Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Ivan "Gus" Grissom

Of the Orignial Mercury 7, I liked Gus the best. I was really young when Libery Bell was launched so I don't remember him. But when the Right Stuff came out I really admired his career and his antics in the beginning of our Manned Space program. When he was being tested to enter the Astronaut program the doctors were about to deny him because he suffered hayfever.

Without missing a beat, Grissom informed them that his allergies would not be a problem because "there won't be any ragweed pollen in space". Since no one could argue that point, they passed him on to the next series of tests.

The "Lemon" story really made me realize how the "can do" attitude at NASA was forming. Even though the spacecraft was falwed, they went ahead.

The arrival of Spacecraft 012 to the Cape only brought more problems. It soon became obvious that many designated engineering changes were incomplete. The environmental control unit leaked like a sieve and needed to be removed from the module. As a result, the launch schedule was delayed by several weeks. The Apollo simulator which was used for training purposes had its own set of problems and was not in any better shape than the actual spacecraft itself. According to Astronaut Walter Cunningham, "We knew that the spacecraft was, you know, in poor shape relative to what it ought to be. We felt like we could fly it, but let's face it, it just wasn't as good as it should have been for the job of flying the first manned Apollo mission." Nonetheless, the crew made do with what they had and by mid January of 1967, preparations were being made for the final preflight tests of Spacecraft 012.

On January 22, 1967, Grissom made a brief stop at home before returning to the Cape. A citrus tree grew in their backyard with lemons on it as big as grapefruits. Gus yanked the largest lemon he could find off of the tree. Betty had no idea what he was up to and asked what he planned to do with the lemon. " 'I'm going to hang it on that spacecraft,' Gus said grimly and kissed her goodbye." Betty knew that Gus would be unable to return home before the crew conducted the plugs out test on January 27, 1967. What she did not know was that January 22 would be "the last time he was here at the house".

(HT Gus Grissoms' Bio at NASA History by Mary C. Zornio)

Robotic Vs. Manned Space

With the grounding of the Shuttle and barely manned ISS the robots have taken over the exploring space these days. I've always felt that probes are an integral part to man's exploration of space. We use our technology to gather information. But one thing it doesn't do is let man actually experience the exploring. It’s like reading a book about the Grand Canyon instead of physically hiking down into the canyon itself. The probes explore and gather information, and answer some scientific questions. As our probes get more technically accurate at gathering information we come away with more questions than answers. Eventually man will explore the solar system and answer those questions. We can't let the probes do all of the exploring. Humankind needs the sensory experience itself.

A day of Remembrance....

ADMINISTRATOR'S STATEMENT ON NASA'S DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

The following is a statement by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin on
NASA's Day of Remembrance. The Day or Remembrance honors those who
gave their lives for the cause of exploration and discovery. This
includes NASA employees, the astronauts who died in Apollo 1 and on
the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia.

" Today we pause to remember the loss of all of our employees,
including our Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts, and to
honor their legacy. Nearly 50 years into the space age, spaceflight
remains the pinnacle of human challenge, an endeavor just barely
possible with today's technology. We at NASA are privileged to be in
the business of learning how to do it, to extend the frontier of the
possible, and, ultimately, to make space travel routine. It is an
enormously difficult enterprise. The losses we commemorate today are
a strong and poignant reminder of the sternness of the challenge."

Update: Here is the website of NASA Remembers.

Apollo One Crew

From left, Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee pose in front of their Saturn 1 launch vehicle at Launch Complex 34 at the Kennedy Space Center.

Link to NASA Remembering Apollo one page here.
Link to NASA History page here were you can retrieve all the information on the mission and acident reports.

Apollo One 39 years later....

Launch Pad 34-A
HT Space.com

I remeber that Janurary day when my Mom told me about the Apollo One fire. I thought we would never get off the ground and land on the Moon. I was devistated at nine years old (same age as my KK)!

Astronauts Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee died during a blaze inside their Apollo capsule while conducting a countdown test on January 27, 1967 – three weeks before their scheduled liftoff from Kennedy Space Center.

A cumbersome hatch prevented technicians from rescuing the astronauts as the fire raged inside the Apollo 1 command module’s pure oxygen environment. Investigators later determined an electrical short was the fire's most likely cause. An extensive redesign of the Apollo spacecraft, with an emphasis on fireproof materials, was conducted in the wake of the tragedy. The first piloted Apollo mission, Apollo 7, took place in October 1968.

20 years ago this week

Twenty years ago this week, The Space Shuttle Challeger blew up. HT to Space.com for this article on a film on Christa McAuliffe:

Armed with gumption and bankrolled by credit cards, the pair started shooting a full-length documentary in 2001. It took five years, but they were buoyed by luck, the cooperation of McAuliffe's family and some help from the likes of Carly Simon and Susan Sarandon.

The result is a 75-minute film, Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars, that was to be screened Tuesday night at Framingham State College, McAuliffe's alma mater.

“It brought her alive,'' said McAuliffe's mother, Grace Corrigan, who got an early viewing of the film. “It's was very well done.''

“What a wonderful celebration of her legacy,'' she said.

The showing commemorates Saturday's 20th anniversary of the Challenger explosion, which arrives on Saturday. More than that, it is the completion of a journey for Sotile and Godges, who started filming at Framingham State on the 15th anniversary of McAuliffe's death.

Iran to Test in March

Shameful Iran plans to test its nukes on my daughter's birthday.....

Tehran is planning a nuclear weapons test before the Iranian New Year on March 20, 2006 says a group opposed to the regime in Tehran.

I pray we can disarm them soon.......

The Foundation for Democracy citing sources in the U.S and Iran offered no further information.

The FDI quotes sources in Iran that the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force have issued new orders to Shahab-3 missile units, ordering them to move mobile missile launchers every 24 hours in view of a potential pre-emptive strike by the U.S. or Israel. The order was issued Tuesday, Jan. 16.

Hat tip to BlogsforBush and GOPBloggers.

We must move quickly to stop Iran from testing their weapons. Seriously.

Update on Iran: (HT From Captain's Quarters)

Any parent whose child has a game station has to play this negotiation out at every bedtime. Until the parent finally takes the game away from the child, the negotiations never end until the game gets fully played out -- and in this case, that "game" would put nuclear weapons in the hands of radical Islamists with well-established links to terror groups. It's time for the grown-ups to take charge of the negotiations and start getting tough with the Iranians before that happens.

Iran's Spy Satellite

With all the news about its Nuclear program Jerusalem Post now reports:

Iran is working with an Italian company to build a spy satellite, showing documents outlining the deal and still photos of meetings between Italian company officials and Iranians.

The documents, with the title "The Mesbah Project," explain what the satellite's abilities would be and what it would look like.

The Iranians are working with the Italian company Carlo Gavazzi Space, the report said. An Israeli satellite expert said Mesbah would be a simple satellite, but that the Iranians are gathering important research and development data that will allow them to independently build their own satellite in the future.

New Horizons beyond the Horizon!

With my daughter's birthday and Girl Scouts I hadn't the chance to post on the New Horizons Launch on Thursday. My four year old Megan and I watched the launch. She loved counting 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Blast-OFF!

National Space Society's press release here.

"The New Horizons craft will look back in time to the birth of our solar system. It will answer fundamental questions about where we came from and what lies at the far reaches of our solar system."

And from The Planetary Society President Louis Freedman's message:

Planetary Society members, acting hand-in-glove
with the scientific community, saved this mission
to Pluto and the Kuiper belt when bureaucratic
behemoths in Washington tried to stamp it out,
claiming it was of little scientific value and
the public didn't care whether or not humanity
ever got a glimpse of these icy worlds on the
edge of our solar system.

Without the "Pluto Underground" of planetary scientists in 1989 andThe Planetary Society the New Horizon probe would not have gotten off the ground. The probe was canceled twice by the Bush Administration. In 2004 the Planetary Society urged members to write to Congress to fully fund the New Horizons probe. Congress threatened to cut $55 million from the project and extend the mission time frame.

In an impressive example of the power of the people, the U.S. Senate's Appropriations Committee approved full funding of New Horizons in the NASA budget for fiscal year 2004.

This is a great beginning to a wonderful scientific mission. I remember the Pioneer and Voyager probe missions and the scientific information it collected. Needless to say we had to re-write Astronomy Textbooks. Each time we explore our Solar System we understand it better, yet we find more mysteries to solve. Our humankind must explore, our thirst of knowledge must expand. Thanks to the "Pluto Underground" and the Planetary Society members this mission would not have gotten off the ground.

Augustine eruption from Space

Pluto Probe launch delayed till Thursday

The launch of New Horizons is planned for tomarrow at 1:08 PM EST.

NASA wants to try again Thursday to launch the Atlas 5 rocket carrying its New Horizons probe after postponing Wednesday's attempt because of a power outage at a spacecraft control center in Laurel, Md. However, mission managers were to meet late this afternoon to determine if that's possible or if they'll wait until Friday.

Safety of the Launch

NASA has for 40 years used RTG or radioisotope Thermoelectirc generators in their spacecraft. The Plutonium dioxide fuel is contained in a fire resistant ceraminc in pellets to reduce the spread of fuel in small pieces. If the ceramic does fracture, it will do so in larger pieces or chuncks that would be easier to recover. Then protective layers of iridum capsule amd high-strength grahite blocks contain the fuel reducing the spread of plutonium dioxide.

Needless to say, I believe even if an accident did occur the plutonium whould be self-contained and easy to recover with little damage to living organisms. We would not have a disaster such as Chernobyl.

The launch had drawn protests from anti-nuclear activists because the spacecraft will be powered by 24 pounds of plutonium, which will produce energy from natural radioactive decay.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy have put the probability of an early-launch accident that could release plutonium at 1 in 350. The agencies have brought in 16 mobile field teams that can detect radiation and 33 air samplers and monitors.

"Just as we have ambulances at football games, you don't expect to use them, but we have them there if we need them," NASA official Randy Scott said.

Saftey plans are at the Cape here.

New Horizon's Launch blog

Florida Today is live Blogging here.

Live coverage is here.

Update--Right now the winds are at the launch limit of 30 - 35 knots at 12:15 PM EST. Watch out for next wind predictions. Exactly one hour to launch T - 60 mins.

2:15 EST--Launch delayed till 2:30 PM. Upper level and ground winds data taken. Antiqua tracking station is down. Should be up and ready for launch at 2:30 PM.

2:53 EST--Launch is moved to 3:05 PM if all winds are within limits. The launch window will close at 3:23 PM est for today. Cross your fingers!

3:00 EST--Launch moved to last time available, 3:23 pm. Studying the winds with new software installed. Polling data is ok.

3:21 EST-- NO Go on Launch, Red line monitor fault--Scrub it today! 24 hours till next launch.

Pluto's new moons

Even before New Horizons rockets off Earth, Pluto has done its best to keep scientists guessing about the far-flung planet and Charon, a companion moon. Last month, NASA announced that the Hubble Space Telescope had observed that Pluto may have not one, but three moons.

New Horizons Buddies

To Pluto, Alice! (HT from New Horizons website).

Ralph's main objectives are to obtain high resolution color maps and surface composition maps of the surfaces of Pluto and Charon. The instrument has two separate channels: the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) and the Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA). A single telescope with a 3-inch (6-centimeter) aperture collects and focuses the light used in both channels.

Alice is an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer that will probe the atmospheric composition of Pluto. A "spectrometer" is an instrument that separates light into its constituent wavelengths, like a prism, only better. An "imaging spectrometer" both separates the different wavelengths of light and produces an image of the target at each wavelength.

REX is an acronym for "radio experiment," - it is really just a small printed circuit board, containing sophisticated electronics, integrated into the New Horizons radio telecommunications system. All communication with New Horizons, including the downlink of science data, takes place through the radio package, which makes it critical to mission success.

The instrument that provides the highest spatial resolution on New Horizons is LORRI - short for Long Range Reconnaissance Imager - which consists of a telescope with a 8.2-inch (20.8-centimeter) aperture that focuses visible light onto a charge coupled device (CCD). LORRI has a very simple design; there are no filters or moving parts. Near the time of closest approach, LORRI will take images of Pluto's surface at football-field sized resolution, resolving features approximately 100 yards or 100 meters across.

The Solar Wind Analyzer around Pluto (SWAP) instrument will measure charged particles from the solar wind near Pluto to determine whether Pluto has a magnetosphere and how fast its atmosphere is escaping.

Another plasma-sensing instrument, the Pluto Energetic Particle Spectrometer Investigation (PEPSSI), will search for neutral atoms that escape Pluto's atmosphere and subsequently become charged by their interaction with the solar wind.

The last scientific instrument on New Horizons is an Education and Public Outreach project. The Student Dust Counter (SDC) will count and measure the sizes of dust particles along New Horizons' entire trajectory, which covers regions of interplanetary space never before sampled. Such dust particles are created by comets shedding material and Kuiper Belt Objects colliding with one another. The SDC is managed and was built primarily by students at the University of Colorado in Boulder, with supervision from professional space scientists.

Moon rock samples stolen

An educator's car in Virgina Beach, VA had their car broken into and briefcase stolen containing Moon rocksamples . I say check e-bay.

Augustine Erupts

The USGS has a page with day to day photos of the Volcanio Augustine here.

Stardust Returns

Stardust has landed in the Utah desert and the cosmic samples are safe. They have been taken to the clean room for inspection. Great job on recovery!

New Horzion launch ok'd

The launch is ok to go on Tuesday. On the Space Politics page has a good round up on the anti-nuke protests about the launch.

Iraqi Marshes

Iraqi Marshes were drained during Saddam’s regime to combat the Marsh Arabs. The “fertile crescent” is the birth place of Abraham, Babylon and the Garden of Eden. With the fall of Saddam the Marshes are being reborn by the Marsh Arabs coming back to the area and efforts in Iraq to refill the marshes. Here is a picture of the marshes in 2001 from NASA.

Hat tip to the Anchoress . I love to read her blog. It inspired me to go find a satellite picture of the area.

Here is the website for the reclamation of the marshes, called Eden Again.

Two year Aniversary for Vision

NASA Chief Griffins statement:

"Two years ago this week, President Bush committed our nation to the
Vision for Space Exploration. This Vision commits America to a
journey of discovery and exploration with new and exciting plans to
return astronauts to the moon. From there, to voyage to Mars and
beyond, while continuing to engage in groundbreaking space science
and pioneering advances in innovation, creativity and technology.
Together with the partnerships we have in the International Space
Station program, our nation has the tremendous opportunity and solemn
responsibility to lead the way toward the dawn of a new space age."

Stardust Observers

If you are Northern California or the Pacific Northwest you will be able to see the Stardust capsule re-enter the earth's atomosphere on Jan. 15 (Mid-night - 1 am). You can sign up to contribute your pictures here.

2005 year review from Planetary Society

Here is a nice review of the Planetary discovery's in the year 2005.

Calling all Volunteers

I just found this wonderful program with the return of Stardust this weekend. In March volunteers will be able to help out on the project by inspecting the 1.5 million aerogel samples for interstellar dust. Discover a dust grain sample and you'll get to name it.

Volunteer scanners must pay close attention to aerogel images to pick out dust tracks from false signals. and must first pass an initial test using sample pictures, project officials said.

“We will throw in some calibration images that allow us to measure a volunteer’s efficiency,” Westphal said.

Westphal estimates that some 30,000 man-hours will be required to go through each image from Stardust’s aerogel sample return capsule four times.

Launch next week of Pluto Probe

The long awaited mission to Pluto will be launched next week, Janurary 17, 2006. The probe is called New Horizons and will explore Pluto-Charon and the Kepler belt. It will arrive at Pluto in 2015, nine years from now.

Interesting facts about Pluto and Charon from this article.

Scientists continue to discuss whether Pluto is a planet or should be considered a refugee from the Kuiper belt. Whatever its classification, Pluto and its moon Charon are certain to harbor secrets about the early history of planet formation. Charon is roughly half the diameter of the planet itself, and they form a unique pair in our solar system. How they came to be together remains a mystery.

-The surface tempature for Pluto is about about 43 K (-382 degrees F)and Charon is 53 K (-364 degrees F). It is the coldest body in our solar system.

- Pluto can be as close to the sun as 30 astronomical units (AU) and as far away as 50 AU.

Pioneer Anomoly

I heard Bill Nye talk about the Pioneer Anomoly back in July 2005 at the Comet Bash. It apears the Pioneer Probes are speeding up rather than slowing down as they exit the Solar System. JPL engineer John Anderson held back on this information for almost ten years (From a Seattle Times article) Three reasons could be:

One possibility is that dark matter is holding the spacecraft back. Some cosmologists believe dark matter exists because only 10 percent of the expected mass of the universe has been found. If 90 percent of the universe's mass and energy is invisible, maybe it could exert gravitational pull on spacecraft.

Another possibility, even more fanciful, is that invisible dimensions are tugging at the Pioneers. This idea has its origin in string theory, a two-decade-old school of thought that suggests we are surrounded by more than the three dimensions we know about. Some versions of string theory suggest there could be as many as 11 dimensions, most of which are curled up and hidden from us.

A third possibility is that gravity has been hiding secrets that three centuries of research have failed to uncover.

Too bad Pioneer 11 in 1995 communication stopped, Pioneer 10 last communication was in 2003. To fully study this Anomoly is to send another probe, but NASA has said no and ESA won't send one untill 2015. Most JPL Pioneer project scientist's won't be around to look at the data.

Stardust is coming back with Comet samples

Stardust was launched in 1999 to collect a sample from Wild-2 and it will be returning around January 15th.

In the early morning hours of January 15, 2006, the Stardust mission returns to Earth after a 4.63 billion kilometer (2.88 billion mile) round-trip journey carrying a precious cargo of cometary and interstellar dust particles. Scientists believe Stardust's cargo will help provide answers to fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system.

Update: Here are some facts about the probe,

STARDUST KEY FACTS:

-- The Stardust spacecraft was launched on February 7, 1999, from Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, aboard a Delta II rocket.

-- The probe collected dust and carbon-based samples during its encounter with Comet Wild 2 on January 2004, after nearly four years of space travel.

-- Stardust is bringing back samples of interstellar dust, including recently discovered dust streaming into our Solar System.

-- The capsule will re-enter Earth's atmosphere and parachute to the ground in the Utah Test and Training Range, landing on January 15, 2006, at 5:12 a.m. ET.

Source: NASA

The recovery team website and landing site directions is here.

New Year and NASA

With StarBaseOC's Blog Aniversary coming in February, I would like to focus on the Moon, Mars and the Vision to renew interest in the exploration of space.

Here is an editorial on NASA's Budget in 2007 NYT.

But authorization bills do not actually provide money. The real test will come when President Bush submits his budget proposal for fiscal year 2007 in February, and Congressional appropriations committees decide how much money they are willing to put up. If it is significantly less than NASA needs for its assigned tasks, the agency and Congress will need to curtail some of them, lest NASA fall into the old trap of cutting corners and jeopardizing safety. From our perspective, the costly shuttle and the space-station complex look more expendable than pathfinding robotic probes of the solar system and a transition to new manned space vehicles.

We have to work hard at lobbying and writting letters to get all of the Vision funded.

Happy New Year!

Impact on Moon

On Drudge this morining, "Nasa team sees explosion on Moon". A meteoroid crashed into the Moon in the Sea of Rains, Mare Imbrium.

Rob Suggs of Nasa's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, US, was testing a new 10-in telescope and video camera they assembled to monitor the moon for space strikes.

On 7 November, his first night using the telescope, he observed one.

Renewed interest

"People just do not look at the moon anymore," said Dr Suggs, of Marshall's engineering directorate.

"We tend to think of it as a known quantity. But there is knowledge still to be gained here."

Two Year Aniversary

I'm still amazed at those Mars rovers, they are still working on Mars. They have travled a total of 7 miles on Mars' surface so far.

TS Zeta the 27th Storm

The storm season is still going into the New Year! As Northern California is getting drenched, the Alantic is still churning Storm systems here.

Zeta had top sustained wind of about 50 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters said it was not expected to become a hurricane or threaten land.

China: To the Moon Alice!

China's space program wants to go around the Moon by 2007 in an un-manned capsule. (Their rockets look like Russian clones to me.) They target 2020 for a manned flight. NASA in the Vision plan to do another manned landing by 2018.

Also in today's Orange County Register has an article on rules for space tourists here.

More Rings around Uranus

My brother-In-Law Alan would love this one. When Voyager found the first ring around Uranus he would tell people, "Do you know there are rings around Uranus?" So now a Hubble has found two new Moons and two faint rings around Uranus.

NASA reauthorization bill

I'm glad that the Senate passed legislation to fund the "Vision for Space Exploration.". Much has been said and done this week on the "Patriot Act" that Space was not on the MSM's radar.

The focus will be to return to the Moon, Shuttle until 2010 and finishing the International Space Station.

"Our national policy will determine the nation's role in future space exploration and its contribution to broad research and our national security," Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space, said in a statement.

The bill will now go to President Bush to sign. I'm glad something positive came out of our lovely legislators this week!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Space exploration will defantly be a good in 2006 and the future years. The Moon and Mars will be ours!

Beagle Found

The Mars Global Surveyor found evidence the Beagle 2 did land with the air bags deployed. Pictures of the airbag tracks were found. Beagle might have landed on its side damaging equipment so it could not communicate back to Earth.

Foam on External tank showed cracks

I've been lax in keeping up on Space news and such. I ran by this article onCNN before thanksgiving on the Shuttle and the crack problems on the external tanks.

"How do these cracks that we've found figure into that? We don't know," said John Chapman, manager of the External Tank Project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "It would certainly be premature to say the cracks play a factor in that. We don't know that right now. But they might."

....

NASA is still conducting tests to determine if the tank incurred cracks during testing and if the tank Discovery actually used had similar cracks.

"We haven't found any eureka, or smoking gun so far," Chapman said.

Iran's Sina-1 can spy on Israel

About a year ago I found about about Iran's so called scientific space program. Now Sina-1 will be launched next month. It's main purpose is to monitor damage done by disasters such as earthquakes. However, it will pass

"14 times a day from an altitude around 600 miles, with controllers able to point its cameras as they wish, Sina-1 gives Iran a limited space reconnaissance capability over the entire Middle East, including Israel."

Scotty's ashes blasted to space delayed

The Falcon X has been grounded due to technical problems. Too bad Scotty couldn't be here to figure it out.

Wake up Call from Sir Paul

Last night at Paul McCartney's concert at the Anaheim Pond gave a wake up call to the ISS crew here.

Star Trek Phasers a reality?

An interesting article in Stars and Stripes about "a new laser-based, nonlethal weapon designed to temporarily blind aggressors."

BTW Happy veterans day! Support your local veteran and the troops.

Wilma Damages Pluto Probe

The New Horizons spacecraft was in a horizontal position in a hangar at Kennedy Space Center. The door to the hangar is a cloth rolling door and can withstand 145 mph winds. Apparently Wilma blew the door open causing slight damage to the Atlas 5 rocket. It should be ready for launch around January 11, 2006.CNN story here.

KSC closed due to WilMa

The cape is closed today due to Wilma. Here is the Space Ref news release.
NASA's Hurricane page for 2005 has more pictures from GOES here.

Wilma heads toward KSC

Now we have to watch for Wilma to hit the Cape. HT NASA Watch here. I worry about the space program being cut from the budget because of Katrina and Rita. Now comes WIL-MA!

Last Titan Launch at VAFB

Yesterday was the last launch of the Titan rocket with a secret payload. This was the 368th launch of the Titan in the US and 200th from VAFB. Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 and Boeing's Delta 4 will replace the Titan. It's the end of an Era.

Pakistan Earthquake

Here is a picture from space.com on the earthquake in Pakistan. I just wonder if OBL and his buddies got buried there?

Satellite Lost

Here is the picture on the space.com site on the satellite launched from a Russian sub last week here.

NASA workers could have damaged the foam on the tank

Workers could have caused the damage to the foam on the external shuttle tank. CNN story here.

JSC received little Rita Damage

Johnson Space center received little damage during Hurricane Rita. All employees have leave until Tuesday.Here is the NASA link to RITA images.

Global Warming debate

I really laugh at some of the press and their "stuck on stupid" responses to the recent hurricanes and the global warming debate. I really think they should take some science courses or enlist some scientist types to report on science news. I googled for William Grey at Colorado State to get his forecasting for the current hurricane season. He has been studying the climate and its cycles for 40 years. I tend to believe the experts than the "celebrities" and leftist greenies that claim hurricanes are the cause of global warming. Dr. Gray said that if we were experiencing global warming then the activity of all Hurricane/Cyclone areas would show increased activity. No such activity is occurring. We are in a cycle of 25 - 50 years of an upswing in storms. Here is an except from his report:

The 1995-2005 Upswing in Atlantic Hurricanes and Global Warming
Many individuals have queried whether the unprecedented landfall of four destructive hurricanes in a seven-week period during August-September 2004 and the landfall of two more major hurricanes in the early part of the 2005 season is related in any way to human-induced climate changes. There is no evidence that this is the case. If global warming were the cause of the increase in United States hurricane landfalls in 2004 and 2005 and the overall increase in Atlantic basin major hurricane activity of the past eleven years (1995-2005), one would expect to see an increase in tropical cyclone activity in the other storm basins as well (i.e., West Pacific, East Pacific, Indian Ocean, etc.). This has not occurred. When tropical cyclones worldwide are summed, there has actually been a slight decrease since 1995. In addition, it has been well-documented that the measured global warming during the 25-year period of 1970-1994 was accompanied by a downturn in Atlantic basin major hurricane activity over what was experienced during the 1930s through the 1960s.


We attribute the heightened Atlantic major hurricane activity between 1995-2005 to be a consequence of the multidecadal fluctuations in the Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation (THC) as we have been discussing in our Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts for several years. Major hurricane activity in the Atlantic has been shown to undergo marked multidecadal fluctuations that are directly related to North Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies. When the Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation is running strong, the central Atlantic equatorial trough (ITCZ) becomes stronger. The stronger the Atlantic equatorial trough becomes, the more favorable are conditions for the development of major hurricanes in the central Atlantic. Since 1995, the THC has been flowing more strongly, and there has been a concomitant increase in major hurricanes in the tropical Atlantic.

Rita Closes Johnson Space Center

The Johnson Space Center closed yesterday due to Hurricane Rita coming to shore. ISS operations have been transferred to Moscow Space Center. A team of NASA techs are on hand there. NASA's link to RITA here.

August activites

I have been busy with the summer activies of my daughter's to blog. Another flyby of Titan by Cassiniis here.
Mars Rover Updates: Opportunity here and Spirithere.

PodCast from Space

Mission Specialist Steve Robinson podcasts from space. (Very first one!) His take on the whole mission is one of learning. Humans will always strive to learn. It is our destiny to explore the Final Frontier.

At any rate I will close this very brief first podcast from space with a greeting to all Earthings and a thank you for your interest and support. Whether you support the space program or not, you're learning from it. You're learning from it the very moment you hear this and think about what we're doing. And I think that learning is what looking over the horizon is all about, and don't forget that learning can be exciting and fun, too, because that's certainly what this mission has been all about.

Our Prayers for Discovery

Discovery has detached from the ISS. Early Monday Morning the shuttle will land at KSC around 4:46 A.M. Eastern (1:46 A.M. Pacific).

Collins said she appreciates all the prayers -- from President Bush to strangers around the world. "We thank you for caring for us," she said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.

"We ask also that you pray for our space program overall because it is a great thing for people all over the Earth. ... We believe in it and that's why we are doing this."


My prayers are for the crew members and their families also. The commander is right, we all should pray for the US space program also. The risks are worth it, to explore the heavens God created. May the loving arms of the Lord bless each crew member for the safe return of Discovery. Amen.

Gene Kranz on Shuttle Grounding

When the shuttle management announced a "grounding of the Shuttle fleet" due to the foam breaking off the external tank PAL ramp, I thought about Eugene F. Kranz and the Apollo program. Gene said during the Apollo 13 mission (and movie), "Failure is not an option."

Gene said in his op-ed that we took many steps in the Gemini missions to achieve a successful space walk. Buzz Aldrin's space walk in Gemini 12 NASA succeeded. Astronauts now train underwater to learn how to move in outer space because of Buzz's insistence to train for space walks.

We have to take many steps to get it right. Exploration is trial and error. Just look at our past and you'll see many failures and many successes. Our space program is too important to our Nation to just give up.

No more shuttle repairs

The 13 inch tear in the fabric under the commanders window poses no danger in Discovery's return on Monday. NASA engineers have tested the problem in a wind tunnel. Here is the AP news release.

Tribute to Fallen hero's

I viewed the touching tribute paid to fallen astronauts and cosmonauts. We as humans have suffered the cost of exploration over centuries to find new worlds to live in. Long live our fallen comrades. May you touch the face of God.

Bush support for Space

Some of my spacer activist colleges don't feel confident that President
Bush supports space exploration. One complaint was Bush does not mention space in his state of the Union speeches. (The president has more pressing issues, i.e like the GWOT, the economy, social security reform, tax reform, etc.) I disagree. When Bush presented his Vision to the Nation on January, 14 2003, he spoke directly to the people who count most. The NASA workers! The people who are doing the work in space. I was thrilled that Space exploration was placed back on the agenda. I support the low-orbit activities going to private enterprise (service the ISS, cargo shipping to the Moon) and the focus toward setting up bases on the Moon and then on to Mars.

President Bush interviewed with 5 papers yesterday and voiced his support for Space after months of silence. (Actually he did make a statement after the launch of the Shuttle last Tuesday.)

"I am confident NASA will be able to implement the vision I laid out and that is to use the moon as an exploratory base to go further into space," said Bush

(HT NASA Watch).

Today Bush spoke briefly today to thank the Discovery and ISS crew for taking the risk to explore in space. Godspeed Discovery and we pray for your safe return!

Ten planet discovered! Hades? Planet X?

A tenth planet has been discovered and was announced today by Mike Brown of Caltech. The discovery was made at Mount Palomar Samuel ocean Telescope. Mike Brown along with colleagues Chad Trujillo, of the Gemini Observatory, and David Rabinowitz, of Yale University, made the discovery on Jan. 8.

I wonder what name will be chosen when the International Astronomical Union annouces the discovery? This is great! Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde W. Tombaugh. It was a fluke that Tombaugh found Pluto. The calculations that predicted a planet after Neptune and Uranus were flawed. He looked anyway and found Pluto. It's funny back then they still looked for Planet X but determined a tenth planet did not exist. Well I think they are wrong now!

USA Leaders in Space

I love the way the Whitehouse press core has been hitting up Scott McClellan this week on shuttle questions. He is doing better. The message the president wants to send to the American people is we are the leaders in space and it will continue. The vision to explore space will continue.

"Q Is the administration going to take any steps to take a hard look at what's going on with the shuttle program at NASA right now? Does the President believe that the NASA administration has an effective control of the program, in light of what's happened the last 24 hours?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, a couple things. One, the safety of the crew is the top priority. The President relies on the judgment of the experts, the engineers at NASA. Engineers at NASA look at all the issues, and they assess the risk. The President appreciates NASA's commitment to safety and acting out of an abundance of caution. He is confident in the job that Administrator Griffin and the experts at NASA are doing.

In terms of the latest announcement, NASA has not made any decision or announced anything about the timing of the next mission. The experts at NASA continue to look at all the facts and all the data. And once they have had the opportunity to do so, then they will come to some conclusions and make decisions about how to proceed.

Q Scott, to follow up on that.

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure.

Q Does the President consider the grounding -- the shuttle grounding a setback to the U.S. space program?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, again, I think I just made a point -- I don't know that the officials at NASA describe it the same way you do. They have not announced, nor have they made any decision regarding future missions for the space shuttle. They're continuing to look at all the data, and that's what they're doing right now, and to assess the situation and determine how to proceed forward.

Q So the administration doesn't see it necessarily as a setback to the program?

MR. McCLELLAN: What we continue to do is wish the crew on board the shuttle Discovery success, and a successful mission. And they are continuing to move forward on their mission, and we appreciate Commander Collins and the entire crew, and all that they are doing.

Q On another matter --

MR. McCLELLAN: Space exploration is a high priority for the United States, and we want to continue to lead the way."

Right on Mr. President! The USA will continue to lead the way in Space.
(HT Space Politics)

Discovery Commander loves space!

Discovery commander Eileen Collins was surprised at the foam coming off the external tank. She thought the problem was "licked." She is staying focused on the mission and is confident since they are in "good hands with the people on the ground." Collins added, "I love being in space. It's magical up here."

Well said Commander! Godspeed Discovery crew.

It's the Freon Virginia!

After surfing the blogs today and listening to talk radio this morning we have the culprit on the foam. In 1997 Freon was taken out of the process to apply the foam to the external fuel tank. To be "Green" and appease the EPA, NASA changed its application process. From a 1997 flight of the Shuttle had 308 ceramic tiles damaged versus the usual 40 tiles damaged per flight. OK NASA get a waver and get the fleet rolling again! The International Space Station will be shut down if we don't get the shuttle flying again. (HT Whizbag , Mikes Noise and Instapundit.

Shuttle fleet grounded

The news is bad. I guess NASA overlooked something:

"We had a debris event on the PAL ramp along the LOX field line - below the point where the LH2 ramp begins. Our expectation is that we would not have an unexpected debris event. The PAL ramp is one area we should have reviewed. We knew we would have to remove the PAL ramp. We did not have enough data to be safe and remove it. We had very few problems with it so we decided that it was safe to fly it as is. Clearly, with the event we had, we were wrong." (HT NASA Watch)

Since this is a test flight, back to the drawing board about PAL ramp. All shuttle launches are grounded until future testing said Bill Parsons, Shuttle fleet manager.

President's message on NASA

"On behalf of all Americans, I wish the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery a safe and successful mission. Today's launch marks NASA's return to flight following the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew in February 2003. I thank the men and women of NASA who have dedicated themselves to putting our space program back on track. Our space program is a source of great national pride, and this flight is an essential step toward our goal of continuing to lead the world in space science, human space flight, and space exploration."

Discovery's tiles

I was going to live blog the launch of Discovery. I was having too much fun with my kids and watching yesterday's morning launch with them to blog. I liked the way NASA TV covered the Astronauts inside Discovery as the white room techs were strapping them in and making sure their com systems were working. It was great to see the replays of the launch from different camera locations.

With all the cameras taking pictures of the shuttle tiles and foam debris I thought Discovery came out pretty good. The main concern is the 1 1/2 inch tile that fell off during liftoff. The tile was near one of the landing gear housing. I remember when Columbia was first launched in 1981. Lots of tiles fell off and it came back safe. After over 100 launches it was pretty good for one tile to fall off this launch. I think its being overplayed but we have to get all the information before making assumptions. However, Columbia's accident 2 1/2 years ago is still on our minds. NASA can't afford another tragedy.

We're back and the Vision will go forward. To the Stars!

Darkside of the Moon

The play Darkside will open at the Empire Theater on August 5th and will close at the end of the Month. OCSS President Larry Evans designed the Apollo 18 Mission Patch and rendered by OCSS member Robert Kline. Also, Larry Evans is a technical advisor for the play and has a small role.

OC Space Society Annual Picnic

My Family and I attended the annual OCSS summer get together at Brookhurst Park on Saturday. We celebrated the 36th Moon Landing anniversary. The park's play equipment "simulates" the surface of the moon. We were privileged to have a BBC film crew to interview and film some of the members about space travel. It will be shown on BBC around Halloween and later this fall in the states on the Discovery/Science channel. We tried to launch a "water fueled model rocket" in the park. Launch was scrubbed, rescheduled for this Tuesday! (Rocket provided by Robert Klien. The kids loved it!)

Beam Scotty to Heaven!

I'm sadden to say James Doohan, who portrayed "Scotty" from the Original Star Trek Series has died today at his home in Seattle Washington. He was 85 years old and was suffering from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease. My husband really loved Scotty and TOS (I do too!). Because of Scotty, my husband chose Mechanical Engineering as his career. May Scotty rest in peace.

Here's another link to Scotty. Click on the "Wit and Wisdom of Montgomery Scott" to see a wonderful montage of classic lines by Scotty.

Shuttle launch delayed to Tues. July 26

The fuel tank sensor is still giving NASA engineers problems. The launch window remains open until the end of the month of July and won't open back up until September. Lets hope the problem is found and launch continue. NASA needs to get the ISS finished and the Vision started with CEV developemnt.

Pigs in space

When I heard this on Drudge last night I new someone would mention the Muppet show "Pigs in Space".(HT Blogs of War)

History in Space this week

The Moon landing occured 36 years ago this week and the Mars Viking landing occured 29 years ago. Let's hope the Vision goes forth and we go back to exploring these two wonderful places.

Enterprise Space

NASA chief Mike Griffin is looking at private compaines to build space craft for the Vision missions. In today's Space Review the case for buying directly from private enterprises:

"NASA should begin to buy space transportation services directly from the private sector instead of buying launch vehicles in the same complex and bureaucratic way the Pentagon buys bombers. For cargo services this should be relatively easy, but if they want to buy transport services for astronauts from the entrepreneurial sector the safety requirements will have to be very carefully written. Too strict and they will make it impossible for anyone to compete; too loose and they will be putting lives at risk unnecessarily."

Live Blogging of Return to Flight

I'll be live blogging the STS-114 launch this Wendesday July 13. More stuff at Space.com .

Countdown 101
T Minus 3 hours and holding...
The Shuttle astronauts are suiting up and the Ice inspection team is out inspecting Discovery.

T Minus 3 hours and counting....
The shuttle crew are all dressed up and leaving for launch pad 39B.

The crew is at the pad gate now....

The crew is getting off the elevator....

The white room staff fussing over the crew and final prep...

(The Yahoo portal on NASA TV is working great, I switched from space.com NASA TV, was getting a bad delay
NASA TV).

Go Japan! Nice Flag.

Computer Number 5 is booting up....

Last of the 7 crew has boarded Discovery...

Low level fuel cut off sensor problem now, so the engines cut off early there will be fuel to the engines. Launch has been scrubbed today! Ah Shucks!

I'll blog again on the next day to launch.

Space Advocates take notice

Space advocates take notice. We must unify! The Vision depends on us to get the message out. We have to stop bickering about details and work together to make sure our future congress and presidential candidates get the message that “clearly” explains the space Vision President Bush presented. (ht SpacePolitics)

"Although the major space advocacy organizations have had similar messages over the years, they have always argued about details—almost like sects of a religion engaging in warfare over rituals. This needs to change. Although the space advocacy community has little or no control over the national and international events that could have an impact on political support for NASA (terrorism, economic problems, another space shuttle accident), they need to control the areas in which they can have an influence. They must work together to guarantee that the future president, as well as the present and future Congresses (the 2006 Congressional elections are coming up), are provided a clear and concise message, one that will explain that the Vision is not just a flight of fancy by President Bush. It is not only technically and financially feasible, but also extremely important to the future of the United States. The space advocacy community must play leading role in disseminating this message. However, it has to be undertaken in a more sophisticated and unified manner than has been attempted in the past".

Minor Repairs to Shuttle Discovery

The engineers at NASA took a replacement part from Endevor to fix the panel damaged from the window cover that fell. The Ice team is going to inspect to make sure the Ice is not a problem at launch. If all is a go, I'll be blogging it live.

The Crew of Discovery

I'm amazed of the crew of Discovery. The commander Eileen Collins reminds me of Amelia Earhart (ht OCRegistar). Gary Robbins thinks they could have been sisters. Collins looks to Earhart for insperation as she piloted a space shuttle and will lead NASA back to space.

Return to Flight

The Link to STS-114 is at Return to Flight. All systems go and good luck to the crew and flight.

Blast of a Comet

My husband and I dragged the kids to the Planetary Society's Comet Bash last Sunday night at Citrus College Performing Arts Building in Glendora. The presentation had great speakers. Louis Friedman, Executive Director of the Planetary Society talked about the Cosmos 1 Solar Sail. The Russian rocket shot out of a submarine failed about 83 seconds into flight never making it to space. Dr. Friedman was trying to be nice without saying bad things about the Volna rocket. There will be another launch (they have enough spare parts) but with another rocket. I suggest talking to Elon Musk at Space X (a board member of Planetary Society).

The second speaker was Apollo 9 Astronaut Rusty Schweickart, chairman of B612 Foundation. His topic was about Near-Earth Asteroid and Earth Impact Update. NEO's are objects that cross the earth's orbit with short period orbits. He talked about an Asteroid 2004 that will be within 3 Sigma ellipse on 4/13/2029 (Friday 13th). He talked to Congress in May about the possibility of setting up a mission to "bump" a NEO to move its orbit away from Earth. Two things that hamper this, there is no international group heading up a mission or overseeing NEO's and second, NASA is holding off the Nuclear engine program.

Bill Nye the Science Guy (Vice President of the Planetary Society) then talked about Comets and why the Deep Impact project is important. Comets are very old (more than 4.5 billon years) and contain elements present at the beginning of the solar system. He is a great speaker and the Kids loved it.

Bill Smythe, a Deep Impact Mission Scientist talked more about the mission hardware and Deep Impact probe. He worked on the imaging cameras on the spacecraft(s). He was interrupted when the first pictures came in on NASA TV.

The fantastic pictures were neat to view with other space enthusiasts. Commentary was provided by the Bills (Nye and Smythe) and Bruce Betts, the Director of Projects for the Planetary Society.

Shuttle Poll on Blogs of War

Go over to Blogs of War and take the "Return to Flight" Shuttle poll.

US Space Leadership

We have to keep the US in the forefront on Leadership in space due to our nations security. We have to be the leader just as we are leading the GWOT. Some might disagree, but I believe China will overcome the US and dominate our economy (everything is made in "China") our military (they have stolen some of our military secrets) and our freedom to explore space. China's CNOOC wants to buy UNOCAL and another Chinese company wants to buy MAYTAG. In China both commercial and military products are built at their manufacturing plants.

From the AstroExpress.com article
The U.S. must bolster the competitiveness: Report Warns of Challenges to U.S. Leadership in Spaces of its commercial space industry, expand international cooperation, and refocus on basic science in order to hold on to its traditional leadership position in space, according to the authors of a new paper from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

United States Space Policy: Challenges and Opportunities identifies three important shifts in U.S. plans for space—proposals by the military to place weapons in space, decreased funding for civilian space science, and an unwillingness to collaborate with international partners on space initiatives—as threats to the nation’s long-term scientific interests in space. The study also finds that changes in export control policies, which now require that all satellites be regulated as munitions, have led to significant market share losses for U.S. suppliers in recent years, threatening the long-term viability of the U.S. commercial satellite industry. The paper is available online at: http://www.amacad.org/publications/spacePolicy.aspx.

“America has long been considered by nations around the world to be the unchallenged leader in all aspects of its space program,” according to authors George Abbey, former head of the Johnson Space Center, and Neal Lane, former Assistant to the President on Science and Technology Policy. But, they warn, “The future vitality of America’s space program is in question.”

“Government leaders are making decisions about U.S. space policy that will affect not only national security, but also the ability of the United States to successfully compete with other countries in the commercial use of space and to maintain a leadership role in space exploration, science and engineering, and technology.” Though their assessment reveals significant obstacles to the continued success of the U.S. space industry and space science, Abbey and Lane believe these obstacles are surmountable, and offer recommendations for realigning U.S. space policy to advance U.S. interests.

Our schools and Universities must stress the importance of science, engineering, and physics degrees. We must keep the knowledge base in America. Space will empower Americans in the workforce as some of our technologies are transferred to other nations, space will keep us in the forefront and leader in the world.

Ed. note: The full report is at Space Policy.

Shuttle ready or not?

Last friday NASA said it is ready for Launching the Shuttle in July. Yesterday the panel that oversees the return to flight say's NASA failed the toughest standards, Ice falling from the liquid fuel tank. I say we go with what the engineers and Chief Griffin at NASA say, when its ready they'll fly.

Space Ring to stop global warming

I really don't buy into the Global Warming theory, but this article came to my attention from a link on Drudge Report .

Update: Rush mentioned today on his show about the article from Drudge.

Cosmos 1 in the drink

It seems that Cosmos 1 landed in the Barnets Sea with the first stage failing to fire. Better luck next time! I suggest using another launch company...

Update: Glenn Renyolds Tech Central Station article Nobody's Perfect, sums up the Planetary Society's failure on Cosmos 1 launch. Space is risky business but we must learn from our mistakes and continue on exploring.

Juno 2010

Arthur C. Clark will be proud to know we are sending a probe to Jupiter in 2010. Juno will explore Jupiter's magnetic field, investigate its core and find out how much water the planet has. The orbit will be a polar and oblong in shape. I hope Juno visits Europia!

Weapons in Space

USA today has an article on "Hyperventilating over 'space weapons'" by James Oberg. (HT to Instapunit) Oberg stresses the Russians placed weapons into space well before Reagan came along with "Star Wars" or SDI.

Potential Threat to American Space Operations

Hat tip to Blogs of War on this article in SIGNAL Magazine. Since the War of Terror and 9/11 attacks my main fear has been the venerability of USA space communications and military operations to terrorist attacks. The likelihood that terrorists will disrupt or destroy US Space assets is low. But as a nation we have to keep space a priority, as it is important to our security and freedom to explore the unknown.

Comet Bash

My family and I will attend The Planetary Society's Comet Bash on Sunday, July 3, 2005. I can't wait for Deep Impact's smack down with Comet Tempel 1! Check here for more information at the Planetary Society's site.

Cosmos 1 Launch

The Planetary Society will launch a solar sail from a Russian submarine on June 21, 2005. Once it is deployed it will be visable in the evening sky. Solar sails will provide propulsion for space craft exploring the solar system without carrying large amouts of fuel.

Russa's warning on Militarization of Space

I guess we have to watch our guard.......


BAIKONUR, June 2, 2005 - /RIA Novosti/ - Russia will take adequate measures in case of attempts to militarize space, defense minister Sergei Ivanov told journalists at the Baikonur space center on Thursday. "If some state is nurturing plans or begins to orbit weapons, we will react adequately," the minister said.

Ivanov stressed that for decades Russia's stand on the matter was openly negative and remains negative.

Russia does not plan to curtail its defense and security operation in Baikonur, whose 50th anniversary is marked today.

"The Baikonur space center is not the only Russian spaceport [by agreement with Kazakhstan, Russia leased the center for 49 years]. We have recently launched many military spacecraft from other spaceports [such as Plesetsk in the north of European Russia and Svobodny in the Amur region in the Far East]. But this does not mean that we will curtail defense and security operation in Baikonur, Ivanov said.

According to him, there are no plans to withdraw the regiments or battalions of the Space Force from Baikonur.

"There should be as many servicemen here as would suffice to ensure security," the defense minister said.

Russia will be ready to discuss agreements on tactical nuclear weapons only when the countries that have them will withdraw these weapons to their national territory, Ivanov said commenting on the US Senators' offer of a treaty to ban tactical nuclear weapons.

The minister stressed that now Russia is the only country that keeps its tactical nuclear weapons on the national territory. "As you know, the other countries do not do this," Sergei Ivanov said.

Hurricane watch

NASA has a new website devoted to Hurricanes. Great place to get satellite pictures of storms. Since this is the start of Hurricane season, a good place to bookmark at Hurricane Resource Page.

Moon Rocks at Discovery Science Center

Moon Rocks will be on display starting June 17 at the
Discovery Science Center.

Near Earth Objects

Tip from Spacepolitics with an article on former Apollo astronaut Russell Schweickart's proposal for NEO policy and legislation written by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Read the Wired article on the subject here.

Tom Delay say's NASA fully funded

NASA Chief Griffin and House Majority Leader Tom Delay say for now NASA and Moon-Mars projects are fully funded. Griffin believes there is a balance between robotic and manned missions. Delay said "NASA is a priority, even in a time of war and tightening budgets." Funding will be provided to expedite programs to get to "were we want to go."

Update--OC Register has the article about the Moon-Mars and NASA Funding. I agree with NASA Chief Griffin in that the US must be in the forefront in expanding into space. IF the Chinese start to develop military space programs the US has to dominate Earth orbit.

Voyager enters the 'Final Frontier'

Here's a link to Blogsofwar on Voyager I. On it's 28 year mission, it will soon leave the "solar system." Here's a nice graphic of the bow shock on JPL's site.

Solar Sails and NASA missions reviewed

In the Wednesday, May 25th issue of the OC Register are two space related articles. The Local section has an article about Solar Sailors. A Tustin company named L’Garde is manufacturing a sail made of Mylar to propel a spacecraft. NASA wants to monitor solar activity by using a spacecraft propelled by a solar sail.

The second article is in the Science section about NASA’s reviewing the missions planned. Manned Space flight is taking precedence as some planetary projects though Jet Propulsion Laboratory would be “deferred--not eliminated.” Two missions deferred are the Terrestrial Planet Finder and the Mars Science Laboratory due to a tight budget. Getting Discovery ready for launch has increased the budget by 1 billion.

Good news is NASA’s new Chief Michael Griffin is looking at Saving the Hubble if the next two Shuttle fights are successfully flown and demonstrate safe flight to rescue the ailing space telescope.

Star Wars Technologies and the spin offs

As an original "Star Wars" fan from 1977, I'm looking forward to the last installment. George Lucas developed the technology that now appear in
"Home stereos, cell phones, medical imaging devises and virtually every Hollywood studio.." Lucas formed a group of computer artists to create a computer program called "EditDroid," one of the first digital editing system. The system allowed movies to be transferred to computer disks from film reels. Now all movie-editing bays contain the technology. Lucas sold off his technologies because at the time there was no market for them. Pixar was a spin-off from selling his computer team to Steven Jobs in 1986. Another technology Lucas created was the theater sound system "THX."

My hats off to George Lucas and all the spin-offs he created. Special effects in movies have really improved since "Star Wars" in 1977.

Voyager program saved for now

The Voyager program was in jeopardy of being cancelled. Money has been transferred from another fund. Space Politics has more. I wonder how far, far away Voyager is from earth. It was a grand journey traveling to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and beyond.

Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust awards

I support the commercial use of space and an avid reader of Robert A. Heinlein. The trustees of Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize Trust have established "The Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein Prize For Accomplishments in Commercial Space Activities”. The prize 'recognizes the practical accomplishments of individuals in the field of commercial space activities”. The cash award is $500,000. The Heinleins' award shares their dream of a “future of humankind expanding ever outward into space.” The link to the award information is at the Heinlein Society site.

OCSS Shuttle display at Discovery Museum

Two members of Orange County Space Society (local chapter of the National Space Society), Kaya and Mary Tuncer, have donated a full scale nose section of a Space Shuttle orbiter. It will be constructed under the Giant Cube at the Discovery Science Center near the Santa Ana Main Place mall off the I-5 freeway. It should be ready for viewing on Sunday, May 15 at the DSC. More information can be found on the OCSS web site at OCspace.org.

Dart's misshap

Oh sucks! Dart was just a bit short on rendezvous.

What a week for space!

What a week for space! The senate has approved Griffin for the NASA Administrator position, ISS expedition crew has launched to the space station and Dart is launched to rendezvous with a satellite. I found an interesting article on why humans need space; to work, to live and to survive!