Reaching The Stars In A Minute.

Some pictures of a military launch area located in Plesetsk were shown in a previous post. Today we’ll continue our journey along the place and see more of Soyuz-U rocket firing.







The missile is 1,5 km from this place. It is in suspension on a start field. A fuel train is leaving on the right.

The train with oxygen and fuel has to be at a safe distance.

Mainframes are the first to be lowered down. The missile is kept in place with a tiny support fixed to the nose part.

Start. The last support is rejected. The missile is stable for some minutes due to the engine working.

In 8 minutes the carrier-rocket will reach the orbit.




The missile went through the clouds and made a hole in them.

What you see is separation of the first step that will reach the land in several minutes.

The start ground is in a good condition and is ready for another launch. Nothing here is destructed or burnt.

The ceremony of awarding of those army men responsible for successful launch.


In Russia carrier-rocket is suspended before the launch unlike in the west where it is standing.

It allows us to reduce expenses as this type of launch is characterized by less damage.








Carrier rocket Soyuz-U is a modified model of Soyuz rocket developed in 1973.

In total, 750 launches of the rocket were made.


This very launch was made from a launch area in Plesetsk.

As the launch area is located far in the north it is not used for carrying people to the orbit.

Elevating main supports.

Everybody is participating in the work including military men and engineers.

Location: Plesets

After 20-Minute Rain

Lately considerable sums have been appropriated for roads repair in many Russian cities. However it seems things haven’t got forward an inch…
The roads of the city of Pskov after 20-minute rain…

Emma Watson’s Controversial Photo Scandal!

Emma Watson is the latest high-profile celebrity to drop out of college because of career demands. Could a nude photo scandal last Fall have something to do with it?

Watson had a rough go of it from classmates during the Fall semester. Soon after she returned to classes, a photograph circulated around campus via email that showed Watson topless standing next to a hot tub. It turns out the photo was fake, but the damage was done. Her highly coveted privacy was shattered.
Watson let it be known she was pissed, and there were reports of possible legal repercussions and disciplinary action by the school. But nothing to date appears to have happened, and the photo has been widely debunked.
Watson who gained fame and a sizable bank account from her starring role in the “Harry Potter” film series, made the announcement that she was leaving Brown University on her Web site this morning.  “As you know, I love Brown and I love studying pretty much more than anything, but recently I’ve had so much to juggle that being a student AND fulfilling my other commitments has become a little impossible,” she wrote. “I’ve decided to take a bit of time off to completely finish my work on Harry Potter (the last one comes out this summer) and to focus on my other professional and acting projects. “I will still be working towards my degree… it’s just going to take me a semester or two longer than I thought.”
While her desire for a higher education is commendable, she burns the student who was denied admission because of her, not once, but twice. University officials should also be chagrined. They bend over backward to attract celebrity students, much like the try to recruit top athletes.

Whether they graduate or not often seems immaterial. The university reaped tons of publicity when Watson chose Brown over other Ivy League schools.With only so many freshman admission slots available, however, every celebrity accepted means some otherwise worthy student gets a rejection letter.

Every so often, a Hollywood celebrity enrolls in a high-profile school with similar results.
Jessica Biel signed on at Tufts, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen enrolled at New York University and Claire Danes attended Yale. All of them dropped out, according to Gawker. But not all celebrities lack the fortitude to get a degree. Natalie Portman graduated from Harvard. and Jodie Foster graduated from Yale to name two. But they are the exception rather than the rule.

Japan: three months after the quake

Japan continues to deal with the enormous task of cleaning up and moving forward three months after the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast coast. Local authorities are still dealing with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and now the rainy season, which could increase the risk of disease as workers clear away the debris, is approaching. Collected here are images from this past weekend marking the three-month point, as well then-and-now images of the destruction shot by Kyodo News via the Associated Press. -- Lloyd Young (29 photos total)

Vehicles drive through the tsunami-hit area, three months and two days after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on June 13, 2011 in Natori, Miyagi, Japan. Japanese government has been struggling to deal in the aftermath of the disaster and the problems affecting the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Authorities are preparing for an increased risk of viral and infectious disease as delays in the clearing the debris combine with the arrival of Japan's humid, rainy season. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

2

Kaisei Kubota and his grandmother Yae pray for victims in an area devastated by a tsunami in Miyako, Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Saturday June 11. Kaisei's father, a voluntary firefighter manning a water gate of a coastal levee, was killed after being swept away by a tsunami on March 11. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

3

A man walks through the debris as the Japanese national flag flies on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

4

Debris is scattered on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

5

A resident, evacuated from Namie town, right, undergoes a screening test for possible nuclear radiation after a brief visit to her home in the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station, in Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Saturday, June 11, 2011. Minami Soma was among the worst-affected when a tsunami that followed a magnitude-9 earthquake knocked out power at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, sending three reactors into meltdown and causing radiation to leak ever since. About 80 percent of the city is within a 30-kilometer restriction zone around the plant, while 4,100 households lived in a full evacuation zone set up by the government within 20 kilometers of the plant. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg) #

6

A broken picture frame is left in the tsunami-hit Arahama area, three months and two days after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on June 13, 2011 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

7

People sit on the ground amongst the debris on June 11, 2011 in Minamisanriku, Miyagi, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

8

The remaining destroyed buildings stand in the tsunami-hit area on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

9

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan attends the Lower House special committee on reconstruction from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Tokyo June 14, 2011. Japan's cabinet approved a draft law to help Tokyo Electric Power pay billions of dollars in compensation to its radiation refugees, kicking off lawmaker wrangling that may take weeks to decide the fate of Asia's largest utility. However, Kan's track record in winning lawmaker approval for his post-quake policies suggest a bitter parliamentary battle will ensue. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters) #

10

Debris is scattered, three months and two days after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on June 13, 2011 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

11

Anti-nuclear demonstrators shout slogans during a march in Tokyo, Saturday, June 11, 2011. The protesters held mass demonstrations against the use of nuclear power, as Japan marked the three-month anniversary of the powerful earthquake and tsunami that killed tens of thousands and triggered one of the world's worst nuclear disasters. (Koji Sasahara/Associated Press) #

12

A local fisherman clear debris on June 11, 2011 in Minamisanriku, Miyagi, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

13

Heavy machinery is used to clear the debris, three months and two days after the Magnitude 9.0 Earthquake And Tsunami on June 13, 2011 in Natori, Miyagi, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

14

Miyuki Saito, 47, who lost her mother and older brother in the earthquake and tsunami, digs to collect plants from what remains of her parents' garden, three months and two days after the disaster, on June 13, 2011 in Natori, Miyagi, Japan. ( #

15

Children pick up donated stationery during an event organized by volunteers on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

16

A construction worker works on temporary houses for evacuees who suffered from March 11th earthquake and tsunami, on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

17

Sakiko Yamaguchi (left), 47, takes shelter with her son Maya Yamaguchi, at the back of her car in a parking area at Ando Elementary School used as an evacuation center on June 12, 2011 in Otsuchi, Iwate, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

18

A man looks at the remaining frame of the destroyed Minamisanriku City Hall Disaster Prevention Center on June 11, 2011 in Minamisanriku, Miyagi, Japan. (Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) #

19

Residents, evacuated from the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station, including Nao Yoshida, center, lit candles during an event marking three months since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, in Minami Soma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Saturday, June 11, 2011. Minami Soma was among the worst-affected when a tsunami that followed a magnitude-9 earthquake knocked out power at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, sending three reactors into meltdown and causing radiation to leak ever since. (Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg) #

20

In this combo of two photos, a ship swept away by tsunami sits amid debris-covered residential area March 12, 2011, left, while the ship stays in the same position in the area getting cleaned up June 3, 2011 in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Japan marks three month since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami Saturday, June 11. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

21

In this combo of two photos, a sea coast is filled with destroyed houses and debris at Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 12, 2011, one day after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the area, top, and the same area, bottom, with the houses and debris cleared as photographed on June 3. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

22

In this combo of two photos, a shinto torii, or gateway, leading to Kozuchi shrine stands among the debris in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 14, 2011, days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the area, top, and the same area, bottom, with the debris almost cleared as photographed on June 3. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

23

In this combo of two photos, damaged cars are submerged in flooded residential area with other debris swept away by tsunami March 12, 2011, left, while a car goes by a cleared street in the same area June 3, 2011 in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

24

In this combo of two photos, damaged houses stand amid debris swept away by tsunami March 23, 2011, top, while those debris are almost cleared in the same area June 3, 2011 in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

25

In this combo of two photos, a ship swept away by tsunami lies among other debris March 12, 2011, left, while a man on a bicycle pedals past a pedestrian on the same road June 4, 2011 in Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

26

In this combo of two photos, a sightseeing boat sits on a building in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan, on April 6, 2011, after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the area, top, and the same area, bottom, with the boat gone as photographed on June 3. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

27

In this combo of two photos, tsunami survivors walk with plastic containers and kettles to carry drinking water through a street blocked by a fallen tank and other debris March 14, 2011, top, and only one damaged house, center, stands along the same street June 3, 2011 in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

28

In this combo of two photos, destroyed houses and debris fill a parking lot of a shopping center in Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture, northeastern Japan, on March 13, 2011, two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit the area, top, and the same area, bottom, with the houses and debris cleared as photographed on June 3. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #

29

In this combo of two photos, tsunami waves surge over a residential area March 11, 2011, top, and power shovels are in reconstruction work in the same area June 3, 2011 in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Japan marks three month since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami Saturday, June 11. (Kyodo News/Associated Press) #