In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The James Webb Space Telescope has been fueled for its mission slated for launch on December 22. The FAA will no longer issue commercial astronaut wings.
Space Science
Webb telescope fueled for flight, ready for lifting atop launcher
Spaceflightnow.com (12/11): The NASA led James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been fueled for its long mission at its launch site in French Guiana ahead of being carefully hoisted atop its Ariane 5 rocket. The launch date remains December 22. After being released from the launcher, Webb will use its own system of small rocket thrusters to fine-tune its approach to its final halo orbit around the L2 point. Those same thrusters will be used periodically throughout the mission to maintain that orbit, with small maneuvers called station keeping.
Europe’s Mars orbiter relays data from Chinese rover back to Earth
Space.com (12/12): China’s Zhurong rover landed at Utopia Planitia on Mars in May to explore as part of a mission that included China’s Tianwen 1 orbiter as a communications relay to Earth. In November, Tianwen began its own science mission full time. Through a cooperative effort, China and the European Space Agency (ESA) managed to relay data from Zhurong back to Earth using ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. Four of five communications tests in November failed but one succeeded and the relay effort is to continue. Mars Express has been in orbit since December 2003.
Scientists call for making Pluto a planet again
Futurism.com (12/10): It was 2006 that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) decided to withdraw Pluto’s status as a planet. A new study from the Florida Space Institute suggests that based on the latest scientific observations, including evidence of geophysical activity, as well as traditional standards, Pluto’s status as a planet should be reinstated.
Other News
FAA to end commercial astronaut wings program
SpaceNews.com (12/10): As December draws to a close, the FAA will no longer issue commercial astronaut wings, the agency announced on Friday. That means the wings will be awarded to flyers who launched during 2021 and have not been presented with wings previously. “The Astronaut Wings program, created in 2004, served its original purpose to bring additional attention to this exciting endeavor” stated Wayne Monteith, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation. Going forward in 2022, the FAA will maintain a roster on its website of those who have flown to an altitude of at least 50 miles, the FAA recognized threshold of space, aboard FAA-licensed vehicles.
Blue Origin launches Michael Strahan and crew of 5 on record-setting suborbital spaceflight
Space.com (12/11): Blue Origin’s New Shepard successfully launched six passengers, a first for the company, into suborbital space from West Texas on Saturday morning. They included Laura Shepard Churchley, the daughter of Alan Shepard, the first U.S. astronaut in space; Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan; and the first parent/child pair, Lane and Cameron Bess. At 6-foot, 5 inches, Strahan, a former NFL player, became the tallest person to reach space.
Johnson Space Center rocket park named for former center director
Collectspace.com (12/10): The entrance to NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston is home to Rocket Park, an indoor and outdoor setting that houses one of only three Apollo era Saturn V rockets and displays propulsion elements from Gemini and Mercury rockets. On Friday, the park was named for George W. S. Abbey, a former JSC director whose contributions to early human space flight stretched across five decades, Apollo, the space shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). Abbey was also responsible for welcoming longhorn cattle to the acreage surrounding the park as part of an educational project. He served as Johnson’s director from January 1996 until February 2001.
Saving the shuttle simulator: “It was an artifact that needed to be preserved”
Arstechnica.com (12/10): NASA’s full motion space shuttle simulator provided a critical asset in preparing the agency’s astronauts at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) for their missions to Earth orbit. As the shuttle program wound down, the simulator was disassembled and moved to Texas A & M University where plans for reassembly and display fell short. Now with the help of former NASA shuttle astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, a professor of engineering at A&M, and others with NASA, including former Johnson director George Abbey, the simulator has made its way back to NASA’s JSC in Houston for restoration and is slated to go on public display at the Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston in April.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of December 12-18, 2021
Spacepolicyonline.com (12/12): The American Geophysical Union convenes on Monday for its annual meeting, with a number of sessions planned through Friday that will focus on Earth science and updates on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the Mars Perseverance Rover and the Juno probe in orbit around Jupiter. The virtual Eilene M. Galloway Symposium on Critical Issues in Space Law is scheduled for Tuesday. The launch for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is planned for December 22, and NASA plans a pre-launch science briefing, possibly on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the U.S. House and Senate face a deadline for increasing the national debt limit, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warning lawmakers they should take action prior to December 15 to avoid a default. As the week starts, it’s unclear how long the House and Senate will be in session prior to a holiday break.