William sent in a question to the Coalition for Space Exploration asking about NASA's plans to deal with large spare parts for the International Space Station once the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010. He was particulary concerned about the Station's gyroscopes, or CMGs, and if future problems with the devices could send the ISS back to Earth like Skylab.

I talked with NASA spokesman Rob Navias from the Johnson Space Center and learned the agency's intention is that two spare gyros will be brought up to the station and stored at the outpost in case they are needed.

Extra batteries, a Ku-band antenna, an S-band antenna, ammonia tank assemblies a robot arm component, and a pair of high-pressure gas tanks are some of the other bulky spare items intended to be packed on the station before the Space Shuttle's retirement in 2010.

After then it will be several years before NASA can send bigger replacement parts up to the station so the idea is to plan ahead and load up the ISS with supplies. Most of that cargo will be launched on the final two shuttle missions planned by NASA .

William's question specifically referred to the CMGs. Four CMGs are installed outside the station, each spinning 6,600 times per minute. At least two need to be working to do their job, which is to keep the space station pointed in a specific direction as it orbits the Earth.

If the station loses its pointing ability a number of unwanted things could happen to the station, but it won't just suddenly tumble out of orbit and crash to Earth, which was the ultimate fate of SkyLab and the Russian space station Mir.

Fortunately there is a second way to control the station's attitude and that is by using the outpost's thrusters, or steering jets on visiting docked spacecraft. This method is often employed when the CMGs need maintenance, or "desaturation."

The CMGs have been troublesome in the past and two have required replacement by spacewalking astronauts.

Jim Banke
Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Wow!

Take a view of just-released High-definition movies taken by Japan's Kaguya lunar orbiter. The movies are the full Earth-rise and Earth-set taken from the orbiter as it circles the Moon.

NHK, the Japan broadcasting company started public release of the movies today.

These movies can be viewed by going to:

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kaguya/archive/index.html

This site is in Japanese, but you can easily figure out how to turn on the movies.

Sit back and relax and take a longing, long-distance look back at Mother Earth from the Moon. And no need for a space helmet!

-- Leonard David

Space icon Eugene F. Kranz testified this morning on behalf of the Coalition for Space Exploration at the NASA Reauthorization Hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, which examined the reauthorization of the U.S. Space Exploration Program.

Kranz addressed specific issues regarding retirement of the space shuttle fleet, the transition to the next phase of space exploration known as the Constellation Program, and issues regarding NASA’s budget.

Kranz is a former flight director for NASA through the Apollo program (including Apollo 11 and 13), as well as the Gemini and Skylab programs; former director of Mission Operations at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is a member of the Coalition’s Board of Advisors.

Click for Complete Testimony

By Leonard David

Todd sent the Coalition a message regarding a moving object in the sky, wondering what he and a co-worker might have seen.

Satellite, UFO...or ?

Hard to say what they saw...but a little detective work might help find an answer.

Since a lot of our readers are sky and space watchers, here's my recommendation to help bracket what  Todd and his colleague might/might not have eyed. And if you've also seen something cruise by, here are some websites that may prove helpful.

A good step is checking out this site:

http://www.heavens-above.com/

This can help you determine if you might have seen a spacecraft passing overhead.

On the other hand, if you still think you've spotted something that's really out of this world, contact the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON for short at:

http://www.mufon.com/

What kind of close encounter you have - do keep looking up!

Carlos-Luis...thanks for your question regarding NASA and its meteorological work.

Daily weather prediction is key to NASA operations, be it looking at weather patterns for an upcoming rocket launch...or forecasting what the weather will be like when a space shuttle orbiter is ready to head back home from orbit and make a landing.

But there's a lot more to weather watching than meets the meteorological eye!

Making use of Earth-orbiting spacecraft, NASA scientists study weather patterns around the entire world - all to help glue together an accurate picture about Earth's climate. Meteorologists draw conclusions and make predictions about how our climate will translate into local weather every day. They also create computer models that predict how climate and weather may vary in the future as a result of human activity.

Also, there's an even bigger picture to weather - space weather! Given Earth's dynamic Sun, our neighboring star tosses out huge amounts of energy that impacts this planet's environment. More and more attention is being paid to space weather, to help unravel what role space weather has on planet Earth, as well as its impact on satellites and human spacecraft orbiting the Earth or heading out to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Lastly, don't forget about the weather on other planets.

To investigate what meteorological jobs at NASA are available, check out:

http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/

Also, go to http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/amu/

You'll be tapping into the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU), a tri-agency cooperative effort for transitioning new techniques from the research arena to improve operational weather forecasting and analysis in support of the space shuttle and the national space program.

Other web sites you might find useful - and to give you an idea of the rich variety of weather and Earth-watching research activities, try out:

http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/Education/ed_sites.html

I hope you find all of this useful...

-- Leonard David