CSExtra – Friday, November 19, 2010

Nov 19, 2010 | Blog, Coalition News, CSExtra

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Friday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting on developments in the exploration of space: NASA announces a short delay in the launching of shuttle Discovery’s final flight to address damage to the orbiter’s external fuel tank. In Washington, a key lawmaker says NASA may face another year of budget uncertainty. Utah’s congressional delegation meets with NASA leaders in an effort to keep the state’s solid rocket industry strong. Astronomers discover a planet from another galaxy residing in the Milky Way galaxy.  Stunning views of the Earth at night as photographed by International Space Station commander Doug Wheelock.

1. From spaceflightnow.com:  Shuttle Discovery’s lift off moves from Nov. 30 to no earlier than Dec. 3. The change permits more time for repairs to Discovery’s external fuel tank. A hydrogen leak on a fuel tank vent line fixture forced a Nov. 5 launch scrub. The wait will also permit shuttle managers to assess the cause for cracks in the fuel tank structure and outer insulating foam and the risk they pose.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/101118delay/

2. From Spacepolitics.com:  There is a 50-50 chance NASA’s budget could be frozen at the 2010 level through the next year by a series of budget continuing resolutions, U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee with jurisdiction over the space agency, tells a Washington audience on Thursday. The alternative is an omnibus appropriations measure passed by a lame duck congress, which Mollohan said would incorporate the many policy changes agreed to by lawmakers in 2010.   Americans want an aggressive human exploration program, but policy makers are once again failing to match their missions with adequate resources, Mollohan tells the Space Transportation Association.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2010/11/18/mollohan-dont-know-if-congress-will-approve-an-appropriations-bill/

3. From the Ogden Standard Examiner of Utah: The state’s congressional delegation, led by U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, meets with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver to secure a role for the state’s solid rocket booster industry in the development of future NASA exploration spacecraft. Hundreds of Utah jobs are at stake.
http://www.standard.net/topics/atk/2010/11/18/utah-delegation-advises-nasa

4. From Discovery.com:  The Milky Way galaxy long ago picked up a celestial hitchhiker, a planet from another star system. During a galactic merger six to nine billion years ago, the Milky Way gained a new planet. HIP 13044b is about the size of Jupiter.
http://news.discovery.com/space/adopted-planet-milky-way.html

A. From the Christian Science Monitor:   HIP 13044b circles a dying star 2,200 light years from the Earth.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1118/Found-a-planet-not-from-the-Milky-Way-circling-a-star-in-its-death-throes

5. From Space.com:  NASA’s Epoxi mission spacecraft, also known as Deep Space One, was pelted with carbon dioxide snow during a rendezvous with the Comet Hartley 2 in early November. Scientists display the results of the encounter on Thursday.
 
A. From the New York Times: Comet Hartley 2 produced a storm of fluffy snow with flakes the size of golf balls. With pictures
 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/science/space/19comet.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
6. From Space.com:  International Space Station commander Doug Wheelock offers a series of photographs of the Earth in darkness to his Twitter followers. London fog. Paris at night. The dance of the northern lights.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/missionlaunches/astronaut-twitter-photos-earth-101118.html

7. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post:  A former NASA Chief of Staff is sentenced to 41 months in federal prison on a conspiracy charge stemming from the award of a $600,000 space agency contract to a client of his consulting firm. Courtney Stadd served as NASA’s Chief of Staff and White House liaison from 2001 to 2003.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/18/AR2010111805575.html

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