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Friday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting on space-related activities from around the world. In Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI plans to call the International Space Station during shuttle Endeavour’s final flight. Colleagues of Endeavour commander Mark Kelly say the veteran astronaut is up to the task of leading a 14 to 16-day shuttle mission while his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, continues her recovery from a gun shot wound. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter finds a vast underground reservoir of climate altering frozen carbon dioxide. The U. S. budget compromise for 2011, reached earlier this month, appears sufficient to permit a final shuttle mission, the late June voyage of shuttle Atlantis. Astronomers excite space campers. Experts assess the use of the International Space Station to simulate a mission to Mars. Orbital Sciences Corp. deals with the financial fall out of a March launch failure.
1. From the L’Osservatore Romano and the Associated Press via Yahoo.com: Pope Benedict XVI plans to call the International Space Station on May 4, following the scheduled docking of the shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle linkup will unite two Italian astronauts, Paolo Nespoli, a space station resident, and shuttle astronaut Roberto Vittori.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110422/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_pope_space_station
2. From USA Today: NASA’s Mark Kelly has been tested like no other astronaut. His wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot at a Tucson political rally on Jan. 8. Kelly went to her side during Giffords initial recovery, then returned to his training. Former astronauts endorse Kelly’s decision and his fortitude to lead shuttle Endeavour’s final mission. Lift off is set for April 29.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-04-21-space-shuttle-mark-kelly.htm
A. From Spaceflightnow.com: It’s far from shuttle Endeavour’s prime payload, but the STORMM experiment is a far reaching exercise for the orbiter’s final flight. STORMM will demonstrate a relative navigation sensor using LIDAR and High Definition Video. The sensors were developed by NASA and a Lockheed Martin development team for the Orion capsule.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110421storrm/
3. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post: Using NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scientists find an underground reservoir of frozen carbon dioxide near the south pole of the Red Planet. The deposit drove a climate that was dry and harsh thousands of years ago, say scientists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/mars-has-hidden-lake-of-frozen-carbon-dioxide-suggesting-a-denser-stormier-early-atmosphere/2011/04/21/AFdLr1JE_story.html
A. From Space.com: The findings of buried carbon dioxide by NASA’s Mar Reconnaissance Orbiter suggest the planet undergoes periods of warmer and wetter conditions. Slow changes in the orientation of the Martian poles cause some of the frozen CO2 to be released, increasing the atmospheric density.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11456-mars-dry-ice-liquid-water.html
4. From Spaceflightnow.com: The 2011 budget compromise agreed to by President Obama and Congress earlier this month appears to provide solid funding for the final shuttle mission envisioned by NASA. Atlantis is being prepped for the 12-day supply run to the International Space Station tentatively scheduled for launching on June 28.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/110421budget/
5. From the Huntsville Times: During a lecture to campers at the U. S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., astronomers James Green of NASA and Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology explain some of the exciting discoveries that await their profession. They include distant Earth-like planets and the undersea world of Jupiter’s moon Europa.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/04/astronomers_challenge_space_ca.html
6. From Discovery News: Experts from NASA and other organizations are developing plans to use the International Space Station to simulate missions to Mars with astronauts. Simulations would likely introduce a 22-minute time delay in the communications between the astronauts and the Mission Control.
http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-mission-simulation-space-station-110421.html
7. From Space News: Orbital Sciences Corp. is nearing the end of an investigation into the March 5 launch failure of company’s Taurus XL rocket carrying NASA’s Glory climate research satellite. Meanwhile, Orbital lost out on a bid for funding under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program and will likely suspend efforts to develop a commercial astronaut transportation service, Space News reports.
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/110421-orbital-launch-failure-review-nears-conclusion.html
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