Space news

Falcon 9 test a big milestone
Run-through will fuel rocket for simulated liftoff
 
James Dean - Florida Today
 
SpaceX today plans to fuel a Falcon 9 rocket during a practice countdown at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, an important step in preparations for a potential launch late next month. The company is getting ready for a NASA demonstration mission that could make its Dragon capsule the first private vehicle to visit the International Space Station. SpaceX hopes to be ready to launch by late April, but no official target date has been set since the mission was postponed from early February to resolve technical issues.
 
What is the International Space Station's weakest link?
 
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
 
Aided by a robust, conservative structural design, officials say they foresee no technical problems keeping the International Space Station from running until at least 2020, but managers have ordered follow-up reviews of several components flagged by a cursory engineering analysis. Engineers are studying the outpost's structural stability and spare parts needs to ensure the orbiting laboratory can continue operating until at least 2020. Managers ordered the analysis after the space station program was extended five years from 2015. Engineers are also looking at the feasibility of another life extension until 2028, the 30th anniversary of the launch of the outpost's first module.
 
Stolen NASA Laptop Contained Commands For International Space Station
 
Alex Knapp - Forbes
 
In testimony before Congress Wednesday, NASA’s Inspector General discussed NASA’s IT security efforts, and discussed some of the attacks and thefts that have plagued the agency’s assets. Some of the numbers discussed are somewhat eye-opening, but it’s difficult to say whether NASA has a significant problem compared to other agencies, since NASA is a rare Federal agency that consistently monitors such incidents. Among the highlights of the testimony, NASA reported that from April 2009 to April 2011, 48 mobile computing devices containing sensitive information were either lost or stolen. One stolen laptop contained algorithms that are used to command the International Space Station.
 
Stolen NASA Laptop Had Space Station Control Code
 
Irene Klotz - Discovery News
 
NASA had 5,408 computer security lapses in 2010 and 2011, including the March 2011 loss of a laptop computer that contained algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station (ISS), the agency's inspector general told Congress Wednesday. "These incidents spanned a wide continuum, from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit, to intrusions that may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries' objectives," Inspector General Paul Martin said in written testimony before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee investigations panel.
 
Stolen laptop held ISS commands, NASA inspector reports
 
Aliya Sternstein - NextGov.com
 
A laptop was taken from NASA in March 2011 that contained the formulas used to control the International Space Station, an internal investigation has revealed. The space agency's inspector general, testifying before lawmakers Wednesday afternoon, said the notebook computer was not encrypted. "The March 2011 theft of an unencrypted NASA notebook computer resulted in the loss of the algorithms used to command and control the International Space Station," said NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin in his written testimony.
 
Space Station Orbit Readjusted for Progress Docking
 
RIA Novosti
 
Russian Mission Control specialists on Wednesday readjusted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) by 2.1 kilometers to ensure the best conditions for the docking of Russia’s Progress M-15M cargo spacecraft. The main engines of the Russian Zvezda Service Module were turned on for about one minute to conduct the readjustment.
 
Canada announces