NASA: Now With 25% More Awesome!

In my last post, I chided the web team at NASA for being kind of lazy. Apparently, they have since read my blog, and after a period of self-flagellation and wearing of sackcloth, they have atoned and updated their "Missions" tab to eliminate the "See a Shuttle Launch" link. It's not all fixed, though, as following their "Full Launch Schedule" link will lead you to a page that still has references to Shuttle launches at the top. Oh well; baby steps, I suppose.

Anyway, there are more important things than that. Remember how I said that NASA was working on a new heavy lift vehicle? Well, apparently they are going to reveal the design concept this summer. I thought it would take a whole lot longer to finalize, but if this is true it will be a great thing for the American public to look forward to. Here's an article that discusses some of the details: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1103/31slsmpcv/.

Again, like the "fixing" of NASA's launch link page, it's not all good news. Due to congress' belt-tightening measures, NASA does not expect to be able to have the vehicle operational by the 2016 deadline. Big surprise there. Everybody in Washington talks about space being the future, somewhere we need to explore, but only a handful of those same politicians are willing to put their money where their mouth is and actually vote to fund NASA properly. But enough ranting about Washington. I said from the outset that I wouldn't drag politics into the fine emporium of knowledge, laughs, and fart jokes that is "How's Your Pangolin?". I'm much too classy for that. Heh heh, I said ass.

One thing to look forward to until NASA officially unveils the concept design for their heavy lift vehicle is the August 5 launch of Juno, a satellite that will orbit Jupiter's poles and give us redonkulous views of the biggest planet in our solar system. It's not exactly a small satellite, so the launch of the Atlas V rocket required to heave it out of Earth's orbit should be pretty cool. There are other cool things in the pipe as well, but I am mostly salivating at the thought of having a proper heavy lift vehicle for the first time in 40 years.