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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest news and commentary on space related activities, plus a roundup of reporting from the July 4 weekend. NASA’s final shuttle mission, scheduled to lift off Friday at 11:26 a.m., EDT, has been an almost solitary focus. The three man, one woman Atlantis crew received an Independence Day welcome with their arrival at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday. Elsewhere, policymakers and commentators debate the meaning of the final mission. Is NASA opening a new chapter? Stalled? Of in need of a yet-to-be defined mission? Should the agency delay the shuttle’s retirement? All of this and more seems to occupy the minds of those with an interest in space as the countdown for Atlantis gets under way today. Also, a look at three NASA interplanetary missions on the near horizon. NASA goes to court over an Apollo-era camera. And a look ahead at space policy events scheduled for the coming week.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com, July 4: The countdown for NASA’s final flight mission begins Tuesday. The four astronauts assigned to fly the 12-day mission received July 4 greetings as they arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/110704arrival/
A. From Spaceflightnow.com, July 3: Profiles of the NASA’s “Final Four,” the astronauts assigned to the Atlantis mission, Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/110703crew/
2. From the New York Times, July 4: NASA’s final shuttle flight brings fears of decline at the space agency. Among the concerns is a loss of skilled manpower. “You’re left with the B students,” worries one expert, a conclusion disputed by others, including NASA’s leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/04/science/space/04nasa.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=science
A. From the Washington Post, July 3: NASA stands at a crossroads, as the shuttle program retires. Some former agency officials believe the 53-year-old organization has never been in worse shape. However, NASA’s two top officials believe the agency is poised to reinvigorate human activity in space.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-space-program-approaches-end-of-an-era-what-next/2011/06/29/AGeBAWtH_story.html
3. From the Washington Post, July 4: NASA’s Astronaut corps is shrinking, as the agency faces an uncertain future. Some who are leaving are heading for positions in the commercial space transportation sector.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/as-shuttle-era-ends-questions-loom-for-shrinking-astronaut-corps/2011/06/23/gHQAPwr4xH_story.html
4. From the New York Times, July 5: A look back in essay format at the shuttle era, how it began and how it ends with dreams of exploring space still lingering.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/science/space/05shuttle.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=NASA&st=cse
A. From the Houston Chronicle, July 5: NASA’s space shuttle came with primal high expectation. It flew shaped by political compromise, changing expectations and limited resources.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7639420.html
B. From the Orlando Sentinel, July 4: Will the International Space Station grip public attention once NASA’s space shuttle retires? Will research on vaccines, studies of the human response to weightlessness and the promise of breakthroughs in cosmic ray collisions stir the imagination?
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-07-04/news/os-shuttle-finale-space-station-20110704_1_meaningful-science-international-space-station-alpha-magnetic-spectrometer
5. From USA Today, July 1: In remarks at the National Press Club, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says the agency is laying the ground work for another half century of U. S. leadership in the human exploration of space.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-07-01-NASA-shuttle-space_n.htm
A. From the Houston Chronicle, July 2: In an address to the National Press Club, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden offers assurances U. S. human space flight will not end with the shuttle’s certain retirement.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/topstory/7636555.html#loopbegin
B. From the Orlando Sentinel, July 1: NASA is not adrift, NASA chief Charles Bolden tells the National Press Club. Those who think the agency is drifting are living on another planet, the administrator says.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2011/07/nasa-administrator-bolden-defends-future-manned-space-flight-plans.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+news%2Fspace%2Fspace_blog+%28Space+Blog+The+Write+Stuff%29
C. From Florida Today, July 1: NASA’s formula for success includes an emerging commercial space transportation industry, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden tells the National Press Club.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110702/NEWS02/107020311/NASA-s-50-year-mission-intact?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
6. From NASAwatch.com, July 1: Chris Kraft, a former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, urges NASA administrator Charles Bolden to re-store space shuttle operations. Kraft warns of potential problems with the International Space Station that will be difficult to address without the shuttle’s versatility. The letter is endorsed by six Apollo and early shuttle-era astronauts. An op-ed outlining similar concerns was recently published in the New York Daily News.
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/07/last-minute-ple.html
A. From the Washington Post, July 2: Human spaceflight is too dangerous to move ahead without the space shuttle, according to a group of former NASA officials and astronauts
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/space-shuttle-advocates-nasa-is-taking-dangerous-direction-with-programs-end/2011/07/02/AGKsoDvH_story.html
7. From the Baltimore Sun, July 4: In an op-ed, NASA’s chief scientist and technologist outline a vision for future exploration based on new innovation and scientific discovery using the International Space Station and other NASA missions and facilities.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-nasa-20110701,0,3073238.story
8. From the Scientific American, July 4: The magazine sizes up U. S. human space activities in the post-shuttle era. “Plans for where to go and when to go, however, remain as iffy as the economy,” according to the publication.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=truckin-up-to-low-earth-orbitthe-sh-2011-07-04
9. From the Huntsville Times, July 3: With the final shuttle flight at hand, NASA finds itself revisiting the end of the Apollo era and wondering what’s next.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/07/nasas_shuttle_program_has_brou.html
10. From the Los Angeles Times, July 3: NASA’s shuttle era astronauts were a breed apart from their Apollo predecessors. The shuttle fliers were super-achievers in life before they reached the astronaut corps. And many left to excel again, according to the L. A. Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shuttle-astronauts-20110703,0,3317148.story
11. From the Orlando Sentinel: Unassuming Titusville, Fla., home to many of those employed by NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, braces for the shuttle’s retirement. Small business owners watch with trepidation as business dries up and skilled residents search for work elsewhere.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-brevard-future-after-nasa-20110702,0,4644997.story
A. From the Orlando Sentinel: Titusville’s leaders look to the promise of commercial space for a resurgence.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-vignettes-brevard-future-after-nas20110702,0,4502245.story
B. From the New Orleans Times-Picayune, July 3: NASA’s shuttle program puts tiny Slidell, La., on the map. It lured Bob Martin, formerly of England, there to work on the shuttle’s external fuel tank as an employee of Martin Marietta, now Lockheed Martin.
http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2011/07/nasa_and_slidell_a_marriage_en.html.
C. From the Salt Lake Tribune, July 4: A Utah documentary salutes the state’s many ties to NASA’s shuttle program.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/52109049-80/shuttle-utah-space-pierce.html.csp
12. From the Coalition for Space Exploration, July 4: NASA is ready to launch three new missions in the late summer and fall: Juno heads for Jupiter in August, Grail for the moon in September and the Mars Science Laboratory for Mars in late November.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/nasa-readies-an-exploration-threesome-%e2%80%93-bound-for-jupiter-earth%e2%80%99s-moon-and-mars
13. From WESH-TV of Orlando, July 2: NASA sues former astronaut Edgar Mitchell for recovery of a camera used on the moon’s surface during the Apollo 14 mission. The suit is filed in a Miami court.
http://www.wesh.com/r/28425721/detail.html
14. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The list of major space-related events scheduled for the week ahead is thin, with one exception: Atlantis is scheduled to lift off Friday on NASA’s final space shuttle mission.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1668:events-of-interest-week-of-july-4-8-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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