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The United States remains the top dog in space, but it is losing its competitive advantage as the nation’s space program undergoes a series of major transitions while other nations, in particular China, improve their space capabilities. So says Futron’s 2012 Space Competitiveness Index, which was released on Wednesday. It’s the fifth anniversary edition of the report, and the fifth year in a row in which Futron has documented America’s declining lead in space. What a fun read. Perhaps to offset that depressingly familiar conclusion, Futron has spiced up the report by adding five emerging space powers to the 10...

The successful launch of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft has attracted worldwide attention. People in some countries, while approving China's rapid progress in space technology, feel it a shame that their own role in space has largely slowed down. Such responses are generally normal. However, a recent article published by Foreign Policy, "Red Moon Rising," astoundingly depicts China's lunar exploration plan as first step toward a "moon colony." The author, US professor John Hickman, predicts that Washington is wearing blinders if it thinks the 1968 Outer Space Treaty will prevent a Chinese lunar land grab. He believes Beijing might seek to assert...

Houston Gets Lame Space Shuttle Replica Delivered In Lamest Way Possible The deliveries of the real Space Shuttles to their final resting places were grand events that created amazing images. Houston, which deserved a real d@mn shuttle, is getting a replica. And just in case Houstonians didn't know they were getting shortchanged, it was delivered on a plane but instead on a d@mn barge. Thanks, NASA. I'm not going to get into all the reasons why Houston didn't get a Space Shuttle as it might be mistaken as saying someone else doesn't deserve one. Clearly, both D.C. and Los Angeles...

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich took aim at GOP rival Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama during a campaign stop in north Alabama. Speaking at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Gingrich portrayed himself as a visionary leader and criticized Romney as a caretaker of decline. Gingrich said Obama's energy policies are behind rising gasoline prices. He encouraged the audience to update their Facebook status with "Newt = $2.50 a gallon." "We need to develop our own energy here so we don't have to worry about Iran and Middle East," he told the crowd....

… There is hardly any other area in which China is as active today as in space technology. In late December, the government in Beijing unveiled a five-year plan that ranges from the increased exploration of the earth via satellite to the preparation of a manned mission to the moon. China's foray into space presents a challenge to the West. The United States is determined not to allow anyone to usurp its dominant position in space. The Europeans and the German government, however, see the Chinese as less of a rival than a potential partner. … Europe's interest in cooperation...

Interestingly, space policy has been much more discussed in this primary campaign than any other in recent history, largely because it is a topic about which one of the candidates, Newt Gingrich, is unusually enthusiastic and conversant. With the focus on Tuesday’s primary in Florida, a swing state in which space is an important issue to many on the Space Coast, it seems to have reached a peak in the last few days, though after Tuesday’s vote it is likely to recede into the background, with few remaining debates ahead, and none focusing on a space state. On Wednesday, Gingrich...

People have speculated for well over a century about setting foot on Mars, but is it likely to happen? We know that in prehistoric times, numerous groups of hominids ventured out of Africa into unknown lands at least once. All eventually died out, except for one: our ancestors, homo sapiens. Countless lives would later be lost by descendants of these ancient migrants as they trekked through uncharted wilderness or set sail on vast oceans in flimsy wooden craft. Today, people die every year while driving racecars or climbing mountains. We seem to be hardwired for activities that involve risks beyond...

ATLANTA (AP) — Republican Herman Cain criticized President Barack Obama for canceling the space shuttle program — a decision actually made by President George W. Bush — as NASA shifts its focus on travel farther from Earth's orbit.

On July 7, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio spoke on the future of America’s space program. “When this final shuttle mission draws to a close, many Americans will be startled by the realization that we don't have an answer to the question: What's next for NASA?” he said. “We know that our commercial space partners are working to fill some of the gaps in our human space flight capabilities, and that is a promising development that we should encourage. But we need NASA to lead.” I follow one of those commercial space partners,Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, on Facebook....

Should the space shuttle program be continued? Yes No Unsure

These stunning images capture the final stage of the construction of the International Space Station. But as they marked the beginning of a new era in space exploration, the spacewalk undertaken by Gregory Chamitoff and Mike Fincke also represented an end - of Nasa's 30-year shuttle programme. All future spacewalks - including one during the final shuttle voyage this summer - will be performed by full-time space station residents.

A United Space Alliance employee fell to his death this morning while working on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, according to NASA. Details about how the man fell, or what he was doing prior to the fall, remains unclear, said NASA spokeswoman Candrea Thomas.

NASA's space shuttle orbiters may not be destined for a museum in five months, after all. Agency officials are conducting a "what-if budget exercise" that could keep the orbiters potentially flight-worthy for several more years, NASA says. The option may offer a tantalizing alternative to the space shuttle workforce, who now must find new jobs before mid-year. Currently, NASA plans to retire all three orbiters - including Discovery after a scheduled flight in February, Endeavour after a planned trip in April and finally Atlantis after it returns from a scheduled launch in June. Meanwhile, NASA has asked the space industry...

The second flight of the space shuttle Atlantis was almost its last. What was then NASA’s newest orbiter sustained severe damage to its fragile thermal protection system when it lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B on Dec. 2, 1988. But through a combination of military secrecy and plain old human misunderstanding, the problem went unaddressed until Atlantis returned to Earth four days later. The STS-27 mission was the second shuttle flight after the fatal Challenger mission, an urgent “black” mission to orbit the Lacrosse-1 radar-reconnaissance satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (AW&ST July 9, 2007, p. 28)....

The aviation and space press buzzed last week with the news that NASA had quietly moved its two long-grounded X-34 space planes from open storage at the space agency's Dryden center - located on Edwards Air Force Base in California - to a test pilot school in the Mojave Desert. At the desert facility, the mid-'90s-vintage, robotic X-34s would be inspected to determine if they were capable of flying again. It seemed that NASA was eying a dramatic return to the business of fast, cheap space access using a reusable, airplane-style vehicle - something the Air Force has enthusiastically embraced...

The final launch of Space Shuttle Discovery will take place no earlier than 3 December. Weather permitting, the launch - originally set for September but postponed to 1 November because the payload was not ready and then to 30 November after a hydrogen leak was discovered while filling the external fuel tank - is now expected at 02:52 Eastern Standard Time. The current launch window will be open until 5 December. The countdown-stopping leak was at the ground umbilical carrier plate, an attachment point between the external tank and a 178mm (7in) pipe that carries gaseous hydrogen safely away from...

With repairs to the fuel tank of the shuttle Discovery still underway, NASA shuttle program managers on Nov. 18 retargeted the earliest date for a second round of launch opportunities for the agency’s senior orbiter from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. The delay will permit more time for agency managers to establish flight rationale using the repaired fuel tank. The upcoming launch period will close three days later to permit a Dec. 15 Soyuz launching with three U.S., Russian and European space station crewmembers. Other station activities and shuttle thermal control system restrictions are steering the opening of the next...

Preliminary analysis of the space shuttle’s Discovery’s leaking Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) shows a misaligned seal, a NASA spokesman said Nov. 11. “Not to get ahead of the engineering investigation, but they’re analyzing the flight seal, which they found wasn’t aligned properly. The team plans to install a new GUCP ... connectors, seal, etc., by tomorrow,” Kennedy Space Center spokesman Allard Beutel said in an e-mail to Aviation Week. The GUCP leak forced NASA to cancel its Nov. 5 launch attempt of Discovery on the STS-133 mission, an 11-day space station assembly and maintenance mission that will be the...

NASA has postponed the launch of Discovery’s 11-day mission to the International Space Station until no earlier than Nov. 30, following a substantial leak of hydrogen gas at a launch pad vent-line fitting during a Nov. 5 countdown to the orbiter’s 39th and final mission. The leak at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), surfaced before 8 a.m. EDT, and the pre-launch Mission Management Team (MMT) initially braced for repairs that would permit another flight attempt on Nov. 8, a day beyond the nominal closing of the launch window. However, it soon became clear that the lack of rapid access...

NASA will Thursday try to launch space shuttle Discovery on its final voyage, although stormy weather could force yet another delay. Mission managers met Wednesday afternoon and into the evening to discuss an electrical problem that forced the latest postponement. They concluded the circuit breaker trouble no longer exists and the shuttle is safe to fly. But forecasters warned there is an 80 per cent chance that thunderstorms will keep Discovery on the pad. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:29 p.m. (1929 GMT).