MAIN ARTICLE: Buzz Aldrin: America is Lost in Space.
Page 2: Who is Charles Bolden Jr.?
Page 3: Europe, Russia discuss 'orbital shipyard' plans.
Page 4: What I wish Bolden would do
Poll Results: Yesterday's poll had an above average turnout and clear message was made.
Star Trek: In the News. Movie review: New ‘Star Trek’ rates as the best of series.
Yesterday's Comments: "The DKos orange suit is a hidden in plain sight clue" - indycam
Today's Poll: Percent of Budget towards Space Spending.
WHEN BUZZ SPEAKS ...
Ex-Astronaut and the second person to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin, has never been shy when it comes to advocating for space issues. Once again Buzz passionately lays out his arguement for how America is missing a golden opportunity with the International Space Station.
LOST IN SPACE
NO SHUTTLE PROGRAM.
MOON FLIGHTS IN JEOPARDY.
HERE'S HOW TO SAVE THE SPACE PROGRAM
"Apollo was a strategic program. And, if we wish to return to global space leadership, then we need to return to strategic thinking.
Apollo came to symbolize American global leadership, and the strength of the nation's capitalist economy and technical prowess. Cast in terms of a peaceful quest for scientific and engineering excellence, it was a powerful foreign policy tool. Nations that may have differed with the US international policies, our presence in Vietnam and even our Cold War adversaries, admired America for the boldness and openness of its lunar exploration program. While NASA went to the moon, it did so with the hopes, dreams, and the admiration of the people of Earth, who embraced the journey as an endeavor for humankind.
We went to the moon, but it was a journey shared, and embraced by all. New global partnerships were formed and cultural exchanges made. It became a shining symbol of all that America aspired to be, and why we sought to be the world's leader in science and technological progress.
Today, however, the space program's most successful recent achievement -- the building of the International Space Station -- has yet to realize its full potential as a truly international endeavor for space faring nations across the globe. While many international partners helped create this incredible engineering achievement, they are not always treated as true "partners." Access to the station is limited, and it is difficult for new partners to become players in this new high frontier. Instead of using the ISS as a symbol of America's strategic leadership and technological capability, its use is limited to only a handful of nations."
--end quote--
Mr. Aldrin then goes on to explain that the ISS should be more inclusive and more countries should be invited to join. These include China, India, and Brazil. He also hints, like President Obama's science advisor (see "American Astronauts to ride chinese rockets?", 'Americans in Space', Apr 09, 2009), that America could buy flights from China for American Astronauts.
PAGE 2:
An excellent article by Deoliver47 on some background you do not normally see for a NASA Administrator.
Who is Charles Bolden Jr.?
"Yes, we all know he was an astronaut, and President Obama is selecting him to head NASA. Oh yeah, and he's black. None of the diaries here, or news articles about the appointment, or rumors leading up to the appointment went beyond his NASA bio, or his wikipedia entry.
Just as I've done in previous diaries re: Valarie Jarrett, Alma Powell, and other folks of color who pop into the headlines, I decided to dig a bit deeper about this brother, particularly since at first google I found almost nothing about "him", other than the standard stuff mentioned above."
--end quote--
PAGE 3:
Europe, Russia discuss 'orbital shipyard' plans
ISS to be replaced by Mars-ship docking facility?
"Space bigwigs in Russia and Europe are working on ambitious plans for an international space shipyard in orbit above the Earth, according to reports. The orbital shipyard would be used to assemble manned spacecraft capable of travelling to the Moon or Mars.
Flight International says that the plans have been discussed at meetings between officials of Roscosmos - the Russian space bureau - and the European Space Agency (ESA), in the context of multinational space efforts following the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS). According to Flight, the subject of an orbital ship-assembly facility was debated by ESA chief Jean-Jacques Dordain and other space bigwigs from Russia and the European Commission.
Involvement by the EC signifies interest from the European Union, as distinct from the ESA: while the ESA works closely with Brussels, it isn't part of the Union and its list of member states is different. Many EU nations aren't in the ESA, and some ESA countries aren't in the EU (Canada, for instance).
Flight reports that most of the world's major space agencies will come together to discuss Moon and Mars exploration in the post-ISS era at the Hague in June. China, which has said it would like to have a manned orbital facility by 2025, is expected to attend."
--end quote--
PAGE 4:
A great write up about the current debate over which launch system to use to replace the Space Shuttle.
What I wish Bolden would do
"With the announcement today that President Obama has selected Charles Bolden to be the next NASA Administrator, this got me thinking what could Bolden do in HIS first 100 days to make his mark and change things around at NASA ?"
--end quote--
POLL RESULTS:
The poll conducted yesterday had a slightly above average turnout and DKOS members, who participated in the poll, seemed satisfied with President Obama's picks to lead America's space agency, NASA.
Movie review: New ‘Star Trek’ rates as the best of series
"There has been an ongoing war of words in our offices about the Star Trek movies.
One camp says the second film, "Wrath of Kahn" (1982), is the best of the series, while the other camp — me included — says it is the fourth, "The Voyage Home" (1986).
Well, my friends, the debate is now over. The best Star Trek film of all time is the new one.
The re-imagined J.J. Abrams production — now in theaters — is almost perfect in the way it starts from before the very beginning, all the way to the future.
Abrams — the brains behind three very original and successful television franchises ("Felicity", "Alias", "Lost") — enlisted two longtime collaborators (Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman) to write the screenplay.
Both writers have worked with Abrams on "Alias" and other projects, including "Mission Impossible III" (2006). They also co-wrote "Transformers" (2007).
The film starts at the beginning — the very beginning — as Kirk is born during a tragic time in his father’s life, and also traces a bit of Spock’s childhood."
--end quote--
YESTERDAY'S COMMENTS:
"flashback re: space elevator damping probs reacting to Nathguy's comments from two issues ago, which I just saw, on (hypothetical) space elevator cables and the difficulty controlling oscillations they would pick up:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Forgive my physics ignorance, but I don't get this. If Hubble, floating in space, can be oriented by gyros, wouldn't a space cable be influenced by them as well?
And jets -- whether of ducted air pumped by solar powered fans, or of some sort of fuel -- wouldn't they have an effect on whatever motion (e.g. oscillations) the cable had picked up?
I do get from what you (nathguy) are saying that there are huge design issues with oscillations, and that controlling them would be no simple trick.
I will hope that some conceptual innovations can make the issue surmountable.
( Akin to one of my favorite innovations -- splitting the lunar vehicle into two parts and leaving one in orbit: saved 'astronomical' amounts of fuel and perhaps made the lunar mission possible in the first place. Hey, that's it!! If we just leave part of the space elevator cable in lunar orbit, all our problems will." - stevelu
"i would like a total FOI on what the space program has actually been up to .... and i'd like the diversion of these funds to work on problems on the groud. I say suspend the damn program until we have been able to address population, food seucurity, health care, poverty, social justice and climate change on the ground." - boatsie
"Let me add on to what Vlad said the question that needs to be asked (which really hasn't been addressed for a good long time) is whether human spaceflight can provide a real time return, rather than the "inspiration and vision" that gets talked about, or spinoffs.
The obvious problem with inspiration and vision is that 16+ Billion a year is a lot to spend on that.
As for spinoffs - while spinoffs are great (and the space program does produce a lot, espicially the human spaceflight program) they can't be counted on or considered as a regular return - they are the, in essence, get lucky.
However, there are resources in space - resources, that we can tap, to help deal with the crisises we face today. Not in 50-100 years, but can help right now. Things like zero-g manufacturing, and space based solar power. Look at the diaries Vlad has done, or I have done, and look for diaries about these things - the potential growth from space development, even in the near term (say 5 years or so) is quite large, when you consider things like space tourism, or zero-g manufacturing.
The recent anouncement out of PG&E, which has a contract for space based solar power, should demonstrate that there are resources in space to solve our problems, here on earth." - Ferris Valyn
[NOTE: There was a great comment yesterday that I want to write up for tomorrow. So be sure and check]
TODAY'S POLL:
This is the Weekly Tracking Poll that usually runs on Saturdays, it will the 26th week of the poll and I will present the numbers for the totals later.
Read other NASA and Space diaries on DKOS.