On September 25, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced the awarding of new Space Transportation Infrastructure grants. The grants, totalling $500,000, are expected to help commercial space projects in California, Colorado, and Hawaii. “These investments will help us continue to develop a safe and robust commercial space industry in the United States,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “Government and private [...]
Post Tagged with: “United States”
Spaceman Play Wraps Up One Woman’s Trip to Mars
The Incubator Arts Project Spaceman has just finished a run in New York. The one woman play follows an astronaut on a one way trip to Mars, by herself. Writer and director Leegrid Stevens explains the play’s premise: “In 2010, a bill was signed in the United States authorizing manned missions to the planet Mars by the 2030s. But, the [...]
Effectiveness of Post Mission Disposal Rule Could Curtail LEO Debris Creation
Although predicting the future debris environment is very difficult, a new NASA study demonstrates the effectiveness of the 25-year Post Mission Disposal (PMD) rule currently in place in limiting the future debris population in low Earth orbit (LEO). “Controlling the growth of the orbital debris population is a high priority for NASA, the United States, and the major space-faring nations [...]
China’s Bediou Satellite Navigation System Soon to Offer Regional Service
China’s plan to launch the 16th satellite of the Bediou constellation this month will usher in the capability for the navigation system to begin providing free civilian navigation services in the Asia-Pacific region beginning in early 2013. There are currently fifteen satellites in orbit with five launched so far in 2012. The current constellation of satellites consists of five in [...]
ESA Considers Launching Astronauts on Chinese Spacecraft
The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering a possible cooperation with China on human space missions by the end of this decade, says the head of the European Human Space Flight and Operations Directorate, and former German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter. “I would welcome a European astronaut flying aboard a Chinese spaceship,” said Thomas Reiter to The Associated Press. He [...]
Endeavour’s Final Journey Marred by Tree Chopping Controversy
Since the ending of NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 2011, the remaining shuttles and their test models have been dispersing to final resting places in museums across the United States. In April, Discovery flew in to Virginia’s National Air and Space Museum aboard a modified Boeing 747. In June, replica Explorer made its way to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas [...]
Hundreds Honor Neil Armstrong at Memorial Services
On Friday, August 31, Neil Armstrong was remembered in a private ceremony in Cincinatti, Ohio that included family, fellow astronauts, and a naval fighter plane salute. At the same time NASA’s Kennedy Space Center held an open memorial ceremony, while the flag of the United States flew at half-mast across the country in honor of the fallen legend. A national memorial [...]
One Small Step For a Man, One Giant Leap Into History
The passing of Neil Armstrong is arguably the end of an era. Forty-three years ago, when Armstrong stepped on the Moon he ushered in the end of the great space race between the United States and the Soviet Union and opened the door unwittingly to his own fame and place in history. It was that fame and celebrity that prompted [...]
Taikonauts Feeling Good Following Historic Mission
The crew of Shenzhou-9, including China’s first female taikonaut, Liu Yang, had their first public appearance on Friday 13 July, 2012, since returning to Earth. The crew had performed the first Chinese manned space-docking mission, and the first visit of a crew to the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module. Following the 13-day space mission and two week rehabilitation, the trio [...]
A Primer on the Legal Issues Surrounding Space Debris Remediation, Part 1
Space debris is considered to be the prominent issue facing the arena of outer space security and safety. More than 57 years of space activities by the space faring nations have left a debris environment that is self-perpetuating and threatens to render useless the outer space environment particularly in low-earth orbit. Space debris ranges in size from fragments less than [...]
