PASADENA, Calif. — Twin NASA spacecraft that achieved orbit around the moon New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day have new names, thanks to elementary students in Bozeman, Mont. Their winning entry, “Ebb and Flow,” was selected as part of a nationwide school contest that began in October 2011.

The names were submitted by fourth graders from the Emily Dickinson Elementary School. Nearly 900 classrooms with more than 11,000 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia participated in the contest. Previously named Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL-A and -B, the washing machine-sized spacecraft begin science operations in March, after a launch in September 2011.

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Michael Leinbach with then-First Lady Laura Bush during the launch of STS-114 in 2005. (Credit: NASA)

ULA PR — CENTENNIAL, Colo., Jan. 16, 2012  — United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced today that Mike Leinbach has joined the company as the Director of Human Spaceflight Operations.

“We are fortunate to have Mike with his wealth of human spaceflight experience join the ULA team,” said George Sowers, ULA’s vice president of Business Development. “His background in leading overall space shuttle launch activities for more than a decade, executing 37 space shuttle launches, will be invaluable as we develop human spaceflight capabilities for our Atlas and Delta systems.”

Prior to joining ULA, Leinbach had a distinguished 27-year career with NASA at Kennedy Space Center. Beginning in 2000, he led the launch team for all space shuttle missions, serving as the final “go” for launch, and as the senior operations expert for all flight elements and ground support equipment processing.

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This week on The Space Show…. Monday, Jan. 16, 2011 2-3:30 PM PST, 5-6:30 PM EST, 4-5:30 PM CST: We welcome DR. ROGER HANDBERG to the program to discuss space policy and more. Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, 7-8:30 PM PST, 10-11:30 PM EST, 9-10:30 PM CST: We welcome DR. PAUL CZYSZ to the program on advanced engineering, hypersonics and much more. Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, 2-3 PM PST, 5-6 PM […]

SpaceX will need to delay the planned February 7 launch of a Dragon freighter to the International Space Station (ISS), according to the following statement released by the company this morning:

Update on Next SpaceX Launch

In preparation for the upcoming launch, SpaceX continues to conduct extensive testing and analysis.

We believe that there are a few areas that will benefit from additional work and will optimize the safety and success of this mission.

We are now working with NASA to establish a new target launch date, but note that we will continue to test and review data.  We will launch when the vehicle is ready.

This is a demo flight under which Dragon will be berthed at the space station. If successful, it will pave the way for SpaceX to begin delivering cargo to the orbiting facility on a commercial basis later this year.

UPDATE: NASASpaceFlight.com has a bit more on the delay, including SpaceX’s attempt to spin it as a positive development that will enhance astronaut safety down the road if NASA selects Dragon under the commercial crew program:

That responsibility is not only to re-establish the domestic cargo supply line to the orbital outpost for the first time since STS-135, but also to lay the foundations of the ultimate Low Earth Orbit goal of transporting US astronauts back to the ISS via an American launch vehicle and spacecraft.

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After the Part-Time Scientists gained the support of the DLR, the team is now pleased to announce a partnership with the Planetary Geodesy Department of the College of Geodesy and Geoinformation Science for their 2013 lunar mission. The researchers at the Planetary Geodesy Department are exploring planetary bodies by measuring their attributes, such as size, gravity, and rotation, mapping their surfaces globally and locally, and investigating relationships between these. Prof. Dr. Jürgen Oberst chairs the department and also heads the DLR Institute for Planetary Research in Berlin. Among other things, Prof. Dr. Oberst is involved in NASA’s LRO mission launched in June 2009, where the “Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter” explores the surface of the moon from an altitude of just 50 kilometers.

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Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day. (Credit: Twentieth Century Fox Corporation)

There’s a terrific scene in the film, “Independence Day,” that has great relevance to 2012.

Computer genius David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) and Marine Capt. Steven Hiller (Will Smith) have just convinced President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) that they can fly a captured alien spacecraft up to the mothership and implant a computer virus that will take down the aliens’ defensive network, allowing humanity to launch one last, desperate counterattack. The President and his entourage depart, leaving the two men alone to plan their mission.

“You really think you can fly that thing?” Levinson asks.

“You really think you can do all that bullshit you just said?” Hiller replies.

Levinson doesn’t answer.

It’s a nice scene. Hiller’s “right back at ya response” is exactly what you’d expect from a cocky fighter jock. The fact that neither man answers the other one’s question shows they really don’t know if they can pull it off. And yet their lives, and the fate of the human race, depend on them doing precisely that.

So, do I think the Mayan predicted apocalypse set for December will involve an alien invasion? Maybe, but probably not. The scene is, however, very relevant for NewSpace this year. The time for talk is over; time to prove they can do all that bullshit they’ve been talking for so very many years.

And you know what? They might just pull it off.

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ITAR-TASS reports that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has taken personal control of the investigation into the failure of Phobos-Grunt, the ambitious planetary mission to fell into the South Pacific on Sunday instead of flying to Mars. “I expect from the Federal Space Agency a promised report on the reasons for the Phobos-Grunt crash, the names of culprits and an overview on the prospects of development of the space […]

Phobos-Grunt in orbit around the Earth. (Credit: Ralph Vandeberg -- used by permission)

The derelict Phobos-Grunt spacecraft has returned to Earth in a crash more spectacular than Tim Tebow’s flame-out in New England last night. Preliminary reports have the spacecraft re-entering in the South Pacific off the coast of Chile. However, the Twitterosphere is abuzz with alternate reports of it coming down over Brazil. A definite answer is due within the next day. There have been no reports of injuries.

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NASA’S Orion Spacecraft to Land in Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama WASHINGTON — A test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft soon will make a cross-country journey, giving residents in three states the chance to see a full scale test version of the vehicle that will take humans into deep space. The crew module will make stops during a trip from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to the Kennedy […]

OMEGA ENVOY PR — Omega Envoy, the Floridian team that is competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) is proud to announce that they have gained another high-quality partner – Workforce Central Florida.  Workforce Central Florida (WCF) is the region’s workforce expert, an authority for workforce planning, programs, and the labor market. WCF connects employers to the largest pool of talent in the area and provides worker resources and training.

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