Two Russian satellites launched together / Fireworks from a flaring star

     NEWSALERT: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 @ 1441 GMT
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TWO RUSSIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES SHARE RIDE TO SPACE
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A Proton rocket blasted off from a snow-covered launch pad early Wednesday
and successfully put a pair of Russian civil communications satellites
22,300 miles above Earth.

 http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0902/11express/


SWIFT, FERMI PROBE FIREWORKS FROM FLARING GAMMA-RAY STAR
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Astronomers using NASA's Swift satellite and Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope are seeing frequent blasts from a stellar remnant 30,000
light-years away. The high-energy fireworks arise from a rare type of
neutron star known as a soft-gamma-ray repeater. Such objects
unpredictably send out a series of X-ray and gamma-ray flares.

 http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0902/10gammarays/


THREE EUROPEAN SPACE MISSIONS EXTENDED
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The European Space Agency's Science Programme Committee has extended the
operations of the Mars Express orbiter, Venus Express orbiter and Earth
magnetosphere mission called Cluster.

 http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0902/10esaextensions/