Apr 16 2009
From The Space Library
NASA announced that the Kepler telescope, which NASA had launched in March 2009, had successfully captured its first images of the area of the sky where it would commence its mission of searching for planets similar to Earth. The so-called first-light images showed Kepler’s target patch of sky, located in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way galaxy. One image showed Kepler’s full field of view, and two others zoomed in on portions of the larger region.
NASA, “NASA’s Kepler Captures First Views of Planet-Hunting Territory,” news release 09-085, 16 April 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_09-085_Kepler_First_Light.html (accessed 17 May 2011).
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), an independent group of experts that had evaluated NASA’s safety performance since 1968, released its 2008 annual report. ASAP agreed that continuing to operate the Shuttle fleet would minimize the gap between Shuttle retirement and the first Orion flights, but the panel did not favor that approach because of NASA’s diminished Shuttle manufacturing and support capabilities. NASA had been closing out contracts with Shuttle component manufacturers and supporting vendors since 2004. According to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board]] (Columbia Accident Investigation Board|CAIB]]), operating the fleet beyond 2010 would require NASA to recertify the entire Shuttle system and to draw funds from the Constellation Program, thereby impeding its effort to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020. ASAP saw little likelihood that NASA could field Ares-I rockets and Orion spacecraft before March 2015, even if Congress provided additional funding. ASAP had concluded that no evidence indicated that the commercial sector could develop cargo and crew transport services in time, or that commercial spacecraft were appropriate to transport NASA personnel, or that commercial spacecraft could safely dock with the ISS. In addition to ASAP’s annual report, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had released a report analyzing budget scenarios for fulfilling President George W. Bush’s 2004 space exploration plan. Each scenario predicted schedule slips requiring additional congressional funding. The CBO had found that, at current funding levels, NASA must delay development of Ares I’s and Orion’s initial operating capabilities until late 2016, delay the return of humans to the Moon for three years, and delay 15 out of 79 science missions beyond 2025.
NASA, “Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases Annual Report,” media advisory M09-061, 16 April 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/apr/HQ_M09-061_ASAP_Annual_Report.html (accessed 17 May 2011); Todd Halvorson, “Independent Safety Experts Call for Shuttle Shutdown,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 17 April 2009; Eun Kyung Kim, “Report: NASA Needs Extra Billions To Maintain Schedule,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 17 April 2009. See also U.S. Congress, Congressional Budget Office, “The Budgetary Implications of NASA’s Current Plans for Space Exploration” (report, Washington, DC, April 2009), http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10051/04-15-NASA.pdf.
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