Fly us to the Moon?south pole to be precise

(ESA) - The south polar region of the Moon, with dark craters and high ridges, is a world away from the relatively smooth terrain visited by Apollo astronauts four decades ago. This rugged moonscape is the target for Europe?s next leap into space.

The possible deposits of water ice, heavily cratered terrain and long periods of sunlight make the lunar south pole and areas around it extremely interesting for explorers and scientists. It is therefore a prime target for future human missions to [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19319/fly-us-to-the-moon-south-pole-to-be-precise.html

Troubleshooting, Maintenance for Station Crew Before Visitors Arrive

(NASA) - Expedition 23 Flight Engineer T.J. Creamer continues troubleshooting the Water Processing Assembly (WPA) in conjunction with specialists in Mission Control. Last week after he performed leak checks on the WPA, ground specialists decided to take a closer look at a catalytic reactor. They uplinked more troubleshooting procedures to the crew before continuing further work. On Tuesday, Creamer downlinked live close-up video of condensation collecting on the WPA to assist Mission Control.
 [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19325/troubleshooting-maintenance-for-station-crew-before-visitors-arrive.html

Canada to build bases for space tourism rocket launches

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - Canadian Space Agency is planning to build two bases for launching rockets carrying space tourists, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said citing the information agency Canadian Press.

Cape Breton on Nova Scotia Island may become a Canadian version of the historic Cape Canaveral in Florida and Fort Churchill in Manitoba, near Hudson Bay in the United States, which have launched astronauts and rockets space for many years. Manitoba's government welcomed the idea with e [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19329/canada-to-build-bases-for-space-tourism-rocket-launches.html

Space Carnival 147

The 147th Carnival of Space is now online at Weird Sciences. If you read that blog with underwear on your head and a doll attached to electrodes, Kelly LeBrock will walk out of your bathroom. I saw it in a movie, so it must be true.

Also, the Skeptics Circle has been posted on The Digital Cuttlefish, too.

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/v1vuj3JKOR0/

NASA Awards Space Propulsion Research Contracts to Five Firms

CLEVELAND, (NASA) -- NASA has awarded contracts to five companies to provide space propulsion systems technologies in support of research and technology development activities at the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Each of the five indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts provide for fixed price, cost share and cost reimbursement competitive tasks with a maximum value of $50 million over the next five years.

The companies selected are Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif.; A [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19293/nasa-awards-space-propulsion-research-contracts-to-five-firms.html

Expedition 23 Preparing for New Crew Members, Shuttle Visitors

(NASA) - The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. On April 7, space shuttle Discovery with the seven-member STS-131 crew will visit the orbiting laboratory and deliver science racks and ammonia tanks.

Onboard the station, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, both flight engineers, c [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19295/expedition-23-preparing-for-new-crew-members-shuttle-visitors.html

Russia to boost share in global space market

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - Russia wants to increase its share in the global space market by building a new space center, the head of Russia's Energia space corporation said on Friday.

"More than 80% of the space market is controlled by the United States. It has unquestionable supremacy in space. Russia only has 0.5% of the market, but when the Vostochny space center is built, we would like to have at least 10% of the market. That's in the region of $30 billion, which is realistic," Vitaly Lopota [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19298/russia-to-boost-share-in-global-space-market.html

Discovery due to launch on April 5

The fourth-to-last Space Shuttle launch has been scheduled by NASA for April 5. Discovery will be on a 13 day mission to the space station, where it will bring various supplies and swap out some station hardware. Discovery will be using the Leonardo multi-purpose logistics module to carry those supplies.

The launch is planned for 06:21 EDT (10:21 GMT), so the sky will still be relatively dark but getting lighter (sunrise is a little after 07:00). It should be very pretty!

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/dcSgt5-3ljU/

NASA Awards Space Propulsion Research Contracts to Five Firms

CLEVELAND, (NASA) -- NASA has awarded contracts to five companies to provide space propulsion systems technologies in support of research and technology development activities at the agency's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

Each of the five indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts provide for fixed price, cost share and cost reimbursement competitive tasks with a maximum value of $50 million over the next five years.

The companies selected are Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif.; A [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19293/nasa-awards-space-propulsion-research-contracts-to-five-firms.html

Expedition 23 Preparing for New Crew Members, Shuttle Visitors

(NASA) - The three-member Expedition 23 crew will expand to six on April 4 when Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov, Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mikhail Kornienko dock to the International Space Station in the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft. On April 7, space shuttle Discovery with the seven-member STS-131 crew will visit the orbiting laboratory and deliver science racks and ammonia tanks.

Onboard the station, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi and NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer, both flight engineers, c [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19295/expedition-23-preparing-for-new-crew-members-shuttle-visitors.html

Russia to boost share in global space market

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - Russia wants to increase its share in the global space market by building a new space center, the head of Russia's Energia space corporation said on Friday.

"More than 80% of the space market is controlled by the United States. It has unquestionable supremacy in space. Russia only has 0.5% of the market, but when the Vostochny space center is built, we would like to have at least 10% of the market. That's in the region of $30 billion, which is realistic," Vitaly Lopota [...]

Full story at http://spacefellowship.com/news/art19298/russia-to-boost-share-in-global-space-market.html

Pair of wings -eidolia

I am traveling extensively for my Sooper Sekrit Project™, and staying in one interchangeable hotel after another. But one recent hotel was a bit special: while perambulating to my room down an outside corridor, I spotted this on the floor:

As it happens, the town I am in — forgive me for not revealing the location! — is very religious, and in a way that shapes like this would easily be revered as some sort of icon of God’s presence. The resemblance to an angel is obvious.

But of course, I happened to be walking back to my room from lunch. Had I instead been walking to lunch when I spotted it, I would’ve seen this view on the left. I suppose angels have to breathe, too, so this could be interpreted as a divine pulmonary system, but somehow I doubt it.

What does it look like to you?

Full story at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/uZ-yU9TTUIU/

A Look Inside the Space Shuttle "Garage"

style="height: 560px; width: 425px">name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PxZWnzmaJ2o">name="allowFullScreen" value="true">name="allowScriptAccess" value="always">src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PxZWnzmaJ2o" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="560" height="344">/> This is home movies at their finest. Astronaut Mike Massimino takes us inside the garage of href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/space/" class="alinks_links" title="" rel="external">space shuttle Discovery — also known as the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)– for a behind the scenes look at the work that is done on the orbiters, as well as seeing some of the training for the href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/spaceflight/astronauts/" class="alinks_links" title="" rel="external">astronauts on the upcoming STS-131 mission. This is part of a series of "behind the scenes for STS-131" videos that Massimino hosts, which you can find on the href="http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision">NASA TV You Tube channel. Mass brings humor and sense of wonder to these videos, and is great at doing public outreach for NASA.

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Answer to This Week's WITU Challenge

href="http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Where-in-the-universe-97.jpg">src="http://www.universetoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Where-in-the-universe-97-250x250.jpg" alt="" title="Where in the Universe 97" width="250" height="250" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-60789" />/> Just what is this jumbled mess? Find the answer for this week's Where In href="http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/the-universe/" class="alinks_links" title="" rel="external">The Universe challenge href="http://www.universetoday.com/2010/03/24/where-in-the-universe-97/">back on the original post. And check back next week for another test of your visual knowledge of the cosmos!

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