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Wednesday’s CSExtra spotlights the latest reporting and commentary on NASA’s future. Nobel laureates, former astronauts and NASA officials join in opposition to the House version of a NASA spending bill for 2011 and beyond. In Utah, the embattled Constellation back to the moon program wins revived interest as rocket booster maker ATK test fires a key piece of propulsion at a desert test facility.
1. From the New York Times: The House version of a 2010 NASA authorization bill opposition from 14 Nobel prize winners, seven former astronauts and others, who write the measure under funds commercial spaceflight, technology development, robotic missions and academic research involvement. The letter, coordinated by two former members of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, was delivered to U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, who chairs the House Science and Technology Committee. Unlike the White House budget proposal and a Senate authorization bill, the House measure offers little for the development of the commercial space taxis nor investments in new technologies favored by President Obama.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/science/space/01nasa.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
A. From the Orlando Sentinel: The eight page letter with signatures.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/files/2010/08/NASA_Letter_-_Aug_31_2010_-_FINAL_001.pdf
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: ATK’s Ares 1 first stage test firing draws an audience in the Utah desert on Tuesday. The Ares 1, however, is part of NASA’s Constellation back-to-the-moon program, which the White House wishes to cancel. Still, the rocket that would be the first stage for the Orion crew exploration capsule and its astronaut crews gave an impressive performance that pleased top NASA officials.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1008/31dm2/
A. From the Orlando Sentinel: The successful test re-opens the debate over Constellation’s fate in some quarters.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2010/08/nasa-test-fires-new-ares-rocket-and-ignites-more-space-debate.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Fspace%2Fspace_blog+%28Space+Blog+The+Write+Stuff%29
B. From the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Utah: ATK establishes a new engineering lab, where its experts can support launches of the company’s rocketry anywhere in the country.
http://www.standard.net/topics/business/2010/08/30/clearfield-atk-crew-dreaming-launch-assistance
3. From Space.com: The numbers of asteroids may appear almost limitless, but finding just the right one for a human mission could prove difficult. President Obama’s space policy points NASA toward a human asteroid mission by 2025. Many asteroids are quite small, they tumble, or move too fast.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/nasa-space-asteroid-mission-near-earth-100831.html
A. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: At the AIAA convention in Anaheim, Calif., an expert from Lockheed Martin offers some small asteroid candidates that astronauts could reach.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/plans-advanced-for-human-trek-to-an-asteroid
4. From Spaceflightnow.com: NASA looks at the potential launching of an International Space Station module used as a ground test article. This “node” resembles the Tranquility, Unity and Harmony modules. Its launching would establish docking ports to advance the development of inflatable modules for future exploration missions.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1008/31node/
5. From San Francisco Examiner: A question and answer session with former NASA astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris, the first African American to walk in space. Harris, a member of the Coalition for Space Exploration’s board of advisors, discusses his career path, who motivated him to become a physician; then an astronaut and now a successful venture capitalist.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/First-black-man-in-space-down-to-earth-about-career-moves-101856713.html
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