Alexei Leonov, first human to walk in space, dies at 85

MOSCOW - Alexei Leonov, who became the first human to walk in space in 1965, died on Friday at the age of 85 after a long illness, Russia's TASS news agency reported.

Though less well known internationally than Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, Leonov was a household name in his native Russia and will be remembered in particular for his role in the 1965 Voskhod-2 mission.

During that flight, one of two he made into space in his career, Leonov became the first human to conduct a spacewalk, an episode that lasted 12 minutes and 9 seconds.

The outing was stressful for Leonov whose spacesuit filled with air to the point where he struggled to get back into his spacecraft.

Leonov flew into space again in 1975, commanding the Soviet half of the Apollo-Soyuz mission, the first US–Soviet space flight. It occurred at a time when Russia and the United States, which spent part of the Cold War locked in a space race, were pursuing a policy of detente.

Leonov trained as a military pilot before becoming a cosmonaut. He received a 'Hero of the Soviet Union' medal - one of the Russian state's most prestigious awards - twice and has a small crater on the Moon named after him.

Leonov helped train other cosmonauts before retiring in 1992, a year after the Soviet Union collapsed. He devoted himself to private business and his twin passions of art and writing in later life.

Russian President Vladimir Putin knew Leonov well and had great respect for his courage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, TASS reported.

NASA said in a statement on Twitter it was saddened by Leonov's death.

"His venture into the vacuum of space began the history of extravehicular activity that makes today’s Space Station maintenance possible," it said. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Russia to extend ban on Western food imports until early 2016

MOSCOW - Russia plans to extend a ban on Western food imports for six months starting from early August, after the European Union extended its own sanctions against Moscow, Russian officials said on Monday.

European Union foreign ministers extended economic sanctions against Russia until Jan. 31 on Monday, keeping up pressure on Moscow to help resolve the Ukraine conflict.

"A proposal (to extend the food ban) has been prepared and submitted to the presidential administration," Natalya Timakova, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

"Regarding the list of goods which will continue to be under embargo, it remains virtually unchanged," she added.

Russia had been widely expected to prolong the ban beyond an Aug. 8 deadline, as officials previously said the decision directly depended on the European sanctions extension.

"Taking into account that the European Union has extended sanctions against the Russian Federation for half a year, I ask you to prepare my proposal to the president to extend the presidential degree (on the ban) for this period," Medvedev told a meeting with his deputies.

The ban, which prohibits food imports worth $9 billion from the United States, European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway, was imposed for a year in retaliation to Western sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Russia's Agriculture Ministry said earlier on Monday it might add new products to the list of banned imports, but the Kremlin is unlikely to approve any additions, sticking to what it calls a policy of reciprocity.

Russia has banned imports of fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, milk and dairy.w

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Russia successfully launches military satellite

Russia successfully launched a military satellite on Friday, following a recent string of failures for the country's space programme.

The military satellite sent into space from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia at 1524 GMT was put into orbit as planned, state news agency TASS reported, quoting a defence ministry spokesman.

Russia's space sector has seen a series of misfires lately including the Progress spacecraft, which failed shortly after launch on April 28 and fell back to Earth.

In May a Proton rocket did not manage to put into orbit a Mexican communications satellite.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made revitalising the space sector a priority, a project that may include transforming the country's space agency into a public company.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com