Into the sunset

One of the ISS-22 crew took a striking photo of STS-130 Endeavour silhouetted against an orbital sunset (the photo is a bit blurry). It seems pointedly symbolic! There are just 4 more flights after this, in 2010 (if the schedule holds): STS-131, -132, -134, -133.

Cranky curmudgeonly Apollo astronaut Jack Schmitt (who has featured here before) wrote another opinion piece on the U.S. space program changes, “New Space Policy Cedes Moon To China, Space Station To Russia, And Liberty To The Ages”, full of the usual “paranoid patriot” hysteria about the loss of America’s dominance in space. Mate, there’s plenty of room out there for everyone! The article seems to have been removed from the site where I originally read it, but there is a copy on another blog. Some extracts below and my trite commentary (there should be a “drinking game” for everytime the words “leadership” and “freedom/liberty” are mentioned for these types of articles).

The Administration finally has announced its formal retreat on American Space Policy after a year of morale destroying clouds of uncertainty. The lengthy delay, the abandonment of human exploration, and the wimpy, un-American thrust of the proposed budget indicates that the Administration does not understand, or want to acknowledge, the essential role space plays in the future of the United States and liberty. This continuation of other apologies and retreats in the global arena would cede the Moon to China, the American Space Station to Russia, and assign liberty to the ages.

Just a bit histronic. “Wimpy, un-American thrust”?? That sounds…suggestive.

Histories of nations tell us that an aggressive program to return Americans permanently to deep space must form an essential component of national policy. Americans would find it unacceptable, as well as devastating to liberty, if we abandon leadership in space to the Chinese, Europe, or any other nation or group of nations. Potentially equally devastating to billions of people would be loss of freedom’s access to the energy resources of the Moon as fossil fuels diminish and populations and demand increase.

Again the obsession with leadership. Diminishing resources will be better coped with by learning to live more sustainably and decreasing population growth, rather than hold out a nebulous hope of magically solving these problems by exploiting the Solar System’s resources (not with current spaceship technology we won’t!).

Returning to the Moon and to deep space constitutes the right and continuing space policy choice for the Congress of the United States. It compares in significance to Jefferson’s dispatch of Lewis and Clark to explore the Louisiana Purchase. The lasting significance to American growth and survival of Jefferson’s decision cannot be questioned. Human exploration of space embodies the same basic instincts as the exploration of the West – the exercise of freedom, betterment of one’s conditions, and curiosity about nature. Such instincts lie at the very core of America’s unique and special society of immigrants.

The frontier myth cited yet again *groan*. The exploration of the West came at the cost of the original inhabitants (Native Americans).

With a permanent resumption of the exploration of deep space, one thing is certain: our efforts will be as significant as those of our ancestors as they migrated out of Africa and into a global habitat. Further, a permanent human presence away from Earth provides another opportunity for the expansion of free institutions, with all their attendant rewards, as humans face new situations and new individual and societal challenges.

Outer space = Libertarian paradise? He’s been reading too much Heinlein.

Returning to the Moon first and as soon as possible meets the requirements for an American space policy that maintains deep space leadership, as well as providing major new scientific returns. Properly conceived and implemented, returning to the Moon prepares the way to go to and land on Mars. This also can provide a policy in which freedom-loving peoples throughout the world can participate as active partners.

Moon’s been done. It’s boring! Go to Mars.

Again, if we abandon leadership in deep space to any other nation or group of nations, particularly a non-democratic regime, the ability for the United States and its allies to protect themselves and liberty will be at great risk and potentially impossible. To others would accrue the benefits – psychological, political, economic, and scientific – that the United States harvested as a consequence of Apollo’s success 40 years ago. This lesson has not been lost on our ideological and economic competitors.

How about trying co-operation rather than competition? Space colonization is too big and expensive for any one country to do it alone.

Future directions

Anatolii Perminov gave some indications of the future directions of the Russian space program when he answered the questions of Russian and foreign students:

Answering one of the questions, Anatolii Nikolaevich said: “Designs of this type are not carried out in Roscosmos entities. On the other hand, these issues are studied in some R&D institutes. My opinion, not as a manager, but as a specialist, is that it is necessary to search for new energy-generation forms and ways based on different principles for space exploration. However my personal point of view may differ from the views of scientists…”

Foreign students were interested in development of the lunar habitation.

“Currently, we carry out an outstanding international project Mars-500. It intends to test feasibility of human spaceflight to Mars and return back to the Earth. Roscosmos and ESA researchers are involved in the project. The experiment is controlled from the Mission Control Center. NASA’s lunar base project has been approved. But now some changes may occur in their program due to changes of NASA Administration. We discussed it with NASA representatives in Paris. Today it is unclear if the USA will build the lunar base on their own, or involve some international partners. Lunar projects on different development stages exist in China, India, Japan, and Russia as well,” Mr. Perminov said.

Roscosmos Head also explained about perspectives of the Vostochnyi space port construction in Amurskaya region:

“Russian Government defined that up to late 2011, design and research on-site activities are to be completed and Vostochnyi construction plan is to be prepared. That is, what we are doing now on the funding appropriated. This funding is not so big, but still sufficient to accomplish this objective. Then, we will report to the Government which is to make the decision about the date to start the construction. Roscosmos believes that the construction shall start in 2012. This is in line with the space exploration strategy approved by the Russian Government, which intends maiden launch of the first cargo vehicle from Vostochnyi in 2015, and the first human spacecraft launch in 2018.”

“Aldrin thinks U.S. should set its sights on Mars”, MSNBC.com, 6/7. Apollo astronaut/Moon Man №2 Buzz Aldrin, who is outspoken on space matters, is of the opinion that:

• the U.S. “oversee” an international team of lunar explorers, which includes China.
• While other countries are occupied there, the U.S. sneaks off to Mars and gets there first.

I would, of course, like to see a Russian manned mission get to Mars first! Would be compensation for missing out on the Moon.

Paranoid silliness

The next space tourist is to be the founder of Cirque du Soleil, Guy Laliberté. He has a mini-site and blog, Guy Laliberté’s Poetic Social Mission in space (I have to admit the title makes me roll my eyes cynically, but idealism has that effect on me – yes I am disillusioned). He will launch on TMA-16, currently set to launch on 30 September. His backup (not yet confirmed) is Barbara Barrett, who has a training blog; unfortunately its viewing is currently restricted.

A Russian artist called Sergey Krainev, Сергей Крайнев, does nice space-themed paintings (found this while browsing the NK forum through an online translator).

Astronaut Leroy Chiao was soliciting opinions on his blog for the Augustine Human Space Flight Review Commission. I have no interest in this, therefore no opinion. But I found one comment that was somewhere between unintentionally amusing and exasperating as it was of the “Paranoid Patriot” variety (I might note that Leroy Chiao is of Chinese descent), so it’s worth reproducing (with minor editing as some paragraphs were repeated):

The United States, as a nation and leader of the Free World, needs to be the guardian of the Lunar Future. The last thing I want to see on a full moon is a future Chinese Territory and have to have that countries approved visa for future visits, explorations and permission for development.

By our leadership we will make sure the Lunar Future will be a free and democratic society. Sure, we will invite other nations to participate, but through U.S. leadership we will ensure it is a just system for future resource development. It may look like a large rock in the sky at the moment, but as soon as commercial development finds a way to make money there, it becomes real estate. The question will be who gets to control the distribution of the best sites, who decides future taxation of resources, etc.

We have a unique situation that we have not seen for couple hundred years, and history is about to repeat itself. We need to claim this stepping stone now, and the Liberation points, then Mars. We can do it with international participation, but it must be with bold U.S. leadership for a democratic future. The investments we make now do not just effect the next couple of decades, but the next several hundred years.

For a fraction of what we are now spending on bailouts, we could have a very aggressive infrastructure on the Moon, then on to Mars. NASA must lead the way, then get out of the way, and let private companies find a way to make money and spur further development. Once lunar surface operations can be economically self-sustaining, then NASA can concentrate on Mars and beyond.

As Ronald Reagan said in his speech to console a grieving nation during the space shuttle Challenger tragedy; “The Future Belongs to the Brave, not the Faint Hearted, Now’s the time to be brave, there will only be one opportunity for Lunar Leadership, we need to make it ours.”

There is a reason why God put us in the position of being the first nation there [WTF???]. By our leadership we will make sure the Lunar Future will be a free and democratic society.

I still have a copy of the earlier Augustine Commission’s report after Challenger. I for one do not want a Red Moon Rising.

That’s why I find the space community such a turnoff generally – too many anti-enviromentalist Libertarians/Conservatives who have overdosed on Heinlein (whom I have never read, incidentally) and who think (or hope!) that colonizing space will be a re-enactment of the founding of the USA. (I have a related rant, “Space cadet growthists”, on my overpopulation blog.)

Haigneré suicide attempt?

Yesterday there was the rather surprising news that former ESA astronaut Claudie Haigneré had attempted suicide:

First Frenchwoman in space hospitalised after suicide attempt

Paris (AFP) – The first Frenchwoman in space and former government minister Claudie Haigneré was hospitalised late Tuesday after attempting suicide, a French government source said.

Haigneré, 51, was rushed to hospital after being discovered at her Paris home, where according to another source, she had overdosed on pills. She was conscious when hospitalized, the source said.

Haigneré was an astronaut with the French space agency CNES, flying on a mission to the Mir space station in 1996 and to the International Space Station in 2001, the first European woman to do so.

She later entered politics, serving as minister for research and new technologies from June 2002 to March 2004, before becoming European Affairs minister in the government of Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a post she held until May 2005.

She is married to another French astronaut, Jean-Pierre Haigneré, who flew on two missions to the Mir space station, in 1993 and 1999, the second for a six-month stay.

Although there is another report with her husband saying that the overdose was accidental (at the Le forum de la conquête spatiale, in French), so the circumstances are unclear as yet. I can’t understand why someone with such a successful career (unlike this writer) would want to take her own life as she would have everything to live for (she has a daughter also).

The news has been reported in a few spaceflight forums but – as with the case of Lisa Nowak (6/2/2007 entry) (whose trial is still ongoing) – there are some who get all sanctimonious about the topic and want to lock it.

Ballistic landings on Mars

“If I Were to Land on Mars...”, Air & Space Magazine, 1/11. Astronaut Don Pettitt’s account of the Soyuz ballistic landing he and Expedition 6 endured on 3 May 2003. He does note one positive aspect: the landings could be regarded as rehearsals for Mars landings!

So we had made a serendipitous discovery: Because of how the mission unfolded and culminated in a lost recovery, it had an uncanny resemblance to a trip to, and a landing on, Mars. We showed that barriers associated with such a trip, in the form of human physical performance deficits, can be overcome with the knowledge gained from the similar effects experienced on long-duration space station missions.

The parallels are striking. First we lived in a weightless environment for five and a half months. Depending on the choice of propulsion, six months is a good estimate for a one-way trip to Mars. So our level of deconditioning was about the same as that of a crew arriving at the Red Planet. We piloted our own spacecraft through a high-G entry maneuver, similar to what a crew may have to do at Mars. Our landing sequence involved a combination of parachutes and landing rockets, culminating in a hard landing on dry ground in one of the more remote places on Earth. For reaching the Martian surface, such a combination is an attractive option. And the landing site will be remote.

On our own, we performed a number of basic operational tasks not unlike those a crew might execute after landing on Mars, such as spacecraft safing, which involves reading procedures, flipping switches, and pushing buttons on the control panel to power down unneeded equipment to extend battery life for the radios. Since the Soyuz capsule ended up on its side, we did this strapped into a seat fixed to a slanted ceiling. We then opened the hatch by ourselves, unstrapped, and crawled out. In my spacesuit, I weighed 200 Earth pounds. On Mars, at 0.38 of Earth’s gravity, it would require over 500 Earth pounds to equal the same loading on my body. So while future Mars astronauts will wear heavier suits with life support systems, they will be lighter there than I was in Earth’s gravity. We deployed the survival gear that was scattered in numerous small bundles throughout the spacecraft. It takes a pair of strong hands to pull these bundles from their stowage in odd nooks and crannies – woolen clothes, food, water, a medical kit, a portable radio, and a flare-shooting pistol.

We performed all these operations with no outside help. We might as well have been on Mars.

“Opening The Window For Shenzhou 7”, SpaceDaily, 19/9. Shenzhou-7 is due to liftoff on 25 September. Zhai Zhigang will perform the EVA in an experimental Chinese-built suit, called “Feitian” after a mythological flying god; it weighs 120 kilograms, and each model will cost about 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to produce. Liu Boming will wear a Russian Orlan suit to come to his rescue if necessary. Jing Haipeng will remain inside the pressurized Descent Module

“Russia And France Sign Contract To Launch 10 Rockets From Kourou”, RIAN/SpaceDaily, 22/9. The rockets will be Soyuz-ST carrier rockets used to launch geostationary satellites.

(Oh, and thanks to “FlyingSinger” for the nice post!)

Astronaut love drama!

Not exactly Russian spaceflight-related, but this is too dramatic to ignore! Reported at MSNBC.com and the Sun Sentinel: a female astronaut called Capt. Lisa Nowak (married with three children) attempted to kidnap a female air force officer, Capt. Colleen Shipman, apparently believing her to be a rival in love for Cdr. Bill Oefelein (married, two children; he piloted STS-116). She botched the attempt and was later arrested. Sounds like a case of obsessive love. Wonder what she was planning to do with all that equipment she was carrying?

There is a thread discussing the drama at NASA Spaceflight.com, but some are getting all moralistic and huffy about discussing it, and it looks like the thread will be deleted. *Rolls eyes*

The charges for attempted kidnapping are quite serious: life in prison! Perhaps she will get a reduced sentence because of mental instability. Such obsessions can affect and unbalance anyone.

“Cruising For A Space Flight”, Andrei Kislyakov, Space Daily. A continuation of a previous article, “A journey to space is not a jaunt to the Caribbean”.