Boeing Is Looking For Astronauts

An artist's conception shows Boeing's CST-100 crew-carrying spaceship atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a launch pad. Such a craft could fly to the International Space Station as early as 2015. Boeing

Boeing Chooses A Rocket, Looks For Astronauts To Fly On It -- MSNBC

Atlas 5 to be used for tests of new spaceship for NASA's use; pilots wanted.

Test flights of The Boeing Co.'s future crew-carrying spaceship would be conducted starting as early as 2015 on United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, executives announced Thursday.

Whether Boeing's CST-100 capsule actually flies in that timeframe depends on whether NASA provides the necessary development funding, said John Elbon, the aerospace company's manager for the commercial crew project. But just in case, Boeing is already looking for pilots who could help with the design and testing of the craft.

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End Of The Shuttle Program Could Lead To A Brain Drain Of Space Knowledge

Could U.S. Manned Spaceflight Suffer 'Memory Loss'? -- Discovery News

Astronaut Mark Kelly voices his concerns for the end of the shuttle program and the loss of NASA talent.

* Mark Kelly, commander of shuttle Endeavour's final mission, is concerned about a drain of NASA talent once the US shuttle program ends.
* Thousands of highly skilled people will be lost, and no replacement NASA rocket is planned.
* After the shuttle, NASA will depend on Russia for rides into space for over $51 million per seat.

US astronaut Mark Kelly, who commanded shuttle Endeavour's final space flight, said Tuesday he is concerned about a drain of NASA talent once the US shuttle program ends later this year

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Apollo Astronaut Recommends Ending NASA And Starting From Scratch

Photo: Schmitt (NASA)

Apollo Astronaut: End NASA, Start From Scratch -- Houston Chronicle

Not everyone is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s decision to go to the moon with best wishes for another century of NASA.

Harrison Schmitt, the 12th astronaut to walk on the moon and a former U.S. senator, has called for dismantling NASA and replacing it with a new agency devoted solely to deep-space exploration.

Its charter, he believes, should simply be:

Provide the People of the United States of America, as national security and economic interests demand, with the necessary infrastructure, entrepreneurial partnerships, and human and robotic operational capability to settle the Moon, utilize lunar resources, scientifically explore and settle Mars and other deep space destinations, and, if necessary, divert significant Earth-impacting objects.

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My Comment: He makes some salient points. What is my take .... a new start and direction is definitely need (both psychologically and structurally) for the U.S. space program.

Atlantis Mission Threatened By "Russian Debris"

Mission control is monitoring space junk to make sure it doesn't get too close during a space walk

'Russian' Debris Threatens Atlantis Mission As Ground Control Fears It Will Hurtle 'Dangerously Close' To ISS During Space Walk -- Daily Mail

* Nasa is trying to work out if the junk comes from a defunct Russian satellite
* It is scheduled to pass the space station at around 5pm GMT on Tuesday

Nasa is monitoring a piece of 'Russian' space junk that looks likely to come dangerously close to the International Space Station during a planned space walk tomorrow.

The debris is heading towards the station, where Atlantis yesterday docked on its final mission.

Scientists are still trying to work out how big the object is and how close it will come to Atlantis. Some believe it originated from a defunct Russian satellite that is orbiting Earth.

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Gravity Suit Mimics Earth's Pull For Astronauts

Photo: The suit is made of a fabric with carefully tailored stretchiness

From The BBC:

A stretchy suit that mimics the effects of the Earth's gravity has been developed in the US to spare astronauts the ill effects of long missions of weightlessness.

Returning astronauts have lower bone density and muscle mass and can even suffer separation of their vertebrae.

The suit is made of a fabric with carefully tailored stretchiness.

It creates more of a pull at its wearer's feet than at the shoulders, replicating gravity's pull on Earth.

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