Over at Commercial Space Gateway, Richard Mains has some thoughts on current and future U.S.-Turkish cooperation in space:
Turkish-Americans from the U.S (and American-owned enterprises) and their science, technology and business counterparts in Turkey have opportunities to collaborate on the high-priority areas identified by “Vision 2023†and their commercialization.
Some information on millionaut Barbara Barrett, who is Guy Laliberté backup for a trip to the International Space Station in September. She is a former ambassador, an instrument rated pilot, and the wife of Craig Barrett, the retired CEO and chairman of Intel.
Key parts of her bio, courtesy of Wikipedia:
Space News has a detailed report about Japan’s new Basic Plan for Space Policy, which sharply raises the nation’s space spending and alters its basic direction:
Japan’s new fundamental space policy, released June 2, places national security front and center over the next five years, opening the door for development of a space-based missile warning system and other military satellites while providing funding for space science efforts.
Entrepreneur Wants Kids to Have Tea on the Moon
Space.com
Team Chandah began with a Pakistani community leader from 100 years ago predicting that descendants would have tea on the moon.
The Mars500 crew has completed a second period of 35 weeks inside the isolation facility at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, Russia. Now two-thirds of the way through their Mars mission simulation, ESA-selected crewmember Cyrille Fournier reports back on the past week.
The Telegraph has some bad news for anyone contemplating long duration trips to Mars or anywhere else in the cosmos:
Making long space journeys, like those envisaged in the future, will not be good for your looks or figure, claim scientists who believe they will leave astronauts looking short, fat and bald….
Near zero gravity would leave humans stunted and cause their bones and muscles to be underdeveloped, said astrobiologist Dr Lewis Dartnell.
The Japanese lunar orbiter Kaguya ended a successful mapping mission with a controlled crash into the lunar surface at 2:25 p.m. EDT.
HalogenLife has an interview with Eric Anderson in which the Space Adventures CEO discusses the prospects for orbital space travel. Anderson believes costs will come down to a point where most people will be able to go. Alas, it may not happen in the (average) lifetime of anyone say, over 35 or 40.
For almost half a century, the United States has dominated the exploration of Mars from the first grainy black-and-white pictures of the craggy surface to the more recent discovery of ice.
SKorea completes space centre for rocket launch
AFP
South Korea has completed a space centre which will be used to send a satellite into orbit from its own territory for the first time, officials said Wednesday.
ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang
ESA MISSION UPDATE
Following the enthusiastic response to earlier competitions to name European astronaut missions, ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight is once again giving European citizens the opportunity to be part of a space mission by suggesting a name for ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang’s mission to the International Space Station.
Fuglesang will join the 11-day STS-128 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) as a Mission Specialist. Currently scheduled for launch with Space Shuttle Discovery on 6 August 2009, this will be Fuglesang’s second spaceflight after his 13-day Celsius mission to the ISS with STS-116 in December 2006.
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams exercises aboard ISS. Photo Credit: NASA
NASA PRESS RELEASE
To help keep astronauts at peak performance during missions, NASA researched, qualified and patented a highly effective electrolyte concentrate formula that maintains and restores optimal body hydration levels quickly and conveniently. Developed as a remedy for dehydration, it helps prevent the loss of body fluids during heavy exercise, heat exposure and illness. It also can be used to treat and prevent dehydration caused by altitude sickness and jetlag.
