February 2 News Items

NASA and India Sign Agreement For Future Cooperation (Source: NASA Watch)
At a ceremony Friday at the Kennedy Space Center's visitor complex, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and Indian Space Research Organization Chairman G. Madhavan Nair signed a framework agreement establishing the terms for future cooperation between the two agencies in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.

Forget the Plane, Take the Intercity Spaceship (Source: New Scientist)
Space tourism may be just one of the services Virgin Galactic ends up offering future customers. Last week it said its first tourist space vehicle could also be used to launch satellites and make super-fast intercity trips. From next year, Virgin plans to operate flights from a spaceport in New Mexico. The launch vehicle is WhiteKnightTwo, a four-engine jet aircraft. It has two fuselages joined by a wing that supports a rocket called SpaceShipTwo. Virgin gave the vehicles extra capacity. "This gave us a back-up business model," said a Virgin official.

Acceptance Slow for Bush's Space Plan (Source: Washington Post)
With Some Scientists Skeptical, NASA Turns to Advertising Firm to Generate Appeal
Four years after President Bush called for Americans to return to the moon and then voyage on to Mars, NASA is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to design, build and test the spacecraft that would make it possible.

Space: India's Next Military Frontier (Source: Hindustan Times)
Triggering a fresh debate on weaponization of space, an organization under the Ministry of Defence has backed the use of space for military purposes. The suggestion is bound to cause embarrassment to the government, which has called for strengthening international legal regime for peaceful use of outer space. VRS Natarajan, chairman, Society of Defence Technologists (SODET) told HT, “India has to get going and use space technology for military programs. Our neighbours are taking strides. We have to exploit our expertise in the civilian space program for defense purposes.”

Bent Hose Unlikely to Postpone Launch Try (Source: Florida Today)
A 16-foot pole with a V-shaped end will be used to press down a kinked Freon hose just before Atlantis' payload bay doors are closed Sunday, setting Kennedy Space Center launch crews on course for a scheduled Thursday afternoon liftoff attempt. Other preparations continue for Atlantis' launch at 2:45 p.m. The KSC employee designated to wield the pole has practiced the operation several times in California The payload bay doors will close a day ahead of schedule to allow time to deal with any unexpected problems.

Texas Spaceport Sites Stagnant (Source: Valley Mornign Star)
Ten years ago, the Texas Aerospace Commission touted South Texas as the future home of an aerospace industry that local leaders boasted could rival Cape Canaveral. More than $2 million later, many see the dream fading like a puff of smoke. In Willacy County, South Texas’ spaceport project lies stagnant. A year ago, officials pulled the plug on Brazoria County’s push into outer space. And, in the West Texas desert, school funding helps keep the Pecos project adrift.

“I sure am disappointed,” said Bill Summers, president of the Valley Chamber of Commerce who helped spearhead the South Texas project 10 years ago. But Gov. Rick Perry’s office stands behind the spending that laid the foundations for a future aerospace industry, said Krista Piferrer, Perry’s spokeswoman in Austin. So far, the state has spent $2.12 million to help the three spaceport projects “get off the ground,” she said.