Shuttle Discovery’s astronauts are in the midst of a two-day project to unload and unpack the last truss segment and last set of solar arrays at the International Space Station.
I didn’t know until now that these solar arrays were actually the first constructed for the station. They’ve been tested repeatedly on Earth prior to their packing and launch for this flight. Hopefully their installation and deployment are done without incident.
Personal incomes fell in July by 0.7%. Remember, inflation in June was over 9%. Americans had 10% less buying power than they did before. Republican economics at work!
FAA computer practices leave quite a bit to be desired. Two computer centers are supposed to operate for the entire country?! Similar systems in different industries require multiple redundancies. The FAA has also had many problems with adequately staffing properly trained air traffic controllers. That’s a trend that started under St. Ronnie Reagan’s union busting days. Republicans argue that investing in new technologies would require (gasp!) raising taxes. Because crashing planes and a crippled air system are so much more desirable.
Union members make more and have better health insurance. Their wages and benefits are part of the reason why corporations and their Republican lackeys have always attacked unions so viciously.
The Arctic becomes an island. For the first time in recorded history, the Arctic ice sheet can be circumnavigated. This year’s 2nd lowest ice extent (so far) on record means it will take quite different conditions to build the pack back up to the 1979-2000 average. What’s left is thinner and weaker than before.
EPA emission limits are rejected by a federal appeals court. It is absurd to think that the EPA should be able to limit what emission targets states can set for themselves, as long as they aren’t higher than the federal standard. This decision is yet another slap in the face to the Bush-friendly EPA managerial appointments. Not that that will stop them from continuing to act like a-holes for the next 120 days.
Marilyn Musgrave wants more debate time with challenger Betsy Markey, who has led in polls since May for the CO-04 seat. This is a direct reversal of the 2006 race when Musgrave refused to debate challenger Angie Paccione as she led in polls all the way to election day. Don’t give her any chance, Betsy!
The Space Shuttle program could be extended past the currently planned retirement date of 2010. NASA is rightfully concerned that the U.S. would then have no platform to get astronauts to the ISS and Low Earth Orbit until the Orion capsule’s planned 2015 service entry. One of the things Iraq has shown us is that projects and policies aren’t about available money, they’re about political will. There is no reason for NASA to be beholden to an increasingly contentious Russia for passage to a space station that American taxpayers mostly paid for.
Oil prices down and this is the money quote:
Stocks slumped more than $7 a barrel Tuesday morning as investors bet that the damage from Gustav was not as bad as had been feared. Prices also dropped due to the stronger dollar, which makes dollar-traded commodities cheaper for overseas investors. Additionally, investors continued to bet that global demand for oil is waning.
Isn’t it nice to know that we’re getting gouged at the pump while Wall Streeters bet on this and that and the other thing? Also note that oil prices have fallen 25% off their high of $147.20 on July 11. Has American demand fallen by 25% this year? Has American supply risen by 25% this year? Nope. More importantly, global demand has in no way fallen this year. Neither has global supply. Republicans keep talking about the “free market” and how it will lower oil prices. Those prices weren’t supported by market fundamentals. They were propped up by speculators that have been scared off by the threat of regulation introduction by the Democratic Congress. The lesson: Republicans cause oil and gas prices to rise; Democrats cause oil and gas prices to fall.
Will future Gulf landfalling hurricanes weaken like Katrina & Gustav? Joe Romm argues that with much warmer future oceans (based on a business as usual approach), hurricanes moving across the Gulf may not have to contend with cooler sea surface temperatures closer to land. That would mean more devastating storm damage as storms would maintain some or much of their open-water potency. Also of concern: warmer Mississippi waters and warmer delta waters that would allow stronger hurricanes to affect more areas inland from the Gulf.
NASA has decided to slightly delay the launch of GLAST – the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope. Engineers would like extra time to check the observatory’s rocket.
Plans to transition the International Space Station to a national lab are moving forward. The plan would open up about half of the U.S.’s science facilities aboard the ISS to non-NASA researchers by 2010.
A collection of things today:
Atlantis successfully deployed and installed the Columbus science module to the ISS. The link has a nice picture of the current configuration of the ISS after Atlantis undocked earlier today. A couple of small tasks were left to the ISS inhabitants to finish up. The space shuttle Endeavour began its move to the launch pad also. STS-123 will deliver a new addition to the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm and the first segment of Japan’s massive Kibo laboratory (nice picture!).
The military is planning on shooting down a defunct spy satellite. Russia says it’s a weapons test (it is) and China is worried about it. Well, why worry about what those two think? They’re only nuclear-armed countries that our current administration isn’t doing so hot a job of interacting with.
Jared Polis has an extended diary responding to Vincent Carroll’s attack on his economic status. Funny how Republicans never shoot their own for being successful, regardless of the policies they’re advocating. Ave Cassandra talks more about problems with insurance companies: their efforts to prevent care from actually occurring.
John Andrews (past president of CO Senate & fellow with the Claremont Institute) had an opinion piece in yesterday’s Post. Let me start by saying I can’t believe this guy is a fellow of an institute that produces policy papers. His column yesterday, continuing a long-term writing pattern, was filled with name calling and fear mongering. I guess that’s all Republicans ever had anyway, but it’s painfully obvious now that all their policies have failed so spectacularly. Just a small example: “President Barack Obama’s maturity deficit against the GOP’s war-hero nominee…” How childish. I certainly do not remember John touting Sen. Kerry’s war experience or maturity against an AWOLer in 2004. Party above principle seems to be the operating state for Republicans.
In other news today, the ESA’s Columbus module was successfully installed and powered up at the International Space Station. The lab has a control center in Munich, Germany. 100 flight controllers and engineers will work in three shifts to watch over Columbus in around-the-clock operations. Set up will continue over the next couple of days. External tests will be installed Friday.
Another lab, Japan’s multi-module unit named Kibo, will be launched and similarly set up later this year.
The successful Columbus installation is indeed good news for space science.
This is interesting. Installation of the European’s Columbus module to the ISS has been delayed because of a shuttle member’s health problem, which has not been disclosed. Work should be moved to tomorrow’s docket. I hope everyone is alright.
