ME-4 returned to earth. Chronus gearing up

ME-4 returned to earth
HASA's final flight to the MSSEU completed its mission. It splashed down on March 8th 2011 at 6:20:22 p.m. in the pacific ocean. This mission added 2 new solar panels to the station. This was the agency's final flight to the moon for now. It will now focus on building an space station in LEO called Chronus.









Agency relocated to the Netherlands
The agency has completed its move to the Netherlands. They moved back to the Netherlands because it's closer to ESTEC in Noordwijk where their (unmanned) missions are being prepared. This also reduces the costs of all launches because they don't need to move the launcher to a specific base anymore.

Chronus core undergoing final preparations
Now that ME-4 has returned to earth and the new MCC is esthablished, HASA can move on with their new Chronus program. The Chronus core and its launcher are now being prepared for launch which is now officially scheduled for March 25th. The roll-out is scheduled for March 22th. The launcher will be a Proton.

Expedition 1 almost ready for launch
The first Expedition is almost ready for launch. The craft that the Expedition 1 crew uses is a Soyuz TMA. It will stay in space for a month until it is relieved by Expedition 2. The crew will power up the station and unpack the first cargo crafts which will bring water and food but also some small systems and the first experiments. Launch is scheduled for March 27th. The roll-out of the Soyuz is scheduled for March 25th.

Supply vessels gearing up for launch
The vessels that will supply Chronus for the first time are gearing up for launch. The progress will bring food, water and the first experiments.

ATV-1 will be used to haul up small systems (like laptops, cameras etc.) to the station. It will also carry some experiments.

Progress will be the first one to undock and reenter the atmosphere.

SNOFAS-2 ready to fly to Kourou
SNOFAS-2 is done with the assembly and testing phase and is ready for its first flight, which will still be done on earth. On wednesday it will be transported to Kourou with a Boeing 747-400F. SNOFAS-2 will be launched atop of an Ariane 4. The launcher will fly in the Ariane 44PL configuration which means that it has 4 boosters; 2 small boosters and 2 large boosters. The launch is scheduled for April 16th.