"The First, Best Space Calendar in the Business"
Vol 29, No 16
Hawai`i: 808-885-3473
news@spaceagepub.com, www.spaceagepub.com
fax: 808-885-3475

International Space Station Symposium to Advance Global Effort of Space Exploration

On April 19-21, The International Space Station (ISS) Partners will hold the 1st ‘ISS Symposium 2010’ in Berlin, Germany to celebrate the international cooperation that has made the ISS one of the most successful international projects. Scientists and influential thinkers from over 15 countries will discuss how ISS research contributes to innovation, science, sustainable development in space and future space exploration. Sky and Space Chairman of Vittorio Prodi (TL) will give the keynote address ‘ISS for Global Peaceful Cooperation’ followed by remarks from ISS Reps Bill Gerstenmaier (CL) of NASA, Vitaly Davydov of RSA, Kiyoshi Higuchi of JAXA, Steve MacLean (CR) of CSA and Jean-Jacques Dordain (TR) of ESA.  The ISS has maintained continuous human presence since the arrival of Expedition-1 nearly 10 years ago. The symposium will feature the 1st Expedition crew (BL) Sergei Krikalev, Yuri Gidzenko and Bill Shepherd, as well as astronauts from E-20 / 21 crews. On a recent call to the ISS to mark the 49th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (BR) stated, “space is our highest priority regardless of how hard the economic situation is in the country.” (Credit: NASA, cogwriter.com, CSA, ESA, cafebabel.com)

X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle Mission Shrouded In Secrecy

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is set to launch the X-37B launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 20. Weighing 4,989 kg, the craft dubbed by the US Air Force as "the newest and most advanced re-entry spacecraft" is 8.8 m long and 2.9 m high with a wingspan of 4.2 meters. Originally designed in 2004 by NASA (BR) as an astronaut-only replacement vehicle for the Space Shuttle, the spacecraft now belongs to the Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. They have not released its cost or future plans, yet it is known that military thinkers have long sought a space plane as a means to engage, inspect or disable orbiting satellites or potentially serve as a space fighter. This initial auto-piloted mission will focus on vehicle checkout and test of subsystems. With the secrecy surrounding the X-37B, it remains to be seen if it will become a valuable research and space platform resupply vehicle, or if it will fuel a technology-fed arms race. (Credit: US Air Force, NASA, DARPA, spaceforpeace.org)
THIS WEEK
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
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: Jupiter (E) / Evening Planets: Venus (WNW), Mars (SW), Saturn (SE).
 

MONDAY
Apr 19 — International Space Station, LEO: Maintenance continues on the ISS while ground and station crew continue to troubleshoot a jammed nitrogen valve; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html.
Apr 19 — NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Lunar Orbit: LRO continues to return global data of lunar surface while operating nominally at low polar orbit (50km); http://lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov/index.html.
Apr 19 — Mars Rover Opportunity, Red Planet: Opportunity continues to press toward Endeavour crater as total odometry nears 24,000 meters; http://marsrover.nasa.gov/mission/status.html#opportunity.
Apr 19-21 — ESA, NASA, Roscosmos, CSA, JAXA, Berlin, Germany: 'International Space Station Symposium 2010;' http://www.iss2010symposium.com/iss/Welcome.aspx.
Apr 19-23 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, El Paso TX; Carlsbad NM: '1st International Conference on Mars Sedimentology and Stratiagraphy / Field Trip to Permian Basin;' http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/marssed2010/marssed20103rd.shtml.
Apr 19-23 — International Space University, Strasbourg, France: 'Executive Space Course,' examines current space-related activities and the technology, science, business and policies upon which each phase of the program or mission is based; http://www.isunet.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=137&Itemid=295.
Apr 19-23 — Japan Society for Promotion of Science, MEXT, et al, Kyoto, Japan: 'Deciphering the Ancient Universe with Gamma-Ray Bursts;' http://www-tap.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp/GRB2010/.
Apr 19-23 — ESA, Cologne, France: 'International Association for Advancement of Space Safety: Mission Safety Course;' http://www.congrex.nl/10m31/.
Apr 19 — Asteroid 2005 YU55: Near-Earth Flyby (0.015 AU).
Continued from . . .
Jan 30 — Museum of Science and Industry, Confucius Institute / University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom: 'Exhibition: From Gunpowder to Space Rockets - The China Space Program,' includes models of ancient rockets, recent satellites, rockets, space ships and a lunar rover; through Aug 7; http://www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/china-space-exhibition.
TUESDAY
Apr 20 — Launch Atlas 5 / OTV, Cape Canaveral FL: Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office under direct supervision of the secretary of the Air Force set to launch experimental new X-37B space plane in highly secretive mission; http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html.
Apr 20 — Open Luna Foundation, Canadian Space Society, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: 'CSS Lecture Night Series,' Open Luna Project Manager Paul Graham to give a talk regarding his vision of lunar exploration at the Canadian Air and Space Museum; http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12706081197.
Apr 20 — NASA Lunar Science Institute, Moffett Field CA: 'From the Lunar Ionosphere to the First Stars,' Joseph Lazio; http://lunarscience.arc.nasa.gov/events/lazio.
Apr 20 — NASA Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility, Palmdale CA: Media invited to explore NASA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Aircraft; http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/index.html.
Apr 20-22 — American Institute Of Aeronautics And Astronautics, Atlanta GA: 'AIAA Infotech@ Aerospace 2010;' http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=2358.
Apr 20 — Moon: 7.4° SSW of Pollux; 16:00.
Apr 20 — April Piscid Meteors: Daytime shower radiates from constellation Pisces; http://www.springerlink.com/content/u06h406w6q344k37/.
Apr 20 — Asteroid 2008 UC202: Near-Earth Flyby (0.098 AU).
WEDNESDAY
Apr 21 — Intelius, Palo Alto CA: 'Space Commercialization,' Peter Diamandis, Naveen Jain, Bob Richards; http://www.churchillclub.org/eventDetail.jsp?EVT_ID=863.
Apr 21 — The SETI Institute, Mountain View CA: Colloquium Series Lecture: 'Titan: Outer-Planet Moon of Mystery,' Jeff Moore; http://www.seti.org/csc/lectures.
Apr 21 — Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC: ' COSTAR: Moving Beyond Earth,' Valerie Neal; http://www.nasm.si.edu/events/eventDetail.cfm?eventID=1856.
Apr 21 — Heritage Auction Galleries, Dallas TX: ' 2010 April Grand Format Space Exploration Auction;' http://historical.ha.com/common/auction/catalog.php?SaleNo=6037.
Apr 21-23 — The National Academies, Boulder CO: 'Planetary Science Decadal Survey: Inner Planets Panel;' http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=49113.
Apr 21 — Asteroid 2010 GZ5: Near-Earth Flyby (0.056 AU).
THURSDAY
Apr 22 — Earth Day 2010, Global: A day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment.
Apr 22 — Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston TX: 'Circumstellar and Interstellar Matter in Primitive Extraterrestrial Materials,' Christine Floss; http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/seminars/#1424.
Apr 22-24 — Kagoshima University, Kagoshima, Japan: '3rd East Asia VLBI Workshop 2010;' http://milkyway.sci.kagoshima-u.ac.jp/groups/eavws2010/.
Apr 22 — Moon: At First Quarter, 08:19; 3.3° SSW of Beehive Cluster, 17:00; 4.4° SSW of Mars, 19:00.
Apr 22 — Lyrids Meteor Shower Peak: Meteor shower peak radiates from the constellation Lyra and may occasionally experience an outburst of about 100 meteors per hour; http://meteorshowersonline.com/lyrids.html.
FRIDAY
Apr 23 — NASA, Las Cruces NM: Media Preview Day for Pad Abort 1 flight test being developed for the Orion crew vehicle; http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/apr/HQ_M10-052_PA-1_Test.html.
Apr 23 — Pi Puppid Meteor Shower Peak: Meteor shower radiates from constellation Pisces; http://www.psychohistorian.org/downloads/ssa2010/ssa2010-april.pdf.
Apr 23 — Moon: 4.1° S of Regulus; 09:00.
Apr 23 — Asteroid 2009 UY19: Near-Earth Flyby (0.023 AU).
SATURDAY
Apr 24 — Launch Proton / SES 1, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan: Proton rocket with a Breeze M upper stage set to deploy SES 1 telecommunications spacecraft; http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html.
Apr 24 — Ad Astra Kansas, Topeka KS: 'Ad Astra Kansas Day 2010 Space Celebration;' http://www.adastra-ks.org/.
Apr 24 — Cradle of Aviation Museum, Long Island NY: 'Long Island's Finest Hour: Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Apollo 13 with Fred Haise and Joe Gavin;' http://www.cradleofaviation.org/.
Apr 24 — Tulsa Air and Space Museum, Tulsa OK: '1st QuikTrip Air & Rocket Racing Show;' http://www.tulsaairshow.com/.
Apr 24 — Zero Gravity Corporation, Cape Canaveral FL: Commercial weightless flight onboard G Force One; http://www.gozerog.com/.
Apr 24 — The Astronomical League, Nationwide: Local astronomical societies, planetariums, museums and observatories to sponsor public viewing sessions, presentations, workshops, and other activities to increase public awareness about astronomy and the universe; http://www.astroleague.org/al/astroday/astroday.html.
Apr 24 — Cassini OTM-244, Saturn Orbit: Spacecraft conducts Orbital Trim Maneuver #244 today; http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/.
Apr 24 — Delta Piscid Meteors: Daytime meteor shower radiating from constellation Pisces; http://meteorshowersonline.com/.
Apr 24 — Moon: At Perigee (Distance 57.56 earth-radii); 11:00.
SUNDAY
Apr 25-29 — American Astronomical Society Division of Dynamical Astronomy, Boston MA: 'The 2010 Meeting of the Division on Dynamical Astronomy;' http://dda.harvard.edu/meetings/2010/.
Apr 25-29 — Geospatial Information Technology Association, Phoenix AZ: 'Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions Conference 2010: Not Your Father's GIS Conference;' http://www.gita.org/gis/.
Apr 25-30 — American Institute Of Aeronautics And Astronautics, Huntsville AL: 'Space Ops 2010 Conference: Delivering on the Dream,' hosted by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center; http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=1.
Apr 25-30 — European Science Foundation, Leopold Franzens University, et al, Obergurgl, Austria: 'Putting our Solar System in Context: Origin, Dynamical and Physical Evolution of Multiple Planet Systems;' http://www.esf.org/activities/esf-conferences/partnerships/esf-fwf-conferences-in-partnership-with-lfui.html.
Apr 25 — Venus: 3.5° SSE of Pleiades; 00:00.
Apr 23 — Moon: 7.4° SSW of Saturn; 09:00.
Apr 25 — Asteroid 2004 US1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.067 AU).
 
Click Here For DOWNRANGE -- Events Through 2020.

Space Calendar Published Weekly, Mondays. ISSN 0741-1731. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © April 19, 2010. 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.