The crew aboard the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies from a Russian Progress spacecraft due to dock with the station on Friday, Jan. 19. NASA Television will broadcast the arrival live.

See: http://spaceweather.com/

"Comet McNaught is now visible in broad
daylight. 'It's fantastic,' reports Wayne Winch
of Bishop, California. 'I put the sun behind a
neighbor's house to block the glare and the
comet popped right into view. You can even
see the tail!'
Just hours ago, Mark Vornhusen took this
picture of the comet between clouds over
Gais, Switzerland
This weekend is a special time for Comet
McNaught because it is passing close to the sun.
Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize
furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At
magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest

New gear is helping the astronauts on the International Space Station kick off a new year. Flight Engineer Suni Williams set up hardware for the Test of Reaction and Adaptation Capabilities -- or TRAC -- investigation that is designed to test crew members' hand and eye coordination before, during and after missions. Crew members also completed the final operations of a biological experiment on the impact of varying levels of light and gravity on plant root growth. The final images of samples in the European Modular Cultivation System were taken and downlinked, and the samples were stowed in a freezer for eventual return to Earth.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineers Mikhail Tyurin and
Suni Williams spent the past week preparing for the arrival of ISS
Progress 24. The cargo craft will launch on Wednesday, Jan. 17, from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan shortly after 9:00 p.m. EST. The
docking is planned for Friday, Jan. 19 at approximately 10:00 p.m. The
new Russian cargo ship will bring about 2½ tons of food, fuel, oxygen
and supplies to the complex, including clothing and spacewalk hardware
for the next station crew that will arrive in April.

http://www.amsat.org/amsat/archive/s