In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA video introduces the agency’s newest astronaut candidates, 12 men and women.
Human Space Exploration
Get to know NASA’s new astronaut class
Space.com (8/24): NASA welcomed seven men and five women from the U.S. this week to the start of two years of astronaut candidate training at the Johnson Space Center, home to the astronaut corps and Mission Control. Learn more about these 12 men and women in a series of NASA videos.
Chris Hadfield: We should live on the moon before a trip to Mars
New Scientist (8/24): Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield urges space policy experts to consider human expeditions to the moon before setting out for Mars.
Vomit comet: Training flights for astronauts
Space.com (8/25): A look at the history of reduced gravity aircraft operations used to expose astronauts in training to brief periods of weightlessness and to test space flight equipment before launch. Started by the U.S. Air Force in the 1950s, the flights are now provided by commercial companies like Virginia based Zero G.
Space Science
Should NASA keep flying flagship missions? A new report weighs in
Los Angeles Times (8/24): In an assessment requested by NASA, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine endorses continued NASA investment in its most ambitious science missions, those costing $1 billion or more sometimes requiring up to a decade to develop. At the same time, the academies urge more assertive cost controls in order to preserve a spectrum of scientifically productive small, medium and large missions.
Proposed orbiter could probe the ocean beneath Saturn’s moon Titan
Space.com (8/24): NASA’s long running Cassini mission to Saturn has turned on the intrigue over Titan, a moon with flowing hydrocarbons on the surface. Scientists believe a mission to investigate further is in order.
Other News
Orbital ATK set to inject new life in long-dormant Florida launch pad
Coalition Member in the News
Orlando Sentinel (8/25): Orbital ATK is scheduled to launch a U.S. Air Force satellite from Launch Complex 46 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, which has not served as a launch site since 1999. The site has undergone renovation, enabling Orbital ATK to re-establish the complex. A four hour launch period for the launching of the Minotaur rocket with its Air Force payload opens Friday at 11:15 p.m., EDT.
Minotaur launch, GAO report rekindles debate over surplus ICBM motors
Space News (8/24): A new U.S. Government Accountability Office report examines the pros and cons of permitting the use of surplus U.S. ICBM rocket motors for commercial launches. Currently, federal law permits only the government to use the surplus rocket motors for satellite launches.
SpaceX chalks up another rapid-fire Falcon 9 launch
CBS News (8/24): SpaceX successfully placed a Taiwanese Earth observation satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Thursday afternoon. The company’s Falcon 9 first stage propelled its way to a landing on drone ship as well.