August 3 News Items

Rocket-Building Student Interns See Their "Future" Lifting Off (Source: Denver Post)
Eight weeks of meticulous designing, careful planning and hard labor by 20 budding rocket scientists were about to pay off. "I'm really excited," said Courtney Kais, one of the interns who helped build a 16-foot high-power rocket for United Launch Alliance. "Future," the name given to the rocket by the interns, zipped away at 300 mph, leaving behind a trail of white smoke, as well as enthusiastic applause and cheers from the crowd. A parachute helped the $2,000 rocket, equipped with a real-time video recorder and data-reading instruments, float to the ground, not too far from its launch site. The rocket construction and launch was a volunteer project for the interns, who worked after hours and weekends to complete it, and a first for United Launch Alliance, the joint venture created in late 2006 by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The firm, which typically sends satellites into space for the government, plans to have 13 "real" launches under its belt by the end of the year. (8/3)

Colonel Buck is Vandenberg's New Space Wing Commander (Source: Santa Barbara Independent)
The new commander of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Colonel David Buck, is a very busy man. On July 30 alone, he met with a delegation of officials from the Parliament of the Czech Republic concerning the missile defense sites that were recently slated for construction within that country’s borders. Later that same day, Lompoc Mayor Dick DeWees came in for a meeting with the man whom many consider the mayor of Vandenberg. Clad in a green flight suit and flanked by a number of people needing his time, Buck wore a purposeful look on his face in between meetings as he strode down the corridors of the base’s command center. "For my money, this is the command to get," he said. It's a big base, a great mission — it doesn't get any more visible than putting satellites into orbit." (8/3)

White Sands Space Harbor Could Close (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The fate of a back-up space shuttle landing site north of Las Cruces is up in the air in advance of a NASA plan to retire its space shuttle program. The site — called White Sands Space Harbor — is an alternative for shuttle landings in the case of bad weather at two other, preferred locations. On most weekdays, shuttle pilots use the site for flight training exercises. But NASA is in the midst of phasing out its shuttle program. It's not yet known what will happen to the harbor, said a NASA official. Options include turning over the harbor to White Sands Missile Range — overseen by the U.S. Department of Defense — or demolishing the buildings and possibly the runways. "The decision at this point is really in the hands of WSMR as to whether they need those facilities," he said. The space harbor is about 50 miles to the northeast of Las Cruces. (8/3)

India to Soon Get Global Navigation System for ISRO, Airports (Source: The Hindu)
India will soon acquire a comprehensive global navigation satellite system to meet the requirements of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and Airports Authority of India (AAI). "India has tied up recently with US aerospace major Raytheon Company for the final phase of its ambitious Global Positioning Satellite-Aided Geosynchronous Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN)," said a Raytheon official. GAGAN will provide satellite-based navigation for civil aviation across South and East Asia, which will provide India with "the most accurate, flexible and efficient" air navigation system deployed. (8/3)

UAE Hooked by Space Flights (Source: The Peninsula)
"The Middle East is a very exciting market for Virgin Galactic," Sharon Garrett, head of space marketing and PR at the Virgin Galactic Accredited Space Office, said. "Already we have one booking for a private charter by a Dubai-headquartered company and several bookings by individuals," she added. According to Garrett, the UAE is the country in this region where people have shown the maximum interest in space travel. In fact, she has been quoted in the media as saying that this Gulf nation has regularly been the top sales performer globally as residents signed up to take part. But Virgin Galactic has realized that the whole region has potential. In May this year, the company invited bids from travel agents across the region to "sell Space". (8/2)

SpaceX Head Vows To Push On As Third Rocket Launch Fails (Sources: Wall Street Journal, SpaceToday.net)
For the third time in an as many tries, the most prominent privately-funded U.S. rocket suffered a launch failure, raising new questions not only about the fate of the project but what Pentagon brass and civilian government space officials will do if they can't depend on the planned family of low-cost Falcon launchers. Elon Musk, the founder and head of closely-held Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said "it was obviously a big disappointment."

Musk said a problem occurred during stage separation, causing the failure. The rocket was carrying a small satellite, Trailblazer, built by SpaceDev for the Operationally Responsive Space Office of the Defense Department, as well as two small NASA secondary payloads and a Malaysian payload adapter. In the statement, Musk said that SpaceX would press on with the next two Falcon 1 launches, and that the company had received a sizable investment recently to fund continued development of the company's vehicles. (8/3)

Obama Pledges Space Advocacy (Source: Florida Today)
Obama has changed an earlier position, in which he planned to delay the Constellation program five years and use up to $5 billion from the NASA budget for education. "Here's what I'm committing to: Continue Constellation. We're going to close the gap (between the end of shuttle flight and the next program, Constellation). We may have additional shuttle flights...My commitment is to seamless transition, where we're utilizing the space station in an intelligent way, and we're preparing for the next generation of space travel."

In an interview after his speech, Obama would not detail whether he plans to change President Bush's vision of returning to the moon and going to Mars. Obama also would not pledge to sign a $2 billion increase to NASA's $17 billion budget. The proposal might save some of the 3,400 jobs that are expected to be lost at Kennedy Space Center. "I don't want to give clear figures yet. I want to have a thorough evaluation of a combination of manned and unmanned missions, what kind of exploration would be the most appropriate, and I want the budget to follow the plan. I'd want to see the proposal first," he said. (8/3)

Editorial: Lost in Orbit (Calcutta Telegraph)
NASA’s silver jubilee might pose different kinds of challenges than the conquest of space. The agency currently receives $17 billion from the U.S. government. Reports suggest that at current funding levels, NASA would be unable to meet some of its important goals by 2013. The lack of funds will be specially galling with the rising demand to fly people to the moon. To do this, NASA will need a new rocket, to pay for which the agency must cancel all future space shuttle flights. From 2010, NASA will actually be dependent on the Russian Soyuz to get into space. Somewhere — in outer space perhaps — the spirit that drove NASA and its pioneering conquest of space has been lost. (8/2)

Florida Dems: McCain Voted Against NASA Funding (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
It didn't take John McCain's campaign long to come back at Barack Obama, lambasting him for reversing his earlier position that NASA's budget should be cut to provide more money for education. Now, the Democratic Party of Florida is coming after McCain: "Once again, John McCain and his campaign have decided to take the low road rather than defend his own record on NASA issues, which Florida Today called "downright schizophrenic." Not only has McCain voted to take funding from NASA to fund other priorities, but his "fantasy" plan to pay for making the Bush's tax cuts permanent by freezing discretionary funding and vetoing every bill with earmarks would cost the Mars mission millions." (8/2)