What Drugs Are Our Astronauts On?

Certainly not the recreational ones it would appear http://bit.ly/6LPAqc

Astronaut office chief Steven Lindsey presents Astronaut opinions on the future of human spaceflight

Appearing at the Augustine Committee public meeting in Houston on 28th July 2009, Steven Lindsey comments and answers questions on the future of human space exploration.

Astronauts would like to see a doubling in the safety factor for ascent and descent to be incorporated into new spacecraft and launch vehicles. The Space Shuttle is a 1 in 77 vehicle (1 in 64 based on number of missions flown so far) which compares to the risk in climbing Mount Everest (1 in 62) and a D Day landing soldier (1 in 62), considering this Steven Lindsey did not consider NASA to be a risk adverse organization. However if there was to be another Shuttle failure and subsequent loss of crew, it would probably mark the end of the Space Shuttle program altogether.

Currently there are concerns about not only the up mass capability to ISS beyond Shuttle but also the down mass capability, despite support from the smaller cargo spacecraft Russian Progress, ESA's Automatic Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS).

In order to concentrate the NASA budget on missions beyond low earth orbit (LEO), Steven Lindsey would like to see the COTS program takeover responsibility for LEO missions.

Not enough is known about manned planetary missions and long duration missions to ISS and Moon are considered essential steps for understanding and learning how to conduct a successful long duration mission to Mars.

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Chris Kraft speak about Apollo Space Program

This is a rare treat for space historians, all three members of the Apollo 11 crew plus the man who was in charge of Mission Control during the Apollo era speak at the annual John Glenn Lecture series at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. The audience included many key NASA people including the new NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and the STS125 Space Shuttle crew which recently conducted a service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Books

Neil Armstrong - First Man : The Life of Neil A. Armstrong - USA, UK

Buzz Aldrin - Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon - USA, UK

Michael Collins - Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys - USA, UK

Chris Kraft - Flight: My Life in Mission Control - USA, UK

Meet Timothy Peake the new Brtish Astronaut selected by ESA

The European Space Agency recently selected 6 new astronauts which they intend to train for llong duration missions on the International Space Station.

Timothy Peake was most recently an Apache Helicopter test pilot for Augusta Westland and previous to that was a helicopter instructor in the British Army Air Core.

Interestingly the UK does not currently contribute any money to the ESA human spaceflight program, so it is hoped that this selection may encourage the UK government to start contributing directly to the human spaceflight program.

Buzz Aldrin wants US to push to Mars and Global Alliance to push to Moon

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin lays out his vision for human spaceflight during his keynote speech at ISDC 2009: US should concentrate on going to Mars, establish stronger partnerships with existing ISS participants and also initiate new partnerships with China and India to explore the Moon.