Episode 242: Tanks Again

On this episode, we talk about STS-133 tanking test and rollback to the VAB. The launch of Soyuz TMA-20 with Expedition 26 crew members Dmitry Kondratyev, Catherine Coleman and Paolo Nespoli. We kick around some ideas wondering about the loss of communications from the mission control center outside of Moscow to both the Soyuz and the ISS. Then we reminisce about @NanoSailD :( Moving on to another bit of bad news we cover the failure of the JAXA Venus Climate Orbiter "AKATSUKI" (Planet-C) to enter orbit around Venus. Ending on a high note, NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy or SOFIA completed its' first of three science missions. AKATSUKI's first shots of Venus: http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/topics/2010/1210.shtml Bill Nye the Science Guy visits NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, CA home to SOFIA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/SOFIA/bill_nye_visits_daof.html Late news: NASA Hosts Planet-Finding Tweetup in California's Silicone Valley. For Information about the #NASATweetup visit: http://www.nasa.gov/tweetup Hosts this week: Sawyer Rosenstein, Gene Mikulka and Mark Ratterman Show Recorded - 12/19/2010