By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

Russian Ruler-for-Life Vladimir Putin has dismissed Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center General Director Vladimir Nesterov in the wake of last month’s failed launch of a Proton rocket, which stranded two communications satellites in useless orbits.

Russian media report that the Russian president accepted Nesterov’s resignation. Russia has experienced seven launch failures over the past two years, several of which can be tied to failures of Khrunichev produced upper stages.

Media reports said that Nesterov tendered his resignation a week after the Aug. 7 launch failure. However, a statement from Khrunichev said Nesterov remained on the job and could only be dismissed by Putin.

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Mars in opposition. (Credit: STScI)

With its Chandrayaan-II moon mission on hold due to the lack of reliable rocket to send it there, ISRO has decided to its its first spacecraft to Mars next year.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is expected to launch a Mars Orbiter as early as November next year with a 25kg scientific payload.

The Mars mission, which will study its atmosphere, will be launched by an extended version of ISRO’s warhorse rocket –the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

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An effort by Spaceport America officials to get legal immunity extended to spacecraft manufacturers and suppliers hit a patch of rough air last week during a hearing held by two interim legislative panels in Truth or Consequences last week.

Spaceport America Executive Director Christine Anderson told lawmakers that the bill’s failure in the 2012 Legislature was a key reason behind one company’s decision to locate its headquarters in Florida — a state that already has OK’d the legal immunity being proposed. New Mexico is at risk for losing more potential spaceport clients, she said.

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NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is given a tour of the Bigelow Aerospace facilities by the company’s President Robert Bigelow on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011, in Las Vegas. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

NASA’s decision last month to award commercial crew contracts worth a combined $900 million to Boeing and SpaceX has provided a boost for Bigelow Aerospace’s efforts to launch private space stations into orbit.

Bigelow, which has partnered with both companies to provide transportation services to its orbital facilities, plans to hire re-hire workers who had been earlier laid off due to delays in NASA’s commercial crew program.

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

In a move that has puzzled military observers, Russia’s defense czar has called for his nation to produce a hypersonic bomber within eight years:

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin repeated his appeal on Monday for Russia to develop a hypersonic aircraft for its PAK-DA long-range bomber requirement.

“I think we need to go down the route of hypersonic technology and we are moving in that direction and are not falling behind the Americans,” he said on Rossiya 24 TV. “We will use this technology when developing a new bomber.”

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ISRO officials are planning to commercialize parts of its space program and add a new launchpad as the space agency prepares for its 100th mission next week.

India’s workhorse rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which has completed 20 consecutively successful launches under the eagle eye of ISRO, is one such technology that the agency is hoping to hive off to private players. Today, about 80% of the vehicle is put together with parts supplied by the private industry. If K Radhakrishnan, the current chairman of ISRO and a manager trained at the Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore has his way, then the entire vehicle itself could well be made and launched by private players.

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Reston, Va., August 30, 2012 (AIAA PR) – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Foundation (AIAA Foundation), at the request of the family of Neil A. Armstrong, who was the first person to set foot on the Moon, and an AIAA Honorary Fellow, has established the Neil Armstrong Scholarship Endowment Fund.

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SpaceX successfully completed a wet dress rehearsal on Friday in preparation for cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, now set for early October. The test involved raising the Falcon 9 rocket into launch position and conducting a simulated countdown.

Space Florida PR — Space Florida, the State’s spaceport authority and aerospace economic development organization, and NanoRacks, LLC, have announced a partnership to host the Space Florida International Space Station (ISS) Research Competition. As part of this program, NanoRacks will provide up to eight Payload Box Units (NanoLabs) that will fly payloads to the ISS, with scientific research that will be conducted on board the U.S. National Lab. Space Florida will cover the costs of research payload transportation to the ISS for the eight winning applicants.

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Mitt Romney. (Credit: Gage Skidmore)

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

Last night was a rather eventful one in Tampa, Florida. Clint Eastwood spent about 11 minutes berating an empty chair, startling everyone watching in the arena and on TV. There were two questions on everyone’s minds: what had that poor chair had done to deserve that,and why had Eastwood spent 82 years hiding his brilliant improvisational skills. (Clint, hit the comedy clubs! Or do a Rat Pack style show with Mickey Rooney, Jerry Seinfeld and Betty White. That would be such an awesome train wreck!)

Clint is always hard act to follow, no more so than on Thursday night. But, Mitt Romney gave it the old boarding school try. In his acceptance speech last night, the Republican Presidential nominee paid tribute to Neil Armstrong and America’s can-do spirit:

I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country, a classic baby boomer. It was a time when Americans were returning from war and eager to work. To be an American was to assume that all things were possible. When President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon, the question wasn’t whether we’d get there, it was only when we’d get there.

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