Dragon Daring

Space.com just published a new NASA image . . . the picture of a tiny dot whose name is “Dragon.”



That little dot at the edge of the earth thrills a lot of us, folks who are in the space business, or are mere “space junkies” like me.  It was a historic event according to the story:

The unmanned vehicle, called Dragon, is built by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), and is the first commercial spacecraft ever launched toward the space station. During the rendezvous, the spacecraft approached within 1.6 miles (2.5 km) of the outpost. Dragon launched to orbit  from Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Tuesday (May 22) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is due to arrive at the station on Friday (May 25).

This vehicle is a milestone,  the first commercial cargo carrier to make it to the International Space Station (ISS).  And that is a very big deal for several reasons. 

• We are in an era of very tight budgetary times for the space program.
• NASA can no longer carry the entire financial load of the U.S. space program. In order to progress beyond low earth orbit, part of it needed to be spun off to the private sector.
• If Congress has been willing to attack the social safety net, legislators will surely disagree on space spending levels.
• For far too long, the United States has lacked its own way to transport items to the station, though we have excellent international cooperation within the ISS effort.
• International cooperation is essential to the success of big space projects, just as public –private partnerships have become essential.
• ISS is the premier scientific research platform for a whole host of space related projects. 

You may also want to visit the site to view a photo series featuring the Space Station’s robotic fleet, of which Dragon is the latest. Space.com also lists the five most promising of the private spaceships.

Newsweek: Elon Musk on the future of space flight http://ping.fm/P27hL

Links to the latest news about the Shuttle Discovery --

Space Shuttle Discovery Takes One Last Trip to Launch Pad ...The space shuttle Discovery began its last journey to the launch pad Monday, six weeks before the spacecraft is due to lift off on its final mission to space. Sept. 21, 2010

Gallery: Boeing Joins Start-up Companies in the Private Space Race | 80beats ...the space shuttle program, selecting a backup crew in case it needs to make a rescue mission for the last scheduled flight in February. While the space shuttle close draws nearer, the race to replace it gets stronger. Now Boeing has entered the fray, unveiling the design of a spacecraft it will build for the task of taking astronauts t... Sept. 20, 2010

NASA Selects Astronaut Crew for Possible Extra Shuttle Flight...ever space shuttle mission next summer, should Congress approve the extra flight.  SPACE.com Sep 16, 2010

Rare Shuttle Rollover Photo Op Evokes Sadness, Pride ...parked Space Shuttle Discovery outside its hangar for several hours to allow employees to take pictures. Sep 13, 2010

 

Hat tip to Space.com and Google Reader for these links.

via ScribeFire

Posted via email from Behind These Links

Moon-Watchers Welcome at 3 NASA Centers Saturday

Skywatchers with the moon on their minds can get their lunar fix tonight (Sept. 18) at three NASA space centers as part of a global moon-watching event.

NASA centers in California, Alabama and Maryland will welcome the public tonight as part of the first International Observe the Moon Night, a worldwide project to spur interest in the moon among the public. The space centers are just some of the participants in the skywatching event. Some 370 venues across 30 countries are expected to host moon-watching parties of their own, NASA officials said.

"We're participating in a truly international event to share knowledge and information about the moon," said Kim Newton, a spokeswoman for NASA's Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Ala., where scientists will be waiting with telescopes to share moon secrets with the public. "We're looking forward to a great turnout." [10 Coolest New Moon Discoveries]

Hundreds of other local moon-watching events are planned around the world tonight. To see if an event is planned near your location, visit the International Observe the Moon Night project website: http://www.observethemoonnight.org/getInvolved/attend.cfm

Here's a look at the three NASA centers opening their doors for moon-lovers tonight:

MARYLAND: Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center

The Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center in Greenbelt, Md., will hold moon observing events from 6:30-10 p.m. EDT, weather permitting. The events includes guest speakers, hands-on activities and for early attendees a tour of the center's laser-ranging facility. Tours of the laser-ranging facility, used to help determine the position of the moon and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter currently in orbit around it, are open to the first 100 visitors.

Goddard officials will show photos of the moon taken by the LRO spacecraft, encourage moon observations and discuss the moon's phases, history and appearance.  For more information on the Goddard events and schedule, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/visitor/events/observe-the-moon.html

Location:

Goddard Space Flight Center
800 Greenbelt Rd.
Greenbelt, Md., 20771

Click here for local directions.

ALABAMA: Marshall Space Flight Center/U.S. Space & Rocket Center

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is teaming up with the Lunar Quest Program to host a moon-watching event at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., from 5-8 p.m. CDT, weather permitting.

Several large amateur telescopes will be available for the public to view the moon, along with an inflatable planetarium and an "astronomy van" that will offer 3-D views of the moon as it would appear through the windows of a spacecraft command module, Marshall center officials said.

Astronomer Rob Suggs, NASA Space Environments Team lead and manager of the Lunar Impact Monitoring Project at Marshall, will be present to discuss the latest moon discoveries with the public. For more information on the Marshall events and schedule, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2010/M10-120.html

Location:

NASA's Educator Resource Center near the rocket center complex. Take Interstate 565 to exit 15 for Madison Pike toward Sparkman Drive/Bob Wallace Avenue. Keep right at the fork, follow signs to the Space & Rocket Center. Take the first left after the Marriott entrance.

Click here for detailed directions.

CALIFORNIA: Ames Research Center

At NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., event organizers plan to aim more than 40 telescopes at the moon for visiting skywatchers. The event will run from 7-11 p.m. PDT, weather permitting.

NASA scientists will be available to discuss recent lunar discoveries, including the existence of water on the moon, the upcoming Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer mission and other moon-watching projects.

Speakers will include David Morrison, former director of the National Lunar Science Institute, Barry Blumberg, a Nobel laureate and former director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and Greg Delory, LADEE mission deputy project scientist. For more information on the Ames events and schedule, visit: http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/articles/international-observe-the-moon-night

Location:

NASA Ames Research Center Parade Grounds
Moffett Field, Calif.

Click here for directions.

• 10 Coolest New Moon Discoveries
• How to Observe the Moon Saturday Night
• Poll: Where Should Humans Land on the Moon Next?
• Telescopes for Beginnersspanspan

via space.com

Think about going if you are anywhere near any of these locations. Take the kids.

Posted via email from Make Good Mondays

2010 will mark the end of the NASA shuttle program.

Photo credits: STS-130 night landing (NASA TV), Shuttle silhouette near ISS (NASA astronauts), Shuttle S-turn during landing approach - taken from ISS (by Astronaut Soichi Noguchi via Twitter).



The International Station will be able to operate until at least 2020, according to the current budget.  NASA's decades-old shuttle program will end in September.  After that supplies and personnel will be ferried to the ISS by unmanned vehicles operated by other countries.  U.S. astronauts will be transported back and forth via Russian Soyuz capsules.  The Bush administration's Constellation program has been canceled.  However, the U.S. is investing in the emerging commercial space industry.  NASA's larger vision for the U.S. space program has yet to be announced.  Until then we will be watching the end of an era in U.S. space flight.



NASA's space shuttle, Endeavour's 6-person crew landed safely Sunday night at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  Well reported by Marcia Dunn for the Associated Press, "All that's left now are four shuttle flights to stock the space station with more experiments, spare parts and supplies."  The story went on:

. . . making a rare nighttime landing to end a mission that resulted in the virtual completion of the International Space Station. . . During their mission — which spanned two weeks and 5.7 million miles — the astronauts delivered and installed a new space station room, Tranquility, and a big bay window with sweeping views of the Earth.
. . . Tranquility already is serving as a base for life-support equipment, as well as a gym and restroom. It also holds the seven-windowed dome, quite possibly the most anticipated addition ever made to a spacecraft.
. . . The two new compartments were supplied by the European Space Agency at a cost of more than $400 million. Their addition brought the 11-year-old space station to 98 percent completion. 
. . . NASA plans on wrapping up the shuttle program this fall, after which the space station will be supplied by craft from Russia, Europe and Japan. Astronauts will be hitching rides exclusively on Russian Soyuz capsules. The Obama Administration is proposing that commercial rocket companies take a crack at the U.S. ferry side of it, once the three remaining shuttles are retired.

The STS-130 mission's main purpose was to finish constructing the International Stace Station.  After completing the installation of the ISS's new Tranquility module with its wow-factor cupola, the combined crew received a call from President Obama, the AP reported at MSNBC- Space.com,  2/18/10.  To quote:

"I just wanted to let you guys know how proud we are of all of you," Obama said. "Everybody here back home is excited about this bay on the world that you guys are opening up. And Stephen Colbert at least is excited about his treadmill."
. . . Surrounded by schoolchildren with an engineering bent, Obama noted "the amazing work" being done on the space station by multiple nations. It is "a testimony to why continued space exploration is so important and is part of the reason why my commitment to NASA is unwavering," he said.

End of space station era?
Obama did not mention his recent decision to cancel NASA's back-to-the-moon program, Constellation — a controversial verdict within the aerospace community. He also offered no hints as to where astronauts might venture next, following the space station era.

The United States' lunar pull-out leaves China shooting for the moon, according to Francois Bougon's AFP story of 2/20/10.  To quote:

China aims to land its first astronauts on the moon within a decade at the dawn of a new era of manned space exploration -- a race it now leads thanks to the US decision to drop its lunar programme.
US President Barack Obama earlier this month said he planned to drop the costly Constellation space programme, a budget move that would kill off future moon exploration if it is approved by Congress.
In contrast, China has a fast-growing human spaceflight project that has notched one success after another, including a spacewalk by astronauts in 2008, with plans for a manned lunar mission by around 2020.

Bougon concludes:

But Beijing has other significant Asian competitors to reckon with as it vies to become the second nation to put a man on the moon.
India landed a lunar probe in 2008, and a top official said last month it was targeting a manned space mission in 2016. Japan, meanwhile, launched its first lunar satellite in June last year.

So it appears that United States preeminence in space exploration will soon be at an end.  That is a bittersweet reality for so many of us, that we have yet to take it in.  The beginning of the end started with the Bush administration's poorly conceived and underfunded Constellation program.  It became a plan for an expensive set of space vehicles with nowhere to go.  The good news for Earth is that long ago the space program became a truly international project, or set of projects.  It is too expensive and dangerous for just one country to dominate.  Perhaps one day China and India will come to that same conclusion.  Meanwhile we have a very solid partnership with Canada, Russia, ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan).  The astronauts have always been just fine with that.  We must now join them in that profound interdependence.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Southwest Postings

STS-130 shuttle launch scrubbed due to clouds

Image via Wikipedia

The six astronauts were all prone and in their seats, the tanks were full, and the white room crew had pulled away. The shuttle's cargo bay was loaded with new digs for the International Space Station. It was to have been the last night launch. But it was "no go" for Endeavour. NASA will try again tomorrow.
http://amplify.com/u/1s08
 

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

 

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• NASA to close shuttle program (robbiz1978.blogspot.com)
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• Shuttle Endeavour 'go' for Sunday blastoff (go.theregister.com)

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Cloudy weather halts STS-130 shuttle launch -- from the New York Times.com

Image via Wikipedia

The six astronauts were all prone and in their seats, the tanks were full, and the white room crew had pulled away. The shuttle's cargo bay was loaded with new digs for the International Space Station. It was to have been the last night launch. But it was "no go" for Endeavour. NASA will try again tomorrow.
http://amplify.com/u/1s08
 

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

 

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• NASA to close shuttle program (robbiz1978.blogspot.com)
• Shuttle fueled up for final night launch (msnbc.msn.com)
• Shuttle Endeavour 'go' for Sunday blastoff (go.theregister.com)

FACTBOX: Endeavour to carry final space station hub, cupola: story

The latest on NASA's upcoming launch

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

Shuttle set for Sunday launch amid space plan shift, carrying node & cupola: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6151JD20100206

Posted via web from Make Good Mondays

Russia to try to build a nuclear powered spacecraft

Tweeted from Space Fellowship: (1/11/10)."Russia earmarks $17 mln to research nuclear-propelled spacecraft http://su.pr/31wQew"

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) – The Russian government will allocate 500 million rubles ($16.7 million) in 2010 on a project to build a spaceship with a nuclear engine.

In line with an order issued by the Cabinet on December 29, a total of 430 million rubles ($14.4 mln) will be given to the Rosatom state nuclear corporation, and the rest to the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.

Roscosmos head Anatoly Perminov said in late December that Russia would launch research into nuclear engines for spaceships this year.

He said nuclear engines for spaceships were a very promising area and should be created to make flights to Mars and other planets. . .

This a very interesting development.  It makes perfect sense for them to compete in this way.  And we are all in this together now, and deeply interdependent.

Posted via email from Make Good Mondays

NASA Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer snaps its first picture | Space News from The Huntsville Times - al.com

By Shelby G. Spires

January 06, 2010, 2:28PM

View full size

NASAThis is a photograph of the Carina constellation taken by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer. 

This infrared snapshot of a region in the constellation Carina near the Milky Way was taken shortly after NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, ejected its cover, according to NASA. 

The "first-light" picture shows thousands of stars and covers an area three times the size of the moon. WISE will take more than a million similar pictures covering the whole sky. . .

via blog.al.com

That NASA calls this a "snapshot" is an understatement. Reread the size described: "three times the size of the moon."
The ability to do this sort of thing still amazes me and contributes to my remaining an incurable "space junkie."

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

When do they celebrate New Year's on the International Space Station? - By Brian Palmer - Slate Magazine

When do the astronauts pop open the champagne?

By Brian Palmer Posted Thursday, Dec. 31, 2009, at 11:49 AM ET

Party favors

Last week a Russian spacecraft ferried three astronauts to the International Space Station to join the two who had been manning it since October. The crew took Christmas Day off to share meals together. What about celebrating New Year's—how do you pick the right moment when you're hurtling through time zones at 17,500 miles per hour?

Just wait until midnight, Greenwich Mean Time. By convention, the astronauts set their clocks to GMT, also known as Coordinated Universal Time. . .

While the astronauts acknowledge New Year's Day, they won't have much of a celebration. They'll all stop working in the evening to gather around a communal table, with their feet in toeholds and the plates velcroed to the table, and share a meal of foods from their three countries of origin—the United States, Russia, and Japan. . . They might also take some time to video conference with their families, but most of the day will be like any other.

Space station holidays are established at the beginning of each mission and depend on the nationalities of the crew members. The current crew will recognize New Year's Day, Russian Orthodox Christmas, and Russian Defender of the Fatherland Day. The next two missions—set to begin in March and May 2010—will celebrate Showa Day (honoring the late Japanese Emperor Hirohito), Russian Victory Day, U.S. Independence Day, and Labor Day. . .

A space station New Year's Eve party might be kind of lame, anyway. There's no alcohol allowed on board, and sparkling cider isn't an option, either. . . There's no easy way for the astronauts to view the Times Square festivities, either. Mission Control occasionally uses its data stream to relay important television programming, such as a presidential announcement or the Army-Navy football game, but Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve has never been viewed in space.

The eats wouldn't be too bad, though. In late 2008, the space shuttle Endeavor brought a second refrigerator to the station—the original refrigerator is used only for science experiments—giving the astronauts some time to consume fresh foods. An unmanned Russian spacecraft brings fresh produce and other delicacies every two or three months. The Christmas menu included turkey, cornbread dressing, yams, and green beans.

via slate.com

There is cause to celebrate the long record of peaceful international cooperation in space. Take a minute today, the first of the new decade, to honor those men and women from many different countries who risked their lives to push the boundaries of the human experience beyond earth. It is a good thing for every soul on earth.

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

Incredible New Hubble Image Full of Stars | International Space Fellowship

Just in time for the holidays: a Hubble Space Telescope picture postcard of hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds. The festive portrait is the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood.

Hubble's Festive View of a Grand Star-Forming Region. Credit: NASA/ESA

The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus.
Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to pop off, like a string of firecrackers, as supernovas in a few million years.
The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years. The nebula is close enough to Earth that Hubble can resolve individual stars, giving astronomers important information about the stars’ birth and evolution.

via spacefellowship.com

Click on this link for a wonderful new Hubble image. It depicts a region labeled charmingly as a "stellar nursery." It comes to us as a result of the recent refurbishing of the Hubble Space Telescope by brave astronauts armed with hammers, wrenches and fabulous new instruments..

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

Shuttle delivers the goods to space station - Return to Flight- msnbc.com

The space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of six arrived at the International Space Station Wednesday to drop off some massive spare parts for the orbiting laboratory.

The two vehicles linked up at 11:51 a.m. ET as the two spacecraft flew 220 miles (354 kilometers) above Earth. After sealing the link between them, astronauts opened the hatches at 1:29 p.m. ET.

"We're crashing the party," Atlantis commander Charlie Hobaugh radioed to the waiting station crew when the shuttle was about a mile away.

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"We're looking forward to seeing you guys," station astronaut Jeff Williams replied.

Atlantis launched Monday carrying more than 27,000 pounds (12,246 kilograms) of cargo for the space station, including a pair of massive carrier platforms laden with large spare parts for the orbiting laboratory. The spares, which include huge gyroscopes, pumps and other gear, will be installed at the station during three spacewalks planned for the 11-day space mission.

via msnbc.msn.com

Not wasting any time, the combined Atlantis-ISS crew is today in the midst of the STS-129 first space walk of this busy logistics mission. As usual, a rookie and an old hand are outside together in their suits/mini-spacecrafts, working hard and stealing glances at the earth flying underneath them.
It never ceases to excite and amaze. Watch everything on a NASA cable or satellite TV channel.

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

Lift Off Successful for Ares 1-X

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Ares 1-X solid rocket flew beautifully on its second day of trying to find a little weather window.  Long, slim and powerful, this rather new machine made its originators proud.  I have been watching the camera replays with fascination, including two on the vehicle itself.  The control rooms broke out in applause, handshakes, high-fives and general celebration over the feat.  After they all settle down a bit (at 1:30 PM Eastern time), there will be a news conference by the principles on the NASA channel.

The next few days, weeks and months will be devoted to analyzing the data that was fed back to the control room from more than 700 sensors on the rocket.  This launch feels very different than the test launches of decades ago.  It will be interesting to see the next generation learn to do all this their own way.  I wish them well.

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Zemanta helped me add links & pictures to this email. It can do it for you too.

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Mission: Ares 1-X

NASA Targeting 11 A.M. for Rocket Launch
28 October 2009, 9:50 a.m. EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA is now hoping to lift off its Ares I-X test rocket at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). Weather officers are still looking toward a break in the clouds that looks to reach the launch pad around that time.

The flight has been held on the ground by cloudy weather since its launch window opened at 8 a.m. EDT.

Click here to read the launch preview story.

Click here for SPACE.com’s NASA TV feed.

via space.com

Space.com has a very good page on the Aries 1-X project. It has been interesting to contrast this rocket test mission with the Shuttle missions. There is a huge difference between manned and unmanned rocketry. There is also a lot of difference between going into low earth orbit and going up for just a couple of minutes and parachuting the vehicle back into the ocean.
I wish this great bunch good luck and Godspeed today. I am a space junkie and still love to watch the big booms.

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

Amelia Earhart's scarf flying to space - Space.com- msnbc.com

As a new major motion picture about famed female pilot Amelia Earhart prepares to launch onto movie theater screens this weekend, a scarf she wore is being readied for its own liftoff, flying on the space shuttle with the astronaut grandson of her personal photographer.

Randy Bresnik, whose grandfather Albert was recruited by Earhart in 1932 to be her only authorized photographer, is set to take the scarf on shuttle Atlantis when it departs with supplies and spare parts for the International Space Station (ISS) in November.

"We are flying Amelia Earhart's favorite scarf that she unfortunately did not take with her on her final mission," revealed the STS-129 astronaut during an interview with collectSPACE.com. "Fortunately, she also decided not to take her photographer with her otherwise I might not be here today."

Story continues below ↓

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As the film "Amelia" starring Hilary Swank in the title role recounts, Earhart, who made the first transatlantic solo flight by a woman in 1933, and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt in 1937 to become the first female to fly around the world.

via msnbc.msn.com

I have always had a special place in my heart for Amelia Earhart. She disappeared the year I was born.
It is amazing how much Hillary Swank looks like her. And Richard Gere is also in the new film. How can we lose?!

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

SPACE.com -- White House Panel's Human Spaceflight Report Due Soon

"What's really at stake in the short-term is Ares I, and all of this push for commercial crew I would think is viewed as an alternative to a government-run program like Ares I," said John Logsdon, a space policy expert professor emeritus at the George Washington University here. "Long-term, it's whether in fact there is going to be a meaningful space exploration program beyond the International Space Station."

The Ares I is based on the space shuttle's giant solid rocket motors built by Alliant Techsystems of Edina, Minn. Alliant Techsystems is the lead contractor on Ares I.

Sources in the administration and on Capitol Hill say it remains to be seen when or how the White House responds to the report. But sources both within the administration and close to it say an increase along the lines suggested by the Augustine panel is being weighed. Such an increase would add almost $1 billion to the space exploration budget in 2011, ramping up to about $3 billion annually by 2014.

"I think the $3 billion figure has been widely misunderstood," Logsdon said. "The actual proposal from the Augustine committee is a gradual increase to that level over four years through 2014, with only a little less than $1 billion proposed for next year."

Congressional sources say lawmakers are anxiously awaiting the administration's response to the Augustine panel's final report, though some question whether Congress would support the flexible path exploration option.

Augustine was pressed during a September congressional hearing to offer a compelling reason to abandon NASA's current exploration program rather than fund it at a higher level, for example.

However, the Augustine panel indicated during public meetings held over the summer that in order to keep Constellation on track for a first flight of Ares 1-Orion by 2015 and a return to the moon by 2020, NASA would need a total of $50 billion above current projections over the next decade.

"If you really want to do Constellation and keep it on the current schedule, or close to it, that's what you're looking at," one administration official said.

via space.com

The excerpt above republishes the conclusion of the story. The introduction lays out the panel's recommendations around several options for next steps for Congress and the Obama administration, based on its finding that NASA is currently underfunded to carry out its stated mission. . . by about a billion dollars a year in the coming years. Among the options the panel seems to lean toward "the flexible path" idea. It posits that, rather than a return to the moon or Mars in the immediate future, the US space program should start to explore the nearby areas of space as a way on gaining the learning and technology to eventually get to Mars. The panel did not recommend any one option, but a series of plans that could be carried out with about $3 billion in additional funding. Without adequate monies, the panel concluded that the US space program will not be able to leave low earth orbit any time soon.

Finally, here is the Augustine Committee/NASA press release on the subject.

Posted via web from Southwest Postings

NASA and Space - a Roundup

Pictured: Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator

Today's post is a collection of my favorite tweets from those I follow at Twitter.

"Politifact updates two Obama space promises as "kept" and "in-the-works" - http://bit.ly/DSSLA & http://bit.ly/2DinS," is from Florida Space Report (10/6/09).

"NASA and Russian Space Agency Administrators Meet http://bit.ly/5czIs http://bit.ly/sivZ8," is from waybis (10/5/09).

"Strapped NASA might need global space partners http://j.mp/50TYe http://bit.ly/1465qC via," is from waybis (10/3/09).

"Panel’s report threatens NASA’s mission: A report suggesting NASA’s space travel goals are too ambitious is jeop.. http://bit.ly/325hF3," is from The Hill (9/10/09).

"The full Final Report is still being prepared and will be released when complete," is from the NASA HSF [Augustine] Committee (9/9/09).

"See the NEW Hubble images online now: www.nasa.gov/hubble," is from NASA (9/9/09).

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Space News Update

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is in the midst of great change these days, and yet many of its ways are remarkable and wonderfully the same. In a very quick turnaround, the space shuttle Endeavor will launch June 13 with Mission STS-127. It was moved to a different launch pad after being readied for a rescue if needed ot the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, a landmark mission completed recently. To quote NASA News on STS-127:

The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.The STS-127 crew members are [Commander Mark] Polansky [@Twitter], Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.

A panel of experts is beginning an independent review of NASA's plans for the future of the space program. And the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee has invited the public to give its input via a special new interactive website, according to NASA News (6/5/09). The Committee will be chaired by Norman Augustine. About the site he said, "The human space flight program belongs to everyone. Our committee would hope to benefit from the views of all who would care to contact us." Those interested will be able to ask questions, upload documents or comment about the committee's operations. The first meeting will be held June 17 in Washington, D. C and will be free and open to the public. Members of the Augustine review committee with whom you might be familiar include former astronauts Dr. Leroy Chiao and Dr. Sally Ride. Others are all leaders in their fields associated with space flight. Quoting from the story:

During the course of the review, the panel will examine ongoing and planned NASA development activities and potential alternatives in order to present options for advancing a safe, innovative, affordable and sustainable human space flight program following the space shuttle's retirement. The committee will present its results in time to support an administration decision on the way forward by August 2009.

. . . The committee will hold several public meetings at different U.S. locations. The first public meeting will take place June 17 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. EDT at the Carnegie Institution, located at 1530 P Street NW in Washington. Topics on the agenda for the meeting include previous studies about U.S. human space flight; national space policy; international cooperation; evolved expendable launch vehicles; commercial human space flight capabilities; and exploration technology planning.

. . . NASA Acting Administrator Chris Scolese signed the charter for the committee Monday, enabling it to begin operations.

New administrator to be appointed -- It was announced in late May that President Obama will name a former astronaut, space shuttle commander Charles Bolden to lead NASA, as I reported in a previous post.

Decades since we landed a man on the moon, space programs around the world are interested in sending humans back to the moon, or in unmanned lunar exploration. The NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, spacecraft are set to launch together to the moon aboard an Atlas V rocket on June 17. This exciting dual spacecraft mission will send a very sophisticated and powerful orbiter around the poles of moon, in preparation for NASA's human return to the moon in a few years. And four or five months from launch the LCROSS will slam into the moon to send up a debris plume that can be studied to determine lunar composition and the presence of water ice or hydrated minerals, according to NASA News.

Every Monday you can look forward to another "space news update" at this website. I am a "space junkie" living not too far from NASA in Houston, and I am so very pleased to have this new blog for a more concentrated focus on our Southwest news.

Blogs: My news and political blog is at South by Southwest. This article is cross-posted at Southwest Progressive. And Carol Gee - Online Universe is the all-in-one home page for my websites.

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