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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Russia looks to the moon as a human destination by the 2020s. U.S. Navy, NASA team to rehearse Orion ocean recovery. India becomes first nation to reach Mars with a spacecraft on its first attempt, as the Mangalyaan probe maneuvers into orbit. Latest U.S. commercial re-supply mission reaches International Space Station. International Space Station ready for its first female Russian cosmonaut. Florida shuttle Atlantis display to host October astronaut reunion. ATK proposes solid fuel rocket alternative to imports of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine. Challenges of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program mean new prestige for the U.S. Dignitaries break ground in South Texas for nation’s first commercial spaceport. Russia prepares to resume Proton rocket launches.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Russia says it’s putting another man on the Moon by 2030
Time (9/23): Russia will aim for a human presence on the moon by the end of the next decade, according to Oleg Ostapenko, the head of Roscomsos, the Russian federal space agency, on Tuesday. “At the end of the next decade, we plan to complete tests of a super-heavy-class carrier rocket and begin full-scale exploration of the Moon,” Rogozin said.
NASA, U.S. Navy train to recover Orion spacecraft
10 News, of San Diego (9/22): The U.S. Navy and NASA rehearsed the ocean recovery of NASA’s Orion crew capsule in the Pacific waters of San Diego this month. The first unpiloted orbital test flight of Orion, Exploration Flight Test-1, is scheduled for early December. Orion will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and circle the Earth twice.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
India becomes first Asian nation to reach Mars orbit, joins elite global space club
Washington Post (9/24): India’s Mars Mission Orbiter braked into orbit around the red planet late Tuesday, or early Wednesday in New Delhi. India is the first nation to achieve Mars mission success on its first attempt. The Mangalyaan spacecraft will study the mineralogy of the Martian terrain and the atmosphere. The probe is equipped to detect methane gas, whose possible origins include past or present biological activity. NASA’s latest Mars mission, MAVEN, steered into orbit around the red planet late Sunday.
5 things that Mangalyaan will do in Mars orbit
Business Standard, of India (9/24): As have previous Mars missions, India’s Mangalyaan will attempt to unravel the history of water on Mars.
India’s MOM satellite is the newest member of the Mars orbiter club
Spaceflight Insider (9/23): India’s mostly home grown Mars probe was designed for a six to ten month primary mission.
Low Earth Orbit
Supplies delivered to space station by Dragon cargo craft
Spaceflightnow.com (9/23): The fourth SpaceX Dragon re-supply capsule reached the International Space Station early Tuesday to deliver nearly 5,000 pounds of crew supplies and research gear.
Air and Space Museum Magazine (9/23): Elena Serova is set to become the first female in the Russian cosmonaut corps to reach Earth orbit in nearly two decades. Serova will join an American and fellow Russia as they lift off Thursday for a five to six month stay aboard the International Space Station.
KSC: A dozen astronauts set for Atlantis anniversary
Orlando Sentinel (9/23): Early October will mark the first anniversary of the orbiter Atlantis display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Astronauts who launched aboard the orbiter will participate in an Oct. 9 celebration.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
ATK urges Air Force to consider solids as it weighs RD-180 replacement
Space News (9/23): ATK offers the U.S. Air Force a solid fuel first stage alternative to Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine for the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5.
Jeff Bezos isn’t the only one who says he can end U.S. reliance on a Russian-made engine
The Washington Post (9/23): ATK unveils plans to offer a U.S. alternative to the import of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine for the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5. It’s a solid rocket motor propulsion system. “We feel very confident we can do this within three years,” said Kent Rominger, ATK’s vice president for business development. “We feel we can be very competitive,” Bezos’ Blue Origin recently announced it would pursue a similar goal with a liquid fueled rocket.
Space race – America orbits around its troubles
The Hill (9/23): This race involves reaching Earth orbit with new U.S. commercial human space transportation services. “Space is still a race and a place where nations can show off.,” writes Tara Sonenshine, former U.S. undersecretary of state, noting current U.S. reliance on Russia for human access to space.
SpaceX breaks ground for spaceport in Texas, Musk aims for first launch in 2016:
Spaceflightinsider.com (9/23): Texas Gov. Rick Perry joins groundbreaking for new SpaceX commercial spaceport in Boca Chica near Brownsville in South Texas. Launches could begin in 2016.
First proton carrier rocket installed on launch pad after May accident
Ria Novosti, or Russia (9/23): Russia erects its first Proton rocket on a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan since a disturbing May failure.
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