2009: International Year of Astronomy

IYA: 400-Years of the Telescope

The 2009 International Year of Astronomy has arrived with 140-nations around the Earth turning "eyes into space" to ponder the magnificance of the moon, the planets, the Milky Way and the Universe. What better way to say: "Happy New Year!" And celebrate the year for 365-days and listen to daily Podcasts. More on 2009 as the International Year of Astornomy - Vid-1, Vid-2 and Vid-3.

For those lucky to view it, there will be a Total Solar Eclipse [TSE] over India, China and parts of the Pacific Ocean on July 22, 2009. Meanwhile, the 1st International Planetary Defense Conference will be held in Spain April 27, 2009; and the The International Astronomical Union will meet in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil August 03 - 14, 2009.

The calendar year 2009 will also bear witness to several new and exciting space launches that have been previously profiled. The space shuttle fleet will undertake an ambitious launch schedule to continue construction of the space station and make Hubble Space Telescope repairs; a private spaceflight participant will make his second flight to ISS; the Russians and Chinese will be a joint unmanned mission to Mars; the United States will send space probes to the Moon and flyby Mars while probes will be launched to seek-out new planets and asteroids; and, NASA's Constellation Project will test the new Ares-1.

The Europeans and Americans will conduct climate change observations; SpaceShipTwo will make the first test flights from the Mojave Spaceport; the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport will launch another orbital military satellite and build a new launch pad; the South Koreans will launch their first space satellite as well.

Then too, full-fledged Rocket Racing should start in 2009! So please, stay tuned. There will be much in civil, commercial, and military space to blog about in 2009.