NASA Shuttle Atlantis: Last Flight and landing

Thus was history made: Space Shuttle Atlantis left the International Space Station on Tuesday and made its last return to Earth today.

The Shuttle era is now over and the door is open to the next generation of space vehicles.

After an additional day to accommodate the cargo movements to and from the Raffaello transport module, the STS-135 mission lasted 12 days 18 hours 27 minutes.

The main wheels of Atlantis touched the runway at 11:56:58 CEST (09:56:58 GMT) today in Florida.

	Atlantis with Raffaello MPLM

Along with four astronauts, the spaceplane brought back a precious load of biomedical samples.

The Shuttle’s retirement leaves Russia’s smaller Soyuz craft as the only way to make return trips to the Station. The capacity for bringing down items is now very limited.

Atlantis also returned with 2.5 tonnes of waste, hardware no longer needed and a faulty ammonia pump for investigation.

Atlantis will now join the decommissioned vehicles of the Shuttle fleet, to be handed over to US museums.

In this case, the trip will be a short one: Atlantis will be a major attraction at the Kennedy Space Center’s nearby visitor complex.

	'The All-American Meal' aboard the ISS

"This was the last flight of this fantastic vehicle, which was able to carry more than 20 tonnes to space and back," said Thomas Reiter, ESA’s Director for Human Spaceflight and Operations and one of the 24 European astronauts to have flown on a Shuttle.

"This is sad, but also we’re looking into the future about the new things that will happen.

"We will continue to operate the Station for the upcoming years, when we have to rely on the Russian Soyuz capsules for human transportation, but also the new transportation systems will soon come to the market."

Russia and Israel sign a Space co-operation pact

Israel and Russia have signed an agreement to increase co-operation on space research and exploration. Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, made a special visit to Jerusalem to attend the signing ceremony.

The deal enhances cooperation between the Israeli and Russian space agencies in the fields of space research, observation, navigation, medicine and biology in space, research in advanced materials and launchings.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu presided over the ceremony, and said the integration of Israel's advanced technology with Russia's developed space infrastructure is "one that could provide major benefits to both countries."

Israel Space Agency Director Zvi Kaplan said proposed projects include remote sensing of Earth from space, planetary studies and space medicine.

"We have abilities and advantages over many other countries and the fact that Russia, a pioneer in space, wants to acquire Israeli expertise is a great honor for the State of Israel," Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said at the signing of the agreement.

Though small, Israel's space program is accredited across the globe. It's one of only eight countries in the world to have launched an indigenous satellite into space. And, Israel is an expert in satellite technology, products for satellites and ground stations.

The Israel-Russia deal joins other recent agreements between Israel and the space agencies of France, Italy and the European Space Agency.

Russia Advocates Co-operation with NATO on European Security

Russia has called for renewed cooperation with the West on European security, two days ahead of the resumption of high-level talks between Moscow and NATO.

"The moment has come to establish conditions for cooperation between the United States and Russia because without such actors as NATO we cannot seriously talk about security and political ideas on the continent," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of an OSCE ministerial council in Athens.

Russia has been pressuring NATO to discuss a new European security plan proposed by President Dmitry Medvedev, and presented in final form over the weekend, which he said would finally end Cold War mentalities.

"The basis of this initiative is the intention of forming an indivisible security system in the Euro-Atlantic area" and to reach "a binding accord on European security," Lavrov said in a speech to the Greek-Russian Union.

"We look forward to a precise and constructive response on our initiative," he said. "Russia is not looking to dissolve (existing) European structures and institutions."

Alliance foreign ministers will hold talks on Friday in the highest-level meeting since the NATO-Russia Council was frozen after Moscow's brief war with Georgia in 2008.

Lavrov, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their NATO counterparts are already due to study a road map for closer cooperation at the Friday talks.

Medvedev's draft treaty was also presented to foreign ministers at the OSCE meeting in Athens but several states said it was too early to comment on it.

Reaction to the proposals has been lukewarm in the West.

Ties between NATO and Russia have recently begun to thaw after tensions rose over the war in Georgia and US plans to extend an anti-missile shield into Europe.

On Wednesday, Lavrov noted that Barack Obama's US presidency had "opened possibilities to reassess Russo-American relations on the basis of principles of equality and reciprocal interest."

EADS Airbus (ESA) and Japan's JAXA unite

Europe's leading aerospace research developer and manufacturer for ESA has joined with the Japanese aerospace contractor JAXA in a joint programme of research and development.

Vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding evaluation and non-destructive inspection are two technologies to be evaluated under the first research agreement between EADS Airbus, the main aerospace contractor for the European Aerospace (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

An agreement for composites research, it is the first such co-operation between EADS Airbus and a Japanese aerospace agency. If successful it could lead to further agreements covering other technology areas.

"We are very proud to develop this partnership with Airbus and hope it is the starting point for a bright future. JAXA already has a long successful history with European research institutes, such as Onera and DLR. This agreement opens a new chapter in the relationship with Europe," says JAXA's aviation programme group executive director, Takashi Ishikawa.

It will also assist EADS in expanding its domination of the aerospace business but may cause a political rift with the emerging Chinese aerospace programme, allegedly.