Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point

24 October (24 October 2008)

Note: The Space Diary will return on 4 November with the news you missed and the latest news of the day.

Russian cosmonauts Expedition Crew 17, Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko with space tourist Richard Garriott returned from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth on 23rd October local time, aboard a Soyuz spacecraft with Garriott clocking up 10 days and the Russians, 199 days. The Expedition Crew 18 aboard the ISS comprises commander Mike Fincke with flight engineers Greg Chaitoff and Yuri Lonchakov. NASA will be totally reliant on Soyuz craft when the Shuttle fleet is retired probably in 2010. Meanwhile, ominous vibes are coming from the Russians over the supply of Soyuz ferries to the ISS. “Energia will not provide any more Soyuz vessels for trips the ISS” unless funds can be found urgently. There are two more Soyuz ready for ferry flights. “We have no funds” to produce more Soyuz craft, says the Novosti news agency’s Vitaly Lopota. “Unless we are granted loans or advance payment in the next two to three weeks we cannot be responsible for future Soyuz production”, said a spokesman.

The Hubble Space Telescope’s science instrument control and Data Handling system was reactivated on 23 October which should enable the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 science observations.

America’s Congress has stopped funding for the Broad Area Space-Based Imagery Collection (BASIC) programme, which would have deployed to satellites costing $1 billion, mainly because commercially available satellites, Digital Globe and GeoEye are providing images with an equal resolution.

Space Systems/Loral has entered a three year secured revolving credit arrangement with six of the world’s largest banks, led by J.P Morgan, to provide additional resources to meet working capital and capital expenditure.

Arianespace and Thales Alenia has received a contract from the pan-African communications company, Rascom QAF for building and the launch of a satellite, Rascom QAF 1R in 2010 by either an Ariane 5 or Soyuz. The satellite will be based on a Spacebus 4000B3 platform with 12 Ku-band and eight C-band transponders, weighing 3,200kg.

AFP reports that Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon and the ever-controversial astronaut says that the first astronauts sent to Mars should stay there for the rest of their lives, in the same way explorers of history such as those who sailed from Europe to “America”. “If we are not willing to do that, then I don’t think we should just go once and have the expense of doing that and then stop.” NASA and ESA are looking at the prospects for a short manned expedition to Mars around 2030 at the earliest. Aldrin also said that the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station have not lived up to expectation.

Physicists at the Universities of Granada and Velencia have developed a way to analyse specific date sent back from the European Huygens lander which resides on the surface of the Saturnia moon, Titan “proving that there is natural electric activity in its atmosphere. As expected “life in space” comes to the fore without any certainly. Static electric fields and stormy conditions significantly increases the “the chance that organic and prebiotic molecules are formed”, based on the theory of evolution.

Barack Obama is a space fan and urges the USA to revitalise its space programme “if we are to remain the undisputed leader in space”. Obama says that the gap between the Space Shuttle’s retirement and the next-generation vehicle should be closed and another $2 billion added to NASA’s budget to get it. He wants to retain “our space workforce and train new scientists so that we don’t other countries surpass our technical capabilities. His goal is reaching new frontiers in human space exploration, tapping the ingenuity of commercial space entrepreneurs and engaging students through educational programs that excite the about science and space”.

40 years ago
23 October 1968

The US Air Force launched a Thor Burner booster from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a DMSP weather satellite into a 783-828km, 101deg inclination orbit.

24 October 1968
The Soviet Union launched Soyuz 2 from Baikonur into a 191-229km, 51deg inclination orbit on an unmanned mission as a docking target the first manned mission, Soyuz 3, due to be launched on 26 October. Soyuz 3 was to follow but ground control was to be shocked at the cosmonaut’s performance.

23 October (23 October 2008)

The European Space Agency says it lost contact with its XMM-Newton X-ray observatory over the weekend but a very weak signal has been detected. The telescope, launch nine years ago is close to the end of its design lifetime.

Russian engineers supported with an unknown budget from an anonymous Russian investor for six months, are hoping to develop the “ M-91 Aviation and Space System” for space tourism by 2012. The system will involve a 3M-T carrier aircraft and rocket plane carrying 16 passengers to 100km altitude.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has agreed to a 200 billion roubles 2009-11 budget for the Roskosmos space agency. Putin will continue to meet its obligations for the final construction of the Russian segment of the International Space Station by 2015 rather than 2010.

Cape Canaveral’s refurbished Pad 36 to provide commercial launches, has a first potential customer, PlanetSpace, a consortium of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and ATK which has proposed a 158ft solid rocket booster that could fly by 2011. The rocket would be cobbled together with existing rocket stages with a first stage comprising a 2.5 solid rocket booster and steering skirt similar to the Space Shuttle’s booster, an ATK Castor 120 booster and a flight proven cargo module for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services programme. The pad will be leased from the US Air Force to Space Florida, which has a potential $54.5 million budget. PlanetSpace hopes to win the NASA $3.1 billion contract to fly up to 12 cargo craft to the International Space Station. The other companies are Space Exploration Technologies (Space-X) and Orbital Sciences (OSC). The contract award will be made on 23 December.

The European Space Agency (ESA) Kopernikus (Copernicus) Earth-orbiting system is facing delays because Italy and France demand costs to be cut. It is hoped that the project will be agreed by November. Kopernikus was originally called the Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security (GMES), a joint ESA and European Commission project. The $2.6 billion project will hopefully carry the project through to 2013 but several countries, including Italy, France oppose the project while the UK - yes, the UK – has increased its share from 1.5% to 12%, which is Euro 120 million. The satellite system’s budget could be reduced from 1 billion Euro to 857 million Euro and the launch delayed to at least 2015.

As India’s Chandrayaan 1 heads for moon orbit, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch a second craft, the ISRO-Russian Chandrayaan 2 to be possibly launched in 2010.

50 years ago
23 October 1958

The US Army and NASA launched a Juno 1 booster (a modified Redstone with stages) from Cape Canaveral, carrying Beacon 1, a 4kg, 12ft diameter inflatable satellite of micro-thin plastic with aluminium foil but the payload was prematurely before burnout.

The US Air Force awarded a contract to Pratt&Whitney for the Centaur upper stage for the planned Atlas Centaur satellite launcher using a liquid oxygen-liquid hydrogen second stage engine. The project was to be transferred to NASA after flight-testing.

22 October (22 October 2008)

A California court has ordered Boeing to pay $370.6 million to ICO Global Communications for breaking an agreement to complete a satellite network, rather than $741.2 million due to an earlier miscalculation by jurors.

The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launch the 13th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in a row on 21 October local time, carrying its first interplanetary spacecraft, the 316 tonne Chandrayaan 1 towards a planned lunar orbit on an 80 million mission from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Shrirakota. Chandrayaan 1 will perform a two year mission providing a detailed map of the mineral, chemical and topographical characteristics of the lunar surface.

Meanwhile, Brazil hopes to launch a test flight of its Satellite Launch Vehicle on a sub-orbital test flight in 2011 in the hope that can eventually successfully launch a satellite mission. The Brazilian Space Agency tested the second stage of the four-stage vehicle on 20 October. The project has been thwarted by many technical problems and an accident in August 2003 when a VLS 1 exploded on the pad killing 21 technicians and engineers. The launch pad was also destroyed.

NASA has invited the public to summit their names to be included on a microchip that will be launched aboard the Glory mission which in June 2009 will start to investigate the effects of particles in the atmosphere and the sun’s variability on the Earth’s climate.

NASA plans to contract Russia’s Roskosmos to provide Soyuz TMA ferry missions to the International Space Station (ISS) through tto 30 June 2016. Anatoli Perminov, the head of Roskosmos says that the ISS project has “come to depend on the international political situation, such as events in South Ossetia”. However, Perminov hopes that the scale of importance of the ISS will override other events. He says that Russia will implement all its obligations for the space base. Meanwhile, funding for space related targeted programmes in 2009 will be increased by R100 billion ($4 billion). Russian premier Vladimir Putin has had a dig at NASA’s struggles. “It is obvious that the status of a reliable partner should be constantly upheld”. Roskosmos reminds everyone that between 2011 and 2016 (or later) the USA will not posses a new spaceship, so Russian spacecraft will bear the brunt of transportation and maintenance work at the ISS".

NASA’s administrator Michael Griffin has been upset about criticisms by the media - Space News and The Orlando Sentinel and blogs - being mentioned. Griffin accuses the media and some in the space community who “are generally lacking in either competence and fairness. He calls for objectivity. It is objective expertise that underlies NASA’s action, says a very sensitive Griffin. He quotes “unfounded criticism” of the Constellation project “from media and internet blogs that chip away at the agency.

SpaceDev has signed an agreement to acquire the Sierra Nevada Corporation Corporation for $38 million.

Britain’s Space Science and Technology Department has been awarded an 800,000 pound contract to carry out environmental testing at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory on a cryogenic harness for the NASA James Webb Space Telescope. The harness if the spacecraft’s “central nervous system”, linking spacecraft systems to the telescope, controlling its alignment and providing temperature for health monitoring.

Dave King, director of the Marshall Space Flight Centre says the Space Shuttle programme being extended from 2010 would rob development money for the Ares 1 and 5 rocket programme. King described the Space Shuttle as wonderful but there is a real risk in flying the vehicle.

21 October (21 October 2008)

The STS 125 Atlantis stack, to fly the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, has been returned to the VAB at KSC to be replaced on Pad 39A with STS 119 Endeavour, which will make a mission to ISS in November.

Collectspace reports that 40 years after the Apollo 7 mission NASA has at last honoured the three-man crew of the first manned Apollo mission in 1968 with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for Wally Schirra, Donn Eislele and Walt Cunningham’s contribution to the moon landing project, during mission in Earth orbit. Eisele and Schirra are deceased. The mission lasted 10days 2hrs and demonstrated the performance of the Block 2 CSM, including multiple firings of the Service Propulsion System and rendezvous capability using the S4B upper stage of the Saturn 1B booster.

Spacehab’s subsidiary company, Astrotech has been awarded a $1.17 million contract from Alliant Techsystems to support the Ares 1-X first stage hardware to be flown on the planned 2009 test flight. The vehicle comprises a four-segment SRB derived from the Space Shuttle boosters, with a simulated fifth stage.

The Pentagon has terminated the competition for the new advanced military communications Transformation Satellite programme (TSAT) until 2010. The project budget had already been cut by 40%. Reuters reported that “the programme in sinking fast”. If the programme survives it is unlikely to be operational until 2019. The situation will have serious implications for the Future Combat Systems programme.

18-20 October (20 October 2008)

Russia plans to launch five new models of weather satellites by 2013, starting with the 2.7ton Meteor M1 to be launched later this year. The launcher will be a Soyuz 2.

South Korea has unveiled a mock-up of the KSLV-1 satellite launcher which will fly from Goheung in South Jeolla Province next year - albeit with the help of a Russian first stage which will be used on the first two launches. Russia will contribute $198 of the $377 million cost. The satellite weighs 100kg. The first indigenous South Korean satellite launch occur no earlier than 2017.

Arianespace has committed to launch three more SES communications satellites from 2009 to 2012 as part of a Multi-Launch Agreement signed in 2007, starting with Astra 3B.

WorldSpace has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Roskosmos space agency’s chief Anatoli Perminov says that a new manned spacecraft and launcher are being developed for launch from the new base at Vostochnyy in the Amur region. There have been discussions about a joint project with Europe but this at an early stage. European Space Agency ministers meeting in November might make things clearer. ESA is already looking at designs for a European manned spacecraft.

NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite was launched by a Pegasus XL, which was deployed by the Stargazer Tri-S L-1001 on 19 October. The XL launch was the 40th Pegasus successful launched. The $ 169 million mission is to image the global interactions at the outer reaches of the solar system, with the aid of a solid rocket motor, to provide a deeper understanding of the sun’s interaction with the galaxy.

Orbital Sciences Corporation’s third quarter figures are $12.1 million on $278.6 million, compared with $15.7 million in $275.6 million for the same quarter in 2007. The company expects revenues of $1.115 to 1.135 billion in 2008 and is projecting $1.175 to 1.2 billion revenues in 2009, with reduced earnings due to the expenses involving the development of the Taurus 2 booster.

Meanwhile, NASA’s chief advisory council urged that the space agency should buy Orbital’s Minotaur for science missions. The Minotaur bases are at Wallops Island, Virginia and Vandenberg AFB, California. NASA is interested in using the Minotaur for launches from Cape Canaveral, which is causing a little problem for the United Launch Alliance’s Delta 2 prospects. The Delta has a backlog of over ten launches, from Canaveral and Vandenberg and has six others available for future commercial launches. However, NASA has booked a Minotaur for a NASA moon launch in 2011, from Wallop’s Island, creating a little competition, especially as the launch price for a Minotaur is cheaper.

China Great Wall Industry will build Pakistan’s PakSat 1 communications satellite and launch the craft aboard a Long March 3B booster from Xichang. Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission will control the mission.

The NASA Advisory Council’s Exploration Committee headed by James Abrahamson has praised the Constellation programme, saying “the project is viable and represents a well-considered approach given the constraints on budget, schedule and achievable technology”. A Washington-based space consultant said, “the NAS endorsement of Ares 1 reminds me of the so-called independent ratings firms that kept saying the Lehman Brothers, Wachovia and AIG were just fine. NASA considered over 1,000 options for the new programme. Abrahamson’s committee recommended Ares 1 because “sometimes when things are done well you want to put a star on the fridge”. That’s sounds like my maths teacher at school giving me a friendly pat on my head when I got the lowest grade possible. Incidentally, if the teacher had done that today he would have faced being sacked thanks to Britain’s wretched “politically correct” climate, which is destroying this once great country - among other things.

Another “sci-fi” project has been proposed, this time by the Pentagon. Hot Eagle is a stupendous idea to use a fast-reaction spaceplane to deliver a crack squad of marines to trouble spots anywhere in the world in 4hrs, in about 11 years time. Hot Eagle would be air-launched like a Pegasus. It has been suggested that a modified White Knight carrier craft for the Virgin Galactic space tourist service could be used for a similar service, like Britain's Thunderbirds TV puppet programme from the 1960s for air-lift emergencies. Will Whitehorn, chief executive for Virgin Galactic, also suggested that eventually the company could provide four-hour trips from London to Sidney. Hot Eagle seems very sci-fi. It has been described “a very expensive toy”.

40 years ago
19-20 October 1968

The Soviet Union launched a 1,,400kg Cosmos 248 aboard a Tsyklon booster from Baikonur into a 475-295km, 62deg inclination orbit on an ASAT mission as the target for Cosmos 249, also weighing 1,400kg, into a 498-2,074, 62deg inclination orbit launched the next day. 249 intercepted 248 on the second orbit and repeated a series of approaches, eventually self-destructed, creating 109 fragments.

17 October (17 October 2008)

President Bush has signed a bill authorizing NASA to spend $20.21 billion in the 2009 fiscal year, an increase of $2.69 billion over 2008 and at the same time has signed a Reauthorisation Act, which bars NASA from immediately grounding the Space Shuttle fleet until 30 April 2009 but also preventing the space agency from taking measures to prevent the option of keeping the fleet operational after 2010. The problem of course is whether money will be available. It is difficult to understand why NASA seems against keeping the Shuttle fleet operational because it is obvious that the Constellation programme will not be operational for much longer than planned, given its poor budget and flawed cut-price design. One positive move has been to clear the flight of a Space Shuttle carrying the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station.

Lockheed Martin has moved the NASA Mars Science Laboratory closer to the launch pad by delivering the backshell for the spacecraft, which is half of the two-part aeroshell that will encapsulate and protect the rover during its cruise to the Red Planet.

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has discovered a new class of gamma ray pulsar in 4,600 light years away in the constellation of Cepheus. Called CTA is “transmits” light every 316.86 milliseconds, emitting 1,000 times the energy of the sun.

Norway has been awarded a contract with Raytheon for the operation of the US NPOESS satellite programme, with value of NOK 100 million from October 2011 to September 2016.

The European Space Agency and its associates on the Mars Express orbiter programme have made close up images of Phobos, the larger of the two moons of the Red Planet, measuring 27by22x19km, which seems to be a rubble pile rather than a single object but the question is where the rubble came from. Probably because it was rubble when it was created.

The UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council is flying an X-ray Spectrometer aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan 1 moon orbiter to be launched on 22 October. It is India’s first mission out of Earth orbit. The C1XS was designed and built at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The instrument will map the composition of the moon, quantifying the mineral resources. Chandrayaan will also carry visible and near infrared instruments.

The US Defence Group Inc’s Defense Center for Intelligence believes that China has the capability that could surpass US technological advances and in the long term could be a “comprehensive power” in the space, leaving the US, Europe and Russia.

16 October (16 October 2008)

The Hubble Space Telescope’s back-up science computer should be up and running before the end the week, enabling operations to continue hopefully until the delayed STS 125 Space Shuttle mission to be launched no earlier than mib-February.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has spotted a strange solitary 130ft (40m) high hill in the layered terrain near the North Pole of Mars. The mound may be a remnant of a buried conical mound exposed on a slope.

Although it seems that the Space Shuttle will be grounded in 2011-12 after all. Three more missions to the International Space Station (ISS) will be made during the extension. NASA is “required” to take steps to ensure that the ISS will be “viable” through at least to 2020. However, “NASA’s administer has the authority to make the final determination based on safety considerations”. In the end the President could extend the service the Shuttle if he decides that’s what he wants, to preserve US manned missions by the Shuttle until the struggling and under-funded Constellation project is operational - which is a big ask, given the low budget and technical problems.

NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite and ground instruments has provided unique observations of the flickering light from the surroundings of two black holes providing new insights into their colossal energy.

Thrity five illustrations, diagrams and letters produced and owned by Wernher von Braun, the father of the US space programme and the Apollo project, are being auctioned by Bonhams in New York. The documents were produced for Collier magazine articles published in 1952-54, including the well-known bulbous three-stage satellite launcher. The collection is valued at $15,000 to $25,000.

The Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, NASA and other organisations plan to test a four-wheeled robotic lunar prospector called Scarab, which will simulate a lunar mission to extract water, hydrogen, oxygen and other compounds in November.

US Today reports that the Pentagon is in the early phase of designing a way to send troops through space to danger hot spots anywhere on the world within two hours, it was revealed at the National Security Space Office. The project is called Small Unit Space Transport and Insertion (SUSTAIN). However, Globalsecurity analyst, John Pike says that the concept “defies physics and the reality of what a small number of lightly armed troops could accomplish.

NASA and Alliant Techsystems has tested and deployed 5.5m diameter UltraFlex solar arrays for the New Millennium Programme and Space Technology Eight Project. The work will also support Lockheed Martin’s development of NASA’s Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, which will use radial arrays. A smaller set of arrays are powering NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander.

The European Space Agency’s Vega rocket - yet to be flight- tested - planned to launch the agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle into space in 2012 in a programme to potentially demonstrate a way for European astronauts to return to Earth in the future. The stubbly black and white craft will use two rear flaps in a paddling motion to steer itself during re-entry. The project is not planned to develop a reusable re-entry system as Europe would not be flying many manned missions, which can be provided using the Shuttle and Constellation. However, the long-term plan is certainly to consider European manned spaceflight based on the Apollo and Orion designs. So much for von Braun’s vision then?!

50 years ago
16 October 1958

The first of a series of three USAF-USN-NASA X-15 experimental rocket-powered piloted aircraft was rolled out of the North American Aviation plant in California.

15 October (15 October 2008)

While space tourist Richard Garriott, the son of astronaut Owen met Sergei Volkov, son of Alexander aboard the International Space Station - a space first - another aspiring tourist remains grounded. Russian supermarket tycoon and politician, Vladimir Gruzdev has been grounded since 2007 after signing up for a tourist flight. The earliest launch date for the aspiring spaceman is November 2009.

The European Space Agency’s next Mars mission, the highly ambitious ExoMars lander/rover has yet again been delayed, this time to 2016, mainly due to upgrades to the suite of science instruments - and Italy and Germany are getting cold feet about the spiralling cost. Italy is contributing 40% of the budget. The Aurora Programme rover spacecraft will be equipped with a drill to “find signs of life” and a stationary observational platform. The cost of the ExoMars mission - which was agreed in 2005 aiming for launch in 2013 - has spiralled from 650 million Euro to 1.2 billion Euro. The mission has to be agreed at the ESA Ministerial meeting in November. Britain is contributing 15% of the budget.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will build a third launch pad a Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Shriharikota for a planned manned spaceflight in 2015, featuring two or three crewpersons flying aboard a three-stage Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. The cost of the mission is estimated at $2 billion (Rp100 billion).

Flight International reports that Lord Drayson, the latest of dozens of UK Government ministers responsible for space activities with the British National Space Centre, is enthusiastic about a possible flight into space by a British astronaut, presumably aboard a Space Shuttle, Constellation or Soyuz TMA spacecraft. However, by the time the Briton is launched, dozens of Britons would have flown aboard Virgin Galactic. The hope is that “real” astronaut will spend time on the International Space Station one day. NASA astronauts born in Britain have flown but they are US citizens.

Astronomers searching for rocky planets that could support life in other solar systems should look outside, as well as within the so-called “habitable zone” says the University of Arizona planetary scientists. In the end it’s still just science fiction.

Mobile Satellite Technologies has signed a multi-year contract with Intelsat to provide satellite capacity to expand services throughout the USA, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean using Intelsat’s Galaxy 26 and Horizon 2 satellites.

BBC World Service reports that the Dartmouth and Harvard Medical Schools in the USA that a virtual space station is being developed aiming to help astronauts stave off depression and manage inter-personal conflicts in space, say doctors Jay Buckey and Jim Cartreine. Astronauts face immense psychological pressure with the ever-present danger and relations with other crewmembers and a feeling of isolation. The doctors have created a virtual environment based on the real-life experience of 29 current and veteran astronauts, which has been tested on researchers in the Antarctic. Buckey flew the 16-day Neurolab mission aboard Columbia in 1998 and the “crew worked together well and that’s the experience you want everyone to have”. Space travellers face immense psychological pressure because of the danger and there are not a lot of resources in space. Another aspect is that astronauts and cosmonauts are extremely reluctant to admit to having experienced problems because they could end up without another mission.

Even before the planned Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission probably in February 2009, a remote attempt to revive the satellite after it was put out of full action on 27 September when the Side-A Science Data Formatter was put out of action, will be made today. NASA hopes that after the Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble, the telescope will be operational until 2013, by which time the next generation telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope is launched.

American space analyst and expert, John Longsdon is against the idea of keeping the Space Shuttle operational to 2015, when is hoped (and a very big hope too) that the manned Constellation project will be started, as the risk of another Shuttle accident would be higher. He would like to see the fleet grounded in 2011, so that at least the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer can be launched. However, Longsdon sees risks in relying on commercial shuttles, such as Space-X’s Dragon cargo craft. It might be better to continue to rely of the Russian Progress tanker and manned shuttles by the Soyuz TMA.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has been in space for 1,000 days today heading for its prime target, the planet Pluto. It was launched on 19 January 2006.

14 October (14 October 2008)

Boeing’s space work is down on previous years but the company hopes that it will be awarded the potential $15 billion contract from the Pentagon to build the second- generation TSAT GPS satellites. An initial $3.5 billion contract to build the satellite system satellites is close. Likewise, the other bidder, Lockheed Martin sees TSAT as equally crucial. Not winning the contract could see lay-offs from the losing company.

The European Space Agency is using the Venus Express spacecraft to find life on Earth using its visible and infrared thermal imaging spectrometer. So far, the project has found difficulty in tracking down signs of life and habitability. The craft can detect water and molecular oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere. Looking at these molecules “is not enough”, say scientists. And scientists are seriously looking for life on planets orbiting other stars light years away?! What a joke.

Both launch pads at complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Centre will be occupied to accommodate the Hubble Space Telescope’s final service mission by Atlantis no earlier than March from Pad 39A. A second Space Shuttle will be placed on Pad 39B for a potential rescue mission. The use of both pads will delay the first of four test launches of the Ares 1X test flight for the Constellation project to return to the moon. Four Ares 1X missions are planned under a $1.8 million programme. The vehicle will incorporate a four-segment solid rocket booster based on the Space Shuttle SRB and a fifth inert stage, and mock-ups of the second stage, the Orion crew module and a launch abort system.

China plans to launch the first Fengyun 4 satellite by 2013 into a geostationary orbit and plans to have launched 22 more meteorological satellites by 2020, four FY-2, twelve FY-3 and six FY-4s.

Germany’s OHB and Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology company to bid for the European Space Agency’s Galileo GPS satellite system contract. Astrium and Thales Alenia Space are building only four validation satellites so far. OHB has a pedigree for building smaller satellites and could well be a better choice – and cheaper.

Orbital Sciences Corporation will launch a Pegasus booster from its mother plane, despatching NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) on 19 October to detect particles stripped of electric charges in the outer heliosphere. Hitting this boundary layer is like smashing into a lake at 50,00mph. This barrier shields the Earth from most of the dangerous galactic cosmic rays.

NASA’s Cassini Saturn orbiter has revealed a monstrous cyclone at the planet’s north pole with a speed of 325 miles per hour, twice the speed of the fastest storm on the Earth.

11-13 October (13 October 2008)

Russia launched Soyuz TMA-13 from Pad 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 12 October carrying the members of the 18th Expedition Crew aboard the International Space Station, station commander Mike Fincke and Yuri Lonchakov, the commander if the Soyuz. Finke was part of the Expedition 9 crew and flew a 187- day mission. Also aboard TMA 13 was the 6th paying space tourist, Richard Garriott, the son of Skylab 3 and Space Shuttle veteran Owen. The first son of an astronaut to fly was Sergei Volkov - the son of Alexander Volkov. Sergei is aboard the ISS and will join Oleg Kononenko and Garriott on the return of TMA 12 on 23 October.

NASA is gambling that the US Congress will provide the money for the launch of the mobile Mars Science Laboratory no earlier than 15 September 2009 or 2011 despite a budget that has reached an incredible $1.9 billion. Meanwhile, NASA’s Mars Odessey is the longest-serving of six spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet. It entered orbit in 2001 and has been cleared for service to 2010.

James Benson, who established the SpaceDev company in 1999 has died of a brain tumour. He was one of the pioneers of privatised commercial space enterprises.

India and France will launch the two atmospheric and ocean dynamics satellites, Megha-Tropiques in 2009-10 to study the life cycle of convective systems and their role in associated energy moisture levels in the tropical atmosphere.

Aviation Week and Spaace technology reports that the BX-1 sub-satellite that was deployed from the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft, carrying three takionauts in September, weighed 35kg and carried two cameras. The craft drifted about five miles from the main craft, using its thrusters to place it in a 4x8 km orbit around the main spacecraft. Shenzhou 8 will be launched in the next two years and will demonstrate rendezvous and docking with its orbital module, separated from the main craft or using a separate target satellite.

50 years ago

11-12 October 1958
A Thor Able booster was launched from Cape Canaveral carrying the International Geophysical Year (IGY) US Air Force 37.8kg Pioneer 1B lunar probe, which reached a record altitude of 113,854km but failing to reach the moon. Pioneer 1 was launched on 17 August but the Thor Able exploded. The day after Pioneer 1B’s launch, the Soviet Union attempted a similar flight, which failed, as did a launch earlier on 23 September.

12 October 1958
The Naval Research Laboratory fired four rockets from the USS Point Defiance in the Pacific Ocean, reaching 139, 148, 152 and 150 miles altitude.

40 years ago

11 October 1968
The Soviet Union launched Cosmos 247 from Plesetsk aboard a Voskhod booster on a Zenit 2 reconnaissance mission using a 4,720km Voskhod capsule into a 65deg inclination, 199-345km orbit. The capsule landed after an eight-day mission.

The USA launched the first manned Apollo mission from Cape Kennedy’s Pad 34 carrying commander Wally Schirra, the first man to make three spaceflights and crewmates, Donn Eisele and Walter Cunningham. Apollo 7 weighed 32,350lb and entered an initial orbit of 229-306km. Apollo 7 station-keeped with the upper stage of the Saturn 1B and two RCS burns prepared for a Service Propulsion System (SPS) burn to set up a rendezvous with the launch. In all there were eight burns of the SPS. The flight featured the first live TV from a manned spacecraft, which endeared the crew to the viewers, earning them plaudits. However, the crew became rather tetchy later, with Schirra deciding that would be the on-board flight director, after he became sick of the number of suggestions from the ground. The mission, the 26th manned spaceflight, lasted 10d 20hr 9min 3s, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

10 October (10 October 2008)

The 18th International Space Station Expedition Crew, Yuri Lonkachov and Mike Finke will be launched aboard Soyuz TMA-13 from Baikonur on 12th October. Also, flying will be the latest space tourist, Richard Garriott, the first American son of a veteran astronaut, Skylab crewman Owen. The first father and son to fly were Russia’s Alexander and Sergei Volov aboard Soyuz missions. Richard Garriott is a millionaire who developed among many products, the popular Ultima Online computer game.

The European Space Agency will launch a Vega booster from Kourou in 2012 carrying the Intermediate Experimental Vehicle into space to perform a suborbital re-entry to study systems and technologies for atmospheric re-entry.

The latest and last launch of 2008 for the Ariane 5 will be made in November, carrying Hot Bird 9 and W2M communications satellites. A further launch has been pushed into 2009 in which there are eight launches planned, including eight Ariane 5s and the maiden flight of the long-awaited Vega booster. Two French military early-warning satellites will be launched on an Ariane 5.

Britain’s Lord Drayson, yet another new Science Minister, says that the Government would soon drop its long-distaste for manned spaceflight and could participate in moon and Mars flights. Drayson supports an “iconic project to put a Brit in space” to end a 40 year policy refusing to fund manned missions. British space followers will believe it when it happens! The Soviet Union ended up funding most funding for Helen Sharman’s flight on a Soyuz craft to the Mir space station, which Britain botched and three British-born, American astronauts have flown Shuttle missions.

India’s Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft to orbit the moon will be launched on 22 October with no insurance cover.

NASA and Alliant Techsystems has successfully deployed new UltraFlex solar arrays for the space agency’s New Millennium Program Space Technology 8 spacecraft which will also produce data for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle.

NASA will attempt to turn on a never-used backup system to restore communications and if it works it could be operational again. If this does not work, the HST could be worse off than it was before, making the STS 125 Endeavour mission even more of a challenge.

SES’s Sirius 5 communications satellite has been procured by SES Satellite Leasing Limited in the Isle of Man from the spacecraft’s maker, Space Systems/Loral. Sirius 5, to be launched in 2011, will be located at 5degE operating with 36 Ku-band and 24 C-band transponders.

9 October (9 October 2008)

Will the Baikonur Cosmodrome be mothballed? Surely not? Russia has rented Baikonur from Kazakhstan since 1994 and an agreement had been signed to continue its use until 2050. However, now that Russia plans a new cosmodrome in Vostochnyy in the far east of the country, Baikonur could well be closed. Kazkosmos, however is planning the Bayterek rocket complex at Baikonur, which will continue to be “an international space centre”, as it is now.

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander will soon loose its power and most probably “die” as the sun sets and the frigid winter begins in the Visitas Borealis landing site. The spacecraft has operated longer than planned since its touchdown on 25 May.

XCOR Aerospace has flown more than half of all manned rocket-powered missions this century and broken the record for the most flights of a take-off and landing rocket powered aircraft, including the most for one day. Ex-NASA Space Shuttle pilot and commander, Rick Searfoss has flown 52 missions, passing the 42 by Neil Armstrong by an earlier craft. XCOR’s third generation craft will fly in 2010.

China is planning a second generation of astronauts to fly Shenzhou and later missions, possibly with one flying on Shenzhou 10. China has no plans to select female astronauts.

NASA plans to launch a unique satellite in 2009, which will measure the sources and sinks of carbon monoxide around the Earth. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory will help fill the data gaps left by ground-based measuring stations. Virgin Galactic, with NOAA, plans to measure CO2 concentrations in the upper stratosphere, using the SpaceShipTwo tourist vehicle.

A space pioneer of the sixties has passed away. Edsel Dunford, the president of TRW, which pioneered many of the early US civil and particulary military satellites in the Sixties, has died aged 73. Dunford was responsible for Pioneer 10 which was the first spacecraft to fly out of the solar system. The Tracking and Data Relay Satellites were also developed during his time at the helm.

Will NASA actually launch the Mars Science Laboratory in 2009? The project is 30% over-budget and is experiencing development problems. A delay to 2010-11 would add another $300 million to the budget.

The first high resolution image released from the $502 million GeoEye 1, sponsored by Google and launched from Vandenberg AFB, California on 6 September, features a baseball field at Kutztown University in Pennsylvania, from an altitude of 423km with a resolution of 41cm. The satellite is operated by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The second GoeEye will be launched in 2011-12 with a resolution of 25cm. Google images will be restricted to those of 50cm resolution.

NASA’s Messenger spacecraft made the closest ever fly-by of planet on 6 October, coming as close to 123.9 miles of Mercury.

The National Science Foundation-funded 4-inch cube-shaped Radio Explorer, RAX built by students at the University of Michigan with SRI International will be launched in December.

SES Astra’s 1M communications satellite, built by EADS Astrium and based on a Eurostar 3000 spacecraft bus, will be launched on 31 October from Baikonur by a Proton Breeze M booster.

8 October (8 October 2008)

NASA will not pay Russia to deliver supplies to the International Space Station aboard Progress tankers after 2011 despite presidential approval to do so. After 2011, NASA will reply on US commercial cargo services following the retirement of the Space Shuttle. That may be NASA official stance but frankly, will COTS actually provide the service in time – if at all? Also, the Space Shuttle’s career could very well be extended to 2015, a plan that has been supported by Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential candidate. NASA’s administrator, Mike Griffin praised Obama for “leadership in supporting the Shuttle’s extension. The results of a major assessment draft White Paper of a plan to extend the service of the Shuttle to 2015 has been sent to NASA. Two orbiters would be used. It is suggested that NASA is not in favour, with its official line being to push ahead with the Constellation project. Given the history of the Constellation programme thus far this would be a serious error. If you have good Shuttles keep ‘em flying’. There could be 13 missions in all.

The back-up space tourist for the second tourist flight by Charles Simonyi has been named as Esther Dyson. Simonyi’s first flight was in 2007. Dyson is an investor in the Space Adventures company which arranges the Soyuz tourist missions.

Kazakhstan’s space budget until 2020 will amount to six billion dollars.

Iridium, the global voice and data mobile service provider has raised over $400 million and merged with GHL Acquisition to generate funds to launch its NEXT-generation satellite system by 2013. Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia will build the satellite. Iridium’s business increased by 48% in during last year and it has 66 satellites and eight spares, which will provide worldwide coverage to at least 2014.

Images from NASA’s Messenger spacecraft which made its second fly-by of Mercury this year at a closest distance of 125 miles on 6 October were released on 7 October featuring images of the Kuiper crater with is prominent ray network. Prominent lines emanate from crater impacts that run along the entire surface.

The X-Prize Foundation has two new teams: Analytical Graphics and Independence-X Aerospace, which have experience in rocket propulsion and robotic control systems.

50 years ago
8 October 1957

In a rare offer of cooperation, the Soviet Union provided the telemetry code of Sputnik 3 to other International Geophysical Year members, covering only radiation measurements.

Lt. Clifton McClure rode the Man High III balloon to a near-record altitude of 99,900ft.

7 October (7 October 2008)

NASA’s Mercury explorer, the Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging spacecraft, Messenger has flown to within about 125 miles of the innermost planet of our sun. This fly-by placed Messenger in a path that will enable the spacecraft orbit around the Earth in 2011.

Another NASA spacecraft, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) will be launched by a Pegasus XL carried by a cargo transporter taking off from Kwajelien Atoll, heading for the exploration of Earth’s magnetic field about 200,000 miles from our planet. The satellite will enable an all-sky map of the interaction between particles for the solar wind.

Innovative Solutions In Space has been awarded a contract by the Dutch research institute, TNO to develop a prototype for a star tracker for nanosatellite applications.

Looking optimistically, NASA has started the conceptual phase of “identifying key performance indicators” for the successful design and production of the planned Altair lunar module. Contracts will run into the “2012-2013 timelines”.

Arianespace will use an Ariane 5 ECA to launch two satellites, Eutelsat’s Hotbird and W2M satellites.
The European Space Agency Corot spacecraft has discovered a massive planet-sized object orbiting a star. The planet is “so exotic” that scientists are unsure whether it is a planet or a failed star”. COROT-exo-3b is about th size of Jupiter and apparently takes 4days 6hrs to orbit the parent star.

50 years ago
7 October 1958

NASA formally organised Project Mercury to: place a manned space capsule in orbital flight around the Earth; investigate man’s reactions in space and to recover and capsule and pilot.

40 years ago
7 October 1968

The Soviet Union launched a Voskhod booster from Plesetsk carrying Cosmos 246, a Zenit 4-class high- resolution reconnaissance satellite into a 149-321 km, 65deg inclination orbit on a five day mission for the recoverable film capsule based on a Voskhod spacecraft.

4-7 October (6 October 2008)

China’s press agency, Xinhua reports that “several minor incidents” took place during the EVA during the Shenzhou 7 mission, including difficulty in opening the door to the orbital module and a false fire alarm. The major incident was spacewalker Zhai Zhigang’s getting caught up in the tether in a similar incident that caused problem for the first spacewalker, Alexei Leonov of the Soviet Union in 1965. Although future flights are not yet cast in stone, it was originally planned that a three-craft mission would be flown with an unmanned “spacelab”, Shenzhou 8 which will be a conventional but unmanned Shenzhou, to be followed by Shenzhou 9, to be followed with a three-man crew on Shenzhou 10. Other reports indicate that the plan is to fly an unmanned small spacelab called Tiangong (fortress in the sky) in 2010-2011 and an unmanned Shenzhou 8 would dock with it, followed by Shenzhou 9 which would dock the other two craft, Shenzhou 10 with a crew of three to dock with the “space station”.

NASA’s planned nuclear-powered astrobiology rover, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is 30% over budget at $1.5 billion and faces cancellation by Congress. The MSL could be two years late, placing the next craft, a planned rover-Mars sample return mission planned for 2016.

Flight International reports that the European Space Agency plans a new version of the Ariane 5. The “Mid Life Evolution” (ME) booster could be operating by 2016 with a payload capability to geostationary transfer orbit of 11,200kg - 16% higher than the Ariane 5 ECA - and a low Earth orbit payload weight of 21,000kg. The new EADS Astrium-built Ariane 5 will use the same first stage but will use an ME upper stage. The new booster will need to be approved in 2011 to meet the deadline for a 2016 first launch. A replacement of the Ariane 5 family is planned in 2020.

NASA’s next Space Shuttle mission - following the delay to the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission by STS 125 Atlantis - will be STS 126 Endeavour aiming for a launch on 14 November, after moving from Pad 39B where it has been parked in preparation for a launch from Pad 39A after STS 125 which is now to moved back the VAB. The mission, commanded by Christopher Ferguson, will carry new sleeping quarters, a water recycling system, a second space toilet, exercising equipment and other supplies.

Thirty-seven pages from a diary written by Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon during the fateful Columbia mission in 2003, which ended with the disintegration of the orbiter during re-entry on 1 February, were found in a field close to Palestine, Texas.

The sample return capsule of NASA’s Stardust spacecraft which completed a three billion mile round-trip to within 150 miles of comet Wild 2 in January 2004 and returned to Earth in 2006 will be exhibited at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC.

Strathclyde University has released a report about the long- term effectiveness of epic missions such as Project Apollo and NASA is now struggling to find a real reason to return to the moon with the Constellation project. The report has been presented to the Constellation chief, Jeff Hanley. The report indicates that the world’s greatest exploration expeditions – including this in space, especially Apollo were “either short-term or long-term failures. “Although hailed as heroes, Raleigh, Shackleton and Armstrong and other explorers made less of an impact on world affairs than previously thought”, said the report, which added that only Columbus and John Franklin’s 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage - in which all 129 crew died – had a strategic merit. Apollo was one of the greatest explorations and achieved a short-term political goal of beating the Soviet Union in the Cold War inspired space race but failed to fulfil NASA’s long-term hopes of opening the solar system to human exploration. For people in the Sixties, the space race was usually the main news and as such created a great impact with the general public. Most the developed world shared in the excitement. Apollo reached its goal but Constellation is a tired project with no real long-term goal, incredibly under funded and could just fizzle out when NASA realises that without much higher funding, the project is fated. NASA says that in January 2009 it will ask industry’s help in “conquering” key Ares V heavy-lift cargo launch vehicle and Altair lunar landing design considerations and “trades”. The term “trade” is ominous.
40 years ago
3 October 1968

The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos booster from Plestesk carrying Cosmos 245, a 325kg target spacecraft for air defence work into a 284-473km, 71deg inclination orbit.

A European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) satellite, ESRO 1A was launched aboard a Scout booster from Vandenberg AFB, California for an aurora and polar ionosphere research mission into a 258-1,538km, 93deg inclination orbit.

5 October 1968

The Soviet Union launched a Molniya 1communications satellite from Baiknour aboard a Molniya booster into a 498-39,596km, 64deg inclination orbit for the Orbita network.

The NRO and US Air Force launched a Thorad Agena D from Vandenberg AFB, California carrying a 1,500kg Ferret 13/Agena spy satellite into a 483-511km, 75deg inclination orbit.

3 October (3 October 2008)

The UK’s first space academy has been established at the National Space Centre (NSC) in Leicester with the help of a 900,000 pound grant from the East Midlands Development Agency with a mission to inspire young people and to encourage them for follow a career in space. The NSC was established in 2001 and has pioneered space exploration in science education. More than 50,000 young people and 2,000 teachers visit the centre every year.

Space Exploration Technologies has proposed to develop a robotic cargo lunar lander service at a cost of $80 million per flight. SpaceX is a member of the Odyssey team and would deliver a 1,000kg lander on the lunar surface, compared with 14,000kg for the planned Altair cargo version. The SpaceX lander will be launched by a Falcon booster with three Falcon 9 first stage boosters and comprising 27 engines. The booster has been proposed for the COTS programme.

The 10th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope Heritage Project has been celebrated by an image of an area in the southern hemisphere featuring the NGC 3324 at the northwest corner of the Carina Nebula and NGC 3372, the home of the Keyhole Nebula and the active out-bursting star Eta Carinae. The entire Carina Nebula complex is located at a distance of roughly 7,200 light-years.

The launch of the European Space Agency’s Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer, thankfully called GOCE has been delayed again from 5 October after being delayed from 10 September and has been scheduled for 27 October.

London’s Queen’s University is developing a new robotic system that could service over 8,000 satellites in orbit, particularly in deep orbits. Professor Michael Greenspan, specialising in electrical and computer engineering proposes the development of tracking software that will enable an Autonomous Space Servicing Vehicle to grasp ailing satellites and place them into the vehicle’s bay from where it could be serviced by remote control. Queen’s team is working with Canada’s McDonald-Detweiller Associates.

The construction of the $23.8 million launch pad for the Samara Space centre’s Soyuz 1-1b booster at Kourou, French Guiana should be ready for launches of the European Union’s Galileo navigation satellite fleet in February 2010. This project has been delayed many years, mainly due to the paralysing influence of European Union bureaucracy.

NASA now has the legal ability to conclude a new deal with Russia for three-man Soyuz crew ferry flights to the International Space Station beyond 2011.

50 years ago
3 October 1958

On the third day of the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) President Eisenhower decreed that the US International Geophysical Year satellite would be assigned to the Vanguard project.

40 years ago
3 October 1968

The European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) rejected a British draft resolution, which British quarters believed would save the ELDO Europa launcher project. The thwarted project had reached a unanimous agreement by 19 countries in favour of an independent launcher based on a British first stage based on the Blue Streak. Britain had said that it could not continue with the project and France said that it could not continue unless Britain did. The rigid attitude of Britain and France threatened Europe of losing $25 million over the next ten years in reactors, computers and aircraft. Fast forward to 2008. Nothing has changed.

2 October (2 October 2008)

The Space Shuttle Atlantis STS 125 is being transferred to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space centre as the STS 126 Endeavour mission to the International Space Station becomes the priority with a potential launch about 14 November. It is possible that STS 119, another ISS mission, will fly before STS 125 in February, with the Hubble mission being launched in April.

Russia launched a Dnepr RC-20B ICBM from Yasny in the Dombarovsky region of Orenburg on 1 October, carrying Thailand’s space agency GSTDA 715kg Theos satellite built by EADS Astrium towards an 822km sun-synchronous orbit.

Two terrestrial planets 300 light years away orbiting a mature sun-like star collided with each other as if the Earth and Venus had collided. Of course there are lots of theoretical facts, since the “planets” are 3005878499812499 miles away and you can’t see them.

NASA administrator, Mike Griffin is determined to establish a lunar base as a stepping-stone to Mars despite many scientists who would prefer going directly to Mars bypassing the moon. Griffin wants a moon visit by astronauts who would fly back to the Earth via the International Space Station to simulate a Mars mission.

40 years ago
2 October 1968

The Soviet Union launched a Tsyklon booster from Baikonur, carrying the 1,700kg Cosmos 244, a Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) test in a 140-158km, 49deg inclination orbit.

1 October 2008 (1 October 2008)

Space tourist Charles Simonyi will fly a second mission to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA 14 in the spring of 2009, two years after his maiden flight. The sixth Space Adventures mission will feature Richard Garriott - the son of Owen, who flew on Skylab and the Space Shuttle - in October.

Virgin Galactic will establish its UK base for its tourist flights in Scotland, with Lossiemouth being the favourite site. The other sites are Kinloss and Machrihanish in the Mull of Kintyre. Six passengers will pay 110,000 pounds for the flight. Richard Branson has invested 195 million pounds in the project, which has 65,000 people having signed up.

EADS Astrium has signed an agreement with India’s Antrix Corporation to use the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

NASA’s fallible Constellation Orion booster is in more trouble. Its preliminary design review (PDR) has been delayed to 2009 with the likelihood that it will be pushed into 2010. The first PDR date was to have been in September this year. Orion has undergone a series of redesigns and Lockheed Martin has taken the flak for NASA’s lack of management. Problem items include the Orion crew module, thrust oscillation and crew seat safety.
EADS Astrium has been selected by ESA and the European Union “as a prime candidate” for both the Galileo FOC Space Segment and Ground Control Segment. Astrium is inviting interested suppliers to submit their Expressions of Interest.

The Ukraine parliament has approved a space programme for 2008-12 amounting to $490 million from the state budget and $207 million from other sources. The country has also attracted $600 million from international commercial space projects, in particular the Sea Launch and Land Launch project with Boeing, Energia, Yuzhnoye, Yuzmash and the Aker Group.

William Parsons, the director of the JFK space centre in Florida is leaving NASA and will be replaced by veteran astronaut Bob Cabana, who has been director of the space agency’s Stennis Space Center.

The Government Accountability Office, says the Congress has not been given enough information on the cost to retire the Space Shuttle fleet because NASA has produced two estimations ranging from $1.8 billion and $4.4 million. The confusion continues as NASA wants to retire the Shuttle in 2010 but the Congress wants an extension to fill the gap before the under-funded and flawed Constellation project no earlier than 2015 – and probably much longer than too.

NASA has selected the crew of STS 129 Discovery in October 2009. Commander Charlie Hobaugh will lead a crew including rookie pilot Barry Wilmore. The mission specialists are: rookies Robert Satcher, Randy Besnick and veterans, Mike Foreman and Leland Melvin. The crew will deliver two experiments racks and two spare gyroscopes to the International Space Station and will return with ISS crewmember veteran Robert Thirsk of the Canadian Space Agency. There will be four spacewalks during the mission