space x 'falcon heavy' to lift off in 2013

Are launch costs too high and weighing down your bottom line? Elon Musk, Space X founder, pitches his Falcon Heavy booster as right for the job to lift your prospects! In a Discovery News article, Musk says, "...we can realistically start to contemplate missions like a Mars sample return, which requires a tremendous amount of lift capability because you have to send a lander to Mars that still has enough propellant to return to Earth." Planetary Science Blog notes, the Falcon Heavy is second only to the Saturn V rocket in payload and escape velocity. The article adds 20-25 percent of mission cost is in the launch and idea of lowering your costs from $10,000 to $1,000 per pound a major selling point! A debut flight is scheduled for Vandenberg AFB in 2013. You can visit the Falcon Heavy webpage at the Space X website for more details. The sales pitch is a familiar one--"more bang for the buck"-- but will bottomline decisions translate into space exploration success? Do you trust companies and corporations to do the right thing in space?

glory fails to reach orbit, plummets into ocean

climate change satellite goes out in blaze of 'glory'...
NASA's Glory spacecraft crashes into ocean after failing to reach orbit, because housing atop the Taurus XL rocket did not separate. The launch took place shortly after 5am EST today from Vandenberg AFB. The failure costs NASA $420 million. Universe Today article reports loss also of mission's two primary goals, "...ongoing data collection to monitor the sun’s energy reaching Earth, and a study of how aerosols move through Earth’s atmosphere and may influence climate." You have to wonder why study climate change and potentially introduce more unwanted data? Scientists have lied about global warming and the elite too much invested as recalled in this Bloomberg article. The infrastructure exists for carbon trade and anything but global warming will be inconvenient for business!

mission accomplished: x-37b lands at vandenberg afb

X-37B landed December 3, 2010 4:16 am EST at Vandenberg AFB in California.  The report is at Space Daily. "'We are very pleased that the program completed all the on-orbit objectives for the first mission,' Lt. Col. Troy Giese, X-37B program manager, said in a statement."  The next unmanned mini-shuttle is scheduled to launch next spring.

x-37b initial mission near end?

The Air Force's X-37B space plane may be near end of initial mission, reports CS Monitor article.  The spacecraft, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle 1, launched April 22nd and built for 270 day flights, suggests it may be on homestretch.  The mission of the secretive X-37B is still a subject of much speculation.  Ted Molczan, a veteran skywatcher, observes  "ground tracks that nearly repeat after two, three or four days have long been a feature of U.S. imaging reconnaissance satellites, which leads me to suspect that X-37B is carrying experimental sensors for that purpose". The spacecraft may be testing experimental sensors before they are placed on expensive satellites?  X-37B will land at Vandenberg AFB if the mission is completed as planned.

jack blood reports on false alarm or drill gone live?

Jack Blood reports on shooting at NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park, Ohio next to the Cleveland Airport on his Deadline Live Nov. 5, 2010 broadcast. Blood adds alleged shooting was quickly amended to a false alarm and all clear broadcast over the base's public announcement system by 11:50am, Friday.

There were reports at 9:50 am of a man with a gun in Building 77 and of shots fired. Building 77 was placed on lockdown. Local ambulances and SWAT teams were dispatched to the base. The false alarm was, later, announced by officials as caused by a message sent in error to someone at Glenn meant for an employee at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida where a test (drill?) was in progress. "An employee at NASA Glenn with the same last name as a person at the other center mistakenly received a call at about 9:30 a.m. from an automated system with the message that there 'is a shooter in the building'. The employee did not realize it was a test."

Blood jumps on the similarities to the Fort Hood Shooting and rightfully so, exactly one year ago! Blood asks, "could the same thing have happened?" You have to ask, "how far did the drill go?" We will never know! Two days earlier, there was a similar incident at Vandenberg AFB. It's a sad commentary that nearly everyone misses these reports, present writer included, and fail to see the similarities right down to the dates! It's a tip of the hat to Jack Blood!