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Thursday’s CSExtra offers a collection of the latest reporting on space related activities from across the globe. In Washington, four pioneering U. S. astronauts receive the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. China prepares for the descent of the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, following a pair of successful unpiloted docking tests. Jupiter’s ice covered moon Europa hosts a spectacular surprise. NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, once used to manufacture the space shuttle’s external fuel tank, prepares to come back to life. In Florida, the launch tower for NASA’s Space Launch System goes for a test drive.
1. From Collectspace.com: Congress honors John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, and the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins, on Wednesday with the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. The medal represents one of the highest honors the country bestows on civilians.
2. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: China’s Shenzou 8 spacecraft will land Thursday, following a pair of successful un-piloted docking tests with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab. More docking exercises are planned in 2012, including a mission with Chinese astronauts.
http://bit.ly/w2MIxo
3. From Space.com: Images of Jupiter’s moon Europa provide new evidence for a large ice covered body of water. The images were taken with NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.
A. From the Washington Post: Scientists this week pointed to evidence of a subsurface lake on Europa, the ice covered moon of Jupiter. The finding raises the prospect that Europa hosts some form of life.
B. From Time: Why liquid water on a world so far from the sun? It all has to do with Europa’s flexing under the intense gravity of Jupiter.
http://ti.me/rGQqyR
4. From the Huntsville Times: A visit to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, where the space agency intends to fabricate the new Space Launch System and the Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle for future human missions to asteroids and eventually Mars. The work means new jobs for those forced to leave the plant that was once used to manufacture the space shuttle’s external fuel tank.
http://bit.ly/v3gh6Y
5. From Florida Today: At the Kennedy Space Center, NASA moves a towering mobile launch tower intended for use by the Space Launch System to Launch Pad 39B for a check out.
http://bit.ly/u2Keuq
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