Tim's Space Diary. Straight and to the point

25-31 May (31 May 2010)

International Launch Services (ILS) has been awarded a contract from Gazprom Space Systems to launch Yamal 401 and 402 satellites to be launched by Proton Briz-M boosters from Baikonur in 2012-13. Yamal 401 will weigh 3,150lb and will be built by Russia’s Reshetnev with a Thales Alenia space payload, while the 5,250lb 402 will be built by Thales.

Russian Space Systems Corporation and the USA Trimble company will create a joint navigation venture in Russia with each company having a 50% stake.

NASA has revived the 33-year old Voyager 2 spacecraft 8.6 billion miles away. The sister spacecraft Voyager 1 is 10.5 billion miles away.

NASA is preparing the Space Shuttle Atlantis to fly on a rescue, or "launch on need" flight next year should the final Shuttle flight be forced to take refuge on the International Space Station due to heat shield damage. An external fuel tank and two solid rocket boosters will also be in place to support the rescue mission. STS-135 would be left without its own rescue flight, the first time the Shuttle would fly without such a contingency plan since the Columbia accident. Russian Soyuz capsules, each capable of carrying three people, would be the only way home for stranded shuttle astronauts if STS-135 ran into trouble. The ascent crew on the flight would be limited to four astronauts, the smallest crew possible accomplish key mission objectives. Atlantis flew 294 days in space, 4,648 orbits and 120 million miles during 32 flights. Whether NASA gives Atlantis one more mission next year remains unknown.

A Medium+ Delta 4 booster was launched from Cape Canaveral on 27 May carrying the first of the Block 2F GPS satellite with higher accuracy enhanced internal clocks, longer life and re-programmable onboard processors to evolve with future needs. The GPS constellation is now comprised of 30 functioning satellites, including 11 Block 2A's made by Boeing, 12 2R's and 7 2R-Modernized spacecraft built by Lockheed Martin.

The earliest the Falcon 9 rocket could blast off from Cape Canaveral is June 2, as the Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration continue reviewing the vehicle's flight termination destruct system.

Azerbaijan signed an agreement on leasing the orbital position owned by the Malaysian company MEASAT. Azerbaijani satellite's manufacturing company, U.S. Orbital Sciences Corporation, and the International Relations and Calculations Center of the Azerbaijani Communication Ministry are involved. Azerbaijan plans to launch its first geostationary telecommunications satellite in 2012.

Huntsville Times reports: "Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell and Eugene Cernan have come to the unanimous conclusion that this budget proposal presents no challenges, has no focus and in fact is a blueprint for a mission to 'nowhere’.

NASA has finally given up hope for the Phoenix Mars lander after ice damage on the solar panels, while the launch of the Mars Science Laboratory aboard an Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral between has been set for November 25-December 18, 2011. The mission’s Curiosity rover will analyze rocks on the surface after landing between 6 to 20 August, 2012.

NASA’s Voyager 2 has woken up again and has sent science data.

KT Corporation and Asia Satellite have completed purchased of the Koreasat 3. The spacecraft was launched in September in 1999.

21-24 (24 May 2010)

Former Air Force orbital analyst, Brian Weedon says that the X-37B spaceplane air-launched in April is “most likely” a “space spy”, rather than “weapon”. A second vehicle will be launched in 2011. The X-37B also has the ability to carry Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) satellites into orbit, in case the U.S. military needs situational awareness in a new area. The cost of a single space plane launch is about $100 million, based on the average cost of the Atlas V rocket that launched the spaceplane, more than the entire ORS budget for 2010.

Japan’s JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science launched a Japanese H-2A launched the Venus Climate Orbiter, Akatsuki from Tanegashima 21 May, which will reach the planet in December.One of the main goals is to understand the "super-rotation" of the Venus atmosphere, where violent winds drive storms and clouds around that planet at speeds of more than 220 mph (360 kph), some 60 times faster than the planet itself rotates. Akatsuki is the first 'meteorological satellite' of a planet other than the Earth. "Detailed study of Earth's sister planet will provide us with breakthroughs in the field of atmospheric science." Another payload is solar sail, called Ikaros. The solar sail craft will take the same starting trajectory as Akatsuki, but is only scheduled to pass the orbit of Venus during its ambitious three-year journey to the other side of the sun.

Arianspace launched the 50th Ariane 5 ECA booster from Kourou on 21 May carrying the 5,470kg SES Astra 3B built by EADS Astrium and the German Bundeswehr-built ComsatBw 2, weighing 2,440kg. Astra 3B, with 60 Ku-band transponders will be located at 23.5deg. Comsat MW2, weighing 2,440kg was built by EADS Astrium and will be placed at 21.2deg. Arianespace's next Ariane 5 mission is planned for June, with the ARABSAT-5A and COMS-1 satellites.

An $8-billion Navstar GPS upgrade will make the system more reliable, more widespread and much more accurate. It will be designed to pinpoint someone's location within an arm's length, compared with a margin of error of 20 feet or more today.

China’s Beidou is planning to create an independent satellite navigation system of 35 satellites, which will cover the world by 2012. Three satellites have been launched since 2000.

NASA has released a solicitation for the Commercial Crew Transportation, “Request For Information”."NASA is currently in the conceptual phase of developing requirements for a Commercial Crew Transportation (CCT) capability that would be able to transport NASA astronauts and spaceflight participants safely to and from LEO and the ISS. The purpose of this RFI is to collect information from industry to help NASA plan the overall strategy for the development and demonstration of a CCT capability and to receive comments on NASA human-rating technical requirements that have been drafted as part of this initiative."

NASA’s next Mars mission will be launched between 25 November and 18 December, aiming for a landing of the Curiosity Mars Science Laboratory

Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station on 23 May, leaving after a week of intensive work to advance the orbiting laboratory. The astronauts expanded the outpost by installing a new Russian module, Rassver (Dawn). Three EVAs were completed. Only two more shuttle launches remain -- one in September for Discovery and the final blast off for Endeavour in November -- before the curtain falls on this era of human spaceflight.The USA will have to rely on Russia to take astronauts to the station aboard three-seater Soyuz spacecraft until a new fleet of commercial space taxis is operational. How long will that take?

Statement by Space Organizations on the FY 2011 NASA Budget:"We the undersigned, a diverse group of organizations with a vital interest in our Nation's space program, make the following statements: We strongly support the top line FY2011 NASA budget. We believe an important goal of the NASA budget is to accelerate the development of the intellectual capital of the United States by investing in a high-cadence exciting program. We are excited by the increases in science, aeronautics and technology initiatives. We believe both human exploration and research are important: destination, milestones, engagement and story matter.We believe this is an opportunity for NASA to craft the exploration strategy in partnership with science and applied science that includes the International Space Station, safe and cost-effective access to low earth orbit, robotic precursors, and other missions. Heavy lift launch and in-space servicing enable new realms of exploration and science. We believe it is critically important that the American people can and must participate and be engaged in the journey of discovery and exploration."

The Space Shuttle Atlantis has undocked from the ISS aiming for a landing at the KSC on 25 May. Oleg Kotov, Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi plan to follow the Atlantis astronauts back to Earth departing June 1, aboard the Soyuz TMA-17 capsule. six-month stay in space. Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov will take command from Kotov, remaining aboard the station with Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko as the Expedition 24 crew. They will be joined by cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker, who are scheduled for launch aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft on June 15.

“Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] Space Systems has aligned its Commercial Space Systems unit within the company's Global Communications Systems business, a new organizational structure designed to enhance synergies and efficiencies in providing advanced communications solutions to government and commercial customers around the globe.”

“Scaled Composites has successfully pressurized and powered up Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) from the WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft in flight for the first time.The milestone was achieved on the second captive-carry test flight, which took the vehicle to its planned launch altitude at around 51,000 ft. On its first flight under the wings of WK2 on March 22, the spaceship was carried to an altitude of 45,000 ft but the vehicle was not pressurized or activated.Peak altitude was 51,000 ft., which allowed for a long cold-soak to evaluate the robustness of the hardware”.

50 years ago
24 May 1960

The US Air Force launched an Atlas Agena A from Cape Canaveral carrying the Midas early warning satellite placed into a 33deg inclination orbit.

40 years ago
22 May 1970

The Soviet Union launched a Kosmos booster from Plesetsk carrying a Kosmos 2 military target.

19-20 May (20 May 2010)

After the first STS 132 EVA by Steve Bowen and Mike Good, lasting 7hr 25min EVA on 17 May, which moved a back-up Ku-band and loosened bolts holding six new solar array batteries. The second EVA, lasting seven hours was made on 19th.

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity marked a record of duration on the surface of the Red Planet on 20 May, beating the record held by Viking 1. Transmissions from the other over, Spirit stopped working on 22 March.

Arianespace has been selected by Intelsat to launch an Ariane 5 ECA in 2010, carrying the 5,800kg communications satellite to be placed in GEO at 66deg, to replace Intelsat 702.

Russia and the USA may reach an agreement to develop nuclear-powered engines.

President Barack Obama wants to cut NASA's development of a new carrier rocket and turn launches of astronauts over to private companies. His plans have been criticized for leaving the United States overly reliant on Russia for missions to the International Space Station (ISS) after the Space Shuttle fleet is retired later this year. After the retirement of the ISS in 2020 “both countries should have new space projects to apply their joint efforts”, says Russia. The Russian government allocated 500 million roubles ($16.7 million) in 2010 to start a project to build a spacecraft with a nuclear engine. NASA started a programme to develop a nuclear propulsion system in 2003, and spent several hundred million dollars on the project before cutting it back.

50 years ago
20 May 1970

The Soviet Union launched a Voskhod booster from Baikonur carrying Cosmos 345 Zenit 4 reconnaissance satellite which returned a film capsule on 28 May.

The US Air Force launched a Thorad Agena D from Vandenberg, into an 83deg inclination, carrying a KH-4B NRO/CIA reconnaissance satellite, which returned a film capsule on 17th June. Also launched was OPS 8520 sigint satellite.

18 May (18 May 2010)

They called it "devastating". Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and Gene Cernan have come to the unanimous conclusion that “the space budget proposal presents no challenges, has no focus, and in fact is a blueprint for a mission to nowhwere”. Armstrong said he supported the idea of new players in the spaceflight arena but was skeptical of commercial companies would be able to meet NASA's needs in a timely and cost-efficient manner. "I support the encouragement of the newcomers toward their goal of lower cost access to space," Armstrong said. "But having cut my teeth in rockets more than 50 years ago, I am not confident."The three astronauts agreed that the administration's budget for human space exploration "presents no challenges, has no focus, and in fact is a blueprint for a mission to 'nowhere.'" President Obama plans to shift near-term manned spaceflight from NASA to private industry, could result in a 10-year gap between the end of the Space Shuttle and the debut of reliable commercial rockets. Armstrong is concerned that NASA might have to subsidize commercial rocket companies experience major problems. Former astronaut Charlie Bolden, the NASA administrator said “it may be a bailout like GM and Chrysler”. Armstrong said this may be the largest bailout in history. NASA is facing a five-to-six-year gap between the end of Shuttle and the debut of the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule being designed as part of the Constellation moon programme. If it evers materialises of course! NASA is currently is buying seats on Russian Soyuz rockets to carry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Bolden believes the private sector can be ready to launch astronauts to the ISS by around 2015. Cernan says the gap may be much longer. He believes it It might take as much as a decade and the cost may be two to three times as much as they predict said Cernan.

The Space Shuttle Atlantis was launched on its final flight from the KSC on 14 May after a 25 year in service, flying with commander Ken Ham, pilot Dominic Antonelli, flight engineer Mike Good and the other crew, Stephen Bowen, Piers Sellers and Garrett Reisman. The primary payload is the Russian 17,760lb Rassvet docking module, a Ku-band and six new batteries. The other cargo include a NASA experimental airlock and the European robot armThe crew are now aboard the International Space Station, joining Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi, Tim Creamer, Alexander Skvortsov, Michail Kornienko and Tracy Caldwell Dyson. NASA managers are considering the possibility of launching Atlantis on a final space station resupply mission after Endeavour's flight, using a reduced crew of four. A four-person crew could seek safe haven aboard the space station if necessary and rotate back to Earth aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft, eliminating the need for a rescue mission.

Sea Launch plans to overcome its bankruptcy and restart launched early next year. Energia Overseas Ltd., a subsidiary of the Russian aerospace giant Energia, plans to purchase 85 percent of the stock in Sea Launch for $140 million in cash. The unsecured creditors, or firms that acquired a stake in Sea Launch in exchange for owed debts, will collectively hold 15 percent ownership in the reorganized launch business. Sea Launch plans to use the working capital to ensure on-time payments to suppliers. Boeing Co. builds the payload fairing for Sea Launch's Zenit 3SL rocket, Energia provides the Block DM upper stage, while Yuzhnoye and Yuzhmash of Ukraine are in charge of the Zenit's first and second stages. If Sea Launch can clear court and regulatory hurdles by the end of the year, commercial launches could resume in early 2011. Sea Launch's land-based subsidiary, called Land Launch, will blast off with the Intelsat 18 spacecraft in the first quarter of 2011. Another Zenit rocket will lift off from the mobile Odyssey launch platform next summer with a satellite for either Intelsat or Eutelsat. Sea Launch's land-based subsidiary, called Land Launch, will blast off with the Intelsat 18 spacecraft in the first quarter of 2011. Another Zenit rocket will lift off from the mobile Odyssey launch platform next summer with a satellite for either Intelsat or Eutelsat.

QATAR and Eutelsat Communications signed a partnership to operate a new high-capacity satellite at Eutelsat's 25.5 degrees East, to be launched in 2012 based on a Eutelsat, to be launched at the end of 2012, the new satellite will provide both a significantly expanded mission and superior coverage and power across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia to replace Eutelsat's Eurobird 2 satellite, which is currently operated at 25.5 degrees East.

Lockheed Martin will build the 24 Ku-band Vinasat 2 to be launched in 2012 based on the Lockheed Martin A2100 spacebus to be located at 131.8degEast for Vietnam Posts and Telecoms.

Space Systems/Loral will build the Satelites Mexicanos Satmex 8 which will be equipped with C and Ku band transponders to replace Satmex 5. Satmex will be equipped with 64 C and Ku band transponders. The satellite, to be stationed at 114.9degW, is based on the 1300 spacecraft bus.

8-11 May (11 May 2010)

Space Systems/Loral has won a contract to build the 64 C and Ku band Satmex 8 Satelite Mexicanos communications satellite to replace Satmex 5 to service both north and south Americas located at 114.9deg, based on the company’s 1300 spacecraft bus.

Thales Alenia Space will build the APSTAR 7B, to be based on the Spacebus 4000 C2 platform.

Russia will build a lander and rover for the Indian Space Research Organisation, which will collect samples of the moon, which will be analysed and the data transmitted to the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter which will carry 50kg instruments as part of the 1,200kg payload.

A plan has been created for the continued use of Ares via a series of test flights, ultimately leading up to a Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV) programme in the second half of this decade.The plan could result in three Ares I test flights by the end of 2014. A slight refinement to the plan, will allow Orion to survive as a lifeboat role for the International Space Station (ISS). A five year development plan could include a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV). Three more tests of Ares I-X Prime, I-Y and Ares I vehicle designs between 2013 and 2014, working in parallel with a Heavy Lift Vehicle effort – taking the entire test plan out into 2018.

The first two Russian Soyuz Fregat boosters are being testing and assembled at the Guiana Space Centre. The first rocket could be placed on the launch pad in July for combined booster and ground facilities tests aiming for the first launch in September, during which the UK’s Avanti Communications Hylas communications satellite will be launched. Two more French Pleiades Earth observation satellites will be launched in early 2011.

The aft dome on the left SRB scheduled to loft Atlantis' STS-132 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) on 14 May, first launched STS-51J, the orbiter's first flight on 3 Oct. 1985. Also a piece of the apple tree that helped British scientist Sir Isaac Newton explain the tug of Earth's gravity and laws of motion in the 17th century will fly aboard.

NASA has commanded the 33-old Voyager 2, 8.6 billion miles away on the edge of the solar system to just send information data after an unusual data communications pattern which started on 22 April.

Thales Alenia and Telespazio have been contracted to build a second UHF and SHF Sicral satellite costing $376 million to be launched in 2013. The satellite will be based on the Spacebus 4000 platform and will be stationed at 37degE in geostationary orbit.

China has selected seven more taikonauts, including two women who fly transport planes. China first selected taikonauts in 1998, with Yang Liwei, flying in 2003.

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has received a $1.8 million contract from United Launch Alliance to develop an emergency detection system for space launch vehicles.

NASA still plans to launch astronauts to Mars - which is unlikely until after 2020 at the earliest - using a series of stepping-stones - the so-called flexible path - beginning with a six-day return to the vicinity of the moon, followed by a month-long trip to one of the Earth-sun Lagrange points, a position of gravitational equilibrium in a system consisting of three masses in space. Five such points exist, designated L1 through L5. In theory, a spaceship could park at L1 and stay there using little energy. The Earth-moon L1 point is about 200,000 miles from Earth, and the Earth-sun L1 point is about 930,000 miles from Earth. By 2020, the next step will be to undertake weeks-long missions to asteroids. Then, astronauts would set out on a one- to two-year journey to fly by or land on one of Mars' moons. The time required for the trip would be determined by the capabilities of advanced rocket engines. Touching down on one of the Red Planet's natural satellites would allow the astronauts to return to Earth using less energy than they would need for landing on and blasting off from Mars itself. So, when are astronauts going to land on Mars? This seems more like science fiction than reality.

An Atlas 5 will be launched in August 2011 sending a solar-powered probe named Juno toward Jupiter. Juno will follow a pole-to-pole orbit around the giant planet to map its internal structure, its atmosphere and magnetosphere. Following Juno is GRAIL, a mission due for launch in September 2011 to study our moon's interior from crust to core. Meanwhile, the next Mars flight will carry the Curiosity rover, a mobile science laboratory to assess whether or not the Red Planet supports microbial life.

Sea Launch has launched 33 Zenit 3 boosters of which 30 launches were successful. Commercial space launches are led by three real players: Arianespace, International Launch Services ( ILS) and Sea Launch. Lockheed Martin — Khrunichev's partner in the joint venture ILS, which conducted commercial launches from the Baikonur cosmodrome — sold its stake to a firm called Space Transport. To retain the right to launch Proton and Angara rockets on the international market, which belonged to ILS, Khrunichev had to buy out Space Transport's stake for about $200 million in 2008, using a loan from Sberbank. By 2009, a total of 78 rockets were launched, of which 74 were successful. Russia conducted 32 launches, including 13 Soyuz rockets of all types, 10 Protons and four Ukrainian-Russian Zenit-3SL/SLB rockets, one of which was launched by Sea Launch. Energia has received preliminary approval from a U.S. court to pay the operating costs of bankrupt consortium Sea Launch, possibly with the intention of purchasing the company. Sea Launch was created in 1995, with Boeing taking 40 percent, Energia getting 25 percent, Norway's Aker ASA taking 20 percent and Ukraine's SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash holding the remaining 15 percent. From a Norwegian-designed platform built in Vyborg, Sea Launch launched satellites on Yuzhnoye-developed, Yuzhmash-built Zenit-3SL rockets, which used a booster from Energia and Russian engines.

5-7 May (7 May 2010)

Arianespace will launch a 6,100lb Hughes Network Systems Jupiter, Space Systems/Loral built Ka-band broadband satellite in 2012.

An ILS Proton booster will launch the 6,400kg Boeing 702MP-based Intelsat 22 communications satellite to be launched in 2012.

SES World Skies has acquired the ProtoStar 2 communications satellite which was launched in May 2009 and has been renamed SES 7, to be deployed at 108.2degE, co-positioned with the NSS-11. The Boeing-built SES 7 is equipped with 22 Ku and 10 S-band transponders. Following the successful launch of the SES-1 satellite on April 24. SES-7 will be the 43rd satellite in the global SES fleet.

NASA will look for features that will reduce launch systems manufacturing, production, and operating costs. NASA said it “will initiate development and flight testing of in-space engines. Areas of focus will include low-cost liquid oxygen/methane and liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engines and will perform research in chemical propulsion technologies in areas such as new or largely untested propellants, advanced propulsion materials and manufacturing techniques, combustion processes, and engine health monitoring and safety. NASA said the new heavy lift system should help the US explore multiple potential destinations, including the Moon, asteroids, Lagrange points, and Mars and its environs in the most cost effective and safe manner. At the same time, NASA desires to develop liquid chemical propulsion technologies to support a more affordable and robust space transportation industry. NASA said its approach will strengthen America's space industry, and could provide a catalyst for future business ventures to capitalize on affordable access to space”.

NASA's Pad Abort 1 flight test of a launch of the abort system designed for the Orion crew vehicle was made on6 May from the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, lasting 135 seconds from launch until the crew module touchdown about a mile north of the launch pad. The flight was the first fully-integrated test of this launch abort system design. The information gathered from the test will help refine design and analysis for future launch abort systems, resulting in safer and more reliable crew escape capability during rocket launch emergencies.

NASA has cleared the launch of STS 132 Atlantis on 14 May to the International Space Station delivering the Russian Mini-Research Module 1 named Rassvet on the last flight of the Atlantis. There will also be three spacewalks.

The errant Orbital Sciences-built Intelsat C-band Galaxy 15 communications satellite, which drifted out of its 133degW station during a solar storm. Satellite operators are concerned not only about the potential for collisions with other satellites as it drifts through the GEO arc, but also potential interference since the satellite continues broadcasting.

NASA’s first manned mission control for the Mercury programme “will sadly be demolished and its consoles and equipment moved to a near museum at Cape Canaveral”. With the launch of Gemini IV in 1965, Mission Control moved to where it remains to this day, Houston, Texas, leaving the original facility to serve for launch control and as a tracking station until the Launch Control Center (LCC) at Kennedy Space Centre replaced it during the Apollo lunar landing programme.

Aerojet with NASA have completed an altitude test of a technology development programme using an Aerojet hypergolic LOX-liquid methane engine at White Sands.

An ILS Proton booster has won another contract, to launch the Boeing-built, 6,400kg Intelsat 22, based on a Boeing 702MP spacecraft bus to be launched in 2012 using a 65,000 super-synchronous transfer orbit.

1-4 May (4 May 2010)

The International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 23 commander, Oleg Kotov manually docked the Progress M-05M tanker to the space base on 1 May using the Toru system after over-riding the errant autpilot. The ISS is now manned by Kotov, NASA’s Tim Creamer and Tracy Caldwell and Russian cosmonauts, Alexander Skvorsov and Mikhail Kornienko and Japan’s Soichi Noguchi. The cargo includes 3,031 pounds of equipment, food, clothing, life support system gear, 1,918 pounds of propellant to replenish reservoirs that feed the Russian maneuvering thrusters, 220 pounds of water and some 110 pounds of oxygen and air for the station's atmosphere. “Biochemists have sent a bioreactor and container with a suspension to the ISS for holding a fundamentally new experiment codenamed Cascade aboard the station. It envisions that two members of Expedition 23 – an astronaut/cosmonaut and an engineer – will take on the role of biotechnologists growing new crops on an imaginary interplanetary station. The Cascade is an unusual experiment, Tatiana Krasheninnikova, the supervisor of several biotechnological experiments at the ISS said. For the first time ever, the crewmembers will put the seedlings into the bioreactor right in orbit,” she said, adding that the seedling had been placed into bioreactors on the Earth previously and the two-days-long deliveries into space had typically produced side effects. Now the cosmonauts Skvortsov and Korniyenko will be the first ones to test a biotechnological laboratory of the future.”

The critical design review of the hotly-anticipated infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been completed in preparation for its 2014 launch but the budget of the project has cost more than a billion than, planned creating a $5 billion project. The three major elements of Webb – the Integrated Science Instrument Module, Optical Telescope Element and the spacecraft itself – will proceed through hardware production, assembly and testing prior to delivery for observatory integration and testing that is currently scheduled to begin in 2012. The JWST is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre.

Aerojet and Florida Turbine Technologies (FTT) have announced that the companies have entered into a strategic partnership to compete for research, development and production on NASA's new hydrocarbon engine and advanced upper stage engine. This expands the very successful teamwork that Aerojet and FTT have underway on the U.S. Air Force Hydrocarbon Boost Technology Demonstrator (HBTD) and Upper Stage Engine Technology (USET) programmes. The HBTD programe is developing key, high-impact components and enabling technology for a world-class hydrocarbon engine. Aerojet and FTT will provide the innovation to expand this effort into a comprehensive engine development program that provides transformational propulsion capability for NASA, DoD and commercial launch vehicles.

Yet another space pioneer has passed away. The legendary Guenter Wendt “Pad Leader” who despatched Alan Shepard on the first US space manned mission in 1961 and all the astronauts to the end of the Apollo project died on 3 May. Born in Berlin in 1923, Wendt completed an apprenticeship in aircraft manufacturing in 1942 and was drafted into the German air forceAfter basic training in France, he was assigned as a flight engineer and radar operator on German fighter aircraft. He flew combat missions over his homeland. Longtime colleague John Tribe said Wendt was shot down twice, the first time by a British fighter-bomber. The second time his plane was hit by friendly fire from German anti-aircraft guns. His World War II finale was the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. He had transferred to a parachute division and was one of only 12 survivors in his 246-man unit. Wendt immigrated to the U.S. in 1949. In 1955, he became a U.S. citizen and took a job as a structural engineer with McDonnell Aircraft in St. Louis. NASA picked the company to build a capsule-like spacecraft for its infant Project Mercury. Wendt transferred to the Space Coast in 1959.