Dateline March 14, 2006, News from the Internet

• Russia says the Clipper design is completed. "We are planning to put the Clipper into use by 2015." said Nikolai Sevastyanov, the head of Russia's Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation. Clipper is Russia's long-planed, reusable space plane. I am not sure where they are getting their funding, but we will see.


• Jeffrey Williams is ready to hit a golf ball out of this world. He is set to lift off March 30 to the ISS with this golf clubs in tow.


• NASA has found high temperature materials in a comet. Scientists are not sure how these particles got into the comets.


• Russia has approved eight Brazilian experiments to go up to the ISS on March 30.


• John Nance discusses space tourism and will be featured on Good Morning America this morning on ABC. - ed Thanks to John Ahrens for the spelling correction of Mr. Nance's name.


• More on space tourism with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.


• A Swedish professor Dr. Niklas Järvstråt is planning a self-sustaining moon colony


• So three teams are competing for NASA COTS program. T/Space, SpaceX, and SPACEHAB. That's a pretty good way to split $500 million. Check out NASA's offical COTS page.


• Using tethers to adjust the orbit of the ISS.


• Astronomers has found a cold super-earth. The planet is about 13 time the size of Earth, and while rocky, it is the coldest planet found outside of our solar system. It orbits a red dwarf star 9000 light years from Sol. The finding has far reaching implications "suggesting that large rock-ice worlds might outnumber gas giants like Jupiter."


• Updates on the CEV wind-tunnel testing


• RLV and Space Transport News has a link to videoof Rick Tumlinson's talk at the Lunar Commerce Roundtable last October.


• Aero-News.net has more information on the Rocketplane Limited, Inc and Kristler merger. Apparently they are going to create a development team called Rocketplane Kristler.