In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Returning to manned space mission in the U.S. is a top priority for many companies. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe successfully launched on Sunday. Administrator Bridenstine will visit the Michoud Assembly Facility today.
Human Space Exploration
United Launch Alliance (ULA) preps for the return of manned space missions from Cape Canaveral
Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, United Launch Alliance
Fox News (8/11): At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, United Launch Alliance (ULA) is assembling the ground infrastructure required for the nation to resume the launch of astronauts from U.S. soil, something that has not been possible since the NASA shuttle fleet was retired in mid-2011. ULA is to provide the Atlas V launch vehicle for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner. Boeing is one of NASA’s two Commercial Crew Program partners preparing to enter the test flight phase.
Road to Mars travels through Louisiana (Op Ed)
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
The Advocate (8/12): Louisiana doesn’t always come to mind when people think of America’s space legacy the same way that Texas and Florida do, but the most critical part of the road to space on NASA’s historic exploration programs has come through the Michoud Assembly Facility in southeast Louisiana for much of the past 50 years. So this week, as NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine visits the Bayou State, he will see that NASA’s Michoud facility is America’s rocket factory and produces NASA’s greatest space exploration systems.
Roscosmos CEO to meet with NASA chief at Baikonur in October
TASS of Russia (8/13): The October meeting will bring NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine together with Dmitry Rogozin, the CEO of Roscosmos, to discuss how problems in U.S. and Russian relations might affect cooperation in space.
To train for Mars, head to Hawaii
The Verge (8/10): Living in isolation far from Earth with a small team of astronauts in tight quarters is sure to pose a challenge for human deep space explorers. The University of Hawaii’s HI-SEAS Mars Base simulation base on Mauna Loa, an active volcano, offers a change to study the possible obstacles ahead of the real mission.
Space Science
Delta IV Heavy rocket launches NASA’s Parker Solar Probe to study the sun
Coalition Member in the News – United Launch Alliance
Florida Today (8/12): A day after a launch delay due to technical concerns, United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta IV Heavy lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Sunday at 3:31 a.m., EDT, to start NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on a seven year mission to study the mysteries of the sun.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Is named for him. 60 years ago, no one believed his ideas about the sun
Coalition Member in the News – United Launch Alliance
New York Times (8/10): Six decades ago, solar physicist and University of Chicago professor emeritus Eugene Parker offered a theory on the solar wind, one greeted with some professional skepticism. Now, the NASA spacecraft launched early Sunday to carry out the first close up studies of the sun, bears Parker’s name. The scientist was among those NASA hosted at the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
As the Martian dust storm subsides, there’s still no word from Opportunity
Universe Today (8/10): Last May, a Martian dust storm went global and intense. The storm forced a suspension in contact between NASA and the Opportunity Mars Exploration rover, a spacecraft that reached the Martian surface in January 2004 on what was to be a 90 day mission. The dust storm is beginning to come to an end, and NASA remains hopeful of re-establishing contact with Opportunity.
Other News
Russian Embassy mocks Trump’s Space Force logos
Politico (8/10): Early Friday, a day after the White House announced plans to establish a standalone Space Force as a separate branch of the U.S. military, the Russian embassy offered a mocking response.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of August 13-19, 2018
Spacepolicyonline.com (8/12): In Washington, the U.S. Senate returns to session on Wednesday, while the House is in recess until September 4, with a range of appropriations measures for the fiscal year 2019, starting October 1, still unresolved. Appropriations measures for NASA and NOAA, however, have passed at the Committee level and are awaiting floor action by the full House and Senate. Two International Space Station cosmonauts, Oleg Artemyev and Sergei Prokopyev, are to embark on a six hour spacewalk on Wednesday for small satellite deployments and science activities outside the Space Station.