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Sunday’s CSExtra offers reports sizing up the Congressional debate over NASA’s future use of commercial space transportation services. The crew of the International Space Station encounters an electrical/cooling system problems. China adds to its growing constellation of navigation satellites. This Week In Space returns with a look back at a Russian spacewalk last week and other developments.
1. From the Houston Chronicle: At the urging of the White House, Senate and to a lesser extent the House, NASA is poised to take an historic step, turning to the commercial sector for the transportation of astronauts to Earth orbit. The Chronicle exams the legislative debate under way on the issue. “There’s widespread political consensus now for the commercial space sector to have a go at transportation into low earth orbit,” one space policy follower sums it up for the Chronicle.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/7134009.html
A. From Florida Today: Columnist John Kelly examines the influence that astronauts, past and present, are having on the debate over NASA’s future. You will find them on all sides of the issue.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100801/COLUMNISTS0405/8010327/1086/John+Kelly++Astronauts+weigh+in+on+space
B. From the Denver Business Journal: Mark Sirangelo, head of the Sierra Nevada Corp’s space division and a proponent of commercial space transportation, backs NASA’s development of the Orion capsule for human deep space exploration.
http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/blog/boosters_bits/2010/07/sierra_nevada_space_exec_let_orion_be_orion.html
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: Astronauts aboard the International Space Station power down Saturday after an apparent problem with an external cooling loop used to disperse heat. The station crew scrambles to re-direct electrical power.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1007/31station/
3. From Spaceflightnow.com: China launches the fifth in a series of Beidou global positioning system satellites on Saturday.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1008/01longmarch/
4. From This Week in Space: The latest version of TWIS with host Miles O’Brien features a roundup of stories, including maneuvering in Congress last week over the NASA budget, a Russian spacewalk aboard the International Space Station and plans for Robonaut 2 to tweet as the NASA robot makes its way to the space station late this year. At 8:30 elapsed time into the webcast, Coalition for Space Exploration Chairman Glenn Mahone talks about the organization and its Explore Our Space contest.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/twis.
5. From Florida Today: The U.S. Air Force looks to scheduling changes that could ease a scheduling bottleneck and increase the number of satellite launches annually.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100801/NEWS02/8010358/Trying-to-solve-the-rocket-traffic-jam
6. From the Houston Chronicle: A question-and-answer session with Wayne Hale, the former NASA shuttle program director and long time flight controller. Hale retired from the agency on Friday, after 32 years. Among Hale’s predictions: Americans will miss the shuttle, once it retires next year.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7133916.html
7. From Universe Today: A preview of the annual Perseid Meteor shower, Aug. 11-14. Expect the shower to be more intense this year.
http://www.universetoday.com/70064/get-ready-for-the-perseids-join-the-world-in-watching/#more-70064
8. From Discovery.com: In 2182, the Earth faces a 1/1000 chance of colliding with an asteroid discovered in 1999. At 1,600 feet in diameter, this one could cause some damage.
http://news.discovery.com/space/future-hazard-1-in-1000-chance-of-asteroid-impact-in-2182.html
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