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Old 07-10-2011, 10:43 AM   #1
Doz
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Default USA MAN Space Program

I live 30 minutes from Kennedy Space Center and grew up watching every man space launch.
To see our Space Shuttle program come to an end just tears me up.

I am writing a song about what is true to my heart. SPACE

So I will be posting lots of info about what is next and how the USA media feel.



Here is one of the site I go to for Updates.

http://spaceflightnow.com/
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Old 07-10-2011, 10:46 AM   #2
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End of Another Era

Sunday - 7/10/2011, 6:49am ET

Source Link = http://www.wtop.com/?nid=904&sid=2453210

Greg Redfern, wtop.com

When Space Shuttle Atlantis achieves "Wheels Stopped" at the Kennedy Space Center, July 20th (the 42nd anniversary of Apollo 11), another era in America's manned spaceflight program comes to an abrupt end. The Mercury and Gemini programs gave us the ability and experience necessary to do all the things required by the Apollo program to get to the Moon and back.

Apollo got us to the surface of the Moon six times and was canceled with ready-to-go lunar missions left hanging due to fiscal cutbacks caused by the Vietnam war. Instead of going to the Moon we flew one Apollo mission with the Russians and then several others during Skylab - America's first orbiting space station.

Then came a gap of several years while the Space Shuttle program developed fixes for vexing technical problems. Now more than 30 years later, America is once again at a manned spaceflight crossroads - where to go and what to use to get there. America is once again out of the intrinsic manned spaceflight business for the foreseeable future.

How Did We Get Here?

In 2004 President Bush launched a post-Shuttle plan called the Constellation Program which was going to use Apollo and Space Shuttle derived hardware designs to go to the Moon and beyond - including Mars. No longer would America be locked into low Earth orbit (LEO) as we were with the Space Shuttle. We would be going TO space places again. There was no budgetary plus up forthcoming however, to jump start this new program.

In response to Constellation, NASA started building hardware in the form of the Ares 1-X test launch vehicle, the Orion crew capsule, launching science missions to the Moon to learn more about this future colonization site. NASA was going back to the Moon and was going to stay this time. Four astronauts would stay on the Moon's surface for two weeks at a time. Resources would be sought at promising landing sites so that the astronauts could learn to live in-situ on the Moon.

A change in administrations as well as the fiscal state of the country led to the creation of the Augustine Commission in 2009 which was to study NASA manned spaceflight and come up with recommendations.

Bottom line of the Commission's findings involved a fiscal bottom line - NASA could not pay for Constellation with its current and projected budget. NASA was short at least $3 billion a year from achieving its stated goals in Constellation.

So Constellation was shut down after billions had been spent although the Orion crew capsule is still going forward as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). There also may be other hardware aspects from Constellation going forward but that remains to be seen.

As it stands now, NASA is getting out of the Low Earth Orbit business and turning that over to private industry. We still have to support the International Space Station (ISS) which is slated for another 10 years of operations. Astronauts, supplies, parts and trash removal still have to be shuttled to and from ISS. Commercial spacecraft are being developed to perform these tasks but it will take years to achieve manned spaceflight certification. Until then, Americans will pay $63 million per seat for passage to ISS on Russian Soyuz spacecraft. And the follow on commercial per-seat costs could be even more.

So what is NASA itself to do now that it is supposed to be out of the LEO business? The stated goal of the President and the NASA Administrator is a manned spaceflight mission to a Near Earth Object (asteroid), the Moon and eventually Mars.

We are gathering a lot of data about asteroids from a number of missions that have flown to them. NASA's DAWN mission is slated to go into orbit for a year around the second largest object in the asteroid belt (located between Mars and Jupiter) on July 16th. DAWN will then fly to Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt and orbit it for detailed study. Such missions will help prepare for a manned spaceflight mission to an asteroid.

The final design of a new heavy lift vehicle is to be announced shortly but I have not seen any mention of a lander-type spacecraft. Why fly astronauts to someplace without landing? We can do far more with robotic orbiters than orbiting astronauts. This is something else NASA will have to do.

I want NASA to succeed and I think Administrator Bolden - a retired Marine aviator and astronaut - is sincere in his efforts to steer the agency to success. But, it cannot happen without funding… "No bucks, no Buck Rogers," as succinctly stated in the classic movie, "The Right Stuff." NASA has to have the funding stream - years of guaranteed funding - in order to succeed.

Already Congress is putting NASA on the chopping block and is moving to cancel the James Webb Space Telescope - the follow on space telescope to Hubble. Again, billions spent and Congress wants to throw it out.

Do you know what NASA's budget is? It is .5 percent, yes, .5 percent of the total federal budget. A paltry, yes paltry, $18 billion and change. That is the equivalent of what Americans spend on pet food every year. Also consider this - the greatest "Ponzi Scheme" in American history was proven to be over $50 billion or three years of NASA's current budget, scammed from investors by one man.

NASA is not an extravagant luxury. It is the ultimate life insurance policy for the human race. We need to move the species off the planet to other worlds and learn to be self-sufficient on those worlds. We need to be able to respond to an incoming asteroid or cometary threat that could conceivably wipe us out as happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. We need to use natural resources that space can give us. None of this is possible from the ground.

America is not alone in space pursuits as Russia, China, India, Japan, and Europe have space programs. China is working towards landing men on the Moon and with their fiscal capabilities should be able to sustain their effort to do so. I wonder how their lunar landings will take place - one and done or long term towards colonization. If they are successful at least humanity will once again have a personal presence on another world.

As Atlantis fulfills her mission to "stock the shelves" at the ISS and bring the historic Space Shuttle program to a close, America needs to focus on manned spaceflight more than ever. We can't let our significant problems, polarized politics or fiscal woes keep us on the ground. We have to step forward and build the spacecraft and launch vehicles that will get us to space places of the future.

I longingly await the day when there is again fire on the pad and thunder in the air as American astronauts in an American spacecraft launch on a mission to a new world.
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Old 07-15-2011, 07:11 AM   #3
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Inside SpaceX: A Hint of Life After the Space Shuttle




Reisman addresses news media while he stands in front of the beat-up Dragon capsule mock-up recovered from the Pacific Ocean in December 2010.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Space shuttle Atlantis is slated to return to Earth next week and close the 30-year-old human spaceflight program. When it does, NASA will have no U.S. spacecraft to replace its ability to rocket people into orbit.

As a stopgap measure, NASA recently agreed to a $763 million contract for 12 Russian rocket rides from 2014 through 2016. By that time, the space agency hopes at least one of four private companies it's seeding with cash will demonstrate a crew-ready spaceship.

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies), a start-up firm started by PayPal founder Elon Musk, is widely considered to be leading the pack of firms that includes Blue Origin, the Boeing Company and the Sierra Nevada Corporation.

In addition to several successful launches of its home-grown Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX successfully launched their own capsule spaceship (called Dragon) into orbit on Dec. 8, 2010.

“Nobody else can say that,” said former astronaut Garrett Reisman, now a senior engineer working for the company on Dragon’s human-carrying capabilities. “We’re pretty confident with where we stand in terms of the competition.”

A few days before the last space shuttle launch, Reisman and other SpaceX staff hosted a tour of their rocket assembly building, launch pad, launch control center and other facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Here are some of the highlights.


http://www.spacex.com/

http://www.blueorigin.com/

http://www.boeing.com/

http://www.sncorp.com/


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Old 07-15-2011, 07:12 AM   #4
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CONTRACT RELEASE : C11-013


NASA Extends Crew Flight Contract With Russian Space Agency Administrator Bolden Repeats Call For American-Made Commercial Alternative


WASHINGTON -- NASA has signed a $753 million modification to the current International Space Station contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency for crew transportation, rescue and related services from 2014 through June 2016. The firm-fixed price modification covers comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, flight operations, landing and crew rescue of long-duration missions for 12 individual space station crew members.

NASA has efforts underway to develop an American-made commercial capability for crew transportation and rescue services to the station following this year's retirement of the space shuttle fleet. Agency Administrator Charles Bolden cited this week's Soyuz contract extension as a reminder of how critically important those efforts are.

"The president's 2012 budget request boosts funding for our partnership with the commercial space industry and prioritizes our efforts to ensure that American astronauts and the cargo they need are transported by American companies rather than continuing to outsource this work to foreign governments," Bolden said. "This new approach in getting our crews and cargo into orbit will create good jobs and expand opportunities for our American economy. If we are to win the future and out build our competitors, it's essential that we make this program a success."

NASA made Commercial Crew Development awards in 2010 to stimulate efforts within the private sector, encouraging them to develop and demonstrate human spaceflight capabilities. The agency anticipates these systems will be available by the middle of the decade.

These services will provide our primary transportation to and from the International Space Station for U.S., Canadian, European and Japanese astronauts. To ensure a smooth transition as this new capability is developed, Soyuz support will continue as a backup capability for about a year after commercial services begin.

With this contract modification, station crew members may launch on Soyuz vehicles during a 24-month period. The contract will provide for the launch of six people in calendar year 2014 and six more in 2015, as well as their return to Earth in the spring of 2016 after a six-month stay aboard the station. The extended contract ends June 30, 2016.

Under the contract modification, the Soyuz flights will carry limited cargo associated with crew transportation to and from the station, and assist with the disposal of trash. The cargo provided per Soyuz seat is approximately 110 pounds (50 kilograms) launched to the station, approximately 37 pounds (17 kilograms) returned to Earth and trash disposal of approximately 66 pounds (30 kilograms).

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Old 07-16-2011, 08:13 PM   #5
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Old 07-16-2011, 08:44 PM   #6
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Old 08-16-2011, 11:57 AM   #7
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Hey Doz I found something for you buddy


SpaceX plans November test flight to space station

WASHINGTON — California-based rocket maker SpaceX said that it will make a test flight in late November to the International Space Station, now that NASA has retired its space shuttle program.

"SpaceX has been hard at work preparing for our next flight -- a mission designed to demonstrate that a privately-developed space transportation system can deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS)," the company, also called Space Exploration Technologies, said in a statement.

The mission is the second to be carried out by SpaceX, one of a handful of firms competing to make a spaceship to replace the now-Retired US shuttle, which had been used to carry supplies and equipment to the orbiting outpost.

"NASA has given us a November 30, 2011 launch date, which should be followed nine days later by Dragon berthing at the ISS," the company said.

It said the arrival of the vessel at the space station would herald "the beginning of a new era in space travel."

"Together, government and the private sector can simultaneously increase the reliability, safety and frequency of space travel, while greatly reducing the costs," SpaceX said.

The company won $75 million in new seed money earlier this year, after it became the first to successfully send its own space capsule, the gumdrop-shaped Dragon, into orbit and back in December 2010.

The shuttle Atlantis completed its final journey to the ISS and back last month, ending the 30-year-old US space shuttle program.
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Old 08-24-2011, 10:37 AM   #8
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Doz here more stuff for you

Dream-chasing led engineer from Iowa to work on replacement for space shuttle

Sierra Nevada, whose space division is in Louisville, Colo., is one of four private companies vying for a chance to build a ship that will transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Other corporations still in the running are a Houston-based division of Boeing Co.; Blue Origin of Kent, Wash.; and SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif. All have received federal grants to assist with design and development. NASA officials have indicated they will select two of the vehicles to carry crew and cargo starting in 2014 or 2015.


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/art...-space-shuttle
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Old 10-10-2011, 07:29 PM   #9
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The Boeing X-37B robotic space plane — also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or OTV — is being operated by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, toting top-secret payloads into Earth orbit.

An X-37B OTV and derivatives plan was outlined here by Arthur Grantz, chief engineer, Experimental Systems Group at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems in Seal Beach, Calif. He spoke at Space 2011, a conference organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Small test platform

Last year, the X-37B completed its first test mission of 244 days and demonstrated the viability of a small test platform that can return experiments for post-flight inspection and analysis, Grantz reported. "We validated all the autonomous guidance, navigation and control, aerodynamics and aero-heating and the thermal protection system," he said. [Photos: Air Force's 2nd Secret X-37B Mission]

Grantz said the maiden voyage of the unpiloted X-37B proved highly successful after its launch atop an Atlas 5 501 booster. Its landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California required no ground intervention during the entire orbital re-entry.

Turnaround of that first vehicle for its next flight has required less time and hours than expected supporting the concept of an affordable, reusable system. In fact, the deployable and stowable solar array used on that first flight is onboard the third X-37B mission, he said.

"From a test vehicle standpoint, the 244 days is the longest duration on orbit for a reusable spacecraft," Grantz told the audience.

The X-37B looks much like a miniature version of NASA's space shuttle, but is much smaller. Two X-37Bs could fit inside the 60-foot (18-meter) cargo bay of a NASA shuttle.

According to Air Force specifications, the basic X-37B design is about 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide. At launch, it weighs about 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms).

A larger version of the space plane design, dubbed X-37C in Boeing studies, would also still fit inside a space shuttle payload bay. Boeing is studying potential unmanned and crewed versions of that larger space plane for future missions.

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Old 01-11-2012, 07:52 PM   #10
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2012 to be busy year for rocket
launches on Space Coast


CAPE CANAVERAL — Citing a busy 2012
launch schedule, the director of Florida’s
storied rocket range said Tuesday that’s
proof there is life after NASA’s shuttle
program.

“We are alive and well, and we are in
business here in Central Florida,” said Brig.
Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of the Air
Force 45th Space Wing and director of the
Eastern Range, the nation’s prime rocket-
launching region.

A dozen launches are scheduled from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in the
coming months, including missions that are
critical to the International Space Station as
well as U.S. troops operating in theaters
around the world.

“So folks, we are busy,” Cotton told
members of the National Space Club
Florida Committee at a luncheon in Cape
Canaveral. “With the exception of the
month of March, there is something going
on at the Cape throughout the year.”

First up this year: The Jan. 19 launch of a
United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket with
a new-generation military communications
satellite. The launch window that night will
extend from 7:38 to 9:11 p.m.

Targeted for a Feb. 7 launch: A SpaceX
Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon spacecraft.
The misson: to demonstrate Dragon
spacecraft can safely and reliably deliver
cargo to the International Space Station.

The following week, on Feb. 16, an Atlas V
rocket is scheduled to launch with a
communications satellite that will provide
the Navy with a space-based 3G network.

Another advanced military communications
satellite is aiming for a launch in late April.
Two top-secret National Reconnaissance
Office payloads will be lofted this summer.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 is targeting launch on an
International Space Station supply run in
July. A NASA science satellite is to be
launched in August, followed by a Global
Positioning System spacecraft in
September.

The third flight of the military’s unmanned
mini-shuttle — the X-37 — will start in
October, and a NASA Tracking and Data

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