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Space Traffic jam
Today was a rare day, indeed. There were a total of 12 people in orbit around the planet, in 3 different vehicles. 4 manned vehicles were in orbit, and one unmanned cargo vehicle. This morning they all got to talk to each other in a big conference call. If you've ever wondered what a bunch of astronauts and cosmonauts would talk about, read this.
Here's the break-down of the crews in orbit (in parenthesis are the vehicle's call-sign):
Soyuz (Vostok) - 1 astronaut, 1 cosmonaut, and 1 fare-paying cosmonaut
Shuttle (Atlantis) - 6 astronauts (including a Canadian)
ISS (Alpha) - 1 cosmonaut, 1 astronaut, and 1 European cosmonaut
Soyuz (?) - unmanned, docked to ISS
Progress - unmanned, now purposefully dumped in the South Pacific (but it was orbiting when the call was made)
These are exciting times that we live in!