Obama Will Stick with Bush Moon Plan... This is great news, especially if you’re as much a space geek as I am. Here’s hoping Obama doesn’t get any second thoughts about this...unless he decides that NASA should try sending astronauts back to the Moon by 2018 and not 2020, haha. Anyways, here’s the article as posted on aviationweek.com, by Frank Morring, Jr.:

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"The fiscal 2010 NASA budget outline to be released by the Obama Administration Feb. 26 adds almost $700 million to the out-year figure proposed in the fiscal 2009 budget request submitted by former President Bush, and sticks with the goal of returning humans to the moon by 2020.

The $18.7 billion that Obama will request for NASA - up from $18.026 billion for fiscal 2010 in the last Bush budget request - does not include the $1 billion NASA will receive in the $787 billion stimulus package that President Barack Obama signed Feb. 16.

Aviation Week has learned that in addition to the human-lunar return, Obama wants to continue robotic exploration with probes to Mars and other Solar System destinations, as well as a space telescope to probe deeper into the universe.

He will request increases in Earth Science, in keeping with his call Feb. 24 for action on global warming. And he will ask for additional funds for the NextGen satellite-based air traffic control modernization effort within NASA's aeronautics request.

In addition to those newly requested funds, under the stimulus package the space agency will receive $400 million for back-to-the-moon exploration work; $400 million for science directed at climate-change space missions and the supercomputing capability needed for climate modeling; $150 million for aeronautics, including NextGen, and $50 million for repairs to hurricane damage suffered in 2008."

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NASA / Lockheed Martin

Before you start thinking to yourselves about how the money going to our space program (if you're American) is better spent on more social matters, like helping out "Octomom" and her 14 kids, keep in mind that NASA's budget only accounts for less than 2% of the overall federal budget (which exceeds 1 trillion dollars...despite the current economic crisis).

According to a recent survey, nearly 9 out of 10 Americans see value in America's space program. Click here for more details.


NASA / Marshall Space Flight Center

PARMAN’S PAGE Update... Yesterday, I finished creating a new section on my website devoted to my visit at Kennedy Space Center 2 weeks ago. I took more than 600 photos during my 4-day trip, but 80 are uploaded to my site (despite the fact I’m planning to print out 102 pics for my actual photo album, haha).

You can view the images by clicking here.

I’M BACK! I was gonna post a Blog after I got home from Florida last night, but was too tired to after spending more than 5 hours on the plane after it had to constantly veer away from bad weather that plagued the southern U.S. There were thunderstorms over Houston, Texas, and overlooking the fact it was cool to watch lightning flash every other second inside the clouds from the safety of my passenger cabin, it was also pretty freaky when the plane flew right next to these storm cells (which lingered off to the starboard side of the aircraft, where my seat was located). Add to this the fact there was considerable turbulence when the airliner flew through clear skies above New Mexico and Arizona. My flight landed at LAX around 9:49 PM, PST (original arrival time was 9:29 PM, PST), but I didn’t get home till a little before midnight. I didn’t go to bed till 2:30 AM, but yes, I was too tired to post a Blog.



Anyways, in terms of the trip itself, it was awesome! Completely successful. I got the pics I wanted, in front of space shuttle Discovery as it continues to get prepped for its Feb. 22 launch (on mission STS-119) from Launch Complex 39A, inside the Space Station Processing Facility and outside the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). I also took photos of LC-39B as modifications continue to be done to it for the Constellation Program.



The weather was great! It was the complete opposite from the wind and downpour that thwarted the final days of my trip to Florida last August, thanks to Tropical Storm Fay (just click on the labels near the bottom of this journal entry for more info). I should hopefully have pics posted on my official website before, um, the end of this month. But seeing as how I took more than 600 photos during my 4-day trip, it’s gonna be pretty interesting to see which images I actually upload to my page. Stay tuned.



Oh, and one more thing... I bought some astronaut ice cream when I was at KSC. Pretty delicious.

TOMORROW, I’m travelling back to Florida after going there last August. Will be heading to Kennedy Space Center on Florida's Space Coast (its east coast, that is). Be back on February 10th!



NASA

A WEEK FROM TODAY, I will hopefully be leaving for Florida to go to Spaceport USA. Woohoo— Can’t wait...



NASA / Jack Pfaller

NASA / Jack Pfaller

AS PROMISED in this previous journal entry, here are more photos of Ares I-X as it continues to be prepared at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.


NASA / Jack Pfaller

Yesterday, a boilerplate mockup of the Orion spacecraft arrived at KSC via U.S. Air Force cargo plane (above). The mockup was manufactured at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia (below). This is a huge milestone as Ares I-X gets ready for a test flight that will hopefully take place this July. The next milestone will be the delivery of the vehicle’s first-stage solid rocket booster from its manufacturer (Alliant Techsystems, or ATK) in Utah. It is scheduled to arrive at KSC late next month.


NASA / Sean Smith

Another significant event to take place at KSC this week was Monday's re-opening of a vital processing facility at the spaceport, which will be the site where the Orion spacecraft undergoes final assembly by Lockheed Martin (the aerospace contractor responsible for building Orion) prior to launch. The building (known as the Operations & Checkout Facility), which took about two years to renovate, was the site where the Apollo spacecraft was prepared for launch almost 40 years ago. Orion assembly activity is set to begin at the O&C Facility in 2012...despite the fact the first manned flight of the spacecraft won’t take place till 2015. This is all assuming, of course, that President Obama continues to press ahead with the Constellation program. He has yet to select a new Administrator for NASA after the former chief, Mike Griffin, departed from the space agency earlier this month.


NASA / Dimitri Gerondidakis

Today is NASA’s official Day of Remembrance for those who lost their lives over the course of America's space program, including the 17 astronauts who perished in the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia disasters. Here’s hoping that their legacy will continue to live on as a new era of human spaceflight is about to begin in the next few years. Hopefully.

TAKING SHAPE... Just thought I’d share these two cool photos of work being completed on the second of three towers that will provide lightning protection for NASA’s Ares I launch vehicle, which will hopefully become operational by 2015. The third and final tower, which along with the other two will be 600 feet in height once finished, should be completed by March or April...well before the scheduled test flight of the Ares I-X rocket in July. In terms of Ares I-X itself, expect a blog in the near future with photos of the vehicle as it continues to be assembled at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.



A boilerplate mock-up of the Orion spacecraft that will be attached to the top of Ares I-X is scheduled to arrive at KSC via cargo plane this Wednesday or Thursday. Nice.



All images courtesy of NASA

NASA / Kim Shiflett

TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY, I’ll hopefully be heading back to Florida to see in person space shuttle Discovery (above), and changes that are being made to a nearby launch pad (below) to prepare it for NASA’s next generation launch vehicle, the Ares rocket. Can’t wait...


NASA / Kim Shiflett

NASA / Bill Ingalls

2009 INAUGURAL PARADE... Thanks to Ronsmytheiii of NASASpaceflight.com, here are a couple of screenshots from yesterday’s parade showing NASA’s contingent in the ceremony. Along with the Moon buggy above (officially called the Lunar Electric Rover), the space shuttle Endeavour crew who flew on last Fall's STS-126 mission also got to march down Pennsylvania Avenue.


NASA / Bill Ingalls


NASA / Paul Alers

Unfortunately, all the major U.S. TV networks cut away from their parade coverage well before NASA had its turn in the spotlight at the presidential reviewing stand (where Obama and his wife were viewing the parade from)...but it’s clearly obvious that the organizers were wise in saving the rover’s appearance for last. It probably would've stole the show (you see one marching band, you’ve seen them all).




CollectSPACE posted up this video on the NASASpaceflight webpage, courtesy of CNN.com.

NASA / Troy Cryder

A MILESTONE AT THE PAD... At 9:16 AM, Pacific Time today, space shuttle Discovery arrived at its seaside launch pad in Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The shuttle will now undergo final preparations as it gears up for liftoff on February 12. On a personal note, this is a significant event for me...since, as stated in this previous entry, I will hopefully be there in person to view Discovery on the pad before it rockets its way to the International Space Station a few weeks from now. NASA did its job in providing me the opportunity to view a shuttle live before its heads off into space; now it’s up to me to take advantage of the moment. Can’t wait till February 7!