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Space Tourist Documentary to be shown at Sundance Film Festival

The Russian Space Agency has now sent a number of multi-millionaire space tourists to the International Space Station (ISS).

If NASA goes ahead with the retirement of its Space Shuttle, the Russians willl be extremely busy building new Soyuz capsules to ferry NASA astronauts to the ISS.

Until NASA can come up with a new way of transporting its space crew into orbit, Space Tourists will not be able to make reservations at the Hotel ISS, but instead their only option in the short term will be for a shorter stay at the Virgin Galactic Motel.

Read more: http://bit.ly/8onYEZ

Venus Plunger or NEO/Lunar Polar Fetcher?

NASA has whittled down its next mission to another Solar System body to three potential candidates:

1) The Surface and Atmosphere Geochemical Explorer or SAGE

2) The Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer spacecraft or Osiris-Rex

3) Lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Return Mission, or Moonrise

Each proposed mission development team will recieve $3.3M to flesh out their proposals and one will be selected in 2011 for the budgeted $650M space mission scheduled to launch no later than 2018.

Personally I would like to see a new mission to Venus, since Moon and NEO are likely to receive scientific funding via the human spaceflight program if Augustine's Flexible Path set of missions is implemented by the Obama administration as an alternative to the current severely under funded Moon then Mars Constellation program.

Read more: http://bit.ly/4ySwTu

NASA tv schedule for Space Shuttle Atlantis returning today

This is the NASA webpage where you can go to download a regularly updated copy of the tv schedule for every space shuttle mission http://j.mp/1o3WzN

NASA's Twitter Army marches forward

Will twitter and other social networks provide the conduit for winning the PR war to attract greater public attention to space exploration. http://bit.ly/7EHIqY

WISE wll look for Dark Asteroids and Brown Dwarf Stars - NASA mission briefing

The purpose of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is to find hidden cosmic objects that are not detectable by natural light telescopes within our own Solar System and beyond.

WISE will look for Dark Asteroids within our own Solar System, Brown Dwarf Stars in our solar neighbourhood and Ultra-Luminous Galaxies in Deep Space.

The map generated by WISE will be used as a guide for other Space Telescopes such as Hubble, Spitzer, and upcoming Sofia and James Webb which will look more closely at these objects.

NASA highlights and briefings for the STS 129 mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis

Collection of NASA video covering pre-launch operations, launch, ISS docking, EVAs and landing.

Next best thing to watching on IMAX - STS129 HD Shuttle Launch Footage

If your broadband connection is up to it, select the HD and Full Screen mode and turn up the sound very LOUD! to watch this high definition NASA Footage of STS 129 Space Shuttle Atlantis launching from Kennedy Space Center's Pad39a on Monday 16th November 2009.

Toggle between Spacevidcast and Spaceflight Now Live Launch Coverage

View both streams on the same page

Both Spacevidcast and Spaceflight Now supplement the live NASA TV feed with their own live commentary of Space Shuttle launches from the Kennedy Space Center.

Spaceflight Now present their coverage from the KSC press area and include interviews with space industry guests during the build up to launch.

Spacevidcast present their show from a studio and provide a high definition NASA TV stream with informative explanations of each stage of the launch process.

Countdown briefing for Atlantis on eve of STS129 mission launch

10% chance of weather prohibiting launch at KSC tomorrow and no technical issues being worked currently.

STS 129 Space Shuttle Atlantis Pre Launch Briefing

Launch countdown operations are on schedule with no issues to report, according to officials at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida during the STS-129 prelaunch briefing. With the unfortunate scrub of the Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today, space shuttle Atlantis is cleared for launch at 2:28 p.m. EST Monday.

What happened after the booster separation of Ares I-X

Amazing NASA aerial video footage of the Ares 1-X test flight including what happened after the solid rocket booster (SRB) separation. The SRB appears to barge the Orion dummy capsule out of the way, although they probably never touched in reality. The SRB then proceeds on its tumbling freefall trajectory, eventually deploying the drone chute at a relatively low altitude prior to releasing all three of the main parachutes. At this point one of the parachute canopies collapses due to a cord failure and with the parachute still partially attached to the booster it interferes with a second parachute. The resulting 50% loss of drag causes the SRB to splash into the ocean at a much greater vertical and horizontal velocity than normal. This high velocity splashdown is believed to have caused the crease to the Ares I-X outer rocket casing and similar damage has been seen on Space Shuttle boosters following parachute failures.

NASA Post ARES I X Launch Press Briefing

A jubilant NASA launch team talk about the ARES I-X launch which took place earlier today. Despite a rogue freighter entering the launch safety exclusion zone, the delayed removal of a reluctant probe cover, red green red green weather conditions and launchpad lightning strikes yesterday, Ares I-X eventually made it to sub-orbit today with very little drama. The only unexpected observation so far appears to be the tumbling of the upper stage after separation.

For detailed information on the ARES I-X flight test this is the official NASA webpage which includes the press kit, fact sheet, mission specification, launch blog, image and video gallery http://j.mp/3pnp1H

Norm Augustine introductory remarks on the Human Spaceflight Review final report

10 minute overview of the Augustine Commission final report which commenced the press conference today in Washington DC. The main thrust of the report is to introduce missions which will visit/land on objects such as Asteroids, NEOs, Moons of other planets, visit Lagrange points and/or circumnavigate a planet such as Mars.

These new missions will be lower cost and achievable within a shorter timeframe than the current objective to land on the Moon and Mars, which requires the development of complex landers and larger heavy launch vehicles. The committee has not excluded the landing of humans on Mars ultimately, but believes that smaller steps are required in order to ensure continued public interest and funding of human spaceflight in the future.

PDF download page for the 157 page Augustine committee final report for future human spaceflight options, which has been submitted to the Whitehouse this week to assist the Obama administration in formulating a new manned spaceflight strategy for NASA http://j.mp/9UOmZ

1st come 1st served for STS129 Space Shuttle Atlantis launch tweetup, NASA will be allocating tickets to the first 100 applicants and will add another 50 to a waiting list, registration commences from 12noon EDT on Fri 16th Oct http://j.mp/8gc1S