Space shuttle Endeavour is ready to carry seven astronauts and a key piece of the Japanese laboratory complex to the International Space Station. The countdown for Saturday’s launch at 7:17 a.m. EDT remains on schedule.
Over at Esquire magazine, Thomas P.M. Barnett puts in a good word for commercial space pioneers, suggesting that its time for the “Obama administration to start trusting the new Wright Brothers of aerospace.”
The Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge is officially open for this year. Competitors will be attempting to win $1,650,000 in remaining prize money.
This year’s format is a bit different from previous ones, the X PRIZE’s Senior Director for Space Prizes Will Pomerantz explains on the challenge’s web site:
Space Dreams
The Korea Times
South Korea has emerged as the world’s 13th country to operate a space center. The nation opened its first such center Thursday to place satellites in orbit and develop its own rocket technology. The opening has laid the ground for Korea’s joining in the space race with advanced countries such as the U.S., Russia and Japan.
NASA states going ballistic over cash cuts
The Hill
A bipartisan group of Texas and Florida lawmakers is pressuring House appropriators to restore hundreds of millions of dollars for space travel, warning that cutting NASA’s budget next year could hurt the economy and national security.
Because of weather concerns and launch site preparation needs, NASA has rescheduled the test launch of the Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS, to no earlier than June 20 at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. The launch window June 20 extends from approximately 5:45 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. EDT.
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin
AP Interview: Ex-NASA head critical of Obama move
Associated Press
Griffin was pleased with Obama’s selection of former astronaut Charles Bolden as his successor. Griffin — who was sometimes faulted for what some described as a prickly personality — said Bolden has the experience, smarts and people skills for the job.
(more…)
- An artist’s conception of a Virgin Galactic flight above Spaceport America in New Mexico
Birthplace of commercial space
The Las Cruces Bulletin
For those who worry about the spaceport depending so heavily on Virgin Galactic, Landeene said the company is still intent on spending between $250 million and $350 million on development of the spaceliner, which will first take tourists to suborbital space at $200,000 a flight.
NASA PRESS RELEASE
NASA’s Constellation Program reached two major processing milestones this week as two new pieces of Ares I-X hardware were transferred for final assembly in preparation for the first flight test of the rocket later this summer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The Space Frontier Foundation has released a preliminary schedule for its annual NewSpace conference. The four-day event will take place at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., culminating on July 20 – the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The Space Show this week features former astronaut Rusty Schweickart, Thomas Andrew Olson, Ben Shelef and Jim Dator.