Vladimir Putin inside of a full-size mockup of Russia's six-passenger "Rus" spacecraft. (Credit: RSC Energia)

MOSCOW  — August 19, 2011 (Energia PR) — In Zhukovsky, Moscow region, the 10th International Aerospace Show (MAKS-2011), which was held on August 16 through 21, has completed its work.

The Corporation’s stand, which was a part of the joint exhibit of the Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos), was a continuous focus of attention for a great number of visitors, among whom there were specialists from aviation and space companies of Russia and other countries, scientists, representatives of business circles, university students and teachers, veterans of the industry, journalists, aerospace aficionados.

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…for launch aboard an American/Russian/Ukrainian rocket.

Space: it’s not just intergalactic, anymore. It’s international!

(OSC PR — Dulles, VA 25 August 2011) – Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, today announced that the first pressurized cargo module (PCM) for its Cygnus™ cargo logistics spacecraft has arrived at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.

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AFP takes a look at the problems with the Russian space industry, which has lost four rockets and six spacecraft in under 9 months. It’s not a pretty picture: The previous leadership of Russia’s space agency Roskosmos “paid little attention to the production and operation of spacecraft,” concurred Konstantin Kredenko, the editor of the specialised Vestnik Glonass magazine. “The series of accidents with Russian satellites is not by chance. It […]

Aaay!! (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) today issued the following statement regarding the failure of the Russian Progress resupply mission and NASA’s implementation of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010:

“Today we received word from NASA that the Russian Progress resupply mission for the International Space Station (ISS) failed to reach orbit and deliver supplies to the ISS. In light of the failure of the Russian Progress vehicle, it is fortunate the Congress authorized the final flight of the space shuttle to provide supplies to ensure long term viability of the ISS. Without the cargo provided by the shuttle, the ISS, and our astronauts, would be in a more precarious logistical situation. This failure underscores the importance of successful development of our own National capabilities and at the same time demonstrates the risks with having limited options for ISS supply and crew rotation. As we have already seen with the multi-year delay with commercial providers of cargo to the space station, the country would greatly benefit from the timely implementation of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and development of the Space Launch System (SLS) as a back-up system.”

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In an audit released today, the NASA Office of Inspector General reports that the space agency followed the law in deciding to place retired space shuttle orbiters at facilities in Florida, Virginia, New York and California and found no evidence of political influence on the decision-making process.

In summary, we found that NASA’s decisions regarding Orbiter placement were the result of an Agency-created process that emphasized above all other considerations locating the Orbiters in places where the most people would have the opportunity to view them….

We found no evidence that the Team’s recommendation or the Administrator’s decision were tainted by political influence or any other improper consideration….We also found that NASA’s process was consistent with applicable Federal law.

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WASHINGTON — NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) will conduct a full-scale test of a five-segment, solid rocket motor at the ATK Aerospace Systems test facility in Promontory, Utah, at 4:05 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Sept. 8.

The static firing of the five-segment solid rocket motor, designated Development Motor-3 (DM-3), will last approximately two minutes. DM-3 is the third in a series of development motors and the most heavily instrumented solid rocket motor in NASA history, with a total of 37 test objectives measured through more than 970 instruments.

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Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) has issued a statement concerning the loss of a Russian Progress freighter earlier today:

“I am calling on General Bolden, the NASA Administrator, to propose an emergency transfer of funding from unobligated balances in other programs, including the Space Launch System, to NASA’s commercial crew initiative. Funding should be used to speed up the efforts of the four current industry partners to develop their systems and potentially expand the recent awards to include the best applicants for launch vehicle development.”

Read the full statement below.

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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Moon Express, a Google Lunar X PRIZE contender, announced today that it has successfully demonstrated a critical component of its lunar landing technology to NASA under its Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data (ILDD) Program contract. The Moon Express Mini-Radar System promises to radically reduce the cost and mass of the company’s commercial lunar landing system. NASA has reviewed and accepted the Moon Express Mini-Radar data package, satisfying the requirements of the $500K First Task Order under the company’s $10M commercial lunar data contract.

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Space Up Houston August 2011 from Schipul – The Web Marketing Co. on Vimeo.

Virgin Galactic’s Will Pomerantz and XCOR Aerospace’s Khaki McKee both gave updates on their companies’ suborbital vehicles during the recent Houston SpaceUp conference. For the benefit of those who don’t have time to watch the full video above, I’ve summarized their presentations below in a convenient side-by-side table to allow for an easy comparison.

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The Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft lands safely in late 2010. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

A few quick thoughts about today’s Progress failure. Russian vehicles and launchers remain highly reliable. Thanks to careful contingency planning, the space station has plenty of supplies. The International Space Station crew is perfectly safe. And there’s every reason to believe the Russians will quickly determine what went wrong and fix it.

That being said….

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