* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: NASA Plans

Blobrana · L

NASA astronauts

Blobrana · L

RE: NASA Plans

Blobrana · L

The US space agency (Nasa) has been given a new direction, one that will seek to put astronauts in orbit using privately-run launch services.
The change comes into effect with the signing by President Barack Obama of the Nasa Authorisation Act 2010.
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Blobrana · L

NASA is not planning to send any more space ships to the Moon or Mars for the time being but they are thinking of sending astronauts to asteroids.
Astronomer Dr Heather Couper explains why NASA has decided to take this route in space exploration.
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Blobrana · L

The final space shuttle flight will now take place in 2011, Nasa has confirmed.
The Discovery orbiter is targeting a 26 February lift-off for a mission that will deliver a particle physics experiment to the space station.
The agency had hoped to get Discovery away before the end of this year but the programme is running late because critical payloads are not ready.
The penultimate launch, of Endeavour, has also been bumped from September to 1 November.
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Blobrana · L

The National Space Policy

Today, President Obama announced the administration's new National Space Policy. The National Space Policy expresses the President's direction for the Nation's space activities. The policy articulates the President's commitment to reinvigorating U.S. leadership in space for the purposes of maintaining space as a stable and productive environment for the peaceful use of all nations.
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Blobrana · L

Why first man on Mars will probably be Chinese

In the movies, all the spacemen are Americans. But that's because Hollywood makes the movies.
In the real world, the United States is giving up on space, although it is trying hard to conceal its retreat.
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Blobrana · L

President Barack Obama, who space geeks hoped was with them, has proposed changes to NASA in recent weeks. The Constellation program, intended to carry astronauts to Mars and beyond, will end, and be replaced with a "flexible-path" plan that aims to send humans to Mars by 2030, technology and willpower permitting.
Perhaps this plan is wisest, though some, including Neil Armstrong, have criticised it. Or perhaps it is the easy way of saying "no" to NASA, and to the legacy of Kennedy and Armstrong. No president wants to crush our dreams of space.
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Blobrana · L

Asteroid is NASA's next stop in space

The next American astronauts to travel beyond the International Space Station won't want to take any giant leaps. NASA's next stop will probably be an asteroid, where explorers would have to be careful not to drift into space.
Long-awaited details of the White House's plan for the space agency emerged last week in a speech by President Barack Obama. A new spacecraft will be ready by 2025 to carry astronauts into deep space, beginning with a trip to an asteroid, he said.
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