Satellite News

“The Chinese government is particularly worried by the misconception surrounding the satellite as expressed in the media here in the country. It is also concerned that its first efforts at exporting its satellite technology to a country like Nigeria is being mis-construed by the unfortunate loss [of NigComSat 1]. It has therefore given instructions that all efforts must be put together to straighten things out. Both the Nigerian and Chinese governments are keen to address the challenge quickly.” – An unnamed senior Nigerian ministerial official, according to the Guardian (Nigeria)

“It is a usual phenomena [sic] because it is summer on the moon. There is nothing to worry. … By the first week of December, the atmosphere will become benign on the moon.” — An ISRO spokesman commenting the higher-than-expected temperature aboard the Chandrayaan 1 moon probe

“He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He has fallen into the hands of a bunch of people who have convinced him that they are smarter than everybody else. When they come out and say [rocket launches are] going to be 10 times cheaper, I want to find out what they are smoking.” — John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk

“He’s been trying to claim success by saying we did 80 percent or 90 percent or 95 percent of the flight plan. Well, that’s like saying you’re taking a jet from L.A. to New York City and having the jet crash before it gets there and you say the flight was 99 percent successful.” — Author and space industry consultant (and former SpaceX lobbyist) Frank Sietzen about Elon Musk’s earlier claims that the second Falcon 1 flight had proven 95+ percent of the rocket’s systems. (Los Angeles Business Journal)

“This is my first launch as president. My knees are still shaking.” — Kjell Karlsen, newly appointed president and general manager of Sea Launch, after the EchoStar XI launch

“This is no trip to Grandma’s for the weekend.” Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for space science, about the Phoenix mission.
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“You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing [i.e. having women aboard a (space)ship–Ed.], but thank God that everything worked out successfully. Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass [the number of men]. This isn’t discrimination. I’m just saying that when a majority [of the crew] is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behaviour or something else occurs, that’s what I’m talking about.” — Russian Federal Space Agency head Anatoly Perminov (according to AFP) apparently thinks he has found the true reason behind the ballistic re-entry of Soyuz TMA-11, whose crew comprised one man and two women
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“In Russia, many people have superstitious beliefs — black cats, Mondays, the number 13. That’s why I think that it is a good idea to change the number of the next space ship. I support the idea that it should be Soyuz TMA-14.” — Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency Roskosmos, according to his press secretary Alexander Vorobyov
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