News Summaries for January 13

Virginia Pushes Commercial Development of Spaceport (Source: Virginian-Pilot)
In the afterglow of last month's first rocket launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, state legislators are aiming to make the Eastern Shore facility the nation's premier commercial space hub. Democrat and Republican lawmakers from every corner of Virginia filed legislation in the General Assembly this week pushing for studies on ways to expand the spaceport. They want to identify ways to attract government and industry clients with space cargo to launch, and, among other things, remove barriers to human flight from the seaside spaceport.

The state now gives the spaceport about $100,000 a year. That's less than neighboring Maryland, which in 2003 joined Virginia in a cooperative venture to run the facility and is looking to nearly double its $150,000 annual contribution. Already, the Pentagon has scheduled two more launches later this year to send up satellites on Minotaur I rockets, while NASA and a private aerospace company are planning to test a new launch vehicle there. Further boosting the spaceport's prospects is congressional interest in commercial resupply for the space station, after NASA retires its shuttle program in 2010. The spaceport is now working on a $500,000 study, financed by Congress through NASA, to develop plans for a "next-generation commercial cargo spaceport." NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, which assisted in the Minotaur I launch, provides the spaceport with essential command and control support.

Rocket Company Targets Tailfin in New Mexico Launch Failure (Source: Las Cruces Sun)
The first company to launch from New Mexico's spaceport has determined what went wrong with its inaugural launch, clearing the way for its next attempt. UP Aerospace says aerodynamic instability of the SpaceLoft XL rocket was caused by the tailfin design, which was not adequate for the high-speed flight. Three other SpaceLoft rockets are ready for launch, the first one likely to occur in the first quarter of this year, although no date has been announced. The three rockets are almost completely booked with customers, Larson said. The first SpaceLoft XL rocket carried dozens of experiments from paying customers, schools and universities.

With Science, We Can Give Kids the Moon & Stars (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA, we have a problem. Today's youth, it seems, have jettisoned space explorers as beacons of inspiration. A survey conducted in 2004 and again last year found 18- to 25-year-olds had as much enthusiasm for celery as for manned trips to the moon and Mars. Even with potential job cuts at Kennedy Space Center as NASA approaches the 2010 shuttle-retirement date, charming the Millennials -- who largely will foot the exploration tax bill and vote whether to green-light or ground the bold vision -- must be high on new KSC Director Bill Parsons' to-do list. And so, too, must be reclaiming NASA's role as an engine for inspiration.

Today, fewer collegians are majoring in key scientific fields, even as 90 percent of Americans in a recent Gallup survey said national prowess in science and technology is key to U.S. security. Add in our poor showing on recent international math and science tests, and 90 percent polled saw boosting math and science education as a national priority. It would help to give the image of astronauts a lift, recapture imaginations and inspire our kids to again keep their heads in the clouds. It's a small step for Parsons, but a giant step for America's future.

NASA May Require 'Ares I' Pad for Atlantis Mission (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
NASA is still trying to officially bring Pad 39A into operation for STS-117 and may switch back to 39B - the pad that will soon begin morphing into the Ares I launch pad - for the March launch of Shuttle Atlantis. Pad 39A is currently being refurbished. However, shuttle managers late in the week were still trying to confirm if the pad can be brought back into launch operations in time for STS-117, with a cut-off decision date fast approaching.