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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion crew capsule reaches Florida launch pad on Wednesday ahead of scheduled Dec. 4 test flight, a mission that promises to set the stage for future human deep space exploration. The European Space Agency celebrates the first landing of a spacecraft on the surface of a comet. Scientists hope the Philae lander can overcome problems with the anchoring system to remain locked to the distant comet’s surface for months. The International Space Station maneuvers to avoid Chinese space junk. Pentagon favors commercial replacement for Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine, rather than a federal government start up. The NTSB provides details of its interview with surviving pilot Pete Siebold regarding the Oct. 31 in-flight loss of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA capsule arrives at launch pad for first test flight
Reuters (11/12): Lockheed Martin’s Orion capsule reaches a Florida launch pad on Wednesday for mating to the big Delta 4 rocket that will launch the capsule assembly on its first unpiloted test flight. Lift off is set for Dec. 4. Lockheed Martin is the contractor for NASA’s Orion capsule, which is an essential part of U.S. planning to resume human deep space exploration.
NASA’s first Orion capsule delivered to launch pad
Spaceflightnow.com (11/12): The Dec. 4 Exploration Flight Test-1 will send Orion on a two orbit unpiloted test flight. NASA envisions destinations ranging from an asteroid to Mars for U.S. astronauts launched aboard the fully developed Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
European spacecraft touches down on comet
Space News (11/12): The European Space Agency succeeded Wednesday in its decade long mission to land the first spacecraft on a comet. After separating from the Rosetta spacecraft, the Philae lander touched down on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, concluding a four billion mile journey. However, parts of the systems designed to secure the lander to the comet appear not to have functioned, raising uncertainty for the science investigations ahead.
Why Rosetta’s malfunctioning anchoring harpoons are ‘clearly worrisome’
Washington Post (11/13): Anxiety mixed with euphoria after the European Space Agency’s Philae Lander touched down on the surface of a comet on Thursday. A pair of harpoons meant to deploy and anchor the probe to the comet’s surface failed. The spacecraft’s stability is in question.
Rosetta’s Philae lander makes historic comet landing
Spaceflightinsider.com (11/12): Dramatic touchdown ended “seven hours of terror,” the time between the lander’s departure from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft and its encounter with the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Tiny spacecraft nails target, comet 300M miles away
USA Today (11/12): European Space Agency nails its comet target, but landing itself was bumpy. Harpoons fail to anchor spacecraft to the surface.
Landing on a comet, a mission aims to unlock Earth’s mysteries
New York Times (11/12): European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain declares Wednesday’s comet landing a “big step for human civilization”. Similar technologies could be used to mine the asteroids.
Lander stable on comet, for now
Scientific American (11/12): After a dramatic 10 year journey through the solar system, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft dispatches a small lander, Philae, to the surface of the Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Scientists hope the lander is prepared for six months of unprecedented robotic exploration.
Low Earth Orbit
International Space Station dodges Chinese space junk
Associated Press via Florida Today (11/12): The altitude of the International Space Station was raised with thrusters on Wednesday to avoid debris from a Chinese reconnaissance satellite. The three astronauts aboard were in no danger.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
U.S. Defense Department balks at RD-180 replacement program
Space News (11/12): Pentagon documents suggest the Department of Defense favors a commercial rather than a domestic federal government alternative to imports of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engines. The practice of importing the Russian rocket engines grew controversial in the aftermath of Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine.
Suborbital
Investigators: Surviving SpaceShipTwo pilot unaware feathering system unlocked
Space News (11/12): National Transportation Safety Board interview reveals that SpaceShipTwo pilot Pete Siebold was unaware of in-flight actions by copilot Michael Alsbury prior to their fatal Oct. 31 accident.
SpaceShipTwo crash pilot provides first-hand account to NTSB
Aviation Week & Space Technology (11/12): SpaceShipTwo pilot Pete Siebold tells NTSB investigators how he escaped the in-flight breakup of SpaceShipTwo with a parachute but no ejection seat.
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