In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA and Axiom Space provide details on the first-ever, all private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. NASA’s sample gathering OSIRIS-REx has departed the asteroid Bennu for Earth. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson selects Robert Cabana to serve as the agency’s associate administrator.
Human Space Exploration
Axiom Space and NASA detail first fully private human launch to the Space Station, set for January 2022
Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
Tech Crunch (5/10): Four private astronauts prepared for research, educational outreach and philanthropy are to make the first private sector journey to the International Space Station (ISS), a mission arranged by Houston-based Axiom Space through NASA to advance the future economic potential of low Earth orbit. The 10-day mission will launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and include an estimated eight day stay at the ISS. NASA is preparing to host two such missions annually. Axiom Space is in discussions with potential clients for potentially three more missions as the decade unfolds.
Space Science
Farewell, Bennu! NASA spacecraft leaves asteroid to bring pieces of space rock to Earth
Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin
Space.com (5/10): OISRIS-REx, NASA’s first ever asteroid sample return mission, departed distant Bennu on Monday afternoon to begin its return journey back to Earth. It will drop off a sample canister with pebbles and dust from the primitive planetary body at the U.S. Army’s Test and Training Range in Utah on September 24, 2023.
Planet-forming disks around stars may come preloaded with ingredients for life
Science News (5/10): A Netherlands-led research effort has detected evidence of methanol in the disk of dust and gas around a young star, HD 100546, 360 light years from the Earth. The presence of methanol, which forms at low temperatures, in the warm disk of planet forming materials, suggests that some stars come pre-equipped with the organic materials that are precursors for life. Findings were reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.
NASA detects “hum” coming from beyond solar system
Futurism.com (5/10): Launched in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft pioneered travels through the outer solar system as it flew by the outer planets. Now a decade beyond the “outer edge” of the solar system, Voyager 1 has detected a mysterious “hum” suspected of originating within the interstellar gas.
Other News
Retaining both space policies and processes
The Space Review (5/10): So far, the Biden administration has displayed continuing support for space policy initiatives that emerged during the Trump presidency, including an allegiance to NASA’s Artemis initiative to transition human exploration activities from low Earth orbit to the Moon, standing up a Space Force and preserving the cabinet level National Space Council now led by Vice President Kamala Harris.
Cabana replaces Jurczyk as top NASA civil servant
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/10): Newly sworn in NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Monday that NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) director Robert Cabana, a former space shuttle astronaut, has been appointed to serve as the agency’s associate administrator, the agency’s highest ranking civil servant. Cabana replaces Steve Jurczyk, who announced plans to retire on May 14, after 32 years of service.