Fwd: This Week in The Space Review - 2012 December 17

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From: jeff@thespacereview.com (Jeff Foust)
Date: December 17, 2012 11:52:34 AM GMT-06:00
Subject: This Week in The Space Review - 2012 December 17
Reply-To: jeff@thespacereview.com

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Welcome to this week's issue of The Space Review:


What's the purpose of a 21st century space agency?
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Over the last few weeks, organizations, committees, and individuals have offered their views about what NASA's strategic direction should be. Jeff Foust reports that there's broad dissatisfaction with the agency's current direction, but little consensus on how differently the space agency should be oriented.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2206/1

History's rhymes
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A recent conference about the fifty-year history of NASA's planetary exploration program became something of a forum to deliberate and worry about that program's future. Dwayne Day argues that looking back at that history shows how the program has evolved, and for the better.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2205/1

Addressing the challenges of space debris, part 2: liability
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Everyone agrees that orbital debris is a major issue, but proposals to try and clean up debris can run into legal obstacles. In the second part of his examination of the topic, Michael Listner reviews the liability issues associated with any space debris remediation effort and proposes a way to mitigate those problems.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2204/1

Review: Last Launch
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The shuttle program ended nearly a year and a half ago with the final flight of Atlantis, but the memories of those final missions remain strong. Jeff Foust reviews a book of photographs of those final launches and tale of reverence they offer for a historic series of spaceships.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2203/1


Note: The Space Review will not publish an issue next week because of the Christmas holiday. The next issue will be on Monday, December 31. Happy holidays!

If you missed it, here's what we published in our previous issue:


The resurrection of Mars Sample Return
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Last week NASA surprised many when it announced it would develop a new Mars rover, based on Curiosity, for launch in 2020, reviving hopes of a sample return mission desired by scientists. An insider provides a new perspective on this decision, which represents a major reversal of policy from just earlier this year.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2202/1

Turning science fiction to science fact: Golden Spike makes plans for human lunar missions
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The last year has seen a number of proposals for audacious commercial space endeavors, but perhaps none bigger than a proposal for human missions to the surface of the Moon by 2020. Jeff Foust reports on Golden Spike's plans for such missions and the skepticism about their feasibility.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2201/1

Birds of a feather
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Although it was displayed for a day at the National Air and Space Museum, the HEXAGON and GAMBIT reconnaissance satellites are now on display at the Air Force's museum in Ohio. Dwayne Day pays a visit and looks at the future prospects for showing off the spacecraft there or at the Smithsonian.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2200/1

Flight training for Apollo: An interview with astronaut Harrison Schmitt
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This month marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 17, but before astronaut Harrison Schmitt could fly to the surface of the Moon, he had to learn how to fly. Jason Catanzariti interviews the astronaut on his flight training experience and how it prepared him for his Apollo mission.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2199/1


We appreciate any feedback you may have about these articles as well as
any other questions, comments, or suggestions about The Space Review.
We're also actively soliciting articles to publish in future issues, so
if you have an article or article idea that you think would be of
interest, please email me.

Until next week,

Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
jeff@thespacereview.com
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