Tag archives for Russia
Posted by 
On Friday, February 15, a meteor broke into fragments before hitting the ground near Chelyabinsk, Russia, creating a sonic boom that shattered windows and injured as many as a thousand people. No more meteorites are expected to fall in the region in the near future.
See pictures from the meteor strike on National Geographic News.
How much do you know about comets and meteors? Quiz Your Noodle and find out!
The Russian team won the 10th National Geographic World Championship at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California yesterday. Russia has entered the competition every year. The Canadian team came in second place (Canada came in first last year), and Chinese Taipei came in third. The teams were awarded gold, silver, and bronze medals.
The World Championship is held every two years.
Read more about the competition on National Geographic’s News Watch blog.
On April 12, 1962, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union (now called Russia) became the first human to fly in space. He orbited around Earth in the spacecraft Vostok 1, which was entirely controlled by engineers on the ground. According to Cathleen Lewis of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, when Gagarin returned to Earth he said: “When I orbited the Earth, I saw how beautiful our planet is. We must protect and preserve this beauty and not destroy it.”
See more pictures of Gagarin on National Geographic News.
See photos of moon exploration on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph by Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images
The Russian Federal Space Agency invites kids from around the world to design a patch for the crew of the Soyuz mission scheduled to launch in March. The first place drawing will become the official Soyuz TMA-14 logo, and will be worn as a patch on the crew members’ space suits!
U.S astronaut Michael R. Barratt, a Russian cosmonaut, and space flight participant will be on board the Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-14 crew members will help judge the drawings submitted in the contest.
The first, second and third place winners will have an opportunity to visit the Baikonur space port in Kazakhstan and participate in a pre-launch ceremony.
The contest ends December 25. For information on how to enter the contest visit NASA.
