In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine informs policy makers that Soyuz launches to the International Space Station (ISS) with astronauts are likely to resume in December. NASA’s next journey to the Moon is intended to ensure a steady stream of missions by human as well as robotic spacecraft.
Human Space Exploration
NASA chief says agency plans to launch crew on Soyuz in December
Ars Technica (10/23): In comments this week before the National Space Council, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine pointed to December for the next launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket, one with three U.S., Canadian and Russian astronauts and cosmonauts headed for the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz launches were suspended in the aftermath of a safe but dramatic abort with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin aboard on October 11. The Russians are to complete an investigation into the incident by the end of October. They plan to conduct three uncrewed Soyuz launches, one of them a Progress cargo mission to the Space Station, before crewed launches resume.
NASA Administrator: ‘This administration is very focused on space’
Washington Post Live (10/23): At a live event hosted by the Washington Post on Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine stressed the focus of President Trump’s call for the U.S. to return to the Moon. Unlike Apollo, the agency is now to establish a sustainable presence in the lunar environs, accessible by humans as well as robots, through partnerships with other nations and the commercial sector.
Ellen Stofan: ‘An investment in NASA is an investment in the future’
Washington Post Live (10/23): Ellen Stofan, director of the National Air and Space Museum, joined by Virginia congressman Don Beyer and former NASA astronaut Sandy Magnus, discuss NASA’s space exploration investments at a Washington Post hosted news forum on Tuesday. NASA’s budget, whether spent on human exploration, planetary science or Earth research, is an investment in U.S. jobs and a broader understanding of science, they explain.
Space Science
How did an oddball planet like Mercury form?
Space.com (10/23): Late last week, the Bepi Columbo mission spacecraft, a Japanese/European collaboration, began a difficult journey to super-hot planet Mercury, a destination NASA’s Messenger mission spacecraft reached in 2011. Turns out there is much that remains in the mystery of how Mercury formed and came to orbit so close to the sun.
Other News
National Space Council votes unanimously to send Space Force proposal to Trump
SpaceNews.com (10/23): On Tuesday, the National Space Council voted to forward to President Trump a six element proposal to establish the Space Force as a new branch of the U.S. military.
‘Gene Kranz Day’ honors flight director, funds Mission Control revival
Collectspace.com (10/23): A salute to Gene Kranz, an early pillar of NASA’s Mission Control, in Houston on Tuesday helped to raise $300,000 needed to restore the historic Mission Control Center that guided Apollo 11 to the nation’s first Moon landing nearly 50 years ago.