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Tuesday’s space news scan offers the latest in reporting and commentary on space-related activities from around the globe. In Earth orbit, the crew of the shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station overnight. It was another “last” in a string of lasts connected with NASA’s final shuttle mission. The four Atlantis astronauts are due back on Earth early Thursday, dropping the curtain on NASA’s 30-year shuttle program. Elsewhere, United Launch Alliance joins with NASA to explore the use of the commercial Atlas 5 rocket for astronaut launches. NASA’s Dawn spacecraft produces images of its orbital encounter with the large asteroid Vesta. Several views on the future of human spaceflight, including an inside perspective on the roots of the shuttle’s retirement. Russia launches a new space observatory for studies of black holes. The lure of the Google Lunar X-Prize. Mice aboard Atlantis participate in a skeletal experiment. Former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman sizes up his new position with SpaceX . Russia pledges not to take advantage of NASA as the shuttle retires.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: The crew of shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station early Tuesday. NASA’s final shuttle mission is scheduled to conclude Thursday with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Touchdown is scheduled to 5:57 a.m., EDT. The 13-day mission was intended to equip the orbiting science lab with enough supplies to sustain it through 2012, when U. S. commercial suppliers are expected to be under way with operations. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/110719fd12/index2.html
2. From Florida Today: Denver-based United Launch Alliance announces plans to human rate the Atlas 5 for missions with NASA astronauts. http://space.flatoday.net/2011/07/atlas-v-could-be-next-ride-for-us.html
3. From Space.com: NASA releases new imagery from the Dawn spacecraft, which steered into orbit around the large asteroid Vesta over the weekend. http://www.exploredeepspace.com/12332-giant-asteroid-vesta-nasa-spacecraft-photos.html
4. Analysis from Monday’s The Space Review:
A. In “The Decision to Retire the Shuttle,” Dwayne Day examines the roots of the decision that will take effect Thursday with the return to Earth of shuttle Atlantis. They extend to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board and the board’s investigation into the 2003 Columbia loss and former President George W. Bush’s January 2004 Vision for Space Exploration. Neither necessarily forecast the role of Russia’s Soyuz in filling the gap between the shuttle’s retirement and U. S. commercial space transportation services. Day served on the CAIB’s investigative staff. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1887/1
B. In “Heavy Lift Limbo,” TSR editor Jeff Foust examines recent statements surrounding the Space Launch System, the heavy lift rocket that Congress with White House concurrence directed NASA to develop by the end of 2016 for eventual human deep space missions The waters have been muddied by at least two recent developments, Congressional debate over the cancellation of the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s own shifting timeline for presenting its SLS baseline to anxious Congressional oversight panels. The White House and Congress reached concurrence on the SLS in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1886/1
C. In “Survival goals and human spaceflight,” Donald Barker ponders how humanity will leap beyond the shuttle’s retirement to further human space exploration. He suggests proponents embrace a reality — the purpose of human space flight is to assure the survival of humanity in the face of statistically certain disaster, either natural or manmade. “All else is frosting,” writes Barker, a NASA biomedical engineer and flight controller at the Johnson Space Center. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1884/1
5. From the Huffington Post: Space activist Rick Tumlinson argues the real goal of human space flight is exploration — enabling a few to open a frontier for the many to follow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-tumlinson/our-space-program-making-_b_901151.html
6. From Spaceflightnow.com: Russia successfully launches a space telescope on Monday. Spektr-R will circle the Earth every nine days as it studies super massive black holes and measures the influence of dark energy. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1107/18spektr/index.html
7. From the Huntsville Times of Alabama: The Google Lunar X-Prize is shaping unexpected alliances for a common goal — developing a reliable lunar lander.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/07/nasa_in_huntsville_working_on.html
8. From the Colorado Daily.com: Lodged aboard shuttle Atlantis are 30 mice, or “mousanauts,” subjects in the test of a new drug to combat bone loss in the exposure to weightlessness that accompanies spaceflight. http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_18491572?source=most_viewed#axzz1SVWEefWd
9. From Universe Today: The promise of SpaceX’s commercial programs form Garrett Reisman, the former NASA astronaut, who left the space agency to nurture commercial space flight.
http://www.universetoday.com/87577/one-on-one-with-spacexs-garrett-reisman/
10. From RiaNovosti: Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, vows that it will not take advantage of NASA as it launches U.S. astronauts in the post-shuttle era. The Russians have contracts to launch U. S. astronauts on Soyuz capsules through 2016. http://en.rian.ru/russia/20110718/165268491.html
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