"The First, Best Space Calendar in the Business"
Vol 28, No 29
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Lunar High Tide Offers Opportunity For President Obama To Reassert USA Global Leadership In Peaceful Human Exploration of Solar System

The 2009 NASA Ames Lunar Science Forum in Moffett Field CA, July 21-23, will be the premier event in the week-long 40th Apollo 11 observance celebration. At the forum, world leaders in lunar science and space exploration will review the opportunities for science of, on and from the Moon. During this week of lunar high tide, space enthusiasts and the general, global public are reflecting on the successes of the past. At the same time, many are wondering what happened to the future that was promised and when the next giant leap of humanity will occur. USA, the country that achieved Apollo, now has its ambitious plan to return to the Moon underway with the LRO and LCROSS spacecrafts currently orbiting the Moon. The entire USA human spaceflight program is under review however, while the country faces insufficient funding to achieve its goals, a potential 5-year gap in human space access and no confirmed robotic lunar lander missions. Other countries such as China and India are working to put rovers on the Moon by 2011-2013 and humans by 2020. President Obama, often compared to the inspirational JFK, must seize this opportunity to inspire the country to once again renew its leadership in the peaceful expansion of the human race throughout the solar system. This can be achieved by putting robotic landers on the Moon by 2012, assuring sufficient funds for the construction and settlement of a human Moon base before the end of the decade and collaborating with other International Space Agencies. (Credit: NASA, CSA, NovaSpace, Buzzaldrin.com)

Europe Joint Efforts Will Advance Lunar Exploration

European 21st century lunar exploration space initiatives could become reality through synergistic cooperation of independent countries’ lunar programs. Germany, recently working on the Lunar Exploration Orbiter (LEO) mission, has since refocused lunar exploration efforts through Team Part-time Scientists, who are currently in the planning phase of building their rover, Asimov-1.  Italy is planning to send spider-like robots to explore the lunar surface by 2012. Piero Messina, coordinator for Team Italia and president of the Naples-based International Association for the Aerospace Culture (AICA), helped synchronize all major Italian aerospace and engineering universities, as well as the two largest Italian aerospace companies to support the race to land a robot on the Moon. Britain’s Moon Lightweight Interior and Telecoms Experiment (MoonLITE) which will help to enhance knowledge of the seismic environment of the Moon is set for a 2014 launch into lunar orbit. The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research will collaborate with Odyssey Moon to fly a Dutch science instrument called ‘MoonShot’ aboard Odyssey Moon’s inaugural M-1 lunar mission. With each country collaborating and contributing resources, Europe, in its capacity and size, can achieve major space-power capabilities through joint efforts aimed to put humans back on the Moon. (Credit: Odyssey Moon, NASA, comp-archaeology.org)
THIS WEEK
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
LEGEND
All times for terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
All times for international terrestrial events in local time unless noted.
All times for space events, and...
All times for international space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT ('Universal Time;' Greenwich, England).
Weekly Planet Watch – Morning Planets: Venus (E), Mars (E), Jupiter (S) / Evening Planets: Saturn (W), Jupiter (E).
 

MONDAY
Jul 20 — International Space Station, LEO: ISS population at a record 13 as E20 crew hosts the crew of Endeavour STS-127; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html.
Jul 20 — NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO, Lunar Orbit: LRO successfully returns imagery of 5 of the 6 Apollo landing sites, showing descent stages, scientific instruments and footprint trails; http://www.nasa.gov/LRO.
Jul 20 — India Chandrayaan-1 Lunar Orbiter, Lunar Orbit: Orientation of the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft corrected as ISRO scientists repair sensor malfunction; http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/.
Jul 20 — Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, Pasadena CA: The Mars rover team continues to use a test rover at JPL to assess various extraction techniques that might get Spirit out of the loose soil of 'Troy;' http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Jul 20 — 40th Apollo 11 Observation, Nationwide USA / Global: 1st Human mission to land on Moon in 1969; 1st steps by humans on another planetary body taken by Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin.
Jul 20 — NASA Headquarters, Washington DC: News conference with astronauts from several Apollo missions to commemorate 40th Anniversary of the first lunar landing at 09:30-10:30 EDT; http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jun/HQ_M09-117_Apollo_Events.html.
Jul 20 — NASA Canberra Deep Space Network, Canberra, Australia: 'Apollo XI: Live From the Moon;' http://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/Pages/pg05_events.html.
Jul 20 — NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston TX: 'Discovery Channel Documentary: Moon Machines' for Johnson Space Center Employees; http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/events/apollo40yrs_events_prt.htm.
Jul 20 — NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville AL: 'NASA MSFC Celebration of Apollo 11;' http://www.spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=5510.
Jul 20 — National Space Society, Space Frontier Foundation, et al, Online: 'Space Settlement Blog Day;' http://www.nss.org/settlement/blogging.html.
Jul 20 — Major League Baseball, Houston Astros, Houston TX: 'NASA Night with the Astros;' http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/.
Jul 20 — Major League Soccer, Houston Dynamo, Houston TX: 'NASA Night with the Dynamos;' http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/.
Jul 20 — NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral FL: '40 inch Moon Pie at the Rocket Garden;' http://media.kennedyspacecenter.com/kennedy/news/events/apollo40thanniversary.htm.
Jul 20 — NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral FL: 'Apollo 40th Overnight Adventure;' http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/lunar.aspx.
Jul 20 — American Museum of Natural History, New York NY: 'A New Path to the Moon and Beyond Gravitational Chaos' by Ed Belbruno; http://www.amnh.org/programs/programs.php?src=p_h&date=2009-07-20&event_id=1325.
Jul 20-22 — American Institute Of Aeronautics And Astronautics, Williamsburg VA: '7th Annual International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference;' http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=1.
Jul 20-24 — NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA: '2009 Sagan Exoplanet Summer Workshop: Exoplanetary Atmospheres;' http://nexsci.caltech.edu/workshop/2009/index.shtml.
Jul 20-24 — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA: 'NASA's 21st Annual Planetary Science Summer School - Session 1;' https://pscischool.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Jul 20-24 — NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral FL: 'Camp Kennedy Space Center (KSC);' http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/event.aspx?id=c91013ca-8541-4660-b3d8-c0d7e2a88c7b&calendar=2009/7/20/.
Jul 20-24 — National Science Foundation, US Department of Energy, et al, Stanford CA: '13th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors;' http://ltd13.stanford.edu/.
Jul 20-24 — Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, PR China: '4th Meeting on Hot Subdwarf Stars and Related Objects;' http://159.226.148.155/indico/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=2.
Jul 20-24 — The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics, International Association of Seismology and Physics of Earth's Interior, Trieste, Italy: 'From Core to Crust: Towards an Integrated Vision of Earth's Interior;' http://cdsagenda5.ictp.it/full_display.php?email=0&ida=a08171.
Jul 20-25 — Peking University, National Astronomical Observatory of China, et al, Beijing, PR China: 'Massive Black Hole Binaries and Their Coalescence in Galactic Nuclei;' http://vega.bac.pku.edu.cn/~fkliu/binary09/.
Jul 20 — Asteroid 12927 Pinocchio: Closest Approach to Earth; (1.307 AU).
Jul 20 — Asteroid 2006 TU7: Near Earth Fly-by; (0.036 AU).
Continued from . . .
Jun 21 — Phillips Exeter Academy, Grainger Observatory, Exeter NH: '2nd Exeter Astronomy Conference;' through July 26; http://www.exeter.edu/Astronomy/4380_4634.aspx.
Jun 29 — International Space University / NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field CA: '21st ISU Summer Session Program;' through August 28; http://www.isunet.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=59&Itemid=185.
Jul 1 — The Mars Society, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada: 'Mars Simulation on Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic;' through July 31; http://www.marssociety.org/portal/groups/AnalogsTF/FMARS2009Announcement/.
Jul 1 — NASA, X PRIZE Foundation, Open location USA: 'Lunar Lander Challenge Competition;' through October 31; http://space.xprize.org/.
Jul 16 — National Space Society, Moon Society, Worldwide: 'Apollo Moon Party;' through July 24; http://apollomoonparty.org/.
Jul 16 — NASA, Online: NASA to provide audio 'time capsule' in observance of Apollo 11 40th anniversary of first human moon landing on July 16 at 06:32 CDT continuing through to July 24 at 11:51 CDT;' through July 24; http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo11_radio.
Jul 17 — University of Washington Astrobiology Program, Seattle WA: 'ABGradCon 2009;' through July 20; http://sites.google.com/a/u.washington.edu/abgradcon09.
Jul 18 — Space Frontier Foundation, Ames Research Center, et al, Moffett Field CA: 'NewSpace 2009 Conference;' through July 20; http://newspace2009.spacefrontier.org/.
Jul 18 — Virginia Living Museum, Newport VA: '40th Anniversary: For All Mankind;' through July 20; http://www.thevlm.org/planetarium.aspx.
Jul 18 — National Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, et al, Beijing, PR China: 'Frontiers of Cosmology at Dome A, Antarctica;' through July 23; http://dome-a.physics.tamu.edu/~lifanwang/FrontCosmo/FrontCosmo/Frontiers_of_Cosmology.html.
Jul 19 — Discovery Green, Houston TX: 'Spacefest: 40th Anniversary of the Moon Landing Celebration;' through July 20; http://www.discoverygreen.com/en/cev/eb/3924944/.
Jul 19 — East Tennessee State University, Johnson City TN: 'Galaxy Wars: Stellar Populations and Star Formation in Interacting Galaxies;' through July 22; http://www.etsu.edu/physics/wars/wars.html.
Jul 19 — Woden Southern Cross Club, Canberra, Australia: 'Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Celebration and Tracking Station Reunion;' through July 22; http://jsaxon.org/space/hsk/Reunions/40th2009/.
Jul 19 — NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Pasadena CA: '3rd Annual International Conference on Space-Mission Challenges for Information Technology;' through July 23; http://smc-it.org/.
Jul 19 — Shanghai Astronomical Society, Shanghai, PR China: 'New Technologies for Probing the Diversity of Brown Dwarfs and Exoplanets;' through July 24; http://web.mac.com/triple_binary/BD/Sponsors.html.
Jul 19 — The International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences, International Association for Cryospheric Sciences, et al, Montreal, Canada: 'MOCA 2009: Joint Assembly Meeting of IAMAS, IAPSO and IACS;' through July 29; http://www.moca-09.org/e/99-home_e.shtml.
TUESDAY
Jul 21 — Total Solar Eclipse: 14:51-18:19; Longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century (6 minutes, 39 seconds), the path of the Moon’s umbral shadow begins in India and extends through China, Southern Japan, and the Marshall and Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific; http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/SEmono/TSE2009/TSE2009.html.
Jul 21 — NASA Headquarters, Washington DC: 'STS-125 Space Shuttle Crew's 'Tweetup' in Washington;' http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate/tweetup.html.
Jul 21-23 — US Office of Science and Technology, NASA, Washington DC: 'Review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee Fact Finding Meeting;' http://www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/meetings/index.html.
Jul 21-23 — NASA Lunar Science Institute, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field CA: '2nd Annual Lunar Science Forum and EPO Forum;' http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/.
Jul 21-23 — National Institute of Space Research (INPE), Immigrant Convention Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil: 'GEO Summit Latin America 2009;' http://www.geobr.com.br/en/Home/.
Jul 21-24 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Seattle WA: '3rd International Workshop on Mars Polar Energy Balance and the CO2 Cycle;' http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/mpeb2009/.
Jul 21-24 — SPOT Satellite Messenger, Salt Lake City UT: 'Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Conference;' http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=28705.
Jul 21-30 — ESA, International Space Science Institute, et al, Alpbach, Tyrol, Austria: 'Summer School Alpbach 2009: Exoplanets - Discovering and Characterizing Earth Type Planets;' http://www.summerschoolalpbach.at/.
Jul 21 — Cassini OTM-208, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #208 today; http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Jul 21 — Mercury: 0.52° NNE of center of Beehive cluster; 06:00.
Jul 21 — Moon: 6.0° SSW of Pollux, 05:00; at Perigee (distance: 63.49 earth-radii), 10:00; New Moon, 16:34.
WEDNESDAY
Jul 22 — Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Black Mountain, Australia: 'Forum: Look! Up In the Sky! Australia at the Cutting Edge of Astronomy;' http://www.csiro.au/events/Look-up-in-the-sky.html.
Jul 22 — Airdrie Air Park, Mattamy Homes, et al, Airdrie, Alberta, Canada: 'Airdrie Regional Air Show;' http://www.airdrieairshow.ca/.
Jul 22 — Moon: 2.0° SSW of center of Beehive cluster, 05:00; 2.7° SSW of Mercury, 09:00.
THURSDAY
Jul 23 — NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston TX: News conference with Jeff Williams, Maxim Suraev and spaceflight participant Guy Lalibert to discuss upcoming flight to the International Space Station, at 08:00 CDT; http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/jul/HQ_M09-134_Expedition21_Briefing.html.
Jul 23 — NASA, Pasadena CA: 'Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Meeting;' http://www.spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=5478.
Jul 23-24 — International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), Palo Alto CA: 'ILOA Board of Director's Meeting;' http://www.iloa.org/index.html.
Jul 23-24 — The Museum of Flight, Seattle WA: NASA 'Vision for Space Exploration' Mobile Exhibit;' http://www.museumofflight.org/event/.
Jul 23-24 — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt MD: 'Afterschool Universe Astronomy Program;' http://universe.nasa.gov/au/overview.html.
Jul 23-25 — The Observatory of Paris, Laboratory for the Study of Radiation and Matter in Astrophysics, et al, Paris, France: '13th Paris Cosmology Colloquium 2009: The Stanford Model of the Universe - From Inflation to Today's Dark Energy;' http://chalonge.obspm.fr/colloque2009.html.
Jul 23-26 — USS Hornet Museum, Alameda CA: 'Splashdown 2009: Apollo 11 Anniversary Celebration;' Appearance by US Astronaut Buzz Aldrin on July 25; http://www.uss-hornet.org/posters/splashdown/index.shtml.
Jul 23 — Moon: 3.1° SSW of Regulus; 17:00.
FRIDAY
Jul 24 — Launch Soyuz / Progress 34 (M68), Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Russia Progress 34 cargo spacecraft delivers supplies to ISS Expedition 20 crew; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html.
Jul 24 — Space Center Houston, Houston TX: 'Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Splashdown Celebration;' http://www.spacecenter.org/apollo11anniversary.html.
Jul 24 — The Space Walk of Fame, Astronaut Memorial Foundation, et al, Cocoa Beach FL: 'Apollo XI 40th Anniversary Event at US Space Walk of Fame;' http://www.spaceref.com/calendar/calendar.html?pid=5265.
Jul 24-25 — Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Foundation, Heidelberg, Germany: 'Hengstberger Symposium: Extra Dimensions and Mini Black Holes;' http://www.kip.uni-heidelberg.de/extradim/.
Jul 24-25 — NASA Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral FL: 'Astronaut Training Experience;' http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/event.aspx?id=81cc74f9-f1fb-4234-9539-f1ae3066e7e6&calendar=2009/7/20/.
Jul 24-26 — Northfield Mountain Recreation and Environmental Center, Northfield MA: '27th Annual Connecticut River Valley Astronomers Conjunction;' http://www.philharrington.net/astroconjunction/program.htm.
Jul 24 — Cassini Titan Flyby, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts close flyby of Saturn moon Titan (altitude = 955 km); http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturntourdates/.
SATURDAY
Jul 25 — Launch Dnepr / Multi-payload, Dombarovsky, Russia: An ISC Kosmotras Dnepr rocket will launch a cluster of small international satellites; http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html.
Jul 25 — Moon: 6.0° SSW of Saturn; 00:00.
Jul 25 — Mars: 5.1° N of Aldebaran; 20:00.
SUNDAY
Jul 26 — Space Generation Advisory Council, Worldwide / Online: 'Move an Asteroid 2009 Competition' submission deadline for International Technical Paper; http://astronautical.org/awards/criteria/.
 
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Space Calendar Published Weekly, Mondays. ISSN 0741-1731. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © July 20, 2009, Space Age Publishing Company, 65-1230 Mamalahoa Highway - Suite D-20, Kamuela, Hawaii 96743; 480 California Avenue - Suite 303, Palo Alto, California 94306, USA. Editor & Publisher, ILOA Director / Steve Durst. Associate Editor, ILOA Executive Director / Charles Bohannan. Assistant Editor / Joseph Sulla. Marketing Editor / Michelle Gonella. Editor Assistant / Asia Becerra. Special Contributors: Hawaii Aloha. Australia / Kirby Ikin. Canada / Robert Richards. China, Asia / Chen Kan Arth. Europe-Russia / Theo Pirard. India, South Asia / Radhakrishna Rao, USA, Bill Carswell. www.spaceagepub.com, news@spaceagepub.com.