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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related events from around the world, plus a roundup of weekend activities. A three man, U. S. and Russian crew launches to the International Space Station late Sunday. In Russia, there was still no contact with a Mars-bound probe that has been stranded in Earth orbit since its launching last week. Meanwhile, NASA prepares a nuclear powered Mars probe for launching in late November. NASA’s new chief engineer champions the value of innovation. A former White House space policy expert expresses concern about the future of the U. S. in space. Recent studies produce new clues about the nature of the first stars as well as asteroid Lutetia. A look at major space policy events planned for the week ahead, including a U. S. Senate hearing on the future of U.S. human space exploration.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com, Nov. 13: Roscosmos successfully launches a U. S. and Russian crew to the International Space Station. The lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhstan eased worries prompted by a late August Soyuz failure that the space station might have to be evacuated. Heavy snow fell as Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin began their two day transit to the orbiting science lab.
http://bit.ly/u7ilta
A. From Itar-Tass of Russia, Nov. 14: “Double stress” surrounded the Soyuz launching, according to Roscosmos chief Vladimir Popovkin.
http://bit.ly/sG26oB
B. From the New York Times, Nov. 14: NASA formally enters a new era in human spaceflight with the launching Sunday of a Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station. The U. S. and Russian crew are the first to fly since the troubling Aug. 24 loss of a Progress cargo capsule on a similar booster as well as the first to travel to the station since the retirement of NASA’s shuttle in late July. The new era will be characterized by dependence on Russian and U. S. commercial crew transportation, the Times reports.
http://nyti.ms/uo0UiX
C. From Xinhua.net of China, Nov. 14: China is prepared for a second docking demonstration of the un-piloted Shenzhou-8 spacecraft and the orbiting Tiangong-1 space laboratory.
2. From Ria Novosti of Russia, Nov. 14: Russian experts remain out of contact with the Mars/Phobos mission launched last week. The probe is stranded in Earth orbit with 25,000 pounds of toxic rocket fuel on board. Russian experts believe the probe will not re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere until January. Efforts to re-establish contact with the probe to attempt a firing of the dormant rocket engines can continue until December.
3. From the Los Angeles Times, Nov. 13: A look at NASA’s most sophisticated Mars bound probe ever, the Mars Science Laboratory. The launching of the rover, also known as Curiosity, is scheduled for Nov. 25.
http://lat.ms/vATnl8
A. From Florida Today, Nov. 12: In Central Florida, business leaders look to high profile unmanned launches to bring in the tourists once drawn by shuttle missions. Can the Nov. 25 Mars Science Lab launch bring the same numbers of visitors as NASA’s final shuttle launch?
http://on.flatoday.com/uTjKoT
4. From MSNBC and Cosmic Log, Nov. 11: NASA’s new chief engineer, Mason Peck of Cornell University, is a strong believer in the value of new technology — not only for future spaceflight but the nation’s economic well being.
http://on.msnbc.com/sUv3X9
5. From Spacepolitics.com, Nov. 11: The U.S. has a civil space policy that has grown risk averse, according to Mark Albrecht, executive secretary of the White House National Space Council under former President George H.W. Bush. In remarks at George Washington University, Albrecht decries the absence of a U. S. space transportation system and the funding challenge facing the James Webb Space Telescope as two examples. He questions the value of the Space Launch System as well.
http://bit.ly/tIL4TZ
6. From Discovery.com, Nov. 14: Scientists attempt to shed some light on the cosmic “Dark Ages,” a period when the first stars were forming. New evidence suggests these stars were not as huge as once believed.
7. From Space.com Astronomers learn new details about the asteroid Lutetia that suggest the rocky body formed in the inner solar system along with Mercury, Venus, the Earth and Mars. Later, it was slung into the asteroid belt.
http://bit.ly/vG4lZA
8. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Sept. 13: Major space policy activities scheduled for the week ahead.
http://bit.ly/sZEFY3
A. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Nov. 12: The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee schedules a Nov. 17 hearing on the status of NASA’s human spaceflight program.
http://bit.ly/tswrTo
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