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What Do You Do About A Leaky Soyuz?
What Do You Do About A Leaky Soyuz?

Заради аварията на Союз МС-22: съкращават екипажите на следващите американски и руски пилотирани кораби Keith’s note: An English auto-translation of this article says Soyuz MS-23 will be launched with one crew and then bring cosmonauts Prokopiev and Petelin (currently on ISS) home. The next SpaceX Dragon will be launched with 3 crew – cosmonaut would Fedyaev bumped to a later mission – to bring Rubio home. MS-22 would eventually be deorbited with no crew.

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  • NASA Watch
  • January 9, 2023
NASA Is Moving The Goal Posts (Yet Again) On SLS
NASA Is Moving The Goal Posts (Yet Again) On SLS

Artemis I Wet Dress Rehearsal Update “NASA is planning to proceed with a modified wet dress rehearsal, primarily focused on tanking the core stage, and minimal propellant operations on the interim cryogenic propulsion stage (ICPS) with the ground systems at Kennedy. Due to the changes in loading procedures required for the modified test, wet dress rehearsal testing is slated to resume with call to stations on Tuesday, April 12 and […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 11, 2022
ASAP: NASA Really Needs To Fix Its Human Spaceflight Program Management
ASAP: NASA Really Needs To Fix Its Human Spaceflight Program Management

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2021 Annual Report, ASAP “… Funding such endeavors will obviously take considerable resources. However, history suggests (as shown in Figure 1) it is unlikely NASA’s budget will ever again exceed 1% of the federal budget, as it did during the lead-up to the Apollo Program. Consequently, it will not be possible for NASA to single-handedly carry out all of the missions now envisioned. Considering […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 11, 2022
A Simplistic And Misleading Comparison Of Commercial Space And Mountaineering
A Simplistic And Misleading Comparison Of Commercial Space And Mountaineering

To Understand Low-Earth Orbit, Look to Mt. Everest “Getting to low-Earth orbit is a lot like climbing Mt. Everest. It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult, expensive and risky. As experience grows, the difficulty of reaching the destination drops steadily, and the risk becomes more manageable.” “…the commercial era of Everest expedition rises with the ability of the general public to pay commercial outfitters to climb Everest at a fraction of […]

  • NASA Watch
  • October 14, 2021
The Nauka Incident: Deja Vu All Over Again In Space
The Nauka Incident: Deja Vu All Over Again In Space

Space Station Incident Demands Independent Investigation, Jim Oberg, IEEE Spectrum “How close the station had come to disaster is an open question, and the flight director humorously alluded to it in a later tweet that he’d never been so happy as when he saw on external TV cameras that the solar arrays and radiators were still standing straight in place. And any excessive bending stress along docking interfaces between the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • August 8, 2021
OIG: NASA Made Little/No Progress On Orbital Debris Mitigation
OIG: NASA Made Little/No Progress On Orbital Debris Mitigation

NASA OIG: NASA’s Efforts to Mitigate the Risks Posed by Orbital Debris, OIG “Despite presidential and congressional directives to NASA over the past decade to develop active debris removal technologies, the Agency has made little to no progress on such efforts. Moreover, debris removal technologies from international agencies and commercial entities are in the early stages of development and testing. … We found that NASA models of the orbital debris […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 27, 2021
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 2020 Annual Report
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 2020 Annual Report

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2020 Annual Report “… We believe that NASA must make some strategically critical decisions, based on deliberate and thorough consideration, that are necessary because of their momentous consequences for the future of human space exploration and, in particular, for the management of the attendant risks. These decisions involve: • What role NASA intends to perform going forward and why. • How the Agency will […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 19, 2021
Should NASA and SpaceX Launch A Crew? Yes – Safely. (Update)
Should NASA and SpaceX Launch A Crew? Yes – Safely. (Update)

The Mission NASA Doesn’t Want to Postpone, The Atlantic “In this moment, an astronaut launch might seem to be the opposite of everything Americans have been instructed to do to protect themselves and one another: Flinging people outward doesn’t quite line up with a growing nationwide impulse to turn inward. The mission would unfold against a truly unprecedented backdrop; even wars and national strife, one space historian told me, haven’t […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 19, 2020
We're Still Learning From Apollo 13 Half A Century Later
We're Still Learning From Apollo 13 Half A Century Later

Apollo 13 Reminds Us of Hard Things Worth Doing, op ed, By Jim Lovell and Jim Bridenstine, WS Journal “As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds, Americans can take comfort in our history of facing difficult times with courage and emerging stronger on the other side of struggle. The Apollo 13 mission, launched 50 years ago Saturday, reminds us of Americans’ characteristic resilience and ingenuity. … When things went wrong on the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • April 11, 2020
NASA Drone Memo: Warnings, Spinoffs, And Political Talking Points
NASA Drone Memo: Warnings, Spinoffs, And Political Talking Points

Keith’s note: On 21 February 2020 a memo titled “Unauthorized Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Flights Over NASA Centers/Facilities”, written by Joseph S. Mahaley, Assistant Administrator, Office of Protective Services, was sent to the entire NASA workforce. It opens with: “This communication is forwarded at the direction of NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurcyzk to educate all employees, contractors, tenants, and others having access to NASA properties on the threat posed to […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 2, 2020
The Boeing Company Has A Big Safety Culture Problem
The Boeing Company Has A Big Safety Culture Problem

Boeing Employees Mocked F.A.A. and ‘Clowns’ Who Designed 737 Max, NY Times “The most damaging messages included conversations among Boeing pilots and other employees about software issues and other problems with flight simulators for the Max, a plane later involved in two accidents, in late 2018 and early 2019, that killed 346 people and threw the company into chaos. The employees appear to discuss instances in which the company concealed […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 10, 2020
NASA JSC Certainly Got All Of The Safety Memos
NASA JSC Certainly Got All Of The Safety Memos

Keith’s note: From a retired NASA employee and long-time NASAWatch reader: “Keith, the attached photo was just too instructive to pass up. Let me explain. This is at the Gilruth Center at JSC. I believe that it visually shows the risk averse nature of NASA and says something about space politics. I.e., one stop sign wasn’t enough. A second one is safer. And then a sign explaining what a stop […]

  • NASA Watch
  • December 4, 2019
NASA Mounts Weed-Inspired Witch Hunt at SpaceX and Boeing
NASA Mounts Weed-Inspired Witch Hunt at SpaceX and Boeing

NASA concerned about culture of “inappropriateness” at SpaceX, Ars Technica “In addition to spurring problems for the car company Tesla, Elon Musk’s puff of marijuana in September will also have consequences for SpaceX. On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that NASA will conduct a “safety review” of both of its commercial crew companies, SpaceX and Boeing. The review was prompted, sources told the paper, because of recent behavior by Musk, […]

  • NASA Watch
  • November 20, 2018
NASA's Rescue Expertise Is Needed Again – In Thailand
NASA's Rescue Expertise Is Needed Again – In Thailand

Keith’s note: I got this note from Homer Hickam today: “While reading about the kids in Thailand trapped in a cave by floodwaters and the rescuers thinking about training them to scuba dive, it first occurred to me that we teach youngsters to dive very quickly at Space Camp’s Underwater Astronaut Trainer (UAT) and might be able to help. But on second thought, we do this in ideal conditions with […]

  • NASA Watch
  • July 3, 2018
Annual ASAP Report Says The Same Stuff It Did Last Year
Annual ASAP Report Says The Same Stuff It Did Last Year

NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Releases 2017 Annual Report “The report, released Thursday, is based on the panel’s 2017 fact-finding and quarterly public meetings; “insight” visits and meetings; direct observations of NASA operations and decision-making processes; discussions with NASA management, employees and contractors; and the panel members’ own experience. “It is clear to the panel that NASA is at a critical juncture in human spaceflight development and that this is […]

  • NASA Watch
  • January 11, 2018
This Is How NASA Covers Up SLS Software Safety Issues (Update)
This Is How NASA Covers Up SLS Software Safety Issues (Update)

Keith’s 6 December update: Sources report that the two individuals who spoke with a potential employer of Ben Samouha were NASA employees George Mitchell and Andy Gamble. They were reportedly bragging about how they had done this until they read NASAWatch – and then they shut up. Keith’s 4 December update: According to a friend who has spoken with Ben Samouha, he has been retaliated against. Two NASA MSFC people […]

  • NASA Watch
  • December 6, 2017
Radiation Risk and Exploring Mars
Radiation Risk and Exploring Mars

Collateral damage from cosmic rays increases cancer risks for Mars astronauts, University of Nevada Las Vegas “Galactic cosmic ray exposure can devastate a cell’s nucleus and cause mutations that can result in cancers,” Cucinotta explained. “We learned the damaged cells send signals to the surrounding, unaffected cells and likely modify the tissues’ microenvironments. Those signals seem to inspire the healthy cells to mutate, thereby causing additional tumors or cancers.” Cucinotta […]

  • NASA Watch
  • June 9, 2017
Risk And Martian Exploration
Risk And Martian Exploration

Keith’s note: Last night there was a panel at the Humans To Mars Summit about risk and exploration. The panel was moderated by Leonard David and consisted of NAI Director Penny Boston, former astronaut and SMD AA John Grunsfeld, former Google space lead Tiffany Montague, and NASA SMD’s Rick Davis. At one point the 2004 Risk and Exploration Symposium that John and I put together back in 2004 was mentioned. […]

  • NASA Watch
  • May 10, 2017