These are changing times for human spaceflight but we shouldn’t forget that Canada has two relatively new astronauts and one heading to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has racked up several first in Space, including the first Canadian space walk, but in December 2012, he will take up his biggest role yet: Commander of the ISS.

More information is here: http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/expedition34-35/default.asp and there is a nice interview from a couple of day ago here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17092546

It has often been said that science and politics should not mix; however, unfortunately for us scientists, politics does play a huge role in defining funding for science, what science gets done, and even what science gets reported. The latter is particularly troubling here in Canada where, as reported in this BBC news article, the Canadian government is “muzzling its scientists”:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468

Having worked at the Canadian Space Agency before coming to Western 4 years ago, I can say that this is not some media hype but is actually happening and is what all government scientists are facing. It’s interesting that this BBC news article was on their front page for a time, but received very little attention here in Canada!

There is a CBC news article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/02/17/science-federal-muzzling-s…

We should all be aware of this and voice our concerns whenever we can.

It was 50 years ago that John Glenn became the first American in Space. At 90 years old, he’s still going strong, serving as a model for all of us.

After their launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 13:16 GMT (14:16 CET) today, ESA astronaut André Kuipers and crewmates Oleg Kononenko and Don Pettit are circling Earth every 90 minutes aboard the Soyuz TMA-3M spacecraft as they make their way to the International Space Station.

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If you haven’t already seen it, there is a new Space magazine in Canada, “Space Quarterly”

The latest edition of Space Quarterly magazine is available. In this issue they focus on space policy along with updates on Canada’s rover program, one of Canada’s next satellites to be launched, NEOSSat and COM DEV’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) satellite constellation. In the new Leaders section they interview Futron founder and CEO Joe Fuller who tells us about why he started his company and how it helps governments and businesses globally.

Check it out here: http://spacerefpress.com/sq/

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Norwegian Roald Amundsen reaching the South Pole – the exact date was Dec. 14th, just last week! This anniversary was marked by the Antarctic Search for Meteorite (ANSMET) team who are down in Antarctica searching for meteorites. Indeed, Antarctica is the best place to find meteorites – over 30,000 have been recovered over the past 30 years. You can follow the ANSMET blog here: http://www.humanedgetech.com/expedition/ansmet2012/

I’ve had the pleasure of going on two expeditions with ANSMET and would recommend going to anyone! Most of the participants are scientists and are volunteers. All you need to do to apply is to write a letter and mail it (yes, place it in an envelope and mail it!) to the PI of this project, Ralph Harvey. More instructions and a background on ANSMET can be found here: http://geology.cwru.edu/~ansmet/

Here’s a nice – and for once – well written article on meteorites, what there are, where they come from, and why we study them. The article begins by mentioning our very own Peter Brown’s most recent fireball discovery. Check out the article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/12/14/f-faq-meteor.html#

A new Statistics Canada report shows that the amount of ice covering Canadian Arctic waters in summer declined in all sea ice regions from 1968-2010:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/111208/dq111208b-eng.htm

But it’s all going to be OK, Canada’s Environment Minister Peter Kent knows what’s at stake for Canada at the talks in Durban, South Africa…. hmmm…
Why is it that a country that stands to lose the most through climate change in the Arctic has thrown Kyoto out of the window and is standing in the way of further agreements to combat climate change?