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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related activities from around the globe, plus a roundup of weekend developments. Preparations for NASA’s final shuttle flight are re-fueling debate over the nation’s human space exploration goals. Aerospace contractors issue more layoff notices to shuttle workers. Is NASA’s strategy to rely on commercial space transportation services wise? NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope difficulties could spell trouble for other science missions. Cameras aboard the International Space Station’s Japanese lab monitor the world’s coastlines for pollution. China calls for cooperation in the exploration of space at a U.N. meeting in Vienna. Endeavour’s landing spurs the arrest of burglary suspects. Two Danish rocket builders achieve launch success. A look at space activities planned for the week ahead.
1. From the Huffington Post, June 4: An op-ed laments the end of NASA’s shuttle program. Americans, too self-focused and shell-shocked, are in need of something to make them humble — the enormity of the universe, writes Terry Newell, founder of Leadership for a Responsible Society.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-newell/nasa-space-program-ends_b_871271.html
A. From the Boston Globe: An op-ed extolling the value of human space exploration to revive American innovation and public curiosity. “We need more than a Mars mission a quarter century or more from now to create a blueprint for a mission to somewhere,” writes columnist Derrick Jackson.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/06/04/space_travel_can_still_inspire_us/
B. From Florida Today, June 4: In his column “Community pride rises as shuttle era ends,” John Kelly explains why the shuttle program’s retirement and the lack of certainty over the future of human space flight have become such an emotional issue for Central Florida: The roots of human space exploration run deep in the region.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110605/COLUMNISTS0405/106050315/John-Kelly-Community-pride-rises-era-ends?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Space%20News
C. From Science News, June 18: The research journal sizes up the shuttle program’s contributions to science over a three decade run.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/330559/title/Good-bye_Shuttle_
2. From the Galveston Daily News of Texas, June 4: The Boeing Co. issues layoff notices to 510 workers on Friday. The layoffs are linked to NASA’s final shuttle mission, which is scheduled to lift off on July 8. The notices affect 260 workers in Houston, 150 in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and 100 in Huntington Beach, Calif.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story/236066
A. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 4: Many of the 300 jobs at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans will be lost as the shuttle program retires in July. The plant, where shuttle external tanks are produced, is operated by Lockheed Martin. The facility could revive with production of the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle/Orion spacecraft.
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/06/new_orleans-based_michoud_jobs.html
3. From NASAwatch.com: The website frames a spirited debate over NASA’s future reliance on commercial space transportation services. The discussion from Forbes features Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute, and Robert Block, of Space X.
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/06/oldspaces-attac.html
4. From Spacepolitics.com, June 5: The web site offers a snapshot of the on-going deliberations within NASA on the Space Launch System, the heavy lift rocket specified in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act. It remains unclear whether NASA will turn to its Constellation Program Ares 1 and V contract team to build the rocket or re-bid the work to develop a propulsion source for future human deep space missions. Includes comments from the Women in Aerospace sponsored conference Aerospace 2011: The Road Ahead on June 3.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/06/05/competing-heavy-lift/
5. From Florida Today, June 4: An in-depth look at the unraveling of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the powerful observatory under development to replace the Hubble Space Telescope. Once penciled in for a 2011 launching at a cost of $1.6 billion, the James Webb now appears headed for a departure no sooner than 2018 and perhaps after 2020. The price tag has climbed to nearly $7 billion. Other worthy science programs will suffer, Florida Today reports.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110605/NEWS01/110604013/Telescope-debacle-devours-NASA-funds?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Space%20News
6. From Space.com, June 3: Cameras outside the Japan’s Kibo module on the International Space Station are providing researchers with unprecedented imagery of the world’s coast lines, enabling scientists to monitor pollution and the health of coral reefs.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11866-international-space-station-ocean-coastal-images.html
7. From Xinhuanet of China, June 5 : An official from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls for cooperation among nations in the exploration of space at the 54th session of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna, Austria. The session runs from June 1 to 10.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/06/c_13913172.htm
8. From NASAspacelightnow.com, June 3: Post flight processing of orbiter Endeavour revealed evidence of a small fire in the left main gear braking assembly.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/06/endeavour-safing-operations-brake-fire-investigated/
A. From Space.com, June 3: Sonic booms that accompanied shuttle Endeavour’s predawn landing in Florida on June 1 awakened a Florida woman who found two men attempting to break into her home.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11874-space-shuttle-sonic-booms-burglary-arrests.html
9. From the Copenhagen Post, June 3: Two amateur Danish rocket builders succeed in the launching of a homemade suborbital rocket from a platform in the Baltic Sea. A September launch attempt failed. The flight reached an altitude of about 1.5 miles. Eventually, the duo hopes to reach outer space and one day launch passengers.
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/scitech/92-technology/51762-bornholm-rocket-flies-high.html
10. From Spacepolicyonline.com, June 5: Space and space policy replaced events scheduled for the week ahead.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1618:events-of-interest-week-of-june-6-10-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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