News From Space!

US military’s top secret X-37B shuttle ‘disappears’ for two weeks, changes orbit

Rick — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 17:55:35 +0000

AMATEUR astronomers are enjoying a cat-and-mouse game with the US military in keeping track of its secret space plane, the X-37B.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/us-militarys-top-secret-x-37b-shuttle-disappears-for-two-weeks-changes-orbit/story-e6frfro0-1225909738276#ixzz0xdpyD3WW

Work Continues on New NASA Spaceships, Despite Uncertainties

Rick — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:38:48 +0000

NASA is pushing ahead with work on its new Orion space capsule and Ares rockets despite their ambiguous status as lawmakers discuss the agency's 2011 budget request.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/08/20/new-nasa-spaceships-forge-uncertain-atmosphere/

NASA Outreach Program ‘Confirmed’ Despite White House Denial, Rep Says

Rick — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:30:21 +0000

The White House is disavowing a plan to have NASA conduct outreach to Muslim countries, but a congressman who talked to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about that plan last month said the initiative was very real until somebody slammed the brakes on it.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/14/nasa-outreach-program-confirmed-despite-white-house-denial-rep-says/

Buzz’s iPhone App

Rick — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:28:02 +0000

The Buzz Aldrin Portal to Science & Space Exploration is on iTunes and the iPhone App store!

http://buzzaldrin.com/community/buzzs-iphone-app/

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/06/buzz-aldrin-is-not-all-that-impressed-with-walking-on-the-moon.html

ISS: Soyuz TMA-19 Ready To Launch Expedition 24 Crew

DIRECT2TheMoon — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:36:57 +0000

Fyodor Yurchikhin will command the Russian spacecraft, while NASA's Shannon Walker will act as Soyuz Flight Engineer. Doug Wheelock rounds out the crew as FE-2. Wheelock will command Expedition 25 in September.

The trio will launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome on a 2-day flight which will arrive at the ISS on Thursday, joining Expedition 24 commander Alexander Skvortsov, cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and American astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson.

Liftoff is scheduled for 5:35PM EDT today (that's 2135 GMT Tuesday, 3:35AM Wednesday local time).

Play-by-play at Spaceflight Now. Watch live on NASA TV.

Check our Twitter for updates.

Boldly Going Nowhere: NASA Ends Plan to Put Man Back on Moon

Rick — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 17:11:47 +0000

NASA has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon — effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight program despite a congressional ban on its doing so.

Legislators have accused President Obama’s Administration of contriving to slip the termination of the Constellation program through the back door to avoid a battle on Capitol Hill.

Falcon 9 Launch: Friday

Rick — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 22:03:14 +0000

The first flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now being targeted for no earlier than Friday, June 4 2010. The window for the test flight remains 1 p.m. to 5 p.m [see update below - TonyF]. Once the final approvals are given and related documentation is completed, the California-based company will be cleared to launch the Falcon 9 from Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force base.

UPDATE: Launch window opens at 11AM EDT. Live coverage at SpaceFlightNow, FlaToday, Nasaspaceflight, and of course SpaceX.

UPDATE 2: Launch delayed, no new time - window extends to 3PM EDT. Check our Twitter for updates.

Memorial Day 2010

TonyF — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:19:58 +0000

Memorial Day is here again. Please take a moment of silence at 3PM (your local time) to remember all the men and women who gave all in order to defend the United States.

Today In Space History: Ancient To Modern

DIRECT2TheMoon — Fri, 28 May 2010 23:41:30 +0000

May 28 In Space History:

585 BC (going waaaaay back): The "Battle of the Eclipse" ended a war between two ancient nations because a solar eclipse caused the warring factions to believe that their gods wanted an end to the hostilities. Since eclipses can be calculated for past and future dates, this is one of the earliest historical events for which the precise date is known. (Thanks Wikipedia)

1959 (ok, back to AD): Able and Miss Baker, the first "space monkeys" to return from space alive, were launched and recovered unscathed after a 9-minute suborbital flight in the nosecone of a Jupiter MRBM. Go primates! (Thanks @SpacemensLuck)

1962: The USSR launches the Kosmos 5 satellite, which spent a year in orbit on a scientific research and testing mission.

1964: NASA launches Saturn 6, an unmanned test of the Saturn I rocket which would evolve into the launchers to carry astronauts to Earth orbit and to the Moon. (Thanks Mark Wade)

2002: Scientists working on the Mars Odyssey orbiter program announce that large quantities of water ice were detected beneath the surface of Mars. (Thanks @airandspace)

Look for hashtag #TISH on our Twitter feed for more Today In Space History!

STS-132: TOUCHDOWN!

TonyF — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:06:49 +0000

"Space Shuttle Atlantis now comes home to the Kennedy Space Center for the final time. Twenty-five years, thirty-two flights and more than 120 million miles traveled - the legacy of Atlantis now in the history books".

"We'll... turn this incredible machine over to the ground teams to put her back in the barn for a little bit".

Atlantis and her six-man crew have come home to KSC's Runway 33, after traveling 4,879,978 miles on what is scheduled to be her last mission. NASA reports:

Atlantis Lands at Kennedy Space Center

Image above: Space shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA TV

With Commander Ken Ham and Pilot Tony Antonelli at the controls, space shuttle Atlantis descended to its final planned landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The STS-132 crew concluded its successful mission to the International Space Station when the shuttle touched down at 8:48 a.m. EDT.

The crew began its mission May 14 and arrived at the station May 16.

Using the station’s robotic arm, Mission Specialists Piers Sellers and Garrett Reisman added Rassvet, the Russian Mini-Research Module 1, to the station. The new module will host a variety of biotechnology and biological science experiments and fluid physics and educational research.

During three spacewalks Reisman, along with Mission Specialists Mike Good and Steve Bowen, added a backup high-data-rate antenna to the station and a tool platform to Dextre, the robot-like special purpose dexterous manipulator. They removed and replaced six 375-pound batteries on the station’s P6 truss segment.

STS-132 is the 132nd shuttle mission and the 34th mission to visit the space station. The next mission, STS-133, is slated to launch in September.

› View Atlantis Landing Ground Tracks

Additional Resources
› Read more about the Russian-built Mini-Research Module-1
› STS-132 Mission Summary (710 Kb PDF)
› STS-132 Press Kit (9.8 Mb PDF)

Live coverage at SpaceVidCast. Live video at SFN and Florida Today. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.