The answer, of course, is via satellite. While the answer may be simple, the process is more complicated. Behind Andre's smiling face is a complex system of jargon-filled amplifiers, multiplexers, antennas, nodes and signal modulation.

Thanks to satcoms, the crew can directly receive emails on the Space Station, they can make private calls via IP phones, and we can see them during televised video conferences.

The Station is flying in a low orbit - around 400 km up - which means that direct communications can happen only when it passes over a ground station.

Instead, signals from the Station are first sent to 'geostationary' satellites hovering 36 000 km above the equator.

Geostationary satellites take exactly a day to circle Earth, making them appear motionless in our skies. This allows continuous contact with ground stations, enabling them to relay the Station's signals to a central ground station on Earth more often.

The process is reversed when sites such as the Columbus control centre in Munich, Germany, send signals up to the Station.

ESA's Artemis satellite provides a similar data-relay service for Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle as the cargo ferry flies up to dock with the Station.

The European Data Relay System now being developed by ESA will follow the same process to create a telecommunications network that will provide realtime data from European satellites on demand. European astronauts use US communications assets on the Station.

When Andre heard his little girl sing to him as the world watched, they were linked using 'Ku-band' frequencies, which often deliver TV programmes directly to our home satellite dishes.

Ku-band is also used when Andre emails or tweets photos to his many followers on Earth.

A lower frequency, S-band, is used for commanding the Station, for key telemetry and for voice-only communications.

Video links via satcoms have also been very helpful as Andre works in the Columbus research module. He is seen live by his colleagues at the Columbus control centre, helping them to work together.

Ground specialists can see what he is doing to check that he is doing a job as planned and using the right tools.

You can follow Andre's communications via satellite by going on Twitter, visiting ESA's YouTube channel or checking out ESA's Flickr page. See the links in the column to the right.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (UPI) Feb 3, 2012 - NASA says crew replacement on the International Space Station will be delayed following the failure of a Russian Soyuz capsule in a ground test.

Russian technicians overpressurized the Soyuz vehicle causing a split in welds on the descent module that brings the space crew back to Earth, Michael Suffredini, NASA's program manager for the space station, told The Washington Post Thursday.

"The better part of valor is to go ahead and scrap it and not try to fly," he said of the incident, the second delay of an ISS crew rotation in six months.

NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba and two Russian cosmonauts, scheduled to launch to the space station March 29, will now fly on another Soyuz craft May 15.

"Looks like I'll b on the Planet a little longer," Acaba tweeted Wednesday. "Issues with our Soyuz during a test will cause a delay. .?.?. We'll b ready."

The delay will prolong the mission of the current ISS crew, station commander Daniel Burbank of NASA and two Russian crew members, by 45 days.

With the retirement of the space shuttles, NASA relies on Russia to send its astronauts into orbit.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (AFP) Feb 2, 2012 - Russia said Thursday that its delayed next manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) would blast off May 15, 45 days later than its scheduled date, after a problem was found in testing.

"The launch is set for May 15," the head of the Russian space agency's manned programmes, Alexei Krasnov, told the Interfax news agency.

He also said that the mission currently on the ISS would stay an extra six weeks longer than scheduled and would land back on Earth on April 30. Three crew members had been set to land on March 16.

"The landing is normally held two weeks before the launch of the next mission. This time it will happen on April 30," he told Interfax.

The delay came after the re-entry capsule of the Soyuz spacecraft to be used in the mission was shown in testing not to be hermetically sealed and could not be used for safety reasons.

The re-entry capsule goes inside the spacecraft and is the portion that eventually returns the astronauts to Earth when the mission is over.

Russia now has sole reponsibility for taking US and other international astronauts to the ISS following the withdrawal of the US space shuttle but its own space programme has been hit by a string of problems in recent months.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (AFP) Jan 31, 2012 - Russia plans to postpone its next manned launch to the International Space Station (ISS) by at least a month, the head of its space agency's manned programmes told the RIA Novosti news agency Tuesday.

The current mission on the ISS is likely to land around 45 days later than the scheduled March 16, while the next mission set for March 30 will blast off with a similar delay, the Roscosmos official, Alexei Krasnov, said.

"I think their return and the launch of the next crew will be pushed back by a month or a month-and-a-half," Krasnov said, adding that he would have the exact dates after a teleconference with NASA set for Thursday.

Krasnov said that delays came after the re-entry capsule of the Soyuz TMA-04M space ship to be used in the mission was shown in testing not to be hermetically sealed and could not be used for safety reasons.

That means the next mission will have to replace it with the re-entry capsule intended for the following mission scheduled May 30, which in turn will be delayed.

Krasnov said the delays would not be a problem because the crew currently on the ISS had initially been assigned an "unusually short expedition" of 120 days.

The re-entry capsule goes inside the spacecraft and is the portion that eventually returns the astronauts to Earth when the mission is over.

Russia now has sole reponsibility for taking US and other international astronauts to the ISS following the withdrawal of the US space shuttle but its own space programme has been hit by a string of problems in recent months.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (AFP) Feb 1, 2012 - Russia will replace the Soyuz spacecraft set to take the next crew to the International Space Station after a fault was found in testing, a space industry source said Wednesday.

The Russian space agency had previously said that only a capsule used for the crew's re-entry to Earth would be replaced after tests found it was not hermetically sealed, delaying a mission originally set for March 30.

"A decision has been taken to completely replace the Soyuz TMA-04M ship, not just the damaged re-entry capsule," the source told the Interfax news agency, saying the crew would fly in a Soyuz built for the following mission, which will in turn be delayed.

The source said the decision was taken because it was easier to use an entirely new Soyuz than to switch the re-entry capsule, due to modifications to the hatch of the newer craft.

The Soyuz will be ready in the next two weeks and then tests at Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will take a further six weeks, the source said.

The head of Roscosmos, Vladimir Popovkin, said Tuesday that the launch of the next Soyuz would be most likely be postponed until the end of April, with the final decision to be taken after talks with NASA on Thursday.

The fault in the Soyuz craft, which is now the only means to ferry crews to the ISS after the retirement of the US shuttle, is the latest in a series of embarrassing setbacks to Russia's space programme.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (AFP) Jan 28, 2012 - A Russian cargo vessel docked safely at the International Space Station Saturday carrying mainly water and fuel, the mission control centre said.

The Progress M-14M spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Thursday and arrived at its destination at 0008 GMT, it said in a statement.

There are six men aboard the orbiting space station; three Russians, two Americans and a Dutchman.

Russia has sole responsibility for taking US and other international astronauts to the ISS following the withdrawal of the US space shuttle in July last year, but its own space programme has been hit by a string of problems.

In 2011, the Russian space industry suffered five failed launches.

Last August, a Soyuz rocket and the Progress supply ship it was carrying crashed minutes after blast off from Baikonour, due to a motor failure, paralysing launches destined for the ISS for three months.

In October investigators said negligence was to blame.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (AFP) Jan 27, 2012 - Russia is set to pospone the next two manned launches for the International Space Station (ISS) for several weeks due to technical problems with the Soyuz spaceship, an industry source told Interfax Friday.

The source told Interfax that the Soyuz TMA-04M vessel had not withstood tests to its pressure chamber ahead of the planned mission on March 30 and the first flight would be postponed to mid-April or the first half of May.

"This re-entry capsule now cannot be used for manned spaceflight," the source said.

That mission would fly with the re-entry capsule that was due to go up on the next mission on May 30 and as a result that mission would also likely be postponed to the middle or end of June.

The re-entry capsule goes inside the spacecraft and is the portion that eventually returns the astronauts to Earth when the mission is over.

Russia now has sole reponsibility for taking US and other international astronauts to the ISS following the withdrawal of the US space shuttle but its own space programme has been hit by a string of problems in the last months.

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 25, 2012 - The Progress M-13M space freighter with the Chibis-M micro-satellite undocked early on Tuesday from the International Space Station (ISS), a mission control spokesman said.

The space freighter undocked from the Pirs docking module as scheduled, at 2:10 Moscow time Tuesday (22:10 Monday GMT), in an automated mode.

"The space freighter will begin its flight to the Earth for subsequent sinking in a non-navigational zone in the Pacific Ocean. Engines are scheduled to be switched on for reentry braking on January 25, at 6:27 Moscow time [2:27 GMT]," the mission control spokesman said.

Progress-family freighters have been the backbone of the Russian space cargo fleet for decades.

In addition to their main mission as cargo spacecraft, they are used to adjust the ISS's orbit and conduct scientific experiments.

The departure of Progress M-14M will clear the path for the next Russian resupply vehicle, Progress M-13M, which will blast off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Prior to Progress M-13M's fiery demise above the Pacific Ocean, Russian ground controllers will bring it to a higher orbit by switching on its propulsion engines on Tuesday, at 5:35 Moscow time (1:35 GMT) and 6:22 Moscow time (2:22 GMT).

After the two orbit corrections, the Progress will be positioned at about 500 km to deploy the Chibis-M micro-satellite. Chibis-M is due to separate from the space freighter at 3:19 Moscow time on Wednesday (23:19 Tuesday GMT) and will remain in orbit for at least four years studying lightnings and thunderstorms in the Earth's atmosphere.

Chibis-M weights about 40 kg and carries about 12 kg of equipment to study high-altitude powerful pulses of gamma-and X-ray that sometimes accompany thunderstorms, including the Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes (TGFs) phenomena.

TGFs, first discovered in 1994, are probably caused by electric fields produced above thunderstorms, but scientists are still uncertain about the details of the mechanism.

Source: RIA Novosti

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 27, 2012 - Russia's Chibis (Peewit) microsatellite, which studies gamma-radiation generated by lightning in the atmosphere, was put into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS).

It separated from the Progress M-13M space freighter at 23:18 GMT on Tuesday.

The microsatellite weighs about 40 kilograms and carries some 12 kilograms of scientific equipment.

The microsatellite, developed at the Institute of Space Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was delivered to the ISS on November 2, 2011.

Source: RIA Novosti

]]> Thu, 09 FEB 2012 09:06:58 AEST Moscow (RIA Novosti) Jan 26, 2012 - The Progress M-13M cargo spacecraft will be sunk in a remote area in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday after deploying a micro-satellite, a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control said.

The space freighter undocked from the Pirs docking module on the International Space Station (ISS) at 02:10 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday (22:10 on Monday GMT).

After two orbit corrections, the Progress was positioned at about 500 km from the orbital station to deploy the Chibis-M micro-satellite, which carries about 12 kg of equipment to study high-altitude powerful pulses of gamma-and X-ray.

The satellite separated from the Progress spacecraft at 03:19 a.m. Moscow time on Wednesday (23:19 GMT on Tuesday) and will remain in orbit for at least four years studying lightnings and thunderstorms in the Earth's atmosphere.

The Progress M-13M will start its decent to the Earth at 06:27 a.m. Moscow time (02:27 GMT), and is expected to sink in a non-navigational zone in the Pacific Ocean at about 07:18 a.m. Moscow time (03:18 GMT).

The departure of Progress M-13M clears the path for the next Russian resupply vehicle, Progress M-14M, which is scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

Progress-family freighters have been the backbone of the Russian space cargo fleet for decades.

In addition to their main mission as cargo spacecraft, they are used to adjust the ISS's orbit and conduct scientific experiments.

Source: RIA Novosti

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