Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov
VIA ROSCOSMOS PAO
On Oct. 22, during the party devoted to the 50th anniversary of Mission Control Center, Roscosmos Head Anatoly Perminov answered several questions by news media.
About construction of the Vostochny space port:
By now, the Vostochny concept and program had been coordinated with all authorities, including the Ministry of Finance. The concept has been submitted to the Russian Government. In other words, on our level the concept is completed.
This week on The Space Show…. Monday, October 25, 2010, 2-3:30 PM PDT: NO SHOW DUE TO MY TEACHING AT UND ALL WEEK. Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 7-8:30 PM PDT: NO SHOW DUE TO MY TEACHING AT UND ALL WEEK. Friday, October 29 , 2010, 9:30-11 AM PDT: Taped interviews from UND Space Studies Dept. When you see the program archived, it is ready for play, podcasting, and it will […]
David Masten of Masten Space Systems talks about his company’s efforts on developing suborbital space vehicles.
Buzz Aldrin (left) speaks to members of the welcoming committee as Richard Branson stands behind him. NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver (red sweater) talks with Pat Hynes of thee New Mexico Space Grant Consortium.
I’ve returned home from the blue sky vistas of New Mexico to Sunnyvale, which is not living up to its name (it’s pouring rain at the moment). Still, the mood is buoyant here as the San Francisco Giants head to the World Series. (Not quite as a good a day for someone who grew up rooting for the Phillies. The sole saving grace is that I was in the air at the time and didn’t watch it live.)
But, enough digression. The ISPCS was an excellent conference, bigger and better attended than any previous one. All the major players were there. And the mood was upbeat. The stars seem to have finally aligned: a maturing commercial sector bolstered by new investments, a business-friendly approach by the U.S. government, and champions within the upper reaches of NASA. Not perfect — but probably as good as one can hope.
With all the focus on festivities at Spaceport America, this video was overlooked. The Air Force’s Everyday Sci-Fi show visits Mojave where blogger Derek Nye gets a tour of XCOR Aerospace and watches Dave Masten launch a Xombie.
Oh boy, this is not good…
Just as Richard Branson and company were dedicating a spaceport in New Mexico, there came news that the space tourism flights they plan could send massive amounts of soot into the upper atmosphere. Nature News reports:
Climate change caused by black carbon, also known as soot, emitted during a decade of commercial space flight would be comparable to that from current global aviation, researchers estimate.
The findings, reported in a paper in press in Geophysical Research Letters, suggest that emissions from 1,000 private rocket launches a year would persist high in the stratosphere, potentially altering global atmospheric circulation and distributions of ozone. The simulations show that the changes to Earth’s climate could increase polar surface temperatures by 1 °C, and reduce polar sea ice by 5–15%.
Holy flerking snit!
WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo do a flyover of Spaceport America during the ceremony dedicating the runway as the Gov. Bill Richardson Spaceway.
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver speaks at the Spaceport America runway dedication on Oct. 22.
Sir Richard Branson, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin and other officials arrive at Spaceport America for the runway dedication on Oct. 22. If you want a demonstration of the tectonic shifts occurring in the U.S. space program, note that NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver is part of the “Welcoming Committee” that is walking out to greet a British billionaire and a governor who teamed to create […]
Photo by Mark Greenberg
NMSA PRESS RELEASE
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA) today dedicated the nearly two-mile long “Governor Bill Richardson Spaceway†at Spaceport America, representing significant progress toward launching commercial customers into space from the desert of New Mexico. Governor Bill Richardson, Sir Richard Branson and approximately 30 of more than 380 Virgin Galactic future astronauts attended the event along with guests from around the world and watched a flyover and landing by Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo, in a captive carry with SpaceShipTwo.
Sir Richard Branson and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson in front of WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo during the Spaceport America runway dedication ceremony.
Suborbital space tourism company Virgin Galactic intends to propose a commercial orbital system to NASA as part of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program.
Virgin Galactic Founder Richard Branson announced the intention during the runway dedication for Spaceport America in Upham, NM. The ceremony — which was attended by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, and Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Harrison “Jack†Schmitt — was held at the facility where Virgin Galactic will launch commercial suborbital flights in 18-24 months.
