NASA Crashes on the Moon Twice in Quest to Find Presence of Water in the Moon's Soil

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite dropped its Centaur upper-stage rocket on the lunar surface at 7:31 a.m. ET. The hope is that the impact would kick up enough dust to help the LCROSS probe find the presence of water in the moon's soil. Four minutes after the impact, the LCROSS followed the probe through the small debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before crashing into the Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole.

According to NASA, the LCROSS carried spectrometers, near-infrared cameras, which is a visible camera and a visible radiometer. These instruments will help scientists analyze the plume of dust, more than 250 metric tons' worth, for water vapor. The orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter watched, and photographed, the impacts. A press conference is scheduled for later today.

Watch animation of how the moon will be "bombed" »

Charles F. Bolden Jr., Nominated by President Barack Obama to Serve as NASA's First African American Administrator

Positive role models are integral in the development of our youth and I am pleased to see President Barack Obama's nomination of Charles F. Bolden Jr. to serve as NASA's next administrator. Bolden, who is an African American, is a former combat pilot, Marine Corps major general and a veteran space shuttle commander. His nomination comes 19 years after he helped launch the Hubble Space Telescope. Thank God Bolden's nomination will mean the end to Mike Griffin's "reign of incompetence" at NASA. He was nominated by President George W. Bush to oversee the shuttle's 2010 retirement and a planned return to the moon.

Many insiders have hailed President Obama's nomination of Bolden as a good move. NASA will be in good hands. He is widely respected within the agency for his exceptionally sound engineering judgment, superb leadership skills and a no-nonsense approach to sticky technical issues. He knows how to navigate his way around Washington D.C. and has a good relationship with Congress. We all know how hard a feat that can prove to be in so many instances.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who flew with Bolden during a 1986 shuttle flight, has been lobbying Obama for several weeks to put Bolden in charge of NASA at a particularly critical juncture in the agency's history. With all the problems the President is facing, it is quite easy for NASA to get lost in the shuffle, but his choice is remarkable. NASA is facing its own issues. It is struggling to complete the International Space Station during the final eight shuttle missions between now and the end of 2010. The agency is also trying to develop a new rocket system for the Bush administration's Constellation program, which is aimed at resuming moon flights in 2020.

The Constellation architecture, which calls for the development of a new heavy lift unmanned Ares 5 booster, a lunar lander, and a smaller Ares 1 rocket to boost Orion crew capsules into orbit, has come under fire from critics who claim alternative rocket systems can be developed faster at lower cost. This program was grossly mismanaged by Mike Griffin and I hope Mr. Bolden can salvage this project without spending excessive amounts of money.

Bolden's shuttle history

Bolden's first space flight came when he and six crewmates, including Nelson, took off aboard the shuttle Columbia on January 12, 1986. It was the last successful shuttle mission before Challenger's fatal January 28 launch. Bolden took off a second time on April 24, 1990, when he served as pilot of the shuttle Discovery to ferry the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.It is a given in the astronaut office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston that any flight assignment is a good flight assignment. But the Hubble Space Telescope, one of the most expensive civilian satellites ever built, was in a class by itself, and Bolden clearly relished a chance to play a role in the showcase mission.

"Astronomy captivates everybody," he said in an interview at the time. "A kid in the ghetto, a kid on the farm, everybody at one time or another happens to glance up at the nighttime sky and they see these things we call stars and every once in a while a planet."You'd just have to be a non-human being not to go 'what the heck is that?' It has a fascination for everybody."

Bolden flew in space a third time as commander of the shuttle Atlantis for an atmospheric research mission that took off March 24, 1992. His fourth and final space mission was a historic flight as commander of the shuttle Discovery in 1994, a mission that included cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian to fly on a space shuttle.The Russian space program is now critical to NASA, providing the transportation to and from low-Earth orbit while the U.S. agency develops its shuttle replacement. Source: CNET

I applaud President Obama for his nomination of Charles Bolden Jr. to head NASA and I know that he will continue to prove his mettle. He is a positive role model, not just to African American children, but to all children who aspire to be astronauts or work for NASA, or become scientists in other fields. Whatever the mind can conceive, it can truly achieve.

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin Not Cooperating With President-Elect Obama's Transition Team

Photo: Orlando Sentinel, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin

It seems totally ridiculous that NASA administrator Mike Griffin has chosen to offend the Obama transition team rather than doing the professional thing and working with them. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Griffin is obstructing the team's efforts to get information and told Lori Garver, the team leader and a former NASA associate administrator, that she was "not qualified" to judge his rocket program. Ouch. Seems like he has something to hide.

In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, a red-faced Griffin demanded to speak directly to Obama, according to witnesses. In addition, Griffin is scripting NASA employees and civilian contractors on what they can tell the transition team and has warned aerospace executives not to criticize the agency’s moon program, sources said.

Griffin’s resistance is part of a no-holds-barred effort to preserve the Constellation program, the delayed and over-budget moon rocket that is his signature project. Chris Shank, NASA’s Chief of Strategic Communications, denied that Griffin is trying to keep information from the team, or that he is seeking a meeting with Obama. He also insisted that Griffin never argued with Garver. “We are working extremely well with the transition team,” he said. However, Shank acknowledged Griffin was concerned that the six-member team – all with space policy backgrounds – lack the engineering expertise to properly assess some of the information they have been given. Source: Orlando Sentinel

There needs to be some serious change at NASA. Obama needs to name a new administrator who will change the agency's policy. Mr. Griffin cannot think that Barack Obama is simply going to take his word on the rocket program. In light of the financial mess in this country, no going with any common sense is going to give any government agency a free pass to spend money as it pleases. There is, however, something very sinister afoot at NASA, especially where Griffin is concerned. He is a Bush appointee who was brought in to implement a plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 as a prelude to going to Mars. Why do I feel that way?

Griffin himself sent a memo urging employees “to answer questions promptly, openly and accurately.” At the same time, he made clear he expected NASA employees to stay on message. For example, transition-team interviews have been monitored by NASA officials “taking copious notes,” according to congressional and space-community sources. Employees who met with the team were told to tell their managers about the interview. Source: Orlando Sentinel

I guess tensions are high because the human space flight program is at a serious crossroads since the end of the Apollo era in the 1970s. You see, other superpowers are making inroads and we are flip flopping through a series of bad decisions. The space shuttle is set to be retired in 2010 and the next-generation Constellation rockets won't take off until 2015.

So, he wants to stay on under the Obama Administration, but seriously, does he have a chance? Especially in light of his "dictatorial" tactics? I wouldn't trust him one iota. He needs to be kicked out of office, along with the other Bush/Cheney cronies.

To read more of the Orlando Sentinel article, CLICK HERE....

NASA Administrator Mike Griffin Not Cooperating With President-Elect Obama's Transition Team

Photo: Orlando Sentinel, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin

It seems totally ridiculous that NASA administrator Mike Griffin has chosen to offend the Obama transition team rather than doing the professional thing and working with them. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Griffin is obstructing the team's efforts to get information and told Lori Garver, the team leader and a former NASA associate administrator, that she was "not qualified" to judge his rocket program. Ouch. Seems like he has something to hide.

In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition team, a red-faced Griffin demanded to speak directly to Obama, according to witnesses. In addition, Griffin is scripting NASA employees and civilian contractors on what they can tell the transition team and has warned aerospace executives not to criticize the agency’s moon program, sources said.

Griffin’s resistance is part of a no-holds-barred effort to preserve the Constellation program, the delayed and over-budget moon rocket that is his signature project. Chris Shank, NASA’s Chief of Strategic Communications, denied that Griffin is trying to keep information from the team, or that he is seeking a meeting with Obama. He also insisted that Griffin never argued with Garver. “We are working extremely well with the transition team,” he said. However, Shank acknowledged Griffin was concerned that the six-member team – all with space policy backgrounds – lack the engineering expertise to properly assess some of the information they have been given. Source: Orlando Sentinel

There needs to be some serious change at NASA. Obama needs to name a new administrator who will change the agency's policy. Mr. Griffin cannot think that Barack Obama is simply going to take his word on the rocket program. In light of the financial mess in this country, no going with any common sense is going to give any government agency a free pass to spend money as it pleases. There is, however, something very sinister afoot at NASA, especially where Griffin is concerned. He is a Bush appointee who was brought in to implement a plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 as a prelude to going to Mars. Why do I feel that way?

Griffin himself sent a memo urging employees “to answer questions promptly, openly and accurately.” At the same time, he made clear he expected NASA employees to stay on message. For example, transition-team interviews have been monitored by NASA officials “taking copious notes,” according to congressional and space-community sources. Employees who met with the team were told to tell their managers about the interview. Source: Orlando Sentinel

I guess tensions are high because the human space flight program is at a serious crossroads since the end of the Apollo era in the 1970s. You see, other superpowers are making inroads and we are flip flopping through a series of bad decisions. The space shuttle is set to be retired in 2010 and the next-generation Constellation rockets won't take off until 2015.

So, he wants to stay on under the Obama Administration, but seriously, does he have a chance? Especially in light of his "dictatorial" tactics? I wouldn't trust him one iota. He needs to be kicked out of office, along with the other Bush/Cheney cronies.

To read more of the Orlando Sentinel article, CLICK HERE....

Being a NASA astronaut means being willing to drink your own urine

I don't know about you, but I never wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid anyway. However, I just read one more reason why:

It's a water-recycling device that will process the crew's urine for communal consumption. "We did blind taste tests of the water," said NASA's Bob Bagdigian, the system's lead engineer. "Nobody had any strong objections. Other than a faint taste of iodine, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water."

"I've got some in my fridge," he added. "It tastes fine to me." Source: Telegraph

Okay people, I know that ALL of the water we drink was probably somebody's urine at one time or another before going through municipal water treatment. However, I think there aren't enough steps between the input and output on the space shuttle if you know what I mean.

So my question to you is, would you feel comfortable drinking water made from your own urine?

Being a NASA astronaut means being willing to drink your own urine

I don't know about you, but I never wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid anyway. However, I just read one more reason why:

It's a water-recycling device that will process the crew's urine for communal consumption. "We did blind taste tests of the water," said NASA's Bob Bagdigian, the system's lead engineer. "Nobody had any strong objections. Other than a faint taste of iodine, it is just as refreshing as any other kind of water."

"I've got some in my fridge," he added. "It tastes fine to me." Source: Telegraph

Okay people, I know that ALL of the water we drink was probably somebody's urine at one time or another before going through municipal water treatment. However, I think there aren't enough steps between the input and output on the space shuttle if you know what I mean.

So my question to you is, would you feel comfortable drinking water made from your own urine?