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This is Doug Johnson.
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And this is Phoebe Zimmermann with EXPLORATIONS in VOA SpecialEnglish. Today, we have news about the American vehicles exploringthe surface of the planet Mars. We tell you how to find Mars andthree other planets in the night sky. We also will talk about aplanet-like object named Sedna. But first, we begin with a reportabout the International Space Station and its new crew.
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The new Commander and ScienceOfficer of the International Space Station entered their new homefor the first time last week. Gennady Padalka and Mike Fincke areserving as the Expedition Nine crew on the Space Station. TheAmerican space agency reports their Russian Soyuz Eight spacevehicle linked up with the Space Station early Wednesday, Apriltwenty-first. After testing for possible air leaks, the doorsbetween the two spacecraft were opened.
Expedition Eight Commander Michael Foale and Flight EngineerAlexander Kaleri greeted the new crew and Astronaut Andre Kuipers.Mister Kuipers is a medical doctor from the Netherlands. He hasstudied the effects of space flight on people. He flew to theStation as part of an agreement between the European Space Agencyand Russia’s Federal Space Agency.
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The two crews expect to work together for nine days. They arecarrying out a number of joint operations. Astronaut Kuipers isworking with a number of scientific experiments for the EuropeanSpace Agency.
On Thursday, he, Astronaut Foale, and Cosmonaut Kaleri will leavethe Space Station and return to Earth on the Soyuz Seven spacecraft.Soyuz Seven is the same vehicle that brought the returning crew tothe Station in October of last year.
Cosmonaut Padalka and Astronaut Fincke will spend the next sixmonths on the Space Station. Commander Padalka is an officer in theRussian air force. He spent one-hundred-ninety-eight days on theRussian space station Mir in nineteen-ninety-nine. Astronaut Finckeis an officer in the United States Air Force. This is his first tripinto space.
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The new Space Station crew will have little time to enjoy theirnew surroundings. They must quickly prepare for the arrival of aspacecraft named Progress. The Progress is to arrive on Maytwenty-first. It will be launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome inKazakhstan.
The Progress is similar in size and shape to the Soyuzspacecraft, but carries no crew. The Progress is used to transportfuel and other supplies to the Space Station. After the Progress hascompleted its flight, it will carry away objects that are of no moreuse to the crew. It will be sent down to burn up in Earth’satmosphere.
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Commander Padalka and Astronaut Fincke plan brief trips outsidethe Space Station on July twenty-second and August twenty-fourth.The two men will work on the Zvezda, a service spacecraft alreadylinked to the Station.
They will connect cameras, communications equipment and otherdevices to the Zvezda. They will be preparing the spacecraft to linkup with a supply vehicle operated by the European Space Agency.
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An American vehicle exploring theplanet Mars has found rocks that may have been formed under a largeamount of salt water. Steven Squyres is the lead investigator forthe science equipment on the American space agency’s explorervehicle, Opportunity. He says Opportunity entered an area on thesurface of Mars that scientists believe was once the edge of a largesaltwater lake. Evidence that was gathered does not show how longago liquid water covered the area.
Opportunity was then sent toward an area with thicker rocks togather more evidence.
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The space agency’s other explorer vehicle on Mars, Spirit,completed a drive of seventy-five meters earlier this month. Ittraveled around an area of the surface scientists have called,”Missoula Crater.” Spirit has used its large camera and scientificinstruments to take pictures and measure the atmosphere of the redplanet.
On April first, Spirit found evidence that liquid water used toflow across Mars. Space agency officials say the evidence came fromtests of a volcanic rock discovered on the planet.
Hap McSween is a science team member for the Mars explorervehicles. He says the discovery suggests that water may have been onthe surface in this area in small amounts. Mister McSween also saidthe water might have been underground.
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Recently, the American space agency approved a plan to extend thelife of the two Mars explorer vehicles. Agency officials say it ispossible for the vehicles to keep operating on the planet for aboutanother five months. Spirit and Opportunity were expected to operatefor about three months each after they landed.
Orlando Figueroa is the Mars Exploration program director at theWashington headquarters of the space agency, NASA. Mister Figueroasaid the two vehicles have been extremely successful. He said thatis why officials decided to provide the fifteen million dollarsneeded to operate them until sometime in September.
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Ed Weiler is NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Science. Hesaid this new evidence of water in Martian history is adding toscientists’ knowledge of the planet that is most like Earth.
Mister Weiler said this evidence is the proof the space agencyneeded to expand its programs for exploring Mars. He said the agencymust now learn if microbes ever lived on the red planet. Also, hesaid, NASA must learn if humans can live there in the future.
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Scientists are studying thirty-five pictures recently produced bythe Hubble Space Telescope. They are attempting to answer questionsabout the farthest known object in our solar system. The object iscalled Sedna. It is almost thirteen-thousand-million kilometers fromEarth.
Sedna is like a very small planet.Like Earth, Sedna is in orbit around our sun. The mystery scientistsare attempting to settle is, does Sedna have a moon?
Mike Brown is a scientist with the California Institute ofTechnology, in Pasadena, California. He announced the discovery ofSedna on March fifteenth. Mister Brown says he believes that Sednamust have a moon. The problem is no one has have been able to see amoon near the planet-like object.
Mister Brown said this might be because Sedna turns very slowlyand the moon is now behind Sedna. He said it turns much slower thanother objects in space. Mister Brown said Sedna makes one turn aboutevery forty Earth days. He thinks that the gravity of a small moonis the best reason that Sedna turns so slowly.
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Mister Brown said this makes Sedna a very interesting object. Hesaid it is difficult to see Sedna even with the Hubble SpaceTelescope. He said it is a little like attempting to see a footballfrom one-thousand-five-hundred kilometers away.
Mister Brown said he keeps expecting a small moon to “pop-up” inthe new pictures. But so far he has not been able to see any moon.Mister Brown said the mystery may be solved in time. He said hecould think of no other reason why the small planet-like objectmoves so slowly.
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You may be able to observe something unusual in the northern skyif it is clear tonight. You may be able to see four objects near themoon. They are four planets: Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Youcan see them with your eyes. These four can be seen almost togetheruntil Thursday.
It is really very easy. First, find the moon. Just below and alittle to the left of the Moon is the planet Jupiter. Jupiter is thethird brightest object in the night sky, after the Moon and Venus.
Venus is easy to find. It is extremely bright this time of year.Just to the left of Venus is Mars, where NASA’s explorer vehiclesare busy working on the surface. If you look to the left and up fromMars, the largest object you will see is Saturn.
It is easy to see the four planets with only your eyes, but evenmore fun with a small telescope. If you have a telescope, you mayeasily see the rings of Saturn and the rings of Jupiter. When thismany planets are close together in the night sky, it makes them veryeasy to see.
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This program was written by Paul Thompson. Caty Weaver was ourproducer. This is Phoebe Zimmermann.
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And this is Doug Johnson. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.