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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Former astronaut John Grunsfeld returns to NASA as the agency’s science chief. U.S. Russian and European astronauts prepare for a chilly lift off from Kazakhstan for the International Space Station. NASA to unveil new findings from the Kepler space telescope’s search for Earth-like planets. Two commentaries ponder global interest in a successor to the International Space Station and the future of the newly announced Stratolaunch commercial space transportation system. China launches. Scientists check out a lunar telescope prototype. Views of Atlantis.
1. From Space News: NASA looks to astrophysicist John Grunsfeld, the former astronaut, to head the agency’s science mission directorate. He succeeds Ed Weiler, who retired from the agency last year. Grunsfeld’s resume includes a series of shuttle missions to the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://bit.ly/sJs2ks
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: Early Wednesday promises to bring the launching of a U. S., Russian and European crew to the International Space Station. The arrival of NASA’s Don Pettit, Europe’s Andre Kuipers and Russia’s Oleg Kononenko will mark a return to sustained six person operations for the orbital outpost. Soyuz missions were suspended in late August, following a third stage failure. The station managed to keep three aboard the station, while Russia investigated and carried out a successful recovery. Launch is set for Wednesday at 8:16 a.m., EST. For updates:
http://bit.ly/uVs28p
A. From Florida Today: Once re-instated to six full time crew members, the space station will be prepared for the arrival of its first U.S. commercial supply ship. SpaceX plans the mission in early February.
http://on.flatoday.com/vcfNkE
3. From Spacepolicyonline.com: NASA adds a pair of events to its weekly calendar. During events scheduled for Tuesday, NASA will discuss further details of its commercial crew development initiative and new alien planet discoveries by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
http://bit.ly/shWvaf
4. Two commentaries from this week’s The Space Review examine the prospects for a successor to the International Space Station and the outlook for the new Stratolaunch venture:
A. In “ISS Next: chasing humanity’s future in space and the next logical step,” Roger Hand, political scientist at Central Florida University and frequent contributor, questions why the U.S. and its space station partners are not pondering successor space labs. Surely, a variety of successors would be desirable for a space faring civilization, Hand concludes.
http://bit.ly/rUbnfQ
B. In “Stratolaunch: SpaceShipThree or Spruce Goose,” Jeff Foust, editor of TSR, examines the attention that surrounded last week’s announcement from Paul Allen, Microsoft’s co-founder; Burt Rutan, the maverick aerospace engineer; and Mike Griffin, NASA’s former administrator, that they plan to develop a commercial air launch system. If there is a weak spot in the proposal, it could be the colossal airplane that would serve as the first stage, Foust suggests.
http://bit.ly/sU4iqK
5. From Xinhua.net of China: China launches a communications satellite for Nigeria.
http://bit.ly/tHkzMP
6. From MSNBC and Cosmic Log: In Hawaii, scientists test a remotely controlled telescope observatory that could observe the cosmos from the lunar surface.
http://on.msnbc.com/rw30qX
7. From Collectspace.com: Inside Atlantis. A selection of images taken of the crew compartment. Atlantis is undergoing preparations for public display at the Kennedy Visitor Center Complex in Florida.
http://bit.ly/u9Vzhy
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