** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

Confirmation now up in English:

Russian Phobos-Grunt Mars probe falls in Pacific Ocean

22:11 15/01/2012MOSCOW, January 15 (RIA Novosti) - Doomed Russian Phobos-Grunt Mars probe that's been stuck in Earth orbit for two months has crashed down in the Pacific Ocean on late Sunday.

"Phobos-Grunt fragments have crashed down in the Pacific Ocean," Russia's Defense Ministry official Alexei Zolotukhin told RIA Novosti, adding that the fragments fell in 1,250 kilometers to the west of the island of Wellington.

The spacecraft fell at about 21:45 on Sunday Moscow time [17:45 GMT].

As of 20.15 Sunday, the spacecraft was moving in the near-Earth orbit with an altitude that varied between 113.8 km at perigee and 133.2 km at apogee, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20120115/170769403.html
 
Everybody back pedalling now...

We've not got much further on the news front:

A law enforcement source confirmed the report.

But a source in the space industry said citing ballisticians that the fragments fell in Brazil.

Russian space agency Roscosmos has so far not commented on the place and time of the fall.

A bit of a Russian soap opera. :D
 
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The launch of the Wideband Global SATCOM 4 (WGS-4) military satellite from Cape Canaveral at 00:38 (GMT) this morning:

 
What a great sight. On Friday, Atlantis was moved to VAB for two months storage as part of the decommissioning process.

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atlantisvab2.jpg


When preparations are finally over Atlantis will be moved Kennedy Space Centre’s Visitor Complex next January for permanent display. Discovery is nearing completion and is due to go Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in April and Endeavour will follow later this year for display in Los Angeles.
 
We saw the launch of WGS-4 last week (20th) but now a very good look at it again but this time from preparation at the pad. Turn up the volume and enjoy:

 
Soyuz with Progress M-14M/46P rolled out at Baikonur Cosmodrome this morning:


Launch will be tomorrow at 23:06 GMT.
 
Western Europe at Night:

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With hardware from the Earth-orbiting International Space Station appearing in the near foreground, a night time European panorama reveals city lights from Belgium and the Netherlands at bottom center. the British Isles partially obscured by solar array panels at left, the North Sea at left center, and Scandinavia at right center beneath the end effector of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System or Canadarm2. This image was taken by the station crew on Jan. 22, 2012.
 
Another spectacular view flying over the US. This one was taken on 30th January and also has the Aurora Borealis showing over Canada:

 
The full launch sequence with burns and separation:


The satellites have been deployed and the Vega launcher maiden flight has been a success.
 
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