August.28.2003
Space News
Gagarin
- triumph & tragedy... I recently posted
a press release about the documentary Starman,
which examines the life and times of Yuri
Gagarin. Though released in 1998 and seen around the world,
the program for some reason has not yet been shown on American TV.
I was
given a tape of the documentary and very much enjoyed it.
The program
offers an insightful and revealing look at Gagarin's life and his
famous spaceflight on April 12th 1961. Antedotes from family, friends
and co-workers show the first starman to be both a decent person
and an icon with very human weaknesses.
The extensive
period film footage provides a full color window onto the intense
Cold War period of the 1950s and early 1960s when it appeared that
the Soviet Union just might offer real competition to the US in
industrial and technological development. The
Khrushchev period, though still very restrictive by western standards,
was a huge relief from the brutal repression of the Stalin years
and wave of optimism swept the Soviet Union, especially after Sputnik
reached space before a US satellite got there.
Yuri Gagarin
mirrored the rise and fall of this era. Gagarin was picked to be
the first human to fly in space not only because of his excellent
aeronautical skills but also because as the son of peasant parents
he best represented what could be achieved in a Communist society.
He became a world superstar with the success of the flight and a
favorite of Nikta Khrushchev.
Like John Glenn,
Gagarin wanted more than anything else to return to spaceflight
but the political leaders felt that his symbolic value was too high
to risk, especially after the death in 1967 of Vladimir Komarov
in Soyuz
1 for whom Gagarin was the backup pilot. In fact, Gagarin tried
to stop that flight when he saw serious defects in the program.
Unfortunately, he no longer had significant influence on the leadership
as the Brezhnev led team that overthrew Khrushchev kept their distance
from him, perhaps jealous of his celebrity.
Unlike Glenn,
Gagarin did not go on to enhoyy a successful second career but instead
his health deteriorated from heavy drinking. His flying skills lapsed
and in 1968 he decided to revive his flight status. On the morning
of March 27th he flew a MiG-15 trainer along with a co-pilot and,
under still somewhat mysterious circumstances, the plane crashed,
killing both pilots. The loss of Gagarin was deeply demoralizing
to the Soviet Union and seemed to presage the long slow decline
from its high point in 1961 to its final collapse in 1991.
I highly recommend
this documentary and will post the news here if it is to be shown
on US TV and/or released on video.
Update:
HobbySpace reader Kaido Kert notes also the set of documentaries
called Red
Files (Abamedia) (see also RED
FILES: Secret Soviet Moon Mission - pbs.org) that dealt with
revelations in the Communist documentation released after the fall
of the Soviet Union. Episode 3 is about the "Secret Soviet
Moon Mission" and deals in particular with the secret father of
Soviet space programme, Sergei P. Korolev.
Images
of space history... The MiX-
Marshall image eXchange at Marshall
Spaceflight Center provides a big selection of images from the
early days of rocketry up through the latest NASA projects.
Moon
watching ...
The The
American Lunar Society promotes the observation and study of
our nearest heavenly body. It encourages various educational projects
and sponsors some fun contests: Yearly
"Lunar Imagining Contest" and Image
of the Month
August.25.2003
Space News
Rocketry
defense... Here
is a good resource for defending rocketry against the rampant
ignorance in the US government : Answers
To The Department of Justice & ATFE Anti-Rocket Propaganda
Campaign - Amateur Rocketry Society of America (via Rocketforge.)
August.24.2003 Space
News Interview
with Elon Musk -
Founder and CEO of SpaceX,
Elon Musk answers questions from HobbySpace about
the history and status of the company and the Falcon orbital
launcher project.
August.22.2003 Space
News Point
the Mars camera... You
can submit requests for targets for the orbiter camera on the Mars
Global Surveyor (MGS) via this site : Mars
Orbiter Camera Public Target Request Site - Malin Space Science
Systems. See also the article NASA
Seeks Public Suggestions for Mars Photos - JPL - Aug.20.03
Living & launching
off the land... This
article discusses research on using
local resources on Mars rather than carrying everything
from earth: Harvesting
Mars: A NASA-supported scientist is learning how to use carbon
dioxide--the main gas in Mars' atmosphere--to harvest rocket
fuel and water from the red planet. - Science@NASA - Aug.20.03
Volunteer
astronomy... Amateur
astronomers keep a lookout for asteroids and comets that will
impact the earth: Incoming!
- Popular Science - Sept.03 issue. In Britain a group of
astronomy buffs created a successful observatory that's lasted
over 30 years: No
place like dome - BBC - Aug.21.03
August.21.2003 Space
News Private
space tug to the rescue... Dennis
Wingo of Orbital
Recovery Corporation proposes the company's orbital
tug as a means to boost the Hubble Space Telescope when
it nears the end of its fuel supply. Space
Tug to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope's Rescue? by Dennis Wingo
- Orbital Recover/SpaceRef - Aug.20.03 .
The tug "could
either boost HST to a very long lived high earth orbit where
it could be stored or even do a plane change to move it to the
International Space Station (ISS) where it could be serviced
repeatedly and reboosted by the SLES to a high orbit above ISS."
August.19.2003 Space
News Broad
public interest in space ... Despite
the Columbia tragedy, support for NASA and space in general
remains strong among a broad segment of the US public according
to the latest poll:
However, this
doesn't translate into support for increases in funding, though
most people think NASA gets a lot more money than it actually
does.
Jeff Foust
looks at the nuances in an earlier poll: The
gaps in NASA's support by Jeff Foust - The Space Review - Aug.19.03
I find
the polls quite reassuring for commercial space development
such as the various space tourist projects. While many people
don't want to see large amounts of tax money going for government
space projects, their high general interest in space shows
that appealing privately financed projects have a good chance
of finding a substantial market.
Get
on the solar emergency call list... If you
want notification of the latest solar flare, the SpaceWeather center
will add you to its automatic phone alert system for a monthly
fee: Spaceweather
PHONE.
Sat
fire spotters... Those seeking to monitor
and contain forest fires in the US now have help from satellite
observations:
SpacecraftNames
update... Bruce Cranford's International
Spacecraft and Launch Vehicle Names Glossary at www.SpacecraftNames.info now
offers over 6500 satellites and spacecraft launched through
2002 in an alphabetized listing for fast lookup.
August.17.2003 Space
News Thanks
for the fav[or]icon... My
thanks to HobbySpace reader
Abe Milde for providing me a nice favicon graphic
that appears in the browser page address entry and in a bookmark
for HobbySpace.
Space
history library... Check out the long list
of on line space history reports and books at NASA
Histories On-Line.
Mars
fiction... Follow the serialization of Robert
Stockman's Mars
Frontier novel in the Fiction section
at the New
Mars e-zine. Also, consider the proposal by Stuart Atkinson
to raise awareness and interness in Mars with an IMAZ movie: Mars
- The Movie - New Mars - July.8.03
August.15.2003 Space
News The
Real Gagarin... Piers
Bizony, noted author of several space related books, sent me
this press release about a documentary he
made about Yuri Gagarin based on his book
STARMAN:
The Truth behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin
Atlantic
Celtic Films is proud to offer this important and critically
acclaimed film for the US market, in celebration of the world's
first space hero.
On April
12th, 1961, Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became the first human
to leave the Earth and venture into space. His one-orbit flight
lasted barely 108 minutes, but in that brief span of time he
became the most famous man in the world.
Back on the
ground, his good looks and easy charm captured the hearts of
millions around the world. International film stars, politicians
and pop stars queued up to shake his hand. Meanwhile, Russia
enjoyed a period of glamour and global prestige that it has
never since matched.
Yet, despite
Gagarin¹s fame, almost nothing is known about the man
himself, or the many people who contributed to his flight.
Starman tells for the first time Gagarin¹s personal odyssey
from humble peasant to international icon. We also explain
why his flight was more dangerous than the Russians have ever
admitted.
Our film
charts Gagarin¹s rapid decline as his marriage, his space
career and his personal life fell apart under the pressures
of fame. We also discover his growing disillusionment with
the Russian State, as he gradually discovered the cruelties
that the Communist regime often heaped upon its citizens.
For the first
time we reveal our hero¹s drinking binges and his reckless
love for women; his career-threatening adventures at an élite
holiday resort, and other incidents that we might expect from
a young man full of mischief and energy. But there was another
side to his story. He was a kind-hearted, conscientious man,
a natural diplomat, a social worker and a friend to countless
people, both within and far outside the space community. He
intervened on behalf of ordinary citizens when they were treated
unjustly by the authorities, and embarked on a dangerous struggle
to save the life of another cosmonaut, blasted into space on
a horrifying test flight that could only end in total, deadly
disaster. It brought him into conflict with the darkest elements
of the Politburo and the KGB.
Gagarin¹s
epic flight spurred US president John F. Kennedy to send America
to the moon. But when Neil Armstrong made his famous walk on
the lunar surface eight years later, the young Russian spaceman
was already dead, aged just 34. We explore the murky circumstances
behind the air crash that killed him.
The Soviet
bosses, led by Leonid Brezhnev, attended the State funeral
to mourn Gagarin¹s death. But privately, there was considerable
relief. Gagarin was easier to handle as a dead hero than a
living troublemaker. Our film reveals the flawed but brave
and dedicated man behind the bland Soviet propaganda images.
Candid, emotionally
moving interviews with Gagarin¹s relatives, friends, cosmonaut
colleagues, secret KGB minders and rivals (few of whom have
spoken before) run throughout the film, with superb and previously
unseen archive footage and photographs. Above all, Gagarin's
story is punctuated by the recollections of Gherman Titov,
his closest rival in the cosmonaut squad: a man who simultaneously
admired and resented the charming Yuri's rise to fame.
We also interview
senior Russian space administrators and engineers from the
Gagarin era, who describe with startling candour the circumstances
behind the world's first manned space shot. We learn, too,
about the fierce brilliance and bravery of the project's chief
administrator, Sergei Korolev.
Beautifully
photographed in widescreen format, and punctuated by stunning
historical archive, this is a finely crafted film. All the British newspapers
highlighted our film as the lead national network TV review item.
In fact Starman
was so successful in Britain, and right across Europe, that
a tie-in book was published by Bloomsbury (in hardback and
paperback) written by Starman¹s producer and originator,
Jamie Doran, and science writer and collaborator Piers Bizony
(nominated for the 1999 Eugene Emme Award for Astronautical
Writing in the US). Like the film, Starman the book received
a wonderful critical reception.
Big
money for Martian meteorite... The
eBay dealer sell2all.com expects
a lot of interest and cash in its auction of the Zagami meteorite
(Zagami
story in NASA pdf file). Bids will start at $450k and
may go as high as $2 million for the 188 grams of Red Planet
stone. The
Most Expensive Meteorite Ever Sold on eBay - collectSpace
- Aug.14.03 * It
Came from Mars - collectSpace - Aug.14.03
August.14.2003 Space
News Space
elevator resources... Spaceref has introduced
a new section dedicated to the space
elevator concept and
includes a reprint of an article by Arthur C. Clarke:
Greening
arctic Mars... Spaceref's Devon Island greenhouse
has begun to blossom: Arthur
Clarke Mars Greenhouse Grows First Crop on Devon Island -
SpaceRef - Aug.13.03
Hubble
futures... Jeff Foust reviews the possible
scenarios for the Hubble Telescopes final years: Considering
the fate of Hubble - The Space Review - Aug.11.03
Mars
in film.. Any movie even vaguely related
to Mars is listed at Mars
Movie Guide - The San Diego Chapter of the Mars Society * Mars
Movies - Coming attractions
August.13.2003 Space
News Amateur
finds afterglow... Berto Monard of South
Africa is the first amateur astronomer to discover the afterglow
of a gamma-ray burst: Amateur
Astronomer Locates Powerful Stellar Explosion Before the
Pros - NASA - Aug.12.03. He is a member of the American
Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), whose
members provide visual observations to support work done
with high energy radiation detectors.
Disney
does space... The new DisneyWorld space ride
gets generally good reviews:
However, Rand
Simberg believes they used the wrong model for the space future: Undying
Mythologies - Transterrestrial Musings - Aug.5.03
Space
quake spotters... More about predicting earthquakes
from space in this report Anticipating
Earthquakes: High above Earth where seismic waves never reach,
satellites may be able to detect earthquakes--before they
strike - Science@NASA - AUg.11.03, which also discusses
the Stanford nanosat spinoff project Quakefinder that
recently launched a spacecraft
Surviving
space with art... If you are in London in
September, check out the Surviving in Space lecture
at The Arts Catalyst s 3rd International Science & Art
Conference on Friday 19th September 2003 2.00 - 9.30 pm at
Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street,
London W1S 4BS.(www.artscatalyst.org)
The presentation description:
With the
long journey to Mars and back increasingly preoccupying the
space industry and space medicine, some of the debates within
the art and technology world about the human body have become
increasingly mirrored. For long-term space travel should we
create artificial environments to cocoon the body? Or transform
the body into a space faring cyborg, augmenting and converting
it for weightlessness?
In this compelling
conference, taking place in the Royal Institution s beautiful
historic Faraday lecture theatre where Faraday demonstrated
the world's first electric transformer - artists, scientists
and cosmonauts come together to widen the debate about long-term
human spaceflight as a cultural as well as scientific issue.
The Arts
Catalyst, founders of the MIR International Network for Space
Art, has been exploring the ideas of human spaceflight and
taking artists and scientists on zero gravity flights with
the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Russia for the past
four years.
Culminating
a day of stimulating debate, Catalonian electronic artist Marcel.li
Antunez Roca will give a performance-presentation, Transpermia,
of his Project Daedalus, which took place this year on zero
gravity flights organised by Arts Catalyst with the Russian
space agency.
£15, £12
Concessions. £10 ICA Members
August.11.2003 Space
News Happy
Birthday to the Martian Chronicler... The
Planetary Society offers you a page to wish Ray Bradbury
a Happy Birthday: Planetary
Society: Bradbury's Birthday. More info at Help
Ray Bradbury Celebrate a Martian Birthday - Planetary Society/SpaceRef
- Aug.10.03
Congratulations
to the happy space couple... Overcoming the
resistance of space agency bureacrats in both Russia and
the US, Yuri Malenchenko and Ekaterina Dmitriev finally got
to make their wedding vows
between earth and space: A
marriage made in orbit: Cosmonaut, earthbound bride wed in
space service - Florida Today - Aug.11.03
August.8.2003
Space News Canadian
Mars program in peril according to the Mars
Society of Canada. The Phoenix project, recently selected by
NASA for a 2007 mission to Mars, will include instruments from a
Canadian group to study the Martian atmosphere: Canadians
Selected for 2007 Mars Mission - Mars Society of Canada - Aug.6.03
However, cutbacks
in funding threaten the ability of Canadian researchers to participate
in this and other projects:
Unfortunately,
these and future opportunities for Canadian science and industry
are now in peril: the 2003 federal budget contained none of the
funds necessary to pursue the Canadian Space Agency's newly planned
Mars involvement. Recognizing Canada's wealth of expertise, the
Mars Society of Canada is part of a coalition of student and space
advocacy groups including the Canadian Space Society, the Carleton
University Mechanical and Aerospace Society, and the Students
for the Exploration and Development of Space. We have initiated
a petition to the House of Commons (Marssociety.ca/petition)
and embarked on a campaign to inform the public of our nation's
scientific and technological prowess, its economic benefits, and
its relevance to our understanding of the Earth.
August.7.2003
Space News
Lots
of space & rocketry resources are available
at the home web site of
Mark Goll. He runs the
advanced rocketry company Texas
Spacelines and also devotes much effort apparently to developing
educational and advocacy materials for space and rocketry. I list
some of his sections here:
Thanks go to
Kert Kaido for pointing me to Goll's site.
August.5.2003
Space News
University
hits Mars jackpot... NASA selected a collaboration
led by a group at the University of Arizona to develop a Mars lander
for 2007. The head of the Arizona group, Peter Smith, is also, by
the way, a steering committee member in the Mars
Society. Furthermore, according to a Mar Society announcement,
the Scout missions were first proposed by the Society in 1998 and
accepted by NASA in 2000. Who says space advocacy organizations
don't make an impact?
Love
finds a way in space... Looks like the wedding will
happen despite space bureaucracies in both Russia and the USA: ISS
wedding is on - spacetoday.net - Aug.4.03
August.4.2003
Space News
News
briefs ... Arthur C. Clarke (via 3-D projection),
Freeman Dyson, and other futurist thinkers to meet in Colorado
at the Telluride
Tech Festival : Futurists
Flock to Telluride to Roadmap Space Exploration Goals - Space.com
- Aug.4.03 ...
... India
and Chinese space programs growing :
... Disney
to offer ground based ride to space Mission:
SPACE Ready to Take Guests on Flights to Mars - Space.com - Aug.4.03
August.3.2003 Space
News Aviation & Space
art ...The
latest issue of Fine
Arts Magazine has these interesting articles
on aviation & space
art:
Plus there
is this article Space
Art: Drift Painting in a Microgravity Environment
by Frank Pietronigro - Fine Arts Magazine - Aug.03 . The author Frank
Pietronigro describes his space
arts projects on planes flying parabolic trajectories to provide periods
of microgravity.
Via these articles
I found the Air
Force Art site, which offers a large gallery including this
space art collection: The
Air Force Art Collection -Space. (Unfortunately, the on line
images are rather small.)
August.1.2003
Space News
Arctic
Mars letters... Checkout the reports by
April Childress on the experiences of her and her husband
during the Mars
simulations on Devon Island this summer sponsored by
the Mars
Society.
Solar
sails in New York.... The Planetary
Society shows off a section of the Cosmos
1 solar sail at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City:
Cosmos
1 Unfurls One of its 47-Foot Blades at Centennial of Flight
in NYC :
Solar Sail Blade Gives Public a First Look at Future Space Flight Technology
- Planetary Society - July.28.03
Note that your
name can fly on the Cosmos 1 if you register
by August 20.
Continue
to July 2003 articles in archive
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