Saturday’s space news scan is dominated by stories on the lift off of shuttle Atlantis on what is likely the final voyage of the 25-year old winged orbiter. Atlantis is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station on Sunday just before 10:30 a.m., EDT. The linkup could be altered if mission managers decide to maneuver the space station away from an erratic piece of orbital debris. The flight has become tangible evidence of the shuttle program’s looming retirement.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com. Shuttle Atlantis lifts off.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/
A. The New York Times version
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/science/space/15shuttle.html?scp=2&sq=nasa&st=cse
B. From the AP via the Los Angeles Times, the station journey could be altered slightly as the station maneuvers to avoid an impact with an erratic piece of space debris.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-space-shuttle,0,7609625.story
C. From Florida Today, the Atlantis crew will spend Saturday inspecting the shuttle’s heat shield for debris impact damage. However, the shuttle appeared to have lift off with little loss of external tank insulating foam.
http://flametrench.flatoday.net/
D. From the Orlando Sentinel. Atlantis on final planned mission. However, if launched again, NASA points to June 2011 as the most beneficial date for the International Space Station. Decision on fate of Atlantis likely in June, maybe July, NASA says.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2010/05/officials-talk-about-prospect-of-extra-atlantis-mission.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Fspace%2Fspace_blog+%28Space+Blog+The+Write+Stuff%29F. From Aviation Week, Scientists to use Atlantis mission for
E. From Aviation Week & Space Technology Magazine, Scientists use Atlantis mission to study the effects of weightlessness on 128 types of bacteria.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2010/05/14/07.xml&headline=Shuttle%20Atlantis%20Carrying%20Microbe%20Study
F. From Orlando Sentinel, NASA hosts a Tweet up for the Atlantis launching.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2010/05/atlantis-in-140-characters-or-less.html
2. From Space News, U. S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski urges White House to ease up on efforts by NASA to close out the Constellation Program, while Congress deliberates the future of the back to the moon initiative.
http://www.spacenews.com/policy/100514-mikulski-troubled-constellation-termination.html
3. From Universe Today, the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter spots volcanic ash in a Martian crater in the Meridiani Planum region of the Red Planet. Scientist use the imagery to study Martian winds. For a small planet, Mars has big volcanoes.
http://www.universetoday.com/2010/05/14/new-views-of-meridiani-planum-show-deposits-of-volcanic-ash/#more-64369
4. From Space.com, Weekend sky views, shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station as well as an unusually bright moon and planet Venus
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/scienceastronomy/shuttle-atlantis-venus-moon-space-station-100514.html
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