** The Official Space Flight Thread - The Space Station and Beyond **

Cygnus rendezvous will now be delayed until at least Saturday.

Meanwhile....

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Launch on the 25th at 23:58 GMT (16:48 EDT).
 

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Expedition 37 set for launch later tonight.
 
Love these Russian rollouts:

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After a lunch delay the Proton-M rocket with the Astra 2E satellite is now due to launch on the 30th.
 
Big day tomorrow:

Cygnus approved for next rendezvous attempt with ISS. Expected rendezvous burn just after 08:00 BST and capture at 12:15 BST (07:15 EDT)

Falcon 9 v1.1 / Cassiope approved for launch at 17:00 BST (12:00 EDT). The launch window is two hours.
 
After the failure of the two houses of Congress to agree a new budget NASA has been forced to shut down apart from three major areas of exempted work:

•Space launch hardware processing required to prevent "harm to life or property"

•International Space Station tracking, operation and support "and operating satellites necessary for safety and protection of life and property"

•"Completion or phase down of research activities in cases where serious damage to property would result from temporary suspension of the activity"
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So the ISS is safe, all existing satellite missions are being monitored as is Curiosity Mars rover. The NASA web site is down and other sites are not being updated. Work on MAVEN has stopped so it could miss its November launch and the next opportunity is in 2016. We can just hope that is budget crisis is resolved asap.
 
Some very good news with regard to MAVEN from Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's principal investigator:

"Let me tell you the current status of MAVEN. I learned this morning that NASA has analyzed the MAVEN mission relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act and determined that it meets the requirements allowing an emergency exception.

MAVEN is required as a communications relay in order to be assured of continued communications with the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers. The rovers are presently supported by Mars Odyssey launched in 2001 and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter launched in 2005. Launching MAVEN in 2013 protects the existing assets that are at Mars today.

A delay in the launch date by more than a week past the end of the nominal launch period, or a delay of launch to 2016, would require additional fuel to get into orbit. This would have precluded having sufficient fuel for MAVEN to carry out its science mission and to operate as a relay for any significant time. Our nominal launch period runs from 18 November through 7 December, and we can launch as late as about 15 December without a significant impact on our combined science and relay activities. There is no NASA relay orbiter planned post-MAVEN.

Although the exception for MAVEN is not being done for science reasons, the science of MAVEN clearly will benefit from this action. Launching in 2013 allows us to observe at a good time in the eleven-year solar cycle.

We have already restarted spacecraft processing at Kennedy Space Center, working toward being ready to launch on Nov. 18. We will continue to work over the next couple of days to identify any changes in our schedule or plans that are necessary to stay on track.”
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So work continues despite the government shutdown.
 
Very strange not having anything coming from NASA because of the budget deadlock but there is one piece of good news. After completing a one month journey the LADEE spacecraft is now into its preliminary orbit around the moon after an insertion burn yesterday.
 
Just over two years after it was launched the Juno Mission is getting ready for today's gravity assisted earth fly-by. The slingshot will boost the spacecraft's velocity and allow it to reach Jupiter in 2016.

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More:

http://missionjuno.swri.edu/
 
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