Sorry about deleting the Interlangua link without any explanation. I wasn't sure if it was the Interlangua equivalent of the English FA, and since there wasn't an interlanguage link in WP:FA linking to this page. CG 09:05, August 27, 2005 (UTC)
..Needs YOU! We're recruiting, for new members, and if succesful we hope to eventually gather the support nessesary to make our own wikiproject, almost like a wiki-debate club, it should be fun..
Hello, would you like to join me in one of my stimulating user:talk:page debates?--Quogoquipan02:37, 11 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Nice to meet you, Mr. Mithridates! I'm Hatto from Japan. I knew that you have a Korean ability. However, I can't understand Korean language. and so, I'd like you to edit Masashi Tashiro's article in Korean. Of course, you may make his article from Japanese, English wikipedia. I'd make his article in various languages. Now, there's his Esperanto, English, Japanese, Chinese article. Can I let you edit his Korean article. Hatto15:01, 7 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
If there has been no English-language biography published on him, then that would certainly make an FA article on him worthy of the George Psalmanazar Prize in Forgotten Biography. Indeed, he seems just the sort of person that the prize was intended for, a scholar whose work may be underappreciated by Anglophone readers just because of the linguistic barrier. I'm not that familiar with the subject, but I'll be glad to help with peer review on this.--Pharos02:08, 26 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Hi! I wanted your help with the history section of this article. Obviously, I am an Esperantist, and don't want it to become biased either way. Also, I hope the section will not simply rehash the history of the two languages, but instead be a history of the two movements' relationship. Any opinions, suggestions, etc? Jon00:27, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the information. I don't really read Ido well. I guess for me it is the equivilant of a modern English speaker trying to read Shakespeare or perhaps Chaucer: vaguely familiar, but still different enough to be daunting. I guess the main reason I've stuck with Eo over Ido is the availability of materials and community. I do personally believe there are some flaws in Eo that could use correcting, but in some ways, I think Ido went a bit too far. It's as if Courutat and de Beaufront couldn't help to tinker. But, as they say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." A friend of mine and I, for our own fun, devised our own Esperantido called "Intero" (because it was supposed to be "between" Ido and Esperanto), but it sort of took off in its own direction. There is actually an article on the Eo Wikipedia about it: eo:Intero. Apparently my friend put it on Langmaker.com, and someone caught wind of it and put it there.
As far as my Eo level, I read it better than I speak or write it, probably because its easier to discern meaning, then to form it oneself. As I said above, I want the information presented to be as neutral as possible, and hopefully we can collaborate on the article. I would also like to translate it into Esperanto some time...maybe you could do the same for Ido. Also, have you seen the conlang wikiportal: Portal:Constructed languages? Talk to you later! Jon22:59, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I've sent a email to Raimond Chandler, the owner of this web site for the copyright of the seal. This is the answer:
Kara Giuseppe (me) You may use idor2.gif from my site - it is not copyrighted.
I have sent your question to the owners of Ido-Wikipedio to find out
about the modified image. Kordiala saluti Kordiale, James Chandler
When you create articles on the Ido Wikipedia based on articles on the English Wikipedia, you should mention in your edit summaries there that it is a translation of the corresponding article on the English Wikipedia, per the GNU Free Documentation License, and also so that the articles' authors can be properly credited. Thanks. Extraordinary Machine16:48, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I know, there should always be a mention in the edit summary of where it came from, but I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean by your reference to using a template. Extraordinary Machine17:21, 13 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'm aware of the policy. Is it normal for a FA to be vandalized every 5 minutes, however? It seems like such a waste of time to have to constantly revert it—the article was controversial to begin with. It would still be editable, but just not by anonymous users. The Jade Knight22:58, 23 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for being bold and reverting the move to provide for proper debate. I didn't want to debate on a talk page, revert it myself, and get into a revert war. I appreciate your help. -Scm83x12:39, 27 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]
I'd added one voice example into the page (a converted mp3 from Ithkuil's website). If you can spot any problem on the page or know more about current developments, please feel free to fix. Pavel Vozenilek02:42, 25 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]
If you are receiving this message, you are either a new, existing, or possible future press contact for one of the languages you speak. What does this mean, being a press contact?
The Wikimedia Foundation runs a Communications Committee, which co-ordinates requests for interviews from the press. When we receive a request for an interview, often the journalist wants to interview someone that speaks their "native tongue", or someone that lives in the same country as their publication. For this reason, it is important the the Communications Committee keeps an up-to-date log of contributors that they can trust to represent the community in a professional manner.
This list of press contacts has started to grow. The goal is to eventually have at least one trusted user on the list from every country in the world, and one user for every language that the Foundation runs a project in.
What are your responsibilities? Whenever a journalist requests an interview, either by phone, by e-mail, or (rarely) in person, you are able to either answer the interview request, or pass the request off to another user that you trust. Whenever a newsworthy milestone is reached on your project, you should help co-ordinate the creation of a press release, and once it's ready, send it to me to post in your language's press room.
Any questions, comments, or concerns? Contact me directly. -- en:user_talk:zanimum
Hi, I signed up on the Ido Wikipedia mostly in order to write a few stubs, considering I don't know any Ido. I have only now read about some simple rules and words and came up with my first article (see Tel Aviv on Ido Wiki). I am interested in learning Ido. Also, yes I can help write an article on Ido on the Hebrew Wiki (if that's what you were asking). -- Ynhockey(Talk)16:56, 26 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the tip, Mithridates — I need all the help I can get with Korean. The list of languages you know is most impressive. I'm very interested in your translation of lyrics, but can't locate it on the site you referred. Could you show where I can find them? Yeu Ninje11:32, 13 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, I recognized your name from Dave's ESL. I've been editing on Wikipedia for about 9 months now. Just wanted to wave and say I'm glad I'm not the only Expat editing on here. You sure speak a lot of languages. Davidpdx14:14, 14 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
My user name is Milwaukiedave on Dave's ESL. I browse the forums a lot, but don't post very much at all. Sometimes ppl on Dave's ESL get too out of hand to deal with. There is a lot of negativity and some people are just not worth interacting with. Don't get my wrong, I've met a lot of nice people on there as well. I mostly just read on there though. Davidpdx03:53, 15 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Moving excess information and specifics to Wookieepedia (and providing links to Wookieepedia per the "see also" and/or "external links" sections)
Enhanced communication amongst WikiProject members
More to come
These should provide the basic steps needed to improve and "encyclopedia-fy" the Star Wars series of articles.
Things to do
There are plenty of Wikipedia:WikiProject Star Wars/things to do. An update to the page is coming very soon, and it will represent the new and exciting changes that Star Wars pages will be receiving!
Out-of-universe versus in-universe perspectives
Although details are forthcoming, I would like to take this time to explain the gist of this concept. Wikipedia has generally agreed that fictional articles should write about the topic from a "real world" perspective, focusing on real world issues and topics, with a section or two for plot synopsis and so on. Jabba the Hutt is a solid character example, and Clone Wars (Star Wars) is quickly moving toward an out of universe perspective.
Article evolution
As many of you know, lists of minor Star Wars-related themes are very common on Wikipedia; however, since these may be seen as violations of Wikipedia policy (and having seperate articles would breach even more policies), the tentative solution is to create general articles on a list's topic (for example, turning List of Star Wars devices into Technology of Star Wars, which allows us to cover everything from hyperspace to comlinks in a general encyclopedic fashion). This can be very tough for some broad topics, so the key is organization. I encourage all editors to list their ideas on the WikiProject talk page. It will be a very difficult — but tangible — effort.
For an example, let me point you to the Final Fantasy WikiProject. Some of us over at that WikiProject decided to turn various components of Final Fantasy X, such as Pyreflies, Yevon, and the backstory — into an article describing the world of Spira. Location descriptions were given a List of locations in Spira article, and the details themselves were placed on the Spira (Final Fantasy X) page. This is a decent template to follow — however, we will need to place priority on out-of-universe, "real life" topics and perspectives in realtion to the article.
Sounds confusing, eh? It won't, for examples will be popping up left and right in the near future!
Hello, Mithridates. Thanks for starting the Korean Constitution Day article. I see that you've tried quite a few times to get a link to this article onto MainPage. Next time, for minor tweaks of MainPage contents like that, you may want to try WP:ERRORS. There's a link at the top of Talk:Main Page. Hope this helps. -- PFHLai13:48, 17 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
As I see that you know Korean very well, and you also have an account on it.wikipedia like me, can you please help me a bit with Korean? I was trying to put some names in various languages, in particular those which have something to do with buddhism. For instance, I see that the name "Buddha" can be spelled Fótuó (佛陀) or Fó (佛) in Chinese, and Butsuda (仏陀) or Butsu (仏) in Japanese, so what are the Korean spellings? And the characters? One should be Bul (불) I think, right? Also, what's the Korean name of Sun Wukong/Son Goku (孫悟空)? The characters should be 손오공 but the spelling? Thank you very much. --Εξαίρετος (msg)
Thank you very much, that's exactly what I was looking for. Bye --Εξαίρετος (msg)
Mithridates: Good job on your Wiki, keep up the nice work. If I come across anything else that is free I will definitely post it on the notice board.
Also, I just wanted to ask you if you ever get the time to take pictures, if you were planning to hit the National Museum of Korea? I think Korea-related Wikipedia articles are still lacking in the images department, espcially pre historical items like pottery and historical artifacts from Baekje, Goguryeo, Balhae, and Goryeo. I've been begging a lot of flickr users online but they seem pretty reticent to change their licenses. So if you ever decide to go that would be great. Thanks. Tortfeasor05:50, 27 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
So that's why the flickr pictures of the National Musuem are so shaky ;) ! I've been working to try to get Korean cultural items, espcially items related to the Three Kingdoms era, up to snuff because the history section on Wikipedia could use some improvement. Most of my contributions are on this list: National treasures of Korea. I would definitly enjoy reading your translations if you posted them to see how I fared. Tortfeasor21:17, 30 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I see that you put a request for an article about LFN in the Indonesian Wikipedia on February the 19th 2006. Well this article is finished some six months later ... Please read and fix it if necessary :-) Well this is the article. Meursault200416:07, 4 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
... and meet a fellow expat (I live in the Czech Republic, though, not Korea, although I have some good friends who are from that part of the world). Sometimes I get weary of some of the types of things that go on here in the name of science. I'm afraid there are very few people left who know (or care) what the word "science" originally meant. Something can't qualify as knowledge (or truth) if it keeps getting revised and re-invented. Not only that, but so much of what "science" does these days is merely describing phenomena and assigning more-or-less arbitrary words to them. You know? It's heavy on the "what" and "when" and "where", barely scratches the surface of "how", and completely ignores the "why". --Smithfarm10:24, 19 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]
In the Metrication article, you recently added the statement "(use of these units are to be subject to a fine in Korea beginning July 2007)." Do you have a source for this statement. Please add it to the article, or if you are not sure how to format it, put the information here and I will help format it. Also, is that North Korea, South Korea, or both? --Gerry Ashton20:45, 23 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Mithridates! Thanks for your notice about the wrong colored islands on the map I drew.
Since you wrote, that you are a sysob on Galbijim, I take the chance to ask you a question I have for some time now: Of course I like the idea of Galbijim Wiki, but as far as I can tell, you violate the GFDL quite often. Articles and most images on Wikipedia are not public domain. You can use the articles under the rules of the GFDL and images under the terms of the specified license. For example, my map neither credits me as the author nor is there any hint, that this image is available under the terms of the GFDL. Same is true for Busan, which is obviously a copy of Busan (also both versions have modified since then). I'm sure, there are much more examples.
I just saw, that the contents of Galbijim Wiki are available under the terms of the GFDL, but that info is hidden very well. From my point of view this is still a violation of the GFDL, because if you reuse articles under the GFDL, it should be stated clearly (actually the license requires to deliver the whole license text, but that would be to much I guess ^^). Also the authors should get their attribution by linking to the page history. Link it from the discussion page, if you don't like to see it in the article. Thank you. ^^ -- iGEL (talk) 22:05, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hi - we do have a template here that articles from Wikipedia need: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Template:Wikipedia As per your request I've updated it so that it goes directly to the history page of the article as well. Most articles that are brought in from Wikipedia have the template, but every once in a while something like Busan sneaks by.
For images, I wonder if it wouldn't just be best to have a prominent link on the page with a note on "see the copyright information on the image page" because there are so many if you look on the Commons. Some are copyright free because of NASA, some because they were from the USSR, some because the author wished it, others are GFDL, etc. I was hoping that a direct link to the page that has info on the copyright would be enough. Tell me what you think of this template I just created and put on your map. Would that be enough? Mithridates 00:54, 5. Nov. 2006 (CET)
Hi! Thank you for your efforts. I'm no copyright expert, but from my point of view this template is enough. Maybe you want to list Galbijim Wiki on Wikipedia:Mirrors and forks, the people there will tell you, if it is enough. Regards, iGEL (talk) 08:30, 5 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You should have said, "Ich studiere deutsch auch." Remember, the verb comes 2d in almost every sentence. For instance, you could have also said "auch studiere ich deutsch." Just a thought, babe. Stay sexy... Vampyragurl20:44, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hey Mith, thanks for bringing that up, I’ve thought about the idea and I appreciate your letting me know more about it. It would be great to have a million viewers see the article in one day. I’ve been known to write well, I have quite a few publications. I’m hesitant about making the time commitment, but it’s definitely worth considering.
Your writing is great, very thoughtful and well-documented. Your song in Ido is well-written too. I actually learned Ido before I learned Interlingua, and at one point, I wrote a few songs in Ido. By the way, would you happen to know what the Korean word for Interlingua is? I could put it under translations in the Wiktionary Interlingua entry.
Hey, thanks much for sending me the translation, I put it up in the Wiktionary. Yeah, if I do an FA, I’ll probably take even longer than that, because I’ve been working late recently.
I started with Esperanto too. Honestly I found it kind of unsightly, and the need to stress every word on the penultimate syllable started to cloy after a while. But the Esperanto book I read said that all the other auxiliary languages had died out or had never got off the ground. I started to notice inconsistencies in the book, and wondered if another language, probably Ido, really had an active group of speakers. I eventually located some Ido organizations. I learned Ido easily, and it definitely had its plusses. It was great for poetry, for example. But I wondered if some of the other auxiliary languages were out there too. I eventually got in contact with some speakers of Interlingua. It was a pretty successful language and the most appealing one I had found so far. I was impressed by the soundness of its development. So that’s how I got to be an Interlingua speaker.
Wow, I didn’t know that the founders of Novial and Occidental had died too. Alexander Gode and Hugh Blair both died suddenly, just as Interlingua was starting to make real progress. I think it was Louis Couturat who died in a motor-car accident just as Ido was starting to take off.
True, the Ido people have always had that name to grapple with. English speakers assume it’s pronounced eye dough unless you put the pronunciation in parentheses. The name probably confuses Japanese and Spanish speakers, since it’s a word in their languages. It’s ironic, because the language itself is pretty ingenious.
I think you should go with the language you enjoy the most. Interlingua is fairly popular in Japan, so they seem to accept an auxiliary language that isn’t always spelled as sounded. Anyhow, in the end, ya gotta go with a language that can translate My Big Fat Greek Wedding as Mi Grosse Grasse Nuptias Grec. Just kidding… Matt01:25, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, just a couple of thoughts on the disagreement you've been having with T-rex, forgive me if this is old news. I've been in a couple of EL related debates recently, and it seems that you're both right and therefore both wrong... linking to GalbiJim should be fine re: SPAM & EL given the nature of the site, but it's unlikely that any page there has reached a point beyond which a Wikipedia page would reach if it was a featured article, pretty much a given as they are both wikis.. the real WP solution would be to paste the information across rather than link out. GJ is a good resource tho, I wouldn't personally remove the links.. Deiziotalk02:44, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You helped choose Death as this week's WP:AID winner
Hi Mirth, I don't know if you saw it, but someone wrote an article about Dave's. The problem though it is bias and I've edited down to try to make it NPOV. If you could keep an eye on it, I'd appreciate it. Davidpdx23:23, 9 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The guy who first proposed the project seems to be gone. I took the initiative to activate the project above in his absence, as I personally guess you all have enough members to give it a go. Good luck. John Carter18:11, 7 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like you guys are doing what the Pennsylvania Dutch folks did. Worked for them, though transferring it may have been a little bit of a hassle. At the Norman Wikipedia, we made a test-wiki at beta that got quite large (these days they do them at the Incubator), clearly demonstrating the success of the project. I personally feel like that works well enough, but I don't know if one method is better than another. The Jade Knight13:17, 23 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Another thing about the LFN wiki, didn't think I should have to make a new bit with the same title. Is there any progress on fixing new user creation at the wiki? It seems that if you want to become a Wikipedia someday, you would allow those who will add to your articles a great deal to become members of your Wiki so they can edit and create articles. Still waiting, after two weeks. Thanks, Mith. Chuffable22:02, 20 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
If I knew how to work technical issues like fixing a wiki, I'd love to help that way. But I'm unable, at least until taught. Chuffable03:09, 25 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]
In response to a parenthetical question on WP:AN/I
(hope I don't have to be an administrator to post here) — don't worry, anybody can post to the admin's noticeboards. The noticeboards are designed to bring things that might require administrator intervention to the notice of administrators, but anybody can comment on a situation to report something in the first place, provide information, comment on a discussion, or for any other reason (there are probably several I haven't thought of). The reason that the boards have 'administrator' in their names is that the resolution of the discussions often involves actions that only an administrator can perform (usually blocking users or protecting pages), but community input is helpful when trying to determine what to do in a situation. Hope that helps! --ais523 18:01, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
Heh, I was just stopping by here to mention the same thing. I believe there's been off-and-on discussion about changing to name to avoid just that sort of impression. But either way, all users are welcome to post. Cheers! :) – Luna Santin (talk)20:31, 23 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hello Mithridates! I asked for your help some time ago, before I even had an account here; now I need help again, and as you were so nice, I decided to abuse of your time some more :-P I'm currently translating some articles on the shōguns from en.wiki to it.wiki, and I happened to find a reference to the "Purple Clothes Incident" (or "Scandal"), but I didn't really understand what happened; here it says that a commoner was introduced to the imperial court, and I can guess that it broke a taboo, but I just can't understand why the Emperor should retire because of that, as if taking responsibility for it. So, could you please read ja:紫衣事件 and tell me what it says? I'm not asking for a translation, just a quick briefing :) Thanks in advance! --Εξαίρετος (msg) 19:17, 17 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Ok, thank you very much; based on that and the info from the articles here I can understand what happened, and I can elaborate some more in both wikis. You're great! :) --Εξαίρετος (msg) 17:20, 23 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I noticed that you are a member of the constructed languages wikiproject and request temporary help in the glosa page. You don't need to actively edit it, just make it so that it is no longer copyright infringement/make a sub-page of its current text for me in glosa/temp. Sorry for asking this of you, but I would really not like this page to be deleted. Also, if you can help me learn Esperanto/Ido/Novial?/Japanese in your free-time, that would be great! :) -76.188.26.92 (talk) 22:31, 9 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
You currently appear to be engaged in an edit war according to the reverts you have made on Galbijim Wiki. Note that the three-revert rule prohibits making more than three reversions in a content dispute within a 24 hour period. Additionally, users who perform a large number of reversions in content disputes may be blocked for edit warring, even if they do not technically violate the three-revert rule. If you continue, you may be blocked from editing. Please do not repeatedly revert edits, but use the talk page to work towards wording and content that gains a consensus among editors. east.718at 19:42, December 15, 2007
I saw your note on the Korea Wiki Project Page. I'll add that one to my watch list. I'm not around too much anymore because frankly I've gotten sick of some of the crap people pull on Wikipedia. I also don't know a heck of a lot about the Galbijim website other then having visited it 2 or 3 times. Just to let you know, on the last revert, you accidentally took out the number of pages that Galbijim Wiki had. You might want to add that back in. Davidpdx (talk) 03:40, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, I have been working in Fullmetal Alchemist but I cant translate the cds drama info. I found info of them [1] of コミックCDコレクション
「鋼の錬金術師 偽りの光、真実の影」and コミックCDコレクション「鋼の錬金術師 咎人たちの傷跡」. Could you tell me what do they say? ThanksTintor2 (talk) 17:32, 18 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Dear Mith, I'm Aubrey from Italian Wikisource.
I know you want some stuff about latino sine flexione, but I found out only this site with some Peano's works. Here you can find the italian essay where he explained his new language. Enjoy. Aubrey 23:52, 12 May 2008 (UTC)
Ido has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. D.M.N. (talk) 16:23, 15 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Good Night, please can you translate in Japanese and Korean the articles Martin Weinek and Kaspar Capparoni? Thanks in advance!
Good evening to you and regards from Campora San Giovanni. I write you regarding the articles of a note police television series: Inspector Rex. For better saying some principal actors of the international series. Martin Weinek and Kaspar Capparoni. Weinek (pronunced Vaynek) is the veteran of the Austrian series, now real mebro of the series international, as well as excellent agricultural and theatrical entrepreneur and an experienced wine-grower. Capparoni is the new entry of the series, but he has already worked and he works for international productions and with famous directors, I quote among everybody: Dario Argento. I think that the series will arrive within the winter 2008 thanks also to Rai International, that will be transmitted in 150 countries and in more than 70 languages, among which the Japaneseand the Korean. Naturally if you will help me in this, me ricamberò really the favor translating a biography or a geographical article in Italian and Sicilian. In fact on the Italian edition they are biographer and geographer. In attends him of one certain answer of yours I thank you in advance and I greet you from Campora San Giovanni, my village native. Thanks still for the patience and the understanding.--Lodewijk Vadacchino (talk) 13:11, 26 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I'm Chabi, from Interlingue Wikipedia. How are you? I haven't seen you there from ages. I always read your blog, every two days. I love it but... how many languages do you speak??? I can't believe it. I have one blog but I don't write as much as you. I want to ask who's the administrator on Interligue Wikipedia 'cause now, I can't delete pages and anybody is doing nothing there. Chabi—Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.54.131.162 (talk) 21:42, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Article collaboration proposal at WikiProject Space Colonization
I have nominated Galbijim Wiki, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Galbijim Wiki (3rd nomination). Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time.
Hello. Your account has been granted the "reviewer" userright, allowing you to to review other users' edits on certain flagged pages. Pending changes, also known as flagged protection, will be commencing a a two-month trial at approximately 23:00, 2010 June 15 (UTC).
Reviewers can review edits made by users who are not autoconfirmed to articles placed under flagged protection. Flagged protection is applied to only a small number of articles, similarly to how semi-protection is applied but in a more controlled way for the trial.
When reviewing, edits should be accepted if they are not obvious vandalism or BLP violations, and not clearly problematic in light of the reason given for protection (see Wikipedia:Reviewing process). More detailed documentation and guidelines can be found here.
Hello! As an member editor of one or more of the Spaceflight, Human spaceflight, Unmanned spaceflight, Timeline of spaceflight or Space colonisation WikiProjects, I'd like to draw to your attention a proposal I have made with regards to the future of the spaceflight-related portals, which can be found at Portal talk:Spaceflight#Portal merge. I'd very much appreciate any suggestions or feedback you'd be able to offer! Many thanks,
Hello there! As part of an experiment to determine how many active editors are present in the spaceflight-related WikiProjects, some changes have been made to the list of members of WikiProject Space Colonization. If you still consider yourself to be an active editor in this project, we would be grateful if you would please edit the list so that your name is not struck out - thus a clearer idea of the critical mass of editors can be determined. Many thanks in advance.
Hello there! As you may or may not be aware, a recent discussion on the future of the Space-related WikiProjects has concluded, leading to the abolition of WP:SPACE and leading to a major reorganisation of WP:SPACEFLIGHT. It would be much appreciated if you would like to participate in the various ongoing discussions at the reorganisation page and the WikiProject Spaceflight talk page. If you are a member of one of WP:SPACEFLIGHT's child projects but not WP:SPACEFLIGHT itself, it would also be very useful if you could please add your name to the member list here. Many thanks!
Welcome to The Downlink · Reorganisation of Space WikiProjects · User Activity Checks
Welcome to The Downlink
Welcome to The Downlink, a new monthly newsletter intended to inform members of WikiProject Spaceflight about the latest developments in the project and its articles. Future issues will contain information on issues under discussion, newly featured content, and articles written by members of the project to appear in the newsletter. All members of WikiProject Spaceflight are invited to contribute any content that they would like to see in the newsletter. If you were not aware of being a member of WikiProject Spaceflight, membership of the former Human spaceflight, Unmanned spaceflight, Timeline of spaceflight and Space colonization WikiProjects was merged into WikiProject spaceflight during the reorganisation of the spaceflight projects, for more details, please see below.
Reorganisation of Space WikiProjects
The ongoing discussion of the future of Space WikiProjects has been making progress. WikiProject Space was abolished on 5 December 2010, with the Spaceflight, Astronomy and Solar System projects becoming independent of each other. On the same day, an assessment banner, {{WikiProject Spaceflight}} was created for WikiProject Spaceflight to replace the generic space one which had been used previously. On 9 December, WikiProject Space Colonization was abolished, with its tasks being subsumed into WikiProject Spaceflight. On 12 December, the Human spaceflight and Unmanned spaceflight WikiProjects became task forces of WikiProject Spaceflight, whilst WikiProject Timeline of spaceflight became a working group.
A number of issues are still under discussion:
Introducing better defined assessment criteria and an A-class review process
Setting clearer importance criteria for assessing articles
Establishing a joint task force with the Astronomy and Solar System projects to cover space telescopes and planetary probes
Defining the roles of projects, taskforces and working groups, and processes for establishing new ones
A series of checks are underway to establish the numbers of users who are still active within WikiProject Spaceflight, its task forces and working group. All usernames on the members lists were struck out, and members were asked to unstrike their own names if they were still an active member of the project. If you wish to do so, and have not already, please unstrike your name from the master list, plus the lists on any applicable task forces or working groups
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Welcome to The Downlink·Project News·News from Orbit·Article News·Space Stations and the Push for Featured Topics·Salyut 2
Welcome to The Downlink
Welcome to the first full issue of The Downlink, a new monthly newsletter intended to inform members of WikiProject Spaceflight about the latest developments in the project and its articles. Below you will find information about happenings within the project, our recognised content, spaceflight in the news and events needing to be covered in articles. You will also find an editorial about the first concerted effort to develop featured topics related to spaceflight, and an article in need of your help and improvements.
Project News will provide details of discussions about and changes in the organisation and structure of the project, newly recognised content, and changes in membership. News from Orbit will summarise spaceflight news and upcoming events, and list suggestions for articles in need of updating as a result. Article News will give details of requests for assistance within articles, and discussions regarding content.
All members of WikiProject Spaceflight are invited to contribute any content that they would like to see in the newsletter, and we would particularly welcome the submission of editorials, or an article about an area of spaceflight which you are working on, or particularly interested in. Please see The Downlink page for more details.
Discussion within the project is still dominated by the reorganisation proposals. A discussion over the formation and roles of working groups and task forces has led to some clarification regarding working groups, however the roles of the task forces remain vague, and several proposals to abolish them have surfaced. The Human Spaceflight to-do list has been merged into the main project to-do list, with the combined list currently located on the Tasks page of the Spaceflight portal.
New assessment criteria for importance and quality have been implemented, and refinements continue to be made to the importance scale. The scope of the project was redefined to exclude astronomical objects explicitly. Although A-class criteria have been defined, a review process is yet to be discussed or implemented.
Colds7ream conducted an analysis of open tasks related to the reorganisation which four major issues remain unresolved: Discussion concerning the existence and roles of task forces within the project; recruitment of new editors; updating guidelines and whether the project or the task forces should be responsible for maintaining them; and the continued existence of the Human spaceflight portal six weeks after consensus was reached to abolish it.
Discussion about the structure of the project is ongoing, with several proposals currently on the table. One proposal calls for the abolition of task forces in favour of increased emphasis on working groups, whilst another calls for the task forces to become a list of topics. The idea of a formal collaboration system has been suggested, however opposition has been raised.
One of the main open tasks at the moment is replacing the older {{WikiProject Space}} and {{WikiProject Human spaceflight}} banners with the new {{WikiProject Spaceflight}} banner. Articles which need to be retagged are currently listed in Category:WikiProject Spaceflight articles using deprecated project tags. ChiZeroOne is doing a very good job replacing them, but as of the morning of 31 December, there are still 1,424 left to be converted. Additionally, the implementation of a new B-class checklist built into the template has necessitated the reassessment of former B-class articles, which the template has automatically classified as C-class.
News from Orbit
On 3 December, USA-212, the first X-37B, landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base after a successful mission. On 5 December Proton-M with a Blok DM-03 upper stage failed to place three Glonass-M satellites into orbit, the first of three failures in less than forty eight hours. The NanoSail-D2 spacecraft was supposed to have been ejected from FASTSAT in the early hours of the next morning, however it does not appear to have separated. Finally the Akatsuki spacecraft failed to enter orbit around Venus in the evening of 6 December. The Proton launch was the maiden flight of the Blok DM-03, which does not currently have an article.
On 8 December the Dragon C1 demonstration mission was conducted, with the SpaceX Dragon making a little under two orbits of the Earth on its maiden flight, before landing in the Pacific Ocean to complete a successful mission. The Falcon 9 rocket which launched the Dragon spacecraft also deployed eight CubeSats: SMDC-ONE 1, QbX-1, QbX-2, Perseus 000, Perseus 001, Perseus 002, Perseus 003 and Mayflower. The CubeSats do not currently have articles.
On 15 December, a Soyuz-FG launched Soyuz TMA-20 to the International Space Station, carrying three members of the Expedition 26 crew. It docked two days later. The Soyuz TMA-20 article is currently short, and could use improvements to bring it up to the same level as articles for US manned spaceflights. On 17 December, a Long March 3A launched Compass-IGSO2. There is currently no article for this satellite.
17 December saw Intelsat regain control of the Galaxy 15 satellite, which had been out of control since a malfunction in April. The Galaxy 15 article is in need of serious cleanup and a good copyedit. On 25 December a GSLV Mk.I failed to place GSAT-5P into orbit. A Proton-M with a Briz-M upper stage successfully launched KA-SAT on 26 December. Barring any suborbital launches at the end of the month which have not yet been announced (a NASA Black Brant was scheduled for December but does not appear to have flown), 2010 in spaceflight concluded on 29 December when an Ariane 5ECA launched the Hispasat-1E and Koreasat 6 spacecraft. These do not currently have articles.
Four launches are currently scheduled to occur in January 2011. A Delta IV Heavy is expected to launch NRO L-49 on 17 January. The satellite is expected to be an Improved Crystal electro-optical imaging spacecraft. Two launches are planned for 20 January, with Kounotori 2, the second H-II Transfer Vehicle, being launched by an H-IIB, and the Zenit-3F making its maiden flight to deploy Elektro-L No.1, the first Russian geostationary weather satellite to be launched since 1994. On 28 January Progress M-09M will be launched by a Soyuz-U. 28 January will also be the twenty-fifth anniversary of the loss of the Space ShuttleChallenger on mission STS-51-L.
Article News
It was requested that the article Walter Haeussermann be expanded. Haeussermann, a member of the von Braun rocket group, died on 8 December. Although the article has been updated following his death, a user requested that more information about the engineer be added. Another user requested that the articles Commercial Space Launch Act and Launch Services Purchase Act be created, to cover laws of the United States concerning spaceflight.
Articles related to methods of taking-off and landing were discussed. The term VTVL currently has an article whilst VTHL and HTHL do not. It was suggested that the existing article should be merged, and each term be covered by the article for the equivalent aviation term, however some distinction between use in the fields of aviation and spaceflight should remain.
Concern was raised that a large scale deletion request could cause many images to be lost from articles, help was requested to investigate whether any of the images were not subject to copyright, or if they were then whether they could be uploaded to the English Wikipedia under a claim of fair use.
Concerns were raised about a large amount of content in the newly-created article deorbit of Mir duplicating existing content in existing Good Article Progress M1-5. A proposal to merge deorbit of Mir into Progress M1-5 was made, however objections were raised, and discussion has since stalled without reaching a consensus. It has also been requested that the article Mir be copyedited.
The existence of separate categories for "spaceflight" and "space exploration" has been questioned, with a suggestion that some of the exploration categories, including Category:Space exploration iteslf, should be merged into their spaceflight counterparts.
Editorial – Space Stations and the Push for Featured Topics
There has recently been much talk about trying to increase the activity of the project. To this end, a major reorganisation effort has been undertaken, which has seen the space WikiProjects separated into the Astronomy, Solar System and Spaceflight groups, with WikiProject Space being abolished. We have also seen the child projects of WikiProject Spaceflight being abolished, with Timeline of Spaceflight becoming a working group, and the Unmanned and Human Spaceflight projects becoming task forces for now, with some suggestions that they should be abolished outright. The problem with the previous structure was that there were too many different groups of editors, and nobody was sure which projects were supposed to be doing what. Now there is only one project, this is somewhat clearer, but spaceflight is still a huge topic.
Another way to improve the activity of the project is to attract more editors. Spaceflight is a topic which many people have at least a very casual interest in, and therefore it is strange that there are only about four or five people regularly participating in discussions on the project talk page. Evidently action is needed to raise the profile of the project.
One way in which the project's profile can be raised is to have a major success associated with it. The creation of a featured topic could be one such success, and would also be hugely beneficial to articles in the area that it relates to. Space Stations are one of the most high-profile and notable areas of spaceflight, and are therefore a logical choice to spearhead such an initiative.
To this end, in late December a working group was established to concentrate and coordinate efforts to establish featured topics related to space stations. An initial proposal calls for topics on Skylab, Salyut, Mir and the International Space Station, as well as one on space stations in general. There is currently an effort to get Mir promoted to Good Article status; the article currently requires a copyedit, after which it will be sent for peer review and then to GAN.
This is by no means a short-term project. There are many articles, particularly for the larger space stations such as the ISS and Mir, which are currently nowhere near becoming recognised content. Skylab is the smallest of the proposed featured topics, but it still requires that three C-class articles, two Start-class articles and a redirect all reach at least Good Article status, with at least three becoming Featured Articles. The ISS topic is so large that it may have to be subdivided.
I don't expect that we will have any featured topics by the end of the year, but I believe that a Good Topic, which requires all articles reach at least GA status, but does not require any featured articles, may be possible. I also believe that several articles on the subject can easily be improved to Good Article status, and some articles may be at featured level by the end of the year. In the long term, having featured topics will benefit the project and its content.
Selected Article – Salyut 2
Salyut 2 was an early space station, launched in 1973 as part of the Salyut and Almaz programmes. It malfunctioned two days after launch, and consequently was never visited by a manned Soyuz mission.
The Salyut 2 article describes the station:
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Salyut 2 (OPS-1)(Russian: Салют-2; English: Salute 2) was launched April 4, 1973. It was not really a part of the same program as the other Salyutspace stations, instead being the highly classified prototype military space station Almaz. It was given the designation Salyut 2 to conceal its true nature. Despite its successful launch, within two days the as-yet-unmanned Salyut 2 began losing pressure and its flight control failed; the cause of the failure was likely due to shrapnel piercing the station when the discarded Proton rocket upper stage that had placed it in orbit later exploded nearby. On April 11, 1973, 11 days after launch, an unexplainable accident caused the two large solar panels to be torn loose from the space station cutting off all power to the space station. Salyut 2 re-entered on May 28, 1973.
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The article is currently assessed as start class, and is in need of attention. It consists of the above paragraph, along with a list of specifications and an infobox. The article needs to be rewritten in a more encyclopaedic style, and with more information about the space station. It has not yet been determined whether Salyut 2 would have to be included in a featured topic about the Salyut programme, or whether since it was never manned it is less integral to the topic, however if its inclusion were necessary then in its current form it would be a major impediment to this. Downlink readers are encouraged to improve this article, with a view to getting it to B-class and possibly a viable Good Article candidate by the end of the month.
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Project News·News from Orbit·Article News·The Charts·Yuri Gagarin
Project News
A report on popular pages from December 2010 revealed surprising trends in readers' interests. Boeing X-37 was the most popular article within the project's scope, with SpaceX Dragon in second with Global Positioning System in third place. The top seven articles were all assessed as C-class, with the remainder of the top ten being Good Articles. It was noted with some concern that moon landing conspiracy theories was more popular than moon landing.
A discussion regarding whether missiles warranted inclusion within the project scope was conducted, and resulted in the continued inclusion of missiles.
The last remaining articles tagged with the banner of the former Human Spaceflight WikiProject were re-tagged with the WikiProject Spaceflight banner. The last banner was removed on 8 January, and the template has since been deleted. The project is thankful to ChiZeroOne for his work in this field.
Concerns were raised that the new article reporting system was not working correctly, however it was noted that there is sometimes a delay before articles appear on the list.
Discussion regarding the existence of the separate spaceflight and space exploration category structures led to a mass CfD being filed on 10 January to abolish the space exploration categories, merging them into their counterparts in the spaceflight category structure. This was successful, and the exploration categories have been removed. Several other categorisation issues remain unresolved.
A proposal was made to standardise some of the infoboxes used by the project, the future of Template:Infobox spacecraft(edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) was discussed, and design work began on a replacement. Template:Rocket specifications-all(edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) was nominated for deletion and subsequently kept due to extant substitutions, however it was noted that the template had been deprecated by WikiProject Rocketry. Concerns were also raised that the existing infoboxes were not well-equipped to handle spacecraft which operated in more than one orbit, or whose orbits changed over the course of their missions (which in practise is most of them).
Five members of the project gave interviews for the Wikipedia Signpost, and a report on the project, authored by SMasters (talk·contribs), is expected to be published in the 7 February edition of the Signpost. It is hoped that this will raise interest in and awareness of the project.
News from orbit
Four orbital launches were conducted in January, beginning on 20 January with the launch of Elektro-L No.1 on the first Zenit-3F rocket. This was followed later the same day by the launch of a Delta IV Heavy with the USA-224 reconnaissance satellite. The articles for USA-224 and the Zenit-3F rocket could use some expansion, whilst the Elektro-L No.1 satellite needs its own article.
On 22 January, an H-IIB launched the second H-II Transfer Vehicle, Kounotori 2, to resupply the International Space Station. It arrived at the station on 27 January. Less than a day after its arrival, another cargo mission was launched to the station; Progress M-09M departed Baikonur early in the morning of 28 January, docking on 30 January. In addition to payloads to resupply the station, the Progress spacecraft is carrying a small subsatellite, Kedr, which will be deployed in February. Kedr does not currently have an article. Progress M-08M departed on 24 January to make the Pirs module available for Progress M-09M, and has since reentered the atmosphere. Its article needs to be updated to reflect the successful completion of its mission.
The NanoSail-D2 satellite, which failed to deploy from FASTSAT in December, unexpectedly separated from its parent craft and began operations on 18 January, with its solar sail deploying on 21 January.
Nine orbital launches are scheduled to occur in February, beginning with the launch of the first Geo-IK-2 satellite; Geo-IK-2 No.11, atop a Rokot/Briz-KM, on the first day of the month. Articles need to be written for the Geo-IK-2 series of satellites, as well as for Geo-IK-2 No.11 itself, and the Briz-KM upper stage that will be used to insert it into orbit.
A Minotaur I rocket will launch NRO L-66, a classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office, on 5 February. The payload has not yet been identified, however once more details are known, it will need an article. Iran is expected to launch the Rasad 1 and Fajr 1 satellites in February, with 14 February the reported launch date. The satellites will fly aboard a single rocket; either the first Simorgh or the third Safir. Once this launch occurs, the satellites will need articles, and the article on their carrier rocket will require updating.
The second Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, is scheduled to launch on 15 February to resupply the ISS. Docking is expected to occur on 23 February. 23 February will also see the much-delayed launch of Glory atop a Taurus-XL 3110 rocket. This will be the first Taurus launch since the launch failure in early 2009 which resulted in the loss of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory. In addition to Glory, three CubeSats will be deployed; KySat-1, Hermes and Explorer-1 [PRIME]. KySat and Hermes require articles, whilst the article on Explorer-1 [PRIME] needs to be updated.
On 24 February, a Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat rocket will launch the first Glonass-K1 satellite; Glonass-K1 No.11. Articles are needed for the series of spacecraft, as well as for the specific satellite being launched. It is likely that a Kosmos designation will be given to the payload when it reaches orbit. In the evening of 24 February, Space ShuttleDiscovery will begin its final mission, STS-133, carrying the Permanent Multipurpose Module, a conversion of the Leonardo MPLM, to the ISS. Other payloads include an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier, and the Robonaut2 experimental robot. The first manned mission of 2011, Discovery's six-man crew will transfer equipment to the station, and two EVAs will be performed. The launch has already been scrubbed five times, before Discovery was rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building to inspect and repair cracks on its External Tank.
At some point in February, a Long March 3B rocket is expected to launch two navigation satellites; Compass-M2 and Compass-M3, as part of the Compass navigation system. The date of this launch is currently unknown. Both satellites will require articles once more information is available. A PSLV launch, carrying the Resourcesat-2, X-Sat and YouthSat spacecraft, is expected to launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre towards the end of the month, probably between 20 and 23 February.
Stop press: The Rokot launch was conducted at 14:00 UTC on 1 February, and at the time of writing it appears to have ended in failure, due to a suspected upper stage malfunction. The spacecraft is in orbit, it is not clear at the time of writing whether it will be salvageable.
Following up on the issues covered in the last issue, the requested move of Missile Range Instrumentation Ship to Tracking ship was successful, with the article being renamed. The discussion concerning types of launch and landing resulted in a proposal to merge VTVL into VTOL, however this has been met with some opposition. Several other options have been suggested on Talk:VTVL. The large scale deletion of mis-tagged Soviet images on Commons went ahead, with most of the useful ones having already been backed-up locally under fair use criteria.
Discussion was held regarding the naming of spaceflight-related articles. Concerns were raised regarding inconsistency in article titles and disambiguators. A project guideline was adopted to standardise titles, with the parenthesised disambiguators "(satellite)" and "(spacecraft)" being adopted as standards for spacecraft, and the exclusion of manufacturers' names from article titles was recommended. Issues regarding Japanese spacecraft with two names, the correct names for early Apollo missions, and dealing with acronyms and abbreviated names remain unresolved.
A large number of articles were moved to conform to the standard disambiguation pattern. In addition, several Requested Moves were debated. A proposal to move SpaceX Dragon to Dragon (spacecraft), which began prior to the adoption of the standardised disambiguators, was successful. Atmospheric reentry was subject to two requested moves, firstly one which would have seen it renamed spacecraft atmospheric reentry, which was unsuccessful, however a second proposal shortly afterwards saw it moved to atmospheric entry. A proposal currently under discussion could see Lunar rover (Apollo) renamed Lunar Roving Vehicle
Help was requested for adding citations to List of Mir spacewalks. A request was made that STS-88 be reviewed against the B class criteria, and suggestions for improvements made. Another user requested improvements to the article Yuri Gagarin, with a view to having the article promoted to featured status in time for the fiftieth anniversary of his Vostok 1 mission. As a result of this request, Yuri Gagarin is this month's selected article.
Questions were raised as to whether an article or category should be created to cover derelict satellites. The categorisation of spacecraft by the type of rocket used to place them into orbit was also suggested. In another categorisation issue, it was questioned whether Space law should fall under space or spaceflight.
There is no editorial this month as no content was submitted for one. Instead, we present the "top ten" most popular articles within the project, based on the number of page views in January. Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was the most popular article of the last month, up fourteen places from 15th in December. Space Shuttle Challenger was the highest climber in the top 40, up 42 places from 50th. December's most popular article. Boeing X-37, dropped 57 places to 58th. On a happier note further down the chart, moon landing is now ahead of moon landing conspiracy theories.
Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly in space, aboard Vostok 1 in April 1961. He was subsequently awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, and was training for a second flight at the time of his death in 1968.
His article describes him and his spaceflight experience:
On 12 April 1961, Gagarin became the first man to travel into space, launching to orbit aboard the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1). His call sign in this flight was Kedr (Cedar; Russian: Кедр). During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает"). The first two lines of the song are: "The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky". This patriotic song was written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1951 (opus 86), with words by Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky.
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The article is currently assessed as C class, and had been assessed as B class prior to the criteria being redefined. Although a full reassessment has not yet been made, it seems close to the B class criteria, however details on his spaceflight experiences are somewhat lacking. It has been requested that the article be developed to Featured status by April, in time for the fiftieth anniversary of his mission.
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There have been very few discussions relating to the administration of the project in the last month, as things start to settle down after the merger.
An invitation template has been created in an effort to attract new users to the project. Discussion was also held regarding the creation of a list of common templates, however no conclusions were reached. A proposal was made to implement an A-class assessment process, however editors are undecided about whether it would be best to copy the system used by another project such as WP:MILHIST, or to develop one specifically for the requirements of this project.
User:ChiZeroOne has set up a collaboration page in his userspace, initially focussing on articles related to Skylab. Collaboration pages were at one point proposed as part of the structure of the Spaceflight project itself, however no consensus was achieved on the issue. If this collaboration is successful, it could open the door to a reevaluation of that situation.
News from orbit
Five orbital launches were conducted in February, out of nine planned. The first, that of the Geo-IK-2 No.11 satellite atop a Rokot/Briz-KM ended in failure after the upper stage malfunctioned. The Rokot has since been grounded pending a full investigation; the satellite is in orbit, but has been determined to be unusable for its intended mission. A replacement is expected to launch within the year. A general article on Geo-IK-2 satellites is needed, to supplement those on the individual satellites.
A Minotaur I rocket launched USA-225, or NROL-66, on 6 February following a one-day delay. The second Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, was successfully launched on 16 February to resupply the ISS. Docking occurred successfully on 24 February, several hours before Space ShuttleDiscovery launched on its final flight, STS-133. Discovery docked with the ISS on 26 February, delivering the Leonardo module and an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier to the station. Following several delays, a Soyuz-2.1b/Fregat rocket launched the first Glonass-K1 satellite; Glonass-K1 No.11, on 26 February. It is currently unclear as to whether the satellite has received a Kosmos designation or not.
Seven launches are expected to occur in March. On 4 March, the Glory satellite will launch atop a Taurus-XL 3110 rocket. Three CubeSats will be also be deployed by the Taurus; KySat-1, Hermes and Explorer-1 [Prime]. KySat and Hermes require articles, whilst the article on Explorer-1 [PRIME] needs to be updated. This launch was originally scheduled for February, but following a scrubbed launch attempt, it was delayed.
4 March will also see the launch of the first flight of the second X-37B, atop an Atlas V 501. An article is needed for that flight, which will probably receive a USA designation once it reaches orbit. On 8 March, Discovery is expected to land, bringing to an end the STS-133 mission, and retiring from service 27 years after its maiden flight. On 11 March, a Delta IV Medium+(4,2) will launch the NROL-27 payload. Whilst the identity of this payload is classified, it is widely believed to be a Satellite Data Systemcommunications satellite, bound for either a molniya or geostationary orbit. An article for this payload is required. 16 March will see the return to Earth of Soyuz TMA-01M, carrying three members of the ISS Expedition 26 crew.
On 31 March, a Proton-M/Briz-M launch will carry the SES-3 and Kazsat-2 spacecraft into orbit, in the first dual-launch of commercial communications satellites on a Proton. Several other launches may occur in March, however their status is unclear. Last month, a Long March 3B rocket was expected to launch two navigation satellites; Compass-M2 and Compass-M3, however this launch did not take place. It is unclear if it has been delayed to March, or further. The launch of the Tianlian 2 communications satellite on a Long March 3C may also be conducted in March, or possibly April. Both the Compass and Tianlian launches would occur from the same launch pad, which requires a turnaround of almost a month between launches, so it is unlikely that both will happen in March. A Safir launch, which had been expected in February, now appears to have been delayed to April, but given the secrecy of the Iranian space programme, this is unclear.
Article news
Discussion regarding the merger of articles on launch and landing modes seems to have stagnated, with no consensus being reached on any existing proposal. A discussion regarding changes in the sizes of Soviet and American rockets during the 1950s and early 1960s was conducted, with claims that rockets became smaller in that period being dismissed, however it was noted that smaller rockets were developed with equivalent capacity to older ones were developed, as well as much larger ones with increased capacities.
Category:Derelict satellites orbiting Earth was created as a result of discussion surrounding the categorisation of derelict satellites. Concerns have also been raised that satellites are being listed as no longer being in orbit whilst still in orbit and derelict, and a discussion was held on how their status could be verified. An effort to categorise spacecraft by the type of rocket used to launch them is underway, however the categorisation of satellites by country of launch was rejected.
It was reported that a sidebar has been created for articles related to the core concepts of spaceflight. Editors noted that it should only be used for core concepts, and not where it would conflict with an infobox. An anonymous user requested the creation of an article on moon trees. It was pointed out that the subject already had an article, and a redirect was created at the title proposed by the anonymous user.
Concerns were raised regarding the quality of the article Japan's space development. Editors noted that the article appeared to be a poorly-translated copy of an article from the Japanese Wikipedia, although there have been some signs of improvement. Discussion regarding moving the article to Japanese space program is ongoing, however a move request has not yet been filed.
A particular concern was raised regarding false claims in the article Van Allen radiation belt. In one case a scientist to whom one of the claims had been attributed was contacted, and clarified that he had made a remark to that effect as a joke in the 1960s, but was not entirely sure how or why it had been included in the article. Other concerns were raised before the discussion moved to WikiProject Astronomy.
A question was raised regarding the copyright status of images credited to both NASA and ESA, particularly with regard to images of the launch of the Johannes Kepler ATV. The discussion reached no general conclusions, however it was found that the specific images that were suggested for inclusion in the article could be used, since they were explicitly declared to be in the public domain.
A template, Template:Spaceflight landmarks(edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs), was created to cover landmarks in the United States that are related to spaceflight. Several sources of public-domain NASA images were also discussed, and it was noted that almost all NASA images are public domain, however there are some exceptions.
It has been proposed that Leonardo MPLM be merged with Permanent Multipurpose Module since the two cover separate uses of the same spacecraft. A review of the article STS-88 has also been requested.
Three new Good Articles have been listed: Mission: Earth, Voyage to the Home Planet, Bold Orion and SA-500D. Orion (spacecraft) was delisted after concerns that it contained out-of-date content. SA-500D is currently undergoing good article reassessment, using the community reassessment method, after the review of its good article nomination was criticised for being lenient and not sufficiently thorough. Mir, Mark E. Kelly and Reaction Engines Skylon have been nominated for Good Article status and are awaiting review, whilst List of Mir spacewalks is undergoing a peer review with a view to it becoming a featured list.
Editorial: Direction of the Project
Well folks, its now been more than three months since the discussion that reformed the space-related WikiProjects, and in that time we've had a number of achievements we can be rightly proud of; we've gathered members up to a total of 43, improved awareness of the project via an interview in the Signpost, and refreshed the spaceflight portal into an attractive, up-to-date and useful page. Meanwhile, User:ChiZeroOne has made a sterling effort in clearing up talk page templates belonging to prior projects, we've managed to sort out various policies, started work on rearranging our templates, and User:GW Simulations has begun this excellent monthly newsletter for us. However, there are a few areas of the project that seem to be passing by the wayside, specifically the areas dedicated to fostering collaboration on articles and article sets between the project members, so here I present a call for more collaboration on the project.
Presumably, the lack of collaboration is due to folks not being aware of what's going on, so here's a quick rundown of some of the ways you get involved in the group effort. Firstly, and most importantly, it'd be fantastic if more members got involved in the discussions ongoing at the project's main talk page, found at WT:SPACEFLIGHT. There are several discussions ongoing there, such as the relaunch of the spacecraft template, requests for assistance with various assessment and copyright queries, and conversations regarding category organisations, which affect many more articles, and thus editors, than are currently represented in the signatures so far.
Secondly, it was established earlier on in the project's formation that a great way to attract more editors would be to develop some good or featured topics. There are a couple of efforts ongoing to try to see this idea to fruition, such as the Space stations working group and ChiZeroOne's own collaboration page, currently focussed on Skylab-related articles. These pages, however, have been notably lacking in activity lately, which is a shame, as their aims, given enough editor input, would really see the project furthering itself. Similarly, there are a number of requests for assessment for articles to be promoted to GA class, among other things, on the Open tasks page, which lists all of the activities needing input from members. If everyone could add this page to their watchlists and swing by it regularly, we could power through the good topics in extremely short order! Other things that could do with being added to people's watchlists include Portal:Spaceflight/Next launch, the many templates at Template:Launching/Wrappers and the task list at Portal:Spaceflight/Tasks.
Finally, I'd like to try and get people involved in finally settling the organisational problem we have with reference to the task forces and working groups. Whilst the Timeline of spaceflight working group is a continuation of the old Timeline of spaceflight WikiProject and thus is ticking over nicely and the space stations working group has been mentioned previously in this editorial, the task forces (Human spaceflight and Unmanned spaceflight) in particular are currently dead in the water. I'm unsure as to whether or not this is because people are unaware of their existence, they clash too much with one another and the rest of the project or because people don't see a need for them, but if interested parties could make themselves known and others voice suggestions for getting rid of them, we can decide either if they're worth keeping and get them running again, or do away with a layer of bureaucracy and close them down. Any thoughts on the matter would be much appreciated.
In summary, then, we've got a great project going here, with a nice set of articles, a good editor base and lots of ways of getting involved. Thus, a plea goes out to everyone to get involved, get editing with the other project members, and hopefully we'll see ourselves take off in a manner not dissimilar to the trajectory dear old Discovery took last week. Many thanks for everyone's hard work so far, and poyekhali! :-)
The Charts
Since it is useful to keep track of the most viewed pages within the project's scope, it seems like a good idea to continue this feature, which was originally included in last month's issue as a one-off.
Europa was a rocket developed by a multinational European programme in the 1960s. Consisting of British, French and German stages, it was intended to provide a European alternative to the US rockets used for the launch of most Western satellites to that date. Although the British Blue Streak first stage performed well on all flights, problems with the French and German stages, as well as the Italian-built payload fairing, resulted in the failure of all multistage test flights and orbital launch attempts. The programme was abandoned after the failure of the Europa II's maiden flight in 1971. The article Europa (rocket), describes it:
Tasks were to be distributed between nations: the United Kingdom would provide the first stage (derived from the Blue Streak missile), France would build the second and Germany the third stage.
The Europa programme was divided into 4 successive projects :
Europa 1: 4 unsuccessful launches
Europa 2: 1 unsuccessful launch
Europa 3: Cancelled before any launch occurred
Europa 4: Study only, later cancelled
The project was marred by technical problems. Although the first stage (the British Blue Streak) launched successfully on each occasion, it was the second or third stage that failed.
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The article is currently assessed as start-class, and is missing a lot of information. It also lacks some basic features such as inline citations. Since Europa was a fairly major programme, enough information should be available to produce a much higher quality article, and it could probably be brought up to GA status with enough effort.
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You currently appear to be engaged in an edit war according to the reverts you have made on Galbijim Wiki. Note that the three-revert rule prohibits making more than three reversions in a content dispute within a 24 hour period. Additionally, users who perform a large number of reversions in content disputes may be blocked for edit warring, even if they do not technically violate the three-revert rule. If you continue, you may be blocked from editing. Please do not repeatedly revert edits, but use the talk page to work towards wording and content that gains a consensus among editors. east.718 at 19:42, December 15, 2007
