Universe Today - May 18, 2001

the
U N I V E R S E
T O D A Y

Space Exploration News From Around the Internet
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May 18, 2001 - Issue #436
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-- UNIVERSE TODAY STORY SUMMARY --

* NASA Awards New Contracts to Develop Future Space Technologies
* Astronauts Were Too Tired to Entertain Tito
* Chandra Reveals a Nest of Binary Stars


NASA AWARDS NEW CONTRACTS TO DEVELOP FUTURE SPACE TECHNOLOGIES
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NASA announced yesterday that it has awarded a series of contracts to 22 companies worth a total of $767 million to develop the next generation of launch vehicles - dubbed the Space Launch Initiative (SLI). Through these contracts, NASA hopes to receive new technologies for crew survival systems, advanced fuel tanks, long-life rocket engines, and safety features.

Original Source:
http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/news/releases/2001/01-180.html

Internet Coverage:
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_space.jsp?view=story&id=news/ssli0517.xml
http://www.spacetoday.net/getarticle.php3?id=3826
http://www.floridatoday.com/news/space/stories/2001a/may/spa051801c.htm

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/nasa.html

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/nasa.html


ASTRONAUTS WERE TOO TIRED TO ENTERTAIN TITO
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Russian cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev complained at a recent press briefing about the reception they received when they visited the International Space Station with space tourist Dennis Tito. He said that the American astronauts weren't very cordial and he suspected they were ordered to make the stay less than pleasant. NASA responded, saying that it was just that the astronauts were too tired to entertain their guests, and it had nothing to do with Tito.

Internet Coverage:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/05/18/space.tito.reut/index.html
http://www.msnbc.com/news/574223.asp
http://www.space.com/news/spacestation/iss_briefing_010517-1.html

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/spacestation.html

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/nasa.html


CHANDRA REVEALS A NEST OF BINARY STARS
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New images from the Chandra X-Ray observatory show the first complete census of compact binary stars in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae. Nearly all the objects in this image are compact binary stars, in which a normal sun-like star orbits a collapsed star (a white dwarf or a neutron star). The data also revealed the presence of "millisecond" pulsars, which rotate rapidly, between 100 and 1000 times a second.

Original Source:
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cycle1/0004/index.html

Internet Coverage:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/05/18/chandra/index.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/chandra_binaries_010518.html

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/chandra.html

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/astronomy.html

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http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/astronomy.html

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