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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. U.S. Senate nurturing $17.9 billion NASA budget for 2015 — a bottom line already agreed to by the House and good news for Space Launch System development, though spending for Commercial Crew falls below White House request. Russia looks to lunar tourism within three years. NASA’s Kepler space telescope spots possible planet with flowing water. Astronomers rally to extend NASA’s Spitzer space telescope. Hubble Space Telescope probes distant universe. Sun taking a breather? NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, with camera ever ready, snaps away on the International Space Station. Russian scientists say closer collaboration with U.S. on space station research possible. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center glances four decades into the future. Sophomore women discuss rocketry with President Obama. Space Center Houston sees Mars in its future. First SpaceShipTwo flight to carry a dozen NASA technology experiments.
NASA 2015 Budget
Senate spending bill includes $17.9 billion for NASA
Space News (6/30): On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over NASA approved $17.9 billion for the agency in 2015, which matches the total approved by the full U.S. House last week. The Senate mark includes $254 million more than NASA’s 2014 appropriation and $439 million more than the White House sought for next year. U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who chairs the subcommittee also chairs the Appropriations Committee, which will consider the NASA measure on Thursday. Then, it’s on to the full Senate.
Shelby announces $1.7 billion for Space Launch System
Hispanic Business.com (6/3): U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, of Alabama and ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, announces $1.7 billion for future development of NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket as part of the $17.9 billion 2015 space agency budget measure making its way through the U.S. Senate this week. The allocation should keep the SLS under development at the Marshall Space Flight Center on track for an unpiloted test flight in 2017. The measures includes $1.2 billion for Orion crew capsule development, and $805 for the Commercial Crew Program initiative.
Senate appropriations subcommittee wants $17.9 billion for NASA in FY2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (6/3): Subcommittee and full U.S. House appear close on $17.9 billion top line for NASA in 2015. One internal difference — the Senate panel urges $805 million for the Commercial Crew Program initiative to restore the United States with the human launch capability it lost when the shuttle fleet was retired in mid-2011. The White House is seeking $848 million, the House approved $785 million, a record appropriation measure.
Spending bill doesn’t meet NASA’s request for key program
USA Today (6/3): The $805 million that a Senate Appropriations subcommittee endorsed for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program falls short of what the administration has said it needs to make sure astronauts can get to the International Space Station from American soil by 2017.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Russia to fly two tourists around the Moon by 2017
Moscow Times (5/3): Russia’s Energia aerospace company, in partnership with U.S. based Space Adventures, looks to the launch of tourists around the Earth’s moon within three years. Cost: $150 million. The passenger names have not been disclosed.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Newly found planet may have flowing water, astronomers report
Newsweek (6/3): Water may flow on one of two planets that orbit Kapteyn’s Star, the 25th nearest star and but 13 light years away from the Earth, according to astronomers using NASA’s planet hunting Kepler space telescope.
NASA and astronomy community looking for ways to keep Spitzer going
Spacepolitics.com (6/3): Launched 11 years ago, NASA’s Spitzer space telescope may survive a mission ending decision — if the observatory can continue operations at a reduced cost.
NASA snaps cosmic color portrait ‘and then some’
Associated Press via Houston Chronicle (6/3): The Hubble Space Telescope captures the depth of the universe in visible and ultraviolet light. Some of the galaxies in the image are 10 billion years old.
Hubble team unveils most colorful view of universe captured by space telescope
NASA (6/3): Hubble Space Telescope image reveals a missing link in star formation. Time exposure looks back five to 10 billion light years.
What’s going on with the sun? Scientists puzzled by oddities in sunspot cycle.
Christian Science Monitor (6/3): Sun spots seem to be fading, suggesting less solar activity and perhaps a slight cooling effect on the Earth’s climate, some solar experts are suggesting.
Low Earth Orbit
Astronaut shares the thrill of his first week in space
Spaceflightnow.com (6/3): NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman is clearly thrilled by his first journey to space. His first week aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 40 includes time behind the camera to share what he is experiencing.
Russia, USA resume talks on new joint projects for ISS
Itar-Tass, or Russia (6/4): The U.S. and Russia are discussing possible closer collaboration in the research underway aboard the International Space Station, according to Oleg Orlov, First Deputy Director of the Institute for Medico-Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Kennedy Space Center looks to the future
Florida Today (6/3): In two decades, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center growth plan envisions new launch pads, sea ports and other key pieces of infrastructure. The plan was the topic of a Titusville, Fla., public hearing Tuesday.
All-girl student rocket team visits White House
Space.com (6/4): Three Maryland teens greeted by President Obama for their tenacity in working evenings and weekends to develop a small rocket launched and landed while protecting delicate cargo inside — two raw eggs. Their efforts earned them a spot in the recent White House Science Fair.
Space Center Houston has 3-phase plan for transformation
Houston Chronicle (6/3): Space Center Houston, the official Johnson Space Center visitor’s complex, looks forward to Mars, remembers the space shuttle era in the facility’s expansion plans.
Suborbital
NASA, Virgin Galactic announce payloads for SpaceShipTwo flight
NASA (6/3): First flight of the suborbital passenger carrier Virgin Galactic will include a dozen NASA technology experiments, the Neil Armstrong Flight Research Center announces Tuesday. “The payloads on this flight represent a cross section of promising space exploration technologies that could benefit future NASA missions” said a space agency official.
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