Space news

Salmonella Research in Space Yields Breakthroughs on Earth
 
Suzanne Presto - Voice of America
 
The International Space Station is not simply an outpost for astronauts.  It is a premiere science laboratory. Studies on the spacelab are helping scientists develop a potential vaccine for an illness that kills thousands of people annually. While rehydration and antibiotics can treat most cases of salmonella, scientists around the world have long sought a protective vaccine.  A NASA official recently told lawmakers in Washington that research in space has led to a potential breakthrough. "We've done research on salmonella and we've been able to develop essentially a strain of salmonella that's strong enough to cause the immune system to react but not strong enough to give you the disease, so that's essentially a vaccine.  That's about ready to go into FDA trial," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations said. Gerstenmaier explained that scientists have tested the potential vaccine on small organisms - namely worms in orbit - to get it through the first phases of the FDA process.  He said the potential vaccine could go into FDA trials soon. Julie Robinson, the chief scientist for the International Space Station Program, told VOA that it is difficult to predict when human trials could begin. "The challenge we always have with any kind of medical development like this is getting it, as scientists say, from 'bench to bedside,'" she said.
 
Mission goal crucial soon, NASA advisory panel says
Delay in setting space destination a risk to funding
 
Todd Halvorson - Florida Today
 
NASA should select a destination to explore beyond Earth orbit as soon as possible and also identify milestones to get there, an advisory group says. The failure to do so will delay the planned launch early next decade of American astronauts on solar system expeditions. “Given the budget reality and the development time for new hardware and software, which is estimated to be at least 10 years, now is the time to pick a specific destination,” NASA Advisory Council Chairman Steven Squyres said in a recent letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
 
SpaceX mission to space station faces a big day on April 16
 
Lee Roop - Huntsville Times
 
Mark down Monday, April 16, as a big day in the history of Space Exploration Technologies' plans to become the first commercial company to service the International Space Station. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk certainly has made note. Musk has announced plans to be in Houston for a press conference following a crucial pre-flight hurdle. SpaceX plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket into space April 30 with an unmanned Dragon capsule on top. The Dragon would approach the station for maneuvers demonstrating its capabilities. If those maneuvers go well, the plan is for astronauts aboard the station to grab the Dragon with an onboard grapple and bring it to the station for a docking. The capsule would then be released for a return to Earth and recovery.
 
SpaceX, NASA prepping astronauts on use of Dragon spacecraft
 
Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org
 
NASA and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) are working to make sure that everything is in place for the second scheduled demonstration flight under the $1.6 billion Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract. The firm has been preparing its Dragon spacecraft to be launched on one of the private space company’s Falcon 9 rockets currently scheduled to take place on 12:22 p.m. EDT on April, 30. The mission is actually two flights combined into one. SpaceX lobbied for and received permission from NASA to combine the second and third demonstration flights into a single mission.
 
Explanation Sought For ATV-3 Power Problems
 
Mark Carreau – Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
 
Flight control teams in Moscow and Toulouse combed through International Space Station electrical data on April 2 in a bid to pinpoint the cause of a Russian power system failure that nearly prompted a premature jettison of the European Space Agency’s recently docked Automated Transfer Vehicle-3. An undocking of the propellant-laden ATV that would have taken place April 2 was averted over the weekend, as personnel at the ATV Control Center in Toulouse, Mission Control-Moscow and Mission Control-Houston teamed to power the 35-ft.-long freighter through a backup Russian Equipment Control System (RECS) channel. Though the cause of the failure had not been determined, ATV-3 systems were functioning normally and control teams were proceeding with plans for an April 5 reboost of the orbital outpost using the supply capsule’s thrusters, according to Rob Navias, a spokesman for NASA, which manages the 15-nation station partnership.
 
Parachutes for Boeing crew capsule tested over Nevada
 
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
 

 
Boeing dropped a mock-up of its CST-100 commercial crew capsule over the Nevada desert Tuesday, successfully testing the craft's three main landing parachutes, the first in a series of demonstrations to prove the design of the vehicle's landing system. An Erickson Sky Crane helicopter hoisted the capsule to an altitude of about 11,000 feet and released it, according to a Boeing press release. "Three main parachutes deployed to slow the capsule's descent before six airbags inflated, providing a smooth ground landing," the company said in a statement. "The event was the first drop test of the fully combined vehicle landing system, including all elements."
 
Boeing completes parachute drop test of crew space transport spacecraft