Brushing aside White House objections, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a one-year NASA authorization bill that would require the space agency to conduct an extra space shuttle mission to deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space station.

The White House says that requiring NASA to fly the AMS could require the agency to operate the space shuttle beyond 2010 and further delay the fielding of its successor, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares I rocket.

But the House kept the AMS provision intact and relaxed the space shuttle's 2010 retirement date when it voted Thursday to approve the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 (H.R. 6063) by a vote of 409 to 15. A similar provision was included in a recent draft of a Senate version of the NASA authorization bill that has yet to be introduced there.

We recorded videos of an AO-51 pass and of all the AMSAT Forum presentations at Dayton 2008. You can find out the latest on the current satellite projects, AO-51, AO-16, AMSAT Operations, ARISS and the ACP satellite and ground station progress. Barry, WD4ASW moderated the Forum.

Thanks to Steve Belter, N9IP for doing the recordings and Mike Young, WB8CXO for the video equipment and converting the tapes to this format. Thanks to Gunther and Rob Meisse for hosting the videos at the WMFD site.

The following videos are clickable if you have Windows Media Player (or equivalent) installed on your computer. The URLs can also be pasted into other compatible viewers.

Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center will be opened to journalists to allow viewing of a site damaged during the May 31 launch of space shuttle Discovery. Reporters will have the opportunity to ask questions about ongoing repair work. The media tour will take place Monday, June 16, at 10 a.m. EDT.

The damage occurred to an area of the pad known as the flame trench. Based on analysis to date, repairs are expected to be completed in time for the next shuttle launch. Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is targeted for Oct. 8.

During Monday's event, Ed Mango, deputy director of the shuttle program's launch vehicle processing, and Perry Becker, who is leading the launch pad engineering investigation team, will be available for interviews.

With the successful Saturday return of the space shuttle Discovery, the stage is set for NASA's next flight: the final visit to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Discovery's seven-astronaut crew landed at 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after a successful two-week mission that delivered Japan's billion-dollar Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS).

"It's great to be here on the runway in sunny Florida," Discovery commander Mark Kelly said after the smooth landing. "The vehicle's in good shape, which we always like to see it that way."

Discovery's return to Earth clears the way for the planned Oct. 8 launch of its sister ship Atlantis, which is set to fly one last mission to overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope before NASA turns its full attention to completing the space station by 2010 and retiring its three-orbiter fleet.