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Friday’s top space news offers the latest reporting on space related activities from around the globe: NASA assigns shuttle Atlantis a June 28 launch date, though mission funding is uncertain. Two cosmonauts prep for a Friday spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The U. S. and Russia mark successful rocket launches. In Congress, conservatives look to even steeper spending cuts. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to move from Tucson to Houston today to begin long recovery, while enabling husband and NASA astronaut Mark Kelly to resume his training. China plans for the nation’s first Mars probe. NASA endorses the importance of diet and exercise to the youngest Americans. Remembering Challenger and her crew as the 25th anniversary of the shuttle’s loss nears.
1. From Florida Today: NASA designates Atlantis for the shuttle program’s final mission — if funded by the White House and Congress. Shuttle managers on Thursday designate a June 28 target launch date for the “final” flight of the program. A crew of four would launch supplies to the station during an 11-day mission that could be extended. Station managers would like the mission to fly closer to the Sept. 30 end of the 2011 fiscal year. http://space.flatoday.net/2011/01/atlantis-officially-designated-final.html
2. From Space.com: Cosmonauts Dmitry Kondratyev and Oleg Skripochka will don space suits early for a six hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The two men plan to install a communications antenna, collect external experiments and fasten an external video camera during a six hour excursion. The outing is to begin at 9:20 a.m., EST.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10653-space-station-russian-spacewalk-preview.html
3. From the Los Angeles Times: A United Launch Alliance Delta IV makes a successful debut launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Thursday. The Delta carried a U. S. reconnaissance satellite into orbit. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-vandenberg-launch-20110121,0,410521.story
A. From Spaceflightnow.com: A Russian Zenit rocket launches a weather satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1101/20zenit/
4. From the Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times and others: In Washington, conservative lawmakers propose even greater spending cuts than those pledged by Republicans in the fall Congressional campaign. The Republican Study Committee proposes $175 billion in cuts, taking the federal government back to 2006 spending levels, rather than the campaign pledge of 2008 levels. That could mean a pay freeze for federal workers and a reduction of 15 percent in the federal workforce through attrition. Some lawmakers hope to spare agencies like NASA, the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-bc-apfn-us–congress-spending,0,3400196.story
A. From Spacepolitics.com: House Republicans selected a freshman Mississippi legislator, Steve Palazzo, to chair the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, which has NASA oversight responsibilities. http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/01/20/palazzo-to-chair-house-science-committees-space-subcommittee/
5. From the New York Times: Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords faces a difficult rehabilitation as she leaves the University Medical Center in Tucson for the Texas Medical Center in Houston, doctors caution. Astronaut Mark Kelly, Giffords husband and commander of NASA’s final scheduled shuttle mission, says the transfer will permit him to both be with his wife and return to work. Giffords is recovering from a gunshot wound received at a Jan. 8 political rally. Kelly and NASA have yet to decide whether he can lead Endeavour’s April 19 mission.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/us/21giffords.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
A. From Space.com: During a news briefing Thursday, NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly expresses optimism his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, will make a successful recovery. http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10655-gabrielle-giffords-astronaut-husband-recovery.html
6. From the People’s Daily of China: China looks at launching the nation’s first Mars probe in 2013. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90881/7263816.html
7. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: A quick glance at robotic exploration activities planned for 2011. They start with a Valentine’s Day rendezvous with comet Tempel 1.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/nasa%e2%80%99s-fleet-of-comet-asteroid-moon-mercury-mars-and-jupiter-spacecraft
A. From Nature News: NASA sets Feb. 23 for the launching of the Glory spacecraft. Glory is the centerpiece of an environmental mission to monitor solar energy and the impact of fluctuations on the Earth’s climate. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110120/full/news.2011.32.html
B. From Universe Today: NASA works on a novel way to place the Mars Science Laboratory “Curiosity” rover on the surface of the red planet, a “Sky Crane.” Curiosity is reach Mars in August 2012, following a November 2011 launching. http://www.universetoday.com/82679/video-drop-test-for-next-mars-rovers-sky-crane-landing-system/
8. From Discovery.com: Train like and follow the diet of an astronaut. NASA and other world space agencies back a healthy life style for the young through Mission X: Train Like and Astronaut. The initiative is aimed at the 8 through 12-year-old set. http://news.discovery.com/space/nasa-to-students-train-like-an-astronaut.html
9. From the Boston Globe: Jan. 28 will mark the 25th anniversary of the shuttle Challenger tragedy. New Hampshire school teacher Christa McAuliffe was among the seven astronauts who perished on board. Her memory lives on at the Challenger Learning Center, which is part of the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Center for Education and Teaching Excellence on the campus of the Framingham State University. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/01/21/christa_mcauliffe_education_legacy_at_work_through_challenger_center/
A. From Collectspace.com: A list of upcoming activities to commemorate the Challenger crew. http://www.collectspace.com/calendar/calendar-ceremony.html#012811012811ndr
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