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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Memories of Apollo 11 flow as the 45th anniversary of the historic first human lunar landing nears on Sunday. Anniversary sparks discussions of NASA’s next steps in space and lunar space as a proving ground for missions to asteroids and Mars. Propulsion research and testing underway in Alabama for next steps in human space exploration. Push for U.S. Europa mission. Japan eyes lunar robotic missions. Europe’s Rosetta mission may be looking at two comets in one. This week also marks the 20th anniversary of another major space event: the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy with Jupiter. Decades of space exploration leads to new mysteries. New talk of Nobel Peace Prize for the International Space Station. Orbital Sciences’ second Cygnus cargo mission reaches the International Space Station. Orbital mission honors astronaut Janice Voss. Northrop Grumman Foundation sponsors more than 100 teachers and students for U.S. Space Camp session. U.S. Senate presses for domestic alternatives to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine as President Obama announces new sanctions against Moscow over Crimea. Three in Congress press for information on SpaceX missions.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Apollo 11 anniversary: NASA ‘reasonably confident’ when it launched moon mission 45 years ago today
Huntsville Times (7/16): The stakes for the U.S. and NASA could not have been higher as Apollo 11’s lunar landing missions get underway 45 years ago this week. “The whole world really was watching, including the Soviet Union, which was racing America to the moon,” the Alabama newspaper reports. “And NASA wanted badly to meet slain President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 challenge to land a man on the moon and return him safely in the decade of the 1960s.” Apollo 11 lifted off July 16, 1969 on the outbound leg of the historic journey.
Memories of Apollo 11’s launch still burn brightly, 45 years later
NBC News (7/16): Longtime NBC correspondent Jay Barbree recalls the lift off of Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins 45 years ago this week. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to step to the surface of the moon. Barbree, one of Armstrong’s biographers, has reported on every U. S. human space mission.
Apollo 11 Moon landing raised the bar for humanity, astronauts say (video)
Space.com (7/16): Astronauts forging global ties aboard the International Space Station look back to Apollo 11’s historic mission to the moon 45 years ago this week and next. “Forty-five years ago, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins embarked on humanity’s boldest journey,” notes current space station resident Reid Wiseman, of NASA. “Apollo 11 not only achieved its mission to perform a manned lunar landing and return safely to Earth, it raised the bar of human potential.”
Alabama researchers probe futuristic propulsion system
Made In Alabama (7/16): In Huntsville, Ala., top rocket propulsion experts focus their efforts on nuclear fusion for interplanetary travel. The project unites Boeing, the Redstone Arsenal, the University of Alabama at Huntsville and NASA’s Marshall Space Center.
Neil who? What you don’t know about the 1969 Moon landing
National Public Radio (7/16): A look at how quickly so many Americans broke their connection with the Apollo 11 crew soon after Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins accomplished the first moon landing 45 years ago Sunday. “Astronauts as a group seemed a little lonesome, directionless. Harry Nilsson, the songwriter, wrote a tune in 1972 that went, “I wanted to be a spaceman/ that’s what I wanted to be/ But now that I am a spaceman/ nobody cares about me.”
NASA celebrates 45th anniversary of Apollo 11 Moon landing
Space.com (7/16): What’s happening on the NASA front to spotlight the Apollo 11 moon landing, 45 years ago Sunday.
‘The Sixties,’ Tom Hanks recap space race
Orlando Sentinel (7/16): The cable network airs its documentary on the U.S./Soviet race to the moon. “The Sixties” airs Thursday night at 9 p.m., EDT. “It’s an exhilarating program,” notes CNN.
After Apollo: Do we need to go back to the moon?
CNN (7/16): From prime destination to proving ground, the role of the Earth’s moon in the U.S. human exploration of space has shifted since the six Apollo lunar landings of the late sixties and early seventies.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA, members of Congress make case for Europa mission
Space Politics.com (7/16): Lawmakers and scientists gather in Capitol Hill hearing room to voice support for future mission to the Jovian moon to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. “We don’t need to wait to go find life in another solar system,” said U.S. Rep. John Culberson, of Houston, one of the most enthusiastic supporters. “It’s right here in our own backyard. The oceans of Europa will literally be seething with life. It’s just irrefutable. It’s so logical, it’s so self-evident.” NASA is developing a mission concept.
Japan plans unmanned moon missions to compete with China’s Jade Rabbit
South China Morning Post (7/16): Japan looks to 2019 to start a series of robotic missions to the moon for scientific studies, recover samples and to demonstrate how lunar resources might be obtained. The missions could reflect favorably for Japan given the recent failure of China’s “Jade Rabbit” lunar rover, which became immobile soon after it landed in late 2013.
Rosetta’s target comet is a surprise double space rock
New Scientist (7/16): The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has its eyes set on a long running encounter with the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. New photos suggest Churyumov-Gerasimenko is actually two comets in one.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 20 years later
Sky & Telescope (7/16): This week marks the 20th anniversary of an illuminating event — the powerful collision of comet fragments with mighty planet Jupiter. Much of the devastation was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers Gene Shoemaker and David Levy provided the “blow by blow.” The fragmented comet was named Shoemaker Levy.
New York Times (7/16): The first decades of space exploration have informed us: We know very little about our surroundings.
Low Earth Orbit
Space Station deserves Nobel Peace Prize
Moscow Times (7/16): Of late, Washington and Moscow have shared tensions over Russian actions in Ukraine. Regardless, the 15 nation partnership behind the International Space Station and its chief U.S. and Russian sponsors has flourished. Time for a Nobel Peace Prize?
Orbital Sciences makes second paid cargo delivery to ISS
Space News (7/16): Launched Sunday from Virginia’s eastern shore, the Orbital Sciences Corp. second Cygnus re-supply mission reached the International Space Station early Wednesday with nearly 3,300 pounds of supplies.
Expedition 40 welcomes ‘seventh crew member’ as spaceship Janice Voss arrives at Space Station
America Space (7/16): Orbital Sciences dedicates cargo mission to Janice Voss, a former company engineer and NASA astronaut. Voss flew five shuttle missions.
Odor-resistant gym clothes delivered to International Space Station
Associated Press via The Guardian, of London (7/16): Latest re-supply mission to the International Space Station includes odorless underwear experiment.
CNN Money (7/16): Foundation scholarships support attendance of more than 100 teachers and students at Space Camp, July 27-Aug. 1 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Senators wants quick RD-180 replacement, SpaceX certification
Spacepolicyonline.com (7/17): A joint U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday examined fast track alternatives to the use of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine in the United Launch Alliance Atlas V for the launching of U.S. national security payloads. The path forward grows more complex as President Obama called for new sanctions against Russia late in the day over interference in Ukraine.
House members press NASA for information on “epidemic of anomalies” with SpaceX missions
Space New (7/16): Three members of the U.S. House press NASA for details on SpaceX mission difficulties emerging from the agency’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program. “In the interest of full disclosure and accountability to the American taxpayer, we request that NASA publicly release all anomalies and mishap information, un-redacted, so that Congress can gain a better understanding of what has occurred and ensure full transparency,” they write. NASA included SpaceX as one of two commercial partners in the effort to develop cargo delivery services to the International Space Station.
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