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.
Friday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities. In Washington, NASA’s budget and future course remain a topic of concern among space professionals. Astronaut Mark Kelly, who will command the final mission of the shuttle Endeavour, discusses his wife’s recovery from a gunshot wound and the flight at a Houston news conference. Endeavour is nearing an April 19 lift off with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. The death of a Kennedy Space Center launch pad worker earlier this month was not related to a safety issue. NASA’s long running Stardust mission comes to an end. The U. S. Air Force pursues a NASA hypersonic research project started by NASA but dropped for lack of funding.
1. From Spacepolicyonline.com: During a Washington forum hosted by the Women in Aerospace on Thursday, participants concluded President Obama’s 2012 budget request for NASA is a mismatch with the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, which attempts to provide the space agency with a bi-partisan Congressional road map. The White House NASA spending plan for 2012 has little chance of passage, one knowledgeable participant told the forum.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1499:administration-misread-congressional-mood-again-with-fy2012-budget-request-say-wia-panelists-&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: Astronaut Mark Kelly, who will command the shuttle Endeavour’s final mission, a 14-day flight to the International Space Station, said Thursday his wife continues her steady recovery from a gunshot wound. Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot during a Jan. 8 political rally in Tucson. He remains hopeful Giffords can attend Endeavour’s launching, which is tentatively set for April 19, Kelly tells a Houston news conference.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110324kelly/
A. From USA Today: Astronaut Mark Kelly says his wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, is just beginning to mentally process the tragedy that struck her and others at a Jan. 8 political rally in Tucson, Arizona
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-24-mark-kelly-giffords-nasa_N.htm
B. From Space.com: Shuttle Endeavour’s final mission is focused on the delivery of the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11228-nasa-space-shuttle-endeavour-final-flight.html
C. From WAAYTV.com of Huntsville, Ala.: During a visit to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden urges workers to focus on the success of the agency’s final shuttle missions. Bolden says he finds inspiration in the final flight of Endeavour, which will attach the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the outside of the International Space Station to characterize anti matter and dark matter. The findings could re-write text books, according to Bolden.
http://www.waaytv.com/news/local/story/Nasas-Charles-Bolden-talks-Future/cmyhK9cM1EeVGrDYUxfITA.cspx
D. From the Houston Chronicle: When NASA retires the shuttle after two more missions; there will be only one way into space for U. S. astronauts, Russia’s Soyuz capsule. The change means a significant loss of redundancy for International Space Station operations.
http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2011/03/post_223.html
3. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post.: The March 14 death of a worker who fell from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center was not caused by a safety lapse, the space agency said Thursday. The incident, though, remains under investigation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/engineers-fall-from-launch-pad-still-being-probed-nasa-says-there-were-no-safety-gear-issues/2011/03/24/ABze7KRB_story.html
4. From Space.com: NASA’s Stardust mission ended late Thursday. Launched in 1999, the probe visited two comets, Wild 2 in 2004 and Tempel on Feb. 11. Stardust returned grains of Wild 2 to Earth.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11226-nasa-stardust-spacecraft-mission-ends.html
5. From the Los Angeles Times: The U. S. Air Force plans new test flights of the X-51 WaveRider, a NASA research project into hypersonic air travel. NASA withdrew for lack of funding. The interest of he military is focused on a high speed weapon that could strike quickly anywhere around the globe with high accuracy, the Times reports.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hypersonic-missile-20110324,0,377247.story
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
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin