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News briefs: September 10
Posted: Wed, Sep 11, 2002, 7:55 AM ET (1155 GMT)
- The launch of a Japanese laboratory module for the International Space Station will be delayed by one year, until 2006, SPACE.com reported Tuesday. The Japanese space agency NASDA said that budget cuts have forced the delay. NASA has asked NASDA, in compensation for the delay, to move up the completion of a centrifuge module one year to 2007. NASA has also asked the Defense Department if it would be willing to fund development of an experiment pallet that Brazil recently announced it could not afford to build.
- The Teal Group forecast Tuesday that a total of 33 commercial satellites will be launched in 2002, over twice the 16 launched in 2001. The same forecast calls for 31 commercial satellites to be launched in 2003. Teal Group analyst Marco Caceres said that the commercial market "probably bottomed out" last year, although he forecasts no boom of satellite activity in the future.
- Police in Beverly Hills, California are investigating whether former astronaut Buzz Aldrin punched a filmmaker who does not believe that Aldrin and other astronauts went to the Moon. Bart Sibrel accosted Aldrin in a Beverly Hills hotel and reportedly tried to get Aldrin to swear on a Bible that he went to the Moon. An altercation ensued, concluding with Aldrin slugging Sibrel in the jaw. Aldrin had no comment about the incident.
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