Washington, D.C. (WIA PR) — Women in Aerospace is proud to recognize nine outstanding women for their contributions to the aerospace industry and to the advancement of women in the field. These women, who included SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, were honored at the 27^th annual Women in Aerospace Awards with a reception and dinner held on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Arlington, Va.

The Women in Aerospace awards celebrate women’s professional excellence in aerospace, annually recognizing female leaders who have made outstanding contributions to the aerospace community.

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Seattle, WA, November 1, 2012 (Spaceflight PR) — Spaceflight Inc. (Spaceflight) with its partner Andrews Space (Andrews) recently completed a Preliminary Design Review for the Spaceflight Secondary Payload System (SSPS) to support a launch in early 2013.

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Proton rocket

Jim Oberg penned a detailed account for Aerospace America of the problems affecting the Russian space program, which has seen a perilous decline in quality in recent years resulting in numerous launch failures.  It seems that at least part of the problem has resulted from an inspection process that has shifted from ensuring quality to increasing quantity.

“The current quality assurance system was created in Soviet times,” the source explained. “Quality is controlled at all stages of launch vehicle, upper-stage, and spacecraft production and assembly. It is the plant’s technical control department and military representatives, that is to say representatives of the armed forces in civilian organizations, that give the go-ahead for the finished, assembled product to be shipped to the spaceport.”

The difference today is that these former military inspectors are now paid by the civilian companies. So the greater the amount of hardware shipped, the better their relations with their management, and the bigger their bonuses will be. Thus they have become reluctant to make a fuss if a fault is found with a rocket or satellite. Instead, the source reported, “everything is settled internally.”

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL., November 1, 2012 (CASIS PR) – The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization promoting and managing research on board the International Space Station (ISS) U.S. National Laboratory, today announced its first research grant awards totaling $1.2 million for three projects advancing protein crystallization in microgravity.

The winning experiments, which could lead to breakthroughs in treating human disease, were chosen from 16 submissions in response to CASIS’ first solicitation in June for proposals in the field of protein crystallography. Crystallography is the technique used to determine three-dimensional structures of protein molecules. Protein crystallization, when performed in space, may produce larger, better-organized crystals, allowing more focused drug development. The Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued after a panel of life science experts reviewed 136 experiments flown in space over the last decade and identified protein crystallization as one of the most promising areas of microgravity research.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in front of the Dragon capsule. (Credit: NASA)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2012 (NASA PR) — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed its first three performance milestones for NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative, which is intended to lead to the availability of commercial human spaceflight services for government and commercial customers.

During the company’s first milestone, a technical baseline review, NASA and SpaceX reviewed the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket for crew transportation to low-Earth orbit and discussed future plans for ground operations for crewed flights. The second milestone included a review of the company’s plan to achieve the CCiCap milestones established during SpaceX’s $440 million Space Act Agreement. SpaceX also presented the company’s financial resources to support its co-investment in CCiCap.

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Richmond, BC (MDA PR) — MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., a provider of essential information solutions, today announced that MDA has received notice from the Bureau of Competition Premerger Notification Office of the Federal Trade Commission that it has completed its review of the transaction for MDA to acquire Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (SS/L) and that early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended, has been granted with respect to the transaction.

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RD-180 test firing. (Credit: NASA)

Space News reports on the progress of a program that could lead to a replacement for Atlas V’s Russian-supplied first stage engine:

Negotiations on a proposal in which NASA and the U.S. Air Force would jointly fund an Aerojet-led propulsion project that could pave the way for a U.S. alternative to the Russian-built RD-180 rocket engine are bogged down over cost sharing issues, according to government and industry officials.

The impasse centers on how much funding the Air Force would provide for tests Aerojet has proposed as part of a program aimed at upgrading NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) crew and cargo rocket. Aerojet is one of four companies NASA selected in July to work on liquid- and solid-fueled booster concepts meant to improve SLS’s lift capacity and affordability.

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Longueuil, Quebec (CSA PR) — The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), together with Steve MacLean, President of the CSA, celebrated Canada’s legacy in space by highlighting another milestone in CSA’s robotics work on rovers. These terrestrial rovers are bringing CSA one step closer to developing the next generation of rovers for space exploration. The rovers performed robotic demonstrations at the CSA’s analogue testing terrain, the largest of its kind in the world, which replicates the surface of the Moon or Mars.

“Canada’s reputation for excellence has been carved out through decades of innovation and technological advances such as the iconic Canadarm, Canadarm2 and Dextre,” said Minister Paradis. “That legacy continues with the Next Generation Canadarm and these pioneer terrestrial rovers.”

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Mojave Air and Space Port CEO/General Manager Stu Witt has set the record straight about the hiring of former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. It had been widely reported that the East Kern Airport District (EKAD) Board of Directors would be meeting on Wednesday to consider an agreement to hire Richardson to help strengthen California’s informed consent law, which covers commercial spaceflights. Witt told the EKAD board that these reports […]

The Lurio Report  FOR PRICING & SUBSCRIPTIONS: <https://www.thelurioreport.com/subscribe.html> Dragon Reaches ISS Despite Falcon Engine Shutdown, Altius, ‘Blue’ and XCOR News, Farewells Contents: Quick Updates Altius Gains Contracts and SAA Stig B Flies, Is Recovered Properly…But Progress at Blue Origin, XCOR Aerospace and The Suborbital Advantage Blue Origin – Successful Thrust Chamber Firing, Pad Escape Tests and More XCOR Aerospace – Engine Fired From Within Lynx, Vehicle-Mounted Solar Observatory Baumgartner’s Jump […]