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Thursday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting on space related events from around the world. Shuttle Endeavour’s launching is drawing an “over flow” of crowds to Central Florida. Plans gel for President Obama’s visit. Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the wife of Endeavour commander Mark Kelly, travels to the launch site from Houston, where she has been recovering from a gunshot wound. Russia launches a Progress supply mission to the International Space Station that will dock just before Endeavour’s lift off. Firefighters fend off a brush fire near Endeavour’s launch pad. The latest federal budget drops a $40 million plan to assist Florida shuttle workers faced with lay offs find new jobs. The European Space Agency signs up to a 2020 extension of International Space Station operations. A more complete understanding of the financial and management difficulties faced by the James Webb Space Telescope emerges. In New Mexico, Spaceport America faces funding difficulties as well.
1. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post: Central Florida braces for its largest gathering of spectators for a shuttle launching in years. Endeavour’s final flight, set to lift off on Friday at 3:47 p.m., CDT, is drawing President Obama and the first family as well. Hotel rooms are full, residents are renting out bedrooms. “This is something that is on everyone’s bucket list,” according to one local tourism official. Crowds may reach 700,000.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/crowds-pack-floridas-space-coast-to-see-shuttle-endeavours-last-launch-businesses-get-boost/2011/04/28/AFifEa3E_story.html
A. From the Hill: Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, wife of Endeavour commander Mark Kelly, travels from Houston to Central Florida on Wednesday to witness the launching of her husband’s mission on Friday afternoon. Giffords has been hospitalized at the Texas Medical Center, where she is undergoing rehabilitation following a gunshot would suffered at a Tucson political rally on Jan. 8. Giffords is accompanied by a nurse.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/157983-giffords-heads-to-space-shuttle-launch
B. From USA Today.com: Add Endeavour’s launch, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ compelling recovery and a visit by President Obama and you get “sky high” interest in Friday’s shuttle launching. The mission will be Endeavour’s 25th and final flight, as the shuttle program winds down.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-04-27-giffords-space-shuttle-kelly_n.htm
C. From Florida Today: After a cross country drive, Duane and Renate Hahn, a retired aerospace worker and real estate agent, have been camped near the Kennedy Space Center for much of April awaiting Endeavour’s lift off. “It’s a piece of history, and it’s a dying history,” notes Renate Hahn.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110428/NEWS02/104280310/Tourists-begin-trickling-into-Brevard
D. From Spaceflightnow.com: Russian launches the 42 Progress supply capsule to the International Space Station early Wednesday. The space freighter is scheduled to dock with the orbiting science laboratory on Friday at 10:29 a.m. EDT, or within six hours of shuttle Endeavour’s scheduled lift off. Earlier this month, NASA postponed plans to launch Endeavour on April 19 so the Russians could proceed with the supply flight.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110427progress/
E. From the Daytona News Beach Journal: A brush fire near shuttle Endeavour’s launching pad on Wednesday is contained by firefighters and will not disrupt the countdown.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/florida/space/2011/04/28/fire-wont-threaten-shuttle-launch.html
F. From the Huntsville Times: The mood from Huntsville, home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, as the shuttle program winds down. Pride wrestles with sadness, as the space agency’s propulsion experts come to grips with the shuttle’s approaching retirement.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/04/huntsville_space_shuttle_team.html
2. From Florida Today: The 2011 budget continuing resolution agreed to by the White House and Congress earlier this month eliminates a $40 million plan to assist thousands of Florida shuttle program workers find new jobs.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110427/BREAKINGNEWS/110427021/Space-Coast-loses-federal-job-development-grants?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
3. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The European Space Agency has formally agreed to a U. S. initiative that extends operations aboard the International Space Station from late 2015 through 2020. Major partners Russia and Japan had formally agreed to the extension previously. The Canadian Space Agency, the final major ISS partner, is still in deliberations.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1538:esa-formally-agrees-to-continue-iss-through-2020&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
4. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s designated successor, is looking at a launch date no sooner than 2018. The latest target is five years later than previously planned because of management lapses and funding issues. The details emerge in an agency briefing to the NASA Advisory Council’s Science Committee earlier this month.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1539:james-webb-space-telescope-needs-more-money-to-meet-new-2018-launch-date&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
5. From the Las Cruces Sun-News of New Mexico: Spaceport America faces significant budget cuts. The new Spaceport is to be home to Virgin Galactic’s commercial suborbital spaceflights.
http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_17947672
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