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If you could not make it to the annual International Astronautical Congress, underway in Paris this week, Aviation Week Intelligence Network has you covered.
On the Ground at the IAC
Monday, September 19th
If you could not make it to the annual International Astronautical Congress, underway in Paris this week, Aviation Week Intelligence Network has you covered. Senior Space Editor, Irene Klotz, and Executive Editor for Defense & Space, Jen DiMascio, offer you an inside look at what's happening. 
Expanding the space family

After a hiatus of more than 40 years, Hungary is reviving its human space program, with plans to select and fly an astronaut to the International Space Station for a 30- to 60-day mission.

Houston-based Axiom Space, and its partner SpaceX, will provide the training and the ride, which is targeted for 2024. Eight finalists are being evaluated as candidate astronauts for the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) program, with a final selection expected in November.
 
 
 
 
 
Plus one

Hungary isn’t the only addition to the human spaceflight family. Axiom on Sept. 19 signed an agreement to fly an astronaut from Turkey—the country’s first. A timeframe for the mission has not yet been determined. The partnership with Turkey follows similar agreements Axiom has signed with Italy, Hungary and the United Arab Emirates. The Turkish mission is part of a 10-year space development plan that includes missions to low Earth orbit and the Moon
 
 
 
 
Moon-to-Mars

NASA is in the process of laying out the steps to evolve the Artemis lunar exploration initiative into a follow-on program to send astronauts to Mars. After consultations with international partners and what Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy calls “a special workshop for people who gave us the most thoughtful input in U.S. industry and academia," NASA plans to announce on Sept. 20 changes in its Moon-to-Mars exploration strategy. Stay tuned. 
 
 
 
 
When in Paris

Think fashion--even at a space conference. But that’s just for the display at Thales Alenia Space, which is showcasing “The Satellite Dress,” an off-the-shoulder number crafted from betacloth and Kapton, textiles that can withstand the subzero temperatures a Cygnus cargo vehicle endured on the way to the International Space Station and billed as an ode to the virtues of recycling.
 
 
 
 
Moon Bricks?

A company called Astroport is developing a system of baking moon dust into bricks to create a landing pad on the lunar surface. Astroport has an initial contract with NASA. Administrator Bill Nelson calls it "a magic potion."

Click here to learn more.
 
 
 
 
Quantum Communications Demo

SpeQtral, a provider of quantum communication technology, and Thales Alenia Space, signed a memorandum of understanding to study, develop and demonstrate quantum communications from space to Earth.
 
 
 
 
And the space family got a little smaller

Two space record-holders have died. Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who served aboard the Mir space station for 437 days—the longest single space mission--died on Sept. 7 at the age of 80, the Russian State Space Corp Roscosmos reports.

Click here to learn more.

And test pilot Brian Binnie, who flew the privately developed SpaceShipOne suborbital spacecraft on Oct. 4, 2004, to clinch the $10 million Ansari XPrize died on Sept. 15, his family notes in a statement on Binnie’s Facebook page. Binnie was 69. 

Click here to learn more.
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