August 22 News Items

Central Florida Teacher Awaits His Flight Into Space (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
For Barbara Morgan, the teacher-turned-astronaut on space shuttle Endeavour, a classroom in space was a dream that took 22 years to come true. It is a dream shared by three other teachers in the Educator Astronaut Program who are looking forward to a "faculty meeting" with Morgan now that Endeavour has returned to Earth. One of those teachers is Central Florida's Joe Acaba. Acaba was teaching science and math at Dunnellon Middle School when NASA selected him for its program in April 2004.

Space Club Luncheon in September Features NPR's NASA Correspondent (Source: NSC)
The Florida Committee of the National Space Club will host its next monthly luncheon on Sep. 11 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cocoa Beach. The featured speaker will be Pat Duggins, Senior News Analyst at WMFE and National Public Radio's NASA correspondent. Contact LaDonna Neterer at mailto:ladonna.j.neterer@boeing.com to RSVP or for information.

Russian Space Forces to Study Use of Piloted Spacecraft for Defense (Source: Interfax)
Russian Space Forces Commander Col.-Gen. Vladimir Popovkin said that piloted spacecraft could be used for defense purposes in the future. Speaking at the MAKS 2007 air show near Moscow, Popovkin said: "I met with new Energia head Vitaly Lopota at the air show. We will think about it, what piloted spacecrafts could do for defense purposes," Popovkin said.

Russian Space Agency to Form Three Space Holdings by 2015 (Source: RIA Novosti)
Russian space companies will be integrated into 10-12 groups, which will then be organized into three to four holdings by 2015, the head of the Russian space agency said. He also said the Federal Space Agency intends to boost the effectiveness of satellite communication systems, adding that six Glonass satellites will be launched before the end of the year, bringing their total number to 18 and covering all of Russian territory.

University Joins Effort to Launch All-Canadian Mars Mission (Source: CanWest News Service)
A network of universities, including Burnaby's Simon Fraser University, is planning an all-Canadian mission to Mars in 2009, using corporate funding to build a robot that will search for water and life on the Red Planet. The project, called Northern Light, will use the same launch method as satellites: a commercial rocket, likely a reliable type called Rockot, made from converted Soviet ballistic missiles. But the spacecraft that flies on to Mars, and likely the mission control for the period after it lands on Mars, would be all-Canadian, with headquarters at York University in Toronto.

FAA Chief to Lead Industry Group (Source: New York Times)
Marion C. Blakey, the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, will become the new head of the Aerospace Industries Association, a trade group representing civilian and military aerospace companies, in November, the association said. Ms. Blakey, who led the National Transportation Safety Board before joining the FAA, was appointed by President Bush to a five-year term. Her term expires Sept. 13. The term of a successor would fall mostly in the next presidential administration. The White House has not announced an intention to nominate a successor.

Editorial: How the Shuttle and Pipe Dreams of the Moon Bleed Research (Source: LA Times)
Thankfully, NASA will retire its shuttle fleet by 2010. Still, the fleet's limited flight schedule and the useless International Space Station eat up more than one-third of the space agency's total $16.8-billion budget for the current fiscal year. Earth science (you know, the study of the place where we actually, um, live, using satellites and the like), by contrast, gets just $1.4 billion — and NASA is, appallingly, planning to spend less by 2012. Visit http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-thornton22aug22,0,7312645.story?coll=la-opinion-centerto view the editorial.

Google Earth Gets Starry-Eyed (Source: InfoWorld.com)
People can now use Google to peruse astrological wonders such as the Crab Nebula, an expanding remnant of a supernova 6,300 light years from earth. Markers within the star photos pull in explanatory text from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Overlays outline constellations such as Leo, illustrate phases of the moon and show how the planets visible from Earth orbit over two months.

Google Sky uses high-resolution imagery from the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Digital Sky Survey Consortium, CalTech's Palomar Observatory, the U.K.'s Astronomy Technology Center, the Anglo-Australian Observatory as well as NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The imagery covers 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies, Google said.