NASA Rules Out A Weekend Launch For A SpaceX Crew Dragon

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft sits atop its Falcon 8 launcher at Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 31. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky  

Spaceflight: NASA rules out weekend Crew Dragon launch, may bring station crew home first 

NASA has ruled out a weekend launch for a SpaceX Crew Dragon carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station, delaying the Crew-3 flight to Monday at the earliest due to expected bad weather, agency officials said Thursday. 

Given an uncertain forecast, the mission managers may opt instead to bring four station astronauts — Crew-2 — back to Earth first, delaying the Crew-3 launch to later next week.  

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CSN Editor: Bad weather is the reason.

Nasa Delays SpaceX Launch To ISS Over A ‘Medical Issue’ With An Astronaut

The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station for NASA pose for a photo on the gantry to their Crew Dragon Endurance during a launch rehearsal. They are (from left): ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburn, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron. (Image credit: SpaceX)  

Space.com: SpaceX's Crew-3 astronaut launch for NASA delayed by 'minor medical issue'  

Crew-3 will now launch no earlier than Saturday (Nov. 6). 

SpaceX's next astronaut launch for NASA has been delayed until at least Saturday (Nov. 6) by a "minor medical issue" affecting a crewmember, agency officials said. 

The mission, known as Crew-3, had been scheduled to lift off early Wednesday morning (Nov. 3) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. 

The earliest it could now launch is 11:36 p.m. EDT on Saturday evening (Nov. 6; 0336 GMT on Nov. 7). 

"The issue is not a medical emergency and not related to COVID-19," NASA officials said in an update today (Nov. 1). 

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Update #1: SpaceX Crew Dragon launch to space station delayed by "minor medical issue" (CBS)  

Update #2: Nasa delays SpaceX launch to ISS over ‘medical issue’ with astronaut (The Guardian)  

CSN Editor: NASA and SpaceX are not elaborating on the nature of the problem or say which astronaut was involved.

NASA Breaks Contact With Russia's Space Agency Because Of Crimea

Backdropped by Earth, the International Space Station is seen in this image photographed by an STS-130 crew member on space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation, in this undated NASA handout photo. Reuters

NASA Suspends Contact With Russia Over Ukraine Crisis -- The Verge

Work on International Space Station will continue.

Citing Russia’s ongoing violations of Ukraine’s sovereign and territorial integrity, NASA told its officials today that the agency is suspending all contact with Russian government representatives. In an internal NASA memorandum obtained by The Verge, the agency said that the suspension includes travel to Russia, teleconferences, and visits by Russian government officials to NASA facilities. NASA is even suspending the exchange of emails with Russian officials.

Ongoing International Space Station activities are exempt from this suspension, however, as are meetings with other countries held outside of Russia that include the participation of Russian officials. The directives come directly from Michael O'Brien, the agency associate administrator for International and Interagency Relations.

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More News On NASA Breaking Contact With Russia's Space Agency Because Of Ukraine

NASA Internal Memo: Suspension of NASA contact with Russian entities -- Space Ref
NASA cuts ties with Russia except on space station -- AP
NASA halts contact with Russia, except for International Space Station -- CBS News
NASA orders its staff to stop talking to Russia, because Crimea -- Washington Post
NASA Limits Cooperation With Russia -- Voice of America
NASA to suspend almost all ties with Russia, according to leaked internal memo -- Christian Science Monitor
NASA suspends ties with Russian gov't officials over ongoing crisis in Crimea -- FOX News
NASA Suspends Some Ties With Russia Over Ukraine Crisis -- NPR
NASA Breaks Most Contact With Russia -- New York Times
NASA Cuts All Non-ISS Ties with Russia Over Ukraine (Updated) -- Gizmodo
NASA suspends relations with Russia space agency -- UPI
NASA Limits Contact With Russia, Except for Space Station -- NBC
NASA suspends cooperation with Russia over Ukraine crisis -- RT
NASA Suspends Space Contracts With Russia Due To Ukraine Crisis -- Red Orbit
Leaked NASA Memo Says Agency Is Giving Russia the Cold Shoulder -- Time
The U.S.-Russia Fight Has Entered Space -- National Journal
NASA suspends relations with Russia, but Putin holds all the cards -- Peter Spotts, Christian Science Monitor
NASA must immediately cease contact with Russia [Updated at 19:30 CDT] -- Ars Technica
Russia regrets NASA halting cooperation, experts warn of impact on intl space work -- RT

Remembering Colombia

"It Broke Up! The Shuttle Broke Up!": Remembering Columbia -- CBS News

As some might reckon it, the beginning of the end for NASA's space shuttle program came 10 years ago Friday, at 8:48:39 a.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2003. That's when strain gauge V12G9921A, a sensor in the shuttle Columbia's left wing, began registering a small but unusual increase in stress as the spaceplane descended from orbit to close out its 28th mission.

Twenty seconds later, a temperature sensor followed suit. Over the next few minutes, a shuttle data recorder captured a cascade of alarming sensor readings and failures on the left side of the spacecraft that clearly indicated a rapidly unfolding catastrophe.  

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My Comment: Wow .... it's already been 10 years.

New Views Of Earth At Night

NASA Unveils The Clearest View Of Earth At Night Ever Captured -- Business Insider 

Scientists unveiled the most detailed view of what the Earth looks like at night at a news conference at the American Geophysical Union meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 5. The unprecedented nighttime view of Earth's city lights is compiled from hundreds of images that come from a new NASA and NOAA satellite, called Suomi NPP. Suomi NPP is special because it's equipped with a new sensor, called VIIRS, that can capture images at night even without moonlight, distinguishing night lights with six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels than before.

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My Comment: An incredible video .... check it out.

First American Woman In Space, Sally Ride Dies At 61

Astronaut Sally Ride monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the flight deck of the space shuttle Challenger during her historic space mission in 1983. Floating in front of her is a flight procedures notebook. Ride died on Monday after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Nasa/Reuters

First American Woman In Space, Sally Ride, Dies At 61 -- MSNBC

Former astronaut loses 17-month battle against cancer; hailed as role model.

The first American woman to go into space, Sally Ride, died Monday after a 17-month battle against pancreatic cancer, her company said.

Ride made history in 1983 as a crew member on the space shuttle Challenger, breaking the gender barrier for U.S. spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space in 1963, but it took another 20 years for NASA to follow suit.

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More News On The Death Of Sally Ride

Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, dies at 61 after battling cancer -- Daily Mail
Sally Ride, first American woman to fly in space, dies of cancer at age 61 -- Washington Post
Sally Ride, first American woman in space, dies -- CNet
Sally Ride, Trailblazing Astronaut, Dies at 61 -- New York Times
Astronaut Sally Ride 'broke barriers with grace and professionalism,' says NASA -- Christian Science Monitor
Sally Ride Dead; First American Woman in Space Was 61 -- ABC News
Sally Ride, the first US woman in space, dies aged 61 -- BBC

Is The U.S. Losing It's 'Space Edge'?

Bill Nye: U.S. Risks Losing Its Space Edge -- Richard Galant, CNN

(CNN) -- Years before Bill Nye became the Science Guy, he was a mechanical engineering student at Cornell University, where he took a course with astronomer Carl Sagan.

Sagan, who was instrumental in the planning of NASA missions to other planets and became widely known for his research, writing and public television series, was one of the founders of the Planetary Society. And his student dutifully signed up to become a member.

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My Comment: It's hard to believe it .... but yes ... the US is losing it edge in space.

NASA Gets Two Ex-Military Satellites For Astronomy

This artwork shows one of the concepts for the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, also known as WFIRST. NASA officials say that the telescopes being made available by the National Reconnaissance Office could address some of the questions to be resolved by the WFIRST mission, including the nature of dark energy and characteristics of extrasolar planets. NASA

US Military Gives NASA Two Better-Than-Hubble Telescopes -- The Register

Double Hubble budget bubble trouble.

In a surprise reminder that NASA is not the only US space program – nor likely the best-funded one – the US military's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is giving the perennially underfunded space administration two better-than-Hubble-class space telescopes, prosaically named Telescope One and Telescope Two.

One would think that the space boffins would be overjoyed at receiving such delectable crumbs dropped from the military's overstocked table – after all, One and Two are not only equipped with the same 7.9-foot mirrors as is the Hubble, they're also fitted with secondary mirrors that improve focusing.

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More News On NASA Receiving Two Ex-Military Satellites For Astronomy

Spy agency's gift could save NASA big bucks on super-Hubble mission -- MSNBC
NASA Adopts Two Spare Spy Telescopes, Each Maybe More Powerful Than Hubble -- Popular Science
Ex-Spy Telescope May Get New Identity as a Space Investigator -- New York Times
NASA gets two military spy telescopes for astronomy -- Washington Post
Spy telescopes could help NASA pin down dark energy -- New Scientist

NASA Fixes The 'Big House'

NASA Vehicle Assembly Building. Wikipedia

NASA Renovates Its Biggest, Baddest House -- Time

The best time to do a little renovating is when everyone is out of the house — something homeowners know and something NASA appears to appreciate too. The space agency is experiencing empty-nest syndrome in a big way, with the shuttles heading for museum retirement and the next manned American space vehicle not scheduled to fly until 2016 — unless it's 2018 or 2025 or who knows when?

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My Comment: I rather have them building space-craft than renovating "The Building" .... but .... with nothing else to do .... I guess this is the next best thing.

An End To An Era For NASA

Space Shuttle Enterprise's Historic Flyover Wows New Yorkers -- Space.com

NEW YORK — Hundreds of space shuttle fans braved the chilly temperatures and biting wind Friday morning (April 27) along the Hudson River here to catch a glimpse of NASA's prototype orbiter as it flew past the museum it will soon call home.

Enterprise, the agency's original test shuttle, flew to New York today from Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., atop a modified Boeing 747 jet. Before landing at New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, the piggybacking duo flew over the Statue of Liberty, then followed the Hudson River past the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will soon be placed on public display.

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My Comment: This is a sad day for America.

US Space Shuttle: The End Of An Era

Space Shuttle Discovery Takes Off On Final Voyage To New Museum Home -- The Telegraph

Aboard a modified jumbo jet, Nasa's oldest shuttle takes off from Florida's Kennedy Space Centre bound for its new home at the Smithsonian Institution.

For its last ride, Discovery took off not from its usual seaside launch pad but atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet that taxied down the Kennedy Centre's runway at dawn.

The shuttle, which completed its final spaceflight in March 2011, piggybacked on the jumbo jet in order to make its way to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Virginia.

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CSN Editor: NASA's live feed is here.

The End Of America's Space Program

High Joblessness In The Home Of U.S. Space Flight -- CBS News 60 Minutes

CBS News) When the last space shuttle took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July -- when the crowds left and 7,000 space center workers lost their jobs -- what happened to Brevard County, Florida? Scott Pelley tells the story of a county struggling with the loss of its largest employer, and of former shuttle workers who miss both the paycheck and the deep pride they had in their work.

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My Comment: With the demise 0f America' space/industrial/infrastructure, my prediction is that it will be the military industrial infrastructure that will be next.

NASA Lauches Five Rockets In Sequence

The red dots over the water show where the five rockets of NASA's ATREX mission will deploy chemical tracers to watch how super-fast winds move some 60 miles up in the atmosphere. Three cameras at different sites will track the cloud tracers. NASA / Larsen

NASA Launches Five-Rocket Science Extravaganza At Last -- MSNBC/Space

ATREX mission studies high-level winds; glowing trails visible in skies over East Coast

At almost literally the last minute, NASA launched five suborbital sounding rockets early Tuesday on a mission to study high-level jet stream winds by creating artificial glowing clouds near the edge of space.

After several delays, the rockets started blasting off from their pads in Virginia just before the close of the day's scheduled launch window at 5 a.m. ET. The launches were held up until the very end by concerns about winds as well as boats that had strayed into the restricted range zone. But all the conditions turned "green" just in time for liftoff.

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My Comment: 5 rockets launched one after another .... that must have been a cool display. When video becomes available, I will post it.

Hackers Had 'Control' Of Nasa Computers

NASA said the loss of data did not affect the operations of the International Space Station

Hackers Had 'Full Functional Control' Of Nasa Computers -- BBC

Hackers gained "full functional control" of key Nasa computers in 2011, the agency's inspector general has told US lawmakers.

Paul K Martin said hackers took over Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) computers and "compromised the accounts of the most privileged JPL users".

He said the attack, involving Chinese IP addresses, was under investigation.

In a statement, Nasa said it had "made significant progress to protect the agency's IT systems".

Mr Martin's testimony on Nasa's cybersecurity was submitted to the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology's Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.

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My Comment: This should never have happened.

Its Been 50 Years Since John Glenn Circled The Earth

50 Years Later, Celebrating John Glenn’s Feat -- New York Times

In the winter of 1962, the nation needed a hero.

Americans had yet to recover from the Soviet Union’s launching of the first spacecraft, Sputnik, in October 1957 — a rude jolt to our confidence as world leaders in all things technological. The space race was on.

Soon after he took office in 1961, President John F. Kennedy had thrown down the challenge to send men to the Moon by the end of the decade. But the Russians still set the pace, boastfully. They launched a dog into orbit, then the first man, Yuri A. Gagarin, and another, Gherman S. Titov.

The United States lagged, managing only two 15-minute suborbital astronaut flights — only five minutes of weightlessness each time.

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More News On John Glenn's Space Accomplishment 50 Years Ago

John Glenn reunites with 50-year-old Mercury team -- AP
John Glenn to mark 50 years since historic first orbit of Earth -- FOX News/AP
Fifty years on, Glenn's flight remains a giant leap -- CNET
John Glenn’s flight, 50 years ago, made history -- Washington Post
Glenn chats with space station to mark anniversary -- Miami Herald/McClatchyNnews
Feb. 20, 1962: Yank in Orbit -- This Day In Tech
John Glenn, 50 years later, and in poetry -- New York Daily News
John Glenn on anniversary of historic flight -- CBS News
John Glenn Frustrated on 50th Anniversary of Friendship 7 -- ABC News
Video: Mercury astronaut John Glenn recalls first orbit flight, 50 years ago -- Globe and Mail
A conversation with John Glenn -- CNET
Another John Glenn needed for U.S. space program -- Fred Grimm, Kansas City/The Miami Herald
Fifty years after Glenn flight, U.S. buying rides to space -- Reuters
John Glenn's fury over death of Nasa space programme -- The Telegraph

NASA Mars Funding Slashed

Photo: Nasa chief Charles Bolden admitted that tough choices had to be made.

Nasa Budget Slashes Mars Funding -- BBC

President Barack Obama's 2013 budget request for Nasa would slash spending on Mars exploration and shift funds to human spaceflight and space technology.

As reported by BBC News last week, this means the US will pull the plug on its joint missions to Mars with Europe.

If approved by Congress, the budget request would reduce funds available for planetary science by about 21%.

But spending on human exploration and space technology would rise by 6% and 22% respectively.

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My Comment: Nasa still has a budget?

NASA Moon Rocket Could Cost $38 Billion

In this undated photo provided by NASA, the Orion space capsule is displayed at a Lockheed Martin test facility in Colorado. (Getty Images / August 12, 2011)

New NASA Moon Rocket Could Cost $38 Billion -- L.A. Times

At that price tag, it would fly just twice in the next 10 years, according to internal NASA documents. That could pose big problems for NASA supporters in Congress.

Reporting from Washington — The rocket and capsule that NASA is proposing to return astronauts to the moon would fly just twice in the next 10 years and cost as much as $38 billion, according to internal NASA documents obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

The money would pay for a new heavy-lift rocket and Apollo-like crew capsule that eventually could take astronauts to the moon and beyond. But it would not be enough to pay for a lunar landing or for more than one manned test flight, in 2021.

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My comment: Only $38 billion?

Cleanup of Space Shuttle Launch Zone Chemicals Will Take Decades and Millions of Dollars

Atlantis Launch 1 Clearing the tower John Mahoney

With Shuttle Launches Over, Cleanup of Launch Zone Chemicals Will Take Decades and Millions of Dollars -- Popular Science

With every ending comes a new beginning, as they say — so with the ending of the space shuttle program comes the beginning of a long environmental remediation at NASA’s Florida facilities.

Five decades of spacecraft launches have taken a toll on the sandy soils beneath the Kennedy Space Center, according to a report by Florida Today. Plumes of chemicals will cost $96 million to clean up in the next 30 years, including $6 million this year.

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End Of The Shuttle Program Could Lead To A Brain Drain Of Space Knowledge

Could U.S. Manned Spaceflight Suffer 'Memory Loss'? -- Discovery News

Astronaut Mark Kelly voices his concerns for the end of the shuttle program and the loss of NASA talent.

* Mark Kelly, commander of shuttle Endeavour's final mission, is concerned about a drain of NASA talent once the US shuttle program ends.
* Thousands of highly skilled people will be lost, and no replacement NASA rocket is planned.
* After the shuttle, NASA will depend on Russia for rides into space for over $51 million per seat.

US astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded shuttle Endeavour's final space flight, said Tuesday he is concerned about a drain of NASA talent once the US shuttle program ends later this year

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Apollo Astronaut Recommends Ending NASA And Starting From Scratch

Photo: Schmitt (NASA)

Apollo Astronaut: End NASA, Start From Scratch -- Houston Chronicle

Not everyone is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s decision to go to the moon with best wishes for another century of NASA.

Harrison Schmitt, the 12th astronaut to walk on the moon and a former U.S. senator, has called for dismantling NASA and replacing it with a new agency devoted solely to deep-space exploration.

Its charter, he believes, should simply be:

Provide the People of the United States of America, as national security and economic interests demand, with the necessary infrastructure, entrepreneurial partnerships, and human and robotic operational capability to settle the Moon, utilize lunar resources, scientifically explore and settle Mars and other deep space destinations, and, if necessary, divert significant Earth-impacting objects.

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My Comment: He makes some salient points. What is my take .... a new start and direction is definitely need (both psychologically and structurally) for the U.S. space program.