Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 05 suborbital mission I am flying on, still set for November 2nd, is the fifth commercial suborbital revenue mission for Virgin Galactic. Among myself and the other revenue customers on the flight, we’ve been referring to the mission as “High 5!”. And if it does, I’m pretty sure you’ll see some high 5’s among us on flight day!

Late next week I’ll be undertaking my first spaceflight, flying a training and “risk reduction” mission funded by my employer, the Southwest research Institute (SwRI). This flight is in preparation for a NASA-SwRI suborbital research mission that is coming up for me as well, hopefully next year. That research flight will feature two experiments—one to assess the efficacy of the spacecraft for doing suborbital astronomy, and one to take physiological data on an experimenter undergoing suborbital spaceflight.

Late next week, I’m scheduled to launch aboard Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity on a suborbital spaceflight. I’m not flying as a private astronaut, though, as most VG customers are, but as a researcher, headed to work in space.

Keith’s note: this is circulating on social media from ASE – The Association of Space Explorers. I’ll post more information when I get it (or you send it to me). Ad Astra Bo.

Keith’s note: I was on i24 TV in Israel today to talk about the upcoming Axiom-2 (AX2) mission to the ISS. In a nutshell I think my main point is that what was once monolithic i.e. a large rich country sent its generic employee astronauts into space to do mission X to now where many people go up via many different arrangements to do many different things. And who they are as a person becomes more important – and more interesting – than the fact that they are an “astronaut” in a rocketship. And that is a good thing. Audio. Video clip below.

Keith’s note: According to NASA PAO: “NASA has appointed veteran astronaut Joe Acaba as chief of the Astronaut Office at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. A decorated veteran of multiple spaceflights, as well a former U.S. Marine and former educator, Acaba is the first person of Hispanic heritage selected to lead the office.” In May 2004 Sean O’Keefe (an educator) was NASA Administrator. NASA selected 3 “educator astronauts” including Joe Acaba. Now, NASA’s chief astronaut is an actual teacher. Wow. While Acaba has a big job ahead of him, I am looking forward to seeing how this affects the the way that NASA engages with the Artemis Generation and how they are inspired by the example that Acaba and his team set , “as only NASA can” as “the next generation of space explorers” sets out to achieve their dreams on Earth – or beyond.

Keith’s note: Astronaut Don Lind, selected in the 1966 NASA Group 5 astronaut class, a veteran of STS-51-B mission, who also supported Apollo and Skylab programs, has died at the age of 92. Ad Astra.

NASA Requirements Updates for Private Astronaut Missions “In preparation for future announcements for additional private astronaut mission (PAM) flight opportunities, NASA is making the community aware of requirement updates that have been made since the last PAM solicitation based on lessons learned identified upon completion of the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, spaceflight participant (SFP) activities, and other recent civilian-crew spaceflight. These updates will be documented […]

Keith’s note: This 5 minute conversation was recorded on 6 April 2022. The White house called Vande Hei’s cellphone. It then took The White House and NASA took 19 days to post it. FWIW the whole thing sounds mostly scripted. From the White House: “On April 6th 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris called NASA Astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who returned to Earth on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, after 355 days […]

NASA OIG: NASA’s Management Of Its Astronaut Corps, OIG “… However, the astronaut corps is projected to fall below its targeted size or minimum manifest requirement in fiscal year (FY) 2022 and FY 2023 due to attrition and additional space flight manifest needs. More concerning, the Astronaut Office calculated that the corps size would exactly equal the number of flight manifest seats NASA will need in FY 2022. As a […]