area of fluid physics. The ARIEL experiment, flown in ESA’s FluidPac instrument as part of the Foton-M2 payload was investigating how the application of an electric field to a liquid in weightlessness affects the boiling process.