At approximately 8:30PM est on Friday May 30th the Rotating Service Structure protecting the shuttle on the launch pad was rolled back. You couldn’t have asked for a more majestic evening. Mid 70’s, slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky, and a gorgeous sunset behind Discovery on the launch pad. It [...]

ennedy Space Center treated press members to a demonstration of the testing equipment used during the development of Orion’s Heat Shield material. Boeing Advanced Systems has completed a development heat shield being used as a manufacturing demonstration unit (MDU). The material being used is constructed from Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Alblator (PICA), produced by [...]

NASA held a Space Suit demonstration for members of the press on Friday May 30th. Ketan Chhipwadia of Johnson Space Centers Space Suit Team did an amazing job when giving a detailed explanation of the suit, its components, and their functions. Due to the large about of information provided it is very [...]

I was able to sit in on an ISS National Lab News Conference this morning. Most of the conference was concentrated around a few main subjects including: the continued success of the ISS National Lab, new experimental equipment and experiments being deployed, and increased commercial involvement.
When the installation of the Kibo module is completed [...]

The STS-124 Countdown Status Briefing just finished. I am happy to report that everything is looking great, and NASA is currently tracking no issues. The weather is continuing to cooperate with only a 20% chance of interference. Other weather predictions, including for emergency landing sites and SRB recovery, also look promising. The [...]

John Chapman, manager of the External Tank Project Office , discussed two major changes to the external tank being implemented in an effort to reduce icing and foam loss. The external tank(ET-128) being used aboard STS-124 is the first tank since return to flight to have improvements incorporated during the manufacturing process instead of [...]

KSC’s press center hosted a JAXA briefing this afternoon with Yoshiyuki Hasegawa, Japanese Experiment Module program manager. The conference room was filled with Japanese reporters. It became immediately obvious how excited the Japanese people are about Kibo, Japan’s Experiment Module to be installed aboard ISS. Every news paper, website, and news station [...]

Representatives from Disney and NASA were one hand today to talk briefly about the Toys in Space Program. Started in 1985, it is a joint education outreach program for elementary students. Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear will be accompanying STS-124’s crew to ISS where he will remain for a few months. Buzz will [...]

Hello AstronomyCasters,
It pleased to inform you that I have been able to return to Kennedy for the launch of STS-124. Pamela has really out done herself this time and helped me acquire press access to the launch. I never could have imagined I would be here again for two subsequent launches. It [...]

Not My Rovers ! 
  Sadly I must report that it appears the Mars Rovers will lose nearly 4 million dollars from its 20 million dollar budget.  Next year they are expected to take a further cut of nearly 8 millions dollars.  Worse off the funding cuts are likely to place Spirit on hibernation and job cuts [...]