To subscribe to CSExtra via RSS feed click here.
If you would prefer to receive CSExtra in e-mail format, e-mail us at Info@space.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Now on orbit – the Coalition for Space Exploration’s latest Think Outside the Circle PSA. Benefits of space surround us.
Learn more about how technologies we develop to explore space keep us closer and safer on Earth.
Click here to watch the PSA, get free downloads and enter to win prizes.
Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related activities from around the globe. Three of the International Space Station’s six crew members descended to Earth overnight, landing safety in Kazakhstan. During their Soyuz departure, Dmitry Kondratyev, Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli paused to snap pictures of the shuttle Endeavour docked to the fully assembled International Space Station. New opinions on the future course of U. S. human space exploration. Is NASA being forced to rely too much on commercial space transportation for its future? Examining the prospects for a one-way trip to Mars. NASA’s Kepler space telescope is finding a surprising number of stars with multiple planets. Two Italians meet in space. Russia initiates criminal proceedings in a December satellite loss.
1. From Space.com: The three-member Soyuz TMA 20/25S crew departed the International Space Station for Earth late Monday, pausing first to photograph shuttle Endeavour, while docked with the fully assembled orbiting science laboratory. Dmitry Kondratyev, Paolo Nespoli and Catherine Coleman end a 159 day voyage, landing in remote Kazakhstan under parachute.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11758-soyuz-capsule-lands-space-station-crew.html
A. From Florida Today: Circuit breaker problems aboard the International Space Station temporarily disrupted the transmission of science data. The faulty power controller is replaced during Monday’s Soyuz undocking and de-orbit activities.
http://space.flatoday.net/2011/05/tripped-breaker-interrupts-space.html
2. From the New York Times: In an essay, John Noble Wilford, long time New York Times science writer, looks back a half century to then President John F. Kennedy’s May 25, 1961 speech to Congress about reaching the moon with explorers ahead of the former Soviet Union. Wilford looks back through the eyes of John Logsdon, the space historian, who notes some changes in perspective with the passage of time. Kennedy also attempted to reach out to the Soviets to cooperate rather than race to the moon. Ultimately, the moon race victory placed the U. S. in the doldrums of space from which it has yet to emerge, Logsdon writes in his new book on the era, John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/science/space/24space.html?_r=1&hp
3. Three from Monday’s The Space Review, on NASA’s efforts to set a new course for human space exploration.
A. In “Transition to commercial services for Low Earth Orbit Transportation,” Mike Lounge and Mary Lynne Dittmar, the late shuttle astronaut and Houston aerospace consultant, propose a phased approach for NASA and industry to move to commercial orbital transportation services, initially using NASA’s mission operations and other assets. The proposal has been in the works for more than a year. Lounge died on March 1.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1851/1
B. In “Dangers of a rocket to nowhere,” regular Space Review contributor Louis Friedman finds U. S. human space exploration “dead in the water,” a victim at the moment of the Congressionally devised Space Launch System, a new heavy lift rocket. Friedman finds the approach a costly blunder and wonders why the U. S. cannot seem to get rocket development right. Russia, with its reliable and low cost systems, followed a policy of steadily upgrading its military rockets, Friedman notes.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1849/1
C. In “A transorbital railroad to Mars,” Space Review editor Jeff Foust examines a proposal from Robert Zubrin, the Mars Society founder, to ease access to orbit and deep space. In brief, NASA would contract for launch services, perhaps using the SpaceX Super Heavy, at a negotiated cost. NASA would re-market the lift capacity to other government as well as commercial users and launch on a regular basis, whether the rocket was full or not. Zubrin presented the concept at the International Space Development Conference last week in Huntsville, Ala.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1850/1
4. From Forbes.com: SpaceX and its founder, Elon Musk, are riding a wave of enthusiasm for their commercial space transportation plans. One expert, Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute, questions whether there will be a market strong enough to truly deliver the lower cost NASA is looking for. Conspiracists wonder if the administration has backed NASA into a corner on the commercial issue.
http://blogs.forbes.com/beltway/2011/05/23/what-nasa-risks-by-betting-on-elon-musks-spacex/
A. From the Washington Examiner: A rebuttal to Thompson’s assertion.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/opinion-zone/2011/05/legacy-space-companies-running-scared
5. From the Washington Post: Pondering a one-way trip to Mars. Some scientists and engineers have proposed colonization as a way to hasten exploration of the Red Planet.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/science/one-way-ticket-to-mars/2011/05/13/AFI6L49G_story.html
A. From the Washington Post: A one-way trip does not seem so far fetched to some
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/science/theyd-take-a-one-way-ticket-to-mars/2011/05/18/AFCRT49G_story.html
6. From the Christian Science Monitor: NASA’s Kepler exo-planet hunting spacecraft has surprised astronomers with the number of multi-planet stars the space telescope is revealing.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0523/Surprise-find-in-Kepler-planet-hunt-lots-of-multi-planet-systems
7. From Space.com: For a few days, Italy claimed two astronauts in space, Paolo Nespoli a member of the International Space Station crew and Roberto Vittori, a member of the shuttle Endeavour crew. Nespoli returned to Earth aboard a Soyuz capsule late Monday, ending a 159 day voyage. Before his departure, Nespoli and Vittori, spoke from the space station with Italy’s President, Giorgio Napolitano
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11752-space-italian-astronauts-italy-president-orbit.html
8. From Itar-Tass: Russia intends to prosecute space agency officials in the loss of Glonass global navigation system satellites in December. Three spacecraft were lost. http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c32/148320.html
Brought to you by the Coalition for Space Exploration, CSExtra is a daily compilation of space industry news selected from hundreds of online media resources. The Coalition is not the author or reporter of any of the stories appearing in CSExtra and does not control and is not responsible for the content of any of these stories. The content available through CSExtra contains links to other websites and domains which are wholly independent of the Coalition, and the Coalition makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site or domain and does not pre-screen or approve any content. The Coalition does not endorse or receive any type of compensation from the included media outlets and is not responsible or liable in any way for any content of CSExtra or for any loss, damage or injury incurred as a result of any content appearing in CSExtra. For information on the Coalition, visit www.space.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@space.com.