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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related activities from around the world, plus a roundup of weekend activities: In Florida, shuttle Endeavour nears an 8:56 a.m., EDT lift off. The 16-day mission, Endeavour’s last flight, will deliver the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the space station. More shuttle worker lay offs loom. Can the space station thrive without the shuttle? Buzz Aldrin predicts the rise of U. S. space exploration as a campaign issue. India’s next moon mission faces a two-year delay. Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory seek the inner Mars.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com, May 16: Endeavour’s lift off is set for 8:56 a.m., EDT. Overnight, the countdown unfolded smoothly. The weather was cooperating as well. Spaceflightnow.com began a live webcast hosted by Miles O’Brien and Leroy Chiao at 4:30 a.m. With a lift off, the shuttle’s six astronauts would dock with the International Space Station on Wednesday shortly after 6 a.m., EDT. The shuttle carries the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and an external platform with spare parts to prolong the life of the space station.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110514count/index.html
A. From Florida Today, May 15: An estimated 500,000 people are expected to crowd the roadways and beaches around the Kennedy Space Center for Endeavour’s lift off, in spite of the early hour.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110515/NEWS02/105150315/Space-Shuttle-Endeavour-may-draw-500-000?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
B. From the Houston Chronicle, May 15: Those in Florida to witness Endeavour’s lift off include Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, wife of mission commander Mark Kelly. Giffords, recovering at the Texas Medical Center from the wound she received during a Jan. 8 shooting rampage in Tucson, was accompanied to Florida by the family of pilot Greg Johnson.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7565659.html
C. From Space.com, May 14: A graphic explanation of how the Endeavour’s prime payload, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, could revolutionize physics.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11673-nasa-alpha-magnetic-spectrometer-antimatter-infographic-explainer.html
D. From ABC.com, May 15: Endeavour’s astronauts explain why they embrace the risk of launching into space. It’s a little like combat, explains one. Others want to make life better for their children and generations to come.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/space-shuttle-launch-combat-astronauts/story?id=13608042
E. From Space News, May 13: United Space Alliance, NASA’s shuttle prime contractor, last week notified nearly 2,900 workers in Florida, Texas and Alabama of impending layoffs as the shuttle program nears retirement. The notices, required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, will affect 1954 workers at the Kennedy Space Center, 877 at the Johnson Space Center and 45 at the Marshal Space Flight Center. The schedule holds if NASA’s final shuttle mission using Atlantis unfolds in early July. Most in Florida will be let go on July 22 and most in Texas on Aug. 12. USA counts 5,600 workers currently.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110513-usa-plans-lay-off-august.html
F. From Space.com, May 14: Building Endeavour was the career opportunity of a lifetime, say those in California who got the chance.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11668-shuttle-endeavour-construction-engineers.html
G. From Florida Today, May 14: Columnist John Kelly looks at the future of the International Space Station without the shuttle. On paper, NASA’s transition strategy to pre-stage major spare parts on the station with the shuttle and then rely on commercial and foreign transportation for crews and supplies looks like it will work. However, success will require luck, ingenuity and a resourcefulness not unlike the challenges overcome with Apollo 13, Kelly writes.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110515/COLUMNISTS0405/105150312/Luck-creativity-key-station
H. From Collectspace.com, May 13: Endeavour’s crew joins those who have signed the shuttle tribute wall in the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum30/HTML/001010.html
2. From Fox News, May 14: Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin believes U. S. space exploration will become a presidential campaign issue. The government should lead the “big stuff” including the exploration of Mars, says Aldrin.
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/05/14/buzz-aldrin-will-make-space-issue-2012
3. From the Huntsville Times, May 15: Huntsville, Ala., hosts the International Space Development Conference this week, with 800 expected to attend. Topics will include use of the International Space Station and opportunities to advance science and technology.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/05/space_development_conference_w.html
4. From India Today, May 15: The Indian Space Research Organization looks at a two-year slip, or until 2014, for its second unmanned moon mission, Chandrayaan-2, The delay will allow engineers time to sort out difficulties with Russian and Indian cyrogenic propulsion systems.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/isro-reschedules-moon-mission-chandrayaan-2/1/138213.html
5. From the Los Angeles Times, May 15: Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory tout their Geophysical Monitoring Station for a 2016 mission to Mars to study the planets internal composition. The mission may hold significance for the Earth as well.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-mars-probe-20110515,0,7832021.story
6. From Spacepolicyonline.com, May 15: A look at major space policy related activities scheduled for the week ahead.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1566:events-of-interest-week-of-may-16-20-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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