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Showing posts from April, 2011

This Astronaut for Hire Needs Your Help

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Two years ago, I asked for your help to raise money for the FMARS expedition. You responded with generous donations that helped reach more than half of my goal.  Now I need your help again.  Please consider donating to my Astronaut Training Fund so I can take the next step important step in my professional development as a prospective astronaut. Almost everyone has dreamed of floating in space above the majestic Earth.  Until recently becoming an astronaut was reserved only for the most elite test pilots, engineers, and scientists.  Now, the emerging private spaceflight industry will bring space into reach for many more people.  These spacecraft will need highly trained crews to manage experiments and payloads since science, in addition to tourism , will be a major driver of of the new industry. With a well-rounded scientitic resume , I have a real shot at becoming an astronaut.  After all, in 2009 I made it to the Highly Qualified round (top 3-12%) of NASA's astronaut sel

Future of NASA Astronauts

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How many astronauts does NASA need? That's a question I posed on this website four months ago when NASA commissioned the Committee on Human Spaceflight Crew Operations to review the space agency's astronaut needs. The committee's final report isn't due until August of this year, but a related New York Times article published this weekend caught my eye. The article starts off with the provocative query: "What happens when you have the right stuff at the wrong time? It goes on to cite examples of how NASA astronauts are leaving the agency to pursue other career options in the wake of the Space Shuttle and Constellation program cancellations. According to the article, 20 astronauts left NASA in 2010, leaving only 61 currently on the payroll - a far cry from the peak of 150 astronauts in 2000. After all, companies like Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are currently hiring astronauts.  Bigelow Aerospace made headlines back in 2007 and 2010 when it advertised it

A Half Century of Humans in Space

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Today the world celebrates a very special anniversary. On this day in 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person to visit space, ushering in a new era for humanity as a spacefaring species.  An instant worldwide hero, Gagarin has served as an inspirational figure to astronauts and the populace else ever since.  Since 1962, the Soviet Union (now Russia) has observed April 12 as Cosmonautics Day , and for the past decade the world has celebrated every April 12 as Yuri's Night .  Now in 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution officially proclaiming April 12 as the International Day of Human Space Flight . Upon returning to Earth, Gagarin said, "When I orbited the Earth, I saw how beautiful our planet is. We must protect and preserve this beauty and not destroy it." This is a common theme expressed by astronauts - that the Earth is fragile and up to all of us to protect.  I think that is one of the most important legacies Gagarin and the space pr

Inside SpaceShipTwo

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Last week, BBC transportation correspondent Richard Scott released an exclusive video tour of the unfinished SpaceShipTwo (SS2) cabin interior. He is the first journalist allowed inside Virgin Galactic 's spaceship. In the video , he gives viewers a firsthand tour of the vehicle's cabin, which is still under construction at the Mojave Air and Spaceport . The full BBC article also includes two additional videos where Scott interviews Scaled Composites test pilot Peter Siebold and tours the Spaceport America facility, where SS2 will eventually be based. Siebold has flown the new spacecraft on two glide flights and described it as "exhilarating." According to the videos, once the rocket motor is complete, Scaled Composites will test the powered flight capabilities of the vehicle and plans to start taking paying customers into space by 2013.  This is big news, as previous reports from Virgin had pointed to commercial flights as soon as late 2011.  I guess th