MARCH-APRIL 2006 "SPACESHIP GAIA EXPLORER NEWS"

MARCH 2006 "SPACESHIP GAIA EXPLORER NEWS"

BLACKSTAR: IS A SECRET MILITARY PILOTED SPACEPLANE OPERATING IN ORBITAL SPACE WITH PHANTOM ASTRONAUTS?

Monday, March 6, 2006 -- Does, or did, a secret piloted military spaceplane, called the Blackstar, fly into suborbital and orbital space since the early 1990s? That's the highly intriquing and provocative big question raised in an amazing cover feature article in the prestigious "Aviation Week & Space Technology" this week.

While the final answer to this question is ambigious, the most likely probablity is: YES, the Air Force's U.S. Space Command operates or operated a military spaceplane for stealth suborbital or orbital missions with an elite corps of phantom astronauts.

"Blackstar - Two-stage-to-orbit 'Blackstar' System Shelved at Groom Lake?" by AWST Senior Editor William B. Scott appears in the current issue, and on the magazine's web site (linked below), giving details about this apparent revolutionary two-astronaut crewed spaceplane.

The significant, ground-breaking investigative news report, with 18 years of AWST research to back it up, strongly suggests that the "black budget project" program was developed on the "fast-track" in the 1980s after the catastrophic loss of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986 to give the military regular operational piloted reconnaissance access into suborbital and orbital space.

The orbital spacecraft, shown above in an artistic rendering from the AWST magazine, appears to be an advanced version of the X-15 suborbital rocket-plane test flown in the 1960s or a variation of the Air Force's planned Dyna-Soar piloted spaceplane of the 1960s, cancelled by President Kennedy.

Another rationale for Blackstar, according to Scott's article, is to launch, when needed, fast, urgent spy missions without waiting for and depending on military spy satellites, which may be out of range.

The spaceplane, first known as the XOV (experimental orbital vehicle) was apparently flight tested and may have became covertly operational in the early 1990s, according to the article.

"Myriad landings" of the alleged two-astronaut crewed Blackstar, which glides back to Earth like the space shuttle, have been reportedly observed at Hurlburt Air Force Base in Florida, Kadena A.F.B. in Okinawa and Holloman A.F.B. in New Mexico. This is a significant statement by AWST.

The article relates an eyewitness account from Salt Lake City about a clear sighting of the mothership, called the SR-3 (based on the XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic bomber), soaring upwards with the Blackbird attached before its launch into space.

Boeing Aerospace and Lockheed were the apparent contractors working with "deep black teams" and a "fuel breakthrough" in 1990-91 helped make the spaceplane operational under, apparently, the U.S. Air Force Space Command in Colorado. In Scott's article, he reports about the Blackbird's status: "A former program manager of a major aerospace company once declared, 'There is no question. Lockheed is flying a two-stage space vehicle.'"

A small number of journalists and space watchers have been aware of Blackstar since at least 1993, with highly reliable reports of its Earth orbital spaceflights. But it wasn't until the AWST story that the reports have gained independent credence, in print, in a prestigious and respected aerospace publication.

The full article, with fascinating details, is accessible on the link below. And the AWST issue is currently available on some newsstands.

This specific stealth space program has been suspected, as noted, since 1992 when the first news reports about an unusual high altitude aircraft speeding supersonically across the skies with large puffs of donut-shaped smoke over the southwestern U.S., Texas and elsewhere were reported by major newspapers and network TV news shows. The code name in published reports was "Aurora."

If the Earth-orbiting Blackstar crewed military spaceplane exists, or did exist, it potentially has immense implications for the technological state of space travel, especially in view of NASA's new Space Vision for its Moon-Mars and Beyond program and its plans for a new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). Can Blackstar technology, if it indeed exists, be applied to the CEV and the back-to-the-Moon project, even though Blackstaris not designed for crislunar spaceflights?

Also, with private enterprise entrepreneurs about to make their homemade spaceplanes operational within a few years, the existence of their counterpart spacecrafts in a U.S. stealth military space program is very interesting.

It would be, indeed, surprising if the space activist community (the National Space Society's "Ad Astra" had a special issue recently about military space projects) and top space science journalists ("The New York Times Magazine" had a cover feature story a few years ago about plans for military domination of space) do not pick-up on the AWST article, which is not pretend "Weekly World News" material, obviously.

Will the story be ignored, dismissed or avoided by the mass media as an "untouchable" topic in a national security state regime? ABC Evening News, to its credit, did have a story on the Blackbird on March 10 based on the AWST article.

The Blackstar spacecraft project, according to the AWST article, has a solid built-in deniability factor, as to be expected given the need for military security. But, somehow with dogged determination - based on 18 years of studies --, the AWST investigative team has done its work, cracking a top secret project, although it could not say for absolutely certainily that Blackstar exists.

Our conclusion here is that the Blackstar military spaceplane, operated under a secretive military space program, actually exists... and will not be admitted officially!

"SR-3" - The Blackstar's Mothership?

This is an artistic rendering, from the AWST article, of the alleged SR-3 mothership used to carry the Blackstar aloft, releasing the two astronaut spaceplane, which then rockets into a quickie suborbital or orbital stealth military mission. The SR-3, AWST's Scott reports, appears to be based on the XB-70 Valkyrie super-bomber.

PBS-TV SPECIAL: "EXPLORING SPACE: THE QUEST FOR LIFE IN SPACE" MARCH 22

"Exploring Space: The Quest for Life in Space," a timely Public Broadcast Service national two-hour special, was shown on PBS stations nationwide on Wednesday, March 22.

The TV special just happens to come in wake of the Cassini space probe's historic discovery, announced by NASA on March 9, of a surprizing huge water ice geyser eruption on the Saturian moon Enceladus (shown in he NASA photos here), raising speculation about the possibily of life in the moon's apparent under-surface liquid waters.

The PBS-TV program examined the latest developments in astrobiology -- the science of searching for life in space, also called bioastronomy. It uses computer generated images to show a this-century scenario, such as astronauts on Europa, where life may exist in the Jovian moon's vast underground ocean.

"Is there life in space? Is there a future for human life beyond the Earth?... Explore these cosmic mysteries in depth," says President Bill Baker of WNET-Channel 13, NYC's PBS station, in a promo about the program that ran on WQXR-FM.

The program's timing is perfectly coincidental in bringing public attention to the critical importance of astrobiology. The Bush Administration, in a major retreat of one of the key elements of its Moon, Mars and Beyond Space Vision, has proposed to gut the "Beyond" part (searching for life in space!) of that declared national policy commitment by cutting in half the nation's astrobiology research and projects, including the Terrestrial Planet Finder space mission. The recent federal budget proposal has created a storm of protest by scientists and space activists.

As mentioned, the PBS program also comes at the time of a stunning scientific discovery by the Cassini's orbiter's photographing and detecting a huge water ice geyser erupting from Eceladus's south pole, giving rise to speculation about the possibility, not yet proven, of favorable conditions for life existing in a probable liquid seas under the icy surface of Enceladus.

NASA's announcement of this breakthrough discovery in the outer reaches of this solar system adds to space science's culture of life studies.

The story made front-page news and headlines in many newspapers and creates hope for the large public interest in life in space as exemplified by its interest in countless movies (Close Encounters, 2001, ET, Star Wars, It Came from Outer Space, etc.), TV shows (Star Trek, Babylon 5, Space Patrol, Rocky Jones, etc.) and books over the decades about the subject.

For more on the PBS-TV "Exploring Space: The Quest for Life in Space" special program, visit the website link below. Additional relevant links are included.

MARTIAN ROCK STAR CHRONICLES: "THE ROCK FROM MARS" BOOK

A new book, "The Rock From Mars: A Detective Story On Two Planets" by Katherine Sawyer, explores the controversy which erupted after NASA scientists, at a White House press conference held by President Bill Clinton nine years ago, announced evidence of possible ancient fossilized microbes discovered into a 4.5 billion year old Martian meteor which crashed into Antarcticia 13,000 years ago. The new hardcover book examines the controversy in-depth about the Martian meteor, known as ALH-84001 (shown here in the NASA photo), focusing on the often furious debate about possible evidence of ancient life on Mars. The book was recently reviewed in The New York Times.

MARCH 2006 JOURNAL NEWS-BRIEFS *** SPACE X ANNOUNCES ITS OWN "CEV" -- THE DRAGON, a privately-made CEV now being developed in secret, was announced by SpaceX - Space Explorations Technologies, reports Brian Berger, "Space News" staff reporter on March 6. The Dragon, at 3.6 meters wide, is smaller than NASA's proposed CEV, which is 5 meters wide and can transport a crew of four astronauts, and is described as a "cross between the Apollo and Soyuz" spacecrafts. SpaceX has been secretly working on the project, reports Berger, for 18 months (although a popular magzine recently had a cover feature story on it). Plans are for it to be launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, and ready to do so in 2009 to reach the International Space Station as a cargo and crew capsule. It is not designed for lunar spaceflights. SpaceX, Berger reports, has applied for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation (COTS) demonstration program, worth up to $500 million in funding for successful proposals, to encourage private enterprise space projects. Both the Dragon CEV and Falcon 9 are not ready for tests, probably within two years. If so, this will be a very significant achievement which could hasten plans for a return to the Moon with cooperation of NASA technology for its lunar CEV project. *** GODDARD'S LEADER HANSEN, OTHERS DISCUSS, IN NYC, GLOBAL WARMING MARCH 14 & 16 -- Coming a month after the big flap about James Hansen, Chief of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), speaking out on the dangers of global warming and NASA's attempts to control, or, Hansen reported, "censor" him, Hansen and other top environmental leaders discussed "Global Warming and Our Future" in NYC on Tuesday evening, March 14 at the New School's Tishman Auditorium in Greenwich Village. Joining Hansen were Jesse Ausubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment, Rockefeller University; Martin Hoffert, Professor of Physics, NYU; and Kathleen McGinty, Secretary, Pennsylvania Dept.. of Environmental Protection. Panel moderator was Andrew Ravkin, a New York Times science reporter. For more information, contact 212-229-5488. *** JOURNALIST KOLBERT TALKED ON GLOBAL WARMING IN BROOKLYN, MARCH 14, MANHATTAN MARCH 16 -- On the very same evening as the above event, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Kolbert, a staff writer for "The New Yorker" magazine, discussed her just published book, "Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change" (Bloomsbury, 2006) at the Pratt Institute in Fort Greene, Brooklyn on Tuesday evening. Admission was free and open to the public. She again spoak at a book-signing at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble in Manhattan, Broadway at West 88th Street, on Thursday evening, March 16. Kolbert, whose book is based on her three ground-breaking articles in "The New Yorker" in Spring 2005, earning her a Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, signed copies of her book at Pratt and B&N. Kolbert's critically acclaimed book, reviewed on the front page of The Arts Section in The NY Times on March 16 ("In Epoch of Man, Earth Takes A Beating" by Marianna Gosnell - Books of the Times) has been compared by critics to Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" of the 1960's and Jonathan Schell's "Fate of the Earth" of the 1980s. The book will be reviewed here soon. *** SPACE ACTIVISM is exemplified by many organizations and groups, large and small, working to create a larger human presence in space, and to inform, educate and inspire the public about space travel. In the Windy city of Chicago, thanks to the Chicago Society for Space Studies, a National Space Society chapter. Jim Plaxo, Chicago NSS Vice President Jim Plaxo issued a report today on its 2005 chapter activities, which reached over 1,000 people. To see the chapter's exciting Report, visit: http://www.chicagospace.org/activities2005.html. Also visit Plaxo's www.marsartgallery.com/ and his JPL Solar System Ambassador site at www.astrodigital.org/ambassador/ -- We hope to have the NSS/NY Chapter 2005 Activities Report posted soon. *** AN UPDATE ON "MARS & BEYOND" was the topic of a joint meeting of The New York Space Society (NSS/NY) on Saturday, March 4 at NYU, featuring Chapter President Greg Zsidisin, who also spoke his visit to John Wickman's CT Technology rocket launch facilities in Casper, Wyoming. Wickman is author of "How To Make Amateur Rockets" (see www.space-rockets.com). *** "COSMIC COLLISIONS" is a new Space Show which has just premiered at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City. A preview of the space show appeared in The NY Times in a Metro section article, "Space Show Depicts Collisions in Cosmos -- Recreating What Happens When Celestial Bodies Crash" by Vincent Mallozzi (March 8, 2006, page 3). A review of the show by Times science writer Dennis Overbye appeared in the Weekend Section of The Times on Friday, March 17. Watch for our REVIEW soon! *** "THE ART OF SCIENCE FICTION" AT NYC'S HALL OF SCIENCE: A new exhibit, "The Art of Science Ficton," will open on April 1, running until June 30, at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, site of the 1939-40 and 1964-65 N.Y. World's Fairs in Queens. 40 paintings and illustrations will be on display at the Hall's Deborah & Edward Horowitz Gallery. The exhibit's themes are: Robots, Aliens & Fantastic Creatures, Travel (Space, Time, etc.), Space Habitats, Social Relevance & Dire Predictions. While at the Hall of Science (expanded with a great new wing in Autumn 2004), visit the "Search for Life Beyond Earth" interactive exhibit and the Rocket Park with a full scale Titan II-Gemini rocket and Mercury 7 replica capsule. Also take in the caferteria and shop. For more details: www.nyhallsci.org. *** "THE ENTREPRENEUR'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY" -- Everything you wanted to know and were not afraid to ask about space entrepreneurism is available from the cover feature story in the March 2006 issue of "Business 2.0" Magazine. "The Entrepreneur's Guide to Outer Space" by Chris Taylor gives excellent information about private space enterprise projects for: "Mars- Cashing In on the Red Planet, Spaceports- Welcome to Rocketville, USA, Rockets- Millionaires on the Launchpad, Innovation- The 62,000 Mile Elevator Ride, and Tomorrow's Markets- An Illustrated Guide to the Bounty of Space." It concludes with an insightful and inspiring article by Burt Rutan: "Why Space Needs You." -- This issue neatly coincides with the current Spring 2006 edition of "AD ASTRA: The Magazine of the National Space Society, with its feature cover stories on the theme of "FREE ENTERPRISE: NASA'S Next Mission?" www.nss.org. *** NYC OBSERVATORY AWARDED NASA ASTEROID WATCH GRANT -- "It's Feared Science on Staten Island: Asteroid Hunters Get Boost from NASA Aid" reads the headline on an article by Maureen Seaberg in the NY "Daily News" (February 27, 2006 page KSI 2 in the Brooklyn-SI section). "There is intelligent life on Staten Island -- and armed with a grant from NASA, they're search for asteroids and comets that could affect our planet cataclysmically," begins Seaberg's special story to the News. Heading the SI-NYC Near-Earth Objects (NEO) Study Project is "Space Cop" Prof. Irving Robbins of the College of Staten Island, using a large telecsope with a camera and computer at the CUNY's college's Willowbrook campus's astrophysics observatory in western Richmond (SI). The space lab is funded by the National Science Foundation and commissioned by the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet section, the article reports. A few years ago "Astronomy Magazine" has a feature cover story on life-destroying asteriods striking the Earth and showing one, on the cover, plunging int the Atlantic Ocean near Staten Island and NYC. Overseeing the program, which has enlisted other NEO "spacewatch cops" is NASA, said NASA spokesperson Dwayne Brown. For more information on Prof. Irving Robbins observatory, call the college at 718-982-2000. For more information on NEO's and their dangers (one may threaten Earth in 2036). Also, visit the Asteriod B612 FOUNDATION web site at www.b612Foundation.org. The B612 Foundation is headed by lunar astronaut Russell "Rusty" Scheickardt. The foudation gets its name from the B612 asteriod which was the home of The Little Prince, the alien boy in French aviator Antoine Saint Exupery's "The Little Prince" novel (from 60 years ago), which is the third best-selling book on Planet Earth. *** ASTRONOMER THOMAS HAMILTON'S "SPACE BYTES" BONANZA: Four of Hamilton's newest columns will appear here in the APRIL Newsletter. The launch was delayed by glitches in our Web-TV system, but the mission will proceed successfully! The countdown to more "SPACE BYTES" is underway....

ISDC 2006 IN LOS ANGELES, MAY 4-7, 2006, FAR-OUT SUCCESS!

The Historic 25th Annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC) 2006 - "Exploring New Worlds" -, sponsored by the National Space Society and The Planetary Society, was held, with over 1,300 attendees -a record-, in Los Angeles at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel from May 4 through May 7, 2006.

The conference featured a stellar array of presenters, guests, space activists and energetic ideas and proposals, bringing together the best visions of humanity's near-future and far-future plans for space exploration and settlement.

Speakers included Burt Rutan (Designer, SpaceShipOne & Founder, Scaled Composites), Rusty Schweickhart (B612 Foundation Chair, Apollo 9 astronaut), Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11 astronaut, ShareSpace Foundation Chair), Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (Director, Hayden Planetarium, AMNH's Rose Center for Earth & Space); Peter Diamandis (X Prize Foundation Chair & Rocket Racing League Chair), Dennis Tito (1st space tourist on ISS, Wilshire Associates Chair), Rick Searfoss (Space shuttle commander, XCOR test pilot), and Elon Musk (CEO, Space Exploration Technologies), with many more!

For ISDC 2006 photos and articles about this out-of-this-world landmark conference held on Spaceship Earth (Gaia), including one by the Chicago Space Society's Vice President Jim Plaxco, click on the link below:

*** NASA SPACE SCIENCE MISSIONS THREATENED -- The well publicized proposed budget cuts by the Bush Administation for NASA's space sciences missions and projects, halfing the outlay of FY 2005, are causing a great outcry in the space community, and rightly so, space activists proclaim. Among the NASA missions set to be dropped, curtailed or delayed: NuStar X-ray satellite, JPL's Terrestrial Planet Finder, Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter to Europa, the Explorers scout spacecraft projects and the Astrobiology program -- a key component of NASA's "Moon, Mars & Beyond" Space Initiative. In light of Cassini's just announced discovery of snow and water ice geyers erupting at 300-mile-wide Enceladus's south pole, strong evidence for a warm liquid sea under the Saturn moon's ice surface, the drive to confirm the possible existence of life beyond the Earth and in the solar system is becoming urgent, while the environmental state of Spaceship Gaia reaches alarming states, according to reports. Of the disappointing cancellation of the critically essential Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) mission, Eugene and Frances Cervone of NYC, members of NSS, The Planetary Society and the Mars Society, wrote: "Europa is an especially intriguing and unique Jovian moon because there's very convincing evidence that strongy suggests there's a VAST LIQUID WATER OCEAN beneath its relatively thin layer of ice. Recently deep sea scienticfic studies on Earth have repeatedly shown various life forms cannot only exists, but actually thrive at a depth were sunlight cannot penetrate. Just imagine what amazingly fantastic breakthrough scientific discoveries of the existence of alien life forms in Europa's vast liquid water ocean would mean for the future of all humankind. Given sufficient funding, such an exciting follow-up mini-submarine ice-drilling mission to Europa could be feasible within the next decade." [from a letter to Chairman Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, House Science Committee, Feb. 17, 2006). Now we have the amazing discovery by Cassini with Enceladus at Saturn, announced on March 9 in worldwide headlines. For the ASTROBIOLOGY importance of NASA's Space Vision, we also refer our readers to check out the SETI Institute's website for two recent commentaries: "Destroying Astrobiology Would be a 'Disaster'" by Rocco Mancinelli, SETI Institute Principal Investigator (March 9, 2006) and another commentary piece protesting the proposed astrobiology budget cuts by Baruch Blumberg, SETI Institute Trustee, and Thomas Pierson, CEO, SETI Institute, which appeared on February 23. Both commentaries appear in the "SETI THURSDAY" section of the SETI Institute's website. *** MELTING GLACIERS THREATEN EARTH's FATE -- Two recent top news stories highlight the increasing dangers caused by global warming: The rapid melting of glaciers in both Greenland and Antarticia (along with the melting of the Arctic Ocean icecap) is causing increasing alarm among scientists, seeing trends that suggest that Earth is now crossing the Point of No Return. The Greenland melting was announced in a report by the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its annual conference on February 16 and the study's results were published in the "Science" journal, dated Feb. 17, 2006. In early March, a stud was published in the "Science" journal reporting an alarming rise in Antarctia's glacier meltings. For more details, check the "Science" journal website. *** NEW ECO-COALITION FORMS: A new coalition of environmental, labor and religious organizations was launched b former Vice Presidential Al Gore, who won the popular vote in the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Gore, the Chair of Current TV, announced the coalition's formation at a meeting of adertising and media executives in Orlando, Florida on March 3, according to an artice in the "NY Post" (March 3, page 38) by Post business reporter Holly Sanders. "Mother Nature is knocking on our door," Gore told the Madison Avenue gathering. Several years ago Gore wrote a book on the multiple environmental dangers humanity faces. Gore's speech came soon after a news report that President Bush met with Micahel Crichton, author of the best seller "State of Fear" novel which pooh-poohed the idea of human-caused global warming {"Bush's Chat With Novelist Alarms Environmentalists -- Fiction That Doubts Global Warming is Read in High Places" - by Michael Janofsky, NY Times, Feb. 19, 2006, page 28.] *** "NYSKIES" BY JOHN PAZMINO TOP NYC SPACE & ASTRONOMY NEWS SOURCE -- Thanks to John Pazmino, a space activist and astronomy leader in NYC, his "NYSkies," New fully informs New Yorkers of astronomy and space news, meetings and events. Pazmino is the official Science Writer for The New York Space Society, NSS-NYC's chapter. His very informative "NYSkies" is published with "SpaceWalk" updates. Pazmino's monthly SPACEWALK is availale monthly on our Calendar List below on this home page. To find out more, contact: nysky-subscribe@yahooggroups.com and visit www.nsschapters.org/ny/nyc/information.htm. *** TOP SCI-FI AUTHOR OCTAVIA BUTLER DIES -- Octavia E. Butler, a world-wide acclaimed science fiction author and writer, died at age 58 on February 24 after a fall in her home in Lake Forest Park, Washington. For her works, the outstanding African-American writer was awarded two World Science Fiction Society Hugo Awards and two Science Ficton Writers of Amerca Nebula Awards. Among her dozen sci-fi novels were "Parable of the Sower" (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993), "Parable of the Talents" (Seven Stories Press, 1998), and "Fledging (Seven Stories, 2005) ********************************************************

"PROJECT ORION: THE TRUE STORY OF THE ATOMIC SPACESHIP" -- BACK TO THE FUTURE

Remember when the Orion atomic spaceship landed on Titan in 1965 and physicist Freeman Dyson took the first historic steps on another world? It's an alternative history that never happened but may have!

In 2002 a book by the son of physicist Freeman Dyson, George Dyson, "Project Orion: The True Story of the Atomic Spaceship" (Henry Holt, NY) was published, and is now available in a paperback edition.

Can we now look anew at the concept and how it may serve as a guide to propel the adventure of human space travel more efficently and faster in this new century, if not by Orion's power source of mini-atomic bomb propulsion but by other innovative sources?

"'Apollo cost too much and does too little,' observed Freeman Dyson after the first Moon landing in 1969. 'As soon as we are tired of this particular spectacle, we shall find that we need ships of a different kind.'" (page 273, "Project Orion") That, noted Dyson's son George, did not happen, and the plans for a lunar outpost and Mars missions were delayed for 40 years, keeping human beings trapped in low Earth orbit.

In a "LIFE Magazine" article in 1961 about future space propulsion systems, a color illustration showed an atom-bomb powered spaceship called "the Schmoo," named after a cute bowling pin-shaped fanciful animal in the "Lil Abner" comic strip. perhaps as a way of alerting the public about Project Orion's existence.

For more on the complex, daring and controversial "Project Orion" which involved a team of scientists in the U.S. for seven years in the late 1950s and early 1960s, aiming to explore the solar system with crewed spaceships later in the 1960s, visit the links below...

APRIL 2006 "SPACESHIP GAIA EXPLORER NEWS" EARTH DAY-YURI'S NIGHT EDITION

EARTH DAY EVENTS & YURI'S NIGHT CELEBRATIONS BLOOM IN APRIL, A MONTH DEDICATED TO THE REBIRTH OF LIFE'S PROMISES ON SPACESHIP EARTH & FOR PEACEFUL HUMAN SPACE TRAVEL.

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*** ESA's 'VENUS EXPRESS" ORBITS VENUS -- The European Space Agency announced on April 11 that its Venus Express satellite entered into orbit around the planet on a mission to study Venus's runaway "greenhouse effect" atomsphere.

*** NASA TO CRASH PROBE ON MOON IN WATER SEARCH -- "Crash Is Planned in Hunt for Lunar Water" is the headline on an article by Warren E. Leary in The New York Times [Apr. 11, 2006, page A19]. It tells of NASA's plan for its Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellte's (Lcross) upper stage booster to slam into a crater, perhaps Shackleton Crater, at the lunar south pole, hopefully releasing a water plume through which the Lcross satellite ("shepherding spacecraft") will plunge through soon after to study the plume before crashing itself. The results are critical for NASA's plans to establish a staffed lunar outpost in the 2020s after human exploration resumes around 2018. The first space probe to crashland on the Moon was a Soviet Luna probe in September 1959.

*** NASA "DAWN" MISSION FUNDS RESTORED -- "Dawn" may be the title of a hit Four Season's song or a portion of Edward Greig's Peer Gynt Suite, but for space science it's the name of a pioneering historic space probe that was almost sent into deep dusk. Pictured here is a NASA illustration of its Dawn deep space mission to Ceres and Vesta in the Asteroid Belt, scheduled for launch next year on this trailblazing journey to the solar system's largest asteroids, themselves minor planets. Funding was first cut and then restored for the DAWN mission after protests from space scientists.

*** NEW ISS CREW AS SPACE STATION FINISH TIMETABLE ACCELERATES -- Brazil's first astronaut, Marcos Pontes, 43, along with American Jeffrey Williams and Russian Pavel Vinoradov, boarded the ISS on April 1, two days after their launched aboard a Soyuz spaceship. Vinoradov and Williams will replace Bll McArthur and Valery Tokarev. The Discovery space shuttle plans to devliver a third ISS crew-member, ESA's Thomas Reiter, in its planned vit to the iSS in July. -- Meanwhile, the ISS's completion scheduled is being advanced, announced NASA Administrator Michael Griffin at a news conference back on March 2. The six space agencies plan to have six crew-members on-board the ISS in 2009.

*** YURI'S NIGHT PARTIES WORLDWIDE -- To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the advent of human space travel, pioneered by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961 when he was 27, the Yuri's Night organization held s series of parties and events across the globe, expanding on the annual worldwide celebration. "Now in over 28 countries, Yuri's Night is an exploding phenomena," writes organizer Loretta Y. Hidalgo in "Yuri's Night News" on April 5. :People came forward from around the world who have been working on their events for months (astronomy students in Finland), or inspired by Gagarin since they were little (a band in New Zealand and the owners of the Mars Cafe in Des Moines). We have seen new Yuri's Night sites pop up on myspace.com, whole sites in Swedish dedicated to the fantastic Stockholm event, a group in Pakistan gets ready for their annual celebration, and the northernmost part in Fairbanks, Alaska. There's even a celebration in Antarctica. We are seeing the POWER of ART, of SPACE and, most of all, PASSION..." For full reports on celebrations of Humanity's First Space Journey Beyond Earth, visit www.yurisnight.net.

*** THE UNIVERSE AS A QUANTUM COMPUTER -- Since a cover feature story appeared in "Atlantic Monthly" in 1987 about a scientist proposing the concept the the universe acts like a computer, the idea has been discussed and debated many times. Now MIT Mechanical Engineering Professor Seth Lloyd has brought the concept into full bloom with his new book, "Programming The Universe: A Quantum Computer Scientist Takes on the Cosmos" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2006). The NY Times Book Review had a full page review of Lloyd's book on April 2 ("Welcome to the Machine - As Seth Lloyd sees it, the universe is a computer that feds on information and generates complexity" by Corey Powell, a "Discovery" magazine senior editor). "Quantum computers mimic the natural world, Lloyd says. The two systems are not just similar, they are the same," writes Powell.

*** TRAVELING SPACE ART SHOW -- The Federation Of Galaxy Explorers (FOGE), an organization which focuses on education young people abou space travel and getting children and teens involved in projects and camps, has a traveling Space Art Exhibit. See details on the FOGE link below.

*** NEW SCI-FI ART EXHIBIT AT NYC'S HALL OF SCIENCE -- Want to see a prop from the 1951 science fiction movie classic "The Thing" and lots of great sci-fi artworks and illlustrations? Then visit The New York Hall of Science and take in the new awesome "Extraordinary Art of Science Fiction" Exhibit, on view from April through July, with 40 original paintings and illustrations, and four classic sci-fi movie props, in the Hall's Horowitz Technology Gallery. The exhibit's themes are: Robots, Alien and Fantastic Creatures, Space-Time Travel, Space Habitats, Mind Power, and Social Relevance and Dire Predictions. While there, visit all the many other interactive exhibits, shows, Rocket Park, "Life In the Universe" exhibit, store and cafe at the only remaining building from the historic 1964-65 NY World's Fair in Flushing Meadow Park. For full details, visit www.nyhallsci.org.

*** AMNH'S ANNUAL ASIMOV DEBATE ON "UNIVERSE: ONE OR MANY?" DRAWS BIG CROWD -- It was "the Big Crunch" as an overflow audience filled the AMNH-Hayden Planetarium's LeFrak Theater on March 29, spilling over into another room with a video feed to watch five top scientists debate the Multiverse-Parallel Worlds concept at the 2006 Annual Issac Asimov Memorial Debate. Panelists were Michio Kaku, CUNY Physics Professor and author of "Parallel Worlds" and "HyperSpace" - Lawrence Krauss, Case Western Reserve University Physics and Astronomy Professor, author of "Hiding in the Mirror: The Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions" - Andrei Linde, Physics Professor at Stanford University, a theoretical cosmologist and one of the original architects of the Multiverse Concept - Lisa Randall, Physics Professor at Harvard University and author of "Harped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions" - and Virginia Trimble, Astronomy and Science History Professor at the University of California-Irvine.

*** ASCI, WHERE SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY & ART MEET -- A great networking resource based in NYC is ASCI - Arts & Science Collaborations, Inc. - whose mission is: "Nuturing the intersection of art, science, technology and the humanities," states its mission statement. "Founded in 1988, ASCI is one of the few art and technology member organizations in the USA. Established primarily as a network for artists who either use or are inspired by science and technology, ASCI has been a magnet for some of the best examples of this type of contemporary art and for scientists and technologists seeking to collaborate." A few months ago an award-winning science-artists demonstrated is 3-D work at an ASCI meeting, with stunning space imagery which aweed and inspired viewers. [An article on this artist's fascinating work will appear here soon]. For more about ASCI, visit www.asci.org and contact asci@asci.org.

*** 'VOYAGE TO THE MYSTERY MOON' ON PBS-TV -- "Nova's" "Voyage To The Mystery Moon" about the historic and thrilling Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan, which was broadcast on PBS-TV stations on April 4, was re-broadcast on many PBS-TV stations nationwide later. It will appear again on Channel 13 in NYC on Saturday, April 8 at 5:00 p.m.

*** GIANT ROCKS TALK AT NSS-NY MEETING
-- Astronomer and space science expert John Pazmino, "SpaceWalk" editor and Science Writer for The New York Space Society, gave an informative and lively presentation about "Near-Earth Asteroids" - their history and potential dangers - at the NSS-NY chapter's monthly meetng at its NYU meeting space on April 1. Using illustrations and photos in his slide show, Pazmino also expressed his, and the chapter's, happiness over NASA's restoration of DAWN mission funding for its upcoming historic journey to Ceres and Vesta, among the first four discovered in the Mars-Jupiter Asteroid Belt in the 19th Century.

*** YOU CAN VISIT MARS (VIRTUALLY) NOW! -- As NASA's Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter swung into its Mars braking orbit late in March (the MONTH named after the Ancient Roman god MARS), Google swung into action around the Earth with its new Internet service, Google Mars - www.google.com/mars/ -, modeled by its successful Google Earth service. All Mars, All the Time!

*** HAYDEN'S TYSON TO SPEAK AT 'ALLIES IN SPACE' EVENT #2 -- "Allies In Space" - a coalition of space activist groups in NYC - is planning its 2nd Annual 'State of Space Program Report' by Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the AMNH's Rose Center for Earth & Space and a Member of NASA's Advisory Council. In Spring 2006 the groups, such as the NSS-NY Chapter, The Planetary Society, Amateur Astronomers Association, The Mars Society, NYSkies and others, organized the first successful event. When the date and place is confirmed, we will post it here.

*** AIRSHIP INDUSTRY REBOUNDS IN AKRON -- the famous Sunday comics character "Little Nemo in Dreamland" made a journey to the Moon in 1909, meeting Giant Rabbit Aliens, travelling to the Moon on a Cosmic Airship. Now in Akron, Ohio, birthplace of the U.S.'s blimp industry, airship building is coming back to life thanks to Robert Rist and Brian Martin, working on a new airship prototype in a Lockhead Martin hanger. The news came in a NY Times feature story, "Akron Residents See Their Past and Future Soaring Above the City" by Christopher Maag (Feb. 20, 2006, page A8), which of the members of Akron's Lighter Than Air Society's new airship project. The blimp is three-football fields long (120 feet) and is set for its first test flight in 2009. "Lockheed Martin," the article also reports, "has a similar audacious airship under way. In December, the company won a $149 million contract from the Space and Missile Command of the Army to build a High Altitude Airship, 25 times larger than the Goodyear blimp."

*** NOTE: The March 2006 Issue of this Newsletter had almost three times the usual number of monthly first time website visitors due to the posting of the AWST's story about the alleged BLACKSTAR secret spy spaceplane, which has apparently been operational on suborbital and orbital stealth missions since the early 1990s. The BLACKSTAR spaceplane, the "Spaceship Gaia Explorer Journal" concludes, is real, flown by an elite phantom military astronaut corps.

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"SPACESHIP GAIA EXPLORER ECO-NEWS"

****** GORE WARNS ON GLOBAL WARMING -- Former Vice President Al Gore, author of the 1992 book "Earth In The Balance," warns that "the worst catastrophe in human history" is upon us with global warming in May's "Green Issue" of Vanity Fair magazine, on newsstands nationwide on April 11. He targets the U.S. government leaders, President Bush and the Republican Congress, saying that show "a blinding lack of awareness" on humanity's greatest threat. Gore has established a new environmental coalition [see our March 2006 News], with details on that alliance of environmental, labor and education groups to be revealed this month.

*** CARIBBEAN CORAL'S MASS DIE-OFF -- If humanity experienced a sudden mass die-off due to the consequences of global warming, as one Texas University professor predicts as "imminent" for humankind, the dire clarity of the ecological crisis would be evident to everybody. Ocean coral are not humans, but matter, as does all life, and they are like the canary in the coal mines to us. And coral reefs have experienced massive dyings around the globe. The latest bad news is about the Caribbean swift and sudden wipe-out of many its coral reefs, as reported by the National Park Service monitoring stations in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This due to "usually warm water over several months at summer" caused by the hottest year on record in 2005, according to an article by science writer Kenneth Chang in The New York Times (April 4, 2006, page F3 - "Corals Take Double Punch In Caribbean").

*** PBS-TV NOVA SPECIAL ON GLOBAL WARMING -- The science series "Nova" on the national Public Broadcasting Service TV network will soon have a special called "Dimming Sun" on the global warming crisis. One of the eco-links below is about a Duke University study on dimming sunlight caused by the effects of pollution and global warming.

*** GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS HITS NEWS -- Recent headlines tell the story that foretell the coming catastrophe on Earth that may jepardize all life and humanity, and plans for space travel: "Climate Data Hint at Irreversible Rise in Seas" (NY Times, 3/24, page A12), "Loss of Antarctic Ice Increase" (NY Times, 3/3, page A19), "Ice Shortfall in Arctic for 2nd Year Raises Fears of a Wider Melting" (NY Times, 3/15, page A12), "Glacier Flow to Sea at a Faster Pace, Study Says" (NY Times, 2/17, page A8), "Glaciers Quicken Pace (Newsday, 2/17, page A29), and "Bush's Chat With Novelist (Michael Crichton) Alarms Environmentalist" (NY Times, 2/19, page 28), along with a recent series of alarming new articles in "The Independent" by award-winnng envronmental writer Michael McCarthy ("World at Tipping Point" & "Earth At Point of No Return"). document the gathering catastrophy.

New York journalist Elizabeth Kolbert's new book, "Field Notes From a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change" got a front page book review in the NY Times Arts section (3/16, page E1), as she speaks at The Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, while NASA Goddard Space Studies Director Michael Hansen and NYU Physics Professor Marty Hoffert speak at an environmental panel at The New School on the same evening in March. The writing is on the ice walls and the Earth faces a lethal meltdown while wars burn.

*** ENVIRONMENTALIST DENNIS WEAVER DIES -- The "Gunsmoke" TV star who played Marshall Matt Dillion (actor James Arness who was the alien from a crashed flying saucer in the 1951 sci-fi movie classic "The Thing") died at age 81 at his home in California. Weaver and his wife founded the Institute of Ecolonomics in 1993. The couple lived in what they called an "Earthship," a solar-powered home constructed of recycled materials.

*** SPACE BOOTH AT NYC EARTH DAY HALL -- For Grand Central Station's annual Earth Day event (EARTHFAIR 2006 - Fri. 4/14 & Sat. 4/15) in Vanderbilt Hall, organized by Earth Day New York, a booth, one of many at the event, focuses on urban light pollution and space activities, timed for the 45th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's orbital spaceflight of April 12, 1961. The booth, organized by astronomer John Pazmino of NYSkies and "SpaceWatch" [see latest SpaceWatch report on this journal's home page] also include volunteers and materials from The New York Space Society (NSS-NY). For complete information on Earth Day New York events all over NYC, visit www.earthdayny.org.

*** "THE GREAT WARMING" -- A new eco-movie was released in U.S. theaters on April 7, "The Great Warming." A coalition of environmental organizations and an ecologically-minded religious group collaborated on the movie, which was previewed to a packed audience at the Zeigfeld Theatre in NYC on March 23 and ran at the Village East 2 Theatre April 7-14. (Spaceship Gaia News Editor Harold Egeln was the only person in the theatre for one of the showings.) The film gives very good information through manyexamples of the dangers of the Global Warming Crisis, with a pinches of responsible Christian eco-perspectives, criticizing the Bush-Cheney Adminsistration for its dangerous inaction on the issue. The movie also includes a message of hope, not through theological preaching nor bandaid solutions, but amazing, workable technologies that are worth a visit to the movie. (see links below for info on the movie)

*** BEST-SELLING AUTHOR STRIEBER ON ECO-CRISIS -- Author Whitley Strieber, famous for his best-selling books such as "Nature's End," "The Coming Global Superstorm" and "Warday" (books he co-authored in the 1980s and 1990s about the eco-crisis and atomic war), and other best-sellers such as "The Wolfen," "The Hunger" and Communion - A True Story," has penned an excellent article on the global warming crisis this month, "Because of the Children," published on April 4 in his "Whitley's Journal" on his Unknown Country website. (The entry is included in the eco-links below.)

*** "WIDGET" CHILDREN'S ECO-ET SERIES -- In the early 1990s a delightful and educational network TV cartoon series "Widget: The World Watcher" both entertained and informed children and adults with the adventures of a space alien who came to Earth to work with children on protecting the planet's ecology. The show, like the later "Captain Planet," was an example of what can be done to educate the public about multiple environmental dangers and as an encouragement to take action by reaching a young generation whose 21st Century world is about to be severely battered by humanity's callous history of abuse of this wonderful Spaceship Earth. Hopefully "Widget, The World Watcher" had an impact somewhere.

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[More eco-news coming soon. NASA photo above shows the rapidly shrinking Arctic and Greenland Ice Caps, melting each Summer due to Global Warming. Astronomer Martin Rees gives human survival a 50/50 chance of survival in this new century.]

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NOTICE!!! -- Because the "SPACESHIP GAIA EXPLORER COSMIC ECOLOGY JOURNAL For Earth & Space" has nearly used up its storage space capacity, in May, on our Second Anniversary, a new publication, "SPACESHIP GAIA NEWS" on a different website, will be linked to this Journal's Home-Page.

ECO-NEWS will appear on our "COSMIC ECOLOGY" site, and SPACE-NEWS will appear on the new "Spaceship Gaia News," regularly updated rather than as a monthly periodical.

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