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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Sunday to mark 45th anniversary of Apollo 11 moon landing, then a major global event. The risks associated with Apollo 11 are a reminder that safety is fundamental to future human deep space exploration plans. Apollo 11’s crew shared lighter moments as they made their way to a landing on the moon. Apollo 11’s success made the most of the technology, marketing and mass media of the day. Engineers prepare RS-25 shuttle derived rocket engine for Space Launch System ground testing. Scientists reopen debate on whether NASA’s Voyager 1, launched in 1977, departed the solar system last year. Europe’s Rossetta spacecraft reveals strange shape of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Europe, China discuss future human space cooperation in Earth orbit. U.S. astronaut Henry Hartsfield, first to command shuttle Discovery, dies. Construction of new “green” Kennedy Space Center headquarters to get underway soon. Aerojet Rocketdyne tests environmentally friendly rocket fuel for U.S. Air Force. Washington’s latest sanctions against Moscow over Russian intrusion into Ukraine appear to avoid the space arena. White House seeks $40 million for development of domestic alternative to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine. UK announces plans for spaceport.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Basic safety is not negotiable in human space exploration
Huffington Post (7/17): Safety for the systems that will carry out future missions of human deep space exploration deserves serious concern, writes Doug Cooke, a former NASA associate administrator for exploration. “Today there is widespread agreement that Mars is our human space exploration ‘horizon goal.’ There seems to be less agreement on how safe future human space transportation should be,” writes Cooke “This is an important fundamental issue to be addressed if we are going to pursue human space exploration.”
Apollo 11 had its lighter moments between Earth and the Moon
NBC News (7/17): NBC dials back 45 years to the flight of the Apollo 11 astronauts as they made their way to the moon and a historic landing. “Hey, Houston, the Saturn V gave us a magnificent ride,” Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong assured NASA’s Mission Control.
Apollo 11 flight log, July 17, 1969: Course correction to reach the Moon
Space.com (7/17): As Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins headed for their lunar landing 45 years ago Sunday, they heard this news: then vice president Spiro Agnew wanted humans on Mars by 2020.
Apollo Moon landing: 21st century Slooh salute
Coalition for Space Exploration (7/16): Sunday will mark the 45th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing. Slooh with its cameras and Internet savvy presents a tribute at 8:30 p.m., EDT.
Celebrate 45 years since man’s first steps on moon
Associated Press via Houston Chronicle (7/17): The Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum looks back at the Apollo 11 mission with a Twitter stream. Social media is just one of the ways the public can follow the drama that surrounded the historic mission of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.
Apollo 11, 45 years on: What’s the mission?
Wired.com (7/17): The Apollo 11 crew reached the lunar surface 45 years ago Sunday. Wired looks back at the technologies of the day that made the mission possible. And the report poses the question: With more capability, why haven’t we accomplished more on the human exploration front?
RS-25 engine installed for Stennis testing amid SLS schedule debate
NASAspaceflight.com (7/17): NASA prepares to test fire first stage engine for the new Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. One of the engines rests in a test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The engine is a legacy from NASA’s space shuttle program. Early testing will focus on performance of the engine controller.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Voyager may not have entered interstellar space, after all
Science News (7/17): Experts question assertions NASA’s distant Voyager mission spacecraft departed the solar system last year. Voyage 1 was launched in 1977.
Rosetta sees surprising shape to spinning comet
Spaceflightnow.com (7/18): New imagery reveals strange shape of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission is headed toward a rendezvous and lengthy encounter with the comet in August.
Low Earth Orbit
Europe-China talks challenge International Space Station Order
Wall Street Journal (7/18): Europe and China have talked extensively about future cooperation on human space activities in Earth orbit, discussions that may jeopardize the future of the U.S. led International Space Station, the publication reports. The U.S. is seeking to win backing from its international partners for an extension of operations from 2020 to 2024. China is preparing to launch and assemble an orbital station of its own.
Astronaut Hank Hartsfield, led first flight of space shuttle Discovery, dies at 80
Collectspace.com (7/17): Hartsfield, who led the first flight of the shuttle Discovery in 1984, died Thursday of complications from back surgery, say colleagues. He was 80. Hartsfield joined NASA’s astronaut corps soon after the Apollo 11 moon landing and waited 13 years to launch.
NASA awards new HQ building contract
Florida Today (7/17): NASA to construct new “green” headquarters for the Kennedy Space Center. Project expected to take two years. The new building is part of plans to replace aging industrial facilities at KSC.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Aerojet Rocketdyne green spacecraft propulsion system passes test
Sacramental Business Journal (7/17): Rocket development company tests alternative to toxic hydrazine rocket fuel for spacecraft thrusters. The fuel was developed for the U.S. Air Force.
New Obama sanctions seem to skirt space activities, but future is unknowable
Spacepolicyonline.com (7/17): U.S. President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against Russia late Wednesday, a day before a Malaysian airliner crash on the tense border between Russia and the Ukraine. Will the latest tensions affect U.S. and Russian space tensions? It’s too soon to say.
White House seeking $40 million to explore engine options
Space News (7/17): White House seeks changes to its 2015 budget requests that would dedicate $40 million to the early development of a domestic alternative to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine. Russia has threatened to ban the export of the engine that powers the Atlas V off the launch pad with U.S. national security payloads. The dispute is focused on Russia’s interference in Ukraine.
Suborbital
Space planes, rocket launches on UK’s wish list
Spaceflightnow.com (7/17): Britain takes to the stage at the Farnborough Air Show to reveal plans for a spaceport. The UK is watching growth in earnings and employment from the aerospace sector.
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