Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Apollo 11’s historic moon landing unfolded 46 years ago this week. U.S. Smithsonian Institution raises funds to return the spacesuit worn by Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong for public display. Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner revs up search for extraterrestrial intelligence with $100 million donation. NOAA/U.S. Air Force DISCOVR mission transmits striking face of Earth image back to home planet. The heroes behind the New Horizons Pluto mission success. European Space Agency tries software patch to restore communications with the Philae comet lander. Russia readies Soyuz rocket for Wednesday Space Station launching with U.S., Japanese and Russian astronauts. SpaceX’s Elon Musk identifies a strut break as the cause of the June 28 Falcon 9 launch failure in the early moments of an International Space Station resupply mission. Op-ed urges U.S. budget support for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Our spaceflight heritage: Apollo 11’s fading light
Spaceflight Insider (7/20): Monday quietly marked the 46th anniversary of Apollo 11, humanity’s first moon landing. Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin made history as they strolled the surface of the moon and beamed back their activities in real time. Five more crewed Apollo missions would follow their lead by the end of 1972.
Moonwalkers: Stunning photos from Apollo 11
Discovery.com (7/20): Apollo 11’s historic moon mission spanned eight days starting with a July 16 lift off. Well preserved photographs from the era tell the story of the successful mission carried out by NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
Sleeping on alien shores: The unquiet slumbers of the Apollo moonwalkers
America Space (7/20): With 20 hours to spend on the lunar surface, it was clear that Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin would spend the night on the lunar surface in the cramped confines of their lander. It was not all that comfortable.
Smithsonian launches Kickstarter to ‘reboot’ Neil Armstrong spacesuit display
Collectspace.com (7/20): The Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum embraces Kickstarter to raise the $500,000 in funding needed to return Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong’s space suit to public display in Washington. The goal is to have the historic garment on display by 2019, the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing by Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
$100 million initiative to search for ET
Spaceflightnow.com (7/20): In London, Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner pledges $100 million toward a new decade long campaign to seek out evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence. The effort will involve optical as well as radio telescopes. SETI pioneer Frank Drake, physicist Stephen Hawking, astronomer Martin Rees and Ann Druyan, widow of astronomer Carl Sagan, were among those joining Milner for the announcement. Milner credited NASA’s Kepler space telescope with inspiring the initiative. The initiative will include a “breakthrough message” contest to compose a message to aliens.
Gorgeous NASA photo captures Earth from 1 million miles away
Space.com (7/20): Launched in February to monitor solar activity for NOAA and the U.S. Air Force, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft is equipped with a NASA camera to monitor the sunlit face of the Earth from one million miles away. On Monday, NASA released the first photo of the Earth from DSCOVR. The satellite was originally proposed by former vice president Al Gore. But the launch was cancelled and the spacecraft placed in storage. President Obama was among those who praised the DSCOVR mission’s potential to raise awareness of the Earth’s environment.
The heroes and the secrets of the Pluto mission
The Washington Post (7/20): New Horizons successful flyby of Pluto was as difficult as it was bold to pull off. Those with the “right stuff” to pull the July 14 encounter off include principal investigator Alan Stern, project manager Glen Fountain and mission operations manager Alice Bowman, according to the report.
Rosetta sends software patch to fix Philae
SEN (7/20): The European Space Agency has transmitted a software patch to the Philae lander, which has been resting on the surface of the Comet 67P Churyumov/Gerasmimenko since early November. European controllers are hopeful the patch transmitted through the Rosetta spacecraft will restore regular communications with Philae as the comet nears the sun.
Low Earth Orbit
Soyuz ferry craft rides rails to launch pad
Spaceflightnow.com (7/20): Russia positioned a Soyuz rocket and crew transport capsule on a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday for the launching of three new crew members to the International Space Station. The lift off is set for Wednesday at 5:02 p.m., EDT. NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Kononenko should reach the station about six hours later. Once planned for late May, their launching was delayed by the April 28 loss of a Russian Progress cargo rocket to the Space Station.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Falcon 9 failure linked to upper stage tank strut
Space News (7/20): SpaceX CEO Elon Musk points to a failed strut in the second stage of the Falcon 9 rocket as the likely trigger of a June 28 launch failure of a NASA contracted commercial re-supply mission bound for the International Space Station. When the strut failed, helium escaped from a container in the second stage oxygen propellant tank that caused the tank to over pressurize and burst.
Failed strut likely cause of Falcon 9 failure, but investigation continues
Spacepolicyonline.com (7/21): SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says his company is looking beyond the upper stage strut failure in its investigation of the June 28 Falcon 9 rocket explosion. The Falcon 9 will fly again but not sooner than September, according to Musk.
Op-ed | Commercial Crew deserves our full support
Space News (7/20): An op-ed outlines the most important reasons for backing NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the initiative to establish two new means of launching astronauts from the U.S. to the International Space Station. The merits include efficient redundancy and ending reliance on Russia for the launches, writes Tom Marotta, a longtime member of the National Space Society.