Orbiting the blogosphere II

Orbiting the blogosphere II

Whirling round the internet, as I do, seeking out what's going on I thought I'd give another round up of some of the stuff you could find this week.\nWhile quick disconnect couplings might not seem that fun NASA is seeking them for its Constellation’s programme’s lunar extra-vehicular manned unit portable life support system. \nFor that programme Alliant Techsystems has been awarded \$62.5 million for the Orion crew exploration vehicle’s launch abort motor by the new manned spacecraft’s launch abort system developer Orbital Sciences.\nIf you want some interesting speculation on Orion and the possible requirements for it to have a titanium enclosed cabin then Chair Force Engineer is a good place to go.\nSomething more down to Earth is the US space agency’s Glenn Research Center request for new avionics for its Beechcraft T-34 Mentor and you can see pictures of the aircraft’s interiors here.\nMeanwhile over at Kennedy Space Center Space Shuttle Endeavour has been moved to its launch pad for its scheduled 7 August start to its STS-118 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).\nAnother flight to the ISS this August is Russia’s S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia’s built Progress M-61 supply spacecraft.\nIt will be carrying spare computers to replace those that failed temporarily during June.\nBack at NASA preparations are underway for the Mars Phoenix lander August lift off, while the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s DAWN launch has been bumped from this month to September.\nAnd finally, to read how US president George Bush made his position on NASA’s funding entirely clear, click here…