An Atlas V rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, sending the USAF’s automated X-37B space plane into orbit for the second time. The launch, which occurred at 5:46 pm EST, had been delayed one day due to weather.
Jupiter Direct Launcher Variants
One of the most interesting aspects about the on-going debate over NASA’s heavy-lift program involves the rocket’s lifting power: Congress has set the very specific requirement of the rocket being able to send a payload of 130 tons into orbit.
Being that NASA has no specific mission on the books for such a vehicle, much less any payloads to launch on it, it’s a bit puzzling why Congress would be that specific. Would it not be better to wait until those matters were better defined before deciding on the size of the launcher?
Former Miss Universe Oxana Fedorova (Credit: Dmitry Rozhkov)
Former Miss Universe Oxana Fedorova is on the approved list of Russian VIPs for the March 30 launch of a Soyuz vehicle to mark the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight into space, Roscosmos says.
Fedorova, 33, was the first Russian to win the Miss Universe contest in 2002. Oxana, who won both the swimsuit and evening gown competitions over nine semi-finalists, had won the Miss Russia contest the previous year. In addition to her pageant and modeling work, she is a retired police officer, former university lecturer, television host, actress, singer, and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
The Soyuz TMA-21 vehicle has been named Gargarin to honor the first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. The spacecraft will carry Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Samokutyayev and Andrei Borisenko and American astronaut Ronald J. Garan to the International Space Station.
As the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight approaches. Russia and China are laying out their plans for human missions to the Moon and beyond. They are similar in schedule if somewhat different in scope, with Russia seeing international cooperation as the key while China weights building a monster rocket capable of lifting 130 metric tons into orbit.
A proposed commercial Russian space station with Soyuz vehicles attached.
Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov told media this week that his country’s engineers stand ready to help commercial space tourism and station operators domestically and in the United States make their vehicles safe and reliable.
“Roscosmos does not build space hotels. This is done by different commercial organizations supported by Roscosmos. As experts, we are in position to provide our assistance to the project funded not by the Government, in order to enhance their reliability,” Perminov said.
I found this map of federally licensed spaceports in FAA’s FY 2012 budget documents. Although most of these facilities are well known, there are six proposed launch facilities that have received little attention. One of the two Texas spaceports wants to launch spacecraft into orbit.
South Texas Spaceport: This facility is designated for suborbital from land and the Gulf of Mexico with an altitude limit of 150 kilometers (94 miles).A notice on the spaceport’s website dated July 6, 2010 states that “STS moving forward with Orbital Launch plans despite hindrance of the FAA and CST!”
Now that the Mars500 crew has been united, when the Marswalkers, ‘returned’ from the surface of the Red Planet to join the ‘orbital’ trio, Diego Urbina has again had time to send his thoughts. This diary was written on 21 February, before the last egress to the simulated martian surface.
The last few weeks have been truly exciting. As you probably know, Wang, Aleksandr and I, transferred to the landing module, have been living in further isolation, in a reduced room (about 50 cubic metres) for a couple of weeks, in order to represent the landing on Mars.
In spite of it not being the real Red Planet, it did mean so much in our ‘microcosmos’ that I think that even if it wasn’t exactly the same emotion someone would feel on Mars, it did come quite close, at least for me.
After transferring, we initiated the operations that a crew would need to do on Mars. We used a software called ‘Virtu’ that simulates several environments and situations. One of the scenarios was this: imagine a pressurized rover that we had to drive from our base to the (purposely hidden and difficult to reach) landing place of a probe that had been sent to Mars before the manned mission. It was quite tricky, especially when coming back to the base, when a sandstorm and drained batteries made our road tougher.
Astronauts4Hire Announces Creation of Advisory Board Comprised of Astronauts and Astronaut Instructors
Orlando, Florida – Astronauts4Hire proudly announces the creation of its Senior Technical Advisory Council (STAC). This group consists of well-established human spaceflight experts who will provide technical and strategic guidance to Astronauts4Hire as it trains a new breed of professional commercial astronauts who can be hired to conduct space missions.
“With such well-respected professionals advising us, Astronauts4Hire gains tremendous credibility as an organization that can effectively train its astronauts to meet and exceed customer expectations,” says Astronauts4Hire President Brian Shiro.
I’m back in Silicon Valley after a long, circuitous transcontinental journey across that saw me in Orlando, Charlotte, Houston and San Jose. From that 12-hour odyssey, I can confirm three things: America is as beautiful as ever; I need to cash in airline miles earlier; and never eat Tex-Mex at an airport.
The conference was fun. I had a great time, learned a lot, caught up with a lot of old friends, and i made a few new ones. And a few amusing things happened…
Best Line of the Conference
First Prize: Jeff Foust, talking about Virgin Galactic’s emphasis on safety (paraphrased):
“George Whitesides has said ‘safety is the North Star of our company’ so many times that they’re going to have to name one of their vehicles Polaris.”
Runnerup: Virgin CEO George Whitesides (paraphrased):
“Building a spaceship is easy, PowerPoint is hard.”
The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) would get an $11.23 million boost under the President’s proposed FY 2012 budget to enable the agency to oversee the emerging commercial launch market. The budget request also includes a $5 million request for a new Low-Cost Access to Space Incentive program and $1.3 million “to begin development and implementation of safety requirements for commercial human spaceflight.”
Trent Waddington posts this video of NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden whiffing as Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) serves up some slow-pitch softballs to him during a Congressional hearing earlier this week. With apologies to Ernest Thayer: “Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout; But there is no joy […]
XCOR’s deal with the Southwest Research Institute was announced on Broadway in New York.