USA 2019 Human Spaceflight Prospects

Four enterprises are striving to carry humans to space from USA soil, with 2 vehicles intended for suborbital flights. SpaceX first unpiloted test flight of Dragon V2 on a Falcon 9 is scheduled for January 17 at 20:00 from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A. The first crewed flight to ISS could occur in June with Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley under the NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP), while SpaceX is also planning a crewed circumlunar flight on Starship in 2023. Boeing CST-100 Starliner CCP unpiloted flight to ISS is set for NET March from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral AFS FL on an Atlas 5. Similar to V2, Starliner is capable of carrying 7 people. Its first crew flight could occur in August with Astronauts Chris Ferguson, Eric Boe and Nicole Mann. Virgin Galactic is getting closer to its goal of suborbital tourism as it plans the crewed 5th powered test flight of VSS Unity launched from WhiteKnightTwo early this year at Mojave CA. Blue Origin suborbital launch attempt of its 3rd New Shepard booster from its West Texas site is set for early 2019. The 4th New Shepard rocket is the one intended to carry humans on suborbital trips to space. NASA SLS and Orion EM-1 uncrewed test circumlunar flight from KSC LC 39B has been pushed to NET 2020. (Image Credits: SpaceX, NASA, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic)

MONDAY

AAS Winter Meeting Addresses Astronomy from Space

The 233rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) opens January 6-10 in Seattle. This AAS Winter meeting, a “Super Bowl of Astronomy,” attracts several thousand scientists, educators and others. In a plenary Monday, Ka’iu Kimura of ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center (L) tells about the interstellar object ‘Oumuamua. Another plenary by Vicky Kalogera of Northwestern University is about the dawn of gravitational wave astronomy. Tuesday James Hough from University of Glasgow tells about ripples from the dark side of the universe. Wednesday Joseph Silk of Oxford University is delivering plenary on the Limits of Cosmology. In an article in Nature magazine, Silk argues for placing telescopes on the hidden side of the Moon. NASA and National Science Foundation plan several town hall meetings, though travel of federal employees to AAS may be affected by the government shutdown. The SOFIA 747 aircraft will be on display at Boeing Field during AAS. Though launch of the James Webb Space Telescope has been pushed back to 2021, a special session talks about operating the Hubble Space Telescope into the 2020s. Funding for the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) intended to investigate hypothetical “dark” energy is in doubt. China Lunar Ultraviolet Telescope aboard Chang’e-3 is still operational, though presently powered down to avoid interference with Chang’e-4 landing on the lunar hidden side. (Image Credits: AAS, University of Hawaii, Northwestern University, University of Glasgow, Oxford University, ESO)

Jan 7-11 — American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,

Jan 7 — Apollo Asteroid 2016 AZ8: Near-Earth Flyby (0.030 AU)

Jan 7 — Apollo Asteroid 2017 MZ: Near-Earth Flyby (0.096 AU)

Continued from…

Jan 3-7 — Indian Science Congress Executive Committee, Lovely Professional University, Punjab, India: 106th Indian Science Congress: Future India Science and Technology.

Jan 3-25 — International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India: Workshop: Cosmology – The Next Decade.

Jan 6-10 — American Astronomical Society, Seattle WA: 233rd Meeting of the AAS; at Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

Jan 6-10 — American Meteorological Society, Phoenix AZ: 99th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Meeting.

TUESDAY

Jan 8 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Iridium Next 66-75, SLC-4E, Vandenberg AFB FL: SpaceX to launch 10 satellites for Iridium next mobile communications fleet.

Jan 8 — West Hawaii Astronomy Club, Kamuela HI: West Hawaii Astronomy Club Meeting; 19:00, alternating between CFHT and Keck conference rooms.

Jan 8-11 — Consumer Technology Association, Las Vegas NV: 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES); to feature ispace of Japan.

Jan 8 — Moon: At apogee (distance 405,641 km), 18:00.