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Editorial Team

Space Travel Editorial Team

Editorial Team

The Space Travel Editorial Team produces Space Travel's coverage of human spaceflight and access to space. We report on launch, crewed missions and space tourism, and the propulsion, vehicles and human factors of getting people to space. Articles reflect our team's collective editorial process, source verification, drafting, technical review, and editing, rather than a single writer's work. Space Travel takes editorial responsibility for content under this byline. For more on how we work, see our editorial policy.

Orion Ignites The Dreams Of A Rocket Engineer

Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) May 10, 2007 - Kelvin Manning has seen the space shuttles up close for about 15 years. Now he's excited about helping NASA give birth to a new spacecraft, one destined to go to the moon. The Orion capsule and its service module will take shape in the high bay of the Operations and Checkout Building a few feet from Manning's office and those of the Constellation Program at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

May 10, 2007

Methane May Allow Rockets To Go Beyond The Fringes Of Space

Washington (ANI) (SPX) May 10, 2007 - Engineers at XCOR Aerospace say that methane gas can be better used as a fuel to power rockets in the future. Its abundance on several planets of the solar system, including Mars, holds promise of making interplanetary flights free from dependence on earthly fuels if spaceships have to travel to other planets in a timely fashion.

May 10, 2007

NASA Completes Engine Hardware Tests For Ares V

NASA engineers have successfully completed testing of subscale main injector hardware, an early step in development of the RS-68 engine that will power the…

May 9, 2007

NASA To Build New Stand At Stennis To Test Ares Rocket Engines

St. Louis MO (SPX) May 09, 2007 - NASA will test one of the rocket engines it is developing for its new launch vehicles at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The agency will build a new test stand at Stennis for the J-2X engine. The engine will power the upper stages of NASA's Ares I and Ares V rockets.

May 9, 2007

NASA And FAA Team Up To Encourage Aviation And Space Careers

Washington (UPI) May 9, 2007 - NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration have agreed to cooperate in developing U.S. students' skills in science, technology, engineering and math. The agreement signed Wednesday supports the FAA's mission to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's mission to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research.

May 9, 2007

NAMMO Successfully Launches Hybrid Test Rocket From Andoya

Andoya, Norway (SPX) May 09, 2007 - Thursday May 3rd at 12:50:56 hr the Norwegian based company Nammo Raufoss successfully launched a 10 meter long hybrid test rocket from Andoya Rocket Range in Norway. The propulsion system of the hybrid rocket was based on solid fuel and liquid oxygen.

May 9, 2007

ISS Readies Itself For Progress

Houston TX (SPX) May 08, 2007 - Marking the second week working together, the Expedition 15 crew wrapped up a week of various maintenance tasks, science experiments and preparations for the May 15 arrival of the Progress 25 supply ship.

May 8, 2007

Ariane 5 Achieves Record Performance With Geostationary Transfer Orbit

Paris, France (SPX) May 08, 2007 - Ariane 5 delivered a record performance during Arianespace's second heavy-lift flight of 2007, deploying two large telecommunications satellites into highly accurate geostationary transfer orbit today. Launched from the ELA-3 complex at Europe's Spaceport, the Ariane 5 orbited ASTRA 1L for SES ASTRA and Galaxy 17 for Intelsat - marking the 18th consecutive success for Arianespace's workhorse launch vehicle.

May 8, 2007

Cross-Culture Effort Gives Rise To Hope

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) May 08, 2007 - Imagine leaving your home, culture and familiar language thousands of miles behind as you carry your nation's hope for space exploration on your shoulders. That's just what some of Japan's space pioneers have been doing for a number of years as they prepare their country's first human spaceflight facility.

May 8, 2007

Heidelberg Soldiers Taste Test Two New MREs

Heidelberg, Germany (SPX) May 07, 2007 - Soldiers here have just tested two new rations being fielded for servicemembers this year: an on-the-go compact ration based on pocket sandwiches, and a kind of kitchen-in-a-box that prepares hot meals for 18 people with just the pull of a tab.

May 7, 2007

NASA Awards Heat Shield Material Contracts For Orion Spacecraft

Moffett Field, CA (SPX) May 05, 2007 - NASA has selected Boeing and Textron Systems to develop alternate heat shield materials for the Orion crew exploration spacecraft. The two contracts for Alternate Block 2 Thermal Protection System (TPS) Materials and Heat Shield Systems Advanced Development will support development and testing of three alternative heat shield materials, designs and manufacturing processes.

May 5, 2007

Methane Blast To Get You Going Fast

Huntville AL (SPX) May 05, 2007 - On January 16, 2007, a dazzling blue flame blasted across the sands of the Mojave desert. In many respects, it looked like an ordinary rocket engine test, but this was different. While most NASA rockets are powered by liquid oxygen and hydrogen or solid chemicals, we were testing a methane engine, says project manager Terri Tramel of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

May 5, 2007

Subcommittee Examines Key Challenges Confronting NASA Space Science Program

Washington DC (SPX) May 04, 2007 - The U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics today received a sobering assessment of the outlook for NASA's space science programs from a distinguished panel of scientists. The scientists warned that recent and planned budgetary cutbacks are jeopardizing the future wellbeing of the nation's space science enterprise.

May 4, 2007

Ariane 5 Launches Twin GEO Birds

Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) May 04, 2007 - On 4 May 2007, an Ariane 5 ECA launcher lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two satellites into geostationary transfer orbits. Lift-off of flight V176 took place at 22:29 GMT/UTC (19:29 local time, 00:29 [5 May] CET/Paris). The satellites were accurately injected into the correct transfer orbits about 30 minutes later.

May 4, 2007

No Launch Delay After Train With Shuttle Booster Derails In US

Washington (RIA Novosti) May 03, 2007 - An accident in which a freight train carrying segments of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters ran off the tracks in Alabama will not cause any delays in shuttle launches, U.S. space officials said. The train derailed after a recently repaired bridge collapsed over boggy ground Wednesday, NASA spokeswoman Katherine Trinidad said, adding that six people aboard were reported injured, one in critical condition.

May 3, 2007

Rocketdyne Scramjet Engine Powers Up In First X-51A Simulated Flight

West Palm Beach FL (SPX) May 02, 2007 - Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) and its X-51A team members -- U.S. Air Force, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA and The Boeing Company -- successfully demonstrated operation and performance of the revolutionary X-1 scramjet engine in the first simulated flight at Mach 5 of the X-51A.

May 2, 2007