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There is no evidence that shielding benefited vulnerable people as a COVID pandemic response, according to a new study. A new study of health data has examined the policy of shielding those deemed “Clinically Extremely Vulnerable” (CEV) to the virus, with the study’s main author claiming the UK government policy “was sort of made up at the time and implemented.” The shielding practice involved minimising interaction between CEV persons and others. Top oncologist Angus Dalgleish, who is now speaking out against COVID vaccine boosters, told The Epoch Times that he was not surprised by the results of the study, and...

According to a new NASA study, when America goes back to the moon and on to Mars it will do so with hardware that looks very familiar. NASA has decided to build two new launch systems - both of which will draw upon existing Space Shuttle hardware. One vehicle will be a cargo-only heavy lifter, the other will be used to launch the Crew Exploration Vehicle. The Plan NASA has essentially completed its Exploration Systems Architecture Study - also known as the "60 day study". Briefings of the study’s conclusions and recommendations will be conducted by Doug Stanley. Stanley led...

Lockheed Martin wins CEV contract, Orlando Sentinel"Sources on Capitol Hill tell the Orlando Sentinel that Lockheed Martin has won the contract to build the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle that will eventually carry astronauts to the moon and on to Mars.More details will be posted here after a 4 p.m. press conference."NASA Selects Lockheed Martin To Be Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle Prime Contractor"DDT&E work is estimated to occur from Sept. 8, 2006, through Sept. 7, 2013. The estimated value is $3.9 billion.Sustaining engineering work will be assigned through task orders. The work is expected to occur from Sept. 8, 2009, through...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The name of the new vehicle that NASA hopes will take astronauts back to the moon was supposed to be hush-hush until next week. But apparently U.S. astronaut Jeff Williams, floating 220 miles above Earth at the international space station, didn't get the memo. Williams, through no fault of his own, let it slip Tuesday that the new vehicle's name is Orion. "We've been calling it the crew exploration vehicle for several years, but today it has a name — Orion," Williams said, taping a message in advance for the space agency that was transmitted accidentally...

Last-minute objections from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) are not expected to derail NASA's long-awaited selection of a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) prime contractor. In its report, " NASA: Long-Term Commitment to and Investment in Space Exploration Program Requires More Knowledge," the GAO says NASA's acquisition strategy for the CEV program needs to be overhauled and it urges the U.S. space agency to hold off on signing a long-term contract for the proposed space shuttle replacement until 2008, the year NASA officials expect to commit to a preliminary design for the CEV and have a better idea of what...

NASA's acquisition plan for a spacecraft to replace the space shuttle is inadequate and runs the risk of exceeding predicted costs and schedules, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office released Wednesday. The Crew Exploration Vehicle, or CEV, a capsule-like spacecraft reminiscent of the Apollo program, will succeed the space shuttle for NASA's manned space missions following its retirement in 2010. The vehicle is expected to first fly no later than 2014, although agency officials hope to have it ready by 2012. "NASA's current acquisition strategy for the CEV places the project at risk of significant cost overruns,...

Leading aerospace contractors are eagerly awaiting NASA's multi-billion dollar decision on who'll build the space agency's follow-on to the space shuttle now set for retirement in 2010. Flying NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) by 2014 is vital to what's dubbed the Constellation Systems--the spaceship, boosters and interrelated hardware needed to tend the International Space Station, return to the Moon by 2020, and plant footprints on Mars in future years. Will it be Lockheed Martin or the team of Northrop Grumman/Boeing--each group partnered with a cast of all-star subcontractors--that will work with NASA to field the space agency's first new human...

LOS ANGELES, California - A vibrant suborbital space travel industry, including space hotels, and treks to the Moon and beyond are attainable, but only if governmental regulations don't stifle creativity and breakthroughs in building affordable and safe public spaceliners. Those are a few of the views Burt Rutan, head of the Mojave, California-based Scaled Composites--and leader of the team that designed, built and flew the milestone making SpaceShipOne, the first privately financed suborbital rocket plane--shared today with attendees of the the 25th International Space Development Conference. The event runs here May 4-7. Rutan also took the time to fault NASA's...

LOS ANGELES - Maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan on Thursday criticized NASA's decision to use an Apollo-style capsule to return to the moon, saying it "doesn't make any sense" to build a new generation of space vehicles using old technology. The designer of SpaceShipOne said NASA's proposed crew exploration vehicle to replace the aging space shuttle fleet doesn't push the technical envelope needed to accomplish more complex future missions that might include manned flights to other planets and moons. "I don't know what they're doing," said Rutan, referring to NASA. "It doesn't make any sense." Rutan said there needs to...

NASA's investment in enabling technologies for space exploration has been scaled back dramatically in the past year and focused on areas deemed critical to fielding the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and conducting the first human lunar sorties since the Apollo program. The $1 billion worth of human and robotic technology projects NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate selected in late 2004 would have kept scores of researchers in industry and academia busy for years working on a mix of pressing problems and longer-range considerations facing a space agency daring to venture beyond Earth's orbit. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, sworn in several...

A huge step up from NASA administrator's 'Apollo on steroids' tag, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) has been christened 'Altair' - named after a variable double star in the constellation Aquila. ... Greek mythology comes into play for the LSAM (Lunar Surface Ascent Module), which receives the name 'Artemis' - the virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon. Fittingly, Artemis is also the twin sister of Apollo. ... The Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV) gains the name 'Ares I' - as NASA's name choices move into a historical parallel with the previous launch vehicles to take astronauts to the moon....

LANCASTER - The country is entering a second space age, one driven not by Cold War rivalries, but by the challenges of maintaining and further promoting the nation's historic excellence in space enterprise. "The second space age must feature exploration of the universe while achieving synergy among commercial, civil and military space programs," said. Rep. Ken Calvert, speaking at the Antelope Valley Board of Trade's 2006 Business Outlook Conference on Friday. Maintaining the nation's focus on space enterprise is important even as the country faces budgetary challenges such as those brought on by war or natural disasters. "We can not...

The Lockheed Martin-led team is competing with a joint project of Northrop Grumman Corp. and The Boeing Co. for the CEV contract, which NASA expects to award later this year. "We are extremely pleased and proud to partner with the state of Florida in support of NASA's CEV program. The point of final assembly and testing for each mission will be critical to the viability of NASA's CEV program and the ideal location to do that is here in Florida adjacent to the launch site," said John Karas, vice president of space exploration for Lockheed. Other locations for the company's...

NASA is investigating the use of Space Shuttle tile material for the Block 1A Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) in case an ablative thermal protection system (TPS) is not ready by the 2012 deadline for the transport of crew to the International Space Station. NASA’s Ames Research Center in California is spearheading CEV TPS research, but the Houston, Texas-based Johnson Space Center published its own solicitation in January. It says Johnson intends to buy Shuttle tile material for the CEV, and says “to survive low Earth orbit re-entry a human-rated ceramic tile is required”. “This is a belt and braces approach...

NASA's recent invitation to the private space industry to propose crew- and cargo-transport concepts marks the beginning of a new procurement era for the space agency, the official in charge of the pro ject told SpaceDaily.com. As announced January 19, NASA will set aside up to $500 million to support the development of commercial space-transport concepts the agency might use to fly cargo and crews to the International Space Station after the space shuttle fleet's retirement and before the onset of the new crew exploration vehicle. That effort also might jumpstart the commercial space industry. "Come 2010 or so, we...

MOSCOW, January 25 (RIA Novosti) - A new reusable space craft designed in Russia will start delivering crews and supplies to the world's sole civilian orbital station in 2015, the head of Russia's leading space corporation said Wednesday. The General Director and chief designer of Energia, Nikolai Sevastyanov said the Clipper would replace the Soyuz spaceship, the veteran workhorse of the Russian and Soviet space programs, for taking crews and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). The first unmanned flight of the Clipper has been set for 2012, and the first manned flight has been scheduled for 2013, according...

WASHINGTON — NASA’s Project Constellation program has been overhauled to include a slightly smaller Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and a new human-rated booster with an Apollo-era upper stage engine. Project Constellation is the name NASA has given for the effort to develop hardware necessary to replace the space shuttle and return astronauts to the Moon late next decade. NASA still intends to make use of the solid-rocket booster technology that has helped lift the space shuttle off the pad for a quarter century. But the agency recently approved CEV launcher plans calling for development of a new five-segment solid-rocket booster...

NASA is challenging U.S. industry to establish capabilities and services that can open new space markets and support the crew and cargo transportation needs of the International Space Station.

NASA could land astronauts on the Moon in the first days of April 2018, according to the just-released Phase 2 solicitation for its Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). Launch of the first Moon landing mission has been set for 31 March 2018, while lunar outpost construction is to begin in 2019. Astronauts could be on board the CEV for two earlier lunar risk-reduction flights, the first of which is scheduled no later than 31 March 2017 and could go round the Moon and back. The Phase 2 schedule also gives 28 September 2012 as the latest preferred date for the first...

Congressional pressure to avoid a gap in U.S. human space access is behind a NASA push to accelerate the first piloted flight of the planned Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). While President Bush originally wanted an operation CEV by 2014, the final RFP for the shuttle replacement called for a first flight with crew "as close to 2010 as possible, but no later than 2012, without compromising safety." The new document also drops requirements for a LOX/methane engine on the CEV service module as a placeholder for future extraction of the fuel from the atmosphere of Mars, and for delivery of...