SpaceShipOne Talk

The American Aviation Historical Society will play host to Dan Linehan of Monterey, Calif. and author of "SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, in the DLC Auditorium on the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University campus.

The presentation will cover the reasons and methods of design, construction, testing and operation of SpaceShipOne and the development of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo with the aid of photos, video and animation.

For information, call 777-6985 or e-mail mandern@erau.edu.

Obama to Ban Space Weapons

This is a shock. President Obama wants to ban all weapons in space. Specially he wants a "worldwide ban on weapons that interfere with military and commercial satellites."

I have a bad feeling about this...

Space Adventures Carries On

Space Adventures the firm that has sold more than a few space tourist seats to the ISS, are continuing on despite the news from Russia that there will be no more flights for tourists to the ISS. Space Adventures plans to buy their own Soyuz flights rather than taking a seat on a scheduled flight.

There may be no were to park, however.

Ares 1 to Fly in July

NASA plans an unmanned test flight of the Ares 1 in July of this year. It is the first unmanned test flight by NASA since the Apollo program.

SpaceX to Donate Flight

SpaceX is going to donate payload space on a Dragon/Falcon IX flight to the winner of the Heinlein Trust Microgravity Research Competition.

Russia Says No to Space Tourists

Russia Agency chief Anatoly Perminov said that after 2009, no more space tourists will be carried to the ISS on Russian rockets. Software giant Charles Simonyi will be the last tourist going up. Russians say this move comes because the ISS crew has increased from 3 to 6. My guess would be they are feeling pressure from NASA who never really supported the practice.

Methane on Mars

The Planetary Society discusses the recent finding of Methane in Mar's atmosphere and what it could mean for life.

Sierra Nevada Completes SpaceDev Buyout

Sierra Nevada Corp (SNC) has finished their acquisition of SpaceDev. SpaceDev will form part of SNC's Space Systems Business Area.

Musk Factor

Brian Enke writes about how much SpaceX planned 10x launch cost saving will actually save on a mission.

Griffin is Out ??? is In

NASA head Mike Griffin is leaving NASA after four years. Present Elect Barack Obama has yet to name who he wants to lead the space agency. Associate Administrator Christopher Scolese will lead until someone is named.

It is unclear whether Obama will continue the plan to head to the Moon by 2020. Lets keep our fingers crossed.

PlanetSpace Whines about Losting COTS

PlanetSpace, which to our knowledge has never launched actual hardware, is protesting the award of the COTS money to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences.

Spaceport T-Shirts

The Las Cruces Sun News has an overview on the "branding" of Spaceport America including a store where you can buy T-Shirts (or sweat shirts in the current weather).