Base at Earth-Moon L-2 is attractive, details need work

David Barger, president and CEO of JetBlue Airways, has joined the Dallas-based ISTAT Airlink Advisory Council. Barger also is chair of the FAA's NextGen Advisory Committee and a member of the board of governors and treasurer of the Flight Safety Foundation.

Engineers at NASA, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne are making good progress on the initial version of the agency's planned Space Launch System (SLS) for deep-space human exploration, but it's the advanced configuration that may actually drive some innovation in the field. The first few flights will use the 70-metric-ton version (at left in illustration). But Congress wants the 130-metric-ton rocket (at right) for serious exploration, as well as mix-and-match versions in between to launch big space telescopes and other scientific hardware, and the U.S.

Humans will soon have new vehicles to reach orbit.

India's ambitious human spaceflight programs are moving in a skewed phase for want of requisite technologies and capabilities. The country has shelved plans to undertake a manned mission to the Moon in the near future, and the launch program of the first manned mission in space is delayed. As a result, any chance of India becoming the fourth nation with an indigenous human spaceflight is also slipping into the future.

Joe Bento (see photo) has joined Itasca, Ill.-based SEKO Logistics as chief sales officer for North America. He was executive VP of CEVA Logistics.

Close-up imagery from three sites on the floor of the Gale Crater on Mars, collected by NASA's Curiosity rover, confirmed rounded pebbles were deposited there by water flowing in a “vigorous stream” down from the crater wall, conclude scientists examining data from the new robotic geologist.

Ginger Wierzbanowski (see photo) has been named VP-space, missile defense, advanced technology and ground programs at Northrop Grumman Corp., Falls Church, Va., succeeding John R. Landon, who is scheduled to retire at year-end. Wierzbanowski has been VP-government relations and was legislative assistant to the vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.