Space news 4/27/12

 
DATE: FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2012 7:30 AM EDT | CS#12-2387
NASA NEWS
House Committee Would Restore Some Mars Program Funds. The La Canada (CA) Valley Sun (4/27, Piasecki) reports, "A new version of the NASA budget that passed the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday would restore $88 million of the planetary science cuts, said Rep. Adam Schiff." The article notes "a companion proposal that recently cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee would restore $100 million." However, this is only part of the $300 million cut in the Administration's proposed NASA budget for 2013. Furthermore, the money is not an increase but comes by reducing "a major increase in funding for NASA's commercial spaceflight program."

Glenn To Receive Presidential Medal Of Freedom. The Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer (4/27, Eaton, 266K) reports, "President Barack Obama announced today that former Ohio Sen. John Glenn will be among 13 people, both living and dead, to whom he'll award the Presidential Medal of Freedom." Glenn will receive the award sometime this spring. The NBC Nightly News (4/26, story 9, 0:30, Guthrie, 8.37M), USA Today (4/26, Jackson, 1.78M) "The Oval" blog, Bloomberg News (4/27, Talev, 1M), AFP (4/27), and the National Journal (4/27, Quinton, Subscription Publication, 12K) also cover the story but only list Glenn as one of the recipients. AmericaSpace (4/27, Rhian) focuses solely on Glenn in its coverage of the award.

Kansas Cosmosphere Turns 50 On Staturday. The Wichita (KS) Eagle (4/27, Tanner, 73K) reports on Saturday the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center turns 50 with "a fundraiser Saturday evening, and Apollo and space shuttle astronauts will be on hand to celebrate." The article notes that over its history, the Cosmosphere has become "one of the world's premier space museums with more than 15,000 artifacts. Only the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., has a larger collection of US space artifacts."

Massimino: US Still Sending People Into Space. CBS The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (5/27, 1:45 a.m. ET) interviewed astronaut Mike Massimino. Massimino, after Ferguson said he thought commercial space companies will do more for space than the government, said the current shift in policy is "the natural progression of things" like what happened in the airline industry. He also stressed the US is "still flying people in space."

In the second part of the interview, Massimino said NASA is also "helping commercial companies find ways to launch cargo and people in space" as well as developing its own rocket to go further into space.

Columnists Discuss State Of Space In The US.  In a column for The Coloradoan (4/26), Dan MacArthur wrote Discovery's final flight "gave me a rare shudder of - dare I say - pride, as naive as that might sound in this jaded age." It reminded him of his youth following the Mercury and Apollo missions "when we were united in the belief that we could do everything - including for the first time reaching beyond our flyspeck place in the cosmos." He is sorry he took NASA "for granted" over the years but "now it's time for new dreams to engage us once again."

In his column for Canada's Lloydminster Meridian Booster (4/27), Chad Gibson writes "it's disheartening to know plans for future space exploration, at least funded by governments, are basically non-existent" because the government is not funding NASA. Money for manned space exploration "doesn't exist because instead, we insist on fighting wars and continuing to unevenly distribute wealth by creating reality TV shows about pregnant teenagers." To Gibson, private space projects may pick up the slack. While he is uncertain how it will unfold, he believes commercial ventures "could herald the beginning of a new space era because it might bring space-related competition – missing since the days of the Cold War – back into the picture."

EXPLORATION SYSTEMS
Pickens Trying To Revive Florida's Space Industry. The WCTV-TV Tallahassee, FL (4/27, Kinsey) website reports Dynetics' Tim Pickens "committed to reviving Florida's space industry, not least because his company depends on it. Now that manned missions launching from Cape Canaveral are no more...He says it'll be up to a handful of private space flight companies to help inspire a national movement." When it comes to developments like hypersonic travel, Pickens "says only the government can pioneer that kind of technology, and if enough people ask for it, Washington will pay for it."

NASA Hosting Chat With Mango. AmericaSpace (4/26, Rhian) reported today, "NASA will be hosting a 'tweet chat'...with the space agency's Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office manager Ed Mango."

JSC Supporting Training For Boeing's CST-100 Spacecraft. The Aerospace Daily & Defense Report (4/26, Carreau) reported, "Boeing is turning to the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at NASA's Johnson Space Center to support the training for and early flight operations of the company's seven-person CST-100 entrant in NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) initiative." Boeing will pay NASA for these services. The article noted that if Boeing wins the third round of commercial contracts under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) program, it "will continue with its development of a flight training program and provide the instruction plan to MOD for training Boeing customers, which will primarily be NASA-led space station crews."

Aerojet Works On Improving Thrusters. The Puget Sound Business Journal (4/27, Wilhelm, Subscription Publication) reports Aerojet "is building a dozen updated thrusters for NASA's Orion capsule in a bid to become part of any future US explorations in outer space." The MR-104G thrusters are "monopropellant" and while "less efficient" than previous thrusters on other spacecraft they "are less expensive and may prove more suited to budget-cutting times." The article notes that the company just tested another thruster, the MR-104H, "but that was intended for the cancelled Constellation, and so has no immediate prospects for entering production."

Meanwhile the Sacramento Business Journal (4/27, Anderson, Subscription Publication) focuses solely on the MR-104H thrusters which are "a new version of a space propulsion system it first made for the 1977 Voyager spacecraft." It "has improved valves, insulation and nozzles so the system can be configured inside of a spacecraft rather than at the surface."

SPACE OPERATIONS
Enterprise Heading To New York Today. The AP (4/27, Hajela) reports after several weather delays, the shuttle prototype Enterprise "is scheduled to arrive in the city Friday, riding on top of a modified jumbo jet. Its trip was to include low-altitude flyovers over parts of the city and landmarks including the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum on Manhattan's west side." Intrepid President Susan Marenoff-Zausner "anticipates interest in the shuttle will increase the number of annual visitors by about 30 percent, to 1.3 million over the course of a year."

collectSPACE (4/26, Pearlman) noted that when it begins its flight, "Washingtonians hoping to get in a second sighting of an airborne space shuttle may be able to do so, if they are in the right place at the right time." However, it will not fly over Washington, DC like Discovery did. Meanwhile, "NASA, nor the FAA, has or is expected to release details of Enterprise's flight path between Washington and New York City. Real time updates may be available on the day of by monitoring NASA's Twitter account as the ferry flight progresses."

Star Trek Fans Pushed For Name. Life's Little Mysteries (4/27) reports on how the naming of Enterprise "involves one of the funniest presidential orders of all time." It originally was going to be named Constitution, but Star Trek fans "started a write-in campaign urging the White House to instead select the name of the starship that James T. Kirk captained in the original TV series."

Nappi Leaves USA To Manage QinetiQ Contract At KSC. Florida Today (4/27, Dean, 63K) reports, "Mark Nappi, who led United Space Alliance's Florida operations during the shuttle program's final years of flight, leaves the company today to join another Kennedy Space Center contractor." Nappi will be the new senior vice president and program manager QinetiQ North America's Engineering Services Contract, which "includes design and development of ground systems needed for processing of launch vehicles, spacecraft, and payloads, flight systems engineering and operation of laboratories and developmental shops."

ISS Astronauts Returning To Earth Today. Space.com (4/27, Wall) reports astronaut Dan Burbank and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin are scheduled to leave the ISS today. The remaining astronauts "will have the station to themselves until May 17, when three more Expedition 31 crewmembers - NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin - will arrive." Florida Today (4/27, Halvorson, 63K), WTSP-TV Tampa, FL (4/27, 5:39 a.m. ET, 13K), and Russia's RIA Novosti (4/27) also covers the story.

Soyuz Undocks From ISS. The AP (4/27) reports the Soyuz carrying the astronauts has successfully undocked and is now on its way to Earth.

Russia Today (4/27) reports right before the astronauts left, the crew of six "took advantage of zero-gravity to pose for a tongue-in-cheek photo, three lined up side by side with their compatriots hovering upside-down above them." The Aviation Week (4/27, Carreau) "On Space" blog also covers the story.

Chang-Diaz Heading To Astronaut Hall Of Fame. The Dorchester (MA) Reporter (4/26, Dumcius, 22K) reported Massachusetts state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz's father, astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 5.

Hoshide Wants To Play Sports While At ISS. The Japan Times (4/27) reports, "Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who is scheduled for a four-month stint at the International Space Station starting in July, said in Tokyo that he is eager to 'play some sports during this summer's Olympics while orbiting' the Earth." Hoshide will launch to the ISS with astronaut Sanita Williams and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko on a flight that was originally scheduled for next month. The article notes Hoshide "is expected to return to Earth around November after conducting the experiments, ISS operations and robot-arm maneuvers, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said."

SCIENCE
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