News From Space!

First one for this crew is in the books. NASA reports:

Station Crew Completes Successful Spacewalk

Image above: Flight Engineer Sunita Williams (left) and Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria work with the Early Ammonia Servicer on the P6 Truss. Image credit: NASA TV

The first of three spacewalks in nine days by Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams wrapped up Wednesday at 6:09 p.m. EST. During the 7-hour 55-minute excursion, the spacewalkers reconfigured one of two cooling loops for the Destiny module, rearranged electrical connections and secured the starboard radiator of the P6 truss after retraction.

+ Read more about Wednesday’s spacewalk

Two other spacewalks from Quest will follow. Lopez-Alegria and Williams are scheduled to make the second spacewalk on Feb. 4 and the third for Feb. 8.

+ Read more about the upcoming spacewalks

Outside the ISS, the first of Expedition 14’s four EVAs is underway. NASA reports:

Station Crew Conducting Spacewalk

Image above: Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria works near the starboard radiator of the P6 Truss during the spacewalk. Image credit: NASA TV

The first of three spacewalks in nine days by Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Sunita Williams began today at 10:14 a.m. EST. Tasks scheduled for today’s six-hour, 30-minute excursion include reconfiguring one of two cooling loops for the Destiny module, rearranging electrical connections and securing and covering the starboard radiator of the P6 truss after retraction.

Read the rest of this entry »

The YAL-1A, a modified Boeing 747-400F known as the Airborne Laser, will test-fire its low-power laser in flight for the first time as part of a long-term test phase at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., according to an Air Force report.

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/01/AFairbornelaser070129/

Today marks the 21st anniversary of a terrible tragedy in the history of the Space Program: The Challenger disaster.  On 28 January 1986,  7 astronauts lost their lives when Shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after launch. Mission Fact sheet here; Crew info here; Video here; Image collections here and here.

Mission STS-51L was the 25th Shuttle flight, and it carried the first “Teacher In Space“, Christa McAuliffe. The Challenger, (OV-99), was the second orbiter built, and had completed 9 successful missions (starting with STS-6 in 1983) before the awful incident, which was caused by O-rings in the right solid rocket booster becoming brittle in the winter cold.

The accident rocked the nation and became embedded in the minds of an entire generation. The remains of some crewmembers were buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery, and the wreckage of the spacecraft is sealed in a missile silo at Cape Canaveral. NASA grounded the Shuttle program for more than two years while safety improvements were made.

The Challenger Learning Centers, dedicated to space science education, were founded in honor of the crew. Remember the brave men and women of Challenger, Apollo 1, and Columbia!

Today marks the 40th anniversary of a tragic day in the race for the moon: the Apollo 1 fire. On 27 Jan 1967, three astronauts lost their lives on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral during a test procedure in preparation for what would have been the first mission in the lunar program. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee perished when a spark ignited the pure-oxygen atmosphere of the Apollo Command Module at Pad 34. Crew info here; Image collections here and here. The loss of AS-204 caused a delay of nearly two years in the Apollo program, resulting in many changes to the spacecraft design.

In December 1997, nearly 31 years after the accident, President Clinton posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Chaffee and White. Grissom’s was among the first medals awarded in October 1978 by President Carter.

This week will see remembrances of the three tragedies whose anniversaries fall so closely on the calendar: Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia. Never forget the heroes of space exploration!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,246958,00.html 

BREAKING NEWS — Iran Set to Try Space Launch

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/IRAN01257.xml

China and Russia are developing space weapons and are among several nations working on systems to threaten U.S. satellites with lasers or missiles, says the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. 

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070116-101320-7600r.htm

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1188