SpaceX delays space station cargo flight
William Harwood - CBS News
Launch of a commercial cargo ship making its first flight to the International Space Station is expected to slip a week or so to give engineers more time to complete pre-flight testing and analysis, Space Exploration Technologies -- SpaceX -- announced late Monday. The company had been aiming to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule on April 30. A second launch opportunity was available May 3.
SpaceX launch delayed at least until May 7
New date up in the air
James Dean - Florida Today
SpaceX’s launch of a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, which had been targeted for April 30, will be delayed at least a week while tests of the Dragon’s flight software continue, the company announced Monday. “Am pushing launch back approx a week to do more testing on Dragon docking code,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter. “New date pending coordination with NASA.” A launch attempt a week later, May 7, would be possible if United Launch Alliance moves from May 5 to May 3 its planned launch of a military communications satellite from a nearby Cape Canaveral pad.
Additional software reviews will delay SpaceX demo flight
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
Launch of SpaceX's commercial Dragon cargo freighter to the International Space Station will be delayed until at least early May to give engineers more time to wring out the craft's software, the company announced Monday. The launch of Dragon, aiming to become the first commercial spacecraft to reach the space station, was scheduled from Cape Canaveral on April 30, following three days later by ship's planned approach and berthing with the orbiting laboratory. A review of comprehensive testing of the spacecraft Monday prompted officials to order a delay in the flight by about one week. A potential launch opportunity is available as soon as May 7, according to a NASA source familiar with the mission.
Private company delays 1st space station visit
Associated Press
A private U.S. company has delayed launching a cargo ship to the International Space Station. Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, was scheduled to launch the supply ship next Monday. But company officials said that the spaceship needs more testing. The delay will probably be about one week.
SpaceX delays its trip to space station
Irene Klotz - Reuters
Space Exploration Technologies, a privately held firm founded and run by entrepreneur Elon Musk, is delaying its trial cargo run to the International Space Station, Musk announced Monday. "Am pushing launch back approximately a week to do more testing on Dragon docking code. New date pending coordination with NASA," Musk said in a Twitter post. The company, also known as SpaceX, is expected to be the first private company to fly to the $100 billion research complex, which is owned by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
New Delay for 1st Private Spaceship Launch to Space Station
Clara Moskowitz - Space.com
The first private spaceship launch to the International Space Station has been delayed, possibly by at least a week, the vehicle's makers announced Monday. The commercial spaceflight company SpaceX was set to launch its Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket April 30 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The unmanned spacecraft will fly a demonstration mission for future cargo deliveries to the space station under an agreement with NASA. Now, that liftoff will likely not occur until May 3 at the earliest, and most likely around May 7.
Huntsville's NASA budget outlook 'very positive,' Robert Lightfoot says
Lee Roop - Huntsville Times
The future of NASA's major project in Huntsville, the Space Launch System, looks strong, NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot told area business leaders here Monday. "I don't see that going crazy," Lightfoot said during a question session after a talk to the annual Washington lobbying trip of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. Lightfoot was answering Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, who wanted to know if the city should try to reform a congressional space association to keep funding stable, especially in the lame-duck period following this fall's presidential election.
Space Shuttle Enterprise flight delayed to April 25th
Todd Stowell - Washington Times
Space shuttle Enterprise, which was set to depart Washington for New York Monday will now make an attempt Wednesday, April 25th due to poor weather in the D.C. and New York areas. Federal Aviation Administration officials will coordinate the flight, which is scheduled to occur between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. EDT. The exact route and timing will depend on weather and other constraints. Mounted early Friday morning on top of NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Boeing 747 jet, Enterprise was scheduled to take off from Washington Dulles International Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport for display at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Space Shuttle Program Transition and Retirement managers met Monday afternoon to evaluate the weather forecast for Space Shuttle Enterprise's Ferry Flight but deferred setting a date for the Ferry Flight until sometime today due to continued rain from the weekend.
Space shuttle Enterprise's NY arrival reset for Wed., weather permitting
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
The countdown for space shuttle Enterprise's touchdown in New York is back on. The prototype NASA orbiter, which never flew in space but was used by the space agency for approach and landing tests in the late 1970s, will now take off from Washington, D.C. for the Big Apple on Wednesday (April 25), pending a final review of the weather on Tuesday. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is coordinating the flight, which is scheduled to occur between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. EDT (1330 and 1530 GMT). The exact route and timing depend on weather and operational constraints.
Company aims to strike it rich by mining asteroids
Seth Borenstein - Associated Press
A group of high-tech tycoons wants to mine nearby asteroids, hoping to turn science fiction into real profits. The mega-million dollar plan is to use commercially built robotic ships to squeeze rocket fuel and valuable minerals like platinum and gold out of the lifeless rocks that routinely whiz by Earth. One of the company founders predicts they could have their version of a space-based gas station up and running by 2020. The inaugural step, to be achieved in the next 18 to 24 months, would be launching the first in a series of private telescopes that would search for rich asteroid targets.
New space company aims to mine asteroids for precious metals
W.J. Hennigan - Los Angeles Times
A new private space company is expected to be unveiled Tuesday at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Planetary Resources Inc. is a Seattle company that intends to mine near-Earth asteroids for raw materials ranging from water to precious metals.
Google Chiefs Back Startup Mining Asteroids for Metals
Beth Jinks - Bloomberg News
Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt are among the backers of a venture to mine asteroids for trillions of dollars of precious metals, as Earth’s resources become strained. Planetary Resources Inc., based in Seattle, aims to launch a telescopic space surveyor into Earth’s low orbit in less than two years to identify potential metal- and water-rich asteroids and begin prospecting within four years, co-founder Eric Anderson, 37, said in a telephone interview. The venture, which would be the first effort to mine the solar system commercially, has the backing of billionaire Ross Perot, Google board member Kavitark Ram Shriram and International Software Corp. founder Charles Simonyi as well as Page and Schmidt.
Asteroid mining venture backed by Google execs, James Cameron unveiled
Mike Wall - Space.com
A newly unveiled company with some high-profile backers — including filmmaker James Cameron and Google co-founder Larry Page — is set to announce plans to mine near-Earth asteroids for resources such as precious metals and water. Planetary Resources, Inc. intends to sell these materials, generating a healthy profit for itself. But it also aims to advance humanity's exploration and exploitation of space, with resource extraction serving as an anchor industry that helps our species spread throughout the solar system.
Billionaires Aim to Make Trillions Mining Asteroids
Michael Belfiore - Popular Mechanics
First came space exploration. Then came space tourism. But the next big thing in space is the exploitation of resources, specifically precious metals and water mined from asteroids. So says a group of billionaire investors and its crack team of already-successful space entrepreneurs and former top NASA engineers. Planetary Resources, headed by Space Adventures founder Eric Anderson and X Prize founder Peter Diamandis, announced in Seattle Monday an ambitious plan to identify, explore, tag, and eventually mine some of the thousands of asteroids within 5 million to 10 million miles away and which contain valuable resources.
Ex-astronaut Hawley laments end of shuttles
Alex Garrison - Lawrence Journal-World (KS)
It’s the end of an era — but there’s always some small hope that one day another inspiring mission will take its place. In an interview Friday., former astronaut and Kansas University professor Steve Hawley talked about the decommission and retirement of the space shuttle Discovery, which he traveled to space in multiple times, including on the mission 22 years ago that launched the Hubble deep-space telescope. Hawley, who teaches in the department of physics and astronomy, said the end of the shuttle was a sad time personally and for American space exploration. “I’m glad it’ll be in a museum; it’s a unique piece of history,” he said, “but unfortunately it tells the story of what we used to do, not what we do now.”
Let the Shuttle’s Demise Awaken Gingrich’s Space Dreams
Jeffrey Goldberg - Bloomberg News (Viewpoint)
(Goldberg is a Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic)
The morning of April 17, on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport: The Delta (DAL) shuttle to LaGuardia appeared to be No. 287 in line for takeoff. The plane was full, mainly with purposeful-looking middle-aged men in quality suits, fully absorbed in whatever it is that absorbs them. Suddenly, a commotion: All at once, the passengers contorted themselves to get a view out of the starboard windows. And there it was. The actual shuttle, the space shuttle Discovery, piggybacking a ride atop a Boeing 747, on the way to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, where it would be retired. A ripple of excitement -- boyish, unvarnished excitement -- moved through the cabin. It was an entrancing sight, and completely improbable, especially to people like me, who still don’t quite understand how a 747 gets into the air, even without a space shuttle as carry-on luggage.
“This Devil Ship:” The Tragic Tale of Soyuz 1
Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org
Late in April 1967, an unusual announcement was made by the Soviet news agency, Tass. A few days earlier, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov had been launched into orbit aboard the new Soyuz spacecraft. In time, it was hoped that Soyuz would demonstrate rendezvous, docking, space station operations and possibly expeditions to the Moon. Chief Designer Sergei Korolev had dubbed Soyuz “the machine of the future” – an appropriate epithet, considering that its descendants are still operational today – and Komarov’s launch had been accompanied by a euphoric fanfare, for it was the first manned Soviet space mission in more than two years. Within a few short hours of launch, however, that euphoria turned into agony. In a few carefully crafted sentences, it was revealed that Soyuz 1 had “descended with speed” from orbit, due to “a shroud line twisting”. The devastating result, 45 years ago today, was “the premature death of the outstanding cosmonaut”. More than four decades later, details about the tragedy have steadily trickled into the Western consciousness…and they have revealed a harrowing disaster, still shrouded in myth, mystery and rumour.
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