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Wednesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting on space related activities from across the globe. In orbit, a Soyuz capsule with a NASA and two Russian astronauts successfully docks with the International Space Station early Wednesday. NASA says it will recruit as many as 15 new astronauts. A $17.8 billion U.S. House and Senate budget compromise for 2012 funds NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle yet provides less than half the $850 million sought for the development of new commercial crew initiatives. Experts inform a House oversight panel that budget constraints could jeopardize a future collaboration between the U. S. and Europe for the exploration of Mars. The mysteries of the moon’s magnetic field. Photographers find an active sun a compelling subject.
1. From Space.com: Russia’s Soyuz 28 mission carrying three U. S. and Russian astronauts docked successfully with the International Space Station early Wednesday. The linkup was the first flight by astronauts to the station since the retirement of NASA’s shuttle program in late July. It also marked the first Russian crewed mission to the station since a late August crash of the cargo version of the Soyuz launcher. The newcomers are NASA’s Dan Burbank and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin.
http://bit.ly/sc5jiZ
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: NASA announces plans to select as many as 15 new astronauts. The application deadline is Jan. 27. NASA’s new astronauts can look forward to flying to the International Space Station aboard new commercially operated spacecraft as well as the new NASA Orion/Multipurpose Crew Exploration Vehicle that is being developed for missions to near Earth asteroids and eventually to Mars.
3. From Spacepolitics.com: A look at the NASA 2012 spending measure agreed to by House and Senate conferees earlier this week. The agreement delivers $17.8 billion, as compared to the White House request of $18.7 billion. The agreement caps spending on the James Webb Space Telescope at $8 billion. Spending on NASA’s commercial crew development is limited to $406 million, or less than half what the President sought.
A. From the Washington Post: In a tough budget environment, the House and Senate agree to back the Space Launch System and the Orion/Mult-iPurpose Crew Vehicle, the new heavy lift rocket and crew capsule that NASA is developing for future missions of human exploration to near Earth asteroids and eventually to Mars. The former receives $1.8 billion and the latter $1.2 billion. Congress preserves the James Webb Space Telescope as well.
http://wapo.st/rIY2kg
B. From the Orlando Sentinel: House and Senate reach agreement on a 2012 NASA budget that falls below the White House request in several areas, including funds for the development of commercial crew transportation services. That could mean fewer jobs for the Kennedy Space Center, where thousands were laid off as the shuttle was retired.
http://thesent.nl/swWJ75
C. From Space News: More on NASA’s 2012 budget agreement, which is likely to pass the full House and Senate before the end of this week as part of a larger spending measure. The $17.8 billion agreement falls $924 million short of the White House request for 2012 and $624 million below 2011 spending.
D. From the Washington Times: Budget constraints threaten to jeopardize a new partnership between the NASA and the European Space Agency for the robotic exploration of Mars. Europe may turn to Russia for assistance with a pair of future missions instead, experts tell a House oversight panel. U. S. leadership in space could be in jeopardy, the newspaper reports.
http://bit.ly/tES5hD
4. From the New York Times: The mysteries of the moon’s magnetic field.
http://nyti.ms/rsqj6Z
5. From MSNBC and the Cosmic Log: Photographers have a field day with the sun as the star grows more active, unleashing solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
http://on.msnbc.com/upOCNS
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