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Thursday’s CSExtra offers the latest in reporting and commentary on space policy. In Florida, NASA prepares to dismantle Launch complex 39B, most recently one of two launch pads for the space shuttle program. A new organization will attempt to curb space debris by preventing satellite collisions. Will a letter, signed by 14 Nobel Prize winners and a smaller group of astronauts, sway the House to change a yet-to-be-voted upon authorization bill that rejects White House-sponsored changes in space policy? Russia makes new strides in space navigation.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: At the Kennedy Space Center, storied shuttle launch pad 39B is facing destruction this fall. This same pad, which was also used in the Apollo program, will be re-constructed for another program of exploration. It’s just not clear yet which rocket will lift off from 39B in the future.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/01pad39b/
2. From Discovery.com: A new organization, the Space Data Association, will do its best to prevent devastating collisions between satellites in Earth orbit. One smashup is enough to create a debris fielding endangering many spacecraft.
http://news.discovery.com/space/satellites-traffic-cop.html
3. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The web site, which keeps an eye on the Washington political environment surrounding space policy, takes note of a letter addressed to House Science and Technology Committee Chair Bart Gordon earlier this week. The letter asks the House to revamp a proposed authorization bill that would stall changes in space policy proposed by President Obama. A Senate version of the same bill strikes more of a compromise in the lingering debate between the President and Congress over the future of human exploration.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1091:pressure-builds-for-house-committee-to-change-nasa-authorization-bill&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
4. From Spaceflightnow.com: Russia’s space navigation system gains growing independence with the launching Wednesday of a Proton rocket carrying three new satellites.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/01glonass/
5. From space.com: A new televised food contest, this time on cable’s Bravo channel, will produce a recipe that can be prepared at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for actual consumption by astronauts.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/entertainment/nasa-space-food-competition-100901.html
6. From the LA Times: NASA agrees to archive a collection of famous photos with Flickr.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/08/nasa-flikr-aerospace-archived-photos.html
7. From ScienceInsider.com: A small delegation of NASA experts in emergency medicine and mental health reach Copiapo in Chile, site of a collapsed copper and gold mine, where 33 men have been trapped since Aug. 5. The NASA delegation, which will remain in the country until Saturday, seeks to assist with a difficult rescue.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/09/nasa-experts-on-extreme-environm.html
8. From New Scientist: What is nothing? In space, it could be the absence of anything, which is not what the experts predicted.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727764.100-void-that-is-truly-empty-solves-dark-energy-puzzle.html
9. From space.com: Two veteran astronauts will leave NASA, one to retire and the other to pursue a career in the private sector.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/veteran-astronauts-retire-leaving-nasa-100901.html
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