If you're a robot like NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, getting shut down because of a budget cut would certainly suck, considering that you just aided in discovering something as valuable as a habitable niche on Mars. It's a good thing that the NASA robot was spared of that fate, however - or was it? Read the two conflicting statements from NASA for more details.

Google and NASA Ames Research Center, two entities that are seemingly worlds apart, have recently signed a Space Act Agreement, resulting to a partnership formed between said agencies. With this new partnership, they plan to tackle various technical problems that both parties struggle with: data management and computing, and human-computer interface.

First off, Google and Ames plan to focus on having NASA's most useful information available on the Internet. There are a lot of interesting things that will hopefully be available in the near future, like real-time weather visualization and forecasting, high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars, and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and the space shuttle.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin says,

This agreement between NASA and Google will soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars. This innovative combination of information technology and space science will make NASA's space exploration work accessible to everyone.

NASA and Google have other plans to work together in a number of different collaborations which includes joint research, products, education and many others.

But are they really worlds apart? On one hand is Google, a private company that specializes on innovative search technologies and connects users to information they seek. NASA on the other hand, is a federal agency that has more information about our planet and space than any other entity in the world. On second thought, this might just be a perfect match.

We reported last March that Lockheed Martin Corporation aimed for Manned Space Flight. Well it's official because NASA has awarded a multi-billion dollar contract to actually build a manned lunar spacecraft.

This is interesting for several reasons, most apparent is that the last time NASA has outsourced with Lockheed Martin for a manned ship was way back in 1996. This was for the space plane that was supposed to replace the aged space shuttle. Some $912 million was spent but the ship called x-33 was never built.

Next point of interest is the ship itself, Lockheed Martin was chosen to build the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Again it's supposed to replace the space shuttle, but this time it has the goal to take astronauts to the moon and even perhaps Mars.

The last time we put people on the moon was in 1972.

The Orion spaceship is deliberately designed to look similar to the original baby boomer set. As NASA administrator Michael Griffin said, "Apollo on steroids." NASA wants Orion to be capable of delivering four astronauts to the moon, and six to the international space station. They also want Orion to have its own service module for lunar trips.

If all goes well, NASA estimates that the first test flights will be on September 2014. NASA adds that astronauts could possibly be returning to the moon by late 2019 or 2020.

Since last July, the US Government Accountability Office has warned that it was wrong for NASA to be choosing a contractor by late August-September. According to them the space agency was choosing a contractor without "well-defined requirements, a preliminary design, mature technology and firm cost estimates for the project." The GAO says, "This approach increases the risk that the project will encounter significant cost overruns, schedule delays and decreased capability."

Good news, everyone! NASA now has a definitive and finalized decision regarding the launch of shuttle Atlantis. They will push through with the shuttle's launch of August 27.

This had been decided after a two-day meeting at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The STS-115 mission will launch on the said date, bringing its six-astronaut crew to the ISS.

However, some issues still have to be dealt with, among them a possible antenna bolt swap and some necessary shuttle fuel tank modifications. NASA chief Michael Griffin said that the agency is already working on fixing the fuel tank and removing ice frost swamps. Antenna bolts are also being checked because these could suddenly give way during the shuttle launch and send the antenna plunging down its cargo bay. This could cause major catastrophic damage to the orbiter.

The STS-115 mission, headed by veteran astronaut Brent Jett, is to deliver a pair of truss segments and solar arrays to the ISS. This will be the first major ISS construction flight since 2002 and NASA's third shuttle mission since the Columbia accident in 2003. Atlantis is set to launch at 4:30 p.m. EDT (1030 GMT) on Aug. 27.

NASA announced that the Discovery shuttle will launch on July 1 (3:48:15 p.m. EDT) despite the No-Go opinion of two senior officials. “There were many different viewpoints on the issue of whether we are ready to fly or not,” said NASA chief Michael Griffin. “We’ve decided that we are.” The two officials did not object to the agreed launch date.

The decision came after two days of “intensive and spirited exchange” during a Flight Readiness Review for NASA’s STS-121 shuttle flight aboard the Discovery orbiter. The two dissenting senior NASA managers – chief engineer Chris Scolese and Bryan O’Conner, the associate administrator of Safety and Mission Assurance – did have concerns over the potential risk of foam debris posed by a number of insulated ice frost ramps along Discovery’s external tank. 

A one-pound piece of foam insulation fell from a protective ramp from Discovery’s external tank during the STS-114 launch in July 2005. While it did not strike Discovery, a similar foam shedding event pierced Columbia's heat shield ultimately leading to its destruction and loss of seven astronauts in 2003.

NASA’s ability to inspect the spacecraft in orbit, conduct basic repairs, and keep the shuttle astronauts safely aboard the International Space Station (ISS) until a rescue comes contributed to the positive launch decision.

NASA managers picked July 1 as the launch date of space shuttle Discovery, despite recommendations against a lift-off from the agency's chief engineer. The flight is the second shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster in 2003.

Representatives from NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance and the Office of the Chief Engineer have advised against flying until further design changes are made to the shuttle's external fuel tank. It has been debated whether the external tank should undergo further changes in 34 areas called ice-frost ramps. In last July's launch, there was a one-pound chunk of foam that fell off from the Discovery. Since then, about 35 pounds of foam have been removed.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin made the final decision and vowed to shut down the space shuttle program should they lose another vehicle. Griffin is confident that the decision to fly poses no risk to the seven astronauts because NASA has devised new inspection and repair techniques to the shuttle. As a last resort the astronauts could stay at the International Space Station until a rescue shuttle arrives.

NASA's shuttles are scheduled to be grounded in 2010, once the International Space Station is constructed. Setting a launch date beyond July might cause schedule pressure in three or four years for completing the station.

Griffin said, I don't want to get us into a situation where by being more cautious than I think technically is necessary today, we wind up having to execute six flights in the last year. That's not smart.

NASA will host its traditional post-Flight Readiness Review news conference on Saturday, June 17, (no later than 2pm EDT) to announce key decisions about Discovery's mission, STS-121. The conference, to be aired live on NASA TV, will include the selection of an official launch date. The NASA officials who will attend the briefing from the Kennedy Space Center include:

• Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator
• Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Space Operations
• Wayne Hale, Space Shuttle Program manager
• Mike Leinbach, NASA launch director

The news conference follows a two-day detailed assessment of the readiness of Space Shuttle Discovery for launch to be conducted on June 16 and 17. The specific start time of the news conference is dependent on the meeting's conclusion.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Scott Horowitz and Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley will present the exploration program and the work being assigned to NASA centers. The media event will be held on June 5 at 2:30 p.m. at the NASA headquarters auditorium.

Those of you who can't make it can watch the news conference on the Web and NASA TV. During the briefing, reporters at participating NASA centers will have the chance to ask the three space head honchos some questions. To spice up the event reigning American Idol Taylor Hicks will perform a medley of songs with the words "space," "aliens," "rocketship," "planets," "stars" in the lyrics. We're kidding of course, just trying to spice up this article.