ROSKOSMOS PRESS OFFICE
Rocket Space Corporation Energia continues development and design activities with two new Russian modules to be docked to the International Space Station – MRM-1 and MRM-2.
Killeen principal chosen to fly into space
KXXV-TV
Maureen Adams, the principal at West Ward Elementary School, will be taking off into space in about two years. She’s one of seven educators chosen nationwide to participate in the new “Teachers in Space” program.
Naro space rocket to be launched next Wednesday
The Korean Herald
The country’s first space rocket, Naro, or the Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, will be launched Wednesday next week, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said yesterday.
Augustine Expects to Give White House Half-Dozen Options for NASA’s Future
Space News
The blue-ribbon panel asked by the White House in May to come up with a set of options for NASA’s human spaceflight future is expected to brief senior administration officials Friday on as many as eight such scenarios, according to retired Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Norman Augustine, the man leading the 10-member committee.
Barack Obama has honored physicist Stephen Hawking with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
An artist's conception of a Virgin Galactic flight above Spaceport America in New Mexico
NM Spaceport seeks bids for electrical system
New Mexico Business Journal
The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is seeking bids from contractors to construct an on-site electrical system at the Spaceport near Upham in southern New Mexico.
The system will connect on-site infrastructure to an off-site electrical substation with a six-mile distribution line, said Authority Executive Director Steve Landeene in a news release.
First Solar Sail Might Soon Fly
Space.com
NASA has backup NanoSail-D hardware in storage on Earth and a Planetary Society working group could make a decision by the end of summer on how best to integrate that design with its goals. Any future design may also come significantly cheaper than the roughly $4 million price tag on Cosmos-1.
ULA Proposes On-Orbit Gas Stations for Space Exploration
Aviation Week
United Launch Alliance (ULA) is proposing on-orbit propellant depots to increase the capability of NASA’s Constellation exploration architecture. The plan to use depots derived from an advanced upper stage for the Atlas V and Delta IV evolved expandable launch vehicles (EELV) has caught the attention of the Augustine panel, which has included in-space refueling in four of seven options identified.
SPACE FRONTIER FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE
After a weekend of presentations by several new companies in the NewSpace field, the judges of the 2009 NewSpace Business Plan Competition awards the following:
1st Place – Flagsuit, LLC
2nd Place – Syntiant
Honorable Mention – Santa Clara Satellite Solutions
The first place winner, Flagsuit, LLC, received a $5,000 cash prize courtesy of the Heinlein Trust and will have the opportunity to present their vision to entrepreneurs and investors alike at Space Investment Summit 7 on September 30th in Boston and attend an upcoming Space Angels Network event.
Norm Augustine is head of a blue ribbon panel on space policy despite previously expressing his dislike for blue ribbon panels.
Asteroid Ida
Report: NASA can’t keep up with killer asteroids
Associated Press
NASA is charged with seeking out nearly all the asteroids that threaten Earth but doesn’t have the money to do the job, a federal report says.
Private space group studies second-generation Gemini
The Huntsville Times
If Craig Russell has his way, for the right amount of money – say, $30 million – a person will be able to strap into a Gemini capsule and orbit the Earth.