Obama's Budget Could Hurt Clear Lake

NASA budget creates uncertainty in Clear Lake
By ERIC BERGER and STEWART M. POWELL
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

Change came to Washington a year ago with the election of President Barack Obama, and one year later it is thundering through Houston's space community like a shuttle's sonic boom.

The totality of impacts from Obama's proposed NASA budget for Houston, the Clear Lake community surrounding Johnson Space Center and even for the astronauts themselves is still far from certain.

Space agency officials declined Tuesday to even confirm that NASA's astronaut corps would continue after the space shuttle retires within the next year.

“Right now I just don't think it's right to guess one way or another,” said William Gerstenmaier, who, as associate administrator for space operations, oversees human spaceflight at NASA.

But it's the economic impact from potential job losses fueling the most concern.

Obama's proposal to terminate the shuttle program after five more flights was widely anticipated, but his additional proposal to end the next-generation Constellation Program raises questions — most unanswered — over whether there can be a smooth transfer for employees from one spaceflight program to another.

The NASA manager who oversaw Constellation's efforts to design the next generation of rockets and spacecraft, Doug Cooke, acknowledged that “its end will create an angst among the workers who have been working it, and the immediate effect it will have on jobs.”

It's an angst being felt across the Clear Lake area.

“It will definitely impact our local economy and trickle down to small businesses,” said Cindy Harreld, president & chief executive of the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.
Up to 2,500 jobs at stake

According to the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, the region may lose 2,200 to 2,500 jobs with Constellation's cancellation. There are about 18,000 aerospace jobs in Houston, more than 90 percent located in the Bay area.

Johnson Space Center manages about $4 billion in federal aerospace contracts each year.

“Our hope is that Congress will see the importance of manned spaceflight and overturn what the president is proposing,” Harreld said.

The space center is the heart of NASA's human spaceflight program, housing its astronaut corps and directing all activity in space, including the International Space Station.

From that perspective, Obama's decision to extend the station's life through 2020 provides at least one concrete role for the space center for the next decade.

The uncertainty comes from two other proposals.

The cancellation of Constellation would remove a firm commitment from NASA to launch humans and fly them beyond Earth's orbit.
Ex-astronaut hopeful

The astronaut corps already was facing a reduction in spaceflight opportunities from a couple dozen a year, with the shuttle's retirement, to a handful aboard the space station. Without Constellation, there's no specific plan for any other flights.

And it's possible that astronauts flying to the station might be hired and supervised by a private contractor.

“I'm sure there's a lot of uncertainty in the astronaut corps over the future,” said Leroy Chiao, a veteran of three shuttle flights and a six-month stint aboard the ISS. “I know I'd be concerned if I were still in the corps.”

Yet Chiao, who also served on last summer's panel to review human spaceflight, led by Norman Augustine, noted that Space Station Freedom, first proposed in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, was nearly canceled before being transformed into the space station program.

Chiao believes a new strategy for human spaceflight beyond Earth's orbit will emerge from NASA planners. “I feel confident the United States is not going to give up human spaceflight,” he said. “But until there's a new program I would expect there to be some angst.”

The other major change in Obama's space policy calls for $6 billion to be spent to help private companies develop rockets and crew capsules to carry astronauts to the ISS.

California has a larger private aerospace industry than Texas, but the hope is that Houston firms will get some of the work.

On Tuesday NASA Administrator Charles Bolden selected seven commercial aerospace firms to serve as the nation's “space pioneers” in Obama-era exploration, including Houston-based Boeing Space Exploration. It won $18 million to develop a transportation system and seven-person crew capsule that NASA may choose to ferry astronauts and cargo to the ISS as early as 2016.

Bolden, a former astronaut, said the administration was abandoning the long-standing practice of having the space agency finance human space exploration to enlist “the entrepreneurial mind-set into a field that is poised for rapid growth and new jobs.”
Possible job transfers

Boeing already does significant space shuttle work for NASA, and the new contract, as well as subsequent funding, would allow the company to transfer some shuttle employees in Houston to the new concept, said Keith Reiley, program manager for the company's Commercial Crew Development initiative.

Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, said he did not have any independent assessment of NASA-related job losses in Houston, though he has been a reliable supporter of the Constellation program and voiced opposition to canceling it. “We are on the verge of abandoning human space flight in the near term,” Olson said. “And I fear beyond that.”

eric.berger@chron.com
stewart.powell@chron.com

Atascocita growing by leaps and bounds!

Business Week:

Tired of reading about how rotten the real estate market is? Here's some good news that shows that even during the worst of the recession plenty of American cities, towns, and suburbs continue to grow.

One such place is Atascocita, Tex. A mostly residential community 20 miles from Houston, it gained more than 1,800 households in 2009, an 8% year-over-year increase, according to new data from Little Rock-based data firm Gadberry Group. Over the decade, amenities that have helped attract residents to this wooded locale include Lake Houston, just east of the city; the school district; and proximity to the city of Houston. With new roads in the area under construction, "we're starting to see major industry start to take a look at the area," says Mike Byers, president of the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce.

Migration levels nationwide stayed low last year as homeowners saddled with pricey mortgages stayed put—but there are some positive trends. Research by the Gadberry Group shows that some areas, resisting the effects of the recession, continue to attract both domestic and foreign migrants and, as an effect, bring in new businesses to provide services. While other cities across the U.S. have contracted, these have continued to grow.

Some states are better off than others, though. As thousands of people left places such as New Orleans and Flint, Mich. (the country's two fastest-shrinking cities), in the last decade, communities with the best mix of economic activity, proximity to job centers, and a good environment for families continued to grow. While not entirely spared by the economic downturn (some homes in these areas are now in foreclosure), people continued to move in during 2009.
Texas Grew the Most

Texas came out on top of Gadberry's survey, with four high-growth cities: Atascocita, Katy, Mansfield, and Wylie. The report only included areas larger than 10,000 occupied households that met requirements for growth rate, household income, length of residence, and other factors.

Larry Martin, principal of the Gadberry Group, says many of the places with the biggest housing growth at the beginning of the last decade, such as Nevada, Florida, and Arizona, also saw the biggest drop-off since the economy sank. Texas, however, enjoyed relatively strong housing and job markets over the last 10 years, thanks in large part to the presence of major employers in the robust energy business. As of December, the state unemployment rate was 8.3% (lower than the national rate of 10%), according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also had the largest state population growth between July 2008 and July 2009, according to a December release by the Census Bureau. "New homes are still being built and people are still moving into these homes" in Texas, says Martin.

Part of the state's strength, says Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, D.C., is its diversified economy. Main industries include petroleum refining, chemical production, aerospace, and information technology.

Meanwhile, areas that depended on the housing boom are now dealing with high foreclosure rates. Places such as Summerlin South, Nev., which appear in Bloomberg BusinessWeek's slide show of fast-growing cities, gained population but, like the rest of the state, may be dealing with high mortgage default rates.

"If you live by migration, you also die by migration," says Kenneth Johnson, senior demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute. "It doesn't guarantee continued growth."
New Business Opportunities

Migration is typically highest among people in their 20s seeking jobs near large urban cores, but employment opportunities are not the only draw. "Amenities are also important in migrational decisions," says Johnson. Many families consider factors such as schools and recreational amenities like scenic areas and parks.

This is a consideration now in Spring Hill, Tenn., which gained 7,645 households since 2000 as many young families moved to the town for affordable housing and work at the General Motors plant, which is now idle. Dustin Dunbar, chairman of the Spring Hill Economic Development Commission, says this has created demand and opportunity for businesses that provide youth activities and entertainment. "We hope to recruit some businesses to cater to our largest demographics," he says.

While migration in 2010 may remain sluggish, "we'll see a continuation of urban sprawl once the economy bounces back," says Mather.

Dr. Conrad Murray to surrender today.

Dr. Conrad Murray is expected to surrender to authorities in Los Angeles this week on charges related to Michael Jackson's death, according to The Associated Press and CNN. Murray arrived in Los Angeles recently from Houston in anticipation of a decision from the district attorney's office, spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik told the AP..

"Dr. Murray is in Los Angeles for a dual purpose — on family business and to be available for law enforcement," Sevcik told the AP. "We're trying to be as cooperative as we can."

"Dr. Murray is more than ready to surrender and answer to any charges," Ed Chernoff, one of Murray's lawers, told CNN, adding that prosecutors have not announced any charges, and Murray has not been told how or where he should surrender.

No official comment has been made about when charges might, come; David Walgren, the deputy district attorney handling the case, declined to comment to the AP on Tuesday (February 2).

Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the AP that Murray is likely to be charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's June 25 death from an anesthetic overdose. Murray has denied criminal wrongdoing.

"We continue to maintain that Dr. Murray neither prescribed nor administered anything that should have killed Michael Jackson," Sevcik said.

Earlier this year, TMZ reported that the Los Angeles Police Department had completed its investigation into Jackson's death and was preparing to send the case to the DA's office within weeks.

Murray has told investigators that he administered the surgical anesthetic propofol, as well as other tranquilizers, to Jackson several times in the hours leading up to his death, and the coroner has ruled the singer died of lethal levels of the drug. Involuntary manslaughter charges would require prosecutors to show that Murray engaged in gross negligence in his actions but did not intend to cause harm or death to Jackson.

Obama's Budget Nix's Constellation

CNN) -- American astronauts will not return to the moon as planned if Congress passes President Obama's proposed budget.
Obama's budget -- which aims to tighten the nation's purse strings in certain areas while increasing money used to create jobs -- would cancel NASA's Constellation Program, which had sought to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.
Constellation also intended to study the idea of establishing a moon colony. The program was set to follow the U.S. space agency's shuttle missions, which are due to end in September.

On its Web site, the White House Budget Office says the program to send astronauts to the moon is behind schedule, over budget and overall less important than other space investments.
"Using a broad range of criteria, an independent review panel determined that even if fully funded, NASA's program to repeat many of the achievements of the Apollo era, 50 years later, was the least attractive approach to space exploration as compared to potential alternatives," the site says.

"Furthermore, NASA's attempts to pursue its moon goals, while inadequate to that task, had drawn funding away from other NASA programs, including robotic space exploration, science, and Earth observations."
Overall, Obama's proposed budget increases the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's budget by $6 billion over the next five years. The president's budget would give NASA a $19 billion budget in 2011, compared to its $18.3 billion budget this year.

Congress has to approve the federal budget, and a final ruling may not happen for months.
The budget changes will not prevent NASA from returning astronauts to the moon and exploring the rest of the solar system, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said in a conference call with reporters on Monday.
"Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year; people fanning out across the inner solar system, exploring the Moon, asteroids and Mars nearly simultaneously in a steady stream of firsts ... That is what the president's plan for NASA will enable, once we develop the new capabilities to make it a reality," Bolden said.

The NASA administrator emphasized the fact that the president's budget would increase NASA funding overall and said the Constellation program was behind schedule and over-budget anyway.
"The truth is we were not on a sustainable path to get back to the moon's surface, and as we focused most of our efforts and funding on getting back to the moon we were neglecting investment in key technologies to get us beyond," he said.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, criticized the president for slashing NASA's moon-mission program from his suggested budget.

The move could cause the U.S. to fall behind other countries in space exploration, he said.
"If they don't push hard now for research and development of the new big rocket that'll take us out of low-Earth orbit and let us explore the heavens, then we are going to be falling behind China and Russia, and that's something I don't think will sit well with the American people," he said in an interview with CNN.
Louis Friedman, executive director of The Planetary Society, called that assertion "ridiculous," and said he's hopeful the end of

Constellation would lead to the U.S. returning to the moon more quickly.
Friedman believes that Constellation is a flawed and bloated program, which should be replaced with a new program that would get the U.S. back to the moon more efficiently.

Constellation was behind schedule, and a new program offers a fresh start and puts needed emphasis on space exploration beyond the moon, he said.

"I think the Constellation program probably fell on its own weight as opposed to any major policy change," he said.
Others questioned what will happen to the money NASA has already spent on its program to return to the moon.
"I think that some of the things they're working on could be used regardless of what the program is," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org and a space policy expert. "Some of it however, I think is just going to end up on the cutting room floor."

About $250 million in federal stimulus money has paid for investments in the Constellation Program, according to a CNN report. NASA's current budget gives Constellation $3.47 billion in funding, according to the White House Budget Office.
NASA says the Constellation research and technology would be useful in other space endeavors.
NASA first sent astronauts to the moon in 1969, and the space agency's Apollo program sent astronauts to the moon at total of six times.

Cleanup under way in 462,000-gallon oil spill off Port Arthur

CNN) -- Crews removed about 46,000 gallons of oil from waters near Port Arthur, Texas, on Sunday, roughly 10 percent of the oil spilled a day earlier when a tanker collided with two barges, a U.S. Coast Guard officer said.

An estimated 462,000 gallons of crude oil leaked from barrels aboard the tanker, forcing the closure of the port in southern Texas, Petty Officer Larry Chambers told CNN. The Sabine Neches Waterway near Port Arthur also was closed. It was unclear Sunday when the port, about 100 miles east of Houston, Texas, will reopen or when crews will finish the cleanup, he said.

"We certainly want it to be done as soon as possible, but with that said, safety is the main issue," Chambers said. "We're not going to open the port until it's determined that vessels can pass through cleanly, safely and not cause any further damage."

No injuries were reported when the Exxon Mobile-chartered tanker -- the 807-foot Eagle Otome -- collided Saturday with two barges being towed by a tug boat. The tanker was carrying about 570,000 gallons of crude oil to Exxon's Beaumont refinery when it crashed, Exxon Mobile spokesman Kevin Allexon told CNN. The cause of the crash was unknown, but is under investigation, he said.

"We are very concerned about how this could have happened," Allexon said. "We are very concerned about the impact to the environment, to the community. No one wants to see this happen."

The port is primarily for industrial use, but it is not far from wetlands. None of the nearby marshes or sensitive wildlife were adversely affected, Chambers said, but one heron was "oiled." The bird was alive and undergoing treatment, he said.

An evacuation order that was imposed in a 50-block area around the port after the collision was lifted. That area was evacuated Saturday out of caution, as the tanker was carrying a type of oil containing sulfide.

Fifteen skimming vessels sailed the area recovering the oil and workers dropped more than 45,000 feet of boom -- fencing-like material -- to keep the oil from spreading, Chambers said. More than 500 people were involved in containing and cleaning the spill, said Darrell Wilson, spokesman for Malaysia-based AET Tanker Holdings, the owner of the tanker.

The biggest oil spill in U.S. history occurred in 1989 when the Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in the Gulf of Alaska, resulting in the spill of 11 million gallons of crude.

Clearlake City Council members address conflicts in order to deal with redevelopment plan

Written by Elizabeth Larson
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
CLEARLAKE – In order to discuss business related to a proposed redevelopment plan amendment, Clearlake City Council members had to follow a series of formalities last Thursday that included declaring potential conflicts and a high card draw from a deck of cards.

Redevelopment business at the council's regular meeting on Thursday, Jan. 14, included discussion of the proposed amendment and the possible formation of a project area committee.

City Attorney Malathy Subramanian was unable to attend the meeting, so Melanie Donnelly, another attorney from the same firm of Best, Best & Krieger, sat in on the meeting to help the council work through the issues.

Donnelly helped lead the council through the discussion regarding some members' potential conflicts of interest with regard to the proposed redevelopment plan amendment, which City Administrator Dale Neiman said must be completed by this coming July 9.

She said the council needed a minimum of three members in order to have a quorum on the subject, but three council members – Mayor Judy Thein, Vice Mayor Joyce Overton and Curt Giambruno – all said they believed they had conflicts because of their homes' close proximity to the redevelopment area, and that they would realize property value improvements as a result.

Donnelly said they would need to “rehabilitate” one of those council members and allow them to sit in on the decision, which she said could be done using the legally required participation exception, which allows for a conflict of interest exception to political reform act rules.

The method for selection had to be done randomly, so Donnelly presented a deck of cards and had Overton, Giambruno and Thein each draw a card, explaining that the high card would win the draw.

Thein drew a queen, Overton a three and Giambruno a 10. That meant that Thein would stay on the dais, while Overton and Giambruno recused themselves and left the room.

Councilman Roy Simons questioned if the redevelopment agency's amendment could go through just by the council's approval, or if it needed to go to a referendum, which Simons believed it did.

Neiman disagreed. “I have a different interpretation of that.”

Councilman Chuck Leonard said the plan was amended in 1994 by the council, not a referendum.

Simons insisted that the matter needed to go to a referendum. Neiman said he'll have Subramanian provide a legal opinion.

With the quorum reestablished, the council next needed to consider if establishing a redevelopment project area committee was appropriate.

“This is the first decision that you have to make in order to proceed with amending the redevelopment plan,” Neiman said.

Neiman told the council that the redevelopment plan, between the housing and project funds, will generate a total of $42.2 million for the community if it's amended.

He said they couldn't meet the deadline for establishing the committee, but that it was wasn't needed because they were not planning to add use of eminent domain or expand the project area.

“Basically there's no legal requirement to create a project area committee,” Neiman said.

Simons asked why they needed the amendment. To get the $42.2 million, Neiman replied.

“How do you expect us to believe that when we've just been through two decades of total failure” in redevelopment, Simons asked.

Neiman agreed that there have been problems in the city's redevelopment history.

Simons considered a project area committee important to the whole plan, and said lack of one in the past is one of the reasons why redevelopment, in his opinion, has failed. He added that Neiman was promising them millions when the city can't even do a sidewalk project, referring to the Lakeshore Drive area.

Neiman said the $42.2 million would be generated over a 10-year period.

“I'm not against the amendment, I want you to know that,” said Simons. “I just want it to be done right, that's all.”

Neiman said he agreed with Simons.

During public comment, community member Rick Mayo asked about a $14 million bond set to take place in 2019, which Neiman's report to the council cited as revenue. Mayo asked how a bond could be considered revenue when it's really a loan.

“That's worse than fuzzy math,” Mayo said.

Neiman replied that the bond will generate revenue for the city.

Mayo, who formerly sat on the Clearlake Planning Commission, told the council that they held 100 public hearings when Wal-Mart wanted to come into the city.

He said such a public hearing process is being circumvented for the Lowe's shopping center project at the former Peace Airport property on Highway 53, for which the redevelopment agency is proposing to help fund improvements.

Mayo said that the planning commission had wanted to keep Pearce Field opened as an airport, but then Wal-Mart decided to build in the flight path.

“This whole thing should have gone through the planning commission,” said Mayo. “The council was always a last resort.”

When Estella Creel asked about the proposed bonds, Neiman said there would actually be two – one for housing, and one for the redevelopment project. He said there would be more discussion “down the road,” as the amendment began taking shape.

Creel asked why Neiman wouldn't just say he doesn't know the answers to her questions. “I know exactly what I'm doing, Estelle,” Neiman replied.


READ THE FULL STORY

NASA to Check for Unlikely Winter Survival of Mars Lander

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander is visible within this enhanced-color image of the Phoenix landing site taken on Jan. 6, 2010 by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
› Full image (including backshell and heatshield) and caption
PASADENA, Calif. -- Beginning Jan. 18, NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter will listen for possible, though improbable, radio transmissions from the Phoenix Mars Lander, which completed five months of studying an arctic Martian site in November 2008.

The solar-powered lander operated two months longer than its three-month prime mission during summer on northern Mars before the seasonal ebb of sunshine ended its work. Since then, Phoenix's landing site has gone through autumn, winter and part of spring. The lander's hardware was not designed to survive the temperature extremes and ice-coating load of an arctic Martian winter.

In the extremely unlikely case that Phoenix survived the winter, it is expected to follow instructions programmed on its computer. If systems still operate, once its solar panels generate enough electricity to establish a positive energy balance, the lander would periodically try to communicate with any available Mars relay orbiters in an attempt to reestablish contact with Earth. During each communications attempt, the lander would alternately use each of its two radios and each of its two antennas.

Odyssey will pass over the Phoenix landing site approximately 10 times each day during three consecutive days of listening this month and two longer listening campaigns in February and March.

"We do not expect Phoenix to have survived, and therefore do not expect to hear from it. However, if Phoenix is transmitting, Odyssey will hear it," said Chad Edwards, chief telecommunications engineer for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We will perform a sufficient number of Odyssey contact attempts that if we don't detect a transmission from Phoenix, we can have a high degree of confidence that the lander is not active."

The amount of sunshine at Phoenix's site is currently about the same as when the lander last communicated, on Nov. 2, 2008, with the sun above the horizon about 17 hours each day. The listening attempts will continue until after the sun is above the horizon for the full 24.7 hours of the Martian day at the lander's high-latitude site. During the later attempts in February or March, Odyssey will transmit radio signals that could potentially be heard by Phoenix, as well as passively listening.

If Odyssey does hear from Phoenix, the orbiter will attempt to lock onto the signal and gain information about the lander's status. The initial task would be to determine what capabilities Phoenix retains, information that NASA would consider in decisions about any further steps.

Mars Odyssey is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft.

The successful Phoenix mission was led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin. International contributions came from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; the Finnish Meteorological Institute; and Imperial College, London.

Endeavor Rollout

Crews moved the space shuttle Endeavour from the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to Launch Complex 39A on Jan. 6 in preparation for next month’s STS-130 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The six-hour trip for the shuttle stack — orbiter, external tank and two solid-rocket boosters — started at 4:13 a.m. EST. Endeavour is scheduled to lift off at 4:39 a.m. EST Feb. 7 for a 13-day orbital sortie to the ISS.

Commanded by U.S. Marine Corps Col. George Zamka, the six-member crew is scheduled to deliver the third and final pressurized node to the orbital outpost. Designated “Tranquility,” it will carry the long-awaited station cupola, which will give station crews a 360-degree view of their surroundings through its five windows.

The crew also will conduct three spacewalks to link Tranquility into the station cooling and data systems, help install the cupola and work on the Canadian special purpose dexterous manipulator (Dextre), which was designed to handle many of the maintenance tasks now assigned to spacewalking astronauts.

Endeavour photo: NASA

Space Station Upgraded to "the 90s"

NASA bills the International Space Station as “the most complex scientific and technological endeavor ever undertaken.”
Perhaps that is so, but its guts are so 1980s.


By ERIC BERGER
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle


That's because the 44 primary computers that do everything from guide the station around Earth at 17,000 mph to monitor for fires are powered by Intel 386 processors, first built in the mid-1980s, with a clock rate of 16 megahertz. To put that in perspective, today's processors are measured in gigahertz, a speed increase by a factor of 1,000.
Needless to say, the task of maintaining the network of computers on the station humming along is more difficult than, say, putting together a home network.

The station has components from the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe, each with their own hardware and software. Each system must “talk” to one another and crashes can be a bit more problematic than losing the Internet until a technician can arrive.

One such crash did occur in 2001, during a space shuttle mission to the station.
Of all the station's computers, the command-and-control computer, which has two back-ups, serves as the “brains” of the network. The first command-and-control computer failed, then the first back-up began operating erratically and then, finally, all three failed.

Lot of hard work

With Endeavour docked to the station, the crew re-routed its communications through the shuttle and eventually swapped another onboard computer into the command-and-control slot. It turned out to be a hard drive issue.
“That took some life off us,” admits Michael Suffredini, the station's program manager.
But since that incident the station's computers have largely functioned without incident.
“It's not darn good luck that we've had success, it's the result of a lot of hard work up front,” Suffredini said.

A lot of the hard work can be credited to a Boeing software laboratory in Clear Lake, a few miles from Johnson Space Center, that's next door to the large swimming pool where astronauts train for spacewalks.
Inside the lab there's a mock-up of the computer systems on board the station where all software is tested before it is sent to the station. Every new component that's sent up to the station is tested there first to ensure it will work smoothly in space.
“
This is basically the space station on the ground,” explained Jose Pinero, a lab manager during a recent tour.
Upgrade to the '90s

The lab is now testing a software for version 10 of the station's core programming, which is roughly analogous to an aircraft's flight computer. NASA expects to fly this software upgrade, which entails more than 700,000 lines of code, in 2011.
That's the time when NASA also intends to upgrade the station's primary computers — to basic Pentium processors. That's about a five-fold increase in processing power, with considerably more memory.
“That's smokin',” quipped Steve Cox, another manager at Boeing's lab. “We'll be all the way up to 1990s technology.”

Clear Lake Scumbag Admits Guilt

Clear Lake Man Accused of Child Sex Assault

A Clear Lake man admitted to sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl according to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Sherburne County Sheriff's Office.

Patrick Olson, 28, was arrested at his home on Dec. 31 and booked into the Sherburne County Jail for criminal sexual conduct in the second degree.

According to Sheriff Joel Brott, the Central Minnesota Sexual Assault Center reported that the girl had been assaulted.
Investigators interviewed the girl and then arrested Olson.

Investigators said he admitted to sexual contact with the girl.
Olson remains in jail pending arraignment.

Lufkin hit by tornado.

By Whitney Grunder -
LUFKIN, TX (KTRE) - Severe storms ripped through parts of East Texas Wednesday evening. Some Lufkin neighborhoods sustained extensive damage from a possible tornado.

Among them is the Lufkin VFW, which is now gone. The damage comes right after 10,000 dollars worth of recent tile work. A check for the construction was written Wednesday, before the storm hit.

One resident living near Gipson Funeral Home on Chestnut Street even reported seeing caskets in his backyard.
Jakoia Grimes and her children were happy to have made it safely out of their Lufkin apartment, before their entire roof collapsed. "I looked up and I just saw the light from outside and I had my girls come and sit by the door, and within minutes the entire roof caved in," said Grimes, who is now staying with family members.
Jennifer Mays watched the tornado touch down right outside Stephens Court Apartments. She described it as "massive." She said, "I couldn't believe it was so powerful to the point that it just opened up my door."
Next door, owners sifted through what remained of their welding business, part of Lufkin for 25 years. Max's Welding Shop on Denman Avenue was completely destroyed.
Owners said they can't blame God for the severe weather, and that fortunately another shop behind the building stands untouched by the storm.

"I think we're going to be able to salvage some of our equipment. I think we're going to be alright," said co-owner Betty Purgahn.
Cheddars employees also witnessed a tornado touch down in the middle of the Olive Garden parking lot. "I heard a bunch of commotion and they were talking about the patio chairs were nearly about to hit some cars so we ran to try to help," said Cheddars employee Brad Barrow.

According to witnesses, other than damaging a few of the vehicles parked in the Olive Garden parking lot, the tornado did not affect any of the buildings. The Department of Public Safety reported that the tornado lifted back up, and did not cause any injuries.
Utility crews were also working to remedy power outages caused by toppled power poles. Thursday morning, thousands of residents were without power. An Oncor spokesperson said approximately 2,500 customers were without power in the Lufkin area.

So far no severe injuries have been reported.

Wise Launch delayed

(CNN) -- An equipment problem forced NASA early Friday to delay the launch of a spacecraft aimed at scanning the entire sky to discover hidden cosmic objects, the U.S. space agency said.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission is now scheduled to launch Monday morning.
NASA crews will tackle an anomaly in the motion of a booster steering engine by removing and replacing a suspect component on Friday, the agency said on its Web site.

"The WISE spacecraft will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies," NASA said.

Captured escapee says prison staff helped him

by KHOU.com Staff

Posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:50 AM

CONROE, Texas—The escaped prisoner who was the focus of a week-long manhunt told a local activist that he had help from the inside. Convicted child rapist Arcade Comeaux said the weapon he used to hijack guards was in his cell for at least three weeks.

Questions still surround the prison system that allowed Comeaux to dupe authorities for years. The supposedly partially-paralyzed man managed to walk away from the guards and right into controversy.
Authorities are asking two questions; why didn’t prison officials realize Comeaux was faking his medical condition, and where did he get the gun?
Local activist Quanell X said Comeaux told him he had help from the inside.

“He named that guard and he also named someone who is involved in medical who had been giving him medical assistance,” Quanell X said.

But prison officials said Comeaux has not shared that information with investigators so there are no arrests at this time.
“This feels like the inmate is running the asylum,” said a former TDCJ staff member who remembers Comeaux clearly.
“He would sit in the food. Of course it would dry and start smelling. He refused to shower, refused to clean himself, basically saying ‘I’m immobile, I need someone to do this for me.’”

The former staff member said Comeaux orchestrated a deliberate campaign of extortion, despite medical reports that he was able to care for himself. He said Comeaux manipulated the system to get health assistance and better housing.
A grand jury on Thursday will hear the case against the convicted sex offender who was captured in northeast Houston Monday morning.
Comeaux is now facing aggravated kidnapping and felony escape charges. He was in custody in the Montgomery County Jail Tuesday, awaiting his hearing. Comeaux, who is currently serving three life sentences, was found when a salesman saw him trying to hitchhike in front of a business on East Little York.

The salesman called HPD, who came and took Comeaux into custody without incident.
Investigators said Comeaux escaped during transport from a prison unit in Huntsville to one in Beaumont.
As the prison van passed through Conroe, investigators said Comeaux pulled out a gun, held two transport guards hostage, handcuffed them in the back of the van, drove the van to Baytown, took the guards’ weapons, put on one of their uniforms and escaped.

Officials launched an extensive manhunt, but Comeaux managed to elude them for seven days before he was captured.
He had been confined to a wheelchair since 1997 when a stroke purportedly left him partially paralyzed, but when he was taken into custody, Comeaux was walking.

He has been in and out of the Texas prison system for 30 years.
Comeaux was first sent to prison in 1979 on three 10-year sentences for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child and burglary of a building—all out of Harris County. He was paroled four years later.

His parole was revoked and he returned to prison in 1984 to serve a 20-year sentence on a new charge of indecency with a child out of Harris County. He was paroled in 1991 but was in and out of prison for parole violations until 1996.
In June 1998, he was given a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault in Brazos County.
Comeaux was given two extra life sentences after he was convicted of stabbing his wife and another person in 1999. That attack occurred in the Jester III Unit in Fort Bend County when his wife came to visit him. The other person stabbed was a man who tried to stop the attack.

Still, those at the top want to correct the miscommunication between the workers inside prison walls.

“If you are in charge of a prison, and you see there is a disputes between medical’s and correction’s, come to us and ask for laws that would eliminate the controversy, ”said John Whitmire, chairman of the senate criminal justice committee. He is calling for a full investigation of prison and medical staff.

WATCH KHOU VIDEO REPORT HERE

News Alert: Comeaux now on most wanted list

(CNN) -- A Texas inmate in a wheelchair, who escaped on foot from two armed guards as he was being transferred between prisons, is now on the U.S. Marshals' list of the 15 most-wanted fugitives.
Arcade Comeaux Jr., 49, "produced a weapon and fired upon two correctional officers, took them hostage and forced them to drive to Baytown, Texas," the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.
He then put the officers in the back of the van and took their weapons and one of their uniforms, the statement said.

Comeaux was serving three life sentences for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He escaped Monday during transport from Huntsville, Texas, to Stiles, Texas.
The 6-foot, 200-pound man was shackled and in a wheelchair, "which he had claimed was needed for mobility," Michelle Lyons, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, said in a statement.

About 45 minutes into the trip, as they were driving through Conroe, 40 minutes north of Houston, the prisoner pulled out a pistol and ordered the guards to drive south to Baytown, east of Houston.
He fired once, but hit no one during the escape about 9 a.m., officials said.
Law enforcement officers found the unharmed officers an hour later.

Comeaux was being transferred so he could be near John Sealy Hospital in Galveston for treatment of the supposed paralysis he had suffered during a reported stroke, officials said.

At least $16,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to Comeaux's rearrest and a task force of more than 100 investigators is searching for him, focusing on the Houston area, where he grew up and has family.
His escape has led the man who oversees Texas' criminal justice system to call for a shakeup of the prison system.
"I just think enough's enough," said Sen. John Whitmire, the Texas Democrat from Houston who is chairman of the state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee.

"We need a complete shakeup of the leadership of our prison system and/or an outside review by third parties," he told CNN by phone Wednesday. "We just can't have security breaches of this nature."
Whitmire said the guards had failed to pat down Comeaux while he was in his wheelchair and before they began the trip.
"Sure enough, he has a firearm," he said. "The question is, are there others (in the prison system)? I think you have to assume that there are until you find out differently."

So far this year, more than 900 cell phones have been confiscated from the 112 locations that house the state's 158,000 prisoners. "It's pretty rampant," he said.

"I want the director to come forward and tell us what it's going to take" to solve the problem, he said.
John Moriarty, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said such lapses are highly unusual in the state's penal system. "We have no open gun investigations other than this one," he said. "The last one was several years ago."
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Brad Livingston, who has been in the job since 2005, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Snow forecast in Houston area !

On average, once every four years even Houston gets visited by the Snow Gods. Although, this could be the second year-in-a-row for Houston snow. And if snow does indeed fall this Friday as forecasted, it would be the earliest snowfall on record.

Fred Schmud of ImpactWeather said to the Houston Chronicle, “Most of our forecasting data is caught right in the middle, meaning any subtle change in the position of the upper level disturbance will have huge consequences on how much, if any, snow falls across the Greater Houston area."

Right now NOAA is predicting a 70% chance of snow on Friday.

UTMB strengthens League City presence

UTMB strengthens League City presence

By Laura Elder
The Daily News
Published November 26, 2009

Operation: The University of Texas Medical Branch continues to strengthen its League City presence, this time leasing 15,000 square feet in the Brittany Bay Center, 1600 League City Parkway.

The medical branch, the county’s largest employer, will offer occupational and physical therapy services, along with ear, nose and throat specialties, officials said. The medical branch also has leased space for an oral surgery clinic in Brittany Bay Center, a 24,000-square-foot building.

Some of those services had been offered at the medical branch’s Primary Care Pavilion, 400 Harborside Drive on the island. But the pavilion’s first floor was flooded by Hurricane Ike’s catastrophic storm surge a year ago. Leasing space at the Brittany Bay Center allowed the medical branch to consolidate services that were scattered around the county, officials said Wednesday.

The consolidation comes as crews work to complete a 110,000-square-foot specialty care center on 35 acres near Interstate 45, FM 646 and the Victory Lakes subdivision. The $61 million center is meant to attract insured patients living in the North County. It’s the medical branch’s largest single investment on the mainland, offering advanced imaging, pediatric and adult clinics, outpatient surgery and pediatric urgent care.

Staking out ever more territory in the affluent suburbs, the medical branch in August 2008 paid $9.4 million for another 29 acres next to the specialty center.


READ MORE HERE

Kemah officials adopt plan to enhance city’s park system

By MARY ANN HELLINGHAUSEN
Updated: 12.02.09
A master plan to guide development of city parks in Kemah was approved by both Kemah City Council and the Kemah Community Development Corporation last week.

The plan, developed by Kendig Keast Collaborative of Stafford, provides guidance on development of the city’s parks and recreation system.

The plan’s goals, which took into account public input from two planning workshops and a survey, include:

Development of park spaces, facilities and activities to meet varying needs of Kemah residents and visitors.

A network of trails and walkways connecting all parts of the community.

Preserving natural areas, ecological resources and local heritage and culture, and providing education about them.

Keeping parks and recreational facilities maintained.

During discussion of the plan before its approval last week, members of the Kemah Community Development Corporation discussed the placement of pocket parks at the end of several streets that dead-end at Galveston Bay. They would include amenities such as:

Habitat landscaping to attract birds and butterflies.

Kiosks providing education about bay life, the environment and the city’s culture and history.

Observation telescopes.

Fencing, gating, lighting, signage and irrigation.

A kayak launching area.

Lighthouses throughout the Lighthouse District, between 4th and 8th streets.

City officials are exploring several federal grant programs to provide funding for the improvements.

The plan did not provide cost estimates, and costs would be determined on a per project basis depending on final design, said Teresa Vazquez-Evans, KCDC president. Grant matches, at this time, would most likely be funded out of KCDC, but are subject to approval by Council and KCDC, she said.

READ MORE HERE

Welcome home Atlantis

Atlantis Lands in Florida
Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:44:29 AM CST

Space shuttle Atlantis has landed at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The STS-129 mission that included three spacewalks and more than six days at the International Space Station has been completed.

Michael Jackson's doctor returns to work in Houston

Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray, who is the subject of an investigation into the death of the singer, has returned to work.

The cardiologist has resumed work at his medical clinic in Houston for the first time since the late singer's death on June 25.

"He has not been able to earn a living since the death of Michael Jackson," his lawyer Ed Chernoff told the Associated Press. "His legal fees are enormous and his debts have mounted to the point where it is unclear whether he will be able to keep his house or support his family.

"His intentions are to attend to these patients who have continued to support him, despite the attention and despite the threats."

Houston - we don't have a problem - so why is that alarm sounding?

(CNN) -- Astronauts aboard the international space station and space shuttle Atlantis woke up to a worrying sound -- alarms indicating a fire and dangerous loss of pressure, NASA said Friday.

However, a check revealed no serious trouble.

Depressurization-caution alarms sounded just after 8:30 p.m. ET Thursday, waking the shuttle and station crew, NASA said. The flight control teams on the ground determined there was no depressurization and shut off ventilation fans.

The crew was never in any danger, NASA said, and teams on the ground are looking into the cause of the false alarm.
Flight control teams at Mission Control in Houston, Texas, were bringing the station back to normal soon after the alarms, but it was 10:15 p.m. by the time the crew was able to go back to sleep because they had to wait for the station's ventilation system to be reactivated, NASA said.

Crew members go back to work Friday when they'll be focusing on preparations for Saturday's spacewalk, NASA said. They'll have to recharge batteries, switch out spacesuits and review procedures.
They also will use the shuttle's robotic arm to grab a second cargo pallet of spare equipment Atlantis brought up in advance of its transfer to the space station Saturday, NASA said.

Liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis!

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:28:46 PM CST

Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of six astronauts are headed for space, ready to begin their 11-day mission to the International Space Station. The climb to orbit takes about 8 1/2 minutes.

Following a smooth countdown, with no technical issues and weather that steadily improved throughout the afternoon, the shuttle lifted off on time from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 2:28 p.m. EST.

NASA TV will air a post-launch news conference at no earlier than 3:30 p.m. EST, and on the Web at www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Ft. Hood survivor returns home to Clear Lake

By Jessica Willey

CLEAR LAKE, TX (KTRK) -- Thirteen people died and more than two dozen were wounded during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood. One of the wounded is Specialist Dayna Ferguson, who returned home to Clear Lake Wednesday.

There was no big party inside the Ferguson home, but there is a celebration.

"It's great to be here and have her here," Ferguson's mother, Leva, said.

Dayna Ferguson eased out of the car and into the arms of her fiancé. After spending six days in a hospital at Fort Hood, she is back home and talking about the nightmare.

"I saw him, and then he shot me, like, two seconds later," she said.

Ferguson was inside the processing center last Thursday afternoon, preparing for her deployment to Iraq later this month. She said she heard gunshots first before seeing the shooter, even though he was just two feet away.

"I got shot in my leg and arm, and it went through my chest and collapsed my lung," Ferguson said. "The one in my leg went up through my stomach, and they had to operate in my stomach."

It took more than seven hours for her parents to get any answers.

"(The situation was) just hell on earth," father Jim Ferguson said. "You don't know -- it's awful. You see that man's picture on TV and you think, 'This man just put some bullets in your baby girl.'"

Jim and Leva Ferguson immediately rushed to their daughter's side, but it took a little longer for her fiancé, soldier Randy Roscoe, to get there. A week ago, he was sitting in a tent in Iraq.

"I just felt hopeless," Roscoe said. "There's nothing I could do over there. I just wanted to get home."

Army officials were able to get him home Monday. Since then, Danya Ferguson has had another surgery and has met the president. Now home, her father doesn't want to ever let her go.

"I'm going to board her up in her room and not going to let her out again," Jim Ferguson said. "The army had their chance, now she's home, and I'm going to take care of her for the rest of my life, til I die."

They have yet to think about a homecoming beyond this quiet one of balloons and signs. They are just grateful, a feeling 13 other families do not have.

"We're very fortunate," Leva Ferguson said. "Watching that memorial and thinking that we could have been there."

Doctors said Danya Ferguson should make a full recovery. Her father said that she bears no ill will toward Maj. Nadal Hasan. For now, he said, she plans to take some time off and rest, and she and Roscoe are still planning for an April wedding.


SEE VIDEO HERE

U,S, government seizing Iranian mosques

The U.S. government seeks forfeiture of at least three mosques, including this one in Houston, Texas

New York (CNN) -- The federal government said Thursday it is seeking forfeiture of properties belonging to the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp. -- accused of transferring money to a bank owned by the Iranian government -- including a Manhattan skyscraper and at least three mosques.
Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced

Thursday's filing of an amended civil complaint seeking forfeiture of the Alavi Foundation's interest in the 36-story office tower located on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

The building is owned by 650 Fifth Avenue Company, a partnership between the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., the Justice Department said in a news release. The amended complaint alleges that the Alavi Foundation provided services to the Iranian government and transferred money from 650 Fifth Avenue Company to Bank Melli, which is owned and controlled by the government of Iran.

The amended complaint seeks forfeiture of all assets of the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp., including bank accounts owned by 650 Fifth Avenue Company, the Alavi Foundation and Assa Corp.; and properties owned by the foundation in New York, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and California.

Less Than Two Weeks to Launch

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:47:40 AM CST

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Launch Pad 39A technicians are loading space shuttle Atlantis' two, mass-memory units today. Located in the middeck's two avionics bays, each reel-to-reel digital magnetic tape storage device holds basic flight software for the shuttle's general purpose computers and can store additional data.

Preparations for final ordnance installations and connections at the pad will begin today and are expected to wrap up this weekend.

At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, the STS-129 mission's six astronauts will be given their L-10 physicals today. They'll also practice integrated entry procedures in Johnson's motion base simulator.

Atlantis is scheduled to launch on its 11-day supply mission to the International Space Station at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16.

Cops, using GPS, find theft suspect

By Nick Cenegy / The Daily News

LEAGUE CITY, Texas — League City police are pretty certain they know the man responsible for several car burglaries outside area day cares during the last month. They’re confident because they know exactly where the man has been.

It was, in part, good police work. An off-duty officer called in a suspicious green van hanging around his child’s day care weeks ago.

It was, in part, the work of investigators who doggedly ran down leads in nine car burglary cases, eventually turning up surveillance footage from one of the day cares.

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But the break that brought the case together was that David Lee Routt, 38, the man who has been charged with the crimes, was wearing a GPS ankle bracelet tracking his whereabouts pending a parole revocation hearing.

Investigators allege that, on at least nine occasions in the past month, Routt waited outside day care centers between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. as parents walked their children inside.

The residents would leave their purses or wallets inside their cars, which often were left unlocked or running, and return minutes later to find them gone, Sgt. John Jordan said.

The profile of each case was nearly identical. Nothing except the purses ever was stolen, Jordan said.

Immediately after the theft, before the victim had the chance to report anything missing, the credit cards would be used at nearby gas stations. The person using the cards wouldn’t risk going inside the store, so there was no surveillance footage that might reveal his face.

Week after week went by with no leads. Police put together an operations plan to step up their efforts. The thefts were happening daily, Jordan said.

Jordan said surveillance video from a day care showed a green van pulling up next to a car that had been reported burglarized and a man getting out.

After running the van’s description through police records, they found a suspicious vehicle report logged weeks before by an off-duty patrolman.

Jordan said investigators used license plate information to find the van’s owner. The owner told authorities she had given the van to a family member who was back in jail.

Police found Routt in Harris County Jail and contacted his parole officer. The parole officer told them about the GPS anklet and arranged to check on Routt’s whereabouts during the burglaries.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

STS-19 set for Nov 16

Atlantis and Crew Prepare for Flight
The STS-129 mission will be commanded by Charles O. Hobaugh and piloted by Barry E. Wilmore. Mission Specialists are Robert L. Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips to space.

Atlantis and its crew will deliver two control moment gyroscopes, equipment and EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 1 and 2 to the International Space Station. The mission will feature three spacewalks.

Atlantis also will return station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth and is slated to be the final space shuttle crew rotation flight.

Atlantis will launch on the STS-129 mission at 2:28 p.m. EST Nov. 16.

READ MORE HERE

ARES Launch set for today.

NASA's first flight test for the agency's next-generation spacecraft and launch vehicle system, called Ares I-X, will bring NASA one step closer to its exploration goals. The flight test will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.

New Target Launch Time
Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:58:05 AM CDT

The launch team has decided to focus in on the best period of predicted weather, and now target a liftoff at 11 a.m. EDT. Weather Officer Kathy Winters' evaluation of the trends, based on weather reconnaissance flights, indicate the troublesome upper-level clouds should clear enough to go "green" during that time, with only a 20 percent chance of violations. That would start the countdown clock at 10:56 a.m.

Rising jobless rate not as severe here

By JIM MOLONY
Updated: 10.21.09
Just as it did in the rest of the country, unemployment rose locally during September, but the good news for Pearland, Friendswood and greater Houston is that the job market here isn't as tight as elsewhere.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission the Texas seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose slightly to 8.2 percent in September, up from 8.0 percent a month ago, and continued to trend well below the U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 9.8 percent.

The Texas Civilian Labor Force continued to increase, remaining above the mark of 12 million workers for the third consecutive month. Total non-agricultural employment in Texas fell by 44,700 positions during September.

"The Texas job market continued to tighten as most industries experienced job losses in September," Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken said. "While unemployment in Texas remains well below the national rate of 9.8 percent, this serious national recession continues to affect us adversely in Texas."

In Friendswood the unemployment rate rose to 6.7, the highest monthly reading in at least eight years, and yet the number may be misleading since a detailed breakdown is unavailable and Friendswood's major employers -- the two school districts and the city -- as well as other key local businesses did not report any significant layoffs.

"I have not seen high unemployment or even business relocations from Friendswood, it's been just the opposite," said Karen Capps, Friendswood's Economic Development Coordinator. "The number is high for us, but when you look at the rest of the country we're doing fine."

Overall in the United States economic growth has slowed, and in Galveston County, in which part of Friendswood lies, unemployment has nearly doubled (from 4.3 to 8.5 percent) during the last 12 months, according to the TWC.

"Galveston is different because of the storm," Capps said, referring to Hurricane Ike which closed scores of businesses and displaced a substantial segment of the work force.

READ THE FULL STORY

H1N1 Vaccine Trickles into Area

H1N1 vaccine trickles into local area

By MARY ANN HELLINGHAUSEN
Updated: 10.19.09
The vaccine for H1N1 flu is slowly getting to Bay Area physicians, and at least one local hospital is changing its visitation guidelines during flu season.

The nasal mist has been shipped to some area physicians and health departments, but the injectable vaccine is not yet available in most physicians’ offices.

Meanwhile a 16-year-old junior from Dobie High School is confirmed as having died from the H1N1 flu.

A Pasadena school district spokeswoman said the flu diagnosis was confirmed late last week after the student died Oct. 14. She said the county health department indicated there was an underlying medical condition, but did not specify what it was.

The student had not attended classes since Sept. 28, so it was unlikely that any other students had been exposed by contact with him at school.

Clear Creek school district officials say flu numbers among students in the district are “low and steady,” with no recent spikes.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

The grass is greener!

CLEARLAKE Students at Burns Valley Elementary School (BVES) received a surprise when they got to school on Wednesday morning.

Where students once played among dirt and star thistle, they found a field of green grass.

More than 700 Personal Success Institute (PSI) volunteers hailing from all parts of the world created a massive workforce Tuesday night that resulted in a new soccer field for the students of BVES.

"The area has been closed off for the past three weeks," Konocti Unified School District Community Coordinator Harriet Rogers said. "They have just been waiting and Wednesday when they come to school they'll see a new soccer field."

Brigade lines comprised of hundreds encompassed the prepped field creating an assembly line for laying sod. With music blaring, smiling volunteers committed to the betterment of humankind worked enthusiastically in what seemed more of a party than a labor.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE

"What you have gathered here are people from all over the world. They come from Japan, Canada; they are doctors, lawyers, people from all walks of life from 18 to 86-years-old," Shirley Hunt, PSI president said. "We work with them on contributing to the family, the community, which ultimately ripples out to the nation."

PSI World is a 36-year-old non-profit organization based in High Valley, Clearlake Oaks.

LCROSS Moon Smash Viewing Party In Humble

Administaff Observatory - Humble ISD
2505 S. Houston Ave, Humble, TX 77396
http://www.humble.k12.tx.us/observatory.htm
The Administaff Observatory will be recording and projecting the event as seen on their 20-inch Planewave CDK telescope and viewing it with our eyes on the 16-inch Meade LX-200 telescope. Aaron Clevenson - aaron@clevenson.org, Observatory Director, Adminstaff Observatory

Related article: Earth’s closest neighbor is holding a secret. In 1999, hints of that secret were revealed in the form of concentrated hydrogen signatures detected in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles by NASA’s Lunar Prospector. These readings may be an indication of lunar water and could have far-reaching implications as humans expand exploration past low-Earth orbit. The Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission is seeking a definitive answer.

In April 2006, NASA selected the LCROSS proposal for a low-cost, fast-track companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The main LCROSS mission objective is to confirm the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater near a lunar polar region.

LCROSS launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on June 18, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. PDT. The LCROSS shepherding spacecraft and the Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage rocket executed a fly-by of the moon on June 23, 2009 (LCROSS lunar swingby video stream coverage) and entered into an elongated Earth orbit to position LCROSS for impact on a lunar pole. On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will act as a heavy impactor to create a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Projected impact at the lunar South Pole is currently: Oct 9, 2009 at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.

The debris plumes are expected to be visible from Earth- and space-based telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger.

The LCROSS science payload consists of two near-infrared spectrometers, a visible light spectrometer, two mid-infrared cameras, two near-infrared cameras, a visible camera and a visible radiometer. The LCROSS instruments were selected to provide mission scientists with multiple complimentary views of the debris plume created by the Centaur impact.

As the ejecta rises above the target crater’s rim and is exposed to sunlight, any water-ice, hydrocarbons or organics will vaporize and break down into their basic components. These components primarily will be monitored by the visible and infrared spectrometers. The near-infrared and mid-infrared cameras will determine the total amount and distribution of water in the debris plume. The spacecraft’s visible camera will track the impact location and the behavior of the debris plume while the visible radiometer will measure the flash created by the Centaur impact.

NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., is overseeing the development of the LCROSS mission with its spacecraft and integration partner, Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, Calif. LCROSS is a fast-paced, low-cost, mission that will leverage some existing NASA systems, commercial-off-the-shelf components, the spacecraft expertise of Northrop Grumman and experience gained during the Lunar Prospector Mission in 1999. Ames is managing the mission, conducting mission operations, and developing the payload instruments, while Northrop Grumman designed and is building the spacecraft for this innovative mission. Ames mission scientists will spearhead the data analysis.


Public viewing parties:


Sci-Quest Museum
102-D Wynn Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805
www.sci-quest.org
Overnight lock-in at the Museum. Evening of Thursday, Oct. 8 with viewing opportunities Friday, Oct. 9 (Impact week is also Fall Break for our local schools). We will have LCROSS programs and activities throughout the evening and show NASA TV live coverage in the Sci-Quest auditorium. Members of the Von Braun Astronomical Society will bring out telescopes for observations. Sci-Quest can accommodate 80 children and 40 adults. LPRP is working with MSFC Academic Affairs to select the students for participation.
Tentative: live feed to MSFC auditorium for employees.

Von Braun Astronomical Society Planetarium, Monte Sano State Park
Monte Sano State Park , Huntsville, AL 35805
www.vbas.org
October 9th - LCROSS Mission's Lunar Impacts -- Early Friday morning (Gathering at around 5 - 5:30 am), October 9th, VBAS Members and news media only are invited to join us at our observatory facilities located within Monte Sano State Park to view and record the two plumes for the LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observatory and Sensing Satellite) mission's lunar impacts! Watch for additional details to be posted soon.
October 10th - Astronomy Day -- On Saturday, Oct. 10th from 3 pm to mid-night, VBAS will host our annual "Astronomy Day" which will include children activities, planetarium programs, an outdoor concert from 5 to 9 pm that the entire family will enjoy featuring the Maple Hill Band & Moondust Big Band, and a star party from 9 pm to mid-night that any one with a telescope is welcome to attend! During our event, we will be showing the video footage of the lunar impact's plume and will celebrate, share the exciting historical moment with the public. Admission is free for children and students, with a $10 donation for adults. Members wishing to help this year should contact Melissa Snider at 256.684.9036 and those with telescopes who would like to reserve a spot for the star party from 9 to mid-night should contact Eric Johnson at 256.682.2401.

California (CA)

Lewis Center for Educational Research
17500 Mana Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307
http://www.lewiscenter.org/
Doors open to the public beginning at 4am. The Lewis Center can accommodate ~320 and has a small overflow area as well. NASA Channel will all be on all TVs and computers in Mission Control area. The Lewis Center will also have 65 students in house all night. They will be tracking, from the in house mission control, the spacecraft as it impacts the Moon using a 34-m radio telescope. You can see the Mission Control from their website at: http://gsc.lewiscenter.org/gavrt/mission_control.php

Antelope Valley Astronomy Club
P.O. Box 8545, Lancaster, CA 93539
Antelope Valley - LCROSS Lunar Impact Event Page
The Antelope Valley Astronomy Club is planning a star party for the morning of the impact. The party will be at a private residence in Antelope Acres and some really cool observing equipment will be present.

Lucerne Dry Lake
Lucerne Valley, CA
LCROSS Viewing Party at Lucerne Dry Lake
There will be an 8" Celestron telescope with a low-light video camera going to a projector, so many people will be able to view the event. Camping is allowed on Lucerne Dry Lake, and portable toilets will be available. The event will occur a day before the Rocketry Organization of California (ROC) rocket launch at the lakebed. Directions and camping information can be found on ROC's website at www.ROCstock.org.

NASA Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, California 94035
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/events/2009/10.08.09.html
Ames will be hosting an all-night event that is open to the general public and free; however, no-cost tickets are required for each guest wishing to stay overnight. See site for details and schedule of events.

Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd. - Oakland, CA 94619
Chabot - NASA/LCROSS Lunar Impact Event
As NASA’s LCROSS Mission to investigate the presence of water on the Moon comes to a close, get up early and join us at Chabot to view the impact of the spacecraft and the debris plume it is expected to produce through a special live NASA broadcast in our Planetarium, and through the eye of Chabot’s own 36-inch telescope, Nellie. Advanced registration required -- Members FREE / Guests $3 -- Register: (510) 336-7373

California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118
LCROSS event during the day Oct. 9
For those who aren't early risers, drop by the California Academy of Sciences to attend one of four debriefings during the day. At 10:00 a.m., noon, 2:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m., Academy educators will highlight original footage of the impact as well as up-to-the-minute results as the day progresses. Visit the "Science in Action" exhibit on the first floor for updates. Free with Academy admission.

The Fremont Peak Observatory
PO Box 1376, San Juan Bautista, California 95045
LCROSS Lunar Impact
The observatory will open to the public starting around 3:00 a.m. and continue until about 5:00 a.m. The telescope is a large 30" f/4.8 modified Newtonian style telescope. We will be attaching a sensitive video camera and recording the event. The recorder will be connected to the projector in the classroom adjacent to the observing room. This way, we can accommodate about 50 or more people with the ability to see the event live. If more interest picks up, we might move the projector screen outside to the amphitheater -- that configuration can accommodate over 100 people. Other members will have smaller telescopes set up around the observatory also. Campsites are available on first come first serve basis. State Parks requires RSVP's. See www.fpoa.netfor details.

Tierra Del Sol Remote Observation Facility
Tierra de Luna Rd, Tierra del Sol, CA 91905
http://sandiegospace.org
The San Diego Astronomy Association will host a special star party event at the Tierra Del Sol remote observation facility 90 minutes east of San Diego. Members of the public who wish to attend should call 858-877-3103 or send an email request for a ticket to publicity@sdaa.org to RSVP, as the event will be limited to a total of 300 attendees. Overnight camping is available and full details about how to reach the Tierra Del Sol site, and what to bring with you to the event will be emailed to those who RSVP in advance of the event. You must RSVP to attend.

Colorado (CO)

Fiske Planetarium
Regent Drive, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80301
http://fiske.colorado.edu/
Fiske Planetarium and Sommers-Bausch Observatory will hold a Lunar Bagel Breakfast. The observatory has 16", 18" and a 24" telescope that will be used for the general public to view the impact.

Star Light--Star Bright Observatory
2015 Wickes Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80919
www.gateway2space.com
Will have a 10" Mac-Newtonian telescope and video camera system to display the impact to students, teachers, and members of the public who plan to come out early in the morning on the 9th of Oct., weather permitting.

Connecticut (CT)

Discovery Museum and Planetarium
4450 Park Ave., Bridgeport, CT 06604
http://www.discoverymuseum.org/
Discovery Museum and Planetarium will be hosting an LCROSS breakfast to view the impact event. Light breakfast will be served, planetarium show, short lecture and live impact downlink followed by discussion and celebratory toast.

District of Columbia (DC)

Newseum
555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20001
www.newseum.org
Will present the NASA TV live coverage, will open up the museum free at 6:30 a.m. EDT.

Florida (FL)

NASA Kennedy Space Center
FL 32899-0001
www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html
KSC guest operations is considering options to open one of their theaters at the Visitor’s Complex and dedicate it for the week of impact to show various LCROSS launch videos and replays of press conferences. This would be available for viewing by the general public during their visits.

Hawaii (HI)
The State has declared that the week of October 2-9 is Hawai’ian Aerospace Week.

Mauna Kea
Great University of Hawaii-owned UH-88 telescope on Mauna Kea is going to be made available for outreach. Details in the works: Andy Chaikin will be at the telescope, amateur involvement with the gathering of the images. John Herrington and Todd May will also be there.

'Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawai'i
600 `Imiloa Place, Hilo, HI 96720
Free NASA LCROSS Mission Talk and Presentation.— Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM to Noon

Lanihuli Observatory
Windward Community College, 45-720 Keaahala Rd, Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744
Observatory open and free to the public from 10:00 p.m. Oct 8 through 2:00 a.m. Oct 9.

Maui Astronomy Club
Institute for Astronomy, 34 Ohia Ku Street, Pukalani HI 96768
www.mauiastronomyclub.org
Open to the public from 11:30 pm to 2:30am. Astronomers are advised to arrive early to set up telescopes, video and CCD cameras. Attendees will be instructed and educated as to timing and nature of event. We will be watching the NASA TV live feed on line as well. Hot chocolate will be served.

Idaho (ID)

College of Southern Idaho’s Herrett Center for Arts and Science museum
315 Falls Ave, Twin Falls, ID 83301-3367
'Moon Bomb' breakfast at the Herrett Center
The Center is planning a public event to view the LCROSS impact. The Center has a public observatory with a 24” f/8 research-grade telescope, and a 144-seat planetarium theater with multiple video projectors. Event includes sky gazing, viewing the impact in the auditorium and a breakfast. The Herrett Telescope will be focused on the point of impact by 4:30 a.m. when the doors open.

Illinois (IL)

The Adler Planetarium
1300 S. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/special/index.shtml#lcross
The Adler Planetarium will show the planned impact of NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) live on the morning of October 9, 2009 in the Definiti Theater. The event will begin at 6:00 a.m., alongside a live feed from the Adler's own 20-inch Doane Observatory telescope (weather permitting) as we attempt to see the impact plume through our telescope, as well. This event is FREE, but advance registration is STRONGLY encouraged. Registration is ONLINE ONLY. If space is available on October 9, seating will be first come, first served, based on the capacity of the theater, though there is no guarantee that day-of space will be offered. Doors open at 5:50 a.m.; the event ends at 7:00 a.m.

NIU Geology Department
Northern Illinois University, Davis Hall Room 308, Normal & Locust Rds., DeKalb, IL 60115
The Northern Illinois University Geology Department, hosted by Sigma Gamma Epsilon (Geologic Honor Society) will be hosting a NASA TV viewing party for the LCROSS impact on October 9th. The viewing will be from 6:00am until whenever there is nothing left to see, and the event will be catered by a local restaurant. For more information on attending the event (and having hot food!) please email niu.sge.info@gmail.com for more information.

NIU Observatory
Northern Illinois University, Normal & Locust Rds., DeKalb, IL 60115
http://www.niu.edu/physics/observatory/
The NIU Davis Observatory will be hosting an event from 5:00am—7:00am on October 9 to attempt to view the dust plume resulting from the impact. We expect this to also be an excellent time to observe other objects, including Mars and Venus. For more information or for directions to the observatory, please e-mail observatory@niu.edu, call 753-1305 or go to www.niu.edu/physics/observatory.

Kentucky (KY)

Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd, Bowling Green, KY, 42101
The WKU Physics and Astronomy Department, Hardin Planetarium and the Hilltoppers Astronomy Club will host a Star Party starting at 5:00 am Friday October 9th. There will be bagels and juice, talks by professional astronomers and more. Come and be a part of this unique event and watch NASA's video broadcast of the LCROSS spacecraft impacting the Moon live from the Hardin Planetarium. Adults and children welcome. Free. Please contact Dr Rachel Campbell if you would like more information.

Gheens Science Hall and Rauch Planetarium
University of Louisville, 108 W Brandeis Ave, Louisville, KY 40292
LCROSS Public Viewing Event
The free, public event starts at 7 a.m. EDT (the crash is scheduled for 7:30 a.m.) and will feature a live broadcast of the collision, behind the scenes videos and a question and answer session with planetarium director Rachel Connolly. Light refreshments, including “moon rocks” (donut holes), will be served. Those planning to attend the event should check to make sure details of the mission have not changed by calling the planetarium at 502-852-6664.

Morehead University Space Center
4133 Us Highway 60, Morehead, KY 40351
LCROSS Public Viewing Event
Join the Faculty and Staff of the Morehead State University Space Science Center Friday October 9th at 6:30 am CDT to witness the culmination of the LCROSS mission, part of NASA’s revived robotic exploration of the Moon. Live coverage from NASA TV will be shown on the Star Theater dome as the LCROSS satellite observes the impact of its Centaur upper stage into a crater permanently shadowed near the moon’s South Pole at approximately 7:30 a.m. CDT, followed four minutes later by the impact of the LCROSS vehicle itself.

Louisiana (LA)

Highland Road Park Observatory
13800 Highland Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70810
http://www.bro.lsu.edu/
Public event from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 9. For more information, contact hrpodesk@brec.org

Massachusetts (MA)

Boston Museum of Science
61 Science Park, Boston, MA 02114
"Target: Moon!"
Watch a NASA video broadcast of the experiment, and join Museum staff and guest scientists in a discussion on its implications for future human exploration of the Moon. Our guests include Nick Gross, PhD, Boston University Astronomy Department; and Tony Case, graduate student from Boston University Center for Space Physics. Starts at 9:00 a.m. EDT, with the re-broadcast of the LCROSS impacts at 10:00 a.m. EDT.

Minnesota (MN)

Jackson Middle School Observatory
6000 109th Avenue North, Champlin, Minnesota 55316
www.anoka.k12.mn.us
Public event from 5:45 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 9. Please check the Web site to make sure the session is still on as planned (due to weather conditions) or call 763-506-5372 to listen to the recorded message.

Willmar Senior High
2701 30th St. NE, Willmar, MN 56201
www.willmar.k12.mn.us/srhigh
Willmar Senior High's Earth Space Science class will have 2 telescopes set up 1 - 8" Celestron Scmidt-Cass with digital camera and a 10" Orion Skyquest light bucket at 6:00 a.m. for the 6:30 a.m. EDT impact.

Mississippi (MS)

Rainwater Observatory & Planetarium
1 Fine Place, French Camp, MS 39745
www.rainwaterobservatory.org/
Talk and public observing event the night of Oct. 8. Our telescopes will be observing and imaging the event on Friday morning. We will have an open house on Saturday afternoon and another talk Saturday evening at 7pm followed by observing.

Montana (MT)

Montana State University - Northern
300 West 11th Street, Havre, MT 59501
www.msun.edu/
Montana State University - Northern is hosting an observation of the LCROSS impact ejecta plume Oct. 9th, starting at 4:30 am CDT on the campus at the Student Union Building (Sled Hill). We will be setting up several large telescopes and pray for good seeing. Contact info: Professor Trygve "Spike" Magelssen trygve.magelssen@msun.edu; 406-265-4123, and Dr. Virgil Hawkinson hawkinson@msun.edu. We'll have the hot chocolate and coffee on!

Nevada (NV)

University of Nevada, Reno
1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89557-0208
www.unr.edu/home/
The University of Nevada, Reno will be offering public viewing in the parking lot south of the campus baseball field from 4:00 AM to Dawn on October 9th 2009. The University will have its 11" Meade, equipped with a CCD camera to try to get an image of the impact, and Tahoe Star Tours will have an 11" CPC for visual observation, with an additional 8" telescope for general viewing.

New York (NY)

Inwood Astronomy Project
Inwood Hill Park, W 207 Street and Seaman Ave, New York City, NY
http://www.moonbeam.net/InwoodAstronomy/events-20091009.shtml
Early morning stargazing then breakfast and watch the Impact on NASA TV.

Hirsch Observatory
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th St, Troy, NY 12180
www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/observatory/
Event starts at 6:30 a.m. EDT. We will attempt imaging the event with the Hirsch Observatory's 16" telescope and live video feeds from NASA and major observatories will be presented. Event is weather permitting. In the event of clouds the event will be canceled. You can email astro@union.rpi.edu for more information. The observatory phone number is 518-276-6090.

North Carolina (NC)

High Point, NC
Astronomy Lecture featuring LCROSS
(more info forthcoming)

Ohio (OH)

Cleveland Museum of Natural History (in partnership with NASA Glenn)
1 Wade Oval Drive University Circle Cleveland OH 44106-1767
www.cmnh.org
CMNH has a planetarium and a 10.5” refractor telescope. Because sunrise is at 7:32 a.m., they are not optimistic in being able to see much, but they are going to try. They will put a TV camera feed to a public viewing area (as well as to a video recorder) and allow visitors to walk through the observatory. Media will also be invited to the event. NASA TV will be broadcast in the planetarium and perhaps an auditorium. Glenn will provide an LPRP banner it has been in storage since the Oshkosh air show, a model of the Centaur rocket, a pop up exhibit on Centaur history, and possibly a “speaker” to answer questions from a NASA perspective.

Nielsen Observatory
12882 Diagonal Road, Elyria, Ohio 44050
www.BlackRiverAstro.org
We will open the gates at 5:30 a.m. We will have live NASA Broadcast feeds, canned video, and a camera attached to a C-14 telescope, hoping to capture the plumes as they occur. Other telescopes will be setup so our guests can view the Moon before and after the LCROSS events occur, weather permitting.

Oregon (OR)

ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum in Ashland
1500 E. Main St., Ashland, OR 97520
www.scienceworksmuseum.org/
The ScienceWorks preview of the impact, illustrated with NASA mission video and new lunar images, will be held October 8th, 7:00-8:00 p.m. in the ScienceWorks auditorium. Admission for the event is free.

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)
1945 SE Water Avenue, Portland, OR 97214
http://www.omsi.edu/events
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will offer space exploration enthusiasts the opportunity to watch the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) crash-land on the Moon Friday, October 9. The LCROSS will crash into the Moon in order to gather data from the 6-mile-high impact cloud it will create. OMSI will be showing the impact in the auditorium live via satellite on NASA TV beginning at 3:30 a.m., with the impact scheduled at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Admission for the televised impact is free.

Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory
57245 River Rd, Sunriver, OR‎ 97707
www.sunrivernaturecenter.org
The Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory will be open for viewing to watch the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) crash-land on the Moon Friday, October 9. The observatory will have up to 10 telescopes viewing the event. We will also be showing the impact on our big screen TV via satellite on NASA TV. Doors will open beginning at 4 a.m., with the impact scheduled at 4:30 a.m. PDT. Admission for the event is free, donations gladly accepted.

South Carolina (SC)

Copeland Auditorium
The Citadel, Charleston, SC 29409
Reveille on the Moon
Friday, October 9th: 7:00 a.m. – 8:50 a.m. A live view of LCROSS’s impact and resulting regolith plume will be shown using streaming data from the LCROSS spacecraft via NASA. Also a live Earth bound view will be projected from the large telescope at the MMT Observatory in Arizona.

Texas (TX)

El Paso Community College
Valle Verde Campus, 919 Hunter, El Paso, TX 79915
http://www.epcc.edu/collegeinfo/campus/vvindex.cfm
The college will open its dome at 4:30 a.m. CDT to the public to watch the LCROSS impact. The dome is in front of the North Loop entrance of the Valley Verde campus.

Administaff Observatory - Humble ISD
2505 S. Houston Ave, Humble, TX 77396
http://www.humble.k12.tx.us/observatory.htm
The Administaff Observatory will be recording and projecting the event as seen on their 20-inch Planewave CDK telescope and viewing it with our eyes on the 16-inch Meade LX-200 telescope. Aaron Clevenson - aaron@clevenson.org, Observatory Director, Adminstaff Observatory

Nova Hill Observatory
San Angelo, Texas
http://www.AngeloAstronomy.com
The San Angelo Astronomy Association will have an Impact Party on Friday morning, Oct. 9. Impact is 6:30 a.m. CDT. There will be 20" and 30" Dobsonians aimed at the moon, as well as two 12' scopes.

Scobee Planetarium
1300 San Pedro Ave, San Antonio, Texas
http://www.accd.edu/sac/ce/scobee/
The Scobee Planetarium will be taking live video feeds through their CCD video cameras and displaying them on various screens at the observatory.

Utah (UT)

Clark Planetarium
110 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
http://www.clarkplanetarium.org/news.php
On Saturday, October 10 from 3:30-4:30pm, the Hansen Dome Theatre at the Clark Planetarium will present its original fulldome digital mini-show “Flight to the Moon: LRO and LCROSS” followed by a live-narrated presentation by Programs Manager Mike Murray. The presentation will include images, video and other feedback about the impact of the Centaur rocket booster and LCROSS in the crater Cabeus-A near the lunar south pole.

Washington (WA)

Central Washington University Astronomy Club
400 E University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926
www.cwu.edu/~astroclb
This event will be hosted by the CWU astronomy club and physics department in Lind Hall on the southeast corner of the CWU campus. (See the campus map for details.) Doors open to the public at 3:30 am PDT. NASA channel will be showing the event in room 204. We'll be tracking the collision live with our 12-inch telescope on the roof of Lind Hall (weather permitting). There will be various smaller telescopes available for general sky observing, as well. For more information, contact Bruce Palmquist at palmquis@cwu.edu.

Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church
4102 S. Crestline, Spokane, WA 99203
www.hamblenpres.org/
We will have 4 telescopes set up for the event; two 8 inch schmidt cassigrains, a 12 inch dobsonian and a 16 inch dobsonian. One of the 8 inch scopes will be hooked to a camera and a projector. Viewing will begin approximately one hour before impact.

W.M. Keck Observatory
Pacific Lutheran University, 10th Ave S and 124th St S Tacoma, WA
LCROSS Breakfast Bash
The Tacoma Astronomical Society will be hosting an LCROSS Breakfast Bash at the PLU Observatory from 3:45 am PDT to 30 minutes post impact. We will stream NASA LCROSS footage as well as our own images from the 16" W.M. Keck Observatory.

Thunder Over Houston Area May Be Jets!

The U.S. military has issued advanced warning that jet fighters could be scrambled in the Houston area on Oct. 6 as part of military exercises.

North American Aerospace Defense Command will conduct the flights in the skies over Southeast Texas. The pre-planned flights will take place in the late morning and early afternoon and residents should expect to hear and see NORAD fighter jets as they practice intercept and identification procedures.

Although exact flight plans were not divulged, a NORAD spokesman at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado said Houston airspace “could be included” in the exercises.

NORAD has conducted exercise flights of this nature throughout the United States and Canada since the start of Operation Noble Eagle, the command’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

NASA Invites Media to Ames for LCROSS Impact Events

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission, known as LCROSS, will culminate with two lunar impacts at approximately 4:30 a.m. PDT on Oct. 9. The mission will search for water ice in the Cabeus A crater near the moon's south pole. Reporters are invited to observe the event and participate in pre-impact and post-impact media briefings Oct. 9 at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

The deadline for U.S. reporters to apply for accreditation is Monday, Oct. 5. International journalists planning to cover the LCROSS impacts from Ames must apply for accreditation no later than Friday, Sept. 25. Media representatives applying for credentials should submit requests to: ARC-Media-Accreditation@mail.nasa.gov.

Journalists should confirm they have been accredited before they travel. No substitution of credentials is allowed at any NASA facility.

Once approved, two forms of government-issued identification, one with a photo, will be required to receive an access badge for Ames to cover the pre- impact media briefing, impact event and post-impact conference. For further information about accreditation, contact Jonas Dino at 650-604-5612.

For more information about the LCROSS mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/lcross

Layoffs at NASA begin.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Layoffs have begun at the Kennedy Space Center.
United Space Alliance, a private company that employs many shuttle workers, will lay off 277 people in the coming weeks.
All but 19 voluntarily accepted the loss of their jobs by taking early retirement.
The space shuttle program is scheduled to retire next year.

Photos from Space Shuttle Stop in Amarillo

Click to enlarge:


















Just a few photographs from Sunday's Space Shuttle/747 ferry flight after it landed at Rick Husband today. It was an breath-taking sight.
Thanks to everyone for making it possible to get this close to a real spaceship.

-Steve Douglass
ALL PHOTOS (C) STEVE DOUGLASS

Actor Patrick Swayze Dies; Houston Native Had Battled Cancer

LOS ANGELES (September 14, 2009)—“Dirty Dancing” actor Patrick Swayze, 57, has lost his yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer.

Swayze died Monday with his family at his side, his publicist Annett Wolf said.

In March 2008, it was disclosed that the Houston native had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Despite the grim prognosis, Swayze continued to work on the A&E series “The Beast,” in which he starred, although he said the cancer put him “through hell.”

Swayze became a star in 1987 with his performance in the coming-of-age classic “Dirty Dancing.”

Three years later, his role in “Ghost” made him a big screen favorite.

Patrick Swayze was born on August 18, 1952 in Houston, Texas, the eldest child of Patsy Yvonne Helen (née Karnes; b. 1927), a choreographer, dance instructor, and dancer, and Jessie Wayne Swayze (1925-1982), an engineering draftsman.[6][7] He had two younger brothers, actor Don (born 1958) and Sean Kyle (born 1962), and two sisters, Vicky Lynn (1949-1994) and Bambi, who were adopted into the family.[8] His surname originated with an English immigrant ancestor named "Swasey".[7]
Until the age of 20,

Swayze lived in the Oak Forest neighborhood of Houston, where he attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic School, Oak Forest Elementary School,[9] Black Middle School,[9][10] and Waltrip High School.[9] During this time, he also pursued multiple artistic and athletic skills, such as ice skating, classical ballet, and acting in school plays. He studied gymnastics at nearby San Jacinto College for two years.

Patrick Swayze on Wkipedia.

Discovery lands at Edwards AFB

Sturckow: Crew, Discovery 'Great' After Landing
Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:58:07 PM CDT

Space shuttle Discovery touched down at Edwards Air Force Base In California on Friday to end a 14-day mission to the International Space Station dedicated to outfitting the orbital laboratory with new experiments, science equipment, supplies and other gear the six people living on the station will need. Unacceptable weather conditions at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Thursday and Friday forced the detour by Discovery to the West Coast.

"We're very happy to be back on land here in California," STS-128 Commander Rick "C.J." Sturckow said after the astronauts got off the shuttle and surveyed their craft. "It was a great mission and we just want to thank everybody for their support."

The crew of seven astronauts, including former station resident Tim Kopra, will fly to their training base at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Saturday. Meanwhile, technicians at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, adjacent to Edwards, will take about a week to get the spacecraft ready for its cross-country flight back to Kennedy atop a modified 747.