Environment, Science, Technology & Health Unit
The Environment, Science, Technology, and Health Unit at the U.S. Embassy in London concentrates on building relationships with British scientists, policy makers, and concerned citizens on issues ranging from climate change to pandemic influenza to biotechnology. The unit supports a wide range of U.S. government agencies, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and NASA, in their international work. The unit also serves as an advocate for U.S. policy in these areas, both with Her Majesty's government and with the British public.
Please look to the boxes at the right for both more information on the topics we cover and links to news of our partner agencies.
Please feel free to email us at ESTHLondon@state.gov if you are interested in learning more about our work or these issues. We welcome the opportunity to address groups of concerned citizens and students.
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Major policy statements, helpful fact sheets and key government publications are available via the Energy and Environment In-Depth page. Useful links and contacts are also provided.
Previous Features
23 July 2008 Online Resources for Environmental Information
Compiled by America.gov this list of online resources for environment issues covers S.S. Government, International Organizations and Nongovernmental Organizations.
11 June 2008 Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) in Orbit At 12:05 p.m. EDT, the Delta II rocket easily lifted the GLAST spacecraft off the launch pad, out of smoke and clouds and into a beautiful Florida sky headed for space.
19 May 2008 NASA Constellation Program on Track to Return People to Moon NASA engineers report progress on the Constellation program, whose Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft are taking shape to transport human explorers back to the moon by 2020 and then on to Mars and other solar system destinations.
19 April 2008 Expedition 16 Crew Lands in Kazakhstan Commander Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko of the 16th International Space Station crew landed on the steppes of Kazakhstan around 4:30 a.m. EDT Saturday after 192 days in space. Whitson, 48, returned from her second mission to the station. She landed Saturday with a total of 377 days in space, more than any other U.S. spacefarer. On April 16 she broke the previous mark of 374 days set by Mike Foale on his six flights.
15 April 2008 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks 1990-2006 (PDF) The United States Environmental Protection Agency has prepared the official U.S. Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks. This emissions inventory identifies and quantifies the country's primary anthropogenic sources and sinks of greenhouse gases and is essential for addressing climate change.
02 April 2008 Protecting Space Environment Remains a Critical U.S. Interest As outer space becomes increasingly vital to economic prosperity and international security, there is a growing need for finding new ways to deal with debris caused by rocket explosions and anti-satellite testing of past decades.
01 April 2008 Cassini Spacecraft Finds Basic Conditions for Life on Enceladus The closest flyby so far of Saturn’s moon Enceladus by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows that one of the brightest objects in the solar system may have nearly everything it needs to sustain life. Traveling about 15 kilometers per second and at an altitude of 50 kilometers, Cassini flew past Enceladus for its fourth encounter with the moon March 12 and its closest flyby to date with any celestial body, passing through the edge of one of the moon's geyser like jets.
20 February 2008 Atlantis Home as Shuttle Endeavour Prepares for March 11 Launch Atlantis touched down on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center February 20, after a 12-day mission that delivered to the international space station and installed the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Columbus laboratory, and set the stage for the next series of launches in the United States and Europe.
07 February 2008 Shuttle Launches To Deliver European Space Agency Lab to Station With the February 7 afternoon launch of Atlantis through cloud-swept skies above Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the European Space Agency's most important contribution to the International Space Station -- its Columbus laboratory – is finally on its way to the orbital outpost.
24 January 2008 Benefits Arise from Global Effort To Link Earth Observation Data Two years into the 10-year plan to revolutionize the way environmental data are used to monitor and better understand the planet's land, sea and atmospheric conditions, scientific advances that will benefit all nations already are being announced.
15 January 2008 NASA Targets February 7 for Atlantis Launch to Space Station After two launch delays in December 2007 and weeks of testing and modifying an element of the external tank’s fuel sensor system, NASA has targeted February 7 for the launch of space shuttle Atlantis (STS-122) to the International Space Station.
07 November 2007 Discovery Mission Readies Station for International Partner Labs With the International Space Station's Harmony module set for docking by the European and Japanese laboratories, and sections of the station's truss and solar arrays moved and working, Space Shuttle Discovery's crew returned to Earth, the shuttle glinting in Florida's midday sun.
14 September 2007 October Mission To Ready Space Station for International Partners In October -- the month that marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, and the space age -- space shuttle Discovery and its crew will begin a 13-day journey to the International Space Station.
05 September 2007 Discovery's Tank and Boosters Readied for October Liftoff Inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians are attaching the external tank to the twin solid rocket boosters in preparation for the launch of mission STS-120, targeted for October 23.
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21 August 2007 Endeavour Touches Down in Florida after Mission to Space Station Space shuttle Endeavour landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida August 21, completing a 12-day, nearly 8.5-million-kilometer mission that leaves the International Space Station about 60 percent complete.
Space shuttle Endeavour glides to a landing at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, August 21. (© AP Images) |
20 August 2007 Space Solar Energy Has Future, U.S. Researchers Say Beam solar energy directly from space, and disaster relief expeditions could power all their equipment with no more than a few portable antennas and converters. Campers could use such energy to cook dinners using nothing more than a cell phone-like device.
An artist's rendering shows a space-based solar power generator harvesting energy from the sun for uses on Earth. (NASA image) |
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19 August 2007 Crew Completes Final Heat Shield Inspection The STS-118 crew began its trip home today when Space Shuttle Endeavour undocked from the Space Shuttle Endeavour at 7:56 a.m. EDT. Shortly after the final separation burn, the crew began preparations for the return to Earth by conducting the final inspection of the orbiter’s heat shield.
16 August 2007 Mission Managers clear Endeavour for Landing The Mission Control Center in Houston informed the STS-118 and Expedition 15 crews late Thursday that Saturday’s spacewalk will not include repairs of Space Shuttle Endeavour’s heat shield.
09 August 2007 Perfect Evening Launch Delivers Endeavour to Space Station Endeavour blasted into Florida’s evening sky, carrying equipment for the International Space Station and seven crew members, including one teacher turned astronaut who has waited 22 years to venture into space. The launch, scheduled for August 7, was postponed 24 hours to give the shuttle processing team more time to complete routine work before liftoff.
08 August 2007 Endeavour Lifts Off! NASA's Administrator and top launch managers celebrated the flawless liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour Wednesday evening as the fulfillment of a legacy.
02 August 2007 NASA, International Partners Plan Saturn Moon Flyby The science team for the international Cassini mission to Saturn is planning to modify the 2008 flyby of Enceladus, one of the ringed planet’s innermost moons, to send the spacecraft through a watery geyser rising from the moon’s surface.
27 July 2007 Next Shuttle Launch Scheduled for August 7 NASA managers have cleared space shuttle Endeavour's August launch after a two-day flight readiness review that assessed mission risks and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready to fly.
24 July 2007 Next Space Station Crew To Have First Woman Commander The next visitors to the International Space Station, scheduled to arrive in October, include the first woman to lead a long-duration spaceflight and spaceflight participant Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the first Malaysian angkasawan (astronaut) to visit the orbital outpost.
10 July 2007 NASA Shuttle Endeavour Set To Launch August 7 The Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew are scheduled to continue the next phase of International Space Station assembly with an August 7 launch and an 11-day mission to the orbital outpost.
09 July 2007 NASA Phoenix Lander, Next Mission to Mars, To Launch in August NASA’s next mission to the surface of Mars is scheduled to launch in August on a 10-month voyage to find out if water frozen in the planet’s northern polar region ever has been able to sustain microbial life.
29 June 2007 NASA Rover To Descend into Massive Martian Crater One of NASA's robotic explorers, Opportunity, is about to descend into one of the largest craters on Mars, opening a window for scientists into the ancient environment of the fourth planet from the sun.
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09 June 2007 Shuttle Atlantis Begins 11-Day Mission to Space Station After a nearly three-month delay caused by hail damage and repairs to the external fuel tank, space shuttle Atlantis roared into a deep-blue Florida sky June 8 on the program’s 21st mission to the International Space Station.
“Three, two, one,” capsule communicator Tony Antonelli announced from mission control, “and liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis, to assemble the framework for the science laboratories of tomorrow!”
Left: Space Shuttle Atlantis blasts off from the Kennedy Space Center enroute to the International Space Station |
26 January 2007 International Space Station Partners Applaud Year’s Achievements At a meeting in Paris, the heads of the space agencies that have partnered for the International Space Station -- from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the United States -- noted significant milestones over the last year, including the return to a three-person crew and the resumption of construction of the orbiting laboratory. Right: Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang, top, and U.S. astronaut Robert Curbeam, bottom, work to repair a jammed solar energy array during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station December 18, 2006.
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The STS-121 crewmembers gather for an in-flight crew photo in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. From the left (bottom) are astronauts Stephanie Wilson, mission specialist; Steve Lindsey, commander; and Lisa Nowak, mission specialist. From the left (top) are astronauts Piers Sellers, Mike Fossum, both mission specialists; and Mark Kelly, pilot.
(Credit: NASA)
NASA Astronauts Tour The UK
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After returning safely to Earth on September 21 the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis poses in front of their shuttle. Image credit: NASA
Read more at NASA.gov |
Astronauts from the Shuttle Atlantis installed a truss on the International Space Station on September 12. This is the first of three planned space walks for the Atlantis shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
Image credit: NASA
Read more at NASA.gov
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The Space Shuttle Atlantis will dock with the International Space Station on Monday, September 11.
Image credit: NASA
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NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis will launch on August 27 to resume construction of the International Space Station.
Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston
Read more on NASA.gov |
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Governor Ehrlich and Secretary Bodman fuel the first state vehicle with E-85. Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy. Read More… |
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on August 2 that the DOE will spend $250 million to establish and operate two new Bioenergy Research Centers to accelerate basic research on the development of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. Read More… |
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Environment, Science, Technology & Health
