WHAT AN EVENTFUL WEEK
OOPS! This rocket didn't make it to space.
This Russian rocket carrying a communication satellite looking fine before blast-off. AFP PHOTO
A Russian rocket carrying its most advanced communication satellite to date fell back to Earth minutes after lift-off on May 16, 2014.
The rocket's control engine failed just nine minutes after its nighttime blastoff from Kazakhstan. The rocket and its satellite burned up in the upper layers of the atmosphere above China.
The US$205-million satellite was meant to provide Internet access to remote Russian regions with poor access to communication. The satellite was set to become "the most powerful Russian telecommunications satellite" ever built.
A cosmic riddle
Astronomers said on May 14, 2014 that they may have found the answer to a cosmic riddle called the magnetar - a star so dense that just a teaspoonful of it would have a mass of about a billion tonnes. Magnetars are mysterious phenomena whose magnetic fields are millions of times greater than that of the Earth.
This is an artist's drawing of the magnetar - a star so dense that just a teaspoonful of it would have a mass of about a billion tonnes. AFP PHOTO / ESO - L. Calcada
Welcome back to Earth!
After 188 days in space, three astronauts finally returned to Earth. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, American astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin zoomed back to our home planet in a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan. They were all smiles on May 14, 2014 as they were carried out of the capsule in their bulky space suits.
The Russian Soyuz space capsule lands in Kazakhstan, on May 14, 2014. AFP PHOTO / POOL
Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin and US astronaut Rick Mastracchio sit in chairs shortly after landing in the Russian Soyuz TMA-11 space capsule. After spending such a long time in space where there is no gravity, astronauts will need to take some time before they can walk comfortably again on Earth. AFP PHOTO / POOL
Featured image: Rescue team members stand near the Russian Soyuz TMA-11M space capsule shortly after its landing in Kazakhstan, on May 14, 2014. AFP PHOTO / POOL/ DMITRY LOVETSKY
