In Orbit and on the Hill



The STS-117 mission has achieved its primary goal of attaching the S3/S4 truss segments to the International Space Station (ISS) and unfurling the new solar arrays. Also, the mission is being extended for two days to allow time to repair a damaged thermal blanket on the Atlantis.


Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill on Monday, I participated in the Moon-Mars Blitz 2007, an effort organized by the Space Exploration Alliance, a coalition of citizens' and professional space organizations, to urge Congress to support NASA and commercial space efforts. The effort was timely, as the process for determining NASA's Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 budget was starting in Congress this week.