SpaceX launches first Falcon 9 Rocket
Private company Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, launched their Falcon 9 rocket yesterday, in a successful test of the vehicle which has already been awarded a $1.6 billion contract to deliver supplies to the international space station.
The rocket carried a mock-up of their Dragon spacecraft, designed to carry crew and cargo into earth orbit. SpaceX has twelve supply missions to the International Space Station scheduled from 2010 to 2015.
SpaceX projects the cost of flying to earth orbit with their re-useable rocket to be $45 million. The Russians charge $300 million, and the average cost to fly the Space Shuttle is $450 million.
I know the Clear Lake community has circled the wagons to push back against the Obama administration’s course change for NASA. This is understandable with thousands of jobs at stake, but as I read beyond the franked material I get from our congressman, Pete Olson, I find that there is some support for Obama’s plan in the space community.
(With his solid voting record against the administration, Olson is on track to become as irrelevant as his neighbor Rep. Ron Paul, known as “Dr. No.” for his bizarre voting record)
Apollo 11 lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin supports the administration plan to send humans to visit a nearby asteroid and travel to Mars in the 2030s. So does Apollo 9 astronaut Russell Schweickart, who said "Instead of being on a path toward the goal we all seek, i.e. to regain our leadership position in human space exploration, we must recognize that we are (and have been) on a path to nowhere. We are confronted with arguments to ignore the clear signs of this sad situation and even encouraged to accelerate along this futile path."
I found this from Leland Stone at NASA’s Ames Research Center; “NASA will be reinvigorating its Science, Aeronautics, and Technology Development Missions. That strategic shift undoes the terrible decision by the previous Administration to dismantle and cannibalize much of NASA's long-term R&D efforts to support an under-funded Human Spaceflight program.”
President Obama has budgeted an additional $267 million for NASA next year and a total increase of $5 billion over the next five years.
posted by Julia B. @ 1:16 AM
2 Comments:
Today we have the naming of parts.
LESSONS OF THE WAR
To Alan Michell
Vixi duellis nuper idoneus
Et militavi non sine gloria
I. NAMING OF PARTS
To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But to-day,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts.
This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.
This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.
And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.
They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards,
For to-day we have naming of parts.
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