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Thursday’s CSExtra features the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities. In Florida, NASA prepares shuttle Discovery for a long-delayed final mission. Lift off is set for 4:50 p.m., EST. Discovery’s journey to the International Space Station, the first of three flights remaining prior to shuttle retirement, thrusts NASA and the community surrounding the Kennedy Space Center into the spot light. From Washington, both political parties prepare for short as well as long term budget continuing resolutions to prevent a March 4 government shutdown. From California, NASA’s Glory climate research mission gets a new launch date. In New Mexico, Spaceport America’s fortunes change. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory makes a strange discovery.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: Shuttle Discovery’s final flight, an 11-day assembly and supply mission to the International Space Station, nears. Today’s launch attempt is set for 4:50 p.m., EST. The weather outlook is favorable. Check for mission updates and a live web cast hosted by Miles O’Brien and Leroy Chaio that begins at noon, EST.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com
A. From CNN.com: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden sizes up NASA and human space flight in a CNN interview. The nation did not plan properly tor a timely replacement of the aging shuttle fleet and now faces a complex challenge in restoring space independence, Bolden tells the network. NASA is left to stretch out the two and possibly three remaining shuttle flights; pay the Russians to transport U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station; nurture U.S. commercial space transportation companies; and invest in a new heavy lift rocket that can one day transport explorers into deep space.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/23/nasa.interview/
B. From the Orlando Sentinel: NASA shuttle managers believe they have the resources to follow currently budgeted missions of Discovery and Endeavour with a final mission by Atlantis mission this summer.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/2011/02/planned-space-shuttle-atlantis-flight-now-planned.html
C. From KTRK-TV in Houston: The crew of NASA’s STS-135 trains for what could be the final shuttle mission, an 11-day supply mission to the International Space Station, using Atlantis. The four astronauts will be ready if Congress provides enough funding.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/in_focus&id=7976135
D. From the Houston Chronicle: A look back at Discovery’s many accomplishments over a fleet leading 39 missions.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7443495.html
E. From Space.com: A high altitude student balloon experiment, sponsored by the Challenger Center for Space Science Education and Quest for Stars, will attempt to photograph shuttle Discovery as the spacecraft rises to the 100,000 foot level. Students equipped the balloon with cameras, computers and GPS pointing for the flight. The camera gear will parachute back to Earth.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10932-space-shuttle-discovery-student-balloon.html
F. From Wired.com: Three ways to watch the remaining NASA shuttle launches if you have a computer but can’t be at the Kennedy Space Center.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/02/space-shuttle-streams/
G. From Discovery.com: Listen to Discovery’s astronauts and NASA’s Mission Control, with music in the background. It’s on SomaFM
http://news.discovery.com/space/space-music-nasa-mission-with-a-side-of-aphex-twin-110223.html
H. From Florida Today: Tourists descend on Titusville, Fla. and other spots along Central Florida’s Atlantic coast to watch Discovery soar into space for the final time.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110224/NEWS02/102240314/Visitors-clamor-Discovery-s-swan-song
I. From the Orlando Sentinel: Titusville, which borders the Kennedy Space Center on the West, wilts as NASA’s shuttle program draws to a close.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-mike-thomas-titusville-space-progr20110223,0,5629299.column?page=1
2. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The latest continuing budget resolution expires on March 4. There’s concern for a government shut down if Democrats and Republicans cannot agree on a spending plan for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. As the date nears, both parties develop new short term C.R. options in a bid to prevent a federal closure. NASA is among federal agencies whose budgets have been restrained to 2010 levels in the absence of a 2011 budget.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1442:house-and-senate-leaders-crafting-short-term-crs&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From the Pasadena Star-News of California: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory may have to lay off as many as 250 workers to deal with uncertainties over the 2011 budget.
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_17465687
3. From the Lompoc Record of California: NASA’s Glory climate study spacecraft may launch early Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. A launch attempt early Wednesday was postponed by a rocket problem.
http://www.lompocrecord.com/news/local/article_957ea940-3f9f-11e0-9309-001cc4c03286.html
4. From the New York Times: The fortunes of New Mexico’s Spaceport America, envisioned as the mecca for space tourism, change in the face of a struggling economy and new state leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/us/24spaceport.html
5. From Space.com: NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory detects changes in Cas A, a neutron star. Scientists believe the temperature drop is linked to a core with a bizarre kind of matter called a super fluid.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10931-neutron-star-bizarre-superfluid-core.html
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