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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities. House looks to next week for action on NASA’s proposed $17.9 billion budget for 2015. NASA and its contractors look at Space Launch System test options that could change crewed test flight to unmanned launch of SLS with a new upper stage. NASA’s Morpheus prototype planetary lander ready to let the autopilot maneuver around craters, boulders and steep slopes. Houston’s space role slipping? Alien life discovery possible in 20 years. Friday/Saturday hold prospects for new meteor shower. International Space Station astronauts find time to read aloud for children. NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio discusses life aboard the space station. The U.S., Great Britain, Canada and Australia to cooperate on orbital situational awareness. SpaceX Dragon water leak detected during Pacific recovery; NASA says agency’s science and other payloads not affected. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners reach new milestones. Win a chance at a Star Wars: Force for Change walk on role.
NASA 2015 Budget
House and Senate making progress on NASA, commercial space bills
Spacepolitics.com (5/21): The U.S. House could take up NASA’s $17.9 billion 2015 appropriations proposal next week as well as begin full House consideration of a new NASA authorization measure, the website reports. The U.S. Senate is working on an authorization measure, the first for NASA since 2010, as well. Defense, rather than NASA, legislation will apparently address whether the U.S. begins production of a U.S. alternative to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Second SLS mission might not carry crew
Space News (5/21): NASA considers a second unpiloted test flight of the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket, rather than a crewed mission, in 2021. The flight would mark the debut of a new Boeing upper stage for the SLS, which NASA and the company are close to defining in a new agreement, according to a company executive. Currently, the first launch of the SLS with an uncrewed Orion capsule is planned for 2017. The first crewed launch of the combination SLS and Orion is targeted for 2021. A crewed option is still possible as NASA looks at upper stage options rather than changes to the twin ATK furnished solid rocket boosters for the SLS first stage, Space News reports.
Florida Today (5/21): NASA’s prototype Morpheus planetary lander is ready to reach for new milestone: a self-navigated landing on a test field at the Kennedy Space Center. The new milestone in a long running flight test program will exercise the lander’s ability to identify and steer to a landing site without a crater or a steep slope. Morpheus development is led by NASA’s Johnson Space Center for future unpiloted as well as human missions.
Lembeck: Congress paving way for Houston’s demise as space center
Houston Chronicle (5/21): NASA’s Johnson Space Center is being out maneuvered by political forces in other states as the nation attempts to open the next chapters in human space exploration, writes Michael Lembeck, a former NASA requirements division director, in an op ed.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Alien life discovery could happen within 20 years
Discovery.com (5/21): That’s the best estimate from the testimony of astronomers who appeared before the House Science Space and Technology Committee on Wednesday. A half dozen planetary bodies beyond the Earth could host habitable environments, according to Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer with the SETI Institute. “The chances of finding it, I think, are good, and if that happens, it’ll happen in the next 20 years, depending on the financing,” said Shostak.
‘Meteor storm’ may light up Friday night sky
Space.com (5/21): Debris from the comet 209P/Linear could produce weekend meteor shower.
Low Earth Orbit
Astronauts share ‘Story Time From Space’ to inspire children
Collectspace.com (5/21): Astronauts aboard the International Space Station read children’s stories. The NASA educational feature is called Story Time From Space.
U.S., three allies sign Space Situational Awareness Accord
Space News 5/21): United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia sign accord to work more closely on space situational awareness, the U.K. announces. Benefits include a sharper focus on orbital space debris.
WDRB interviews astronaut Rick Mastracchio after his return from the International Space Station
WDRB-TV of Louisville (5/21): Just returned to Earth from more than six months aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio discusses life in orbit.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Dragon cargo capsule encounters water seepage
Spaceflightnow.com (5/21): SpaceX Dragon capsule takes on water after Sunday’s splashdown, NASA reports. However, there is no evidence of damage to the inside of the capsule or its NASA research cargo, according to the space agency. SpaceX elects not to comment.
NASA’s commercial crew partners working to return launches to U.S. soil
Spaceflight Insider (5/21): U.S. companies in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program reach new milestones in bid to transport U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station and other destinations.
J.J. Abrams announces contest to be in new ‘Star Wars’ movie, unveils creature from film (video)
Space.com (5/21): $10 donation could lead to walk on cameo in Abrams’ directed Star Wars: Force for Change. Production will feature new space creatures.
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