ANN's Annual Review Of The Year That Was: Aerospace In
2009
Final Compilations by ANN News Editor, Tom Patton
Would it be too punny to say that the Aerospace industy
had its "ups and downs" in 2009? From the downbeat forecast of The
Augustine Commission to the unveiling of SpaceShip Two, it has been
an interesting year in Aerospace. And, of course, everything
is couched against the economy.
So; here are just a few of the stories
we covered following the Aerospace business, for you, this
year:
January
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced its Falcon 9 launch vehicle was
successfully raised to vertical on Saturday - two days ahead of
schedule...
Brice Harris, who worked in Governor Charlie Crist's tourism
and economic-development office, appears to have been deeply involved in putting together a
half-million-dollar deal to train would-be space tourists at a
Panhandle sports-medicine clinic...
The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit performed diagnostic tests
after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities,
including a request to determine its orientation after an
incomplete drive...
Recent reports of comments attributed to NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin have made it clear he doesn't expect
to hold the post after Inauguration Day. The former rocket
scientist has been criticized by some, called a genius by
others...
A team of NASA and university scientists achieved the first definitive detection of
methane in the atmosphere of Mars. This discovery indicates the
planet is either biologically or geologically active...
British billionaire Richard Branson signed a 20-year lease with the state of New
Mexico to build the first US spaceport, and Virgin
Galactic expects to break ground on the facility by April, with
completion slated for sometime in 2010...
NASA moved one step closer to the first flight test of
the rocket that will send humans on their way to the moon as part
of the agency's Constellation Program. Rocket hardware critical for
the test, known as Ares I-X, was completed at NASA's Langley
Research Center in Hampton, VA...
February
Despite the tough economic climate in the U.S., almost 90
percent of Americans see value in the U.S. space program. This
finding is part of the results of a survey commissioned by the
Coalition for Space Exploration, proving that space is still very
important to the American people...
The ambitious dream of returning to the Moon --
this time to stay -- appears alive and well in a magnificently
diverse team of space enthusiasts, artists, engineers, students,
and explorers jointly called Synergy Moon, the latest entrant in
the X Prize Foundation’s Google Lunar X Prize..
In recognition of African American contributions to equal
rights and aviation, Mojave, CA-based XCOR Aerospace presented
Tuskegee Airman Le Roy Gillead, of San Francisco, with a ticket for a ride to the edge of space. The
presentation took place during the University of California
Riverside's 5th annual celebration of the Tuskegee Airmen, titled,
"Voices of the Tuskegee Airmen and Airwomen."...
A defunct Russian military satellite collided with an active Iridium communication
satellite in orbit, about 490 miles above northern
Siberia... in what is believed to be the first documented case of
an accidental satellite collision....
For better or worse, there's a new space power in the world. Iran launched
its first satellite into low-Earth orbit Monday evening, marking
the 30th anniversary of the 1979 overthrow of the Shah and the
start of the Islamic Revolution.
NASA's Kepler spacecraft lifted off the pad from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida, propelled towards the heavens atop a
Delta II launch vehicle...
EADS turned things around in 2008 with a net profit of nearly
$2 billion US. Analysts believe, however, the future holds a far gloomier picture for the
aerospace consortium...
The conglomerate that owns such notable aerospace companies as
Sikorsky, Pratt & Whitney, Rocketdyne and Hamilton Sundstrand
cut 5 percent of its global workforce this
year, the latest victim of a staggeringly awful global
economy...
The firm created by the merger of the El Segundo and Redondo
Beach operations of aerospace manufacturer Northrop Grumman planed
to cut up to 750 jobs in Southern California over
the next three months, the latest casualties of increasing
consolidation in the military and defense sectors...
Virgin Galactic said the test flight program for WhiteKnightTwo (WK2),
the space launch vehicle being developed for the company's
SpaceShipTwo (SS2) commercial spacecraft, completed its third
successful test flight...
Sikorsky successfully completed the first flight of its X2 Technology
Demonstrator, maneuvering the prototype aircraft
through hover, forward flight, and a hover turn, in a test flight
that lasted approximately 30 minutes...
Virgin Galactic announced the names of the five travel
companies who will train to become "Accredited Space Agents" - ASAs
- the first agents in Scandinavia allowed to reserve seats aboard
suborbital space flights from Spaceport Sweden, slated to begin in
2012...
President Barack Obama gave his opinion on NASA's current vision...
or rather, the lack of same. Saying the space agency now suffers
from "a sense of drift," Obama told the paper what NASA needs is a
"mission that is appropriate for the 21st century."...
Boeing, through its Space Exploration division, submitted a proposal to NASA
for Altair lunar lander design support. NASA is expected to award
multiple contracts this spring...
April
David King, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, AL, retired from the agency to accept a position
as executive vice president of Dynetics in Huntsville, effective
immediately....
Three months after being criticized in a Government
Accountability Office report, NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb
submitted a letter of resignationto the White House on
Thursday. President Barack Obama accepted Cobb's resignation, which
is effective April 11.
ANN regrettably learned that famed physicist, author, and
Zero-G flyer, Stephen Hawking has been rushed to the hospital after
his medical condition worsened (though, thankfully, he did
recover)...
Boeing scored a big legal win, and a potentially even greater
payoff. Earlier this month, the American aerospace titan won a
patent-infringement claim filed against NASA regarding the material
used to construct external fuel tanks for the space shuttle...
NASA announced the name for its latest module
destined for the International Space Station... and no, it's was't
"Colbert." ...
A company's efforts to stop a scientist from revealing his
research findings about faulty electronic components the company
sold to the government for military and intelligence-gathering
satellites were the basis for a whistleblower lawsuit that
Northrop Grumman Corp. settled this week, for a record sum of $325
million...
NASA announced it's time to start shutting down
NASA's historic space shuttle program...
Persistent problems with fuel level sensors in the shuttle's
external fuel tanks have scrubbed several launches over the past 20
years, and the government's prime contractors have failed to solve
the problems, despite the imposing engineering credentials of their
in-house staffs, until now...
May
The White House nominated a pioneering Space Shuttle
astronaut, Charles Bolden, to lead NASA during what may come to be
one of its most demanding times..
NASA announced that twelve-year-old Clara Ma from
the Sunflower Elementary school in Lenexa submitted the winning
entry, "Curiosity."...
There are few missions in the history of the Space Shuttle
program that compare with that just completed -- STS-125 -- the
mission to rescue The Hubble Space Telescope...
NASA signed a $306 million modification to the current International
Space Station contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency for
crew transportation and related services in 2012 and 2013...
Masten Space Systems completed their first vertical take-off, vertical-landing
(VTVL) rocket flight demonstration. The demonstration proved out
the design and controls of the 730lb rocket-powered vehicle, known
as XA-0.1B-750 or “Xombie”, its internal
nickname...
The National Space Society (NSS) offered its congrats to retired Marine Major
General and four-time Space Shuttle Astronaut Charles Bolden on his
nomination to the office of NASA Administrator, and Lori Garver on
her nomination to the office of Deputy Administrator...
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's PWR-9221FJ dual-mode ramjet
engine successfully completed its first ground test at Mach 4 flight conditions
at the Arnold Engineering Development Center, Tullahoma, TN...
June
The fifth anniversary of Mike Melvill, then 62, achieving an amazing goal . He boosted to an
altitude of just slightly over 328,000 feet -- 62.5 miles --
becoming the world's first private-industry astronaut...
Another in a string of modifications to launch pad 39B at
the Kennedy Space Center took place. In preparation for the
upcoming Ares I-X launch, scheduled to take place in late August, a
Space Shuttle service component was removed from the pad's
Fixed Service Structure...
NASA announced the formation and initial members of
the Human Space Flight Review Committee, which will help the agency
develop plans for manned space flight after the shuttle fleet
retires...
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter continued examining Mars with its scientific
instruments after successfully transitioning out of a precautionary
standby mode triggered by an unexpected June 3 rebooting of its
computer...
NASA stands front and center as the most visible
representation of the U.S. space program and is critical to our
country's future leadership and competitiveness, according to AIA
Vice President of Space Systems, J.P. Stevens...
Officials from the New Mexico Spaceport Authority scheduled a
formal ground breaking ceremony of Spaceport
America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport, for
Friday, June 19...
The industry association of companies seeking to make
commercial human spaceflight a reality rolled out a new website and a new name
... The Commercial Spaceflight Federation...
Space Adventures, Ltd., announced that Guy Laliberté, founder
of Cirque du Soleil and the ONE DROP Foundation, has begun training
at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City in
preparation for his poetic social mission to the International
Space Station (ISS).
July
NASA successfully demonstrated an alternate system
for future astronauts to escape their launch vehicle. A simulated
launch of the Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS, took place at
NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, VA...
Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the twelfth
administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Lori Beth Garver was confirmed as NASA's deputy
administrator...
What was it that Arlo Guthrie said in "Alice's Restaurant"?
Once more in 5 part harmony ... with feeling ... or words to that
effect. That must have been how the crew of Endeavour felt when they suited up for the 6th
time and climbed back aboard their spacecraft, but
this time they wouldn't be getting off until they reached
ISS...
The 2008 NASA Commercial Invention of the Year is a high
temperature resin designed to create composites through low-cost
manufacturing processes -- ideal for advanced aerospace
vehicles...
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) says they have successfully completed
qualification testing for the Falcon 9 launch vehicle first stage
tank and interstage. Testing took place at SpaceX’s Texas
Test Site...
A judge convicted a 73-year-old Chinese-born engineer
who worked for both Boeing and Rockwell of stealing secrets
critical to the U.S. Space Program. He was found guilty on six
counts of economic espionage...
August
U.S. Army astronaut Col. Tim Kopra became the first
International Space Station crew member to communicate through Twitter...
The Obama Administrations' Human Spaceflight Commission, also
known as The Augustine Commission after its chairman Norman
Augustine, said it would tell the administration that NASA's budget
constraints make the continuation of human spaceflight almost
impossible to sustain, putting plans for a return to the moon or a
mission to Mars in doubt...
The commission charted by The Obama Administration to set the
country's post-shuttle space goals winnowed the number of potential missions down
from 864 to seven, with a goal of reaching three potential
scenarios by next week. “That’s not a joke,” said
Edward F. Crawley, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and a panel member....
The Next Step in Space Coalition, announced that its membership has grown to
include a diverse set of businesses and organizations, including
Google, Inc., Analytic Graphics Inc., the Space Coast Economic
Development Commission and the National Space Society...
September
NASA assigned the crew for the last scheduled space
shuttle mission, targeted to launch in September 2010. The flight
to the International Space Station will carry a pressurized
logistics module to the station.
The Augustine Commission Report has concluded that to return to
the moon, NASA's budget would have to increase by $3 billion per year over
the currently budgeted $18 billion...
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and European Space Agency
(ESA) Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain signed a memorandum of understanding for
cooperation in the field of space transportation...
At a hearing before the House Science and Technology Committee
, Human Space Flight Commission Chair Norman Augustine found
himself defending the committees' recommendations to
scrap a planned return to the moon given NASA's budget
constraints...
China broke ground on its fourth space launch center
, as part of that country's effort to build on its manned space
flight program...
Masten Space Systems successfully demonstrated multiple sustained
free flights of its XA-0.1B vertical take-off, vertical landing
(VTVL) rocket . The longest flight was 93 seconds...
October
NASA's Ares I-X test rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in
Florida for a two-minute powered flight. The test flight lasted
about six minutes from its launch from the newly-modified Launch
Complex 39B until splash down of the rocket's booster stage nearly
150 miles down range...
Masten Space Systems successfully qualified for first place in
Level Two of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge Wednesday.
Flying a brand new vehicle named XA-0.1E (nicknamed Xoie).
Governor Bob Riley (R-AL), Governor Haley Barbour (R-MS), and
Governor Bobby Jindal (R- LA) announced the launch of The Aerospace
Alliance...
NASA's Human Spaceflight Commission released its final report for the White House,
and the outlook for the future of government-funded human
spaceflight is fairly bleak...
NASA recovered the main solid rocket booster of the Ares I-X
following yesterday's test flight. The booster was found floating
upright in the Atlantic ocean, but on inspection, divers found pronounced buckling in
the booster's lower segment...
NASA officials said in a news conference that two of the three
150-foot parachutes designed to slow the descent of the Ares I-X
booster failed, causing it to be damaged when it impacted the
water...
Being in microgravity would probably make all those amazing
Cirque du Soleil stunts a LOT easier, but founder Guy
Laliberté didn't take an entire troupe with him. He did,
however, arrive safely at ISS onboard aSoyuz TMA-16
spacecraft...
November
NASA announced that preliminary data from NASA's Lunar Crater
Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates the mission
successfully uncovered water in a permanently shadowed lunar
crater...
NASA awarded $1.65 million in prize money to a pair
of innovative aerospace companies that successfully simulated
landing a spacecraft on the moon and lifting off again...
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation announced the creation and initial membership
of the Spaceports Council...
Former astronaut Lisa Nowak, who had faced charges of attempted
kidnapping, burglary, and battery, pleaded guilty to lesser charges of felony
burglary of a car and a battery misdemeanor in an agreement reached
with prosecutors...
December
Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceshipOne (SS1)
designer, Burt Rutan, revealed SS2 to the public for the first time
since construction of the world’s first manned commercial
spaceship began in 2007...
The Yecheon Astro Space Center announced that it has selected XCOR Aerospace
as its preferred supplier of suborbital space launch
services...
A Russian Space Agency official said that after the
retirement of the U.S. Space Shuttle, there will be no more seats available to
transport tourists to ISS on Soyuz spacecraft...
Hurricane force winds hit Mojave Air and Spaceport
CA., tearing apart a specially created site which had
been used throughout the day to house guests attending the first
roll out of Virgin Galactic's new spaceship...
Say Altitude Used by ATC to ascertain an aircraft's specific altitude/flight level. When the aircraft is climbing or descending, the pilot should state the indicated altitude round>[...]
Aero Linx: European Air Law Association (EALA) EALA was established in 1988 with the aim to promote the study of European air law and to provide an open forum for those with an int>[...]
From 2023 (YouTube Version): The Life, Death, Life, Death, and Life of a Glorious Warbird In 1981, business-owner Jim Tobul and his father purchased a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair. Mo>[...]
Also: USCG Retires MH-65 Dolphins, Irish Aviation Authority, NATCA Warns FAA, Diamond DA42 AD This summer, history enthusiasts will have a unique opportunity to experience World Wa>[...]
Also: WACO Kitchen Bails, French SportPlane Mfr to FL, Dynon-Advance Flight Systems, Innovation Preview Bobby Bailey, a bit of a fixture in sport aviation circles for his work with>[...]