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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space activities from around the world: Congress could act today on a temporary budget measure that restricts most federal spending, including NASA’s to 2010 levels. Shuttle Discovery’s transport from a Kennedy Space Center launch pad to a hangar is postponed by a day. Tuesday’s lunar eclipse provides a spectacle. The Smithsonian’s vast space suit collection. More on new rockets, space budgets and orbital debris.
1. From Florida Today: In Washington, the Congress appears likely to approve a temporary spending measure, or Continuing Resolution, today. The new CR would fund the government through March 4, or until after the next Congress is sworn in. If that happens, NASA spending will be held at 2010 levels, or $18.7 billion annually, rather than the $18.9 billion agreed to by lawmakers previously. The additional shuttle mission NASA seeks, using Atlantis in mid-2011, can be paid for, U.S. Sen Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who helped to shape space legislation in 2010, tells Florida Today.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20101221/NEWS02/12210318/No+extra+funds+for+NASA
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: Plans by NASA to roll the shuttle Discovery from a Kennedy Space Center launch pad to the Vehicle Assembly Building early Tuesday were postponed for a day because of problem with the crawler-transporter. The move was re-set for Tuesday at 10 p.m., EST.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/status.html
3. From the Associated Press via the Orlando Sentinel and other publications: Tuesday’s total lunar eclipse lasts 72 minutes and temporarily turns the moon an orange red. This is the first total lunar eclipse during the winter solstice since 1638. The next one is forecast for 2094
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/sns-ap-us-sci-total-lunar-eclipse,0,6734542.story
4. From the New York Times: The Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum has a collection of 300 space suits. The New York Times takes a look at the evolution of the strange protective garments.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/science/21spacesuit.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
5. Three from the Space Review, www.thespacereview.com.
A. In “Rocket to Nowhere,” Louis Friedman, the retired director of the Planetary Society, raises concerns about the heavy lift rocket prescribed in NASA’s 2010 authorization bill. He notes the emerging Falcon 9 and the existing Delta 4 and Atlas 5 will provide lift for orbital cargo and presumably astronauts bound for the International Space Station. Congress wants the heavy lift by late 2016, and Friedman wonders for what mission and whether there is enough funding in the NASA budget for the project. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1748/1
B. In “Space budgets are made to be broken,” Todd Neff, an author, takes note of the cost overruns and schedule delays confronting NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. There is a long precedent for miscalculating military and civilian space projects, Neff writes. The nature of the work is unlikely to lend itself to change, he suggests.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1747/1
C. In “Securing Space Security,” Space Review editor Jeff Foust looks at a pair of 2010 developments influencing long life for the communications, navigation and other satellite networks we have all come to depend on. They are changes in U. S. space policy and a recommendation from the Economic Union suggesting its time for an ethical code of conduct when it comes to increasing destructive orbital debris. China, which conducted a reckless anti-satellite test four years ago, and Russia appear likely to offer resistance, Foust suggests.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1746/1
6. From Discovery.com: Why the Star of Bethlehem may have been Jupiter. An astronomer sorts through the possibilities.
http://news.discovery.com/space/the-star-of-bethlehem-was-it-jupiter.html
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