Human Spaceflight Briefs

By Nancy Atkinson - October 28, 2010 at 11:45 AM UTC | Space Exploration
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Quite a few things going on in the human spaceflight world, so will just post a few briefs:

Of course top on the agenda is that space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to lift-off on its last flight ever, for the STS-133 mission. Launch is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A. The faulty fuel line that threatened to delay the mission has been fixed, so everything is go for the oldest of the shuttle fleet's final mission, a trip to the International Space Station to bring up Robonaut 2 and a new module. We'll keep you posted for the latest on launch day.

Learn more about the mission from our previous preview articles

here

and

here,

or

at NASA's website.

NASA Administrator

Charlie Bolden took a trip to China

(link to NASA's website) in hopes of encouraging future cooperation between our two nations, but not sure if it did much good.

Besides upsetting people who think he should be concentrating on the issues at home at NASA (from NASAWatch),

a news report just came out that

China says they are considering their own manned space station by 2020.

(PhysOrg)

A Progress resupply ship launched to the ISS just yesterday, Oct. 27, and will meet up with the ISS in 3 days. It is carrying 2 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the Expedition 25 crew, and should dock at the Pirs Docking Compartment on Oct. 30. Watch the video of the launch below.

And here's a "trailer" about Robonaut 2:

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com