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Thursday’s CSExtra features the latest reporting and commentary on space-related activities: In Washington, the House agrees to shift money from NASA to a community policing program as part of the 2011 budget debate. In French Guiana, the European Space Agency’s Johannes Kepler cargo capsule begins an eight-day journey to the International Space Station. In orbit, Station cosmonauts attach science experiments to the station during a spacewalk. The International Space Station partnership selects the first Japanese to command the orbiting laboratory. The Earth reacts to a giant solar eruption earlier this week. The search is on for hundreds of Apollo moon trees as well as a super-sized stealth planet.
1. From Spacepolitics.com: The House, debating an appropriations bill for the remainder of 2011, agrees to shift $298 million from NASA to a Community Oriented Policing Program sponsored by the Justice Department.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/02/16/crime-takes-a-bite-out-of-nasa/
A. From the Los Angeles Times: The House battle over the 2011 budget is forcing the new Congress to make some strange choices.
http://opinion.latimes.com/opinionla/2011/02/government-favoring-cops-over-fighter-planes-and-rocket-ships.html
2. From Florida Today: The European Space Agency’s second Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Johannes Kepler, launches Wednesday for the International Space Station. The unmanned cargo capsule’s eight-day flight to the station will be a factor in setting shuttle Discovery’s launch date. NASA is to decide Friday whether to Discovery remains targeted for a Feb. 24 lift off, or moves to Feb. 25. The shuttle’s 11-day assembly and supply mission has been on hold since Nov. 5 because of fuel tank cracks.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110217/NEWS02/102170307/European-craft-s-launch-clears-way-shuttle-next-week?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
3. From Space.com: Cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station install and retrieve science experiments during a spacewalk on Wednesday.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10880-space-station-spacewalk-earthquakes.html
4. From the Wall Street Journal: In late 2013, veteran astronaut Koichi Wakata will become the first Japanese to command the International Space Station.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/02/17/japan-astronaut-to-command-space-station/?KEYWORDS=NASA
5. From National Geographic News: Earthly auroral displays intensify after the largest solar flare in four years erupts from the sun on Monday.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/110216-largest-biggest-solar-flare-sun-sunspot-1158-science-space-nasa/
A. From Discovery.com: The sun packs a punch.
http://news.discovery.com/space/solar-boom-sun-unleashes-monster-flare.html
6. From USAToday: NASA tracks the whereabouts of hundreds of “moon trees,” mature plants grown from seeds that accompanied the 1971 Apollo 14 mission to the moon. Astronaut Stuart Roosa carried hundreds of lob lolly pine, Douglas fir; sweet gum and sycamore seeds on the journey as part of a science experiment and public relations gesture.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-02-17-Moontrees17_ST_N.htm
7. From Time: Does a large undiscovered planet lurk on the fringes of the solar system? Some astronomers believe that possibility could explain the path followed by comets as they depart the Oort Cloud. Evidence for the big planet’s presence may reside in the data collected by NASA’s WISE mission.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2049641,00.html
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