space environment (№ 313 ) 20.01.2021 (2021)

Vostochny, the beginning of the construction of the airport, comments by Dmitry Rogozin.

Vostochny, completion of the assembly of the vacuum installation housing for testing the tightness of spacecraft compartments.

Baikonur, the deconservation of the Progress MS-16 and Soyuz MS-18 ships, the preparation of the Fregat upper stage for the launch of the Arctic communications satellites.

Interview: Alexander Mitkin, Deputy General Director for Electrical Systems of NPO Lavochkina.

One line:

- Planned correction of the ISS orbit;

- The Keldysh Center plans to manufacture and test an installation with a plasma torch for incineration of especially hazardous waste, comment by General Director Vladimir Koshlakov;

- The Space Council of the Russian Academy of Sciences plans to create a commission to verify the existence of life on Venus;

- China is interested in international cooperation in the study of lunar soil samples;

- The Insight station has stopped trying to measure the temperature under the surface of Mars due to too hard ground;

- Astrophysical observatory "Spectrum-RG" continues the third survey of the sky;

- Earth, northern lights and starry sky, timelapse from the ISS;

- Announcement of Oleg Artemyev's interview for the Russian Cosmos magazine.

Chronograph: 60 years ago, six candidates for cosmonauts (Valery Bykovsky, Yuri Gagarin, Grigory Nelyubov, Andrian Nikolaev, Pavel Popovich and German Titov) passed the first exam on the design, operation and management skills of the Vostok spacecraft and by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force were appointed to the positions of cosmonauts in the first group for space flights.

Astrophoto of the week: the Cave nebula, an unexpected waterfall in the starlight, two arcs in the Arctic sky of Norway.

The question about space: why do scientists need new samples of lunar soil?