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Swampcat
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A Dnepr-1 rocket is scheduled to lift a Bigelow Aerospace Genesis module into orbit June 16 from Dombarovsky/Yanyy launch facility.<br /><br />The Dnepr-1 LV is a converted SS-18 ICBM and is launched from a silo.<br /><br />The inflatable Genesis module at launch is 4.6m long and 1.9m in diameter. When inflated it will be 3.8m in diameter. The Genesis is a one-third scale test version of Bigelow's BA-330 Nautilus. Current plans are for launching several reduced scale versions before placing a full scale Nautilus in orbit some time around 2012.<br /><br />The Dombarovsky/Yanyy launch site is in the Orenburg region of Russia near the border with Kazahkstan. It has been a military launch site, but is being converted to commercial use.<br /><br />The launch was originally scheduled for June 13, but has been changed to June 16. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>