July 5 News Items

Fate of NASA Langley Work Hangs on Budget (Source: DailyPress.com)
Alarmed by a steady erosion in NASA's aeronautics and science programs, Democrats in Congress are seeking more money to restore a balance between scientific research and human space travel. Although President Bush's 2008 budget request for NASA includes a modest funding increase for the aerospace agency, most of the money would go toward the International Space Station, the space shuttle, and the development of a shuttle successor. Funding for aeronautics and science programs would remain relatively flat after years of cuts. The fate of those programs is critical to the work of NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton. Although Langley is assisting in the development of the next generation of space vehicles, the bulk of its work has long been aeronautics research and testing. In addition, about a quarter of the center's $700 million budget is devoted to Earth science programs, which study the planet's climate and weather.

Chinese Television Satellite Boosted into Earth Orbit (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com)
China's most powerful rocket streaked into space Thursday with a communications satellite designed to broadcast television channels across Asia and the Pacific Ocean. The French-built Chinasat 6B satellite launched aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang spaceport in southwestern China. The three-stage booster successfully reached orbit and deployed the 10,000-pound spacecraft. The flight was the seventh Chinese space launch so far this year.

Delta-Dawn Launch Slips to Sunday (Source: Florida Today)
The launch of a Delta 2 rocket with a NASA spacecraft destined on a mission to the asteroid belt is being delayed until Sunday because stormy weather is stalling flight preparations. The United Launch Alliance rocket and its payload--NASA's Dawn spacecraft--had been slated to blast off Saturday from Launch Complex 17B at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. A prelaunch propellant loading operation, however, had to be delayed Thursday because of lightning in the area. The launch now is being targeted for a window that will extend from 4:04 p.m. to 4:33 p.m. on Sunday.

$19-million Russian Toilet to Fix Shortage in Outer Space (Source: Vancouver Sun)
NASA has agreed to buy a Russian space toilet for $19 million US that filters urine into drinkable water. The new toilet will go on the International Space Station, which currently has only one toilet for a crew of three. The crew will expand to six members in 2009, and space bosses don't want astronauts lining up when they have to go. "If you're 300 kilometres away, with no chance of getting to the nearest toilet, and you only have one toilet, then there's reason to be concerned -- especially if there were six of you," says Ben Quine, who teaches space engineering at York University in Toronto. "Psychologically it would be very important. ... If we want to put humans in space, we have to provide the facilities that they need." The space throne is the crown jewel in a $46-million US contract to buy assorted hardware from RSC Energia.

Russia Touts Space Success, But U.S. Runs Half of Satellites (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russia's space agency chief said Wednesday the U.S. is running half of the world's satellite fleet, but highlighted Russia's role in managing the international orbital station and building new pads for launch vehicles. "Out of about 950 spacecraft, the U.S. owns over 450," Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency, said in an online briefing. He highlighted the growth of third-party space launches from Russian sites and the expansion of the global launch network for Russian space rockets as Moscow's most recent successes.

"[Russia] accounts for about 40% of annual space launch activity. Of 94 new satellites orbited across the globe this year, 16 were Russian," he said. Russia also plays a key role at the International Space Station, providing [long-term] crews and cargo," Perminov said. He also vowed Russia would launch a Soyuz vehicle from the new pad at the Kourou space center in French Guiana in less than two years. "We will have facilities delivered to French Guiana as early as this fall, and the first Soyuz-ST launch is planned for spring 2009," he said.