October 25 News Items

Astronaut Foundation Auctions Miami Dolphins Package with Apollo Legends (Source: ASF)
Miami Dolphins’ fans can bid on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the Nov. 11 Dolphins/Buffalo Bills Veterans Day game with legendary astronauts, Apollo 14 Moonwalker Edgar Mitchell and Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden. The ASF, in partnership with the Miami Dolphins, is auctioning four VIP packages to include two tickets in a sideline suite, pre-game field passes, a VIP parking pass, food and beverages, one night hotel stay and the opportunity to enjoy the game with two of only 24 men that have traveled to the moon. Online bidding begins Oct. 26 at 9:00 a.m. EDT and concludes Nov. 1 at 10:00 p.m. EDT. The auction site is http://www.astronautscholarship.org/dolphins.pl.

Embry-Riddle Partners with Pratt & Whitney (Source: ERAU)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's "Worldwide Campus" and Pratt & Whitney signed an agreement earlier this year to work together to provide aviation and aerospace higher education opportunities to customers and students. Embry-Riddle leaders are collaborating with the Pratt & Whitney Customer Training Center team to expand the scope and availability of aviation and aerospace education and provide other services. The partnership includes the opportunity to establish an Embry-Riddle satellite location at Pratt & Whitney's Connecticut campus, with a core curriculum connecting Embry-Riddle programs with employee interests and needs throughout the Pratt & Whitney network.

Northrop Grumman Earnings Increase 62% (Source: Florida Today)
Military and aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. reported increased sales and profit in the third quarter, but the company's growth plans for Melbourne depend on some big pending contracts. Third-quarter profit rose 62 percent to $489 million, from $302 million in the third quarter last year. Also, sales rose 7 percent to $7.93 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $7.43 billion a year ago.

Proton Rocket to Launch Glonass Satellites Friday (Source: RIA Novosti)
The delayed launch of three Glonass satellites on board a Proton rocket is set to go ahead on Friday from the Baikonur spaceport. The Proton K rocket has been on the launch pad in Kazakhstan since Monday. Astana lifted a ban Wednesday on Proton launches from the Baikonur space center, which Russia rents from the ex-Soviet Central Asian country. The ban was imposed following a September 6 crash of a Proton-M rocket for which Kazakhstan is seeking 1.5 billion rubles ($60 million) in compensation.

Personal Spaceflight: The Business Case for 'New Space' (Source: Space.com)
The business of commercial space travel is now far more than a promissory note – but significant challenges and dedicated work are ahead in shaping passenger spaceflight as profitable venture. Experts outlined the coming years in public space travel, speaking at the 2007 International Symposium for Personal Spaceflight (ISPS). The key action item now is to create an economic engine behind personal space travel, said Peter Diamandis, Chief Executive Officer of the X Prize Foundation. "That's what we're trying to shoot for. We're not there yet. We are in this very critical phase that, if we stop ... it stops."

China Sets Proper, Historic Position for Space Exploration (Source: People's Daily)
China launched its first lunar probe on Oct. 24, the first step into its ambitious three-stage moon mission, signifying a new milestone in its space exploration history with a giant, substantial leap of quality attained in spaceflight technology. The Chinese nation is one of those first nations on earth looking up to the outer planets. Such popular legends as "Chang'e, a legendary Chinese goddess, flying into the moon" and Emperor Minghuang or Xuanzhong of Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) touring the (splendid) moon palace", give expressions to the earliest human aspiration to ascend the moon.

China has developed space technology by leaps and bounds at a amazing speed since the founding of new China in 1949 and the subsequent launch of reform and opening up in the late 1970s. The manned spaceflight of October 2005, in particular, shows to the world that the country has a fairly great capability for spaceflight. It represents a common objective as well as a pursuit of humanity to venture into outer space and explore its mystery. The U.S., Russia and a few other nations have carried out more than 100 moon exploring probes. So China should, too, contribute to the explorations into the moon and outer space naturally. And it should merge its space program into the global spaceflight setup and involve itself directly into the activities of humanity to probe the secrets of the universe.

Chinese Propaganda Reaches New Heights (Source: Canada National Post)
Fifty years after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and just hours after the U.S. space shuttle Discovery thundered into orbit to work on the International Space Station, China took the next step in a new space race yesterday, sending aloft its first lunar orbiter. Chang'e 1 was launched with a fanfare of patriotic propaganda from the Xichang spaceport in southwestern China. If all goes as planned, it will beam back its first images of the moon in the second half of November. Perfectly timed for a live broadcast on Chinese television's national news, the event could have been a tribute to the just-completed Chinese Communist Party's 17th Congress in Beijing, during which President Hu Jintao unveiled a new lineup of top leaders along with a plan for his country's "scientific development" over the next five years.

Initial Inspection Finds No Shuttle Damage (Source: SpaceToday.net)
An inspection of the exterior of the shuttle Discovery on Wednesday turned up no evidence of damage to the orbiter, while mission managers said very little foam fell off the external tank during Tuesday's launch. The STS-120 crew performed the inspection during the first full day on orbit, and found no evidence of any damage to the orbiter's tiles or panels caused by impacts with debris during launch. Of particular concern were the panels on the leading edge of the wings, after engineers recommended before the launch that some panels be replaced because of evidence of degradation of an outer coating; the panels appeared to be in normal condition on Wednesday.