January 20 News Items

Scaled Composites Faulted for Rocket Fuel Explosion that Killed Three Workers (Source: KBAK)
Citations have been issued against the company where a massive explosion killed three workers and injured three others as they tested a rocket fuel. Cal-OSHA proposes a $25,000 fine against the company operated by SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan. Rutan was not available to comment. The accident happened in July as workers tested nitrous oxide as a rocket fuel. It was a 15-second test, considered routine. But, Cal-OSHA says the workers were not adequately trained with nitrous oxide. "The company failed to properly train its employees and supervisors, and to have policies and procedures that protect their employees in the workplace," said OSHA spokeswoman Kate McGuire in San Francisco.

Who Owns the Moon? (Source: Salon)
The prospect of large-scale commercial space travel is music to the ears of Dennis Hope, who has been anticipating this era for more than a quarter-century. The Nevada-based entrepreneur -- who styles himself as a latter-day Columbus with Murdochian marketing aplomb -- is the founder and self-proclaimed "Head Cheese" of Lunar Embassy, an online portal that parcels out moon land for less than it costs to stay overnight at a Motel 6. For $19.99, Hope's pie-in-the-sky sales pitch promises that you too can snap up your very own one-acre lunar plot. And with the Earthbound real-estate market cratering, who can resist the growth potential? A split-level overlooking the Sea of Tranquility, a condo at the foot of the Archimedes mountain range -- the possibilities are endless.

Until a couple of years ago, no one paid much attention to Hope and other space-plot peddlers like Lunar International and the Lunar Registry; they were widely regarded as a few planets short of a solar system. Besides, the idea of claiming land in outer space or exploiting its resources remained chiefly theoretical. With crude oil nearing $100 a barrel, entrepreneurs focused on petroleum alternatives are looking at the green cheese in a whole new light -- and that has lunar real estate agents envisioning asteroid showers of money raining down on them. Visit http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/19/moon_real_estate/ to view the article.

National Space Club Luncheon Features KSC Director (Source: NSC)
The Florida Committee of the National Space Club will host its February luncheon meeting on Feb. 12 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cocoa Beach. The featured speaker will be KSC Director Bill Parsons, who will discuss the NASA Outlook for 2008. Contact LaDonna Neterer at 321-505-2037, or email her at mailto:ladonna.j.neterer@boeing.com, for information and reservations.

Romney Plans Meeting With Space Leaders (Source: ERAU)
Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney will visit Florida's Space Coast on Monday, Jan. 19, to discuss space issues with a group of space industry leaders. The meeting follows a similar one last week with Rudy Giuliani. Central Florida has been a vitally important swing region in previous presidential elections and this year is no different. Voter anxieties about the future of the state's space program, and thousands of jobs that could be lost with the Space Shuttle's retirement, are making space policy an important issue for presidential candidates.

Rudy Giuliani Needs a Stellar Performance (Source: UK Telegraph)
In the home of the US space shuttle, Rudy Giuliani is looking for lift-off in his presidential bid. For the man known as America's mayor, who was once the clear favourite for the Republican White House nomination, last week started the most important 10 days of his career. As he campaigned in Florida's "space coast" on Friday night, there was a hint of pleading about Mr Giuliani's approach. "I can't do any of this without you," Mr Giuliani told an enthusiastic but small crowd in Titusville, waving "Florida: Rudy Country" banners. At the Kennedy Space Center last week, space administrators and astronauts bemoaned the shortage of funding for the shuttle program. Mr Giuliani quickly took the chance to roll out his credentials as a cross-party conciliator. "The space program is one of America's greatest achievements," he said. "It's also critical to national security. It's part of the backbone. It was not a Republican achievement or a Democrat achievement, but an American achievement. We have to learn how to do that again."

Having 2 Spacecraft in Orbit Risky - Russian Source (Source: Interfax)
Russia's bringing forward the planned launch of a supply spacecraft to the International Space Station to February 5 from February 7 at NASA's request has given ballistic control problems to the Russian mission control. "There will simultaneously be two Progresses [Progress spacecraft] in orbit in the period from the 5th to the 7th of February: one will be flying to the ISS and the other, after undocking from the station on February 4, will be in orbit as a space lab. Yet there exists only one channel for controlling these vehicles, and consequently there is a danger of loss of control," said a source. "Russian ballistic specialists are having to urgently deal with the task of moving the two Progresses as far apart in orbit as possible so that control signals from ground-based centers reach the right destination," the source said.

European Scientists Show Little Interest in Lunar Exploration (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency (ESA) is trapped between European scientists' apparent lack of interest in Moon-based science and the proliferation of lunar-exploration missions among the world's other space powers, and even in some individual ESA nations, ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain said. The agency's mid-2007 call for proposals to scientists for missions between 2015 and 2025 elicited a record number of responses -- 70 in total -- with eight selected for further study. "We asked, 'What is your wildest dream?' Proposals came back for Saturn, Jupiter and for missions to places I had never heard of. But as for scientific interest in the Moon, I did not detect any."

FAA, NASA Fill Senior Positions (Source: Space News)
The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation will be led on an acting basis by George Nield, following the Feb. 3 retirement of Patricia Grace Smith. Nield currently is deputy associate administrator for the office, which regulates the commercial space transportation industry. Before joining the FAA he was senior scientist for the advanced programs group at Orbital Sciences Corp. Meanwhile, NASA named Jaiwon Shin as the new associate administrator for the agency's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. He replaces Lisa Porter, who is leaving to take over the U.S. Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Space Tourism Firm Fined for Deaths (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Rocket pioneer Burt Ratan's space tourism company has been fined $25,870 for an accident that killed three workers at its test site in Mojave, California. Scaled Composites was fined by state authorities for violating workplace safety codes, including failing to properly train workers to handle hazardous materials.

Ground Broken On Michoud Assembly Facility In New Orleans (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
NASA and Louisiana leaders broke ground in December for a $40 million, five-story Research and Development Administration Building at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Participating in the groundbreaking ceremony were Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco; Michael Olivier, Louisiana secretary of economic development; Robert Lightfoot, deputy director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

The facility will manufacture and assemble the upper stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle, the core stage and Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle and the Orion crew exploration vehicle, and conduct final systems integration and checkout of Ares I avionics systems. The new facility will include some 350 administrative and business offices; education and training resources; a top-level conference center; and collaborative research and development space for NASA and Michoud's key partner organizations.

Cosmic Cockroaches Develop Faster (Source: SpaceDaily.com)
Cockroaches conceived in space onboard the Russian Foton-M bio satellite have developed faster and become hardier than 'terrestrial' ones, a research supervisor said. The research team has been monitoring the cockroaches since they were born in October. The scientists established that their limbs and bodies grew faster. "What is more, we have found out that the creatures... run faster than ordinary cockroaches, and are much more energetic and resilient," Dmitry Atyakshin said.