The latest This_Week @NASA is about the new astronaut class, new Global Exploration Roadmap, etc:
Caption:
A big week for NASA’s newest astronaut candidates … chosen from more 6-thousand applicants, the group of eight arrived at Johnson Space Center to begin training for future missions and were introduced to the media during a news conference with Administrator Charlie Bolden. The candidates could be some of the first explorers to help NASA and its international partners blaze the trail outlined in the recently announced Global Exploration Roadmap. The roadmap makes clear the U.S. and its international space partners share an interest in pursuing ambitious exploration goals. Also, Commercial Capsule Visit, ISS Spacewalk, Lunar Mission Previewed, Webb Backplane Arrives, Climate Mission Media Day, NASA 905 to Houston and more!
I recently wrote about what I considered the wrong-headed view of in-space colonies in the movie Elysium. A diametrical approach in politics and film-making quality is found in the obscure 1978 film Libra in which a large space habitat is depicted as a refuge of freedom from an increasingly oppressive earth:
It is obviously a low budget, amateurish promotion of a political point of view but is still interesting and probably closer to the future than Elysium.
Here is a segment of the film, which was made by an organization called World Research Inc.:
Here’s a video of last Friday’s tethered flight test of the Project Morpheus rocket VTOL vehicle:
Caption:
Morpheus Bravo vehicle executed another successful tether test on August 23, 2013 as NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). All test objectives were met within the ~50 second flight including ignition, ascent and a 3 meter lateral translation, 10 seconds of hover at the apex, and a slant descent to “landing” (at the end of the crane tether) using free flight guidance. The team will execute a couple more tests at JSC before heading NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to perform free flights with the Bravo vehicle.
