As part of NASA’s Ground Systems Development and Operations Program, a space shuttle-era work platform is being moved to the floor high bay 3 of the VAB. GSDO is developing the ground systems, infrastructure and operational approaches to safely process, the next generation of rockets and spacecraft. (Credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann)

By Bob Granath
NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center

The Vehicle Assembly Building, or VAB, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is undergoing renovations to accommodate future launch vehicles. A project of Ground Systems Development and Operations, or GSDO, space shuttle-era work platforms have been removed from the VAB’s High Bay 3 and accommodations are being made to support a variety of future spacecraft, including NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket. The changes are part of a centerwide modernization and refurbishment initiative in preparation for the next generation of human spaceflight.

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KIRUNA, Sweden (Spaceport Sweden PR) — Spaceport Sweden has been awarded the ”Innovation of the Year”, being promoted as a pioneer and role model for innovation combining science, nature and technology to develop new cutting edge experiences and developing space tourism in Sweden. The award was handed out at the Swedish Tourism Awards, in Stockholm on October 18th. The jury’s motivation: Here we see a pioneer and role model of […]

SpaceX’s recent cargo mission to the International Space Station experienced more problems than just an engine failure on the Falcon 9 booster. The problems included equipment shutting down due to a lack of radiation hardened components and a malfunctioning freezer carrying valuable experimental samples back to Earth for analysis. ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini briefed the NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operations Committee on Wednesday, Marcia Smith reports. The anomalies […]

SpaceX PR — On November 1, 2012, SpaceX’s Grasshopper — a 10-story vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle — lifted nearly two stories in an 8-second duration test hop. The rocket rose 17.7 feet (5.4 meters), hovered, and touched back down safely on the pad at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas. The Grasshopper program is a critical step toward achieving SpaceX’s goal of developing fully and rapidly reusable […]

14 November 2012 (Astrium/EADS PR) – Astrium, a world leader in space technologies, and EADS North America today jointly announced the creation of Astrium Americas, America’s newest space company. A subsidiary of EADS North America, Astrium Americas will bring Astrium’s broad global space capabilities to North America. Astrium Americas will also provide government customers with secure satellite communications services formerly marketed by Vizada, Inc.

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Marcia Smith reports that Congress is back at work after the election and is actually doing something constructive: The House passed H.R. 6586 today, extending for two years the government’s authority to indemnify launch services companies from third party claims for certain amounts of money resulting from launch vehicle accidents. The current authority expires on December 31, 2012.   The bill was not controversial.  Only five Members — four Republicans and one […]

Virgin Galactic is partnering with Zero Point Frontiers Corp. in the development of its LauncherOne rocket, an air-launch vehicle that will place small satellites into orbit:

“ZPFC has been an important member of the team in the early days of designing LauncherOne,” Virgin Galactic CTO Steve Isakowitz said in a statement. “We wanted to start from a blank sheet of paper and organically construct the optimal launch vehicle to meet our goals of a low cost launch vehicle. ZPFC’s support is excellent in ensuring that we looked at the full range of options, but were still able to quickly select down to the best technical paths.”

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Mojave, Ca and Arlington, Va, November 14, 2012 (ATK/XCOR PR) – XCOR Aerospace announced today that it has issued the initial phase of a two-phase contract to ATK’s Aerospace Structures Division [NYSE:ATK] for the detailed design and manufacture of the Lynx Mark I suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV) wings and control surfaces. This announcement represents a critical milestone in the march toward assembly, test and entry into commercial service of the Lynx.

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Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)

When Prime Minister Vladimir Putin appointed Dmitry Rogozin as a special czar to oversee the space and defense sectors last year, he wanted his deputy prime minister to not only find solutions to a series of embarrassing and costly launch failures, he wanted him to ferret out widespread corruption in these sectors.

Well, it looks like the cossacks are coming home to roost. There are allegations that that the company that oversees Russia’s global satellite navigation system has engaged in a massive embezzlement scheme:

The Russian government is supporting a transparent investigation of an alleged embezzlement of 6.5 billion rubles [$204.68 million] allocated for the development of the Glonass global navigation satellite system, Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov said on Friday.

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Vitaly A. Lopota

MOSCOW (RSC Energia PR) — The Sergius hall of the cathedral of Christ the Saviour became the venue for the ceremony to award the international Man of the Year 2012 prize to persons and organizations from Russian Federation and other countries for outstanding achievements in science, culture, public administration and politics, economics, education, medicine, small and innovation business, sports, etc.

RSC Energia President and General Designer V.A. Lopota was awarded the prize in the Economics category for personal contribution to the development of rocket and space technology.

In the Public Administration category, the prize was awarded to: President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin; President of the Republic of Belarus; A.G. Lukashenko, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan; N.A. Nazarbaev, a counselor to the President of the Russian Federation; and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences S.Y. Glaziev.

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