In accepting the Republican party nomination for President last night, Mitt Romney spoke of watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon and offered his views on what that showed about America.   Armstrong died on Saturday at the age of 82 from complications of heart surgery; a private memorial service is being held today.

The Republican party platform adopted at the Republican convention this week disappointed some in its discussion of the space program because it focused on NASA and not, for example, the growing contribution of entrepreneurial NewSpace companies.  Romney’s speech similarly focused on NASA’s role in space, specifically the impact of the Apollo landing.    Romney said:

I was born in the middle of the century in the middle of the country, a classic baby boomer. It was a time when Americans were returning from war and eager to work. To be an American was to assume that all things were possible. When President Kennedy challenged Americans to go to the moon, the question wasn’t whether we’d get there, it was only when we’d get there.

The soles of Neil Armstrong’s boots on the moon made permanent impressions on OUR souls and in our national psyche. Ann and I watched those steps together on her parent’s sofa. Like all Americans we went to bed that night knowing we lived in the greatest country in the history of the world.

God bless Neil Armstrong.

Tonight that American flag is still there on the moon. And I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us: that unique blend of optimism, humility and the utter confidence that when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an American.

Romney stopped short of explaining what his goals are for the nation’s space program.

President Obama also has made statements in recent weeks praising the Mars Curiosity landing and Armstrong.  He also reasserted his commitment to someday sending astronauts to Mars with a human mission to an asteroid as a “potential” precursor. 

The President’s February 2010 decision to cancel the Constellation program — begun by President George W. Bush to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and someday land on Mars — created a firestorm of controversy, the reverberations of which are still felt today.   The Obama Administration and Congress ultimately reached a compromise where NASA will continue to develop a large rocket (the Space Launch System) and a spacecraft (Orion) to send astronauts beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), which Congress wanted, and help fund private sector companies to develop space transportation systems to take crews and cargo to the International Space Station in LEO, which the President wanted.   

The level of funding Congress is providing for those programs is too modest to allow either to proceed at a robust pace, however.  The funding for the beyond LEO program also does not include money for building systems that would allow astronauts to land on either the Moon or Mars, only to orbit them.

The Obama Administration’s policy is to send astronauts to visit an asteroid in 2025 and then to orbit (but not land on) Mars in the 2030s.   President Obama said in an April 15, 2010 speech that he expects astronauts to land on Mars in his lifetime, but was not more specific.

On the day when Neil Armstrong is being honored at a private memorial service, former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin praises him as a man whose achievement in walking on the Moon in 1969 “save the soul of America.”

In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post, Goldin, who rarely speaks publicly about NASA since he left the agency in 2001, extols Armstrong as “the symbol of all that was good about America on July 20, 1969, his courageous feat representing one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved.” 

Goldin goes on to write eloquently about how the Apollo 11 landing affected the future.   He ends by talking about how he witnessed the Mars Curiosity landing and “I knew that NASA still had the right stuff.   NASA is filled with future Neil Armstrongs…. I can think of no greater testimony to the entire Apollo team than to undertake another audacious activity that, although risky, will raise the American spirit and create opportunities for future generations. … We must reach for the stars.”

Armstrong died on Saturday at the age of 82 from complications following heart surgery.

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover may be all the rage at the moment, but these new images of Saturn and its moon, Titan, show that the Cassini spacecraft still has what it takes to amaze eight years after it arrived in the Saturnian system.

Image Credit: NASA/Caltech-JPL/SSI

Cassini took the six images to create this mosaic on May 12, 2012 at a distance of 483,000 miles from Titan.  The image shows Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury, crossing the face of Saturn with shadows of Saturn’s rings below.    Cassini was launched in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004 with its Huygens probe, built by the European Space Agency (ESA).    Huygens descended through Titan’s atmosphere and landed on its surface in 2005.  

Scientists recently noticed a vortex in Titan’s atmosphere that has formed over its south pole.  The vortex is visible in the lower part of this image, also taken by Cassini.

Image credit:  NASA/Caltech-JPL/SSI

More photos and information can be found on the Cassini website.

A follow-on mission to study Titan’s methane seas lost out to another Mars probe in a recent NASA competition to choose the next Discovery-class planetary exploration project.  Cassini is currently expected to operate through September 2017.   It is the second extension for the mission.   Cassini completed its initial 4-year mission in June 2008 and the first extension took it through September 2010.

The six-person crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will have to manage how it uses electrical power for an indeterminate period of time while ground-based experts determine how to fix a recalcitrant bolt that thwarted a repair operation today.

NASA astronaut Suni Williams and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide had three main tasks plus one “get ahead” assignment when they began their spacewalk this morning at 7:16 am CT (8:16 am ET).   By the end of their near record-setting venture of 8 hours and 17 minutes, they had completed only one and a half of those tasks.  The problem was a bolt they could not drive into a box containing a replacement Main System Bus Unit (MSBU) that connects the ISS’s solar arrays with the station’s electric distribution system.

There are eight solar arrays, two connected through each of four MSBUs.   With one MSBU out of commission, the three Russians, two Americans and one Japanese aboard will have to be careful about what systems they have running at any one time.

Williams and Hoshide succeeded in removing the faulty MSBU, which had been supplying power, but could not be commanded.   When the astronauts went to install the new one, however, they were unable to drive one of two bolts into the assemby that secures the MSBU to the station.  

Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide at the end of the space station’s robotic arm during today’s spacewalk.

Photo credit:  NASA TV.

During a late afternoon press conference after the astronauts were safely back inside the space station, ISS program manager Mike Sufferdini praised them and their ground-based colleagues for trying a number of work-arounds.  In the end, however, the astronauts had to secure the replacement to the ISS with a long duration tie-down strap until a solution is devised.

A timeline for another attempt is up in the air, but Sufferdini said ideally it would occur while NASA astronaut Joe Acaba is still onboard.  He is scheduled to return to Earth on September 16 (Houston time) along with two of the Russian cosmonauts.   He worked closely with Williams and Hoshide from inside the ISS today — operating the robotic arm — so keeping that team together for a second attempt will save crew time, Sufferdini said.   First, however, the technical experts will have to determine what to do.  He said hopefully another EVA could take place next week, but could not make any commitment.

Williams and Hoshide did succeed in one of their tasks:  re-routing cables associated with a Russian module that will be launched next year.  They were not able to replace a camera on Canadarm2 or perform a “get ahead” task of placing a cover on the docking port that previously was used for the space shuttle.

UPDATE 4:  Just slipped to 5:45 pm ET (4:45 pm CT).

UPDATE 3:   The news conference will be at 5:30 pm ET (4:30 pm CT).  Watch on NASA TV.

UPDATE 2:   The EVA crew is now safely back inside the airlock.  This is the third longest spacewalk, per NASA, at 8 hours 17 minutes.  Time for the news conference still no-earlier-than 5:00 pm ET (4:00 pm CT).

UPDATE:  The time for the news conference has slipped to no earlier than 5:00 pm ET as NASA waits for the two EVA crewmembers to return to the airlock.

ORIGINAL STORY: NASA has scheduled a news conference for no-earlier-than 4:30 pm EDT today to discuss a spacewalk that is still ongoing at the International Space Station (ISS).   NASA astronaut Suni Williams and Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide were not able to replace a Main Bus Switching Unit because of difficulties in driving the bolts to secure the replacement unit.

Another spacewalk will be needed to complete that task.   The news conference presumably will be carried on NASA TV.  The six-and-a-half hour spacewalk has already reached 7 hours and 40 minutes as the two spacewalkers close up their work for now.

President Obama took to the social networking site Reddit yesterday in a question and answer session that included an exchange about the space program.  He said that staying “at the forefront of space exploration is a big priority”  and investments in cutting edge research are needed to enable human trips to Mars preceded by a “potential” mission to an asteroid.

Reddit allows members to engage in “Ask Me Anything” sessions.   Yesterday, the President made a guest appearance saying that he could answer questions for about 30 minutes.    The answers provoke long chains of discussions among the site’s members, but Reddit provided a summary of the questions and the President’s answers.

Perhaps what is most surprising is that a question about the space program was one of those asked, nestled among politics, sports, beer, and Internet freedom.   The exchange about the space program went as follows:

Question:

Are you considering increasing funds to the space program?

Answer:

Making sure we stay at the forefront of space exploration is a big priority for my administration. The passing of Neil Armstrong this week is a reminder of the inspiration and wonder that our space program has provided in the past; the curiosity probe on mars is a reminder of what remains to be discovered. The key is to make sure that we invest in cutting edge research that can take us to the next level – so even as we continue work with the international space station, we are focused on a potential mission to a [sic] asteroid as a prelude to a manned Mars flight.

Qualifying the reference to an asteroid mission as “potential” might suggest that he is less committed to that goal than he was at the time of his April 15, 2010 speech at Kennedy Space Center.  It was there that he declared an asteroid would be the next destination for the U.S. human spaceflight program.  However, it would be a stretch to draw such a conclusion from a single statement during a Q&A session.

All the questions directed to the President, in the order asked, were the following:

• why should young people work to get you reelected when they are demoralized due to unemployment;
• what’s the recipe for the White House’s beer;
• how will you end the corrupting influence of money in politics;
• what was your most difficult decision during this term;
• what is the first thing you will do on November 7, win or lose;
• how will you help small businesses;
• who is your favorite basketball player;
• will you push the issue of Internet freedom in the Democratic Party’s 2012 platform;
• are you considering increasing funds for the space program;
• how do you balance family life and hobbies with being President?

Although the President said he would answer questions for about 30 minutes, the New York Times reports that the session lasted a little more than an hour and attracted 30,000 people, causing the site to “buckle under the load.”  The newspaper also said the questions were posted “in advance of the president’s arrival on the site.”

This image from NOAA’s geostationary weather satellite, GOES-East, shows Isaac as its winds surpassed the threshold to move from a Tropical Storm to a Hurricane.

Image credit:  NOAA

The storm is in the Gulf of Mexico (Florida shows clearly on the right) headed for New Orleans.  The image was taken at 1615 GMT (12:15 pm EDT) today.   The storm is moving northwest at 10 miles per hour with sustained winds of 75 miles per hour.  It is currently expected to make landfall as a Category 1 hurricane (wind speeds of 74-95 mph).  Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana could experience storm surges of 6-12 feet above ground level if the peak surge occurs at high tide.  Rainfall of 7-14 inches is expected, with possible isolated amounts of 20 inches according to NOAA’s 1:00 pm CDT (2:00 pm EDT) public advisory today.

For warnings related to the storm, see NOAA’s National Hurricane Center.

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden pays tribute to Neil Armstrong in this video, released today.  Armstrong, the first man to walk on the Moon, died on Saturday at the age of 82 of complications following heart bypass surgery.