Ares I-X rolls out to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
NASA MISSION UPDATE
The Ares I-X now is secured on Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The test rocket, sitting on a mobile launcher platform, was “hard down†on the pad’s pedestals at 9:17 a.m. EDT. The rotating service structure is expected to be rolled into place at about 12:30 p.m.
Bob Richards, Chris McKay, Donna Shirley and others debate how and where humans should go into space at the recent Quantum 2 Cosmos Festival.
NASA PRESS RELEASE
The Spaceward Foundation has rescheduled 2009 Space Elevator Power-Beaming Challenge Games for Nov. 4 at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California.
PRESS RELEASE
“Who would not be thrilled at the news that the founder of Cirque du Soleil would be honored by an award you were involved in creating?†commented Eileen Borgeson. Artist Eileen Borgeson and holographer Jeff Allen collaborated to design the Dennis Tito Award for the heroic space tourists who train as astronauts and then return from a visit to the International Space Station (ISS).
ESA PRESS RELEASE
Starting in 2010, an international crew of six will simulate a 520-day round-trip to Mars, including a 30-day stay on the martian surface. In reality, they will live and work in a sealed facility in Moscow, Russia, to investigate the psychological and medical aspects of a long-duration space mission. ESA is looking for European volunteers to take part.
A Maryland scientist who has been working for years to peer into the darkest parts of the moon now faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life in a dark prison cell.
Stewart David Nozette, principal investigator on the Mini-RF instrument on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and co-investigator for a similar instrument on India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, has been arrested on charges of attempting to pass classified information to Israel:
ESA PRESS RELEASE
A conference on ‘The Ambitions of Europe in Space’ on 15 and 16 October brought together members of the European Parliament, Council, European Commission, agencies, industry, research entities, operators, financing institutions as well as interested people from the media and public.
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
(Full details here)
The Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) will be held February 18–20, 2010, at The Millennium Harvest House Boulder, 1345 28th Street, Boulder, Colorado, 80302.
COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT FEDERATION PRESS RELEASE
October 16, 2009
Commercial human spaceflight received a strong endorsement today by a group of thirteen former NASA astronauts who published an opinion piece titled “Commercial Spaceflight: All Systems Go†in the Wall Street Journal.
Astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Ken Bowersox, Jake Garn, Robert Gibson, Hank Hartsfield, John Herrington, John Lounge, Rick Searfoss, Norman Thagard, Kathryn Thornton, Jim Voss and Charles Walker stated, “We strongly agree with the Augustine Committee’s endorsement of commercial human spaceflight, and we encourage the White House and Congress to embrace this positive vision for our nation’s future in space.â€
Ariane 5
Space Industry Seen Facing Delayed Econ Crisis
Aviation Week
Government customers and long-lead planning has protected the global space industry from the worst effects of the ongoing economic crisis, but industry and government representatives at the International Astronautical Congress here worry there may be a downturn in a few years as those same government customers begin paying off the debt they incurred stimulating an economic recovery.
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The Space Review looks at commercial launchers, ISS science and more this week.
NASA PRESS RELEASE
Human Space Flight Review Committee Chairman Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in Washington.
Augustine will be accompanied by committee member Ed Crawley. Printed copies of the committee’s final report will be available during the press conference and an electronic copy of the report will be posted to the committee’s Web site at the start of the briefing.
