Fwd: WELCOME BACK EDITION: Human Spaceflight News - October 17, 2013

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
> Date: October 17, 2013 7:07:11 AM CDT
> To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
> Subject: FW: WELCOME BACK EDITION: Human Spaceflight News - October 17, 2013
>

> Recap by Kyle …
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> we are good for another 3 months until the next crisis!
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> Per Kyle,,,,,,,,I may not have captured everything that was in the news of human spaceflight during the last 2 ½ weeks, but hopefully most of it. Please don't offer that I should've included articles/reviews about "Gravity." Welcome back…
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> Human Spaceflight News
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> Thursday – October 17, 2013
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> This mosaic of Saturn was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10
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> HEADLINES AND LEADS
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> NASA workers, merchants hail shutdown's end
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> Harvey Rice - Houston Chronicle (Oct. 17)
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> Federal workers in the Houston area and proprietors of businesses they patronize greeted the prospect of an end to the government shutdown Wednesday with a mixture of relief and apprehension. Employees welcomed the opportunity to return to work, but said they were worried that they might be furloughed again because the budget agreement extends only until Jan. 15. "It's bittersweet," said Bridget Broussard-Guidry, president of the local union representing workers at the Johnson Space Center. "In the short term it's OK; in the long term there is still the possibility that on Jan. 15 we will be facing the same thing all over again."
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> Orbital moves Cygnus re-entry up a day, prepares for another cargo run in December
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 16)
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> Orbital Sciences Corp. is planning to end its first cargo delivery mission to the international space station a little early, with the company's now-trash-filled Cygnus spacecraft set for destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean Oct. 23, a spokesman said. "It used to be Oct. 24, but in looking at the orbital mechanics of release, the team updated their burn schedule and Oct. 24 became Oct. 23," Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said in a phone interview Oct. 16.
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> NASA Approves Orbital Sciences For ISS Commercial Resupply Missions
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> Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily (Oct. 1)
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> Orbital Sciences has satisfied its Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program requirements with a successful rendezvous of the Cygnus resupply capsule with the International Space Station and is cleared to march ahead with plans to initiate a $1.9 billion, eight-flight Commercial Resupply Services contract in December, Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's COTS program manager, said Sept. 29. The first CRS flight is tentatively scheduled to lift off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia on Dec. 8.
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> Russian Prime Minister Fires Head of Space Agency
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> Anatoly Medetsky - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Oct. 10 named Oleg Ostapenko, a former commander of the Russian Space Forces, as the new director-general of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. Ostapenko, who up until his new assignment was Russia's deputy defense minister, replaces Vladimir Popovkin, who is leaving after his attempts to turn around a space industry plagued by launch failures had little success.
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> Roscosmos head ousted after series of setbacks in space
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> Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com (Oct. 10)
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> Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday named Oleg Ostapenko, Russia's deputy defense minister, as the new chief of the country's space agency, replacing Vladimir Popovkin, whose troubled tenure was marred by launch failures and the loss of an ambitious mission to Mars. The long-rumored change in leadership at the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, came after government officials promised reforms in the country's space industry following a series of embarrassing failures, most recently the explosive July crash of a Proton rocket and three Glonass navigation satellites at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ostapenko, 56, was commander of the Russian Space Forces before his appointment as deputy defense minister in 2012.
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> U.S., Russia close to completing technical assessment of flying ISS through 2028
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Sept. 30)
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> Key industry players are getting close to declaring the parts of the international space station (ISS) for which they are responsible fit to fly through 2028, at which time the oldest parts of the orbital outpost will be 30 years old. "We've already done most of the 2028 analysis and it's come back just fine, certainly for all the pressurized modules and the truss and things like that," John Shannon, Boeing's ISS program manager, said in a Sept. 18 phone interview. A final report from Boeing on flight worthiness through 2028 should be in NASA's hands around January, Shannon said.
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> Olympic torch undergoes redesign prior to its outer space trip
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> Itar-Tass (Oct. 15)
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> Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station, Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy, will take an Olympic torch into outer space on November 9. Sergei Krikalyov, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, told journalists on Tuesday that the torch had been modernized for the purpose and had been provided with additional safety devices to prevent it from slipping out.
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> A commercial observatory bound for the space station lands first customer
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> Peter de Selding - Space News (Oct. 4)
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> The German Aerospace Center (DLR) on Oct. 4 said it had signed an agreement with Teledyne Brown Engineering of the United States to place the first commercial Earth observation payload on the international space station (ISS) in late 2015. The decision by Germany's space agency to be the inaugural customer for Teledyne's Multi-User System for Earth Sensing, or MUSES, platform is a long-awaited validation of space station backers' view that the orbital outpost, despite a less-than-ideal orbit and concerns about camera stability on the busy complex, will find an Earth observation market.
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> Government Shutdown Ripples Out to Work on Orion Capsule
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> Engineers preparing NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for a 2014 test flight were locked out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when the federal government shut down Oct. 1, but prime contractor Lockheed Martin is trying to get them back on the job, the company's top civil space executive said Oct. 8. "We're holding [off on that work], of course, because of the challenges with the government shutdown," Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager for civil space at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, said during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium in Huntsville, Ala. So far, Crocker said, it does not appear that the work stoppage will delay the mission, scheduled for September 2014 and known officially as Exploration Flight Test-1. However, Crocker cautioned, "This [shutdown] can't go on forever and not have a significant impact."
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> Shutdown's Effect on Three Commercial Crew Companies Varies
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> The three firms competing to become NASA's post-shuttle provider of astronaut transportation services under the agency's Commercial Crew Program reported different impacts from an ongoing partial government shutdown that has furloughed NASA civil servants authorized to pay these companies for completing development milestones. Boeing Space Exploration of Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville, Colo.; and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., are all working on crewed systems to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the international space station as soon as 2017. Last year, NASA split $1.2 billion among the three, which began development work under Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreements that provide tranches of government funding whenever the companies complete negotiated development milestones.
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> Former NASA Managers Call for More Spending Despite Crunch
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> In the middle of a budget crisis that has kept the federal government partially closed since Oct. 1, former NASA officials argued that the time has come to push for increased spending on space exploration. "Our community has to fight for a reinvigorated space program, even when budgets are tight," said Doug Cooke, who was NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems when he retired from the agency in 2011. Now an independent consultant based in Gettysburg, Pa., who has lobbied on behalf of Boeing Space Exploration of Houston, Cooke spoke Oct. 8 during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium.
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> Keynote speaker at von Braun Symposium says NASA needs to 'try new strategies'
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> Paul Gattis - Huntsville Times (Oct. 8)
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> NASA needs a new strategy to ensure its long-term prosperity, the keynote speaker said today at the von Braun Symposium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Wayne Hale, a former NASA space shuttle program manager and currently the director of human spaceflight at Special Aerospace Services, filled in for NASA Administrator Charles Bolden by challenging the space agency to reinvent itself to further the efforts of space exploration. Bolden and other NASA officials who were scheduled to attend the three-day event were absent because of the government shutdown. Hale outlined a mixed bag of NASA successes in wake of the Apollo moon missions, noting that the agency has languished for almost 40 years as different visions for NASA have died amid a lack of funding.
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> Tight Budgets Slow Exploration Development
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> Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week (Oct. 7)
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> The upper-stage J-2X engine, once considered the pacing item for the next U.S. human-rated rocket, will be mothballed after development testing wraps up next year because it will not push humans toward Mars for years. Conceived as a way to use Apollo-era technology to hasten development of a replacement for the space shuttle, the J-2X is emblematic of a long series of funding-related setbacks that have slowed exploration work to a snail's pace. Just last week, the U.S. government shutdown forced NASA to terminate a three-day workshop on its planned asteroid-redirect mission, which also was devised as a way to stretch exploration dollars.
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> Commercial firms push alternative approaches for NASA asteroid initiative
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> Irene Klotz - Space News (Oct. 4)
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> To develop a deep-space exploration program to follow the international space station, NASA cast a wide net, hoping to infuse its plans to detect, engineer and ultimately visit an asteroid with fresh mission concepts, alternative technological approaches and, perhaps most important, partners to share costs, build support and enrich educational outreach. But that could spell trouble for the agency's bellwether initiative, the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle spacecraft, development of which is costing NASA about $3 billion per year. In a pair of space exploration workshops in Houston Sept. 30-Oct. 4, several potential partners presented alternative, lower-cost missions that would fly on upgraded United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s planned Falcon Heavy boosters.
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> NASA May Slam Captured Asteroid Into Moon (Eventually)
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> Mike Wall - Space.com (Sept. 30)
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> Decades from now, people on Earth may be gearing up for an unprecedented celestial spectacle — the intentional smashing of an asteroid into the moon. NASA is currently planning out an ambitious mission to snag a near-Earth asteroid and park it in a stable orbit around the moon, where it could be visited repeatedly by astronauts for scientific and exploration purposes. But the asteroid-capture mission may not end when astronauts leave the space rock for the last time. Seeing it through could require disposing of the asteroid in a safe — and possibly very dramatic — manner, experts say.
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> You won't believe what this 6th-grader is sending into space
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> Colleen O'Connor - Denver Post (Oct. 7)
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> Eleven-year-old Michal Bodzianowski is too young to drink the stuff, but the Colorado sixth-grader will be the first person to experiment with making beer in space. "My dad posted this joke on Facebook, that this is the world's first microbrewery in space," Michal said. "Then he had to explain it to me." Michal, who said he reads Popular Science magazine to "find out what's trending now in the science world," is more likely to know about spacecraft landing systems than Colorado's latest craft beers. But when his class at STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colo., entered a national science competition — with the hope of getting their microgravity experiment flown to the International Space Station — beer came to mind.
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> Farewell, Georges
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> Europe's final Automated Transfer Vehicle begins journey to launch site
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> Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.com (Oct. 8)
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> With eight months still remaining before a mighty Ariane 5 booster launches it toward the International Space Station, Europe's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5)—named in honor of the late Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître—departed prime contractor Astrium's facility in Bremen, Germany, on 7 October, bound for the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. At the same time, around 80 sea containers full of test equipment are joining it on its journey." Upon arrival at the South American launch site, currently scheduled for 22 October, ATV-5 will begin extensive testing, ahead of integration with the Ariane 5 vehicle. Liftoff is presently scheduled for 5 June 2014.
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> Astronauts Emerge from Cave After Underground Spaceflight Training
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> Elizabeth Howell - Space.com (Oct. 5)
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> Six astronauts have emerged from an Italian cave after nearly a week underground to get a taste of the isolation and danger that will confront them on a space mission. The expedition was part of the European Space Agency's two-week CAVES exploration course, which trains spaceflyers to work together in multicultural teams under difficult conditions. CAVES — short for Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills — is designed to be as similar to spaceflight as possible.
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> Profile
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> Gregory Johnson, Executive Dir, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> Three experiments designed by elementary, middle and high school students reached the international space station Sept. 29 aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft. For the Center of Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the Florida nonprofit that funded the payloads and brokered their trip to the orbital outpost, delivery of the student experiments marked an important milestone: CASIS had finally sent something to space. Formed in 2011 in response to a congressional call for an outside organization to manage non-NASA research aboard the U.S. side of the international space station, CASIS spent its first two years working through growing pains that included the resignation of its first executive director after just six months on the job, delays appointing a board of directors and a protracted search for a new executive director. That search ended this summer with the hiring of two-time space shuttle pilot Gregory Johnson, who left NASA in August and started as CASIS executive director Sept. 1.
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> Orbital Sues Virginia, Says State Owes It $16.5 Million
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 4)
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> Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia over $16.5 million the company says it shelled out a few years ago to help cover cost overruns incurred during construction of the state-owned launchpad Orbital leased to launch cargo delivery missions to the international space station (ISS) for NASA. In a lawsuit filed Sept. 24 with the Richmond Circuit Court, Orbital is demanding the $16.5 million, plus interest. Orbital is seeking a jury trial and has named as defendants Virginia; the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority that runs the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Va.; and Virginia's state comptroller, David A. Von Moll.
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> China Looms as Main Launch Competition, SpaceX Says
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> Mike Wall - Space.com (Oct. 15)
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> As the private spaceflight firm SpaceX works to bring more commercial rocket launches back to the United States, it anticipates some stiff competition from the burgeoning Chinese space program. The U.S. dominated the commercial launch market in the first half of the 1980s but lost most of that ground to Europe and Russia over the last two decades. China remains a minor player in this arena now, but that won't be the case for long, said SpaceX vice president for government affairs Adam Harris.
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> Tests loom in China's next decade of human spaceflight
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> Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com (Oct. 15)
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> China has made progress toward developing a modular Skylab-class space station since Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space a decade ago, but engineers are still working on new Long March heavy-lift rockets, regenerative life support systems and other advanced technologies required for the huge construction job. Lacking the political imperative of the Space Race, China has conducted five human spaceflights since Yang's 21-hour solo flight in October 2003. The United States and Soviet Union combined to fly more than 40 manned missions in the decade following Yuri Gagarin's historic space voyage in 1961.
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> Onward and upward as China marks 10 years of manned spaceflight
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> Felicia Sonmez - Agence France Presse (Oct. 14)
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> China marks 10 years since it first sent a human into space Tuesday, with its ambitious programme rocketing ahead while rival NASA is largely closed due to the US government shutdown. Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times during his 21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5 in 2003, blazing a trail into the cosmos for China. More than 40 years after Yuri Gagarin's groundbreaking journey, the mission made China only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to carry out an independent manned spaceflight.
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> Who knew? German insomniacs watch NASA space feed all night
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> Carol Williams - Los Angeles Times (Oct. 15)
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> A quirky habit of German insomniacs and "chill-out" music fans has come to world attention thanks to the U.S. government shutdown. "Space Night," a nearly 20-year-old late-night broadcast by Bavarian Television, provides a music-sharing platform against a backdrop of NASA's video feed from the International Space Station. But the 15-day-old U.S. government shutdown has idled the NASA archivists responsible for relaying the imagery beyond Mission Control, cutting off fresh backdrops to mix with the music for "Space Night" broadcasts that were to have launched a new season Nov. 1.
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> What Happens If An Astronaut Floats Off In Space?
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> In short: he's in trouble.
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> Erik Sofge - Popular Science Magazine (October issue)
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> In the film Gravity, which opens this month, two astronauts are on a spacewalk when an accident hurtles them into the void. So what would actually happen if you went, in NASA's terminology, "overboard"? NASA requires spacewalking astronauts to use tethers (and sometimes additional anchors). But should those fail, you'd float off according to whatever forces were acting on you when you broke loose. You'd definitely be weightless. You'd possibly be spinning. In space, no kicking and flailing can change your fate. And your fate could be horrible. At the right angle and velocity, you might even fall back into Earth's atmosphere and burn up.
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> Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut, dies at 88
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> William Harwood - CBS News
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> Malcolm Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts who was forced to take manual control of his Aurora 7 capsule after running low on fuel in one of the scarier moments of the early space program, died early Thursday. He was 88. No cause of death was given, but sources said he had suffered a stroke recently and family members confirmed his passing in emails to NASA and media outlets. With Carpenter's death, only John Glenn, the first American in orbit, remains of NASA's original seven astronauts. A Navy test pilot and Korean War veteran, Carpenter was chosen for Project Mercury on April 9, 1959, joining six other test pilots -- Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton -- as America's first class of astronauts.
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> Scott Carpenter, One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead at 88
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> Richard Goldstein - New York Times (Oct. 10)
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> M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical problems and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site, died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America's original space program, Project Mercury. His wife, Patty Carpenter, announced the death. No cause was given. Mr. Carpenter had entered hospice care recently after having a stroke. His death leaves John H. Glenn Jr., who flew the first orbital mission on Feb. 20, 1962, and later became a United States senator from Ohio, as the last survivor of the Mercury 7.
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> Scott Carpenter, one of original Mercury 7 astronauts, dies
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> James Dean - Florida Today (Oct. 10)
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> Godspeed, Scott Carpenter.
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> The second American to orbit the Earth, Carpenter died Thursday after a stroke. He was 88. Along with John Glenn, Carpenter was one of the last two surviving original Mercury 7 astronauts for the fledgling U.S. space program. His wife, Patty Barrett, said Carpenter died of complications from a September stroke in a Denver hospice. He lived in Vail, Colo. "We're going to miss him," she said.
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> How Late Author Tom Clancy Supported Private Spaceflight
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> Leonard David - Space.com (Oct. 16)
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> Tom Clancy, the best-selling writer and master storyteller of military thrillers who died Oct. 1 at age 66 in a Baltimore hospital, was also an early supporter of entrepreneurial space. Clancy authored such runaway best-sellers as "The Hunt for Red October," "Red Storm Rising," "Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger," and "The Cardinal of the Kremlin," which featured anti-satellite lasers and other "Star Wars"-type weaponry. One facet of Clancy's interest in technology is that he was a backer of private rocket development. "Clancy deserves the recognition," said Gary Hudson, CEO of Nevada-based HMX, Inc.
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> NASA scientist finds new purpose amid furlough
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> Andrew Horansky - KHOU TV Houston (Oct. 3)
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> When Tara Ruttley, 38, found out she was furloughed, she decided to make the best of it. "It's okay to be disappointed," Ruttley said. "It's okay to be down, but you can't let it last for too long." The NASA scientist and mom saw an opportunity to dive into the world of online grocery shopping. It was something she dreamed about for years. "I decided to come home, open my laptop, and throw myself into my own small business at home," Ruttley said. She runs the Grocery Station out of Clear Lake City. Customers submit an online list of grocery items and shoppers pick them up for a fee.
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> Houston, We Have a Market: Privatizing Space Launches Pays Off Big
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> Greg Autry & Linda Huang - Forbes (Oct. 2)
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> (Autry is an adjunct professor with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business, USC, and Huang is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
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> The normally spectacular NASA website went black this week and the space agency tweeted, "Sorry, but we won't be tweeting/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible." The future can apparently be put on hold if it is government run. In fact, the media noise surrounding the looming shutdown overshadowed an important space milestone that occurred on Sunday, the nearly simultaneous liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and the docking of a Cygnus capsule with the International Space Station. What was most significant is that NASA wasn't the designer, builder, or operator of either of these spacecraft. Both were designed and launched by private firms operating in what is now a competitive space launch market, and we can get all the details at the still functioning websites of SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.
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> Mark Burnett's Space-Themed Reality Show Lands At NBC
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> Michael Schneider - TV Guide (Oct. 3)
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> Mark Burnett is blasting into the heavens with NBC. The reality maestro's new space reality show, as first reported by TV Guide Magazine, has found a home at the Peacock network. Burnett and Sir Richard Branson are behind Space Race, in which ordinary people will compete for a ride on one of Branson's first Virgin Galactic suborbital space flights. The winner will take off on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo from Spaceport America in New Mexico, perhaps as soon as next year. "The scope of this endeavor is so staggering, that it took these two titans to even imagine it," says Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment. "This will be a remarkable experience for anyone who has looked at the night's sky and dared to dream of space flight."
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> Independence
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> Space Center Houston picks new name for shuttle replica
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> Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News (Oct. 6)
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> The shuttle replica at Space Center Houston has a new name. "Independence" was chosen from more than 10,000 entries in the NASA visitor center's Name the Shuttle Contest, which challenged Texans to come up with a name that best symbolizes the spirit of the state and its contributions to the U.S. space program. Kingwood native Tim Judd, 29, was one of more than 200 people to submit the name, but Judd was quickest on the draw. He submitted Independence within seconds of the contest opening at 10 a.m. July 4.
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> Houston's space shuttle replica christened 'Independence'
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> Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com (Oct. 5)
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> Houston's space shuttle mockup is no longer nameless. The full-size replica is now space shuttle "Independence," its new name symbolizing the spirit of Texas. Officials with Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, revealed the name — the winning entry from its recent "Name the Shuttle" statewide contest — during a public christening ceremony Saturday (Oct. 5). "We received a total of 10,263 [contest] entries from all across Texas, and our elite panel of judges sorted through a widespread collection of possibilities," Richard Allen, the president of Space Center Houston, said. "It was a tough decision, but we ultimately chose a name that celebrates the Lone Star State and highlights its distinct contribution to America's space shuttle program."
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> How Congress destroyed the space program
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> Administration's clumsy cancellations of moon and Mars projects helped
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> Joshua Jacobs - Washington Times (Opinion)
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> (Jacobs is a founding member of the Conservative Future Project)
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> Late last month, SpaceX successfully launched its upgraded Falcon-9 into orbit, highlighting that for the first time since Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth, the most exciting developments in aerospace are not taking place at NASA. Innovations in commercial space dwarf the possibility offered by even the most ambitious NASA programs. While Elon Musk rounds the International Space Station (ISS) and plots colonization missions to Mars, NASA is stuck plotting a solitary trip to an asteroid in the almost fictionally distant 2030s. What happened, and who is to blame for this travesty? Certainly not NASA. As an institution, it remains one of the greatest repositories of talent in the United States. The answer is inescapable: Congress.
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> __________
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> COMPLETE STORIES
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> NASA workers, merchants hail shutdown's end
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> Harvey Rice - Houston Chronicle (Oct. 17)
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> Federal workers in the Houston area and proprietors of businesses they patronize greeted the prospect of an end to the government shutdown Wednesday with a mixture of relief and apprehension.
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> Employees welcomed the opportunity to return to work, but said they were worried that they might be furloughed again because the budget agreement extends only until Jan. 15.
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> "It's bittersweet," said Bridget Broussard-Guidry, president of the local union representing workers at the Johnson Space Center. "In the short term it's OK; in the long term there is still the possibility that on Jan. 15 we will be facing the same thing all over again."
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> The agreement includes back pay for furloughed federal workers, but contains no assurances of payment to workers furloughed by federal contractors.
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> "I'm a contractor," said Liz Lawler, 58, of Clear Lake. "I have no idea if I will get paid for this time off."
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> Lawler was furloughed from her job as a personnel troubleshooter for REDE/Critique NSS, a contractor for the space agency, after Congress was unable to reach an agreement to fund the government two weeks ago.
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> The space center furloughed 3,200 workers and NASA contractors furloughed an undetermined number of their 12,000 employees in the Houston area. NASA furloughed 97 percent of its 18,250 employees nationwide Oct. 1, a fraction of the 800,000 federal workers sent home.
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> Questions about future
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> Guards at the Houston Federal Detention Center continued to work, but without pay, as did other federal employees who were deemed essential.
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> Clifton Buchanan, vice president of the local prison guard union, said he was grateful at the prospect that paychecks would resume but worried about the future.
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> Even if the government is not shut down again in January, Buchanan fears that detention center employees will be furloughed because Jan. 15 is also the date for additional cuts due to sequestration, automatic reductions in federal spending that were intended to force Congress into a budget deal.
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> The first of $1.1 trillion in sequestration cuts over eight years took effect March 1.
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> Buchanan said he was disappointed that the budget will be up for review again in three months.
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> "It's a temporary fix and we will be facing the same thing again," he said. "We were looking for a long-term fix where we can pay our bills and think about our future. There is still a lot of uncertainty among federal workers."
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> Merchants near the Johnson Space Center said the return of federal employees would make a dramatic difference.
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> Restaurateurs ready
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> "Of course I'm happy," Nidal Ayoub, owner of the Mediterranean Chef restaurant on NASA 1 Boulevard, said about the likelihood of space agency workers returning to their jobs. They made up about 80 percent of his lunch business, he said.
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> Daniel Quezada said his restaurant, NOKturne, about a mile from the space center, would eventually go out of business without regular business from NASA customers.
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> Quezada said his business fell 32 percent overall after the shutdown, forcing him to lay off waiters and delivery drivers. The possibility of the government reopening gave him hope.
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> "That will be awesome," Quezada said. "We can tell our employees to come back to work."
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> Orbital moves Cygnus re-entry up a day, prepares for another cargo run in December
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 16)
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> Orbital Sciences Corp. is planning to end its first cargo delivery mission to the international space station a little early, with the company's now-trash-filled Cygnus spacecraft set for destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean Oct. 23, a spokesman said.
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> "It used to be Oct. 24, but in looking at the orbital mechanics of release, the team updated their burn schedule and Oct. 24 became Oct. 23," Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said in a phone interview Oct. 16.
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> Space station crew members will close Cygnus' hatch Oct. 21. Then, around 5 a.m. Eastern time the next day, the craft will separate from the station's Harmony node and maneuver away from the outpost to perform its deorbit burn.
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> Cygnus launched Sept. 18 from the state-run Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The expendable cargo ship arrived at the station Sept. 29, a few days later than expected after a communications glitch and the arrival of new crew members aboard a Russian-launched Soyuz spacecraft forced Cygnus into a holding pattern.
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> The same day the first Cygnus plunges through the atmosphere in flames, the service module for the next Cygnus could be on its way from Orbital's Dulles, Va., headquarters to the company's horizontal integration facility at Wallops, Beneski said. There, it will be mated with its Italian-built pressurized cargo module in preparation for a mission that could launch aboard Orbital's Antares rocket as soon as December.
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> The capsule can be loaded with cargo only once NASA is sure that the initial Cygnus mission was successful, and gives Orbital formal approval to make the December cargo run — the first of eight the company owes NASA under a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008. Orbital has already received some advance payments on this contract but cannot claim additional fees until after it completes each of the missions it is slated to carry out through 2016.
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> Meanwhile, whatever effect the government shutdown will have on other aspects of Orbital's business — Beneski said financial analysts are sure to ask about that on a quarterly conference call scheduled for Oct. 17 — the company's space station logistics work appears to have been disturbed only minimally, if at all.
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> Neither Orbital nor the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority got locked out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport as a result of the shutdown, meaning that preparations for the tentative December launch continued while more than 95 percent of NASA's roughly 18,000 civil servants were on furlough.
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> "The first-stage core for this December Antares is at Wallops, the upper-stage rocket motor is there, the fairing is there, the two AJ-26 engines for the core are there," Beneski said. "We have all necessary major components of the Antares rocket onsite. The expectation is on our part that if we're ready to go in December and NASA is ready to receive us, we will go in December."
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> NASA Approves Orbital Sciences For ISS Commercial Resupply Missions
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> Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily (Oct. 1)
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> Orbital Sciences has satisfied its Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program requirements with a successful rendezvous of the Cygnus resupply capsule with the International Space Station and is cleared to march ahead with plans to initiate a $1.9 billion, eight-flight Commercial Resupply Services contract in December, Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's COTS program manager, said Sept. 29.
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> The first CRS flight is tentatively scheduled to lift off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia on Dec. 8.
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> For its part, Orbital plans to step up its mass per mission to 1.5-2 tons on the next three CRS missions, then 2.5 tons on the final deliveries. The Dulles, Va.-based company also plans to reduce the two to three-day baseline rendezvous trajectory to one day over the early CRS flights, said Frank Culbertson, Orbital's executive vice president.
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> The two men spoke after the unpiloted Cygnus shook off a GPS navigation software mismatch issue with the space station that prevented a planned Sept. 22 rendezvous. The commercial freighter approached ahead of schedule on Sept. 29 for a robot arm capture by ISS astronauts Luca Parmitano, of the European Space Agency, and Karen Nyberg, of NASA, at 7 a.m. EDT. They completed the operation by commanding the Canadian robot arm to place Cygnus and its 1,543-lb. non-critical cargo of crew provisions and science equipment at the U.S. segment Harmony berthing port at 8:44 a.m. EDT, again ahead of schedule.
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> "They are good to go," Lindenmoyer said. "The station has a spot ready for them in December. We're getting the cargo ready to ship out. They've demonstrated a system that certainly can deliver. There will be no delays in proceeding toward the next mission."
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> The supply ship, which was named for former NASA astronaut and Orbital executive G. David Low, was opened by the ISS crew early Sept. 30 (about 6 a.m. EDT). Cygnus will remain berthed until Oct. 22, and then depart with trash for a destructive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
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> Cygnus was launched atop an Orbital two-stage Antares rocket on Sept. 18 on the final demonstration mission flown under the company's $288 million February 2008 COTS program agreement, a qualifier to begin the CRS contract activities agreed to 10 months later, in December 2008.
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> Orbital now joins SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif., in NASA's CRS stable to take on an ISS resupply role filled by NASA's shuttle fleet until the winged orbiters were retired in 2011.
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> The original rendezvous schedule was postponed by 24 hr. and then until Sept. 29 to await the Sept. 25 launch and docking of Russia's Soyuz TMA-10M with three new ISS crewmembers.
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> During the delay, Orbital fashioned a one-line software change that was uplinked and verified, allowing Cygnus to march through the final milestones during the last 10 hr. of the rendezvous. They included a successful command exchange from the ISS crew in which Cygnus was instructed to advance from a 250-meter hold point below the station to a separation of 230 meters, where it held for several minutes.
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> Russian Prime Minister Fires Head of Space Agency
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> Anatoly Medetsky - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Oct. 10 named Oleg Ostapenko, a former commander of the Russian Space Forces, as the new director-general of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos.
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> Ostapenko, who up until his new assignment was Russia's deputy defense minister, replaces Vladimir Popovkin, who is leaving after his attempts to turn around a space industry plagued by launch failures had little success.
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> Medvedev made clear he has high expectations for Ostapenko.
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> "I hope that a whole number of problems, which unfortunately have lately been observed in Roscosmos activities, will be overcome with your arrival," Medvedev said in a meeting with Ostapenko, a transcript of which was posted on the Russian Cabinet's website. "I hope that all launches, including future ones, will be carried out in accordance with plans."
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> Ostapenko became commander of the Russian Space Forces in June 2008 and served in that capacity until being promoted to deputy defense minister in November 2012.
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> His latest assignment follows a series of embarrassments for the Russian space program, the latest being the crash of a Proton rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites just seconds after liftoff in July. That failure has since been attributed to improperly installed motion sensors on the vehicle.
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> Roscosmos head ousted after series of setbacks in space
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> Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
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> Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday named Oleg Ostapenko, Russia's deputy defense minister, as the new chief of the country's space agency, replacing Vladimir Popovkin, whose troubled tenure was marred by launch failures and the loss of an ambitious mission to Mars.
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> The long-rumored change in leadership at the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, came after government officials promised reforms in the country's space industry following a series of embarrassing failures, most recently the explosive July crash of a Proton rocket and three Glonass navigation satellites at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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> Ostapenko, 56, was commander of the Russian Space Forces before his appointment as deputy defense minister in 2012.
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> "I wish you every success," Medvedev told Ostapenko, according to a transcript posted to a Russian government website. "I hope that a number of problems, which unfortunately have been recently observed in the activities of the Russian Federal Space Agency, will be overcome with your arrival."
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> Popovkin took over Roscosmos in April 2011 at another time of crisis. His arrival at Roscosmos came less than five months after a Proton launch failure attributed to the overfilling of the rocket's upper stage with propellant.
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> Phobos-Grunt, Russia's first Mars mission in 15 years, launched in November 2011 but was stranded in low Earth orbit, most likely due to a computer programming error, investigators said.
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> Russian launchers also ran into an unusual streak of failures under Popovkin's watch, with mishaps striking two Soyuz rockets in 2011, resulting in the loss of a military communications satellite and a Progress resupply craft heading for the International Space Station.
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> Malfunctions of the Proton rocket's Breeze M upper stage on three missions left communications satellites in wrong orbits, and a dramatic Proton failure in July destroyed three navigation satellites in a fiery accident recorded on video and posted on YouTube.
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> "I hope that everything, including future launches, will be carried out in accordance with plans," Medvedev told the new head of Roscosmos.
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> "For my part, I will make every effort to ensure that these issues have been resolved," Ostapenko said.
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> U.S., Russia close to completing technical assessment of flying ISS through 2028
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Sept. 30)
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> Key industry players are getting close to declaring the parts of the international space station (ISS) for which they are responsible fit to fly through 2028, at which time the oldest parts of the orbital outpost will be 30 years old.
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> "We've already done most of the 2028 analysis and it's come back just fine, certainly for all the pressurized modules and the truss and things like that," John Shannon, Boeing's ISS program manager, said in a Sept. 18 phone interview.
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> A final report from Boeing on flight worthiness through 2028 should be in NASA's hands around January, Shannon said.
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> Boeing has already certified that the modules on the U.S. segment of ISS are good to go through 2020, and "in the process of doing the 2020 analysis, we've already cleared most of the modules for 2028," Shannon said.
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> "I see no show-stoppers at all," Shannon added, though he did acknowledge that certain parts of the space station are beginning to show their age. The outpost's solar panels, for example, have taken a walloping from passing micrometeoroids, but "we still have sufficient electrical capability to utilize the station [through 2028] with the arrays we have now," he said.
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> That is a good thing, because no spacecraft currently flying has enough space aboard to transport a replacement set to orbit, a member of the NASA-chartered ISS Advisory Council said during a Sept. 3 teleconference.
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> The arrays "are too big to carry in anything except the shuttle cargo bay," Charles Daniel, a Huntsville, Ala.-based consultant for the firm Valador Inc., said on the call.
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> Also on the call, retired Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford, now head of the ISS Advisory Committee, said the station's Russian segment is also close to receiving an all-clear from contractor RSC Energia of Moscow to continue operations through 2028.
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> "By December of 2013 they expect to have certification completed for all Russians systems and hardware through 2028," Stafford said on the Sept. 3 call, citing briefings to the committee from Energia and the Russian space agency's Advisory Expert Council during a July visit to Moscow. "The Russians did not expect or foresee any issues at this time."
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> Energia built the station's core Zarya module, which launched in November 1998 aboard a Proton rocket. The U.S.-supplied Unity module followed a month later aboard the space shuttle, setting in motion the on-orbit assembly phase that culminated in 2011 with the final space shuttle mission.
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> The heads of the U.S., Russian, European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies agreed in 2010 to continue operating ISS through 2020 and to review their on-orbit hardware with the goal of certifying it for use through 2028.
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> NASA officials have said extending space station operations through 2028 has budget implications that would need to be reflected in the agency's 2015 request, which is expected to be sent to Congress in February.
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> Olympic torch undergoes redesign prior to its outer space trip
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> Itar-Tass (Oct. 15)
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> Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station, Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy, will take an Olympic torch into outer space on November 9.
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> Sergei Krikalyov, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, told journalists on Tuesday that the torch had been modernized for the purpose and had been provided with additional safety devices to prevent it from slipping out.
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> "The Olympic torch designed for outer space is almost the same as the one designed for the Earth. The only difference is that the former lacks gas. The torch's design has been improved for the forthcoming spacewalk: an additional fixation element was added to the design to make it possible to fix a flag so that it does not fly away by accident," Krikalyov said.
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> He explained that the idea to light a torch in outer space or at the International Space Station (ISS) was, in fact, unrealizable. "The idea to deliver the torch to the ISS as part of the Olympic flame relay race belongs to the Olympic Committee. But although the torch will certainly reach the International Space Station, no flame will be lit inside or outside the ISS. First, fire does not burn in outer space. Second, the ISS fire safety regulations strictly forbid the use of open fire inside the station," Krikalyov went on to say.
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> He did not elaborate on how exactly the Olympic symbol would be taken to open space. The only thing he said was that while in the hands of the cosmonauts, the Olympic torch would rotate around the globe several times. According to Krikalyov, the crew commanded by Fyodor Yurchikhin will return the Olympic torch back to Earth on November 11, 2013.
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> A commercial observatory bound for the space station lands first customer
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>
> Peter de Selding - Space News (Oct. 4)
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> The German Aerospace Center (DLR) on Oct. 4 said it had signed an agreement with Teledyne Brown Engineering of the United States to place the first commercial Earth observation payload on the international space station (ISS) in late 2015.
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> The decision by Germany's space agency to be the inaugural customer for Teledyne's Multi-User System for Earth Sensing, or MUSES, platform is a long-awaited validation of space station backers' view that the orbital outpost, despite a less-than-ideal orbit and concerns about camera stability on the busy complex, will find an Earth observation market.
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> DLR said its memorandum of agreement with Huntsville, Ala.-based Teledyne calls for DLR to develop a visual and near-Infrared imaging spectrometer for the MUSES platform, which can carry up to four separate observing instruments. The instrument will be used for land, ocean and atmospheric observation.
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> Teledyne is developing MUSES as part of an agreement with NASA. DLR said the company is scheduled to deliver the platform to NASA in late 2014, and that the spectrometer should be in operation by late 2015.
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> "It is effective to use existing platforms, such as the ISS, as carriers of Earth observation instruments," DLR Chairman Johann-Dietrich Woerner said in a statement. "We are delighted at the formation of this partnership between science and industry, which through its very existence will be a catalyst in the ongoing development of new Earth observation systems."
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> NASA awarded Teledyne a Cooperative Agreement in June 2012 for MUSES as part of NASA's broader effort to foster commercial use of the station.
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> Germany is the biggest investor in Europe's involvement in the space station.
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> Government Shutdown Ripples Out to Work on Orion Capsule
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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>
>
> Engineers preparing NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for a 2014 test flight were locked out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when the federal government shut down Oct. 1, but prime contractor Lockheed Martin is trying to get them back on the job, the company's top civil space executive said Oct. 8.
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> "We're holding [off on that work], of course, because of the challenges with the government shutdown," Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager for civil space at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, said during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.
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> So far, Crocker said, it does not appear that the work stoppage will delay the mission, scheduled for September 2014 and known officially as Exploration Flight Test-1. However, Crocker cautioned, "This [shutdown] can't go on forever and not have a significant impact."
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>
> After Congress failed to pass a stopgap spending measure by the Oct. 1 deadline for new appropriations, the government shut down nonessential operations, idling more than 95 percent of NASA's 18,000 civil servants and closing the doors at many agency facilities. Only programs essential to the protection of life and property were allowed to continue during the shutdown, and Orion was not on the list.
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> However, it is possible that NASA may allow the Orion team to return to the Operations and Checkout building at Kennedy to continue preflight processing that began in January. After all, Crocker pointed out, the agency granted an emergency exception only days after the shutdown for engineers to return to Kennedy and prepare the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution orbiter for its Nov. 18 launch. NASA said the spacecraft had to get to Mars on time because the communications hardware it carries is required to support safe operation of other spacecraft NASA has already sent to the red planet.
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> In the 2014 test, Orion will not be launched by its intended carrier rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Instead, an uncrewed version of Orion will be boosted to a highly elliptical orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida by a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 to test Orion's heat shield.
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> Meanwhile, other NASA contractors who joined Crocker for the Oct. 8 panel discussion in Huntsville offered estimates on how long their businesses could continue more or less as usual during the shutdown.
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> "As long as it doesn't go on for a year, I think we'll be OK," said Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of space advanced programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Sacramento, Calif. "At some point funding becomes an issue, but we're in good shape probably for the next month to two months."
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> "We probably have until early November before things like mandatory inspection points would become a problem," said Charlie Precourt, vice president of the Space Launch Division of ATK Aerospace in Magna, Utah. "I think [the shutdown is] going to take care of itself."
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> ATK, which is providing a pair of shuttle-derived, five-segment solid rocket motors for each of the first two SLS flights, is grappling with delays unrelated to the federal government shutdown.
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> Precourt said at the symposium that the company has again delayed the hot-fire of a five-segment test motor, Qualification Motor-1, because of possible manufacturing and materials defects.
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> "We found some voids or air pockets" between the solid propellant in the aft section of the five-segment motor and the wall of the motor's case, Precourt said Oct. 8. The discovery means ATK will have to recast the qualification motor, which is now slated to be tested early next year — almost a year later than originally scheduled.
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> Virginia Barnes, Space Launch System program manager at SLS core stage and avionics prime contractor Boeing Space Exploration, said she foresaw no shutdown-related schedule impact "that's not recoverable."
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> SLS core stage work is five months ahead of schedule, Barnes said. The rocket's pacing is the interim cryogenic propulsion stage NASA is procuring from Boeing for the first two SLS flights, which are scheduled for 2017 and 2021.
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> SLS avionics work, meanwhile, has been held up by the closure of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Barnes said. However, the former United Space Alliance boss did not expect the delay to affect the rocket's 2017 debut.
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>
> Shutdown's Effect on Three Commercial Crew Companies Varies
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> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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> The three firms competing to become NASA's post-shuttle provider of astronaut transportation services under the agency's Commercial Crew Program reported different impacts from an ongoing partial government shutdown that has furloughed NASA civil servants authorized to pay these companies for completing development milestones.
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> Boeing Space Exploration of Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville, Colo.; and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., are all working on crewed systems to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the international space station as soon as 2017. Last year, NASA split $1.2 billion among the three, which began development work under Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreements that provide tranches of government funding whenever the companies complete negotiated development milestones.
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> Boeing, which is developing its CST-100 capsule under a $460 million Space Act Agreement, was not scheduled to be paid for a milestone in October, company spokeswoman Kelly George told SpaceNews in an Oct. 9 email.
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> "There was a NASA amendment to the Space Act Agreement milestones made in a change memo ... in August," George wrote in her email. The amendment moved two CST-100 milestones, an Emergency Detection System Standalone Testing milestone worth $13.8 million and a Spacecraft Primary Structures Critical Design Review worth $8.6 million, from October to December and January, respectively.
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>
> At SpaceX, which had a $50 million safety review scheduled for October, a company spokeswoman said the lack of government funding due to the shutdown would be easier to cope with than the loss of NASA personnel who have been furloughed and would otherwise have provided technical insight for SpaceX designers working on the Dragon spacecraft the company hopes NASA will select for astronaut carriage.
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> "Any financial impact from the government shutdown is manageable on our end," SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin told SpaceNews in an Oct. 9 email. "We are in a good place with respect to the October milestone, but an extended government shutdown prevents the day-to-day interactions with our NASA counterparts that keep the program moving forward."
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> SpaceX's CCiCap award is worth $440 million.
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>
>
> Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada, which with its $212.5 million Space Act Agreement holds the smallest of the three CCiCap awards, has hit a literal wall in its test program because of the shutdown. A full-scale test article of the company's Dream Chaser lifting-body spacecraft is locked up and inaccessible at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center inside Edwards Air Force Base in California.
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> Sierra Nevada had been planning a series of captive-carry flights using a Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter, including an automated descent and landing onto a runway at Edwards. The company successfully completed a captive-carry test in August, but had planned up to five more flights as part of a $15 million milestone in its CCiCap deal with NASA.
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> However, there will be "no real program consequence other than we'll have to fly a little later," Mark Sirangelo, vice president of Sierra Nevada Space Systems, wrote in an Oct. 4 email.
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> With the shutdown on, the Dream Chaser team "has been moved to other needed work," Sirangelo wrote. "We are ready to continue flight test[ing] but we'd like to have NASA present for the test and they can't travel at the moment. If the delay is other than short term, meaning a week or two, we have a backup path."
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> Sierra Nevada is already running late with this milestone, which was supposed to have been completed in April. Ed Mango, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, has said Sierra Nevada will not necessarily miss out on funding for completing the flight-test milestone months late.
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> "They will get paid when the meet the criteria," Mango told SpaceNews in June. "There is no 'penalty' for being delayed. The penalty, if there was one, is that if they take longer to meet that milestone, and if there are any additional costs that they have to incur to meet that milestone, that is on their back. That's why Space Act Agreements ... are really appropriate in this type of environment for the government."
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> Former NASA Managers Call for More Spending Despite Crunch
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>
>
> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
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>
>
> In the middle of a budget crisis that has kept the federal government partially closed since Oct. 1, former NASA officials argued that the time has come to push for increased spending on space exploration.
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> "Our community has to fight for a reinvigorated space program, even when budgets are tight," said Doug Cooke, who was NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems when he retired from the agency in 2011.
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> Now an independent consultant based in Gettysburg, Pa., who has lobbied on behalf of Boeing Space Exploration of Houston, Cooke spoke Oct. 8 during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium.
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>
>
> The meeting, held at the University of Alabama in Huntsville near NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, went on as scheduled in the face of the government shutdown, even though key NASA officials, including Administrator Charles Bolden and human spaceflight chief William Gerstenmaier, canceled their appearances. Panel discussions Oct. 8 were webcast.
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> "Attendance the first morning was just under 200, so we were down at least 100 compared to last year," James Kirkpatrick, executive director of the American Astronautical Society, wrote in an Oct. 10 email. "The missing attendees were primarily NASA personnel, but we did have some cancellations due to the absence of NASA speakers on the program."
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>
>
> The von Braun symposium typically draws what former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale referred to in the meeting's keynote address as the "old-line": traditional space contractors who have had a hand in major NASA projects dating back to the agency's founding in 1958. The paradigm held for the sixth von Braun symposium, despite new-space touches such as coffee breaks sponsored by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Panel discussions Oct. 8 were headlined by representatives of the companies working on the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule NASA is developing for crewed missions to lunar space next decade. Marshall is managing construction of the rocket from Huntsville, while the Johnson Space Center is overseeing Orion from Houston.
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> Both SLS and Orion are derivatives of vehicles designed for the Constellation Moon-exploration program created by the administration of then-U.S. President George W. Bush and canceled in 2010 by President Barack Obama.
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> Among those who spoke at the von Braun symposium was one of Constellation's chief architects, former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Griffin, who ran NASA from 2005 to 2009, scoffed at the idea that NASA is operating in a budget-constrained environment.
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> "We are in a willpower-constrained environment," said Griffin, who is now the Huntsville-based chairman and chief executive of science and engineering services contractor Schafer Corp. Griffin noted that 50 years of NASA spending, adjusted for inflation, was approximately equivalent to the roughly $800 billion stimulus bill signed into law in February 2009.
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> Meanwhile, Cooke and another former NASA manager took shots at the "flat-is-the-new-up" mantra that has become prevalent among government-relations executives in Washington in the age of across-the-board sequestration budget cuts.
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> "Flat is not healthy," said David King, who left his job as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in 2009 to join Dynetics Inc., a Huntsville-based company that counts NASA and the U.S. Army among its biggest customers.
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>
> "Let me tell you what flat is," Cooke said. "Flat is flat with no inflation, and we do have inflation. The calculation on inflation is about 2.8 percent a year," meaning an agency budget that stays the same year-over-year is "just like a bank account, but the interest is going the wrong way and compounding over time," said Cooke. Buying power is diminished.
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> "Even if we got a 2.8 percent inflation increase every year, it would make a big difference," Cooke added.
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> Despite the rallying cries of the three former NASA officials, the top lobbyist for launch services provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) said he foresaw nothing but continued austerity in NASA's budget. "Sequestration, I believe, is here to stay," Mark Bitterman, ULA vice president of Washington operations, said during another von Braun symposium panel.
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>
> Bitterman speculated that "the new norm" for NASA would be about $16.5 billion, roughly what the agency received under a stopgap spending bill that was signed in March and expired Sept. 30. That bill held NASA to the across-the-board cuts — the sequester — mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011.
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>
> The View from the Trenches
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>
>
> Besides former NASA officials and Washington-based government-relations people, technical executives with some of the agency's biggest contractors also spoke at the von Braun symposium. These industry representatives — all of whom have some role on either SLS or Orion — described their strategies for operating within the confines of what one of them described as NASA's "cost box."
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> "Now with our NASA partner, all of us are squeezed into a cost box," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of civil space for Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver.
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> Crocker, who has been working in civilian space programs long enough to remember the drastic reduction in NASA spending that followed the end of the Apollo program in the early 1970s, said the solution "is not all about just doing one thing or doing the other thing," such as a wholesale transition to fixed-price contracts from a cost-plus-fee structure that leaves room for project costs to grow. "There's systems problems we all need to address," he said.
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> Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of space advanced programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, Calif., said industry's contribution could involve "attack[ing] the manufacturing process in a number of different ways."
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> Additive manufacturing, sometimes called 3-D printing, is one of these, Van Kleeck said. "We want to build within the company a core competency of additive manufacturing," she said. "It will make components [and] engines cheaper." Then, after seeing to the manufacturing process, "you attack the business and the management processes," Van Kleeck said.
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> Kim Doering, manager of Dynetics' Space Systems Division, gave a practical example. Dynetics is working on concept studies for side-mounted boosters that could be used on future variants of SLS to increase the rocket's carrying capacity from 70 tons to low Earth orbit to as many as 130 tons.
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> At a project review earlier this year, Dynetics had "25 people in the room and a handful of the NASA contract folks," said Doering. Ordinarily, "we would ... have 300 or 400 people in a review ... but really, there were a much smaller number of people who truly needed to be there.
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> At the end of the review, "NASA had to accept it only took 25 people, and they got all they wanted," Doering said.
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> Keynote speaker at von Braun Symposium says NASA needs to 'try new strategies'
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> Paul Gattis - Huntsville Times (Oct. 8)
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> NASA needs a new strategy to ensure its long-term prosperity, the keynote speaker said today at the von Braun Symposium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
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> Wayne Hale, a former NASA space shuttle program manager and currently the director of human spaceflight at Special Aerospace Services, filled in for NASA Administrator Charles Bolden by challenging the space agency to reinvent itself to further the efforts of space exploration.
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> Bolden and other NASA officials who were scheduled to attend the three-day event were absent because of the government shutdown.
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> Hale outlined a mixed bag of NASA successes in wake of the Apollo moon missions, noting that the agency has languished for almost 40 years as different visions for NASA have died amid a lack of funding.
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> The current Space Launch System - a heavy lift rocket under development at Huntsville's Marshall Flight Center intended for deep space exploration - could soon fade away like other programs, such as Constellation in 2009.
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> "The current plan is fragile in the political and financial maelstrom that is Washington," Hale said. "Planning to fly large rockets once every three or four years does not make a viable program. It is not sustainable.
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> "Continuing to develop programs in the same old ways, from my observations, will certainly lead to cancellation as government budgets are stretched thin. It is time to try new strategies."
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> The symposium, before the government shutdown, was set to bring together NASA officials with those in commercial enterprises. For example, a panel discussion on Wednesday is scheduled to address the topic of privately funded space activities.
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> Hale encouraged NASA to learn from commercial spaceflight companies such as SpaceX and Cygnus, private companies which have docked unmanned spacecraft with the International Space Station.
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> "If we truly believe space exploration is an endeavor worthy of our passions, we must dig deeper, try harder, strive higher," he said. "We must redouble our efforts to be innovative and creative; we must think outside the box. We can start by adopting some of the energy and creativity by the new players in our industry."
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> Ultimately, Hale said, the issue boils down to money for the government-funded space agency. And the fact that Hale was stepping in for Bolden to deliver the keynote address because of the government shutdown underscored the tug these days on each federal dollar.
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> To bolster its influx of money, NASA must chart a clear course for future exploration. Hale pointed to the goal expressed by President Obama to retrieve an asteroid is ambitious and fascinating but it's not a long-term vision for the agency.
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> "That mission is a great test for the engineering and operations of those capabilities, those systems and vehicles," he said. "It will be a very interesting mission to plan. But it's not a true scientific goal, nor is it a long-term strategy, I hate to report.
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> "We can accomplish this vision technically. But the central question still remains. Where does the money come from. Have we really come down to counting on Congress to save the space program? Kind of a sad state."
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> Tight Budgets Slow Exploration Development
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> Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week (Oct. 7)
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> The upper-stage J-2X engine, once considered the pacing item for the next U.S. human-rated rocket, will be mothballed after development testing wraps up next year because it will not push humans toward Mars for years.
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> Conceived as a way to use Apollo-era technology to hasten development of a replacement for the space shuttle, the J-2X is emblematic of a long series of funding-related setbacks that have slowed exploration work to a snail's pace. Just last week, the U.S. government shutdown forced NASA to terminate a three-day workshop on its planned asteroid-redirect mission, which also was devised as a way to stretch exploration dollars.
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> Unveiled in NASA's budget plan for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the asteroid mission faced an uphill fight in Congress before the agency ran out of appropriated funds at the start of the new fiscal year. But even the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS), which Congress forced the Obama administration to start developing in 2010, is straggling.
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> While NASA is actively seeking other missions for the SLS in the planetary science and military arenas, most human flights it has in sight probably can be accomplished with an upper stage powered by the RL-10 engine instead of the J-2X.
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> "The J-2X for certain [design reference missions] is somewhat overpowered," Todd May, NASA's SLS program manager, told Aviation Week in Beijing at the 64th International Astronautical Congress, where spacefaring nations gathered to discuss their latest plans for space exploration.
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> An upgrade of the Saturn V upper-stage engine, the all-cryogenic J-2X generates 294,000 lb. thrust with its gas-generator cycle. While it almost certainly will be needed to send men and women to Mars, the equally venerable RL-10 is beginning to look like a better powerplant for the SLS upper stages that will be needed before that far-off flight.
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> Congress ordered an SLS able to lift 130 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), which is a generally accepted requirement for launching a Mars mission. But for missions to the Moon, where a lot of Mars-precursor shakeout cruises are being planned, a 105-ton SLS is probably sufficient, according to Steve Creech, May's deputy, who is responsible for finding other applications for the big new rocket.
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> One way to achieve that capability would be with a "dual-use upper stage" carrying three or four RL-10s. All of them would ignite to loft the payload—an Orion crew capsule, in-space habitat or lunar lander—into LEO, and then some subset of that number would fire for the translunar injection to send the payload toward the Moon.
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> NASA has not ruled out using the J-2X for that portion of the trip, but it may be faster to develop the dual-use stage than the originally planned SLS upper stage powered by the J-2X, and a cryogenic propulsion stage (CPS) to reach lunar orbit. "To try to save costs and accelerate mission capability, [we've looked at] combining the functions of our upper stage and the CPS so that we just have to have one stage," says Creech.
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> Development of the J-2X started under the George W. Bush administration's Constellation Program, which envisioned a human-rated launcher called the Ares I that used a shuttle-derived solid-fuel first stage and an upper stage powered by the J-2X. Initially, the J-2X was expected to be the most time-consuming element of the Ares I, although its Saturn heritage was selected to minimize development complexity.
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> Now, the engine has been built, using drawings and some hardware retained by NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne, and is in development testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Those tests are scheduled to end next year, and then work on the J-2X will halt "until we're ready" to integrate the engine with an SLS upper stage, May says.
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> "Under constrained funding, the number of simultaneous developments is limited, and that's why we've essentially ended up with the architecture we did, because we only have the core to develop," he explains, referring to the SLS first stage. "And if you can do a dual-use upper stage, you can actually get to a very capable rocket with only one more major development—not an upper stage and then a CPS."
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> That make-the-best-of-a-bad-situation approach is standard these days in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) directorate, which is forging ahead with plans for human spaceflight in cislunar space despite the funding uncertainty. Planning is underway to send the first two tests of the initial 70-ton SLS variant—the core stage, powered by surplus RS-25 space shuttle main engines, with a Delta IV upper stage and Orion capsule—to a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the Moon (see illustration). That is also where NASA wants astronauts to meet an asteroid nudged there by a solar-electric tug. The tests flights — one with a crew — are set for 2017 and 2021, and the asteroid redirect mission would follow by 2025.
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> If the asteroid mission is canceled, it will still have served a valuable function as a focus for flight engineering, according to William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for HEO and a master of the make-do approach to human-exploration development. Just as the basic principles of operating in LEO were worked out in the early days of spaceflight, the prospect of working in DRO or at the Earth-Moon libration points L-1 and L-2 is driving planning that can be useful for decades to come.
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> "We developed all these safety techniques to operate with this huge gravity vector from the Earth," he says. "So now we're in this different region where we don't have that huge gravity vector. What are those rendezvous and prox-ops techniques that we ought to be developing in that environment?"
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> An Orion crew in DRO might have to wait as long as five days to return to Earth in an emergency, and Gerstenmaier says the use of lunar gravity assists will become "routine," not just in such cases, but also to move around cislunar space. Other ideas for the asteroid mission—including the possibility of snatching a boulder from the surface of a large asteroid instead of grabbing a small space rock and nudging it into DRO—were to have been discussed at an invitation-only Asteroid Initiative Ideas Synthesis Workshop in Houston last week, hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Research Institute.
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> Some 140 participants showed up from around the U.S. and 16 other nations, selected after a general announcement of the opportunity to submit proposals, only to have the plug pulled by the government shutdown. The B612 Foundation, a private group set up to map potentially threatening near-Earth asteroids, invited the participants to continue their discussions at a nearby hotel.
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> While the big aerospace contractors urged use of their hardware and experience to save money for an asteroid mission, smaller operators suggested completely different approaches. Joel Sercel, of ICE Associates Inc., a Los Angeles aerospace consultant and former New Millennium manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, urged the agency to place more emphasis on a public/private partnership strategy that would emphasize a national economic return rather than a door to deep space for human explorers. Sercel's proposed Honeybee mission would rely on a Falcon 9 launch to retrieve a smaller near-Earth object than NASA proposes and assess it for potential resources as it is steered into a stable lunar orbit.
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> NASA intends to formulate more detailed plans for its proposed 2015 budget. In 2014, the agency will seek a $105 million down payment to step up asteroid detection and characterization capabilities, while advancing Solar Electric Propulsion and capture technologies. That assumes, of course, that there will be some funding for the mission.
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> Commercial firms push alternative approaches for NASA asteroid initiative
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> Irene Klotz - Space News (Oct. 4)
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> To develop a deep-space exploration program to follow the international space station, NASA cast a wide net, hoping to infuse its plans to detect, engineer and ultimately visit an asteroid with fresh mission concepts, alternative technological approaches and, perhaps most important, partners to share costs, build support and enrich educational outreach.
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> But that could spell trouble for the agency's bellwether initiative, the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle spacecraft, development of which is costing NASA about $3 billion per year. In a pair of space exploration workshops in Houston Sept. 30-Oct. 4, several potential partners presented alternative, lower-cost missions that would fly on upgraded United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s planned Falcon Heavy boosters.
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> "The basic program that we would propose would be modeled on the COTS," said Deep Space Industries Chief Executive David Gump, referring to NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, a public-private partnership that parlayed $684 million in NASA development funds into the SpaceX Dragon and the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo spacecraft, the Falcon 9 and Antares rockets, and two new launch complexes in Florida and Virginia.
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> The agency is in the midst of a similar program to develop commercial space taxis to fly astronauts to and from the space station, and has agreed to buy data and services from several firms planning robotic expeditions to the Moon. Gump believes the same commercial approach would benefit NASA's asteroid initiative.
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> "Companies get paid for achieving milestones and not just submitting monthly invoices," Gump said during the Sept. 30 opening day of NASA's planned three-day Asteroid Initiative Idea Synthesis workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
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> The official gathering, intended to vet top-rated ideas submitted in response to a NASA solicitation, was canceled Oct. 1 due to the U.S. government shutdown, but part of the group reconvened informally at a nearby hotel to continue discussions.
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> Those sessions primarily focused on detection and analysis of so-called near-Earth asteroids, the first leg of NASA's threefold initiative and a topic that already has a sizable and international scientific community, startup commercial enterprises, such as asteroid mining outfits Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, and nonprofits like the B612 Foundation, which is building a space telescope to scout for asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth.
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> In addition to finding potentially hazardous asteroids, NASA wants to move an asteroid or a piece of an asteroid into a high orbit around the Moon. While the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) would serve science and spur technology, its primary goal is to give NASA astronauts a destination for an early SLS/Orion test flight.
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> "I think ARM is a very cool mission as currently conceived, and the 'why' that NASA has — to give astronauts something to do — is cool, if that's what you want to do. But we have a different goal — and it may also give astronauts something much more powerful to do," said Joel Sercel, founder and principal engineer of ICS Associates, a California-based consultancy that is developing an asteroid resource utilization technology called Honey Bee.
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> "When Honey Bee is in place, we will have demonstrated the ability to essentially convert a 1,000-ton [near-Earth object] to a propellant depot that could be used to fill the tanks of a manned Mars mission at the top of the gravity well," saving the need to launch fuels, Sercel said. "That collapses the cost of human exploration to Mars. It allows you to put in place an inexpensive transportation system to go anywhere in cislunar space, which includes low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit."
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> The private sector-first theme was picked up again Oct. 3 at another Houston conference organized by Golden Spike, which is developing commercial human transports to the Moon.
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> "I think NASA has a role in all of the commercial space activities in the future," said Gerry Griffin, former director of the Johnson Space Center who now serves as company chairman.
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> "That may finally free them to push the technologies out in front of us. Let the commercial sector do most of the grinding. If we're going to go to Mars, we're not going to do that commercially," Griffin said.
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> NASA May Slam Captured Asteroid Into Moon (Eventually)
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> Mike Wall - Space.com (Sept. 30)
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> Decades from now, people on Earth may be gearing up for an unprecedented celestial spectacle — the intentional smashing of an asteroid into the moon.
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> NASA is currently planning out an ambitious mission to snag a near-Earth asteroid and park it in a stable orbit around the moon, where it could be visited repeatedly by astronauts for scientific and exploration purposes. But the asteroid-capture mission may not end when astronauts leave the space rock for the last time. Seeing it through could require disposing of the asteroid in a safe — and possibly very dramatic — manner, experts say.
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> "You can be comfortable that [the asteroid] will stay in this orbit for 100 years or so," Paul Chodas, a scientist with the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said earlier this month during a panel discussion at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Space 2013 conference in San Diego.
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> "But if that's not enough, I think that, once you're finished with it and you have no further need of it, send it in to impact the moon," Chodas added. "That makes sense to me."
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> A bold plan
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> NASA announced the asteroid-retrieval effort in April. The plan calls for a robotic spacecraft to rendezvous with a roughly 25-foot-wide (7.6 meters), 500-ton space rock and drag it to a stable lunar orbit.
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> Alternatively, the probe could break a chunk off a larger asteroid; NASA is investigating both options. Either way, astronauts would then fly out to this transplanted rock using NASA's Orion capsule and Space Launch System mega-rocket (SLS), which are slated to fly crews together for the first time in 2021.
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> The mission represents one way to achieve a major goal laid out by President Barack Obama, who in 2010 directed the space agency to get astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.
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> Grabbing a space rock would also help develop asteroid-mining technology, reveal insights about the solar system's early days and give humanity critical experience working in deep space, NASA officials say.
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> "It provides a tremendous target to develop our capabilities and operation techniques for our crews in the future as we go beyond low-Earth orbit," NASA human exploration chief Bill Gerstenmaier said during the panel discussion at Space 2013.
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> Earlier this year, NASA asked the public and researchers in industry and academia to help them figure out how to pull off the asteroid-capture mission. The agency received more than 400 proposals in response, and it will discuss the top 100 or so during a workshop held Monday through Wednesday (Sept. 30 to Oct. 2) at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.
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> You won't believe what this 6th-grader is sending into space
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> Colleen O'Connor - Denver Post (Oct. 7)
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> Eleven-year-old Michal Bodzianowski is too young to drink the stuff, but the Colorado sixth-grader will be the first person to experiment with making beer in space.
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> "My dad posted this joke on Facebook, that this is the world's first microbrewery in space," Michal said. "Then he had to explain it to me."
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> Michal, who said he reads Popular Science magazine to "find out what's trending now in the science world," is more likely to know about spacecraft landing systems than Colorado's latest craft beers.
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> But when his class at STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colo., entered a national science competition — with the hope of getting their microgravity experiment flown to the International Space Station — beer came to mind.
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> Michal's prize-winning entry — "What Are the Effects of Creation of Beer in Microgravity and Is It Possible?" — will launch into space in December.
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> The competition is part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, launched in 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education to spark interest in a new generation of students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math — known as STEM.
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> The 11 experiments that won the competition this year included entries from two fifth-graders, a middle-school team, one seventh-grader — and sixth-grader Michal, who came up with his idea after reading a book called "Gruesome Facts" that explained why beer was so popular in the Middle Ages.
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> "It was a punishment for crimes, that you couldn't drink beer," he said, "and most people didn't survive (that) because the water was contaminated."
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> Pondering how alcohol killed bacteria in the water, Michal thought this might also work for future space colonies.
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> Beer, he wrote in his design proposal, is "an important factor in future civilization as an emergency backup hydration and medical source."
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> In space, if a project exploded, wounded people and polluted most of the water, he theorized, "the fermentation process could be used to make beer, which can then be used as a disinfectant and a clean drinking source."
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> Michal's experiment, when launched, will be in a silicon tube about 6-inches long. Clasps on the tube will segregate hops, malted barley, yeast and water. When the tube arrives at the space station, astronauts will remove the clamps then shake the ingredients to determine whether beer can be made in space.
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> "We're just trying to get the yeast to react with the ingredients of beer," said Michal. "If it doesn't react at all, this tells you it won't work."
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> Among those awaiting the result is Julia Herz, craft beer program director for the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo.
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> "The history of beer goes back thousands and thousands of years," she said, with a nod to its origins among ancient Egyptians. "Why not expand beer to another element of our universe — space?"
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> Farewell, Georges
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> Europe's final Automated Transfer Vehicle begins journey to launch site
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> Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.com (Oct. 8)
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> With eight months still remaining before a mighty Ariane 5 booster launches it toward the International Space Station, Europe's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5)—named in honor of the late Belgian astronomer Georges Lemaître—departed prime contractor Astrium's facility in Bremen, Germany, on 7 October, bound for the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. "Like its predecessors," noted Astrium in a news release, "ATV-5 'Georges Lemaître' is being transported by ship in three special containers … At the same time, around 80 sea containers full of test equipment are joining it on its journey." Upon arrival at the South American launch site, currently scheduled for 22 October, ATV-5 will begin extensive testing, ahead of integration with the Ariane 5 vehicle. Liftoff is presently scheduled for 5 June 2014.
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> At Kourou, the ATV's various components will be mated to produce the complete cargo ship for the ISS. Measuring 34 feet (10.4 meters) long and 15 feet (4.6 meters) wide, it includes an Integrated Cargo Carrier for its pressurized payloads, together with an avionics module for its computers, gyroscopes, navigation and control subsystems, electrical power and communications hardware, and a propulsion module for rendezvous and periodic "re-boosts" of the space station's orbit. Weighing 41,400 pounds (18,780 kg), it has the ability to transport 16,000 pounds (7,250 kg) of payloads and supplies into orbit, including up to 12,100 pounds (5,500 kg) of dry cargo, up to 1,850 pounds (840 kg) of water, up to 220 pounds (100 kg) of gas, and up to 10,400 pounds (4,700 kg) of propellants for orbital re-boosts and refueling of the ISS.
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> Whilst the ATV is incapable of returning items back to Earth—and instead burns up in the atmosphere at the end of each mission—it can remain docked at the ISS for up to six months, far longer than other visiting vehicles, such as Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), SpaceX's Dragon, or Orbital's Cygnus. Unlike those vehicles, the ATV is not designed to berth at the U.S. segment of the ISS, but to dock automatically at the Russian "end." Consequently, it is equipped with a Russian-compatible Progress-type docking mechanism.
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> To date, four ATVs have flown, all named in honor of key European-born scientific figures: Jules Verne in 2008, Johannes Kepler in 2011, Edoardo Amaldi in 2012, and the ongoing ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" mission, launched on 5 June 2013. Last year, ESA announced that it was shutting down its ATV production lines after ATV-5, highlighting "a significant obsolescence problem" at equipment and component levels, which effectively limited the desire or ability to reopen the lines. Costing about $600 million per unit to build, the ATV operated as part of a "barter" arrangement between ESA and its ISS Partners, covering its operating costs at the space station until 2017. A further $600 million investment was required to cover the 2017-2020 timeframe, and Germany apparently favored European participation in the Service Module for NASA's Orion Program.
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> Initial reports of European interest in retasking the ATV to a Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) mission arose almost two years ago, when NASASpaceflight.com cited sources which described ESA as "serious" about the possibility. Then, in June 2012, Astrium received a pair of contracts—each valued at 6.5 million euros ($8.6 million)—to undertake studies of an ATV-based Orion Service Module and an entirely separate multi-purpose orbital spacecraft. Finally, last November, it was reported that ESA was prepared to provide the key component as "payment-in-kind" for its continued involvement with the ISS through the end of this decade. Earlier this year, it was announced that ESA would indeed build the Service Module for Orion's first Exploration Mission (EM-1), currently scheduled to launch atop the first Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift booster in December 2017.
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> This confidence in the ATV highlights the maturity of its technology. "The ATV is Europe's modern and reliable space transporter, equipped with unique systems for automated and autonomous rendezvous and docking," said Bart Reijnen, Head of Orbital Systems and Space Exploration at Astrium, speaking at the departure of ATV-5. "The technology, as well as the experience that Astrium has gained in the course of the development and production of the ATV, form an outstanding basis for the future, as our next challenge is to develop the European Service Module on behalf of ESA for the U.S. Orion capsule," continued Alain Charmeau, CEO of Astrium. "The spacecraft, with its crew of four or more astronauts, will be powered and supplied by an MPCV-ESM service module developed from the ATV. The decision by NASA to entrust a European manufacturer with such a vital element in the Orion program clearly shows their confidence in the transatlantic partnership and in the capabilities of their European partners."
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> Named in honor of Lemaître in February 2012, in order to continue "the tradition of drawing on great European visionaries to reflect Europe's deep roots in science, technology and culture," ATV-5 was assembled at Astrium's Bremen facility and on 30 August 2013 underwent a major systems validation test. Nicknamed "The Big Test," the spacecraft was connected to the flight control system and actual on-orbit communications assets—including NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) and ESA's Artemis—which it will use during its mission. With this work successfully concluded, Astrium readied the ATV-5 hardware for shipment to French Guiana, its final Earthly destination before space.
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> According to NASASpaceflight.com, the mission is scheduled to begin on 5 June 2014, with a launch from Kourou's ELA-3 (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane) complex. ATV-5 will then commence a nine-day rendezvous profile, ahead of docking with the aft port of Russia's Zvezda module on 14 June. Its payloads and supplies will then be unloaded by the incumbent Expedition 40 crew—Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineers Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev, Maksim Surayev, Reid Wiseman, and Germany's Alexander Gerst—and the spacecraft is expected to support at least one re-boost of the ISS altitude. Slated for a long-duration residency, ATV-5 is not expected to depart the space station until 2 December 2014, whereupon it will be destroyed in the upper atmosphere.
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>
>
> The man for whom ATV-5 is named established a name for himself in the early 20th century, both as a priest and as an astronomer. Born in Charleroi, Belgium, on 17 July 1894, Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître is today famous for first proposing the theory of the expansion of the universe and for deriving what is today known as "Hubble's Law." Lemaître's research was published in 1927, two years ahead of the work of U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble. After a classical education at a Jesuit school, Lemaître entered the Université Catholique de Louvain to study civil engineering, but his work was stalled by the Great War. After serving Belgium as an army artillery officer, he returned to his studies, focusing on physics and mathematics and preparing for the priesthood.
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> Upon receipt of his doctorate in 1920 and ordination as a priest in 1923, Lemaître entered the University of Cambridge, England, as a graduate student in astronomy, and later worked at Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Mass. Returning to Belgium in 1925, he became a part-time lecturer at the Université Catholique de Louvain and it was whilst there that he began work on the report which would earn him worldwide renown. In 1927, in the Annals of the Scientific Society of Brussels, Lemaître wrote of "A homogeneous Universe of constant mass and growing radius, accounting for the radial velocity of extragalactic nebulae." Little read outside of his native Belgium, it was not until 1931 that the work was translated into English.
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> The famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is said to have regarded Lemaître's ideas of an expanding universe with a measure of scorn, at first, to which the Belgian responded: "Your calculations are correct, but your physics is atrocious!" Invited to speak at a meeting of the British Association in London, Lemaître explained his conviction that the universe expanded from an initial point—which he labeled "The Primeval Atom"—and his work was subsequently published in the journal Nature. He referred to it as a "Cosmic Egg exploding at the moment of creation," but in years to come it would become the cornerstone of what is today dubbed "The Big Bang."
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>
> In recognition of his work, Lemaître received the Francqui Prize—Belgium's highest scientific award—from King Léopold III. It was an award for which he had been nominated by Einstein and also by his mentor, the English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington. In 1936, he was elected a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of which he subsequently became president. Opposed to the mixture of science and religion, Lemaître disagreed with Pope Pius XII's proclamation that his work validated the notion of Creationism. Both Lemaître and the pope's scientific advisor, Daniel O'Connell, successfully persuaded Pius XII not to publicly mention Creationism again in a public setting. As head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he continued his teaching workload, albeit in a reduced capacity, until shortly before his death. Lemaître died in Leuven, Belgium, on 20 June 1966, aged 71.
>
>
>
> At the present time, ATV-4—which delivered the largest amount of dry cargo ever carried aboard a European spacecraft—remains docked at the aft port of Russia's Zvezda module and is expected to leave the space station on 28 October 2013 and burn up in the atmosphere on 2 November.
>
>
>
> Astronauts Emerge from Cave After Underground Spaceflight Training
>
>
>
> Elizabeth Howell - Space.com (Oct. 5)
>
>
>
> Six astronauts have emerged from an Italian cave after nearly a week underground to get a taste of the isolation and danger that will confront them on a space mission.
>
>
>
> The expedition was part of the European Space Agency's two-week CAVES exploration course, which trains spaceflyers to work together in multicultural teams under difficult conditions.
>
>
>
> CAVES — short for Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills — is designed to be as similar to spaceflight as possible.
>
>
>
> As with any mission, the 2013 CAVES astronauts spent some time in training to make sure they were familiar with the procedures they need. Then they descended into the darkness of Sa Grutta cave, on the Italian island of Sardinia, with a list of science tasks to accomplish.
>
>
>
> "The daily routine on the [International Space] Station follows a timeline of activities largely oriented toward science experiments. In the cave, the team also followed a daily plan, working long days to push the survey forward and document knowledge of the topography of the cave," the CAVES team wrote in a Sept. 27 blog post.
>
>
>
> "As we extended our survey, samples were taken for later analysis of water chemistry, microbiology of soil and surfaces, and atmosphere for CO2 [carbon dioxide], temperature and humidity," team members added.
>
>
>
> If anything, the astronauts can occasionally find themselves in more danger below the ground than they would above it. Indeed, ESA says it would likely take more time to extract astronauts from Sa Grutta in the event of an emergency than it would to get crewmembers home from the International Space Station.
>
>
>
> To keep astronauts as healthy as possible, CAVES organizers stick to a schedule, choose food that isn't apt to spoil and plot the safest routes possible through the subsurface.
>
>
>
> This year's crew also got several upgrades from previous expeditions to improve safety. These included new helmet lights, specially adapted shoes and a portable carbon dioxide monitor.
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>
> Science findings are still being analyzed, but NASA astronaut Mike Barratt did find some interesting carbon dioxide variations through the cave. Crewmembers also took several videos underground examining "the strong analogies between speleology and spaceflight," ESA officials added.
>
>
>
> Astronauts on the crew included NASA's Barratt and Jack Fischer, the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen. Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Ovchinin and Japanese spaceflyer Satoshi Furukawa rounded out the team.
>
>
>
> Profile
>
> Gregory Johnson, Executive Dir, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)
>
>
>
> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)
>
>
>
> Three experiments designed by elementary, middle and high school students reached the international space station Sept. 29 aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft. For the Center of Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the Florida nonprofit that funded the payloads and brokered their trip to the orbital outpost, delivery of the student experiments marked an important milestone: CASIS had finally sent something to space.
>
>
>
> Formed in 2011 in response to a congressional call for an outside organization to manage non-NASA research aboard the U.S. side of the international space station, CASIS spent its first two years working through growing pains that included the resignation of its first executive director after just six months on the job, delays appointing a board of directors and a protracted search for a new executive director.
>
>
>
> That search ended this summer with the hiring of two-time space shuttle pilot Gregory Johnson, who left NASA in August and started as CASIS executive director Sept. 1.
>
>
>
> "I did not expect to leave this soon," said Johnson, a 15-year veteran of the astronaut corps who piloted Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2011 on what was the program's penultimate mission.
>
>
>
> Johnson takes over a CASIS that little resembles the group that erupted with controversy in March 2012 when Jeanne Becker resigned as executive director over her concerns that CASIS' business practices were jeopardizing the group's nonprofit status — a tax designation it was legally required to have in order to accept $15 million in annual NASA funding to promote space station science outside the agency.
>
>
>
> Johnson, well aware of the controversy when CASIS reached out to him about taking the reins, wondered if he "was walking into a minefield" by taking the job.
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>
>
> In the year and a half since Becker left, CASIS has appointed a full-time board of scientists, nearly half of whom were also medical doctors, and distributed about $5.4 million of its $15 million in annual NASA funding to researchers with space-bound experiments.
>
>
>
> Johnson said what he learned during his initial meetings with CASIS and its board resolved the doubts in his mind about the nonprofit and convinced him that all the group needed was a leader who could "get everybody moving in the same direction."
>
>
>
> "That's what pilots do," Johnson said in a recent interview with SpaceNews staff writer Dan Leone.
>
>
>
> As a pilot, science was not your primary charge during space shuttle missions. How did you end up leading an organization focused entirely on research?
>
>
>
> CASIS reached out to me. I think it was related to some of the experiences I've had over the last 16 years with NASA. A strong science background is not the highlight of my resume, but there are a lot of scientists at CASIS and there are a lot of smart people that I will be surrounded by who will have sound scientific opinions.
>
>
>
> Aside from familiarity with NASA, what credentials do you bring to CASIS?
>
>
>
> I've got some business training, I have an MBA. And I do understand the sciences and I have been there on the space station. After my last shuttle flight two years ago, I took a year to test the waters in a management scenario. I went up to NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and managed a division up there, a public outreach and education division. I learned a lot about the inner workings of management and getting things done, coordinating with headquarters and those sorts of things. And after that detail, I came back to Johnson Space Center in Houston with the expectation of doing more training and getting myself in line for another spaceflight.
>
>
>
> But that didn't happen?
>
>
>
> I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I'm 51, and it was going to be a while before I was even ready to fly. My Russian isn't really up to speed, and some other things were going to have to align themselves. So it was going to be a long road to fly another time in space, and I figured I could make a bigger impact to take this organization up to the next level. I was just not expecting it to occur quite so soon.
>
>
>
> For an organization that has only been around since the summer of 2011, CASIS has attracted a fair share of controversy. Did any of the negative attention the group received weigh on your mind when you were going in for interviews?
>
>
>
> I initially resisted taking the job, and the reason I resisted taking the job — and I was very honest with the board in my first interview — was that there had been a lot of controversial stuff going on out there. It was a very complex situation, and I wondered if I was walking into a minefield. So I did initially question how it would play out if I were the executive director.
>
>
>
> What ultimately won you over?
>
>
>
> I think it was a realization that there are a whole bunch of really smart scientists onboard and I can talk with them and I can understand their concepts. And because of my background, I think I can translate those into action plans that really can help us understand what the factors are that go into having meaningful research on the space station. We make a good mix of the right ingredients to maybe get the sled dogs all going in the same direction. I figured I could make a bigger impact to take this organization up to the next level.
>
>
>
> What do you mean by "the next level"?
>
>
>
> Well, CASIS has Ph.D.s on its board, and I think they wanted somebody to get everybody moving in the same direction. That's what pilots do. I was a cheerleader on both my flights. Both of my crews were very, very different, with people from very different backgrounds. Especially STS-134 with Mark Kelly as the commander and his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, shot just prior to our launch. It was crazy! So it challenged me to back up Mark and get everybody going in the same direction. I think it's one of the things I was good at.
>
>
>
> So what sort of organizational quarterbacking do you plan to do?
>
>
>
> Science is not the only piece of the puzzle. I believe that there are some other factors that need to be weighed into the process besides just the scientific merit of a proposal. It's absolutely about the science and the research, but there's also a pragmatic part of the equation that has to be addressed. It's all got to be factored in appropriately to maximize the benefit to the American people.
>
>
>
> Another thing that I think perhaps could be developed more is the public appearance: selling what the space station can offer to scientists, to the researchers, to the engineers, to academic institutions and even to companies that want to make money. That's a very important up-and-out part to this job. Sometimes I'm a little bit critical of NASA because we should sell ourselves better. We have such an amazing product, it almost sells itself.
>
>
>
> Orbital Sues Virginia, Says State Owes It $16.5 Million
>
>
>
> Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 4)
>
>
>
> Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia over $16.5 million the company says it shelled out a few years ago to help cover cost overruns incurred during construction of the state-owned launchpad Orbital leased to launch cargo delivery missions to the international space station (ISS) for NASA.
>
>
>
> In a lawsuit filed Sept. 24 with the Richmond Circuit Court, Orbital is demanding the $16.5 million, plus interest. Orbital is seeking a jury trial and has named as defendants Virginia; the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority that runs the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Va.; and Virginia's state comptroller, David A. Von Moll.
>
>
>
> Reached by email Oct. 4, Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski declined comment, as did Dale Nash, executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. None of the defendants had filed a response to Orbital's complaint as of Oct. 4.
>
>
>
> Orbital filed suit less than a week after its Antares rocket launched the first Cygnus space freighter to the station from MARS Pad-0A, which is located on NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Funding for the vehicles came mostly from NASA in the form of a roughly $300 million technology development contract signed in 2007, and an eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008.
>
>
>
> Orbital struck a deal with Virginia to launch its missions from Pad-0A, which the state agreed to build. However, Virginia bungled the construction project, which led to delays and cost overruns beginning in 2010, Orbital said in the complaint. The company stepped in — "reluctantly," according to the complaint — and started buying MARS assets to provide the state with cash to continue construction.
>
>
>
> Orbital bought $42 million worth of hardware, with the understanding that Virginia would eventually buy these assets back, the complaint says. The state bought back about $25.5 million worth of hardware in 2012, but balked at repurchasing a horizontal rocket transporter and associated hardware. The state argued this hardware could only be used for Antares and therefore was not a reimbursable cost. Orbital disagreed.
>
>
>
> The Aerospace Corp., a federally funded think tank specializing in military space, was brought in to mediate and ruled in Orbital's favor in 2012, according to the complaint. Orbital subsequently sought payment but was told June 5 by Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton that the state would not pay. Connaughton informed Orbital of the state's decision during a meeting of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority's board of directors, according to the complaint.
>
>
>
> China Looms as Main Launch Competition, SpaceX Says
>
>
>
> Mike Wall - Space.com (Oct. 15)
>
>
>
> As the private spaceflight firm SpaceX works to bring more commercial rocket launches back to the United States, it anticipates some stiff competition from the burgeoning Chinese space program.
>
>
>
> The U.S. dominated the commercial launch market in the first half of the 1980s but lost most of that ground to Europe and Russia over the last two decades. China remains a minor player in this arena now, but that won't be the case for long, said SpaceX vice president for government affairs Adam Harris.
>
>
>
> "We really feel at SpaceX that the competition is going to be the Chinese space program," Harris said last month during a panel discussion at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Space 2013 conference in San Diego.
>
>
>
> There are typically between 20 and 25 commercial space launches available every year, Harris said. The United States performed virtually all of them in the early 1980s but then ceded a great deal of market share, first to Europe with its Ariane 4 and Ariane 5 vehicles, and then to Russia and its workhorse Proton rocket.
>
>
>
> The drop has been precipitous, with the U.S. responsible for just two of the 38 commercial space launches that took place in 2011 and 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
>
>
>
> California-based SpaceX, which was founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, is trying to reverse that trend. The company — which is already flying cargo to the International Space Station for NASA and hopes to start ferrying astronauts as well several years from now — currently has more than 50 missions worth nearly $5 billion on its launch manifest, Harris said, adding that the U.S. government accounts for just 32 percent of that manifest.
>
>
>
> The biggest threat to SpaceX's continued success in signing up customers over the long haul is likely not the Ariane 5 or the Proton, Harris said, but Chinese vehicles such as the Long March rocket family.
>
>
>
> "The Chinese government is certainly committed to furthering their program," he said. "They've announced moon missions, they've announced further activities, and they are doing it within their country."
>
>
>
> China's space plans are indeed ambitious. For example, Chinese officials have said they want to return lunar samples to Earth with a robotic spacecraft by 2016 or so. They also hope to have a manned, 60-ton space station up and running by 2020, and to put a "taikonaut" on the moon shortly thereafter.
>
>
>
> The nation has been making serious progress toward such goals, launching manned missions to dock with the prototype orbiting module Tiangong 1 in both 2012 and 2013.
>
>
>
> The United States needs to step up its game if it hopes to remain the world leader in spaceflight and exploration, Harris said.
>
>
>
> "It takes a government commitment" despite budget difficulties and uncertainties, he said. "We've got to make sure that we stay ahead."
>
>
>
> Tests loom in China's next decade of human spaceflight
>
>
>
> Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com (Oct. 15)
>
>
>
> China has made progress toward developing a modular Skylab-class space station since Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space a decade ago, but engineers are still working on new Long March heavy-lift rockets, regenerative life support systems and other advanced technologies required for the huge construction job.
>
>
>
> Lacking the political imperative of the Space Race, China has conducted five human spaceflights since Yang's 21-hour solo flight in October 2003. The United States and Soviet Union combined to fly more than 40 manned missions in the decade following Yuri Gagarin's historic space voyage in 1961.
>
>
>
> But China has packed more achievements into each mission than Russia or the United States dared to do at the dawn of the Space Age, notching tests of the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft, a spacewalk, and manual and automatic docking trials with the Tiangong 1 space laboratory module.
>
>
>
> "We still have a long way to go to fulfill the goals of our manned space program's 'three-step' strategy," said Wang Zhaoyao, director general of the China Manned Space Agency, following China's most recent human spaceflight. "The follow-on tasks are still arduous."
>
>
>
> China's last human spaceflight, the Shenzhou 10 mission in June, lasted more than 14 days and featured television transmissions from the three-person crew inside Tiangong 1, including an educational lesson for Chinese schoolchildren.
>
>
>
> Officials hailed Shenzhou 10 as the end of the second phase of China's three-step space strategy, with the next stage focusing on the 2015 launch and operation of a larger space station testbed named Tiangong 2, followed by a more spacious experimental space station around 2018.
>
>
>
> Like much of China's military-run space program, details of the astronauts' timelines and many flight activities were kept secret except around major events such as launch and landing.
>
>
>
> China's stance toward public disclosure has changed little since Yang Liwei's 2003 mission, when officials did not announce the identity of the flight's sole crew member until the day of the launch.
>
>
>
> Ten Chinese astronauts have flown in space over the last decade, including Yang's launch on Oct. 15, 2003. Two of the Chinese fliers were women, and two astronauts - Jing Haipeng and Nie Haisheng - reached space two times.
>
>
>
> Here is a listing of China's five human spaceflights to date:
>
>
>
> · Shenzhou 5 launched Oct. 15, 2003, with Chinese Air Force pilot Yang Liwei on a 21-hour flight completing 14 orbits of Earth, making China the third nation to mount a human space mission.
>
>
>
> · Shenzhou 6 launched Oct. 12, 2005, with Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, two Chinese military pilots. The crew spent nearly five days in orbit doing experiments and testing the capabilities of the Shenzhou spacecraft. Fei and Nie also entered the Shenzhou's orbital module for the first time, accessing the ship's roomier accommodations, tastier food rations and toilet.
>
>
>
> · Shenzhou 7 launched Sept. 25, 2008, with China's first three-person space crew. Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng spent three days in space and conducted China's first spacewalk.
>
>
>
> · Shenzhou 9 launched June 16, 2012, on the first crewed flight to China's Tiangong 1 module. The two vehicles linked up in orbit, forming a docked spacecraft larger than a double-decker bus. The crew of Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and China's first female astronaut Liu Yang accomplished automatic and manual dockings during their 13-day mission.
>
>
>
> · Shenzhou 10 launched June 11, 2013, with commander Nie Haisheng, a veteran of Shenzhou 6, and rookie astronauts Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping. The three astronauts lived and worked aboard Tiangong 1, spending more than 14 days in orbit on China's longest manned mission to date.
>
>
>
> Five other Shenzhou missions, beginning with Shenzhou 1 in 1999, flew without a human crew.
>
>
>
> China's spaceflights so far have demonstrated the program's ability to stage simple spacewalks and navigate and dock in orbit, key capabilities that will need to be even further expanded later this decade before engineers attempt to assemble massive modules into a 60-ton space station staffed by astronauts for months at a time.
>
>
>
> "As we celebrate our success, we also realize the fact that there is still a gap between China and the leading countries in terms of manned space technology and capability," Wang said in a June 26 press conference after the landing of Shenzhou 10.
>
>
>
> China's next Tiangong spacecraft and the prototype space station module, set for launch around 2015 and 2018, will test components for a regenerative life support system to accommodate long-duration flights, according to information released by Chinese state media. The International Space Station operates a similar system to generate oxygen and convert urine into drinking water.
>
>
>
> China must also hone its spacewalking expertise to allow astronauts to assist in the space station's assembly, maintenance and repairs. The country's first spacewalk in 2008 lasted less than 20 minutes and accomplished no significant tasks.
>
>
>
> In-orbit refueling and robotics are also on the agenda, and China may already be testing some of those capabilities in orbit on secretive experimental satellites. Analysts have observed Chinese satellites conducting strange maneuvers in close proximity, including a craft launched in July reported to carry a robotic arm.
>
>
>
> It is unclear whether China has docked any of the maneuvering satellites or grappled another spacecraft with a robot arm.
>
>
>
> China is also developing the next-generation Long March 5 rocket with engines fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen. China's space station modules, expected to weigh 20 tons at launch, require heavy-lift launcher to reach orbit.
>
>
>
> The first Long March 5 test flight is expected in 2015, according to a March report by China Daily.
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>
>
> With China's most powerful rocket engines, the Long March 5 can loft more massive payloads into space than the Long March 2F rocket, which launched all 10 Shenzhou flights since 1999, plus the Tiangong 1 space module in 2011.
>
>
>
> Onward and upward as China marks 10 years of manned spaceflight
>
>
>
> Felicia Sonmez - Agence France Presse (Oct. 14)
>
>
>
> China marks 10 years since it first sent a human into space Tuesday, with its ambitious programme rocketing ahead while rival NASA is largely closed due to the US government shutdown.
>
>
>
> Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times during his 21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5 in 2003, blazing a trail into the cosmos for China.
>
>
>
> More than 40 years after Yuri Gagarin's groundbreaking journey, the mission made China only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to carry out an independent manned spaceflight.
>
>
>
> At the time, Beijing was so concerned about the viability of the mission that at the last minute it cancelled a nationwide live television broadcast of the launch.
>
>
>
> But since then, China has sent a total of 10 astronauts -- eight men and two women -- into space on five separate missions, and launched an orbiting space module, Tiangong-1.
>
>
>
> Its latest manned trip, the Shenzhou 10 in June, was not only greeted with wall-to-wall TV coverage, but also attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told the crew their 15-day mission represented a step towards making the country stronger and a "space dream" for the Chinese people.
>
>
>
> Chinese firms have seized on the anniversary to promote goods from watches to engine oil, including a 9,800 yuan ($1,600) set of teapots said to be signed by all its space voyagers.
>
>
>
> Beijing sees the multi-billion-dollar military-run space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
>
>
>
> Its ambitious plans for the future ultimately include landing a Chinese citizen on the moon, with an unmanned moon rover to be launched by the end of this year, a fourth launch centre opening in two years' time, and a permanent orbiting space station to be completed by 2023.
>
>
>
> Around the same time, the International Space Station operated by the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe will be retired.
>
>
>
> It is a symbolic coincidence and a reflection of shifting power balances back on the Earth, analysts say.
>
>
>
> The rapid, purposeful development of China's space programme is in sharp contrast with the US, which launched its final space shuttle flight in 2011 and whose next step remains uncertain amid waning domestic support for spending federal dollars on space exploration.
>
>
>
> Last week space conference organisers said NASA personnel were not legally allowed to read their emails due to the US government shutdown, and visitors to NASA's website were met with a notice reading: "Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available. We sincerely regret this inconvenience."
>
>
>
> More than military benefits
>
>
>
> Yang's flight into space 10 years ago "was a highly visible sign of China's rapid technological and industrial progress", said Morris Jones, an independent space analyst based in Sydney. "The implications go beyond spaceflight."
>
>
>
> Much of the technology used in space exploration can have military benefits, such as in tracking missiles, experts say.
>
>
>
> But they also note that China has reaped other, less-tangible advantages from the programme.
>
>
>
> "The regional benefits that China has gotten from being seen as the regional space leader have really translated into military and economic prestige," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and an expert on Chinese space activities.
>
>
>
> "It's got economic advantages in that the rest of the world doesn't see China as just capable of producing knock-off designer clothes," she added. "It has benefits in terms of education; students get interested in technology."
>
>
>
> China is still behind the achievements of the US and Soviet Union -- both of which it has learned from -- and years away from launching its space station.
>
>
>
> But Yang himself, now deputy director of China's manned space agency, said it has already received proposals from developing countries interested in riding its coattails into orbit.
>
>
>
> "We would like to train astronauts from other countries and organisations that have such a demand, and we would be glad to provide trips to foreign astronauts," he said at a United Nations/China Workshop on Human Space Technology in Beijing last month, according to the official Xinhua news service.
>
>
>
> Pakistan has said it hopes to be among the first to take the opportunity.
>
>
>
> The timing of China's space station launch and the absence of US activities "will de facto make them a space leader", said Johnson-Freese.
>
>
>
> China's 30-year space plan was "a long-term approach that has long-term advantages", she added.
>
>
>
> "Technologically, it's not that China is leaping forward," she said. "It's that they have the political will because they don't have to respond to the will of the electorate to keep this going, which of course is very hard in democracies."
>
>
>
> Who knew? German insomniacs watch NASA space feed all night
>
>
>
> Carol Williams - Los Angeles Times (Oct. 15)
>
>
>
> A quirky habit of German insomniacs and "chill-out" music fans has come to world attention thanks to the U.S. government shutdown.
>
>
>
> "Space Night," a nearly 20-year-old late-night broadcast by Bavarian Television, provides a music-sharing platform against a backdrop of NASA's video feed from the International Space Station.
>
>
>
> But the 15-day-old U.S. government shutdown has idled the NASA archivists responsible for relaying the imagery beyond Mission Control, cutting off fresh backdrops to mix with the music for "Space Night" broadcasts that were to have launched a new season Nov. 1.
>
>
>
> NASA archivists were put on unpaid leave at the start of October, when 700,000 government workers whose jobs weren't deemed essential to defense and security were furloughed until the contentious U.S. Congress passes a budget for the new fiscal year.
>
>
>
> "Fans of Bavarian Television's 'Space Night' are going to have to wait a little longer for the new programming," Der Spiegel magazine reported Tuesday (link in German).
>
>
>
> The nightly broadcasts feature viewer-uploaded recordings of "chill-out" music, a genre that gained popularity among ravers in the 1990s as a means of calming down after all-night wild parties.
>
>
>
> Bavarian Television, in exchange for amateur musicians' renunciation of exclusive rights to their creations, make the music available for downloading and identify the contributing artist against the background of NASA footage from outer space.
>
>
>
> The Munich-based broadcaster hasn't disclosed figures on "Space Night" audience share. Other German media describe the program as popular with a devoted cult following.
>
>
>
> If the U.S. budget standoff goes on much longer, the German programmers could always go back to the original imagery used as background for the music: the station's 1960s-era test pattern.
>
>
>
> What Happens If An Astronaut Floats Off In Space?
>
> In short: he's in trouble.
>
>
>
> Erik Sofge - Popular Science Magazine (October issue)
>
>
>
> In the film Gravity, which opens this month, two astronauts are on a spacewalk when an accident hurtles them into the void. So what would actually happen if you went, in NASA's terminology, "overboard"?
>
>
>
> NASA requires spacewalking astronauts to use tethers (and sometimes additional anchors). But should those fail, you'd float off according to whatever forces were acting on you when you broke loose. You'd definitely be weightless. You'd possibly be spinning. In space, no kicking and flailing can change your fate. And your fate could be horrible. At the right angle and velocity, you might even fall back into Earth's atmosphere and burn up.
>
>
>
> That's why NASA has protocols that it drills into astronauts for such situations. You would be wearing your emergency jetpack, called SAFER, which would automatically counter any tumbling to stabilize you. Then NASA's plan dictates that you take manual control and fly back to safety.
>
>
>
> However, if the pack's three pounds of fuel runs out, if another astronaut doesn't quickly grab you, or if the air lock is irreparably damaged, you're in big trouble. No protocols can save you now. (In fact, there aren't any.) At the moment, there's no spacecraft to pick you up. The only one with a rescue-ready air-locked compartment—the Space Shuttle—is in retirement.
>
>
>
> So your only choice is to orbit, waiting for your roughly 7.5 hours of breathable air to run out. It wouldn't be too terrible. You might get a little hungry, but there's up to a liter of water available via straw in your helmet. You'd simply sip and think of your family as you watched the sun rise and set—approximately five times, depending on your altitude.
>
>
>
> Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut, dies at 88
>
>
>
> William Harwood - CBS News
>
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>
> Malcolm Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts who was forced to take manual control of his Aurora 7 capsule after running low on fuel in one of the scarier moments of the early space program, died early Thursday. He was 88.
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> No cause of death was given, but sources said he had suffered a stroke recently and family members confirmed his passing in emails to NASA and media outlets. With Carpenter's death, only John Glenn, the first American in orbit, remains of NASA's original seven astronauts.
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> A Navy test pilot and Korean War veteran, Carpenter was chosen for Project Mercury on April 9, 1959, joining six other test pilots -- Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton -- as America's first class of astronauts.
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> Following two sub-orbital flights by Shepard and Grissom, Glenn became the first American in orbit in February 1962. Carpenter served as Glenn's backup and then rocketed into space himself on May 24, 1962, riding into orbit atop the Mercury-Atlas 7 rocket.
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> During three orbits, Carpenter put his Aurora 7 through its paces and reached a maximum altitude of 164 miles, working through a series of science experiments as the flight progressed. He also because the first astronaut to eat solid food in space -- cubes of chocolate, figs and dates mixed in with high-protein cereals, according to collectSpace.com.
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> "You have to realize my experience with zero-g, although transcending and more fun than I can tell you about, was, in the light of current space flight accomplishments, very brief," Carpenter said in a 1999 NASA interview. "The zero-g sensation and the visual sensation of space flight are transcending experiences, and I wish everybody could have them."
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> But the flight turned into a nail-biter when, during a pass over Australia, Carpenter "inadvertently neglected to shut off one attitude control system when switching to another, and doubled, for a time, the fuel expenditure," he later wrote in a third-person account.
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> "The resulting fuel state became critical during reentry. During the rest of the flight he fell further and further behind the flight plan, which he said later was much too ambitious."
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> Carpenter thought he had the capsule in the proper orientation for re-entry. As it turned out, the nose of the spacecraft was pointed 25 degrees to one side of where it should have been due to a malfunctioning sensor system. This contributed to missing the planned splashdown point by about 175 miles.
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> Then, the retro-rockets "did not deliver the full thrust that was expected of them," he wrote. "On top of all this, the three retros fired approximately three seconds late. They were designed to fire automatically, but they did not."
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> Carpenter said he pressed the rocket ignition button at the correct time, but "two seconds passed before they finally went off and at (an orbital) speed of 5 miles per second, the lapse of three seconds accounted for another 15 miles in the overshoot."
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> Aurora 7 splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 250 miles downrange from the planned touchdown point. After a brief scare, search crews found Carpenter about 40 minutes later, safely bobbing in a life raft by his capsule.
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> Some critics later said Carpenter was distracted by the experiments he was carrying out and that he did not properly manage the on-board fuel supply when he took over manual control. A post-flight NASA analysis credited the astronaut with successfully handling a potentially dangerous situation.
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> But Carpenter's perceived devotion to science at the expense of engineering during the initial stages of the Mercury program rankled some within the agency. In any case, he never flew in space again.
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> He served as an executive assistant to the director of the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, working on the Apollo lunar lander and assisting with underwater training for future flight crews.
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> During this period, Carpenter "became fascinated by the underwater work being done by the French oceanographer J.Y. Cousteau in his Conshelf program," the astronaut wrote, saying he saw "many parallels between that work and the work being done by the American space program."
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> He took a leave of absence from NASA to participate in the Navy's SeaLab project. But he broke his arm in a motorcycle crash, which prevented him from participating in a planned underwater say in a habitat 192 feet down.
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> In 1965, Carpenter took another leave of absence from NASA to participate in the Navy's Man-in-the-Sea Project, serving as a diver, or aquanaut, in the SeaLab II program in the Pacific Ocean near La Jolla, Calif. He spent a month on the ocean floor leading two teams of divers based in a habitat anchored at a depth of 205 feet.
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> After another brief stint at NASA, Carpenter resumed work with the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project in 1967, serving as director of SEALAB III aquanaut operations, focusing on development of deep sea diving techniques for rescue, salvage and research.
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> "SeaLab III was a very ambitious experiment which would have repeated much of the work done by the previous two SeaLab experiments but at the much greater depth of 600 feet," Carpenter wrote. "After many delays, equipment failures, and other major difficulties, including flooding of the habitat, and finally, the loss of Barry Canon, one of the divers, the troublesome project was canceled."
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> Carpenter retired from the Navy in 1969 and founded Sea Sciences Inc., a venture capital firm devoted to development of programs "aimed at enhanced utilization of ocean resources and improved health of the planet," according to his NASA biography.
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> "In pursuit of these and other objectives, he worked closely with the French oceanographer J.Y. Cousteau and members of his Calypso team," the biography says. "He has dived in most of the worlds oceans, including the Arctic under ice."
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> Born in Boulder, Colorado, on May 1, 1925, Carpenter was the son of a research chemist and attended the University of Colorado from 1945 to 1949, graduating with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering.
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> He joined the U.S. Navy in 1949 and was designated a naval aviator in 1951. During the Korean conflict, Carpenter flew anti-submarine and ship surveillance missions before training at the Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Md., in 1954. He then served in the Electronics Test Division of the Naval Air Test Center, flying a wide variety of jets and propeller-driven aircraft.
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> Carpenter was servicing as Air Intelligence Officer aboard the USS Hornet aircraft carrier when he was selected by NASA to become one of the first seven astronauts.
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> Carpenter was awarded the Navy's Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Navy Astronaut Wings and the Collier Trophy. He held seven honorary degrees.
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> Scott Carpenter, One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead at 88
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> Richard Goldstein - New York Times (Oct. 10)
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> M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical problems and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site, died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America's original space program, Project Mercury.
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> His wife, Patty Carpenter, announced the death. No cause was given. Mr. Carpenter had entered hospice care recently after having a stroke.
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> His death leaves John H. Glenn Jr., who flew the first orbital mission on Feb. 20, 1962, and later became a United States senator from Ohio, as the last survivor of the Mercury 7.
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> When Lieutenant Commander Carpenter splashed down off Puerto Rico in his Aurora 7 capsule on May 24, 1962, after a harrowing mission, he had fulfilled a dream.
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> "I volunteered for a number of reasons," he wrote in "We Seven," a book of reflections by the original astronauts published in 1962. "One of these, quite frankly, was that I thought this was a chance for immortality. Pioneering in space was something I would willingly give my life for."
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> For 39 minutes after his capsule hit the Caribbean, according to NASA, there were fears that he had, in fact, perished. He was 250 nautical miles from his intended landing point after making three orbits in a nearly five-hour flight. Although radar and radio signals indicated that his capsule had survived re-entry, it was not immediately clear that he was safe.
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> A Navy search plane finally spotted him in a bright orange life raft. He remained in it for three hours, accompanied by two frogmen dropped to assist him, before he was picked up by a helicopter and taken to the aircraft carrier Intrepid.
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> The uncertainty over his fate was only one problem with the flight. The equipment controlling the capsule's attitude (the way it was pointed) had gone awry; moreover, he fired his re-entry rockets three seconds late, and they did not carry the anticipated thrust. He also fell behind on his many tasks during the flight's final moments, and his fuel ran low when he inadvertently left two control systems on at the same time.
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> Some NASA officials found fault with his performance.
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> "He was completely ignoring our request to check his instruments," Christopher Kraft, the flight director, wrote in his memoir "Flight: My Life in Mission Control" (2001). "I swore an oath that Scott Carpenter would never again fly in space. He didn't."
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> Mr. Carpenter was the fourth American astronaut in space. Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Virgil I. Grissom flew the first two Mercury flights, and then Mr. Glenn orbited the Earth. Mr. Carpenter was the fourth man to go into orbit. Two Russians in addition to Mr. Glenn had preceded him.
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> Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born on May 1, 1925, in Boulder, Colo. His family moved to the New York area when his father, Marion, got a job there as a research chemist. His mother, Florence, contracted tuberculosis when Scott was a child, and she took him with her when she returned to Boulder to be treated at a sanitarium. The marriage broke up, and Scott was guided by his maternal grandfather, Victor Noxon, who owned and edited a Boulder newspaper. He grew fond of a rugged outdoor life and became enthralled by the prospect of flying.
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> Mr. Carpenter became a naval aviation cadet in 1943, but World War II ended before he could obtain his wings. He entered the University of Colorado afterward and received a Navy commission in 1949.
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> He flew patrol planes in the Pacific during the Korean War, then trained as a test pilot, and in April 1959 he was among the seven military pilots chosen as the Mercury astronauts, the beginning of what would become America's quest to carry out President John F. Kennedy's goal to put a man on the Moon.
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> Mr. Carpenter was highly accomplished in communications and navigation in addition to his flying skills. He was also in outstanding physical condition, exceeding several NASA performance standards.
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> He was Mr. Glenn's backup for his epic orbital flight, and memorably exclaimed, "Godspeed, John Glenn!" as Mr. Glenn's Friendship 7 achieved liftoff.
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> But Donald K. Slayton was scheduled to be the next astronaut in orbit. When Mr. Slayton was grounded because of a heart irregularity, Commander Carpenter got the flight.
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> His mission called for greater pilot involvement than Mr. Glenn's. With photographic tasks to perform and science experiments to oversee, he seemed to be having a grand time, though the cabin became uncomfortably warm. But serious trouble arose when the equipment controlling the way the capsule was facing malfunctioned, requiring him to determine the capsule's proper attitude visually.
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> "The last 30 minutes of the flight, in retrospect, were a dicey time," he recalled in his memoir, "For Spacious Skies" (2002), written with his daughter Kris Stoever. "At the time, I didn't see it that way. First, I was trained to avoid any intellectual comprehension of disaster — dwelling on a potential danger, or imagining what might happen. I was also too busy with the tasks at hand."
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> Splashing down 250 nautical miles from the nearest recovery ship, he got out of his capsule through a top hatch, then inflated his raft and waited to be picked up.
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> Finally the voice of mission control, Shorty Powers, announced, "An aircraft in the landing area has sighted the capsule and a life raft with a gentleman by the name of Carpenter riding in it."
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> President Kennedy greeted Commander Carpenter and his family at the White House in June 1962 after the Carpenters had been hailed at parades in Denver and Boulder and honored at City Hall in New York. A few days after Mr. Carpenter's mission, the University of Colorado gave him a long-delayed degree in aeronautical engineering at its commencement, citing his "unique experience with heat transfer during his re-entry." He had missed out on his degree by not completing a course in heat transfer as a senior in 1949.
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> But the issue of the flight's brush with disaster lingered. A NASA inquiry determined that because of a 25-degree error in the capsule's alignment, the retro rockets had fired at an angle that caused a shallower than normal descent. That accounted for 175 miles of the overshoot, with the remaining 75 miles caused by the late firing of the rockets and their failure to provide the expected thrust.
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> Mr. Kraft, the flight director, had been angry that Mr. Slayton was denied the mission because of his heart problem, and he was furious at Commander Carpenter, feeling that he had not paid sufficient attention to instructions from the ground.
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> Commander Carpenter's prospect of obtaining another NASA mission was ended by a motorbike injury that led to his leaving NASA in 1967.
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> In a 2001 letter to The New York Times in response to a review of Mr. Kraft's book, Mr. Carpenter wrote that "the system failures I encountered during the flight would have resulted in loss of the capsule and total mission failure had a man not been aboard."
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> "My postflight debriefings and reports," he added, "led, in turn, to important changes in capsule design and flight plans."
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> In his book "The Right Stuff" (1979), which told how the original astronauts reflected the coolness-under-pressure ethos of the test pilot, Tom Wolfe wrote that Mr. Kraft's criticism fueled NASA engineers' simmering resentment of the astronauts' status as pop-culture heroes. The way Mr. Wolfe saw it, word spread within NASA that Mr. Carpenter had panicked, the worst sin imaginable in what Mr. Wolfe called the brotherhood of the right stuff.
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> Mr. Wolfe rejected that notion. "One might argue that Carpenter had mishandled the re-entry, but to accuse him of panic made no sense in light of the telemetered data concerning his heart rate and his respiratory rate," he wrote.
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> "The Right Stuff" was made into a movie in 1983, with Charles Frank as Mr. Carpenter.
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> Mr. Carpenter also carved a legacy as a pioneer in the ocean's depths. He was the only astronaut to become an aquanaut, spending a month living and working on the ocean floor, at a depth of 205 feet, in the Sealab project off San Diego in the summer of 1965. When he returned to NASA, he helped develop underwater training to prepare for spacewalks. He returned to the Sealab program, but a thigh injury resulting from his diving work kept him from exploring the ocean floor again.
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> He retired from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of commander, pursued oceanographic and environmental activities and wrote two novels involving underwater adventures.
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> Mr. Carpenter's first three marriages ended in divorce. Besides his wife, Patty Barrett Carpenter, Mr. Carpenter is survived by four sons, Jay, Matthew, Nicholas and Zachary; two daughters, Kristen Stoever and Candace Carpenter; a granddaughter; and five stepgrandchildren. Two sons, Timothy and Scott, died before him.
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> Mr. Glenn, the last Mercury 7 survivor, is 92. Mr. Grissom died in 1967 in an Apollo spacecraft fire during a launching-pad test. Mr. Slayton died in 1993; Mr. Shepard, the first American in space, died in 1998; L. Gordon Cooper Jr. died in 2004; and Walter M. Schirra Jr. died in 2007.
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> Among his many projects, Mr. Carpenter joined with fellow astronauts of the original Mercury 7 to create the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation to aid science and engineering students. In 2006, he returned to the University of Colorado to present a scholarship to a student studying plasma physics.
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> He used the occasion to reflect on the thrill he experienced. Spaceflights had become "old hat," he said, but his ardor for space travel remained undimmed.
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> "The flight experience itself is incredible," The Rocky Mountain News quoted him as saying. "It's addictive. It's transcendent. It is a view of the grand plan of all things that is simply unforgettable."
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> Mr. Carpenter attended ceremonial events in his final years, when he was reunited with fellow astronauts.
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> He joined with President George W. Bush and Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, on Veterans Day 2008 in a ceremony on a Hudson River pier aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, formerly the ship whose helicopter had plucked him to safety.
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> Mr. Carpenter was on hand at Cape Canaveral with Mr. Glenn and veterans of the Project Mercury support teams at events a few days before the 50th anniversary of Mr. Glenn's pioneering orbital flight.
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> Both men had expressed hopes that America's space program would be revived.
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> "John, thank you for your heroic effort and all of you for your heroic effort," Mr. Carpenter told the gathering. "But we stand here waiting to be outdone."
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> Scott Carpenter, one of original Mercury 7 astronauts, dies
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> James Dean - Florida Today (Oct. 10)
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> Godspeed, Scott Carpenter.
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> The second American to orbit the Earth, Carpenter died Thursday after a stroke. He was 88.
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> Along with John Glenn, Carpenter was one of the last two surviving original Mercury 7 astronauts for the fledgling U.S. space program.
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> His wife, Patty Barrett, said Carpenter died of complications from a September stroke in a Denver hospice. He lived in Vail, Colo.
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> "We're going to miss him," she said.
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> Carpenter was launched into space from Cape Canaveral on May 24, 1962, and completed three orbits around Earth in his space capsule, the Aurora 7, which he named after the celestial event. It was just a coincidence Carpenter said that he grew up in Boulder, Colo., on the corner of Aurora Avenue and 7th Street.
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> But even before Carpenter ventured into space, he made history. On Feb. 20, 1962, he gave the historic send-off to his predecessor in orbit: "Godspeed, John Glenn." It was a spur of the moment phrase, Carpenter later said.
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> "In those days, speed was magic because that's all that was required …. and nobody had gone that fast," Carpenter explained. "If you can get that speed, you're home-free, and it just occurred to me at the time that I hope you get your speed. Because once that happens, the flight's a success."
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> Delivered in what NBC News correspondent Jay Barbree of Merritt Island called a baritone "voice of God," Carpenter's call from the Launch Complex 14 blockhouse offered a note of reassurance and prayer as Glenn lifted off at the height of the space race, in a rocket about which there were safety concerns.
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> "We were pretty much on pins and needles," said Jack King of Cocoa Beach, then NASA's chief of public information for what became Kennedy Space Center. "It really hit me at the time."
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> Carpenter's turn came a little more three months later.
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> At a time when astronauts achieved fame on par with rock stars, folks across the country sat glued to their TV screens, anxiously awaiting the outcome of Carpenter's ride. He overshot his landing by 288 miles, giving NASA and the nation an hour-long scare that he might not have made it back alive.
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> He was found sitting in a life raft attached to his capsule, eating a Baby Ruth candy bar, Barbree remembered.
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> "He was a cool customer," said Barbree.
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> The fallout from that missed landing was a factor that kept NASA from launching Carpenter into space again. So he went from astronaut to "aquanaut" and lived at length on the sea floor — the only man to ever formally explore the two frontiers.
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> Carpenter was as proud of his aquanaut experience as he was of his pioneering space career, Barbree said.
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> Later, he was a dedicated supporter of the Brevard County-based Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, started by NASA's original seven astronauts.
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> "We've lost an American hero," said Linn LeBlanc of Cape Canaveral, a former foundation director who spoke to Carpenter days before his death. "He was just a true gentleman."
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> A statement on the foundation's Web site said it mourned "the loss of a founder and beloved friend whose bravery and goodwill shall never be forgotten. Godspeed."
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> King called Carpenter "a very special guy and a key part of the program."
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> "We're now down to one of the seven original astronauts, the seven standard bearers who really led us in the space program right at the start," he said.
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>
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> For the veteran Navy officer, flying in space or diving to the ocean floor was more than a calling. In 1959, soon after being chosen one of NASA's pioneering seven astronauts, Carpenter wrote about his hopes, concluding: "This is something I would willingly give my life for."
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> "Curiosity is a thread that goes through all of my activity," he told a NASA historian in 1999. "Satisfying curiosity ranks No. 2 in my book behind conquering a fear."
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> His four hours, 39 minutes and 32 seconds of weightlessness were "the nicest thing that ever happened to me," Carpenter told a NASA historian. "The zero-g sensation and the visual sensation of spaceflight are transcending experiences and I wish everybody could have them."
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> "He was totally relaxed," said Lee Solid of Merritt Island, then an Atlas program propulsion engineer who worked with Carpenter in the run-up to Glenn's launch. "He just was one of those really smart, sharp guys. He was very professional."
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> Carpenter's trip led to many discoveries about spacecraft navigation and space itself, such as that space offers almost no resistance, which he found out by trailing a balloon.
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> Barbree called Carpenter the first scientist astronaut because of the many experiments he performed.
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> "All the other guys went up just for the ride and to fly," he said. "He was there to learn what he could learn."
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> Carpenter said astronauts in the Mercury program found most of their motivation from the space race with the Russians. When he completed his orbit of the Earth, he said he thought: "Hooray, we're tied with the Soviets," who had completed two manned orbits at that time.
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> But things started to go wrong on re-entry. He was low on fuel and a key instrument that tells the pilot which way the capsule is pointing malfunctioned, forcing Carpenter to manually take over control of the landing.
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> NASA's Mission Control then announced that he would overshoot his landing zone by more than 200 miles and, worse, they had lost contact with him.
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> Talking to a suddenly solemn nation, CBS newsman Walter Cronkite told the audience: "We may have … lost an astronaut."
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> But Carpenter survived the landing that day.
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> Always cool under pressure — his heart rate never went above 105 during the flight — he oriented himself by simply peering out the space capsule's window. The Navy found him in the Caribbean, floating in his life raft with his feet propped up. He offered up some of his space rations.
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> In the 1962 book "We Seven," written by the first seven astronauts, Carpenter wrote about his thoughts while waiting to be picked up after splashing down.
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> "I sat for a long time just thinking about what I'd been through. I couldn't believe it had all happened. It had been a tremendous experience, and though I could not ever really share it with anyone, I looked forward to telling others as much about it as I could. I had made mistakes and some things had gone wrong. But I hoped that other men could learn from my experiences. I felt that the flight was a success, and I was proud of that."
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> Carpenter never did go back in space, but his explorations continued. In 1965, he spent 30 days under the ocean off the coast of California as part of the Navy's SeaLab II program.
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> Once again the motivation was both fear and curiosity.
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> "I wanted, No. 1, to learn about it (the ocean), but No. 2, I wanted to get rid of what was an unreasoned fear of the deep water," Carpenter told the NASA historian. "
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> Inspired by Jacques Cousteau, Carpenter worked with the Navy to bring some of NASA's training and technology to the sea floor. The 57-by-12-foot habitat was lowered to a depth of 205 feet off San Diego. A bottlenose dolphin named Tuffy ferried supplies from the surface to the aquanauts below.
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> After another stint at NASA in the mid-1960s, helping develop the Apollo lunar lander, Carpenter returned to the SeaLab program as director of aquanaut operations for SeaLab III.
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> He retired from the Navy in 1969, founded his company Sea Sciences Inc., worked closely with Cousteau and dove in most of the world's oceans, including under the ice in the Arctic.
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> When the 77-year-old Glenn returned to orbit in 1998 aboard space shuttle Discovery, Carpenter radioed: "Good luck, have a safe flight and … once again, Godspeed, John Glenn."
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>
> Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born May 1, 1925, in Boulder, Colo. (He hated his first name and didn't use it). He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother became ill with tuberculosis.
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> He attended the University of Colorado for one semester, joined the Navy during World War II, and returned to school but didn't graduate because he flunked out of a class on heat transfer his senior year. The school eventually awarded him a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1962 after he orbited the Earth.
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> He rejoined the Navy in 1949 and was a fighter and test pilot in the Pacific and served as intelligence officer.
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> He married four times and had seven children.
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> Carpenter said that he joined the Mercury program for many reasons: "One of them, quite frankly, is that it is a chance for immortality. Most men never have a chance for immortality."
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>
>
> How Late Author Tom Clancy Supported Private Spaceflight
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> Leonard David - Space.com (Oct. 16)
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> Tom Clancy, the best-selling writer and master storyteller of military thrillers who died Oct. 1 at age 66 in a Baltimore hospital, was also an early supporter of entrepreneurial space.
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> Clancy authored such runaway best-sellers as "The Hunt for Red October," "Red Storm Rising," "Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger," and "The Cardinal of the Kremlin," which featured anti-satellite lasers and other "Star Wars"-type weaponry.
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> One facet of Clancy's interest in technology is that he was a backer of private rocket development.
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> "Clancy deserves the recognition," said Gary Hudson, CEO of Nevada-based HMX, Inc.
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>
> Hudson has been involved in private spaceflight development for more than 40 years and is perhaps best known as the founder of Rotary Rocket Company. That visionary firm was dedicated to the development of a single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle that used a rocket-tipped rotor propulsion system.
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> Hudson and company colleagues designed a unique vehicle known as the Roton. Rotary Rocket built a landing test simulator, the Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV), which flew three low-altitude test flights in 1999.
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> Tom Clancy took part in the March 1, 1999, rollout of the Rotan ATV as an investor and strong supporter of Rotary Rocket Company.
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> The hunt for funding
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> "My interaction with Tom began in either late 1989 or early 1990," Hudson recalled. "At the time, the Single Stage Rocket Technology program was starting up at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, and I had a fair amount to do with that effort."
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> During that time period, science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle introduced Hudson to Clancy, who was a fan of Pournelle's writing.
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> "I went to Maryland to visit Clancy at his newly built house on the Chesapeake, which was precisely Jack Ryan's house that is described in 'Patriot Games.' He wrote the book first, and built the house afterwards. Tom was gracious and welcoming and offered to help me find financing for a fully reusable vertical take-off and landing rocket," Hudson told SPACE.com.
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> "I was astounded by both his enthusiasm and his drive," he said. "We wrote a business plan for a new company, calling it Pacific American Spaceship Company. Tom was tireless in trying to find funding. But in the end, even with his contacts, the fact that the government was doing a 'competitive' effort, the Delta Clipper-X, meant that we couldn't put a deal together. But I did meet a lot of people with both money and power in D.C. and elsewhere, names that had best remain, well, nameless."
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> Clancy investment
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>
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> Hudson later teamed up with colleague Bevin McKinney in 1993 to develop the Roton concept, keeping Clancy informed of the enterprise.
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> Entrepreneur Walt Anderson, an early advocate of the commercial development of space, agreed to put the first $5 million into Rotary in fall 1996, Hudson said.
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> "I happened to be visiting Tom and proudly told him about the venture. I knew that previously his first wife was not keen on him investing in such things, but he had just gotten divorced and was living in Baltimore in a condo. Even so I had no expectation that he'd invest," Hudson said.
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>
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> Hudson recalls sitting with Clancy when he said, "Let me know when you are ready to take more investment. I have someone who is interested."
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> "I asked, 'Who?' and he pointed a finger at his chest and said, 'Me!' So the first round of Rotary financing included $1 million from Tom," Hudson said.
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> Railroad to space
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>
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> Hudson said that Clancy then joined the board of Rotary Rocket, followed the group's work with great interest and offered to speak at the Rotan ATV rollout.
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>
> "He showed up wearing a train engineer's cap. He was a huge rail aficionado, a bit like Sheldon on 'Big Bang Theory,' and talked about opening a railroad to space. After Rotary failed to raise sufficient funds to continue in late 1999 and early 2000, I spoke to him about what to do next. It was clear Rotary was doomed, so I finally resigned in mid-2000."
>
>
>
> Hudson revealed the text of a letter he received from Clancy after the latter learned that Rotary Rocket was no longer.,
>
>
>
> "I don't think he'd mind me sharing it with the world now," Hudson said.
>
>
>
> The June 28, 2000, message reads:
>
>
>
> Gary, it is with sorrow that I read your letter this morning. It's never fun to see a dream die, all the more so one in which I believe myself. And I continue to believe in you, your brains, your vision, and your ultimate ability to make it happen. If I'd had the money, I would have funded the damned thing myself. You see, I think the market is there. I wish there were some way I could help, but clearly there is not. I'm still your friend.
>
>
>
> "And I am still his," Hudson said. "He was a true self-made man, both generous and bold. Rest in peace."
>
>
>
> NASA scientist finds new purpose amid furlough
>
>
>
> Andrew Horansky - KHOU TV Houston (Oct. 3)
>
>
>
> When Tara Ruttley, 38, found out she was furloughed, she decided to make the best of it.
>
>
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> "It's okay to be disappointed," Ruttley said. "It's okay to be down, but you can't let it last for too long."
>
>
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> The NASA scientist and mom saw an opportunity to dive into the world of online grocery shopping. It was something she dreamed about for years.
>
>
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> "I decided to come home, open my laptop, and throw myself into my own small business at home," Ruttley said.
>
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> She runs the Grocery Station out of Clear Lake City. Customers submit an online list of grocery items and shoppers pick them up for a fee.
>
>
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> With her full-time job now out of the way, Ruttley can focus on building her customer base.
>
>
>
> "And so all these folks I knew that could benefit from the service, I just never had the time to reach out to them and to talk to them," Ruttley said. "And so now, I'm finding that I have the time to do that."
>
>
>
> This week about 800,000 federal employees were forced to take furloughs. NASA was the agency hardest-hit, as roughly 97 percent of its staff went home without pay.
>
>
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> Ruttley said she looks forward to returning to her job soon and has every intention of one day looking back on this period with fond memories.
>
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> She will know she not only endured a tough time, but that she also came out of it stronger.
>
>
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> Houston, We Have a Market: Privatizing Space Launches Pays Off Big
>
>
>
> Greg Autry & Linda Huang - Forbes (Oct. 2)
>
>
>
> (Autry is an adjunct professor with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business, USC, and Huang is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
>
>
>
> The normally spectacular NASA website went black this week and the space agency tweeted, "Sorry, but we won't be tweeting/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible." The future can apparently be put on hold if it is government run.
>
>
>
> In fact, the media noise surrounding the looming shutdown overshadowed an important space milestone that occurred on Sunday, the nearly simultaneous liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and the docking of a Cygnus capsule with the International Space Station. What was most significant is that NASA wasn't the designer, builder, or operator of either of these spacecraft. Both were designed and launched by private firms operating in what is now a competitive space launch market, and we can get all the details at the still functioning websites of SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.
>
>
>
> To NASA's credit, both have also been beneficiaries of the agency's visionary programs. The Commercial Orbital Transport Services program, or COTS, has been the Federal government's best kept secret. Starting in 2006 under the flexibility of the Space Act Agreements, our national space agency subsidized the development and testing of commercial replacements for the aging and expensive Space Shuttle by rewarding firms for attaining certain milestones. The program was a resounding success. More than 20 businesses applied for the program, three were selected, and one of those was quickly eliminated. The total COTS investment of approximately $700 million is about half the estimated (fixed and operating) $1.5 billion cost of a Space Shuttle flight. The payoffs from this public investment include two new American companies capable of launching NASA's Earth orbit payloads, critical redundancy for U.S. military launches, and the first entirely commercial options for non-governmental customers.
>
>
>
> With the COTS milestones complete, the SpaceX Dragon Capsule and the Orbital Cygnus are now operating on a fee-for-service basis under the Commercial Resupply Services program. In fact, SpaceX is on track for its third CRS delivery this December. Building on this little leg up, SpaceX has built a launch manifest of more than 40 missions serving commercial clients and foreign governments, capturing new dollars for the U.S. economy. In fact, Elon Musk's crazy little space company appears to be the fastest creator of high-paying jobs in Southern California and now employs more that 3,000 incredibly enthused space cadets.
>
>
>
> When it comes to the International Space Station resupply business, these firms are competing with governmental operations from Russia and Japan. Congressional defenders of the old-school government-operated space service are curiously disdainful of American entrepreneurship and eagerly point out how these foreign solutions can fill our needs while we compel NASA to build a Space Shuttle replacement. What these critics miss, however, is that every dollar going to one of our domestic firms stays in the U.S., creates serious jobs, and makes the most of America's entrepreneurial advantages. Funding this investment in America's future follows in the steps of successful Federal investment in jumpstarting industries that have included the transcontinental railroad, the Internet, and GPS. Such visionary investments have produced big economic returns that increased government revenues for decades.
>
>
>
> Furthermore, the COTS demonstrations have established the fundamental competencies needed for commercial human orbital transportation systems. These capabilities are being refined in the third round of NASA's Commercial Crew program, known as CCiCap, where SpaceX is competing with Boeing BA +1.83% and the Sierra Nevada Corporation. Success in CCiCap will give the U.S. a fully functional privately operated space program, freeing NASA to focus on its research and development missions. Most important, it will bring market forces to bear on the high-costs of space travel and deliver the sort of completely unpredictable benefits that emerged when we privatized the Internet. However, the President's $800 million request for this effort has been the target of ill-considered cuts by those whose districts benefit from a continued reliance on government-run solutions. Fully funding NASA's commercial programs should be a priority for Congress when it gets back to business.
>
>
>
> Mark Burnett's Space-Themed Reality Show Lands At NBC
>
>
>
> Michael Schneider - TV Guide (Oct. 3)
>
>
>
> Mark Burnett is blasting into the heavens with NBC. The reality maestro's new space reality show, as first reported by TV Guide Magazine, has found a home at the Peacock network.
>
>
>
> Burnett and Sir Richard Branson are behind Space Race, in which ordinary people will compete for a ride on one of Branson's first Virgin Galactic suborbital space flights. The winner will take off on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo from Spaceport America in New Mexico, perhaps as soon as next year.
>
>
>
> "The scope of this endeavor is so staggering, that it took these two titans to even imagine it," says Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment. "This will be a remarkable experience for anyone who has looked at the night's sky and dared to dream of space flight."
>
>
>
> Burnett's project isn't the only space-themed show in the marketplace. Sony Pictures TV is pitching Milky Way Mission, which would send celebrities into space via the Netherlands' Space Expedition Corporation. (A Dutch broadcaster has signed on, but so far there's no network signed on for the show in the U.S.)
>
>
>
> The deal for Space Race extends Burnett's recent fruitful relationship with NBC, where The Voice remains a megahit. Burnett is also producing The Bible sequel A.D. for the network.
>
>
>
> It's also a chance for Burnett to finally make good on his starry-eyed dreams to produce a reality show about space. He first sold the show Destination Mir to NBC back in 2000; at the time, the Peacock network agreed to pay Burnett between $35 million and $40 million for the ambitious series (which included the nearly $20 million that Burnett agreed to pay MirCorp, the company that held the lease to Mir).
>
>
>
> But Destination Mir fell apart when the aging space station was brought down in 2001. Burnett later tried again with the renamed Destination: Space, partnering with the Russian Space Agency and a Russian TV network on a show that would have put someone aboard a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station. But the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster turned U.S. networks off the idea.
>
>
>
> "For the past 10 years I have relentlessly pursued my dream of using a TV show to give an everyday person the chance to experience the black sky of space and look down upon mother Earth," Burnett says. "Last year I spent time in New Mexico at the state-of-the-art facility and last week spent time in the Mojave Desert with Sir Richard and his impressive team. We got to see the spaceship up close and hear of Sir Richard's incredible vision of how Virgin Galactic is the future of private space travel. I am thrilled to be part of a series that will give the everyday person a chance to see space and that NBC has come on board so that viewers at home will have a first-class seat."
>
>
>
> Branson has already said he plans to be on the first flight, with his family, on Dec. 25 this year. The Virgin Galactic space rides are expected to last around two hours and take passengers up 62 miles above Earth. They'll experience weightlessness and witness Earth's curve. Virgin Galactic has said that the company's first flights will only come after the passengers' safety is secured.
>
>
>
> "Virgin Galactic's mission is to democratize space, eventually making commercial space travel affordable and accessible to all," Branson says. "Space Race allows us to extend this opportunity of a lifetime to as many people as possible right at the start of our commercial service — through direct experience and television viewing."
>
>
>
> Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher and Angelina Jolie are among the more than 600 people who have already signed up for a Virgin Galactic flight, which costs $250,000 per seat. That price tag puts a commercial space flight out of reach for most people, which is part of the idea behind Burnett's show.
>
>
>
> Burnett's One Three Media is behind the show, which the producer is now in the process of selling internationally.
>
>
>
> Independence
>
> Space Center Houston picks new name for shuttle replica
>
>
>
> Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News (Oct. 6)
>
>
>
> The shuttle replica at Space Center Houston has a new name.
>
>
>
> "Independence" was chosen from more than 10,000 entries in the NASA visitor center's Name the Shuttle Contest, which challenged Texans to come up with a name that best symbolizes the spirit of the state and its contributions to the U.S. space program.
>
>
>
> Kingwood native Tim Judd, 29, was one of more than 200 people to submit the name, but Judd was quickest on the draw. He submitted Independence within seconds of the contest opening at 10 a.m. July 4.
>
>
>
> Judd, a graduate student at Lesley University, said independence was the first word that occurred to him when he heard about the contest. Independence is a concept that has driven Americans for generations and continues to fuel space exploration, he said.
>
>
>
> Judd helped unveil the shuttle replica's new name at a ceremony at Space Center Houston on Saturday alongside officials from the visitor center. The center, run by a foundation independent of the neighboring Johnson Space Center, remains open in the midst of a government shutdown.
>
>
>
> Judd's name and hometown will be placed on a placard near Independence after the shuttle replica is hoisted atop the enormous 747 jetliner used to ferry shuttles in the program's heyday.
>
>
>
> The $12 million, six-story exhibit is scheduled to open in 2015 and will allow visitors to climb aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and replica to see a variety of educational attractions and other features highlighting the history of the shuttle program.
>
>
>
> The hometown of Johnson Space Center was snubbed when shuttles were awarded to museums on the east and west coasts.
>
>
>
> The planned exhibit will be bigger and better than shuttle attractions elsewhere and will serve as a major tourism draw for the area, Space Center Houston President Richard Allen said. The replica piggybacked on the massive jetliner should even be visible from Interstate 45, he said.
>
>
>
> Former shuttle commander Chris Ferguson, who spoke at the ceremony Saturday, said the exhibit will be the only place that visitors can see a shuttle in its transport configuration.
>
>
>
> Melanie Johnson, the center's director of education, said features at the exhibit will help inspire a new generation of space explorers.
>
>
>
> "It's going to be iconic for Texas and iconic for the United States," Allen said.
>
>
>
> Houston's space shuttle replica christened 'Independence'
>
>
>
> Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com (Oct. 5)
>
>
>
> Houston's space shuttle mockup is no longer nameless.
>
>
>
> The full-size replica is now space shuttle "Independence," its new name symbolizing the spirit of Texas.
>
>
>
> Officials with Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, revealed the name — the winning entry from its recent "Name the Shuttle" statewide contest — during a public christening ceremony Saturday (Oct. 5).
>
>
>
> "We received a total of 10,263 [contest] entries from all across Texas, and our elite panel of judges sorted through a widespread collection of possibilities," Richard Allen, the president of Space Center Houston, said. "It was a tough decision, but we ultimately chose a name that celebrates the Lone Star State and highlights its distinct contribution to America's space shuttle program."
>
>
>
> The "Name the Shuttle" competition was open to all Texas residents of adult age, from July 4 through Sept. 2 of this year. Entrants were asked to submit names that captured the state's qualities of "optimism and can-do attitude."
>
>
>
> "Independence" was unveiled on Saturday printed on the body of the 123-foot-long (37 meters), high-fidelity shuttle replica, which since June 2012 has been exhibited outside at Space Center Houston. The newly-named space shuttle Independence will eventually sit atop NASA's original 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft jumbo jet, as part of a $12 million, six-story attraction currently under development.
>
>
>
> The mockup, which was called "Explorer" for the 18 years it was on exhibit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, was stripped of its name before being barged to Houston last year.
>
>
>
> Tim Judd of Kingwood, Texas, who was the first to submit "Independence" for the replica's new name, participated in Saturday's unveiling ceremony. Judd, who is 29, will have his own name and hometown incorporated into the exhibit once construction is completed in 2015.
>
>
>
> "When I first heard about the 'Name the Shuttle' contest, 'Independence' was the first thought to pop into my mind," Judd said. "This concept is important, not just to the state of Texas, but to all Americans."
>
>
>
> "We enjoy freedom every day, striving for a greater sense of independence," Judd added. "It was that exact mindset that brought settlers here in the first place and what drives explorers into space today."
>
>
>
> This isn't the first time "Independence" has been raised as an appropriate name for a space shuttle.
>
>
>
> The name the second highest ranked (after "Constitution") among the 15 suggested for the first shuttles in 1978. An ad hoc committee ranked the list of names based on their "relationship to the heritage of the United States, or to the shuttle's mission of exploration."
>
>
>
> Ultimately, the reusable winged orbiters were named after sea vessels that were used in world exploration. The now-retired space shuttle fleet included Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. A prototype, originally called Constitution, was renamed Enterprise after fans of the television show "Star Trek" staged a successful letter-writing campaign.
>
>
>
> For winning the "Name the Shuttle" contest, Judd received a multi-day trip for four to Houston, including a VIP tour of the visitor center and a "behind-the-scenes experience" at the Johnson Space Center.
>
>
>
> The state-of-the-art space shuttle Independence attraction will give guests the unique opportunity to climb aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 airliner that was used to ferry the orbiters across the country. Visitors will also be able to explore the inside of the space shuttle mockup while it is mounted atop the SCA.
>
>
>
> "The shuttle was a fantastic spacecraft," Chris Ferguson, commander of STS-135, the shuttle's final mission, said. "Visitors from around the world will have the unparalleled opportunity to explore this vehicle through the eyes of an astronaut, creating a truly unique shuttle experience."
>
>
>
> "Space Center Houston will be the only place in the world where visitors will be able to see the shuttle 'piggyback' on one of the authentic carrier airplanes," he said. "It is most fitting that this magnificent combination will live its second career as a learning tool, inspiring generations to come."
>
>
>
> How Congress destroyed the space program
>
> Administration's clumsy cancellations of moon and Mars projects helped
>
>
>
> Joshua Jacobs - Washington Times (Opinion)
>
>
>
> (Jacobs is a founding member of the Conservative Future Project)
>
>
>
> Late last month, SpaceX successfully launched its upgraded Falcon-9 into orbit, highlighting that for the first time since Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth, the most exciting developments in aerospace are not taking place at NASA. Innovations in commercial space dwarf the possibility offered by even the most ambitious NASA programs. While Elon Musk rounds the International Space Station (ISS) and plots colonization missions to Mars, NASA is stuck plotting a solitary trip to an asteroid in the almost fictionally distant 2030s. What happened, and who is to blame for this travesty? Certainly not NASA. As an institution, it remains one of the greatest repositories of talent in the United States. The answer is inescapable: Congress.
>
>
>
> The lack of vision at NASA has never been a consequence of its scientists or administrators. Extremely ambitious plans for missions to Mars, space colonization, interstellar probes, and more have been raised up by the adventurous explorers and scientists of NASA, only to be dashed by Congress. This skepticism has been compounded by unpredictable and mercurial project management, which has seen multibillion-dollar ventures begun in one administration only to be canceled in the next. Equally devastating is a system of patronage that sees congressional partisans who couldn't care less about our space program placed in charge of it solely because of the presence of aerospace plants and facilities in their districts.
>
>
>
> Take the Space Launch System (SLS) as a prime example of where our space program has gone off the rails. The SLS is largely a replication of earlier rocket systems such as the Saturn V (the one that took us to the Moon), and this lack of innovation means it will do very little to reduce launch costs or make space exploration more accessible. Designed for cargo delivery and exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), it was initially priced at around $18 billion with a project-completion date of 2017.
>
>
>
> As you may have already guessed, this deadline and the project costs have already spiraled out of control. Speculation has run rampant that it could further be delayed until 2022 with costs having already surged to $22 billion. A 2011 report issued by Booz Allen Hamilton estimated that costs for the project plus just four launches could be as high as $42 billion by 2025, with possible delays into 2030.
>
>
>
> What makes this so staggering is not just how much is being expended for so little, it is imagining all that could be done with those resources in that same period of time.
>
>
>
> Commercial space companies such as Mr. Musk's SpaceX are roaring onto the scene. They have brought launch costs to LEO (the realm of the ISS and an essential zone for planning deeper missions and projects in space) to their lowest in history. The Falcon-9 could arguably achieve more than any rocket of its class and went from drawing board to completion in 4 years for a measly $300 million. That's the power of the free market. New rockets under development include the Falcon Heavy, which is aimed at more ambitious missions, while SpaceX's reusable-rocket program, Grasshopper, could revolutionize the space industry.
>
>
>
> Nor is SpaceX alone. Companies such as Blue Origin compete with SpaceX in their pursuit of cheaper launch options, while other firms, such as Planetary Resources, aim to exploit the prodigious resources of the high frontier, and still others such as Bigelow Aerospace seek to accelerate the development of human space habitats. All of these companies are charging towards the future with innovative plans, plunging costs and enormous ambition. They all have the potential to be truly revolutionary, and have already changed the narrative of space exploration.
>
>
>
> Imagine what could be done if resources being thrown into the furnace for the Space Launch System was repurposed for technology incubation, commercial projects, or heaven forbid, actual missions. For the cost of SLS, you could afford close to 170 launches to the ISS, 55 missions to Mars with cargo or for probes, or more than 220 Falcon Heavy launches. There are opportunity costs to funding bad projects, and funding SLS costs mankind nearly 500 opportunities to actually go to space.
>
>
>
> Something is wrong with our space program, and while Congress rightly deserves the greatest censure, it is assuredly not alone. When President Obama came to office, NASA was working on the Constellation Program, its most ambitious project in decades. The plan would have seen the United States return to the moon and establish a permanent base as a first step toward the manned exploration of the solar system. Fiercely lauded in the scientific and space community, it even earned the rare but ringing endorsement of Neil Armstrong. However, this highly ambitious project was clumsily canceled by the Obama administration in the name of cost-cutting in 2010 — only to be replaced with the government monstrosity known as SLS a year later.
>
>
>
> It is high time for a change, and a good place to start would be canceling an out-of-control Space Launch System. With SLS canceled, we could extend new launch contracts to private companies that actually compete for those contracts and have to contend with pricing pressure that force them to give the taxpayer the best value for his dollar. Most importantly, canceling SLS could refocus our efforts on new projects chosen by scientists not legislators — not to mention freeing up money for, you know, actually going to space.
>
>
>
> It's only a first step, but it has to start somewhere. We could accomplish so much over the next decade and accelerate the development of the high frontier, but we have to act.
>
>
>
> END
>
>
>
>

Subject: Fwd: WELCOME BACK EDITION: Human Spaceflight News - October 17, 2013
References: <7F10211CD602224DB7B4BB3E4E6DB4A608A8E1@NDJSMBX104.ndc.nasa.gov>
From: Bobby Martin <bobbygmartin1938@gmail.com>
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary=Apple-Mail-5
<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><br><br>Sent from my iPad</div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" &lt;<a href="mailto:larry.j.moon@nasa.gov">larry.j.moon@nasa.gov</a>&gt;<br><b>Date:</b> October 17, 2013 7:07:11 AM CDT<br><b>To:</b> "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" &lt;<a href="mailto:larry.j.moon@nasa.gov">larry.j.moon@nasa.gov</a>&gt;<br><b>Subject:</b> <b>FW: WELCOME BACK EDITION: Human Spaceflight News - October 17, 2013</b><br><br></div></blockquote><div><span></span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D">Recap by Kyle …&nbsp;&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D">we are good for another 3 months until the next crisis!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="color:#1F497D">Per Kyle,,,,,,,,</span>I may not have captured everything that was in the news of human spaceflight during the last 2 ½ weeks, but hopefully most of it. Please don't offer that I should've included articles/reviews
about "Gravity." Welcome back…<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;">Human Spaceflight News</span></strong><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;">Thursday – October 17, 2013</span></strong><span style="font-size:20.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;"><img width="561" height="449" id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image003.jpg@01CECB05.D11FCBC0" alt="Saturn by Cassini - Oct 10, 2013"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;">This mosaic of Saturn was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Oct. 10<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><strong><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;">HEADLINES AND LEADS</span></u></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA workers, merchants hail shutdown's end<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Harvey Rice - Houston Chronicle (Oct. 17)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Federal workers in the Houston area and proprietors of businesses they patronize greeted the prospect of an end to the government shutdown Wednesday with a mixture of relief and apprehension. Employees welcomed the opportunity to return
to work, but said they were worried that they might be furloughed again because the budget agreement extends only until Jan. 15. "It's bittersweet," said Bridget Broussard-Guidry, president of the local union representing workers at the Johnson Space Center.
"In the short term it's OK; in the long term there is still the possibility that on Jan. 15 we will be facing the same thing all over again."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Orbital moves Cygnus re-entry up a day, prepares for another cargo run in December<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 16)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital Sciences Corp. is planning to end its first cargo delivery mission to the international space station a little early, with the company's now-trash-filled Cygnus spacecraft set for destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean Oct.
23, a spokesman said. "It used to be Oct. 24, but in looking at the orbital mechanics of release, the team updated their burn schedule and Oct. 24 became Oct. 23," Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said in a phone interview Oct. 16.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA Approves Orbital Sciences For ISS Commercial Resupply Missions<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily (Oct. 1)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital Sciences has satisfied its Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program requirements with a successful rendezvous of the Cygnus resupply capsule with the International Space Station and is cleared to march ahead with plans
to initiate a $1.9 billion, eight-flight Commercial Resupply Services contract in December, Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's COTS program manager, said Sept. 29. The first CRS flight is tentatively scheduled to lift off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in
Virginia on Dec. 8.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Russian Prime Minister Fires Head of Space Agency<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Anatoly Medetsky - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Oct. 10 named Oleg Ostapenko, a former commander of the Russian Space Forces, as the new director-general of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos. Ostapenko, who up until his new assignment
was Russia's deputy defense minister, replaces Vladimir Popovkin, who is leaving after his attempts to turn around a space industry plagued by launch failures had little success.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Roscosmos head ousted after series of setbacks in space<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Stephen Clark - <a href="http://SpaceflightNow.com">SpaceflightNow.com</a> (Oct. 10)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday named Oleg Ostapenko, Russia's deputy defense minister, as the new chief of the country's space agency, replacing Vladimir Popovkin, whose troubled tenure was marred by launch failures
and the loss of an ambitious mission to Mars. The long-rumored change in leadership at the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, came after government officials promised reforms in the country's space industry following a series of embarrassing failures,
most recently the explosive July crash of a Proton rocket and three Glonass navigation satellites at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Ostapenko, 56, was commander of the Russian Space Forces before his appointment as deputy defense minister in 2012.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">U.S., Russia close to completing technical assessment of flying ISS through 2028<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Sept. 30)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Key industry players are getting close to declaring the parts of the international space station (ISS) for which they are responsible fit to fly through 2028, at which time the oldest parts of the orbital outpost will be 30 years old.
"We've already done most of the 2028 analysis and it's come back just fine, certainly for all the pressurized modules and the truss and things like that," John Shannon, Boeing's ISS program manager, said in a Sept. 18 phone interview. A final report from Boeing
on flight worthiness through 2028 should be in NASA's hands around January, Shannon said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Olympic torch undergoes redesign prior to its outer space trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Itar-Tass (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station, Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy, will take an Olympic torch into outer space on November 9. Sergei Krikalyov, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, told journalists
on Tuesday that the torch had been modernized for the purpose and had been provided with additional safety devices to prevent it from slipping out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">A commercial observatory bound for the space station lands first customer<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Peter de Selding - Space News (Oct. 4)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The German Aerospace Center (DLR) on Oct. 4 said it had signed an agreement with Teledyne Brown Engineering of the United States to place the first commercial Earth observation payload on the international space station (ISS) in late
2015. The decision by Germany's space agency to be the inaugural customer for Teledyne's Multi-User System for Earth Sensing, or MUSES, platform is a long-awaited validation of space station backers' view that the orbital outpost, despite a less-than-ideal
orbit and concerns about camera stability on the busy complex, will find an Earth observation market.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Government Shutdown Ripples Out to Work on Orion Capsule<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Engineers preparing NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for a 2014 test flight were locked out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when the federal government shut down Oct. 1, but prime contractor Lockheed Martin is trying to
get them back on the job, the company's top civil space executive said Oct. 8. "We're holding [off on that work], of course, because of the challenges with the government shutdown," Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager for civil space at Lockheed
Martin Space Systems in Denver, said during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium in Huntsville, Ala. So far, Crocker said, it does not appear that the work stoppage will delay the mission, scheduled
for September 2014 and known officially as Exploration Flight Test-1. However, Crocker cautioned, "This [shutdown] can't go on forever and not have a significant impact."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Shutdown's Effect on Three Commercial Crew Companies Varies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The three firms competing to become NASA's post-shuttle provider of astronaut transportation services under the agency's Commercial Crew Program reported different impacts from an ongoing partial government shutdown that has furloughed
NASA civil servants authorized to pay these companies for completing development milestones. Boeing Space Exploration of Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville, Colo.; and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., are
all working on crewed systems to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the international space station as soon as 2017. Last year, NASA split $1.2 billion among the three, which began development work under Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreements
that provide tranches of government funding whenever the companies complete negotiated development milestones.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Former NASA Managers Call for More Spending Despite Crunch<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the middle of a budget crisis that has kept the federal government partially closed since Oct. 1, former NASA officials argued that the time has come to push for increased spending on space exploration. "Our community has to fight
for a reinvigorated space program, even when budgets are tight," said Doug Cooke, who was NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems when he retired from the agency in 2011. Now an independent consultant based in Gettysburg, Pa., who has lobbied
on behalf of Boeing Space Exploration of Houston, Cooke spoke Oct. 8 during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Keynote speaker at von Braun Symposium says NASA needs to 'try new strategies'<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Paul Gattis - Huntsville Times (Oct. 8)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA needs a new strategy to ensure its long-term prosperity, the keynote speaker said today at the von Braun Symposium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Wayne Hale, a former NASA space shuttle program manager
and currently the director of human spaceflight at Special Aerospace Services, filled in for NASA Administrator Charles Bolden by challenging the space agency to reinvent itself to further the efforts of space exploration. Bolden and other NASA officials who
were scheduled to attend the three-day event were absent because of the government shutdown. Hale outlined a mixed bag of NASA successes in wake of the Apollo moon missions, noting that the agency has languished for almost 40 years as different visions for
NASA have died amid a lack of funding.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Tight Budgets Slow Exploration Development<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week (Oct. 7)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The upper-stage J-2X engine, once considered the pacing item for the next U.S. human-rated rocket, will be mothballed after development testing wraps up next year because it will not push humans toward Mars for years. Conceived as a
way to use Apollo-era technology to hasten development of a replacement for the space shuttle, the J-2X is emblematic of a long series of funding-related setbacks that have slowed exploration work to a snail's pace. Just last week, the U.S. government shutdown
forced NASA to terminate a three-day workshop on its planned asteroid-redirect mission, which also was devised as a way to stretch exploration dollars.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Commercial firms push alternative approaches for NASA asteroid initiative<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Irene Klotz - Space News (Oct. 4)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">To develop a deep-space exploration program to follow the international space station, NASA cast a wide net, hoping to infuse its plans to detect, engineer and ultimately visit an asteroid with fresh mission concepts, alternative technological
approaches and, perhaps most important, partners to share costs, build support and enrich educational outreach. But that could spell trouble for the agency's bellwether initiative, the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew
Vehicle spacecraft, development of which is costing NASA about $3 billion per year. In a pair of space exploration workshops in Houston Sept. 30-Oct. 4, several potential partners presented alternative, lower-cost missions that would fly on upgraded United
Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s planned Falcon Heavy boosters.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA May Slam Captured Asteroid Into Moon (Eventually)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mike Wall - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Sept. 30)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Decades from now, people on Earth may be gearing up for an unprecedented celestial spectacle — the intentional smashing of an asteroid into the moon. NASA is currently planning out an ambitious mission to snag a near-Earth asteroid and
park it in a stable orbit around the moon, where it could be visited repeatedly by astronauts for scientific and exploration purposes. But the asteroid-capture mission may not end when astronauts leave the space rock for the last time. Seeing it through could
require disposing of the asteroid in a safe — and possibly very dramatic — manner, experts say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">You won't believe what this 6th-grader is sending into space<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Colleen O'Connor - Denver Post (Oct. 7)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Eleven-year-old Michal Bodzianowski is too young to drink the stuff, but the Colorado sixth-grader will be the first person to experiment with making beer in space. "My dad posted this joke on Facebook, that this is the world's first
microbrewery in space," Michal said. "Then he had to explain it to me." Michal, who said he reads Popular Science magazine to "find out what's trending now in the science world," is more likely to know about spacecraft landing systems than Colorado's latest
craft beers. But when his class at STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colo., entered a national science competition — with the hope of getting their microgravity experiment flown to the International Space Station — beer came to mind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Farewell, Georges<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Europe's final Automated Transfer Vehicle begins journey to launch site<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ben Evans - <a href="http://AmericaSpace.com">AmericaSpace.com</a> (Oct. 8)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">With eight months still remaining before a mighty Ariane 5 booster launches it toward the International Space Station, Europe's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5)—named in honor of the late Belgian astronomer Georges
Lemaître—departed prime contractor Astrium's facility in Bremen, Germany, on 7 October, bound for the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. At the same time, around 80 sea containers full of test equipment are joining it on its journey." Upon arrival
at the South American launch site, currently scheduled for 22 October, ATV-5 will begin extensive testing, ahead of integration with the Ariane 5 vehicle. Liftoff is presently scheduled for 5 June 2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Astronauts Emerge from Cave After Underground Spaceflight Training<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Elizabeth Howell - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Oct. 5)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Six astronauts have emerged from an Italian cave after nearly a week underground to get a taste of the isolation and danger that will confront them on a space mission. The expedition was part of the European Space Agency's two-week CAVES
exploration course, which trains spaceflyers to work together in multicultural teams under difficult conditions. CAVES — short for Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills — is designed to be as similar to spaceflight
as possible.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Profile<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Gregory Johnson, Executive Dir, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Three experiments designed by elementary, middle and high school students reached the international space station Sept. 29 aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft. For the Center of Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS),
the Florida nonprofit that funded the payloads and brokered their trip to the orbital outpost, delivery of the student experiments marked an important milestone: CASIS had finally sent something to space. Formed in 2011 in response to a congressional call
for an outside organization to manage non-NASA research aboard the U.S. side of the international space station, CASIS spent its first two years working through growing pains that included the resignation of its first executive director after just six months
on the job, delays appointing a board of directors and a protracted search for a new executive director. That search ended this summer with the hiring of two-time space shuttle pilot Gregory Johnson, who left NASA in August and started as CASIS executive director
Sept. 1.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Orbital Sues Virginia, Says State Owes It $16.5 Million<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 4)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia over $16.5 million the company says it shelled out a few years ago to help cover cost overruns incurred during construction of the state-owned launchpad Orbital leased to launch cargo
delivery missions to the international space station (ISS) for NASA. In a lawsuit filed Sept. 24 with the Richmond Circuit Court, Orbital is demanding the $16.5 million, plus interest. Orbital is seeking a jury trial and has named as defendants Virginia; the
Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority that runs the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Va.; and Virginia's state comptroller, David A. Von Moll.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">China Looms as Main Launch Competition, SpaceX Says<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mike Wall - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">As the private spaceflight firm SpaceX works to bring more commercial rocket launches back to the United States, it anticipates some stiff competition from the burgeoning Chinese space program. The U.S. dominated the commercial launch
market in the first half of the 1980s but lost most of that ground to Europe and Russia over the last two decades. China remains a minor player in this arena now, but that won't be the case for long, said SpaceX vice president for government affairs Adam Harris.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Tests loom in China's next decade of human spaceflight<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Stephen Clark - <a href="http://SpaceflightNow.com">SpaceflightNow.com</a> (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China has made progress toward developing a modular Skylab-class space station since Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space a decade ago, but engineers are still working on new Long March heavy-lift rockets, regenerative
life support systems and other advanced technologies required for the huge construction job. Lacking the political imperative of the Space Race, China has conducted five human spaceflights since Yang's 21-hour solo flight in October 2003. The United States
and Soviet Union combined to fly more than 40 manned missions in the decade following Yuri Gagarin's historic space voyage in 1961.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Onward and upward as China marks 10 years of manned spaceflight<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Felicia Sonmez - Agence France Presse (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China marks 10 years since it first sent a human into space Tuesday, with its ambitious programme rocketing ahead while rival NASA is largely closed due to the US government shutdown. Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times during his
21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5 in 2003, blazing a trail into the cosmos for China. More than 40 years after Yuri Gagarin's groundbreaking journey, the mission made China only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to carry out an
independent manned spaceflight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Who knew? German insomniacs watch NASA space feed all night<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carol Williams - Los Angeles Times (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">A quirky habit of German insomniacs and "chill-out" music fans has come to world attention thanks to the U.S. government shutdown. "Space Night," a nearly 20-year-old late-night broadcast by Bavarian Television, provides a music-sharing
platform against a backdrop of NASA's video feed from the International Space Station. But the 15-day-old U.S. government shutdown has idled the NASA archivists responsible for relaying the imagery beyond Mission Control, cutting off fresh backdrops to mix
with the music for "Space Night" broadcasts that were to have launched a new season Nov. 1.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">What Happens If An Astronaut Floats Off In Space?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>In short: he's in trouble.<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Erik Sofge - Popular Science Magazine (October issue)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the film Gravity, which opens this month, two astronauts are on a spacewalk when an accident hurtles them into the void. So what would actually happen if you went, in NASA's terminology, "overboard"? NASA requires spacewalking astronauts
to use tethers (and sometimes additional anchors). But should those fail, you'd float off according to whatever forces were acting on you when you broke loose. You'd definitely be weightless. You'd possibly be spinning. In space, no kicking and flailing can
change your fate. And your fate could be horrible. At the right angle and velocity, you might even fall back into Earth's atmosphere and burn up.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut, dies at 88<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">William Harwood - CBS News<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Malcolm Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts who was forced to take manual control of his Aurora 7 capsule after running low on fuel in one of the scarier moments of the early space program, died early Thursday.
He was 88. No cause of death was given, but sources said he had suffered a stroke recently and family members confirmed his passing in emails to NASA and media outlets. With Carpenter's death, only John Glenn, the first American in orbit, remains of NASA's
original seven astronauts. A Navy test pilot and Korean War veteran, Carpenter was chosen for Project Mercury on April 9, 1959, joining six other test pilots -- Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton --
as America's first class of astronauts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Scott Carpenter, One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead at 88<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Richard Goldstein - New York Times (Oct. 10)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical problems and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site,
died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America's original space program, Project Mercury. His wife, Patty Carpenter, announced the death. No cause was given. Mr. Carpenter had entered hospice care recently after
having a stroke. His death leaves John H. Glenn Jr., who flew the first orbital mission on Feb. 20, 1962, and later became a United States senator from Ohio, as the last survivor of the Mercury 7.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Scott Carpenter, one of original Mercury 7 astronauts, dies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">James Dean - Florida Today (Oct. 10)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Godspeed, Scott Carpenter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The second American to orbit the Earth, Carpenter died Thursday after a stroke. He was 88. Along with John Glenn, Carpenter was one of the last two surviving original Mercury 7 astronauts for the fledgling U.S. space program. His wife,
Patty Barrett, said Carpenter died of complications from a September stroke in a Denver hospice. He lived in Vail, Colo. "We're going to miss him," she said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">How Late Author Tom Clancy Supported Private Spaceflight<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Leonard David - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Oct. 16)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Tom Clancy, the best-selling writer and master storyteller of military thrillers who died Oct. 1 at age 66 in a Baltimore hospital, was also an early supporter of entrepreneurial space. Clancy authored such runaway best-sellers as "The
Hunt for Red October," "Red Storm Rising," "Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger," and "The Cardinal of the Kremlin," which featured anti-satellite lasers and other "Star Wars"-type weaponry. One facet of Clancy's interest in technology is that he was
a backer of private rocket development. "Clancy deserves the recognition," said Gary Hudson, CEO of Nevada-based HMX, Inc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://www.khou.com/news/local/NASA-scientist-finds-new-purpose-during-furlough-226398141.html"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA scientist finds new purpose amid furlough</span></b></a><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Andrew Horansky - KHOU TV Houston (Oct. 3)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">When Tara Ruttley, 38, found out she was furloughed, she decided to make the best of it. "It's okay to be disappointed," Ruttley said. "It's okay to be down, but you can't let it last for too long." The NASA scientist and mom saw an
opportunity to dive into the world of online grocery shopping. It was something she dreamed about for years. "I decided to come home, open my laptop, and throw myself into my own small business at home," Ruttley said. She runs the Grocery Station out of Clear
Lake City. Customers submit an online list of grocery items and shoppers pick them up for a fee.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Houston, We Have a Market: Privatizing Space Launches Pays Off Big<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Greg Autry &amp; Linda Huang - Forbes (Oct. 2)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><i>(Autry is an adjunct professor with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business, USC, and Huang is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, University
of Pennsylvania)<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The normally spectacular NASA website went black this week and the space agency tweeted, "Sorry, but we won't be tweeting/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible." The future can apparently be
put on hold if it is government run. In fact, the media noise surrounding the looming shutdown overshadowed an important space milestone that occurred on Sunday, the nearly simultaneous liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and the docking of a Cygnus capsule with
the International Space Station. What was most significant is that NASA wasn't the designer, builder, or operator of either of these spacecraft. Both were designed and launched by private firms operating in what is now a competitive space launch market, and
we can get all the details at the still functioning websites of SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Mark Burnett's Space-Themed Reality Show Lands At NBC<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Michael Schneider - TV Guide (Oct. 3)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mark Burnett is blasting into the heavens with NBC. The reality maestro's new space reality show, as first reported by TV Guide Magazine, has found a home at the Peacock network. Burnett and Sir Richard Branson are behind Space Race,
in which ordinary people will compete for a ride on one of Branson's first Virgin Galactic suborbital space flights. The winner will take off on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo from Spaceport America in New Mexico, perhaps as soon as next year. "The scope of
this endeavor is so staggering, that it took these two titans to even imagine it," says Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment. "This will be a remarkable experience for anyone who has looked at the night's sky
and dared to dream of space flight."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Independence<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Space Center Houston picks new name for shuttle replica<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News (Oct. 6)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The shuttle replica at Space Center Houston has a new name. "Independence" was chosen from more than 10,000 entries in the NASA visitor center's Name the Shuttle Contest, which challenged Texans to come up with a name that best symbolizes
the spirit of the state and its contributions to the U.S. space program. Kingwood native Tim Judd, 29, was one of more than 200 people to submit the name, but Judd was quickest on the draw. He submitted Independence within seconds of the contest opening at
10 a.m. July 4.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Houston's space shuttle replica christened 'Independence'<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Robert Pearlman - <a href="http://collectSPACE.com">collectSPACE.com</a> (Oct. 5)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Houston's space shuttle mockup is no longer nameless. The full-size replica is now space shuttle "Independence," its new name symbolizing the spirit of Texas. Officials with Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson
Space Center, revealed the name — the winning entry from its recent "Name the Shuttle" statewide contest — during a public christening ceremony Saturday (Oct. 5). "We received a total of 10,263 [contest] entries from all across Texas, and our elite panel of
judges sorted through a widespread collection of possibilities," Richard Allen, the president of Space Center Houston, said. "It was a tough decision, but we ultimately chose a name that celebrates the Lone Star State and highlights its distinct contribution
to America's space shuttle program."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">How Congress destroyed the space program<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Administration's clumsy cancellations of moon and Mars projects helped<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Joshua Jacobs - Washington Times (Opinion)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><i>(Jacobs is a founding member of the Conservative Future Project)<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Late last month, SpaceX successfully launched its upgraded Falcon-9 into orbit, highlighting that for the first time since Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth, the most exciting developments in aerospace are not taking place at NASA. Innovations
in commercial space dwarf the possibility offered by even the most ambitious NASA programs. While Elon Musk rounds the International Space Station (ISS) and plots colonization missions to Mars, NASA is stuck plotting a solitary trip to an asteroid in the almost
fictionally distant 2030s. What happened, and who is to blame for this travesty? Certainly not NASA. As an institution, it remains one of the greatest repositories of talent in the United States. The answer is inescapable: Congress.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">__________<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="section1"><span style="color:windowtext"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
<p class="section1"><strong><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:&quot;Arial&quot;,&quot;sans-serif&quot;;color:windowtext">COMPLETE STORIES</span></u></strong><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:windowtext"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA workers, merchants hail shutdown's end<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Harvey Rice - Houston Chronicle (Oct. 17)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Federal workers in the Houston area and proprietors of businesses they patronize greeted the prospect of an end to the government shutdown Wednesday with a mixture of relief and apprehension.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Employees welcomed the opportunity to return to work, but said they were worried that they might be furloughed again because the budget agreement extends only until Jan. 15.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It's bittersweet," said Bridget Broussard-Guidry, president of the local union representing workers at the Johnson Space Center. "In the short term it's OK; in the long term there is still the possibility that on Jan. 15 we will be
facing the same thing all over again."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The agreement includes back pay for furloughed federal workers, but contains no assurances of payment to workers furloughed by federal contractors.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I'm a contractor," said Liz Lawler, 58, of Clear Lake. "I have no idea if I will get paid for this time off."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Lawler was furloughed from her job as a personnel troubleshooter for REDE/Critique NSS, a contractor for the space agency, after Congress was unable to reach an agreement to fund the government two weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The space center furloughed 3,200 workers and NASA contractors furloughed an undetermined number of their 12,000 employees in the Houston area. NASA furloughed 97 percent of its 18,250 employees nationwide Oct. 1, a fraction of the 800,000
federal workers sent home.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>Questions about future<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Guards at the Houston Federal Detention Center continued to work, but without pay, as did other federal employees who were deemed essential.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Clifton Buchanan, vice president of the local prison guard union, said he was grateful at the prospect that paychecks would resume but worried about the future.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Even if the government is not shut down again in January, Buchanan fears that detention center employees will be furloughed because Jan. 15 is also the date for additional cuts due to sequestration, automatic reductions in federal spending
that were intended to force Congress into a budget deal.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The first of $1.1 trillion in sequestration cuts over eight years took effect March 1.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Buchanan said he was disappointed that the budget will be up for review again in three months.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It's a temporary fix and we will be facing the same thing again," he said. "We were looking for a long-term fix where we can pay our bills and think about our future. There is still a lot of uncertainty among federal workers."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Merchants near the Johnson Space Center said the return of federal employees would make a dramatic difference.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>Restaurateurs ready<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Of course I'm happy," Nidal Ayoub, owner of the Mediterranean Chef restaurant on NASA 1 Boulevard, said about the likelihood of space agency workers returning to their jobs. They made up about 80 percent of his lunch business, he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Daniel Quezada said his restaurant, NOKturne, about a mile from the space center, would eventually go out of business without regular business from NASA customers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Quezada said his business fell 32 percent overall after the shutdown, forcing him to lay off waiters and delivery drivers. The possibility of the government reopening gave him hope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"That will be awesome," Quezada said. "We can tell our employees to come back to work."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Orbital moves Cygnus re-entry up a day, prepares for another cargo run in December<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 16)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital Sciences Corp. is planning to end its first cargo delivery mission to the international space station a little early, with the company's now-trash-filled Cygnus spacecraft set for destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean Oct.
23, a spokesman said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It used to be Oct. 24, but in looking at the orbital mechanics of release, the team updated their burn schedule and Oct. 24 became Oct. 23," Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said in a phone interview Oct. 16.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Space station crew members will close Cygnus' hatch Oct. 21. Then, around 5 a.m. Eastern time the next day, the craft will separate from the station's Harmony node and maneuver away from the outpost to perform its deorbit burn.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Cygnus launched Sept. 18 from the state-run Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The expendable cargo ship arrived at the station Sept. 29, a few days later than expected after a communications
glitch and the arrival of new crew members aboard a Russian-launched Soyuz spacecraft forced Cygnus into a holding pattern.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The same day the first Cygnus plunges through the atmosphere in flames, the service module for the next Cygnus could be on its way from Orbital's Dulles, Va., headquarters to the company's horizontal integration facility at Wallops,
Beneski said. There, it will be mated with its Italian-built pressurized cargo module in preparation for a mission that could launch aboard Orbital's Antares rocket as soon as December.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The capsule can be loaded with cargo only once NASA is sure that the initial Cygnus mission was successful, and gives Orbital formal approval to make the December cargo run — the first of eight the company owes NASA under a $1.9 billion
Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008. Orbital has already received some advance payments on this contract but cannot claim additional fees until after it completes each of the missions it is slated to carry out through 2016.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Meanwhile, whatever effect the government shutdown will have on other aspects of Orbital's business — Beneski said financial analysts are sure to ask about that on a quarterly conference call scheduled for Oct. 17 — the company's space
station logistics work appears to have been disturbed only minimally, if at all.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Neither Orbital nor the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority got locked out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport as a result of the shutdown, meaning that preparations for the tentative December launch continued while more than
95 percent of NASA's roughly 18,000 civil servants were on furlough.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The first-stage core for this December Antares is at Wallops, the upper-stage rocket motor is there, the fairing is there, the two AJ-26 engines for the core are there," Beneski said. "We have all necessary major components of the Antares
rocket onsite. The expectation is on our part that if we're ready to go in December and NASA is ready to receive us, we will go in December."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA Approves Orbital Sciences For ISS Commercial Resupply Missions<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily (Oct. 1)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital Sciences has satisfied its Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program requirements with a successful rendezvous of the Cygnus resupply capsule with the International Space Station and is cleared to march ahead with plans
to initiate a $1.9 billion, eight-flight Commercial Resupply Services contract in December, Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's COTS program manager, said Sept. 29.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The first CRS flight is tentatively scheduled to lift off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia on Dec. 8.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">For its part, Orbital plans to step up its mass per mission to 1.5-2 tons on the next three CRS missions, then 2.5 tons on the final deliveries. The Dulles, Va.-based company also plans to reduce the two to three-day baseline rendezvous
trajectory to one day over the early CRS flights, said Frank Culbertson, Orbital's executive vice president.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The two men spoke after the unpiloted Cygnus shook off a GPS navigation software mismatch issue with the space station that prevented a planned Sept. 22 rendezvous. The commercial freighter approached ahead of schedule on Sept. 29 for
a robot arm capture by ISS astronauts Luca Parmitano, of the European Space Agency, and Karen Nyberg, of NASA, at 7 a.m. EDT. They completed the operation by commanding the Canadian robot arm to place Cygnus and its 1,543-lb. non-critical cargo of crew provisions
and science equipment at the U.S. segment Harmony berthing port at 8:44 a.m. EDT, again ahead of schedule.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"They are good to go," Lindenmoyer said. "The station has a spot ready for them in December. We're getting the cargo ready to ship out. They've demonstrated a system that certainly can deliver. There will be no delays in proceeding toward
the next mission."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The supply ship, which was named for former NASA astronaut and Orbital executive G. David Low, was opened by the ISS crew early Sept. 30 (about 6 a.m. EDT). Cygnus will remain berthed until Oct. 22, and then depart with trash for a destructive
re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Cygnus was launched atop an Orbital two-stage Antares rocket on Sept. 18 on the final demonstration mission flown under the company's $288 million February 2008 COTS program agreement, a qualifier to begin the CRS contract activities
agreed to 10 months later, in December 2008.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital now joins SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif., in NASA's CRS stable to take on an ISS resupply role filled by NASA's shuttle fleet until the winged orbiters were retired in 2011.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The original rendezvous schedule was postponed by 24 hr. and then until Sept. 29 to await the Sept. 25 launch and docking of Russia's Soyuz TMA-10M with three new ISS crewmembers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">During the delay, Orbital fashioned a one-line software change that was uplinked and verified, allowing Cygnus to march through the final milestones during the last 10 hr. of the rendezvous. They included a successful command exchange
from the ISS crew in which Cygnus was instructed to advance from a 250-meter hold point below the station to a separation of 230 meters, where it held for several minutes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Russian Prime Minister Fires Head of Space Agency<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Anatoly Medetsky - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Oct. 10 named Oleg Ostapenko, a former commander of the Russian Space Forces, as the new director-general of the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ostapenko, who up until his new assignment was Russia's deputy defense minister, replaces Vladimir Popovkin, who is leaving after his attempts to turn around a space industry plagued by launch failures had little success.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Medvedev made clear he has high expectations for Ostapenko.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I hope that a whole number of problems, which unfortunately have lately been observed in Roscosmos activities, will be overcome with your arrival," Medvedev said in a meeting with Ostapenko, a transcript of which was posted on the Russian
Cabinet's website. "I hope that all launches, including future ones, will be carried out in accordance with plans."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ostapenko became commander of the Russian Space Forces in June 2008 and served in that capacity until being promoted to deputy defense minister in November 2012.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">His latest assignment follows a series of embarrassments for the Russian space program, the latest being the crash of a Proton rocket carrying three Glonass navigation satellites just seconds after liftoff in July. That failure has since
been attributed to improperly installed motion sensors on the vehicle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Roscosmos head ousted after series of setbacks in space<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Stephen Clark - <a href="http://SpaceflightNow.com"><a href="http://SpaceflightNow.com">SpaceflightNow.com</a></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday named Oleg Ostapenko, Russia's deputy defense minister, as the new chief of the country's space agency, replacing Vladimir Popovkin, whose troubled tenure was marred by launch failures
and the loss of an ambitious mission to Mars. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The long-rumored change in leadership at the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, came after government officials promised reforms in the country's space industry following a series of embarrassing failures, most recently the
explosive July crash of a Proton rocket and three Glonass navigation satellites at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ostapenko, 56, was commander of the Russian Space Forces before his appointment as deputy defense minister in 2012.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I wish you every success," Medvedev told Ostapenko, according to a transcript posted to a Russian government website. "I hope that a number of problems, which unfortunately have been recently observed in the activities of the Russian
Federal Space Agency, will be overcome with your arrival." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Popovkin took over Roscosmos in April 2011 at another time of crisis. His arrival at Roscosmos came less than five months after a Proton launch failure attributed to the overfilling of the rocket's upper stage with propellant.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Phobos-Grunt, Russia's first Mars mission in 15 years, launched in November 2011 but was stranded in low Earth orbit, most likely due to a computer programming error, investigators said.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian launchers also ran into an unusual streak of failures under Popovkin's watch, with mishaps striking two Soyuz rockets in 2011, resulting in the loss of a military communications satellite and a Progress resupply craft heading
for the International Space Station. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Malfunctions of the Proton rocket's Breeze M upper stage on three missions left communications satellites in wrong orbits, and a dramatic Proton failure in July destroyed three navigation satellites in a fiery accident recorded on video
and posted on YouTube. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I hope that everything, including future launches, will be carried out in accordance with plans," Medvedev told the new head of Roscosmos.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"For my part, I will make every effort to ensure that these issues have been resolved," Ostapenko said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">U.S., Russia close to completing technical assessment of flying ISS through 2028<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Sept. 30)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Key industry players are getting close to declaring the parts of the international space station (ISS) for which they are responsible fit to fly through 2028, at which time the oldest parts of the orbital outpost will be 30 years old.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We've already done most of the 2028 analysis and it's come back just fine, certainly for all the pressurized modules and the truss and things like that," John Shannon, Boeing's ISS program manager, said in a Sept. 18 phone interview.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">A final report from Boeing on flight worthiness through 2028 should be in NASA's hands around January, Shannon said.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Boeing has already certified that the modules on the U.S. segment of ISS are good to go through 2020, and "in the process of doing the 2020 analysis, we've already cleared most of the modules for 2028," Shannon said.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I see no show-stoppers at all," Shannon added, though he did acknowledge that certain parts of the space station are beginning to show their age. The outpost's solar panels, for example, have taken a walloping from passing micrometeoroids,
but "we still have sufficient electrical capability to utilize the station [through 2028] with the arrays we have now," he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">That is a good thing, because no spacecraft currently flying has enough space aboard to transport a replacement set to orbit, a member of the NASA-chartered ISS Advisory Council said during a Sept. 3 teleconference.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The arrays "are too big to carry in anything except the shuttle cargo bay," Charles Daniel, a Huntsville, Ala.-based consultant for the firm Valador Inc., said on the call.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Also on the call, retired Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford, now head of the ISS Advisory Committee, said the station's Russian segment is also close to receiving an all-clear from contractor RSC Energia of Moscow to continue operations
through 2028. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"By December of 2013 they expect to have certification completed for all Russians systems and hardware through 2028," Stafford said on the Sept. 3 call, citing briefings to the committee from Energia and the Russian space agency's Advisory
Expert Council during a July visit to Moscow. "The Russians did not expect or foresee any issues at this time."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Energia built the station's core Zarya module, which launched in November 1998 aboard a Proton rocket. The U.S.-supplied Unity module followed a month later aboard the space shuttle, setting in motion the on-orbit assembly phase that
culminated in 2011 with the final space shuttle mission. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The heads of the U.S., Russian, European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies agreed in 2010 to continue operating ISS through 2020 and to review their on-orbit hardware with the goal of certifying it for use through 2028.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA officials have said extending space station operations through 2028 has budget implications that would need to be reflected in the agency's 2015 request, which is expected to be sent to Congress in February.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Olympic torch undergoes redesign prior to its outer space trip<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Itar-Tass (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station, Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy, will take an Olympic torch into outer space on November 9.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Sergei Krikalyov, the head of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, told journalists on Tuesday that the torch had been modernized for the purpose and had been provided with additional safety devices to prevent it from slipping out.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The Olympic torch designed for outer space is almost the same as the one designed for the Earth. The only difference is that the former lacks gas. The torch's design has been improved for the forthcoming spacewalk: an additional fixation
element was added to the design to make it possible to fix a flag so that it does not fly away by accident," Krikalyov said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He explained that the idea to light a torch in outer space or at the International Space Station (ISS) was, in fact, unrealizable. "The idea to deliver the torch to the ISS as part of the Olympic flame relay race belongs to the Olympic
Committee. But although the torch will certainly reach the International Space Station, no flame will be lit inside or outside the ISS. First, fire does not burn in outer space. Second, the ISS fire safety regulations strictly forbid the use of open fire inside
the station," Krikalyov went on to say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He did not elaborate on how exactly the Olympic symbol would be taken to open space. The only thing he said was that while in the hands of the cosmonauts, the Olympic torch would rotate around the globe several times. According to Krikalyov,
the crew commanded by Fyodor Yurchikhin will return the Olympic torch back to Earth on November 11, 2013.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">A commercial observatory bound for the space station lands first customer<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Peter de Selding - Space News (Oct. 4)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The German Aerospace Center (DLR) on Oct. 4 said it had signed an agreement with Teledyne Brown Engineering of the United States to place the first commercial Earth observation payload on the international space station (ISS) in late
2015.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The decision by Germany's space agency to be the inaugural customer for Teledyne's Multi-User System for Earth Sensing, or MUSES, platform is a long-awaited validation of space station backers' view that the orbital outpost, despite
a less-than-ideal orbit and concerns about camera stability on the busy complex, will find an Earth observation market.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">DLR said its memorandum of agreement with Huntsville, Ala.-based Teledyne calls for DLR to develop a visual and near-Infrared imaging spectrometer for the MUSES platform, which can carry up to four separate observing instruments. The
instrument will be used for land, ocean and atmospheric observation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Teledyne is developing MUSES as part of an agreement with NASA. DLR said the company is scheduled to deliver the platform to NASA in late 2014, and that the spectrometer should be in operation by late 2015.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It is effective to use existing platforms, such as the ISS, as carriers of Earth observation instruments," DLR Chairman Johann-Dietrich Woerner said in a statement. "We are delighted at the formation of this partnership between science
and industry, which through its very existence will be a catalyst in the ongoing development of new Earth observation systems."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA awarded Teledyne a Cooperative Agreement in June 2012 for MUSES as part of NASA's broader effort to foster commercial use of the station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Germany is the biggest investor in Europe's involvement in the space station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Government Shutdown Ripples Out to Work on Orion Capsule<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Engineers preparing NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for a 2014 test flight were locked out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida when the federal government shut down Oct. 1, but prime contractor Lockheed Martin is trying to
get them back on the job, the company's top civil space executive said Oct. 8.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We're holding [off on that work], of course, because of the challenges with the government shutdown," Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager for civil space at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, said during a panel discussion
at the American Astronautical Society's Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">So far, Crocker said, it does not appear that the work stoppage will delay the mission, scheduled for September 2014 and known officially as Exploration Flight Test-1. However, Crocker cautioned, "This [shutdown] can't go on forever
and not have a significant impact."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">After Congress failed to pass a stopgap spending measure by the Oct. 1 deadline for new appropriations, the government shut down nonessential operations, idling more than 95 percent of NASA's 18,000 civil servants and closing the doors
at many agency facilities. Only programs essential to the protection of life and property were allowed to continue during the shutdown, and Orion was not on the list.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">However, it is possible that NASA may allow the Orion team to return to the Operations and Checkout building at Kennedy to continue preflight processing that began in January. After all, Crocker pointed out, the agency granted an emergency
exception only days after the shutdown for engineers to return to Kennedy and prepare the Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution orbiter for its Nov. 18 launch. NASA said the spacecraft had to get to Mars on time because the communications hardware it carries
is required to support safe operation of other spacecraft NASA has already sent to the red planet.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the 2014 test, Orion will not be launched by its intended carrier rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). Instead, an uncrewed version of Orion will be boosted to a highly elliptical orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida
by a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 to test Orion's heat shield.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Meanwhile, other NASA contractors who joined Crocker for the Oct. 8 panel discussion in Huntsville offered estimates on how long their businesses could continue more or less as usual during the shutdown.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"As long as it doesn't go on for a year, I think we'll be OK," said Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of space advanced programs&nbsp; at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Sacramento, Calif. "At some point funding becomes an issue, but we're in good shape
probably for the next month to two months."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We probably have until early November before things like mandatory inspection points would become a problem," said Charlie Precourt, vice president of the Space Launch Division of ATK Aerospace in Magna, Utah. "I think [the shutdown
is] going to take care of itself." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">ATK, which is providing a pair of shuttle-derived, five-segment solid rocket motors for each of the first two SLS flights, is grappling with delays unrelated to the federal government shutdown.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Precourt said at the symposium that the company has again delayed the hot-fire of a five-segment test motor, Qualification Motor-1, because of possible manufacturing and materials defects.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We found some voids or air pockets" between the solid propellant in the aft section of the five-segment motor and the wall of the motor's case, Precourt said Oct. 8. The discovery means ATK will have to recast the qualification motor,
which is now slated to be tested early next year — almost a year later than originally scheduled.&nbsp;
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Virginia Barnes, Space Launch System program manager at SLS core stage and avionics prime contractor Boeing Space Exploration, said she foresaw no shutdown-related schedule impact "that's not recoverable."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">SLS core stage work is five months ahead of schedule, Barnes said. The rocket's pacing is the interim cryogenic propulsion stage NASA is procuring from Boeing for the first two SLS flights, which are scheduled for 2017 and 2021.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">SLS avionics work, meanwhile, has been held up by the closure of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Barnes said. However, the former United Space Alliance boss did not expect the delay to affect the rocket's 2017 debut.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Shutdown's Effect on Three Commercial Crew Companies Varies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The three firms competing to become NASA's post-shuttle provider of astronaut transportation services under the agency's Commercial Crew Program reported different impacts from an ongoing partial government shutdown that has furloughed
NASA civil servants authorized to pay these companies for completing development milestones.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Boeing Space Exploration of Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville, Colo.; and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., are all working on crewed systems to ferry NASA astronauts to and from the
international space station as soon as 2017. Last year, NASA split $1.2 billion among the three, which began development work under Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) agreements that provide tranches of government funding whenever the companies
complete negotiated development milestones.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Boeing, which is developing its CST-100 capsule under a $460 million Space Act Agreement, was not scheduled to be paid for a milestone in October, company spokeswoman Kelly George told SpaceNews in an Oct. 9 email.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"There was a NASA amendment to the Space Act Agreement milestones made in a change memo ... in August," George wrote in her email. The amendment moved two CST-100 milestones, an Emergency Detection System Standalone Testing milestone
worth $13.8&nbsp; million and a Spacecraft Primary Structures Critical Design Review worth $8.6 million, from October to December and January, respectively.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At SpaceX, which had a $50 million safety review scheduled for October, a company spokeswoman said the lack of government funding due to the shutdown would be easier to cope with than the loss of NASA personnel who have been furloughed
and would otherwise have provided technical insight for SpaceX designers working on the Dragon spacecraft the company hopes NASA will select for astronaut carriage.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Any financial impact from the government shutdown is manageable on our end," SpaceX spokeswoman Emily Shanklin told SpaceNews in an Oct. 9 email. "We are in a good place with respect to the October milestone, but an extended government
shutdown prevents the day-to-day interactions with our NASA counterparts that keep the program moving forward."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">SpaceX's CCiCap award is worth $440 million. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Meanwhile, Sierra Nevada, which with its $212.5 million Space Act Agreement holds the smallest of the three CCiCap awards, has hit a literal wall in its test program because of the shutdown. A full-scale test article of the company's
Dream Chaser lifting-body spacecraft is locked up and inaccessible at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center inside Edwards Air Force Base in California.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Sierra Nevada had been planning a series of captive-carry flights using a Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter, including an automated descent and landing onto a runway at Edwards. The company successfully completed a captive-carry test in August,
but had planned up to five more flights as part of a $15 million milestone in its CCiCap deal with NASA.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">However, there will be "no real program consequence other than we'll have to fly a little later," Mark Sirangelo, vice president of Sierra Nevada Space Systems, wrote in an Oct. 4 email.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">With the shutdown on, the Dream Chaser team "has been moved to other needed work," Sirangelo wrote. "We are ready to continue flight test[ing] but we'd like to have NASA present for the test and they can't travel at the moment. If the
delay is other than short term, meaning a week or two, we have a backup path."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Sierra Nevada is already running late with this milestone, which was supposed to have been completed in April. Ed Mango, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, has said Sierra Nevada will not necessarily miss out on funding for completing
the flight-test milestone months late.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"They will get paid when the meet the criteria," Mango told SpaceNews in June. "There is no 'penalty' for being delayed. The penalty, if there was one, is that if they take longer to meet that milestone, and if there are any additional
costs that they have to incur to meet that milestone, that is on their back. That's why Space Act Agreements ... are really appropriate in this type of environment for the government."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Former NASA Managers Call for More Spending Despite Crunch<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the middle of a budget crisis that has kept the federal government partially closed since Oct. 1, former NASA officials argued that the time has come to push for increased spending on space exploration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Our community has to fight for a reinvigorated space program, even when budgets are tight," said Doug Cooke, who was NASA's associate administrator for exploration systems when he retired from the agency in 2011.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Now an independent consultant based in Gettysburg, Pa., who has lobbied on behalf of Boeing Space Exploration of Houston, Cooke spoke Oct. 8 during a panel discussion at the American Astronautical Society's annual Wernher von Braun Memorial
Symposium. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The meeting, held at the University of Alabama in Huntsville near NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, went on as scheduled in the face of the government shutdown, even though key NASA officials, including Administrator Charles Bolden
and human spaceflight chief William Gerstenmaier, canceled their appearances. Panel discussions Oct. 8 were webcast.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Attendance the first morning was just under 200, so we were down at least 100 compared to last year," James Kirkpatrick, executive director of the American Astronautical Society, wrote in an Oct. 10 email. "The missing attendees were
primarily NASA personnel, but we did have some cancellations due to the absence of NASA speakers on the program."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The von Braun symposium typically draws what former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale referred to in the meeting's keynote address as the "old-line": traditional space contractors who have had a hand in major NASA projects
dating back to the agency's founding in 1958. The paradigm held for the sixth von Braun symposium, despite new-space touches such as coffee breaks sponsored by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Panel discussions Oct. 8 were headlined by representatives
of the companies working on the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew capsule NASA is developing for crewed missions to lunar space next decade. Marshall is managing construction of the rocket from Huntsville, while the Johnson Space Center
is overseeing Orion from Houston.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Both SLS and Orion are derivatives of vehicles designed for the Constellation Moon-exploration program created by the administration of then-U.S. President George W. Bush and canceled in 2010 by President Barack Obama.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Among those who spoke at the von Braun symposium was one of Constellation's chief architects, former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. Griffin, who ran NASA from 2005 to 2009, scoffed at the idea that NASA is operating in a budget-constrained
environment.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We are in a willpower-constrained environment," said Griffin, who is now the Huntsville-based chairman and chief executive of science and engineering services contractor Schafer Corp. Griffin noted that 50 years of NASA spending, adjusted
for inflation, was approximately equivalent to the roughly $800 billion stimulus bill signed into law in February 2009.&nbsp;
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Meanwhile, Cooke and another former NASA manager took shots at the "flat-is-the-new-up" mantra that has become prevalent among government-relations executives in Washington in the age of across-the-board sequestration budget cuts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Flat is not healthy," said David King, who left his job as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in 2009 to join Dynetics Inc., a Huntsville-based company that counts NASA and the U.S. Army among its biggest customers.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Let me tell you what flat is," Cooke said. "Flat is flat with no inflation, and we do have inflation. The calculation on inflation is about 2.8 percent a year," meaning an agency budget that stays the same year-over-year is "just like
a bank account, but the interest is going the wrong way and compounding over time," said Cooke. Buying power is diminished.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Even if we got a 2.8 percent inflation increase every year, it would make a big difference," Cooke added.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Despite the rallying cries of the three former NASA officials, the top lobbyist for launch services provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) said he foresaw nothing but continued austerity in NASA's budget. "Sequestration, I believe, is
here to stay," Mark Bitterman, ULA vice president of Washington operations, said during another von Braun symposium panel.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Bitterman speculated that "the new norm" for NASA would be about $16.5 billion, roughly what the agency received under a stopgap spending bill that was signed in March and expired Sept. 30. That bill held NASA to the across-the-board
cuts — the sequester — mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>The View from the Trenches<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Besides former NASA officials and Washington-based government-relations people, technical executives with some of the agency's biggest contractors also spoke at the von Braun symposium. These industry representatives — all of whom have
some role on either SLS or Orion — described their strategies for operating within the confines of what one of them described as NASA's "cost box."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Now with our NASA partner, all of us are squeezed into a cost box," said Jim Crocker, vice president and general manager of civil space for Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Crocker, who has been working in civilian space programs long enough to remember the drastic reduction in NASA spending that followed the end of the Apollo program in the early 1970s, said the solution "is not all about just doing one
thing or doing the other thing," such as a wholesale transition to fixed-price contracts from a cost-plus-fee structure that leaves room for project costs to grow. "There's systems problems we all need to address," he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of space advanced programs at Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, Calif., said industry's contribution could involve "attack[ing] the manufacturing process in a number of different ways."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Additive manufacturing, sometimes called 3-D printing, is one of these, Van Kleeck said. "We want to build within the company a core competency of additive manufacturing," she said. "It will make components [and] engines cheaper." Then,
after seeing to the manufacturing process, "you attack the business and the management processes," Van Kleeck said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Kim Doering, manager of Dynetics' Space Systems Division, gave a practical example. Dynetics is working on concept studies for side-mounted boosters that could be used on future variants of SLS to increase the rocket's carrying capacity
from 70 tons to low Earth orbit to as many as 130 tons. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At a project review earlier this year, Dynetics had "25 people in the room and a handful of the NASA contract folks," said Doering. Ordinarily, "we would ... have 300 or 400 people in a review ... but really, there were a much smaller
number of people who truly needed to be there.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At the end of the review, "NASA had to accept it only took 25 people, and they got all they wanted," Doering said.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Keynote speaker at von Braun Symposium says NASA needs to 'try new strategies'<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Paul Gattis - Huntsville Times (Oct. 8)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA needs a new strategy to ensure its long-term prosperity, the keynote speaker said today at the von Braun Symposium on the campus of the University of Alabama in Huntsville.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Wayne Hale, a former NASA space shuttle program manager and currently the director of human spaceflight at Special Aerospace Services, filled in for NASA Administrator Charles Bolden by challenging the space agency to reinvent itself
to further the efforts of space exploration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Bolden and other NASA officials who were scheduled to attend the three-day event were absent because of the government shutdown.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hale outlined a mixed bag of NASA successes in wake of the Apollo moon missions, noting that the agency has languished for almost 40 years as different visions for NASA have died amid a lack of funding.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The current Space Launch System - a heavy lift rocket under development at Huntsville's Marshall Flight Center intended for deep space exploration - could soon fade away like other programs, such as Constellation in 2009.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The current plan is fragile in the political and financial maelstrom that is Washington," Hale said. "Planning to fly large rockets once every three or four years does not make a viable program. It is not sustainable.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Continuing to develop programs in the same old ways, from my observations, will certainly lead to cancellation as government budgets are stretched thin. It is time to try new strategies."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The symposium, before the government shutdown, was set to bring together NASA officials with those in commercial enterprises. For example, a panel discussion on Wednesday is scheduled to address the topic of privately funded space activities.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hale encouraged NASA to learn from commercial spaceflight companies such as SpaceX and Cygnus, private companies which have docked unmanned spacecraft with the International Space Station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"If we truly believe space exploration is an endeavor worthy of our passions, we must dig deeper, try harder, strive higher," he said. "We must redouble our efforts to be innovative and creative; we must think outside the box. We can
start by adopting some of the energy and creativity by the new players in our industry."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ultimately, Hale said, the issue boils down to money for the government-funded space agency. And the fact that Hale was stepping in for Bolden to deliver the keynote address because of the government shutdown underscored the tug these
days on each federal dollar.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">To bolster its influx of money, NASA must chart a clear course for future exploration. Hale pointed to the goal expressed by President Obama to retrieve an asteroid is ambitious and fascinating but it's not a long-term vision for the
agency.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"That mission is a great test for the engineering and operations of those capabilities, those systems and vehicles," he said. "It will be a very interesting mission to plan. But it's not a true scientific goal, nor is it a long-term
strategy, I hate to report.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We can accomplish this vision technically. But the central question still remains. Where does the money come from. Have we really come down to counting on Congress to save the space program? Kind of a sad state."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Tight Budgets Slow Exploration Development<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week (Oct. 7)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The upper-stage J-2X engine, once considered the pacing item for the next U.S. human-rated rocket, will be mothballed after development testing wraps up next year because it will not push humans toward Mars for years.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Conceived as a way to use Apollo-era technology to hasten development of a replacement for the space shuttle, the J-2X is emblematic of a long series of funding-related setbacks that have slowed exploration work to a snail's pace. Just
last week, the U.S. government shutdown forced NASA to terminate a three-day workshop on its planned asteroid-redirect mission, which also was devised as a way to stretch exploration dollars.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Unveiled in NASA's budget plan for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, the asteroid mission faced an uphill fight in Congress before the agency ran out of appropriated funds at the start of the new fiscal year. But even the heavy-lift
Space Launch System (SLS), which Congress forced the Obama administration to start developing in 2010, is straggling.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">While NASA is actively seeking other missions for the SLS in the planetary science and military arenas, most human flights it has in sight probably can be accomplished with an upper stage powered by the RL-10 engine instead of the J-2X.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The J-2X for certain [design reference missions] is somewhat overpowered," Todd May, NASA's SLS program manager, told Aviation Week in Beijing at the 64th International Astronautical Congress, where spacefaring nations gathered to discuss
their latest plans for space exploration. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">An upgrade of the Saturn V upper-stage engine, the all-cryogenic J-2X generates 294,000 lb. thrust with its gas-generator cycle. While it almost certainly will be needed to send men and women to Mars, the equally venerable RL-10 is beginning
to look like a better powerplant for the SLS upper stages that will be needed before that far-off flight.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Congress ordered an SLS able to lift 130 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), which is a generally accepted requirement for launching a Mars mission. But for missions to the Moon, where a lot of Mars-precursor shakeout cruises are being
planned, a 105-ton SLS is probably sufficient, according to Steve Creech, May's deputy, who is responsible for finding other applications for the big new rocket.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">One way to achieve that capability would be with a "dual-use upper stage" carrying three or four RL-10s. All of them would ignite to loft the payload—an Orion crew capsule, in-space habitat or lunar lander—into LEO, and then some subset
of that number would fire for the translunar injection to send the payload toward the Moon.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA has not ruled out using the J-2X for that portion of the trip, but it may be faster to develop the dual-use stage than the originally planned SLS upper stage powered by the J-2X, and a cryogenic propulsion stage (CPS) to reach lunar
orbit. "To try to save costs and accelerate mission capability, [we've looked at] combining the functions of our upper stage and the CPS so that we just have to have one stage," says Creech.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Development of the J-2X started under the George W. Bush administration's Constellation Program, which envisioned a human-rated launcher called the Ares I that used a shuttle-derived solid-fuel first stage and an upper stage powered
by the J-2X. Initially, the J-2X was expected to be the most time-consuming element of the Ares I, although its Saturn heritage was selected to minimize development complexity.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Now, the engine has been built, using drawings and some hardware retained by NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne, and is in development testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Those tests are scheduled to end next year, and then work on the J-2X
will halt "until we're ready" to integrate the engine with an SLS upper stage, May says.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Under constrained funding, the number of simultaneous developments is limited, and that's why we've essentially ended up with the architecture we did, because we only have the core to develop," he explains, referring to the SLS first
stage. "And if you can do a dual-use upper stage, you can actually get to a very capable rocket with only one more major development—not an upper stage and then a CPS."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">That make-the-best-of-a-bad-situation approach is standard these days in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) directorate, which is forging ahead with plans for human spaceflight in cislunar space despite the funding uncertainty.
Planning is underway to send the first two tests of the initial 70-ton SLS variant—the core stage, powered by surplus RS-25 space shuttle main engines, with a Delta IV upper stage and Orion capsule—to a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the Moon (see illustration).
That is also where NASA wants astronauts to meet an asteroid nudged there by a solar-electric tug. The tests flights — one with a crew — are set for 2017 and 2021, and the asteroid redirect mission would follow by 2025.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">If the asteroid mission is canceled, it will still have served a valuable function as a focus for flight engineering, according to William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for HEO and a master of the make-do approach to human-exploration
development. Just as the basic principles of operating in LEO were worked out in the early days of spaceflight, the prospect of working in DRO or at the Earth-Moon libration points L-1 and L-2 is driving planning that can be useful for decades to come.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We developed all these safety techniques to operate with this huge gravity vector from the Earth," he says. "So now we're in this different region where we don't have that huge gravity vector. What are those rendezvous and prox-ops
techniques that we ought to be developing in that environment?" <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">An Orion crew in DRO might have to wait as long as five days to return to Earth in an emergency, and Gerstenmaier says the use of lunar gravity assists will become "routine," not just in such cases, but also to move around cislunar space.
Other ideas for the asteroid mission—including the possibility of snatching a boulder from the surface of a large asteroid instead of grabbing a small space rock and nudging it into DRO—were to have been discussed at an invitation-only Asteroid Initiative
Ideas Synthesis Workshop in Houston last week, hosted by the Lunar and Planetary Research Institute.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Some 140 participants showed up from around the U.S. and 16 other nations, selected after a general announcement of the opportunity to submit proposals, only to have the plug pulled by the government shutdown. The B612 Foundation, a
private group set up to map potentially threatening near-Earth asteroids, invited the participants to continue their discussions at a nearby hotel.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">While the big aerospace contractors urged use of their hardware and experience to save money for an asteroid mission, smaller operators suggested completely different approaches. Joel Sercel, of ICE Associates Inc., a Los Angeles aerospace
consultant and former New Millennium manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, urged the agency to place more emphasis on a public/private partnership strategy that would emphasize a national economic return rather than a door to deep space for human explorers.
Sercel's proposed Honeybee mission would rely on a Falcon 9 launch to retrieve a smaller near-Earth object than NASA proposes and assess it for potential resources as it is steered into a stable lunar orbit.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA intends to formulate more detailed plans for its proposed 2015 budget. In 2014, the agency will seek a $105 million down payment to step up asteroid detection and characterization capabilities, while advancing Solar Electric Propulsion
and capture technologies. That assumes, of course, that there will be some funding for the mission.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Commercial firms push alternative approaches for NASA asteroid initiative<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Irene Klotz - Space News (Oct. 4)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">To develop a deep-space exploration program to follow the international space station, NASA cast a wide net, hoping to infuse its plans to detect, engineer and ultimately visit an asteroid with fresh mission concepts, alternative technological
approaches and, perhaps most important, partners to share costs, build support and enrich educational outreach.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But that could spell trouble for the agency's bellwether initiative, the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle spacecraft, development of which is costing NASA about $3 billion per year. In
a pair of space exploration workshops in Houston Sept. 30-Oct. 4, several potential partners presented alternative, lower-cost missions that would fly on upgraded United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets and Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s planned Falcon
Heavy boosters. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The basic program that we would propose would be modeled on the COTS," said Deep Space Industries Chief Executive David Gump, referring to NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, a public-private partnership that
parlayed $684 million in NASA development funds into the SpaceX Dragon and the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo spacecraft, the Falcon 9 and Antares rockets, and two new launch complexes in Florida and Virginia.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The agency is in the midst of a similar program to develop commercial space taxis to fly astronauts to and from the space station, and has agreed to buy data and services from several firms planning robotic expeditions to the Moon. Gump
believes the same commercial approach would benefit NASA's asteroid initiative.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Companies get paid for achieving milestones and not just submitting monthly invoices," Gump said during the Sept. 30 opening day of NASA's planned three-day Asteroid Initiative Idea Synthesis workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute
in Houston.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The official gathering, intended to vet top-rated ideas submitted in response to a NASA solicitation, was canceled Oct. 1 due to the U.S. government shutdown, but part of the group reconvened informally at a nearby hotel to continue
discussions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Those sessions primarily focused on detection and analysis of so-called near-Earth asteroids, the first leg of NASA's threefold initiative and a topic that already has a sizable and international scientific community, startup commercial
enterprises, such as asteroid mining outfits Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources, and nonprofits like the B612 Foundation, which is building a space telescope to scout for asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In addition to finding potentially hazardous asteroids, NASA wants to move an asteroid or a piece of an asteroid into a high orbit around the Moon. While the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) would serve science and spur technology, its
primary goal is to give NASA astronauts a destination for an early SLS/Orion test flight.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I think ARM is a very cool mission as currently conceived, and the 'why' that NASA has — to give astronauts something to do — is cool, if that's what you want to do. But we have a different goal — and it may also give astronauts something
much more powerful to do," said Joel Sercel, founder and principal engineer of ICS Associates, a California-based consultancy that is developing an asteroid resource utilization technology called Honey Bee.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"When Honey Bee is in place, we will have demonstrated the ability to essentially convert a 1,000-ton [near-Earth object] to a propellant depot that could be used to fill the tanks of a manned Mars mission at the top of the gravity well,"
saving the need to launch fuels, Sercel said. "That collapses the cost of human exploration to Mars. It allows you to put in place an inexpensive transportation system to go anywhere in cislunar space, which includes low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit."&nbsp;
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The private sector-first theme was picked up again Oct. 3 at another Houston conference organized by Golden Spike, which is developing commercial human transports to the Moon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I think NASA has a role in all of the commercial space activities in the future," said Gerry Griffin, former director of the Johnson Space Center who now serves as company chairman.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"That may finally free them to push the technologies out in front of us. Let the commercial sector do most of the grinding. If we're going to go to Mars, we're not going to do that commercially," Griffin said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA May Slam Captured Asteroid Into Moon (Eventually)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mike Wall - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Sept. 30)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Decades from now, people on Earth may be gearing up for an unprecedented celestial spectacle — the intentional smashing of an asteroid into the moon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA is currently planning out an ambitious mission to snag a near-Earth asteroid and park it in a stable orbit around the moon, where it could be visited repeatedly by astronauts for scientific and exploration purposes. But the asteroid-capture
mission may not end when astronauts leave the space rock for the last time. Seeing it through could require disposing of the asteroid in a safe — and possibly very dramatic — manner, experts say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"You can be comfortable that [the asteroid] will stay in this orbit for 100 years or so," Paul Chodas, a scientist with the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said earlier this month
during a panel discussion at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Space 2013 conference in San Diego.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"But if that's not enough, I think that, once you're finished with it and you have no further need of it, send it in to impact the moon," Chodas added. "That makes sense to me."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>A bold plan<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA announced the asteroid-retrieval effort in April. The plan calls for a robotic spacecraft to rendezvous with a roughly 25-foot-wide (7.6 meters), 500-ton space rock and drag it to a stable lunar orbit.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Alternatively, the probe could break a chunk off a larger asteroid; NASA is investigating both options. Either way, astronauts would then fly out to this transplanted rock using NASA's Orion capsule and Space Launch System mega-rocket
(SLS), which are slated to fly crews together for the first time in 2021.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The mission represents one way to achieve a major goal laid out by President Barack Obama, who in 2010 directed the space agency to get astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Grabbing a space rock would also help develop asteroid-mining technology, reveal insights about the solar system's early days and give humanity critical experience working in deep space, NASA officials say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It provides a tremendous target to develop our capabilities and operation techniques for our crews in the future as we go beyond low-Earth orbit," NASA human exploration chief Bill Gerstenmaier said during the panel discussion at Space
2013.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Earlier this year, NASA asked the public and researchers in industry and academia to help them figure out how to pull off the asteroid-capture mission. The agency received more than 400 proposals in response, and it will discuss the
top 100 or so during a workshop held Monday through Wednesday (Sept. 30 to Oct. 2) at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">You won't believe what this 6th-grader is sending into space<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Colleen O'Connor - Denver Post (Oct. 7)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Eleven-year-old Michal Bodzianowski is too young to drink the stuff, but the Colorado sixth-grader will be the first person to experiment with making beer in space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"My dad posted this joke on Facebook, that this is the world's first microbrewery in space," Michal said. "Then he had to explain it to me."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Michal, who said he reads Popular Science magazine to "find out what's trending now in the science world," is more likely to know about spacecraft landing systems than Colorado's latest craft beers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But when his class at STEM School and Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colo., entered a national science competition — with the hope of getting their microgravity experiment flown to the International Space Station — beer came to mind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Michal's prize-winning entry — "What Are the Effects of Creation of Beer in Microgravity and Is It Possible?" — will launch into space in December.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The competition is part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, launched in 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education to spark interest in a new generation of students for careers in science, technology,
engineering and math — known as STEM.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The 11 experiments that won the competition this year included entries from two fifth-graders, a middle-school team, one seventh-grader — and sixth-grader Michal, who came up with his idea after reading a book called "Gruesome Facts"
that explained why beer was so popular in the Middle Ages.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It was a punishment for crimes, that you couldn't drink beer," he said, "and most people didn't survive (that) because the water was contaminated."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Pondering how alcohol killed bacteria in the water, Michal thought this might also work for future space colonies.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Beer, he wrote in his design proposal, is "an important factor in future civilization as an emergency backup hydration and medical source."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In space, if a project exploded, wounded people and polluted most of the water, he theorized, "the fermentation process could be used to make beer, which can then be used as a disinfectant and a clean drinking source."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Michal's experiment, when launched, will be in a silicon tube about 6-inches long. Clasps on the tube will segregate hops, malted barley, yeast and water. When the tube arrives at the space station, astronauts will remove the clamps
then shake the ingredients to determine whether beer can be made in space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We're just trying to get the yeast to react with the ingredients of beer," said Michal. "If it doesn't react at all, this tells you it won't work."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Among those awaiting the result is Julia Herz, craft beer program director for the Brewers Association in Boulder, Colo.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The history of beer goes back thousands and thousands of years," she said, with a nod to its origins among ancient Egyptians. "Why not expand beer to another element of our universe — space?"<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Farewell, Georges<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Europe's final Automated Transfer Vehicle begins journey to launch site<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ben Evans - <a href="http://AmericaSpace.com">AmericaSpace.com</a> (Oct. 8)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">With eight months still remaining before a mighty Ariane 5 booster launches it toward the International Space Station, Europe's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5)—named in honor of the late Belgian astronomer Georges
Lemaître—departed prime contractor Astrium's facility in Bremen, Germany, on 7 October, bound for the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. "Like its predecessors," noted Astrium in a news release, "ATV-5 'Georges Lemaître' is being transported by
ship in three special containers … At the same time, around 80 sea containers full of test equipment are joining it on its journey." Upon arrival at the South American launch site, currently scheduled for 22 October, ATV-5 will begin extensive testing, ahead
of integration with the Ariane 5 vehicle. Liftoff is presently scheduled for 5 June 2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At Kourou, the ATV's various components will be mated to produce the complete cargo ship for the ISS. Measuring 34 feet (10.4 meters) long and 15 feet (4.6 meters) wide, it includes an Integrated Cargo Carrier for its pressurized payloads,
together with an avionics module for its computers, gyroscopes, navigation and control subsystems, electrical power and communications hardware, and a propulsion module for rendezvous and periodic "re-boosts" of the space station's orbit. Weighing 41,400 pounds
(18,780 kg), it has the ability to transport 16,000 pounds (7,250 kg) of payloads and supplies into orbit, including up to 12,100 pounds (5,500 kg) of dry cargo, up to 1,850 pounds (840 kg) of water, up to 220 pounds (100 kg) of gas, and up to 10,400 pounds
(4,700 kg) of propellants for orbital re-boosts and refueling of the ISS.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Whilst the ATV is incapable of returning items back to Earth—and instead burns up in the atmosphere at the end of each mission—it can remain docked at the ISS for up to six months, far longer than other visiting vehicles, such as Japan's
H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), SpaceX's Dragon, or Orbital's Cygnus. Unlike those vehicles, the ATV is not designed to berth at the U.S. segment of the ISS, but to dock automatically at the Russian "end." Consequently, it is equipped with a Russian-compatible
Progress-type docking mechanism.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">To date, four ATVs have flown, all named in honor of key European-born scientific figures: Jules Verne in 2008, Johannes Kepler in 2011, Edoardo Amaldi in 2012, and the ongoing ATV-4 "Albert Einstein" mission, launched on 5 June 2013.
Last year, ESA announced that it was shutting down its ATV production lines after ATV-5, highlighting "a significant obsolescence problem" at equipment and component levels, which effectively limited the desire or ability to reopen the lines. Costing about
$600 million per unit to build, the ATV operated as part of a "barter" arrangement between ESA and its ISS Partners, covering its operating costs at the space station until 2017. A further $600 million investment was required to cover the 2017-2020 timeframe,
and Germany apparently favored European participation in the Service Module for NASA's Orion Program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Initial reports of European interest in retasking the ATV to a Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) mission arose almost two years ago, when <a href="http://NASASpaceflight.com">NASASpaceflight.com</a> cited sources which described ESA as "serious" about the possibility. Then, in June
2012, Astrium received a pair of contracts—each valued at 6.5 million euros ($8.6 million)—to undertake studies of an ATV-based Orion Service Module and an entirely separate multi-purpose orbital spacecraft. Finally, last November, it was reported that ESA
was prepared to provide the key component as "payment-in-kind" for its continued involvement with the ISS through the end of this decade. Earlier this year, it was announced that ESA would indeed build the Service Module for Orion's first Exploration Mission
(EM-1), currently scheduled to launch atop the first Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift booster in December 2017.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">This confidence in the ATV highlights the maturity of its technology. "The ATV is Europe's modern and reliable space transporter, equipped with unique systems for automated and autonomous rendezvous and docking," said Bart Reijnen, Head
of Orbital Systems and Space Exploration at Astrium, speaking at the departure of ATV-5. "The technology, as well as the experience that Astrium has gained in the course of the development and production of the ATV, form an outstanding basis for the future,
as our next challenge is to develop the European Service Module on behalf of ESA for the U.S. Orion capsule," continued Alain Charmeau, CEO of Astrium. "The spacecraft, with its crew of four or more astronauts, will be powered and supplied by an MPCV-ESM service
module developed from the ATV. The decision by NASA to entrust a European manufacturer with such a vital element in the Orion program clearly shows their confidence in the transatlantic partnership and in the capabilities of their European partners."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Named in honor of Lemaître in February 2012, in order to continue "the tradition of drawing on great European visionaries to reflect Europe's deep roots in science, technology and culture," ATV-5 was assembled at Astrium's Bremen facility
and on 30 August 2013 underwent a major systems validation test. Nicknamed "The Big Test," the spacecraft was connected to the flight control system and actual on-orbit communications assets—including NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) and ESA's
Artemis—which it will use during its mission. With this work successfully concluded, Astrium readied the ATV-5 hardware for shipment to French Guiana, its final Earthly destination before space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">According to <a href="http://NASASpaceflight.com">NASASpaceflight.com</a>, the mission is scheduled to begin on 5 June 2014, with a launch from Kourou's ELA-3 (Ensemble de Lancement Ariane) complex. ATV-5 will then commence a nine-day rendezvous profile, ahead of docking with
the aft port of Russia's Zvezda module on 14 June. Its payloads and supplies will then be unloaded by the incumbent Expedition 40 crew—Commander Steve Swanson and Flight Engineers Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev, Maksim Surayev, Reid Wiseman, and Germany's
Alexander Gerst—and the spacecraft is expected to support at least one re-boost of the ISS altitude. Slated for a long-duration residency, ATV-5 is not expected to depart the space station until 2 December 2014, whereupon it will be destroyed in the upper
atmosphere.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The man for whom ATV-5 is named established a name for himself in the early 20th century, both as a priest and as an astronomer. Born in Charleroi, Belgium, on 17 July 1894, Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître is today famous for first
proposing the theory of the expansion of the universe and for deriving what is today known as "Hubble's Law." Lemaître's research was published in 1927, two years ahead of the work of U.S. astronomer Edwin Hubble. After a classical education at a Jesuit school,
Lemaître entered the Université Catholique de Louvain to study civil engineering, but his work was stalled by the Great War. After serving Belgium as an army artillery officer, he returned to his studies, focusing on physics and mathematics and preparing for
the priesthood.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Upon receipt of his doctorate in 1920 and ordination as a priest in 1923, Lemaître entered the University of Cambridge, England, as a graduate student in astronomy, and later worked at Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Mass.
Returning to Belgium in 1925, he became a part-time lecturer at the Université Catholique de Louvain and it was whilst there that he began work on the report which would earn him worldwide renown. In 1927, in the Annals of the Scientific Society of Brussels,
Lemaître wrote of "A homogeneous Universe of constant mass and growing radius, accounting for the radial velocity of extragalactic nebulae." Little read outside of his native Belgium, it was not until 1931 that the work was translated into English.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The famed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is said to have regarded Lemaître's ideas of an expanding universe with a measure of scorn, at first, to which the Belgian responded: "Your calculations are correct, but your physics is
atrocious!" Invited to speak at a meeting of the British Association in London, Lemaître explained his conviction that the universe expanded from an initial point—which he labeled "The Primeval Atom"—and his work was subsequently published in the journal Nature.
He referred to it as a "Cosmic Egg exploding at the moment of creation," but in years to come it would become the cornerstone of what is today dubbed "The Big Bang."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In recognition of his work, Lemaître received the Francqui Prize—Belgium's highest scientific award—from King Léopold III. It was an award for which he had been nominated by Einstein and also by his mentor, the English astrophysicist
Arthur Eddington. In 1936, he was elected a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of which he subsequently became president. Opposed to the mixture of science and religion, Lemaître disagreed with Pope Pius XII's proclamation that his work validated
the notion of Creationism. Both Lemaître and the pope's scientific advisor, Daniel O'Connell, successfully persuaded Pius XII not to publicly mention Creationism again in a public setting. As head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, he continued his teaching
workload, albeit in a reduced capacity, until shortly before his death. Lemaître died in Leuven, Belgium, on 20 June 1966, aged 71.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At the present time, ATV-4—which delivered the largest amount of dry cargo ever carried aboard a European spacecraft—remains docked at the aft port of Russia's Zvezda module and is expected to leave the space station on 28 October 2013
and burn up in the atmosphere on 2 November.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Astronauts Emerge from Cave After Underground Spaceflight Training<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Elizabeth Howell - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Oct. 5)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Six astronauts have emerged from an Italian cave after nearly a week underground to get a taste of the isolation and danger that will confront them on a space mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The expedition was part of the European Space Agency's two-week CAVES exploration course, which trains spaceflyers to work together in multicultural teams under difficult conditions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">CAVES — short for Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behavior and performance Skills — is designed to be as similar to spaceflight as possible.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">As with any mission, the 2013 CAVES astronauts spent some time in training to make sure they were familiar with the procedures they need. Then they descended into the darkness of Sa Grutta cave, on the Italian island of Sardinia, with
a list of science tasks to accomplish.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The daily routine on the [International Space] Station follows a timeline of activities largely oriented toward science experiments. In the cave, the team also followed a daily plan, working long days to push the survey forward and
document knowledge of the topography of the cave," the CAVES team wrote in a Sept. 27 blog post.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"As we extended our survey, samples were taken for later analysis of water chemistry, microbiology of soil and surfaces, and atmosphere for CO2 [carbon dioxide], temperature and humidity," team members added.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">If anything, the astronauts can occasionally find themselves in more danger below the ground than they would above it. Indeed, ESA says it would likely take more time to extract astronauts from Sa Grutta in the event of an emergency
than it would to get crewmembers home from the International Space Station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">To keep astronauts as healthy as possible, CAVES organizers stick to a schedule, choose food that isn't apt to spoil and plot the safest routes possible through the subsurface.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">This year's crew also got several upgrades from previous expeditions to improve safety. These included new helmet lights, specially adapted shoes and a portable carbon dioxide monitor.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Science findings are still being analyzed, but NASA astronaut Mike Barratt did find some interesting carbon dioxide variations through the cave. Crewmembers also took several videos underground examining "the strong analogies between
speleology and spaceflight," ESA officials added.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Astronauts on the crew included NASA's Barratt and Jack Fischer, the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen. Russian cosmonaut Aleksei Ovchinin and Japanese spaceflyer Satoshi Furukawa rounded
out the team.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Profile<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Gregory Johnson, Executive Dir, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Three experiments designed by elementary, middle and high school students reached the international space station Sept. 29 aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Cygnus spacecraft. For the Center of Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS),
the Florida nonprofit that funded the payloads and brokered their trip to the orbital outpost, delivery of the student experiments marked an important milestone: CASIS had finally sent something to space.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Formed in 2011 in response to a congressional call for an outside organization to manage non-NASA research aboard the U.S. side of the international space station, CASIS spent its first two years working through growing pains that included
the resignation of its first executive director after just six months on the job, delays appointing a board of directors and a protracted search for a new executive director.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">That search ended this summer with the hiring of two-time space shuttle pilot Gregory Johnson, who left NASA in August and started as CASIS executive director Sept. 1.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I did not expect to leave this soon," said Johnson, a 15-year veteran of the astronaut corps who piloted Space Shuttle Endeavor in 2011 on what was the program's penultimate mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Johnson takes over a CASIS that little resembles the group that erupted with controversy in March 2012 when Jeanne Becker resigned as executive director over her concerns that CASIS' business practices were jeopardizing the group's nonprofit
status — a tax designation it was legally required to have in order to accept $15 million in annual NASA funding to promote space station science outside the agency.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Johnson, well aware of the controversy when CASIS reached out to him about taking the reins, wondered if he "was walking into a minefield" by taking the job.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the year and a half since Becker left, CASIS has appointed a full-time board of scientists, nearly half of whom were also medical doctors, and distributed about $5.4 million of its $15 million in annual NASA funding to researchers
with space-bound experiments. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Johnson said what he learned during his initial meetings with CASIS and its board resolved the doubts in his mind about the nonprofit and convinced him that all the group needed was a leader who could "get everybody moving in the same
direction."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"That's what pilots do," Johnson said in a recent interview with SpaceNews staff writer Dan Leone.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">As a pilot, science was not your primary charge during space shuttle missions. How did you end up leading an organization focused entirely on research?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">CASIS reached out to me. I think it was related to some of the experiences I've had over the last 16 years with NASA. A strong science background is not the highlight of my resume, but there are a lot of scientists at CASIS and there
are a lot of smart people that I will be surrounded by who will have sound scientific opinions.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>Aside from familiarity with NASA, what credentials do you bring to CASIS?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I've got some business training, I have an MBA. And I do understand the sciences and I have been there on the space station. After my last shuttle flight two years ago, I took a year to test the waters in a management scenario. I went
up to NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and managed a division up there, a public outreach and education division. I learned a lot about the inner workings of management and getting things done, coordinating with headquarters and those sorts of things.
And after that detail, I came back to Johnson Space Center in Houston with the expectation of doing more training and getting myself in line for another spaceflight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>But that didn't happen?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I'm not a spring chicken anymore. I'm 51, and it was going to be a while before I was even ready to fly. My Russian isn't really up to speed, and some other things were going to have to align themselves. So it was going to be a long
road to fly another time in space, and I figured I could make a bigger impact to take this organization up to the next level. I was just not expecting it to occur quite so soon.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">For an organization that has only been around since the summer of 2011, CASIS has attracted a fair share of controversy. Did any of the negative attention the group received weigh on your mind when you were going in for interviews?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I initially resisted taking the job, and the reason I resisted taking the job — and I was very honest with the board in my first interview — was that there had been a lot of controversial stuff going on out there. It was a very complex
situation, and I wondered if I was walking into a minefield. So I did initially question how it would play out if I were the executive director.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>What ultimately won you over?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">I think it was a realization that there are a whole bunch of really smart scientists onboard and I can talk with them and I can understand their concepts. And because of my background, I think I can translate those into action plans
that really can help us understand what the factors are that go into having meaningful research on the space station. We make a good mix of the right ingredients to maybe get the sled dogs all going in the same direction. I figured I could make a bigger impact
to take this organization up to the next level.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>What do you mean by "the next level"?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Well, CASIS has Ph.D.s on its board, and I think they wanted somebody to get everybody moving in the same direction. That's what pilots do. I was a cheerleader on both my flights. Both of my crews were very, very different, with people
from very different backgrounds. Especially STS-134 with Mark Kelly as the commander and his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, shot just prior to our launch. It was crazy! So it challenged me to back up Mark and get everybody going in the same direction. I think it's
one of the things I was good at. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>So what sort of organizational quarterbacking do you plan to do?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Science is not the only piece of the puzzle. I believe that there are some other factors that need to be weighed into the process besides just the scientific merit of a proposal. It's absolutely about the science and the research, but
there's also a pragmatic part of the equation that has to be addressed. It's all got to be factored in appropriately to maximize the benefit to the American people.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Another thing that I think perhaps could be developed more is the public appearance: selling what the space station can offer to scientists, to the researchers, to the engineers, to academic institutions and even to companies that want
to make money. That's a very important up-and-out part to this job. Sometimes I'm a little bit critical of NASA because we should sell ourselves better. We have such an amazing product, it almost sells itself.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Orbital Sues Virginia, Says State Owes It $16.5 Million<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Dan Leone - Space News (Oct. 4)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital Sciences Corp. is suing the state of Virginia over $16.5 million the company says it shelled out a few years ago to help cover cost overruns incurred during construction of the state-owned launchpad Orbital leased to launch cargo
delivery missions to the international space station (ISS) for NASA.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In a lawsuit filed Sept. 24 with the Richmond Circuit Court, Orbital is demanding the $16.5 million, plus interest. Orbital is seeking a jury trial and has named as defendants Virginia; the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority
that runs the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Va.; and Virginia's state comptroller, David A. Von Moll.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Reached by email Oct. 4, Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski declined comment, as did Dale Nash, executive director of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority. None of the defendants had filed a response to Orbital's complaint as
of Oct. 4. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital filed suit less than a week after its Antares rocket launched the first Cygnus space freighter to the station from MARS Pad-0A, which is located on NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Funding for the vehicles came mostly from NASA
in the form of a roughly $300 million technology development contract signed in 2007, and an eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract signed in 2008.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital struck a deal with Virginia to launch its missions from Pad-0A, which the state agreed to build. However, Virginia bungled the construction project, which led to delays and cost overruns beginning in 2010, Orbital said in the
complaint. The company stepped in — "reluctantly," according to the complaint — and started buying MARS assets to provide the state with cash to continue construction.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Orbital bought $42 million worth of hardware, with the understanding that Virginia would eventually buy these assets back, the complaint says. The state bought back about $25.5 million worth of hardware in 2012, but balked at repurchasing
a horizontal rocket transporter and associated hardware. The state argued this hardware could only be used for Antares and therefore was not a reimbursable cost. Orbital disagreed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The Aerospace Corp., a federally funded think tank specializing in military space, was brought in to mediate and ruled&nbsp; in Orbital's favor in 2012, according to the complaint. Orbital subsequently sought payment but was told June 5 by
Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton that the state would not pay. Connaughton informed Orbital of the state's decision during a meeting of the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority's board of directors, according to the complaint.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">China Looms as Main Launch Competition, SpaceX Says<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mike Wall - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">As the private spaceflight firm SpaceX works to bring more commercial rocket launches back to the United States, it anticipates some stiff competition from the burgeoning Chinese space program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The U.S. dominated the commercial launch market in the first half of the 1980s but lost most of that ground to Europe and Russia over the last two decades. China remains a minor player in this arena now, but that won't be the case for
long, said SpaceX vice president for government affairs Adam Harris.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We really feel at SpaceX that the competition is going to be the Chinese space program," Harris said last month during a panel discussion at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Space 2013 conference in San Diego.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">There are typically between 20 and 25 commercial space launches available every year, Harris said. The United States performed virtually all of them in the early 1980s but then ceded a great deal of market share, first to Europe with
its Ariane 4 and Ariane 5 vehicles, and then to Russia and its workhorse Proton rocket.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The drop has been precipitous, with the U.S. responsible for just two of the 38 commercial space launches that took place in 2011 and 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">California-based SpaceX, which was founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, is trying to reverse that trend. The company — which is already flying cargo to the International Space Station for NASA and hopes to start ferrying
astronauts as well several years from now — currently has more than 50 missions worth nearly $5 billion on its launch manifest, Harris said, adding that the U.S. government accounts for just 32 percent of that manifest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The biggest threat to SpaceX's continued success in signing up customers over the long haul is likely not the Ariane 5 or the Proton, Harris said, but Chinese vehicles such as the Long March rocket family.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The Chinese government is certainly committed to furthering their program," he said. "They've announced moon missions, they've announced further activities, and they are doing it within their country."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China's space plans are indeed ambitious. For example, Chinese officials have said they want to return lunar samples to Earth with a robotic spacecraft by 2016 or so. They also hope to have a manned, 60-ton space station up and running
by 2020, and to put a "taikonaut" on the moon shortly thereafter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The nation has been making serious progress toward such goals, launching manned missions to dock with the prototype orbiting module Tiangong 1 in both 2012 and 2013.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The United States needs to step up its game if it hopes to remain the world leader in spaceflight and exploration, Harris said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It takes a government commitment" despite budget difficulties and uncertainties, he said. "We've got to make sure that we stay ahead."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Tests loom in China's next decade of human spaceflight<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Stephen Clark - <a href="http://SpaceflightNow.com">SpaceflightNow.com</a> (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">&nbsp; <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China has made progress toward developing a modular Skylab-class space station since Yang Liwei became the first Chinese astronaut in space a decade ago, but engineers are still working on new Long March heavy-lift rockets, regenerative
life support systems and other advanced technologies required for the huge construction job.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Lacking the political imperative of the Space Race, China has conducted five human spaceflights since Yang's 21-hour solo flight in October 2003. The United States and Soviet Union combined to fly more than 40 manned missions in the
decade following Yuri Gagarin's historic space voyage in 1961. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But China has packed more achievements into each mission than Russia or the United States dared to do at the dawn of the Space Age, notching tests of the Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft, a spacewalk, and manual and automatic docking trials
with the Tiangong 1 space laboratory module. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We still have a long way to go to fulfill the goals of our manned space program's 'three-step' strategy," said Wang Zhaoyao, director general of the China Manned Space Agency, following China's most recent human spaceflight. "The follow-on
tasks are still arduous." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China's last human spaceflight, the Shenzhou 10 mission in June, lasted more than 14 days and featured television transmissions from the three-person crew inside Tiangong 1, including an educational lesson for Chinese schoolchildren.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Officials hailed Shenzhou 10 as the end of the second phase of China's three-step space strategy, with the next stage focusing on the 2015 launch and operation of a larger space station testbed named Tiangong 2, followed by a more spacious
experimental space station around 2018. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Like much of China's military-run space program, details of the astronauts' timelines and many flight activities were kept secret except around major events such as launch and landing.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China's stance toward public disclosure has changed little since Yang Liwei's 2003 mission, when officials did not announce the identity of the flight's sole crew member until the day of the launch.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ten Chinese astronauts have flown in space over the last decade, including Yang's launch on Oct. 15, 2003. Two of the Chinese fliers were women, and two astronauts - Jing Haipeng and Nie Haisheng - reached space two times.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Here is a listing of China's five human spaceflights to date:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2">
<span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>Shenzhou 5 launched Oct. 15, 2003, with Chinese Air Force pilot Yang Liwei on a 21-hour flight completing 14 orbits of Earth, making China the third nation to mount a human space mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2">
<span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>Shenzhou 6 launched Oct. 12, 2005, with Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, two Chinese military pilots. The crew spent nearly five days in orbit doing experiments and testing the capabilities of the Shenzhou spacecraft. Fei and Nie
also entered the Shenzhou's orbital module for the first time, accessing the ship's roomier accommodations, tastier food rations and toilet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2">
<span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>Shenzhou 7 launched Sept. 25, 2008, with China's first three-person space crew. Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng spent three days in space and conducted China's first spacewalk.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2">
<span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>Shenzhou 9 launched June 16, 2012, on the first crewed flight to China's Tiangong 1 module. The two vehicles linked up in orbit, forming a docked spacecraft larger than a double-decker bus. The crew of Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and
China's first female astronaut Liu Yang accomplished automatic and manual dockings during their 13-day mission.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2">
<span style="font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt &quot;Times New Roman&quot;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
</span></span></span>Shenzhou 10 launched June 11, 2013, with commander Nie Haisheng, a veteran of Shenzhou 6, and rookie astronauts Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping. The three astronauts lived and worked aboard Tiangong 1, spending more than 14 days
in orbit on China's longest manned mission to date. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Five other Shenzhou missions, beginning with Shenzhou 1 in 1999, flew without a human crew.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China's spaceflights so far have demonstrated the program's ability to stage simple spacewalks and navigate and dock in orbit, key capabilities that will need to be even further expanded later this decade before engineers attempt to
assemble massive modules into a 60-ton space station staffed by astronauts for months at a time.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"As we celebrate our success, we also realize the fact that there is still a gap between China and the leading countries in terms of manned space technology and capability," Wang said in a June 26 press conference after the landing of
Shenzhou 10. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China's next Tiangong spacecraft and the prototype space station module, set for launch around 2015 and 2018, will test components for a regenerative life support system to accommodate long-duration flights, according to information
released by Chinese state media. The International Space Station operates a similar system to generate oxygen and convert urine into drinking water.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China must also hone its spacewalking expertise to allow astronauts to assist in the space station's assembly, maintenance and repairs. The country's first spacewalk in 2008 lasted less than 20 minutes and accomplished no significant
tasks. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In-orbit refueling and robotics are also on the agenda, and China may already be testing some of those capabilities in orbit on secretive experimental satellites. Analysts have observed Chinese satellites conducting strange maneuvers
in close proximity, including a craft launched in July reported to carry a robotic arm.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">It is unclear whether China has docked any of the maneuvering satellites or grappled another spacecraft with a robot arm.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China is also developing the next-generation Long March 5 rocket with engines fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen. China's space station modules, expected to weigh 20 tons at launch, require heavy-lift launcher to reach orbit.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The first Long March 5 test flight is expected in 2015, according to a March report by China Daily.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">With China's most powerful rocket engines, the Long March 5 can loft more massive payloads into space than the Long March 2F rocket, which launched all 10 Shenzhou flights since 1999, plus the Tiangong 1 space module in 2011.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Onward and upward as China marks 10 years of manned spaceflight<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Felicia Sonmez - Agence France Presse (Oct. 14)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China marks 10 years since it first sent a human into space Tuesday, with its ambitious programme rocketing ahead while rival NASA is largely closed due to the US government shutdown.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times during his 21-hour flight aboard the Shenzhou 5 in 2003, blazing a trail into the cosmos for China.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">More than 40 years after Yuri Gagarin's groundbreaking journey, the mission made China only the third country after the former Soviet Union and the US to carry out an independent manned spaceflight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At the time, Beijing was so concerned about the viability of the mission that at the last minute it cancelled a nationwide live television broadcast of the launch.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But since then, China has sent a total of 10 astronauts -- eight men and two women -- into space on five separate missions, and launched an orbiting space module, Tiangong-1.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Its latest manned trip, the Shenzhou 10 in June, was not only greeted with wall-to-wall TV coverage, but also attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who told the crew their 15-day mission represented a step towards making the country
stronger and a "space dream" for the Chinese people.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Chinese firms have seized on the anniversary to promote goods from watches to engine oil, including a 9,800 yuan ($1,600) set of teapots said to be signed by all its space voyagers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Beijing sees the multi-billion-dollar military-run space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as the ruling Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once
poverty-stricken nation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Its ambitious plans for the future ultimately include landing a Chinese citizen on the moon, with an unmanned moon rover to be launched by the end of this year, a fourth launch centre opening in two years' time, and a permanent orbiting
space station to be completed by 2023.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Around the same time, the International Space Station operated by the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe will be retired.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">It is a symbolic coincidence and a reflection of shifting power balances back on the Earth, analysts say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The rapid, purposeful development of China's space programme is in sharp contrast with the US, which launched its final space shuttle flight in 2011 and whose next step remains uncertain amid waning domestic support for spending federal
dollars on space exploration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Last week space conference organisers said NASA personnel were not legally allowed to read their emails due to the US government shutdown, and visitors to NASA's website were met with a notice reading: "Due to the lapse in federal government
funding, this website is not available. We sincerely regret this inconvenience."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>More than military benefits<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Yang's flight into space 10 years ago "was a highly visible sign of China's rapid technological and industrial progress", said Morris Jones, an independent space analyst based in Sydney. "The implications go beyond spaceflight."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Much of the technology used in space exploration can have military benefits, such as in tracking missiles, experts say.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But they also note that China has reaped other, less-tangible advantages from the programme.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The regional benefits that China has gotten from being seen as the regional space leader have really translated into military and economic prestige," said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval
War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and an expert on Chinese space activities.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It's got economic advantages in that the rest of the world doesn't see China as just capable of producing knock-off designer clothes," she added. "It has benefits in terms of education; students get interested in technology."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China is still behind the achievements of the US and Soviet Union -- both of which it has learned from -- and years away from launching its space station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But Yang himself, now deputy director of China's manned space agency, said it has already received proposals from developing countries interested in riding its coattails into orbit.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We would like to train astronauts from other countries and organisations that have such a demand, and we would be glad to provide trips to foreign astronauts," he said at a United Nations/China Workshop on Human Space Technology in
Beijing last month, according to the official Xinhua news service.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Pakistan has said it hopes to be among the first to take the opportunity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The timing of China's space station launch and the absence of US activities "will de facto make them a space leader", said Johnson-Freese.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">China's 30-year space plan was "a long-term approach that has long-term advantages", she added.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Technologically, it's not that China is leaping forward," she said. "It's that they have the political will because they don't have to respond to the will of the electorate to keep this going, which of course is very hard in democracies."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Who knew? German insomniacs watch NASA space feed all night<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carol Williams - Los Angeles Times (Oct. 15)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">A quirky habit of German insomniacs and "chill-out" music fans has come to world attention thanks to the U.S. government shutdown.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Space Night," a nearly 20-year-old late-night broadcast by Bavarian Television, provides a music-sharing platform against a backdrop of NASA's video feed from the International Space Station.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But the 15-day-old U.S. government shutdown has idled the NASA archivists responsible for relaying the imagery beyond Mission Control, cutting off fresh backdrops to mix with the music for "Space Night" broadcasts that were to have launched
a new season Nov. 1.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA archivists were put on unpaid leave at the start of October, when 700,000 government workers whose jobs weren't deemed essential to defense and security were furloughed until the contentious U.S. Congress passes a budget for the
new fiscal year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Fans of Bavarian Television's 'Space Night' are going to have to wait a little longer for the new programming," Der Spiegel magazine reported Tuesday (link in German).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The nightly broadcasts feature viewer-uploaded recordings of "chill-out" music, a genre that gained popularity among ravers in the 1990s as a means of calming down after all-night wild parties.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Bavarian Television, in exchange for amateur musicians' renunciation of exclusive rights to their creations, make the music available for downloading and identify the contributing artist against the background of NASA footage from outer
space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The Munich-based broadcaster hasn't disclosed figures on "Space Night" audience share. Other German media describe the program as popular with a devoted cult following.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">If the U.S. budget standoff goes on much longer, the German programmers could always go back to the original imagery used as background for the music: the station's 1960s-era test pattern.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">What Happens If An Astronaut Floats Off In Space?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>In short: he's in trouble.<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Erik Sofge - Popular Science Magazine (October issue)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the film Gravity, which opens this month, two astronauts are on a spacewalk when an accident hurtles them into the void. So what would actually happen if you went, in NASA's terminology, "overboard"?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA requires spacewalking astronauts to use tethers (and sometimes additional anchors). But should those fail, you'd float off according to whatever forces were acting on you when you broke loose. You'd definitely be weightless. You'd
possibly be spinning. In space, no kicking and flailing can change your fate. And your fate could be horrible. At the right angle and velocity, you might even fall back into Earth's atmosphere and burn up.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">That's why NASA has protocols that it drills into astronauts for such situations. You would be wearing your emergency jetpack, called SAFER, which would automatically counter any tumbling to stabilize you. Then NASA's plan dictates that
you take manual control and fly back to safety.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">However, if the pack's three pounds of fuel runs out, if another astronaut doesn't quickly grab you, or if the air lock is irreparably damaged, you're in big trouble. No protocols can save you now. (In fact, there aren't any.) At the
moment, there's no spacecraft to pick you up. The only one with a rescue-ready air-locked compartment—the Space Shuttle—is in retirement.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">So your only choice is to orbit, waiting for your roughly 7.5 hours of breathable air to run out. It wouldn't be too terrible. You might get a little hungry, but there's up to a liter of water available via straw in your helmet. You'd
simply sip and think of your family as you watched the sun rise and set—approximately five times, depending on your altitude.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Scott Carpenter, Mercury astronaut, dies at 88<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">William Harwood - CBS News<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Malcolm Scott Carpenter, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts who was forced to take manual control of his Aurora 7 capsule after running low on fuel in one of the scarier moments of the early space program, died early Thursday.
He was 88.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">No cause of death was given, but sources said he had suffered a stroke recently and family members confirmed his passing in emails to NASA and media outlets. With Carpenter's death, only John Glenn, the first American in orbit, remains
of NASA's original seven astronauts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">A Navy test pilot and Korean War veteran, Carpenter was chosen for Project Mercury on April 9, 1959, joining six other test pilots -- Alan Shepard, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, John Glenn, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton -- as
America's first class of astronauts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Following two sub-orbital flights by Shepard and Grissom, Glenn became the first American in orbit in February 1962. Carpenter served as Glenn's backup and then rocketed into space himself on May 24, 1962, riding into orbit atop the
Mercury-Atlas 7 rocket.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">During three orbits, Carpenter put his Aurora 7 through its paces and reached a maximum altitude of 164 miles, working through a series of science experiments as the flight progressed. He also because the first astronaut to eat solid
food in space -- cubes of chocolate, figs and dates mixed in with high-protein cereals, according to <a href="http://collectSpace.com">collectSpace.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"You have to realize my experience with zero-g, although transcending and more fun than I can tell you about, was, in the light of current space flight accomplishments, very brief," Carpenter said in a 1999 NASA interview. "The zero-g
sensation and the visual sensation of space flight are transcending experiences, and I wish everybody could have them."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But the flight turned into a nail-biter when, during a pass over Australia, Carpenter "inadvertently neglected to shut off one attitude control system when switching to another, and doubled, for a time, the fuel expenditure," he later
wrote in a third-person account.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The resulting fuel state became critical during reentry. During the rest of the flight he fell further and further behind the flight plan, which he said later was much too ambitious."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter thought he had the capsule in the proper orientation for re-entry. As it turned out, the nose of the spacecraft was pointed 25 degrees to one side of where it should have been due to a malfunctioning sensor system. This contributed
to missing the planned splashdown point by about 175 miles.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Then, the retro-rockets "did not deliver the full thrust that was expected of them," he wrote. "On top of all this, the three retros fired approximately three seconds late. They were designed to fire automatically, but they did not."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter said he pressed the rocket ignition button at the correct time, but "two seconds passed before they finally went off and at (an orbital) speed of 5 miles per second, the lapse of three seconds accounted for another 15 miles
in the overshoot."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Aurora 7 splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral, 250 miles downrange from the planned touchdown point. After a brief scare, search crews found Carpenter about 40 minutes later, safely bobbing
in a life raft by his capsule.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Some critics later said Carpenter was distracted by the experiments he was carrying out and that he did not properly manage the on-board fuel supply when he took over manual control. A post-flight NASA analysis credited the astronaut
with successfully handling a potentially dangerous situation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But Carpenter's perceived devotion to science at the expense of engineering during the initial stages of the Mercury program rankled some within the agency. In any case, he never flew in space again.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He served as an executive assistant to the director of the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston, working on the Apollo lunar lander and assisting with underwater training for future flight crews.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">During this period, Carpenter "became fascinated by the underwater work being done by the French oceanographer J.Y. Cousteau in his Conshelf program," the astronaut wrote, saying he saw "many parallels between that work and the work
being done by the American space program."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He took a leave of absence from NASA to participate in the Navy's SeaLab project. But he broke his arm in a motorcycle crash, which prevented him from participating in a planned underwater say in a habitat 192 feet down.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In 1965, Carpenter took another leave of absence from NASA to participate in the Navy's Man-in-the-Sea Project, serving as a diver, or aquanaut, in the SeaLab II program in the Pacific Ocean near La Jolla, Calif. He spent a month on
the ocean floor leading two teams of divers based in a habitat anchored at a depth of 205 feet.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">After another brief stint at NASA, Carpenter resumed work with the Navy's Deep Submergence Systems Project in 1967, serving as director of SEALAB III aquanaut operations, focusing on development of deep sea diving techniques for rescue,
salvage and research.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"SeaLab III was a very ambitious experiment which would have repeated much of the work done by the previous two SeaLab experiments but at the much greater depth of 600 feet," Carpenter wrote. "After many delays, equipment failures, and
other major difficulties, including flooding of the habitat, and finally, the loss of Barry Canon, one of the divers, the troublesome project was canceled."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter retired from the Navy in 1969 and founded Sea Sciences Inc., a venture capital firm devoted to development of programs "aimed at enhanced utilization of ocean resources and improved health of the planet," according to his NASA
biography.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"In pursuit of these and other objectives, he worked closely with the French oceanographer J.Y. Cousteau and members of his Calypso team," the biography says. "He has dived in most of the worlds oceans, including the Arctic under ice."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Born in Boulder, Colorado, on May 1, 1925, Carpenter was the son of a research chemist and attended the University of Colorado from 1945 to 1949, graduating with a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He joined the U.S. Navy in 1949 and was designated a naval aviator in 1951. During the Korean conflict, Carpenter flew anti-submarine and ship surveillance missions before training at the Navy Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Md.,
in 1954. He then served in the Electronics Test Division of the Naval Air Test Center, flying a wide variety of jets and propeller-driven aircraft.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter was servicing as Air Intelligence Officer aboard the USS Hornet aircraft carrier when he was selected by NASA to become one of the first seven astronauts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter was awarded the Navy's Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Navy Astronaut Wings and the Collier Trophy. He held seven honorary degrees.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Scott Carpenter, One of the Original Seven Astronauts, Is Dead at 88<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Richard Goldstein - New York Times (Oct. 10)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">M. Scott Carpenter, whose flight into space in 1962 as the second American to orbit the Earth was marred by technical problems and ended with the nation waiting anxiously to see if he had survived a landing far from the target site,
died on Thursday in Denver. He was 88 and one of the last two surviving astronauts of America's original space program, Project Mercury.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">His wife, Patty Carpenter, announced the death. No cause was given. Mr. Carpenter had entered hospice care recently after having a stroke.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">His death leaves John H. Glenn Jr., who flew the first orbital mission on Feb. 20, 1962, and later became a United States senator from Ohio, as the last survivor of the Mercury 7.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">When Lieutenant Commander Carpenter splashed down off Puerto Rico in his Aurora 7 capsule on May 24, 1962, after a harrowing mission, he had fulfilled a dream.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I volunteered for a number of reasons," he wrote in "We Seven," a book of reflections by the original astronauts published in 1962. "One of these, quite frankly, was that I thought this was a chance for immortality. Pioneering in space
was something I would willingly give my life for." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">For 39 minutes after his capsule hit the Caribbean, according to NASA, there were fears that he had, in fact, perished. He was 250 nautical miles from his intended landing point after making three orbits in a nearly five-hour flight.
Although radar and radio signals indicated that his capsule had survived re-entry, it was not immediately clear that he was safe.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">A Navy search plane finally spotted him in a bright orange life raft. He remained in it for three hours, accompanied by two frogmen dropped to assist him, before he was picked up by a helicopter and taken to the aircraft carrier Intrepid.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The uncertainty over his fate was only one problem with the flight. The equipment controlling the capsule's attitude (the way it was pointed) had gone awry; moreover, he fired his re-entry rockets three seconds late, and they did not
carry the anticipated thrust. He also fell behind on his many tasks during the flight's final moments, and his fuel ran low when he inadvertently left two control systems on at the same time.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Some NASA officials found fault with his performance. <o:p>
</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"He was completely ignoring our request to check his instruments," Christopher Kraft, the flight director, wrote in his memoir "Flight: My Life in Mission Control" (2001). "I swore an oath that Scott Carpenter would never again fly in
space. He didn't." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter was the fourth American astronaut in space. Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Virgil I. Grissom flew the first two Mercury flights, and then Mr. Glenn orbited the Earth. Mr. Carpenter was the fourth man to go into orbit. Two Russians
in addition to Mr. Glenn had preceded him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born on May 1, 1925, in Boulder, Colo. His family moved to the New York area when his father, Marion, got a job there as a research chemist. His mother, Florence, contracted tuberculosis when Scott was a child,
and she took him with her when she returned to Boulder to be treated at a sanitarium. The marriage broke up, and Scott was guided by his maternal grandfather, Victor Noxon, who owned and edited a Boulder newspaper. He grew fond of a rugged outdoor life and
became enthralled by the prospect of flying. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter became a naval aviation cadet in 1943, but World War II ended before he could obtain his wings. He entered the University of Colorado afterward and received a Navy commission in 1949.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He flew patrol planes in the Pacific during the Korean War, then trained as a test pilot, and in April 1959 he was among the seven military pilots chosen as the Mercury astronauts, the beginning of what would become America's quest to
carry out President John F. Kennedy's goal to put a man on the Moon. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter was highly accomplished in communications and navigation in addition to his flying skills. He was also in outstanding physical condition, exceeding several NASA performance standards.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He was Mr. Glenn's backup for his epic orbital flight, and memorably exclaimed, "Godspeed, John Glenn!" as Mr. Glenn's Friendship 7 achieved liftoff.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But Donald K. Slayton was scheduled to be the next astronaut in orbit. When Mr. Slayton was grounded because of a heart irregularity, Commander Carpenter got the flight.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">His mission called for greater pilot involvement than Mr. Glenn's. With photographic tasks to perform and science experiments to oversee, he seemed to be having a grand time, though the cabin became uncomfortably warm. But serious trouble
arose when the equipment controlling the way the capsule was facing malfunctioned, requiring him to determine the capsule's proper attitude visually.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The last 30 minutes of the flight, in retrospect, were a dicey time," he recalled in his memoir, "For Spacious Skies" (2002), written with his daughter Kris Stoever. "At the time, I didn't see it that way. First, I was trained to avoid
any intellectual comprehension of disaster — dwelling on a potential danger, or imagining what might happen. I was also too busy with the tasks at hand."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Splashing down 250 nautical miles from the nearest recovery ship, he got out of his capsule through a top hatch, then inflated his raft and waited to be picked up.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Finally the voice of mission control, Shorty Powers, announced, "An aircraft in the landing area has sighted the capsule and a life raft with a gentleman by the name of Carpenter riding in it."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">President Kennedy greeted Commander Carpenter and his family at the White House in June 1962 after the Carpenters had been hailed at parades in Denver and Boulder and honored at City Hall in New York. A few days after Mr. Carpenter's
mission, the University of Colorado gave him a long-delayed degree in aeronautical engineering at its commencement, citing his "unique experience with heat transfer during his re-entry." He had missed out on his degree by not completing a course in heat transfer
as a senior in 1949. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But the issue of the flight's brush with disaster lingered. A NASA inquiry determined that because of a 25-degree error in the capsule's alignment, the retro rockets had fired at an angle that caused a shallower than normal descent.
That accounted for 175 miles of the overshoot, with the remaining 75 miles caused by the late firing of the rockets and their failure to provide the expected thrust.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Kraft, the flight director, had been angry that Mr. Slayton was denied the mission because of his heart problem, and he was furious at Commander Carpenter, feeling that he had not paid sufficient attention to instructions from the
ground. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Commander Carpenter's prospect of obtaining another NASA mission was ended by a motorbike injury that led to his leaving NASA in 1967.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In a 2001 letter to The New York Times in response to a review of Mr. Kraft's book, Mr. Carpenter wrote that "the system failures I encountered during the flight would have resulted in loss of the capsule and total mission failure had
a man not been aboard." <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"My postflight debriefings and reports," he added, "led, in turn, to important changes in capsule design and flight plans."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In his book "The Right Stuff" (1979), which told how the original astronauts reflected the coolness-under-pressure ethos of the test pilot, Tom Wolfe wrote that Mr. Kraft's criticism fueled NASA engineers' simmering resentment of the
astronauts' status as pop-culture heroes. The way Mr. Wolfe saw it, word spread within NASA that Mr. Carpenter had panicked, the worst sin imaginable in what Mr. Wolfe called the brotherhood of the right stuff.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Wolfe rejected that notion. "One might argue that Carpenter had mishandled the re-entry, but to accuse him of panic made no sense in light of the telemetered data concerning his heart rate and his respiratory rate," he wrote.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The Right Stuff" was made into a movie in 1983, with Charles Frank as Mr. Carpenter.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter also carved a legacy as a pioneer in the ocean's depths. He was the only astronaut to become an aquanaut, spending a month living and working on the ocean floor, at a depth of 205 feet, in the Sealab project off San Diego
in the summer of 1965. When he returned to NASA, he helped develop underwater training to prepare for spacewalks. He returned to the Sealab program, but a thigh injury resulting from his diving work kept him from exploring the ocean floor again.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He retired from the Navy in 1969 with the rank of commander, pursued oceanographic and environmental activities and wrote two novels involving underwater adventures.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter's first three marriages ended in divorce. Besides his wife, Patty Barrett Carpenter, Mr. Carpenter is survived by four sons, Jay, Matthew, Nicholas and Zachary; two daughters, Kristen Stoever and Candace Carpenter; a granddaughter;
and five stepgrandchildren. Two sons, Timothy and Scott, died before him. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Glenn, the last Mercury 7 survivor, is 92. Mr. Grissom died in 1967 in an Apollo spacecraft fire during a launching-pad test. Mr. Slayton died in 1993; Mr. Shepard, the first American in space, died in 1998; L. Gordon Cooper Jr.
died in 2004; and Walter M. Schirra Jr. died in 2007. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Among his many projects, Mr. Carpenter joined with fellow astronauts of the original Mercury 7 to create the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation to aid science and engineering students. In 2006, he returned to the University of Colorado
to present a scholarship to a student studying plasma physics. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He used the occasion to reflect on the thrill he experienced. Spaceflights had become "old hat," he said, but his ardor for space travel remained undimmed.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The flight experience itself is incredible," The Rocky Mountain News quoted him as saying. "It's addictive. It's transcendent. It is a view of the grand plan of all things that is simply unforgettable."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter attended ceremonial events in his final years, when he was reunited with fellow astronauts.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He joined with President George W. Bush and Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, on Veterans Day 2008 in a ceremony on a Hudson River pier aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, formerly the ship whose helicopter
had plucked him to safety. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mr. Carpenter was on hand at Cape Canaveral with Mr. Glenn and veterans of the Project Mercury support teams at events a few days before the 50th anniversary of Mr. Glenn's pioneering orbital flight.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Both men had expressed hopes that America's space program would be revived.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"John, thank you for your heroic effort and all of you for your heroic effort," Mr. Carpenter told the gathering. "But we stand here waiting to be outdone."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Scott Carpenter, one of original Mercury 7 astronauts, dies<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">James Dean - Florida Today (Oct. 10)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Godspeed, Scott Carpenter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The second American to orbit the Earth, Carpenter died Thursday after a stroke. He was 88.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Along with John Glenn, Carpenter was one of the last two surviving original Mercury 7 astronauts for the fledgling U.S. space program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">His wife, Patty Barrett, said Carpenter died of complications from a September stroke in a Denver hospice. He lived in Vail, Colo.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We're going to miss him," she said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter was launched into space from Cape Canaveral on May 24, 1962, and completed three orbits around Earth in his space capsule, the Aurora 7, which he named after the celestial event. It was just a coincidence Carpenter said that
he grew up in Boulder, Colo., on the corner of Aurora Avenue and 7th Street.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But even before Carpenter ventured into space, he made history. On Feb. 20, 1962, he gave the historic send-off to his predecessor in orbit: "Godspeed, John Glenn." It was a spur of the moment phrase, Carpenter later said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"In those days, speed was magic because that's all that was required …. and nobody had gone that fast," Carpenter explained. "If you can get that speed, you're home-free, and it just occurred to me at the time that I hope you get your
speed. Because once that happens, the flight's a success."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Delivered in what NBC News correspondent Jay Barbree of Merritt Island called a baritone "voice of God," Carpenter's call from the Launch Complex 14 blockhouse offered a note of reassurance and prayer as Glenn lifted off at the height
of the space race, in a rocket about which there were safety concerns.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We were pretty much on pins and needles," said Jack King of Cocoa Beach, then NASA's chief of public information for what became Kennedy Space Center. "It really hit me at the time."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter's turn came a little more three months later.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">At a time when astronauts achieved fame on par with rock stars, folks across the country sat glued to their TV screens, anxiously awaiting the outcome of Carpenter's ride. He overshot his landing by 288 miles, giving NASA and the nation
an hour-long scare that he might not have made it back alive.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He was found sitting in a life raft attached to his capsule, eating a Baby Ruth candy bar, Barbree remembered.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"He was a cool customer," said Barbree.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The fallout from that missed landing was a factor that kept NASA from launching Carpenter into space again. So he went from astronaut to "aquanaut" and lived at length on the sea floor — the only man to ever formally explore the two
frontiers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter was as proud of his aquanaut experience as he was of his pioneering space career, Barbree said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Later, he was a dedicated supporter of the Brevard County-based Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, started by NASA's original seven astronauts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We've lost an American hero," said Linn LeBlanc of Cape Canaveral, a former foundation director who spoke to Carpenter days before his death. "He was just a true gentleman."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">A statement on the foundation's Web site said it mourned "the loss of a founder and beloved friend whose bravery and goodwill shall never be forgotten. Godspeed."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">King called Carpenter "a very special guy and a key part of the program."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We're now down to one of the seven original astronauts, the seven standard bearers who really led us in the space program right at the start," he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">For the veteran Navy officer, flying in space or diving to the ocean floor was more than a calling. In 1959, soon after being chosen one of NASA's pioneering seven astronauts, Carpenter wrote about his hopes, concluding: "This is something
I would willingly give my life for."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Curiosity is a thread that goes through all of my activity," he told a NASA historian in 1999. "Satisfying curiosity ranks No. 2 in my book behind conquering a fear."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">His four hours, 39 minutes and 32 seconds of weightlessness were "the nicest thing that ever happened to me," Carpenter told a NASA historian. "The zero-g sensation and the visual sensation of spaceflight are transcending experiences
and I wish everybody could have them."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"He was totally relaxed," said Lee Solid of Merritt Island, then an Atlas program propulsion engineer who worked with Carpenter in the run-up to Glenn's launch. "He just was one of those really smart, sharp guys. He was very professional."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter's trip led to many discoveries about spacecraft navigation and space itself, such as that space offers almost no resistance, which he found out by trailing a balloon.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Barbree called Carpenter the first scientist astronaut because of the many experiments he performed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"All the other guys went up just for the ride and to fly," he said. "He was there to learn what he could learn."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter said astronauts in the Mercury program found most of their motivation from the space race with the Russians. When he completed his orbit of the Earth, he said he thought: "Hooray, we're tied with the Soviets," who had completed
two manned orbits at that time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But things started to go wrong on re-entry. He was low on fuel and a key instrument that tells the pilot which way the capsule is pointing malfunctioned, forcing Carpenter to manually take over control of the landing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">NASA's Mission Control then announced that he would overshoot his landing zone by more than 200 miles and, worse, they had lost contact with him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Talking to a suddenly solemn nation, CBS newsman Walter Cronkite told the audience: "We may have … lost an astronaut."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But Carpenter survived the landing that day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Always cool under pressure — his heart rate never went above 105 during the flight — he oriented himself by simply peering out the space capsule's window. The Navy found him in the Caribbean, floating in his life raft with his feet propped
up. He offered up some of his space rations.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In the 1962 book "We Seven," written by the first seven astronauts, Carpenter wrote about his thoughts while waiting to be picked up after splashing down.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I sat for a long time just thinking about what I'd been through. I couldn't believe it had all happened. It had been a tremendous experience, and though I could not ever really share it with anyone, I looked forward to telling others
as much about it as I could. I had made mistakes and some things had gone wrong. But I hoped that other men could learn from my experiences. I felt that the flight was a success, and I was proud of that."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter never did go back in space, but his explorations continued. In 1965, he spent 30 days under the ocean off the coast of California as part of the Navy's SeaLab II program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Once again the motivation was both fear and curiosity.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I wanted, No. 1, to learn about it (the ocean), but No. 2, I wanted to get rid of what was an unreasoned fear of the deep water," Carpenter told the NASA historian. "<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Inspired by Jacques Cousteau, Carpenter worked with the Navy to bring some of NASA's training and technology to the sea floor. The 57-by-12-foot habitat was lowered to a depth of 205 feet off San Diego. A bottlenose dolphin named Tuffy
ferried supplies from the surface to the aquanauts below.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">After another stint at NASA in the mid-1960s, helping develop the Apollo lunar lander, Carpenter returned to the SeaLab program as director of aquanaut operations for SeaLab III.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He retired from the Navy in 1969, founded his company Sea Sciences Inc., worked closely with Cousteau and dove in most of the world's oceans, including under the ice in the Arctic.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">When the 77-year-old Glenn returned to orbit in 1998 aboard space shuttle Discovery, Carpenter radioed: "Good luck, have a safe flight and … once again, Godspeed, John Glenn."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Malcolm Scott Carpenter was born May 1, 1925, in Boulder, Colo. (He hated his first name and didn't use it). He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother became ill with tuberculosis.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He attended the University of Colorado for one semester, joined the Navy during World War II, and returned to school but didn't graduate because he flunked out of a class on heat transfer his senior year. The school eventually awarded
him a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1962 after he orbited the Earth.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He rejoined the Navy in 1949 and was a fighter and test pilot in the Pacific and served as intelligence officer.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">He married four times and had seven children.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Carpenter said that he joined the Mercury program for many reasons: "One of them, quite frankly, is that it is a chance for immortality. Most men never have a chance for immortality."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">How Late Author Tom Clancy Supported Private Spaceflight<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Leonard David - <a href="http://Space.com">Space.com</a> (Oct. 16)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Tom Clancy, the best-selling writer and master storyteller of military thrillers who died Oct. 1 at age 66 in a Baltimore hospital, was also an early supporter of entrepreneurial space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Clancy authored such runaway best-sellers as "The Hunt for Red October," "Red Storm Rising," "Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger," and "The Cardinal of the Kremlin," which featured anti-satellite lasers and other "Star Wars"-type
weaponry.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">One facet of Clancy's interest in technology is that he was a backer of private rocket development.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Clancy deserves the recognition," said Gary Hudson, CEO of Nevada-based HMX, Inc.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hudson has been involved in private spaceflight development for more than 40 years and is perhaps best known as the founder of Rotary Rocket Company. That visionary firm was dedicated to the development of a single-stage-to-orbit launch
vehicle that used a rocket-tipped rotor propulsion system.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hudson and company colleagues designed a unique vehicle known as the Roton. Rotary Rocket built a landing test simulator, the Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle (ATV), which flew three low-altitude test flights in 1999.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Tom Clancy took part in the March 1, 1999, rollout of the Rotan ATV as an investor and strong supporter of Rotary Rocket Company.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>The hunt for funding<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"My interaction with Tom began in either late 1989 or early 1990," Hudson recalled. "At the time, the Single Stage Rocket Technology program was starting up at the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, and I had a fair amount to
do with that effort."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">During that time period, science fiction writer Jerry Pournelle introduced Hudson to Clancy, who was a fan of Pournelle's writing.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I went to Maryland to visit Clancy at his newly built house on the Chesapeake, which was precisely Jack Ryan's house that is described in 'Patriot Games.' He wrote the book first, and built the house afterwards. Tom was gracious and
welcoming and offered to help me find financing for a fully reusable vertical take-off and landing rocket," Hudson told <a href="http://SPACE.com">SPACE.com</a>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I was astounded by both his enthusiasm and his drive," he said. "We wrote a business plan for a new company, calling it Pacific American Spaceship Company. Tom was tireless in trying to find funding. But in the end, even with his contacts,
the fact that the government was doing a 'competitive' effort, the Delta Clipper-X, meant that we couldn't put a deal together. But I did meet a lot of people with both money and power in D.C. and elsewhere, names that had best remain, well, nameless."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>Clancy investment<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hudson later teamed up with colleague Bevin McKinney in 1993 to develop the Roton concept, keeping Clancy informed of the enterprise.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Entrepreneur Walt Anderson, an early advocate of the commercial development of space, agreed to put the first $5 million into Rotary in fall 1996, Hudson said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I happened to be visiting Tom and proudly told him about the venture. I knew that previously his first wife was not keen on him investing in such things, but he had just gotten divorced and was living in Baltimore in a condo. Even so
I had no expectation that he'd invest," Hudson said. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hudson recalls sitting with Clancy when he said, "Let me know when you are ready to take more investment. I have someone who is interested."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I asked, 'Who?' and he pointed a finger at his chest and said, 'Me!' So the first round of Rotary financing included $1 million from Tom," Hudson said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b>Railroad to space<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hudson said that Clancy then joined the board of Rotary Rocket, followed the group's work with great interest and offered to speak at the Rotan ATV rollout.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"He showed up wearing a train engineer's cap. He was a huge rail aficionado, a bit like Sheldon on 'Big Bang Theory,' and talked about opening a railroad to space.&nbsp; After Rotary failed to raise sufficient funds to continue in late 1999
and early 2000, I spoke to him about what to do next. It was clear Rotary was doomed, so I finally resigned in mid-2000."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Hudson revealed the text of a letter he received from Clancy after the latter learned that Rotary Rocket was no longer.,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I don't think he'd mind me sharing it with the world now," Hudson said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The June 28, 2000, message reads:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left:.5in"><i>Gary, it is with sorrow that I read your letter this morning. It's never fun to see a dream die, all the more so one in which I believe myself. And I continue to believe in you, your brains, your vision, and
your ultimate ability to make it happen. If I'd had the money, I would have funded the damned thing myself. You see, I think the market is there. I wish there were some way I could help, but clearly there is not. I'm still your friend.<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"And I am still his," Hudson said. "He was a true self-made man, both generous and bold. Rest in peace."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><a href="http://www.khou.com/news/local/NASA-scientist-finds-new-purpose-during-furlough-226398141.html"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">NASA scientist finds new purpose amid furlough</span></b></a><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Andrew Horansky - KHOU TV Houston (Oct. 3)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">When Tara Ruttley, 38, found out she was furloughed, she decided to make the best of it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It's okay to be disappointed," Ruttley said. "It's okay to be down, but you can't let it last for too long."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The NASA scientist and mom saw an opportunity to dive into the world of online grocery shopping. It was something she dreamed about for years.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I decided to come home, open my laptop, and throw myself into my own small business at home," Ruttley said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">She runs the Grocery Station out of Clear Lake City. Customers submit an online list of grocery items and shoppers pick them up for a fee.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">With her full-time job now out of the way, Ruttley can focus on building her customer base.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"And so all these folks I knew that could benefit from the service, I just never had the time to reach out to them and to talk to them," Ruttley said. "And so now, I'm finding that I have the time to do that."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">This week about 800,000 federal employees were forced to take furloughs. NASA was the agency hardest-hit, as roughly 97 percent of its staff went home without pay.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ruttley said she looks forward to returning to her job soon and has every intention of one day looking back on this period with fond memories.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">She will know she not only endured a tough time, but that she also came out of it stronger.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Houston, We Have a Market: Privatizing Space Launches Pays Off Big<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Greg Autry &amp; Linda Huang - Forbes (Oct. 2)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><i>(Autry is an adjunct professor with the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Marshall School of Business, USC, and Huang is an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at the Wharton School, University
of Pennsylvania)<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The normally spectacular NASA website went black this week and the space agency tweeted, "Sorry, but we won't be tweeting/responding to replies during the government shutdown. Be back as soon as possible." The future can apparently be
put on hold if it is government run.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">In fact, the media noise surrounding the looming shutdown overshadowed an important space milestone that occurred on Sunday, the nearly simultaneous liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and the docking of a Cygnus capsule with the International
Space Station. What was most significant is that NASA wasn't the designer, builder, or operator of either of these spacecraft. Both were designed and launched by private firms operating in what is now a competitive space launch market, and we can get all the
details at the still functioning websites of SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">To NASA's credit, both have also been beneficiaries of the agency's visionary programs. The Commercial Orbital Transport Services program, or COTS, has been the Federal government's best kept secret. Starting in 2006 under the flexibility
of the Space Act Agreements, our national space agency subsidized the development and testing of commercial replacements for the aging and expensive Space Shuttle by rewarding firms for attaining certain milestones. The program was a resounding success. More
than 20 businesses applied for the program, three were selected, and one of those was quickly eliminated. The total COTS investment of approximately $700 million is about half the estimated (fixed and operating) $1.5 billion cost of a Space Shuttle flight.
The payoffs from this public investment include two new American companies capable of launching NASA's Earth orbit payloads, critical redundancy for U.S. military launches, and the first entirely commercial options for non-governmental customers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">With the COTS milestones complete, the SpaceX Dragon Capsule and the Orbital Cygnus are now operating on a fee-for-service basis under the Commercial Resupply Services program. In fact, SpaceX is on track for its third CRS delivery this
December. Building on this little leg up, SpaceX has built a launch manifest of more than 40 missions serving commercial clients and foreign governments, capturing new dollars for the U.S. economy. In fact, Elon Musk's crazy little space company appears to
be the fastest creator of high-paying jobs in Southern California and now employs more that 3,000 incredibly enthused space cadets.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">When it comes to the International Space Station resupply business, these firms are competing with governmental operations from Russia and Japan. Congressional defenders of the old-school government-operated space service are curiously
disdainful of American entrepreneurship and eagerly point out how these foreign solutions can fill our needs while we compel NASA to build a Space Shuttle replacement. What these critics miss, however, is that every dollar going to one of our domestic firms
stays in the U.S., creates serious jobs, and makes the most of America's entrepreneurial advantages. Funding this investment in America's future follows in the steps of successful Federal investment in jumpstarting industries that have included the transcontinental
railroad, the Internet, and GPS. Such visionary investments have produced big economic returns that increased government revenues for decades.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Furthermore, the COTS demonstrations have established the fundamental competencies needed for commercial human orbital transportation systems. These capabilities are being refined in the third round of NASA's Commercial Crew program,
known as CCiCap, where SpaceX is competing with Boeing BA +1.83% and the Sierra Nevada Corporation. Success in CCiCap will give the U.S. a fully functional privately operated space program, freeing NASA to focus on its research and development missions. Most
important, it will bring market forces to bear on the high-costs of space travel and deliver the sort of completely unpredictable benefits that emerged when we privatized the Internet. However, the President's $800 million request for this effort has been
the target of ill-considered cuts by those whose districts benefit from a continued reliance on government-run solutions. Fully funding NASA's commercial programs should be a priority for Congress when it gets back to business.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Mark Burnett's Space-Themed Reality Show Lands At NBC<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Michael Schneider - TV Guide (Oct. 3)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Mark Burnett is blasting into the heavens with NBC. The reality maestro's new space reality show, as first reported by TV Guide Magazine, has found a home at the Peacock network.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Burnett and Sir Richard Branson are behind Space Race, in which ordinary people will compete for a ride on one of Branson's first Virgin Galactic suborbital space flights. The winner will take off on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo from
Spaceport America in New Mexico, perhaps as soon as next year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The scope of this endeavor is so staggering, that it took these two titans to even imagine it," says Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment. "This will be a remarkable experience for anyone
who has looked at the night's sky and dared to dream of space flight."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Burnett's project isn't the only space-themed show in the marketplace. Sony Pictures TV is pitching Milky Way Mission, which would send celebrities into space via the Netherlands' Space Expedition Corporation. (A Dutch broadcaster has
signed on, but so far there's no network signed on for the show in the U.S.)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The deal for Space Race extends Burnett's recent fruitful relationship with NBC, where The Voice remains a megahit. Burnett is also producing The Bible sequel A.D. for the network.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">It's also a chance for Burnett to finally make good on his starry-eyed dreams to produce a reality show about space. He first sold the show Destination Mir to NBC back in 2000; at the time, the Peacock network agreed to pay Burnett between
$35 million and $40 million for the ambitious series (which included the nearly $20 million that Burnett agreed to pay MirCorp, the company that held the lease to Mir).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">But Destination Mir fell apart when the aging space station was brought down in 2001. Burnett later tried again with the renamed Destination: Space, partnering with the Russian Space Agency and a Russian TV network on a show that would
have put someone aboard a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station. But the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster turned U.S. networks off the idea.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"For the past 10 years I have relentlessly pursued my dream of using a TV show to give an everyday person the chance to experience the black sky of space and look down upon mother Earth," Burnett says. "Last year I spent time in New
Mexico at the state-of-the-art facility and last week spent time in the Mojave Desert with Sir Richard and his impressive team. We got to see the spaceship up close and hear of Sir Richard's incredible vision of how Virgin Galactic is the future of private
space travel. I am thrilled to be part of a series that will give the everyday person a chance to see space and that NBC has come on board so that viewers at home will have a first-class seat."
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Branson has already said he plans to be on the first flight, with his family, on Dec. 25 this year. The Virgin Galactic space rides are expected to last around two hours and take passengers up 62 miles above Earth. They'll experience
weightlessness and witness Earth's curve. Virgin Galactic has said that the company's first flights will only come after the passengers' safety is secured.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Virgin Galactic's mission is to democratize space, eventually making commercial space travel affordable and accessible to all," Branson says. "Space Race allows us to extend this opportunity of a lifetime to as many people as possible
right at the start of our commercial service — through direct experience and television viewing."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Tom Hanks, Ashton Kutcher and Angelina Jolie are among the more than 600 people who have already signed up for a Virgin Galactic flight, which costs $250,000 per seat. That price tag puts a commercial space flight out of reach for most
people, which is part of the idea behind Burnett's show.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Burnett's One Three Media is behind the show, which the producer is now in the process of selling internationally.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Independence<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Space Center Houston picks new name for shuttle replica<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News (Oct. 6)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The shuttle replica at Space Center Houston has a new name.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Independence" was chosen from more than 10,000 entries in the NASA visitor center's Name the Shuttle Contest, which challenged Texans to come up with a name that best symbolizes the spirit of the state and its contributions to the U.S.
space program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Kingwood native Tim Judd, 29, was one of more than 200 people to submit the name, but Judd was quickest on the draw. He submitted Independence within seconds of the contest opening at 10 a.m. July 4.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Judd, a graduate student at Lesley University, said independence was the first word that occurred to him when he heard about the contest. Independence is a concept that has driven Americans for generations and continues to fuel space
exploration, he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Judd helped unveil the shuttle replica's new name at a ceremony at Space Center Houston on Saturday alongside officials from the visitor center. The center, run by a foundation independent of the neighboring Johnson Space Center, remains
open in the midst of a government shutdown.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Judd's name and hometown will be placed on a placard near Independence after the shuttle replica is hoisted atop the enormous 747 jetliner used to ferry shuttles in the program's heyday.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The $12 million, six-story exhibit is scheduled to open in 2015 and will allow visitors to climb aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and replica to see a variety of educational attractions and other features highlighting the history
of the shuttle program.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The hometown of Johnson Space Center was snubbed when shuttles were awarded to museums on the east and west coasts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The planned exhibit will be bigger and better than shuttle attractions elsewhere and will serve as a major tourism draw for the area, Space Center Houston President Richard Allen said. The replica piggybacked on the massive jetliner
should even be visible from Interstate 45, he said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Former shuttle commander Chris Ferguson, who spoke at the ceremony Saturday, said the exhibit will be the only place that visitors can see a shuttle in its transport configuration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Melanie Johnson, the center's director of education, said features at the exhibit will help inspire a new generation of space explorers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"It's going to be iconic for Texas and iconic for the United States," Allen said.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Houston's space shuttle replica christened 'Independence'<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Robert Pearlman - <a href="http://collectSPACE.com">collectSPACE.com</a> (Oct. 5)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Houston's space shuttle mockup is no longer nameless.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The full-size replica is now space shuttle "Independence," its new name symbolizing the spirit of Texas.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Officials with Space Center Houston, the visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center, revealed the name — the winning entry from its recent "Name the Shuttle" statewide contest — during a public christening ceremony Saturday (Oct.
5).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We received a total of 10,263 [contest] entries from all across Texas, and our elite panel of judges sorted through a widespread collection of possibilities," Richard Allen, the president of Space Center Houston, said. "It was a tough
decision, but we ultimately chose a name that celebrates the Lone Star State and highlights its distinct contribution to America's space shuttle program."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The "Name the Shuttle" competition was open to all Texas residents of adult age, from July 4 through Sept. 2 of this year. Entrants were asked to submit names that captured the state's qualities of "optimism and can-do attitude."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Independence" was unveiled on Saturday printed on the body of the 123-foot-long (37 meters), high-fidelity shuttle replica, which since June 2012 has been exhibited outside at Space Center Houston. The newly-named space shuttle Independence
will eventually sit atop NASA's original 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft jumbo jet, as part of a $12 million, six-story attraction currently under development.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The mockup, which was called "Explorer" for the 18 years it was on exhibit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, was stripped of its name before being barged to Houston last year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Tim Judd of Kingwood, Texas, who was the first to submit "Independence" for the replica's new name, participated in Saturday's unveiling ceremony. Judd, who is 29, will have his own name and hometown incorporated into the exhibit once
construction is completed in 2015.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"When I first heard about the 'Name the Shuttle' contest, 'Independence' was the first thought to pop into my mind," Judd said. "This concept is important, not just to the state of Texas, but to all Americans."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"We enjoy freedom every day, striving for a greater sense of independence," Judd added. "It was that exact mindset that brought settlers here in the first place and what drives explorers into space today."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">This isn't the first time "Independence" has been raised as an appropriate name for a space shuttle.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The name the second highest ranked (after "Constitution") among the 15 suggested for the first shuttles in 1978. An ad hoc committee ranked the list of names based on their "relationship to the heritage of the United States, or to the
shuttle's mission of exploration."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ultimately, the reusable winged orbiters were named after sea vessels that were used in world exploration. The now-retired space shuttle fleet included Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. A prototype, originally
called Constitution, was renamed Enterprise after fans of the television show "Star Trek" staged a successful letter-writing campaign.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">For winning the "Name the Shuttle" contest, Judd received a multi-day trip for four to Houston, including a VIP tour of the visitor center and a "behind-the-scenes experience" at the Johnson Space Center.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The state-of-the-art space shuttle Independence attraction will give guests the unique opportunity to climb aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 airliner that was used to ferry the orbiters across the country. Visitors
will also be able to explore the inside of the space shuttle mockup while it is mounted atop the SCA.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The shuttle was a fantastic spacecraft," Chris Ferguson, commander of STS-135, the shuttle's final mission, said. "Visitors from around the world will have the unparalleled opportunity to explore this vehicle through the eyes of an
astronaut, creating a truly unique shuttle experience."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Space Center Houston will be the only place in the world where visitors will be able to see the shuttle 'piggyback' on one of the authentic carrier airplanes," he said. "It is most fitting that this magnificent combination will live
its second career as a learning tool, inspiring generations to come."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt">How Congress destroyed the space program<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><i>Administration's clumsy cancellations of moon and Mars projects helped<o:p></o:p></i></b></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Joshua Jacobs - Washington Times (Opinion)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><i>(Jacobs is a founding member of the Conservative Future Project)<o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Late last month, SpaceX successfully launched its upgraded Falcon-9 into orbit, highlighting that for the first time since Yuri Gagarin circled the Earth, the most exciting developments in aerospace are not taking place at NASA. Innovations
in commercial space dwarf the possibility offered by even the most ambitious NASA programs. While Elon Musk rounds the International Space Station (ISS) and plots colonization missions to Mars, NASA is stuck plotting a solitary trip to an asteroid in the almost
fictionally distant 2030s. What happened, and who is to blame for this travesty? Certainly not NASA. As an institution, it remains one of the greatest repositories of talent in the United States. The answer is inescapable: Congress.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The lack of vision at NASA has never been a consequence of its scientists or administrators. Extremely ambitious plans for missions to Mars, space colonization, interstellar probes, and more have been raised up by the adventurous explorers
and scientists of NASA, only to be dashed by Congress. This skepticism has been compounded by unpredictable and mercurial project management, which has seen multibillion-dollar ventures begun in one administration only to be canceled in the next. Equally devastating
is a system of patronage that sees congressional partisans who couldn't care less about our space program placed in charge of it solely because of the presence of aerospace plants and facilities in their districts.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Take the Space Launch System (SLS) as a prime example of where our space program has gone off the rails. The SLS is largely a replication of earlier rocket systems such as the Saturn V (the one that took us to the Moon), and this lack
of innovation means it will do very little to reduce launch costs or make space exploration more accessible. Designed for cargo delivery and exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO), it was initially priced at around $18 billion with a project-completion date
of 2017.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">As you may have already guessed, this deadline and the project costs have already spiraled out of control. Speculation has run rampant that it could further be delayed until 2022 with costs having already surged to $22 billion. A 2011
report issued by Booz Allen Hamilton estimated that costs for the project plus just four launches could be as high as $42 billion by 2025, with possible delays into 2030.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">What makes this so staggering is not just how much is being expended for so little, it is imagining all that could be done with those resources in that same period of time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Commercial space companies such as Mr. Musk's SpaceX are roaring onto the scene. They have brought launch costs to LEO (the realm of the ISS and an essential zone for planning deeper missions and projects in space) to their lowest in
history. The Falcon-9 could arguably achieve more than any rocket of its class and went from drawing board to completion in 4 years for a measly $300 million. That's the power of the free market. New rockets under development include the Falcon Heavy, which
is aimed at more ambitious missions, while SpaceX's reusable-rocket program, Grasshopper, could revolutionize the space industry.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Nor is SpaceX alone. Companies such as Blue Origin compete with SpaceX in their pursuit of cheaper launch options, while other firms, such as Planetary Resources, aim to exploit the prodigious resources of the high frontier, and still
others such as Bigelow Aerospace seek to accelerate the development of human space habitats. All of these companies are charging towards the future with innovative plans, plunging costs and enormous ambition. They all have the potential to be truly revolutionary,
and have already changed the narrative of space exploration.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Imagine what could be done if resources being thrown into the furnace for the Space Launch System was repurposed for technology incubation, commercial projects, or heaven forbid, actual missions. For the cost of SLS, you could afford
close to 170 launches to the ISS, 55 missions to Mars with cargo or for probes, or more than 220 Falcon Heavy launches. There are opportunity costs to funding bad projects, and funding SLS costs mankind nearly 500 opportunities to actually go to space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Something is wrong with our space program, and while Congress rightly deserves the greatest censure, it is assuredly not alone. When President Obama came to office, NASA was working on the Constellation Program, its most ambitious project
in decades. The plan would have seen the United States return to the moon and establish a permanent base as a first step toward the manned exploration of the solar system. Fiercely lauded in the scientific and space community, it even earned the rare but ringing
endorsement of Neil Armstrong. However, this highly ambitious project was clumsily canceled by the Obama administration in the name of cost-cutting in 2010 — only to be replaced with the government monstrosity known as SLS a year later.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">It is high time for a change, and a good place to start would be canceling an out-of-control Space Launch System. With SLS canceled, we could extend new launch contracts to private companies that actually compete for those contracts
and have to contend with pricing pressure that force them to give the taxpayer the best value for his dollar. Most importantly, canceling SLS could refocus our efforts on new projects chosen by scientists not legislators — not to mention freeing up money for,
you know, actually going to space.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">It's only a first step, but it has to start somewhere. We could accomplish so much over the next decade and accelerate the development of the high frontier, but we have to act.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt">END<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="section1"><span style="color:windowtext"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,&quot;serif&quot;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></p>
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