"Wow!
In a world devoid of critical thinking
and awash in meaningless
sound bites, this Mr. Oberg
is like a breath of fresh air. If
I ever realize my goal of becoming Earth's
Dictator for Life, I promise to empower Mr.
Oberg with the authority to go around slapping
any news people caught spreading nonsense
or found culpable in the dumbing down of America."
--
YouTube viewer comment from "Get
the Story Straight"
Thursday
morning Moscow papers are reporting on the
Norway photos/videos and the speculation it's
a failed Bulava launch, but so far no comment
from the Defense Ministry. Only one TV channel,
RenTV, has mentioned it -- a good indicator
that the other state-owned broadcasters recognize
the probability (or have received orders)
that silence is best for potential military
accidents.
Kommersant's ace aerospace reporter Ivan Konovalov
reports
in Thursday's paper that an MoD source
says the failure was in the third stage.
My interview is here
Rachel Maddow show, Dec 9, 2009-12-09 (5:07
segment)
Dramatic spiral UFO explained
Jim's
three MSNBC stories in 2005 about the asteroid
encounter:
06/07/2005:
Japan shoots for a piece of an asteroid --
Hayabusa sample-return mission nears critical
stage. "A celestial “smash-and-grab”
space mission that could become the greatest
triumph in the history of the Japanese space
program is entering its most challenging stage
in deep space." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8131678/
12/09/2005: The real promise of Japan's asteroid
mission -- Even if it fails to bring back
sample, its innovation should inspire. "
Somewhere beyond the far side of the Sun,
a battered Japanese space probe is struggling
to make its critical condition clear to controllers
back on Earth so they can diagnose the latest
problems, develop another set of 'work-around'
procedures and implement them by remote control.
The project's goal, to return from a years-long
interplanetary odyssey with samples from an
asteroid, has been teetering on the edge of
failure for most of the trip, but the Japanese
control team has always been able to work
something out before. " http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10400707/
Are
you going to Russia’s Baykonur Cosmodrome
in Kazakhstan to attend the launch of a manned
‘Soyuz’ spaceship, a commercial
communications satellite, a scientific probe,
or any other reason? The long-mysterious and
super-secret spaceport has become a mecca
for ‘space tourists’ of the 21st
Century, but understanding what you will see,
or even what you are actually seeing once
you get there, is hindered by decades of secrecy,
by the fog of cultural barriers, and by the
impenetrability of “technical jargon”
associated with “rocket science”.
Now a solution is available – a world
expert on penetrating “Soviet space
secrets” is available to expand the
value of your experience. Jim Oberg can triple
the appreciation of your experience by careful
pre-trip organization and briefings, and as
desired by personal interpretative and explanatory
services on site. For
more details, go HERE.
Completing
the International Space Station
Jim
with first ESA commander of the ISS (Oct-Dec
2009), Frank Dewinne
Conferences,
conventions, industry seminars, university
activities, private groups, educational and
hobby programs, and other audiences of any
size seeking entertaining and informative
talks on various aspects of outer space (particularly
on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
the birth of the Space Age) are encouraged
to contact Jim Oberg soon for their necessary
scheduling of talks in the coming academic
year. His
expanded repertory of topics now includes
several new offerings and updated old favorites.
These programs can be tailored to specific
length and focus needs.
Five-minute
alternate version with Bolero soundtrack
Phobos-Grunt Sample Return Mission Jim’s review: “Very nice
spacecraft graphics, but flight trajectory
is badly illustrated. Shows old (rejected)
proposal for ion thrusting in transit to Mars.
Graphic shows Mars leading as probe reaches
Mars orbit (that’s wrong). Omits final
plane change maneuver prior to return to Earth.
Also – wrong booster for Earth launch.”
Recent
more correct and shorter report
and this
link Comment: “28 Feb 2009 ‘Vesti’
news, shows spacecraft fabrication, Phobos
model, interviews, animation, and CORRECT
launch vehicle (near end)”
In recent years, press coverage in Moscow
suggests a reversion to the Soviet-era
"spyflight" accusations, and Putin has
proclaimed he's had enough "history that
casts Russia in a bad light", but expanded
Moscow-Seoul contacts would argue against
retrograde Russian officials from making
a big deal of reopening this wound.
Jim
Is First American Journalist at New ‘Yasniy’
Launch Site in Siberia
On June 28, 2007 Jim was at the new 'Kosmotras'
satellite launch base at Yasniy, Orenburg
Region, Siberia, to watch a 'Dnepr' rocket
carry the Bigelow Aerospace "Genesis-II"
space module prototype into orbit. He will
be writing about this experience for several
magazine clients in the months to come.
Novosti,
February 27, 2007: New Kourou Launch Pad Can
Conduct Manned Flights
News
item (my translation), quoting Anatoliy Perminov,
head of the Russian Space Agency, while visiting
the European launch center at Kourou, French
Guyana: "Yes, of course, over the long term,
the ‘Soyuz-ST’ [booster] which
will be launched from Kourou can be used also
for manned launches. This promising manned
transport system, developed now together with
the European partners, can be used for organizng,
from Kourou, the launches of manned spacecraft."
Jim
returns from triumphant 'Earth
Orbit' educational program for American Museum
of Natural History (New York, NY).
This program involved
fourteen travelers who visited the Hayden
Planetarium, the NASA Goddard Space Center,
the National air & Space Museum, Capa
Canaveral
and the Kennedy Space Center, then Russian
space sites such as various museums (including
some usually closed to
the public), the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training
Center, and the Baykonur Cosmodrome, where
they attended the Soyuz TMA-7 blastoff on
October 1.
A
more detailed report is in preparation but
here are a few photos from the expedition
courtesy of Josette Dominguez.
(Sep
22) With Story Musgrave at the Saturn/Shuttle
‘Vertical Assembly Building’
(VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center,
Florida
(Sep
26) Examining SFOG canister (‘Solid
Fuel Oxygen Generator’) inside
Mir mockup at ‘Gagarin Cosmonaut
Training Center’. A unit like
this one malfunctioned in February
1997 and nearly killed six crewmen,
including a visiting american astronaut.
(Sep
26) Peering into Soyuz ‘Orbital
Module’ trainer at ‘Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Center’,
Star City, NE of Moscow
(Sep
29) At edge of Soyuz flame pit an
hour after booster installation
on the launch pad, two days prior
to blastoff. L-R: Jim, Jo Dominguez,
Doug Grimes (MirCorp Travel), Alicia
Stevens (Discovery Tours, AMNH).
"Tuesday,
Jul. 19, 2005, 3:00 PM // Wisconsin Public Radio,
"Ideas Network" Ben Merens: While NASA engineers
continue to examine the Space Shuttle, Ben Merens
and his guest examine the planned mission, as
well as the history, and future of the shuttle
program.
Guest: Jim Oberg, former Space Shuttle mission
control engineer."
New
Oberg presentation for industrial safety
conferences:
“Flaws
in the ‘NASA Safety Culture’ and
Their Lessons for Earthside Safety”
This presentation shows how many notorious
space disasters were not due to inherent hazards
of space, but were due to violating well-known
principles of hi-tech safety. It provides
explanations for the Challenger and Columbia
shuttle catastrophes and for the 1999 Mars
robot fleet disaster... More...
"Curmudgeon's
Corner" space blog names Oberg "best space
reporter" of 2004.
Mark Whittington at 'Curmudgeon's
Corner', a blog that covers technology
and spaceflight and other topics, put together
his year in space awards for 2004, and the
full text is on his home page.
"Best space reporter.
James Oberg,
for actually knowing of what he writes and
talks about,
which is not necessarily true for all reporters
on the space beat."
“Toward a Theory
of Space Power”, James Oberg, remarks
delivered May 20, 2003, Washington Roundtable
on Science & Public Policy, sponsored
by the George C. Marshall Institute, Washington,
DC. 28 pages. $10.00 postage paid ($12.00
outside North America). A recent book by Everett
Dolman, Astropolitik: Classical Geopolitics
in the Space Age, speaks of the importance
of space and space-faring nations and has
high praise for Oberg’s work. Dolman
writes, “Strategy, grand strategy in
particular, is not simply the efficient military
application of force. Since grand strategy
is ultimately political in nature, that is
to say the ends of national strategy are inextricably
political, yet the means or dimensions of
strategy are not limited.” He goes on
to define six or seven things that make up
a grand strategy, and concludes by saying,
“To date, only James Oberg’s Space
Power Theory [now out of print with an expanded
version in preparation], a comprehensive effort
commissioned by the United States Space Command,
approaches the requirements laid out above.”
Astronomy magazine monthly column.
Jim writes a monthly column for ‘Astronomy’
magazine that discusses upcoming events in space exploration. ADOBE
PDF FORMAT
