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Wednesday’s CSExtra features reports on space activities from around the globe: In Washington, Congress passes a new restrictive budget Continuing Resolution. In Cape Canaveral, Fla., NASA moves shuttle Discovery from a launch pad to a protective hangar for fuel tank troubleshooting. NASA considers a merger of the exploration and space operations directorates. Observers unite to wave at the International Space Station. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter maps the moon. An expedition to collect meteorites in the Antarctic is under way. Collections of lunar eclipse imagery.
1. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The House and Senate passed a budget Continuing Resolution on Tuesday that funds the federal government through March 4. In NASA’s case, the measure restraints spending at 2010 levels, or $18.7 billion annually, rather than the higher level in separate House and Senate bills. More importantly, the CR prevents NASA from embarking on the new commercial and exploration initiatives agreed to by the White House and Congress this year.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1295:short-term-cr-passes&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From Spaceflightnow.com: Partisan disagreements prevented efforts to pass a full budget.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1012/21nasacr/
2. From Spaceflightnow.com: Shuttle Discovery was transported from Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to the Vehicle Assembly Building early Wednesday. The ship will remain in the VAB until mid-January. Discovery’s external fuel tank will be x-rayed for signs of damage during a Dec. 17 tanking test. Discovery’s final mission has been on hold since Nov. 5, as shuttle managers investigate the source of small cracks on External Tank stringers. If the troubleshooting goes well, Discovery could lift off for the International Space Station between Feb. 3 and Feb. 10.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/
3. From Space News: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has asked top agency officials to outline a possible merger of the Space Operations and Exploration directorates. These two divisions are responsible for shuttle and International Space Station operations, commercial crew development and heavy lift rocket development. The merger in part is intended to “minimize distractions” to NASA shuttle workers as the program is retired.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/101221-nasa-merge-directorates.html
4. From Collectspace.com: Dec. 24 will mark the start of a week long wave campaign in which observers will post details of their experiences to Twitter, including photos and video, as watch the International Space Station pass overhead.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/002617.html
5. From Space.com: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions is quietly developing maps of the moon in unprecedented detail. The $500 million mission was launched in mid-2009, when the moon figured prominently in NASA future human exploration plans.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/scienceastronomy/moon-lro-mapping-lunar-surface-101221.html
6. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: The Antarctic offers a bounty of meteorites trapped in ice. NASA is among several federal agencies that support meteorite collection field trips by the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/meteorite-hunters-on-the-ice
7. From the Washington Post: A video replay along with still images of the Dec. 20-21 full lunar eclipse.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/12/lunar_eclipse_live_time_lapse.html
A. From National Geographic: More imagery of the full lunar eclipse.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/photogalleries/101221-lunar-eclipse-2010-pictures-winter-solstice-december-20-nasa-space-science-pictures/
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