News 5/24/12---space x near ISS

 
 
 
Thursday, May 24, 2012
 
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            JLT Web Poll
2.            JSC Library Relocating to Building 30 Next Month
3.            FLASH Sale at the Starport Gift Shops
4.            Father-Daughter Dance 2012 -- Get Your Tickets Now
5.            Few Spots Left in Summer Camp -- Register Now
6.            Summer Sport Leagues - Don't Miss Out
7.            Summer Wellness Classes Are Back Starting in June!
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps; for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they might have been. ”
 
-- William Hazlitt
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1.            JLT Web Poll
Last week's poll revealed that 44 percent of you have tried teleworking and liked it. That's a lot higher number than I expected. This week's first question is about where you like to be when you telework. Do you have a favorite spot? Home office? Coffee shop? We all pretty much grew up to be acceptable to ourselves according to last week's question two. Now if we could only hit the lottery we'd be really, really happy. This week's second question is an intellectual riddle. It takes a little ciphering to get it. Spend some time scratching your noggin and it'll finally light that bulb over your head.
 
Albert your Einstein on over to get this week's poll.
 
Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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2.            JSC Library Relocating to Building 30 Next Month
The Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Center's main library in Building 45, Room 100, is moving! The main library has been a resident of Building 45 for more than 45 years. As part of the ongoing renovations at JSC, the library is relocating to Building 30, Room 1077. The library is scheduled to move in late June and will re-open on July 2. Further details on the move will be announced soon.
 
The STI Center is a service provided by the Information Resources Directorate: http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov
 
Scientific and Technical Information Center x34245 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov
 
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3.            FLASH Sale at the Starport Gift Shops
FLASH sale! Friday, May 25, only ... select items are 50 percent off. Shop today for a patriotic shirt to celebrate Memorial Day, or pick up a great Father's Day gift.
 
Lorie Shewell x30308 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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4.            Father-Daughter Dance 2012 -- Get Your Tickets Now
Make Father's Day weekend a date your daughter will never forget! Enjoy a night of music, dancing, refreshments, finger foods, dessert, photos and more. Plan to get all dressed up and spend a special evening with the special little lady in your life.
 
June 15 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom.
 
Cost is $40 per couple, $15 per additional child. Each couple will receive one free 5x7 photo.
 
Visit our website at: http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Youth/FatherDaughterDance.cfm
 
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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5.            Few Spots Left in Summer Camp -- Register Now
There are a few spots left in the Starport Summer Camp, so don't wait until it's too late! If you are still trying to find fun and exciting activities to keep your children active and entertained for the summer, Starport Summer Camp is a great option for the JSC workforce and their dependents. Plus, registration is now open to friends and other family members of the NASA workforce. Register at the Gilruth Center during normal operating hours. Visit http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/camp/index.cfm for more details on the session themes and planned activities.
 
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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6.            Summer Sport Leagues - Don't Miss Out
Starport's Summer Sport Leagues are set to begin! Sign your team up at the Gilruth Center today!
 
2012 summer leagues:
- Dogeball registration closes on Tuesday, May 29 (league begins May 31)
- Kickball registration: May 25 to June 14 (league begins June 18)
- Soccer registration: May 29 to June 18 (leagues begins June 20 or 23)
- Softball registration closes on Friday, June 8 (leagues begins June 12, 13 and 14)
- Ultimate frisbee registration closes on Thursday, June 14 (league begins June 18)
 
Free agent registration: (OPEN NOW)
http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/FreeAgents.cfm
 
Starport's League Sports are open to all NASA employees, contractors, friends, family and surrounding community members! For days, times, divisions and prices, please visit:
http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/
 
Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/
 
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7.            Summer Wellness Classes Are Back Starting in June!
Health-related classes start in June during lunch time. Join us for a mental wellness workout in a conference room near you!
 
Learn about links between physical fitness to the majority of modern-day diseases and the role of exercise and nutrition to maintain health and longevity with:
 
Basic Principles of Health Related Fitness and The Exercise and Eating Plan for Health Related Fitness
 
We can help you take the stress out of your evening meal planning and get on the right nutrition path with: Meal Planning for Busy Families and Top 10 Nutrition Mistakes
 
Come explore the facts about optimism and the physical and mental health benefits of fun stress relievers with:
Optimism. Don't W, Be Happy… and Fun Stress Relievers
 
Get your financial game on with goals, budgets, debt reduction, investment strategies and a whole lot more! A series of personal Financial Wellness classes are included.
 
Details are at the link below.
 
Jessica Vos x41383 http://www.explorationwellness.com/rd/AE104.aspx?June_Signup.pdf
 
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________________________________________
JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.
 
 
 
NASA TV:
·         UNDERWAY – Dragon rendezvous/fly-by operations
·         ~9 am Central (10 EDT) – Dragon Mission Status Briefing
·         1 am Central FRIDAY (2 EDT) –Dragon ISS Grapple and Berthing coverage
·         ~7:07 am Central FRIDAY (8:07 EDT) – Station arm grapples Dragon
·         ~10:05 am Central FRIDAY (11:05 EDT) – Dragon berthed to Harmony nadir port
·         Noon Central FRIDAY (1 pm EDT) – Mission Status Briefing
 
Human Spaceflight News
Thursday, May 24, 2012
 
HEADLINES AND LEADS
 
SpaceX capsule closes in on station for flyby tests
 
William Harwood - CBS News
 
After a picture-perfect launch Tuesday, a commercial cargo ship closed in on the International Space Station early Thursday, approaching from behind and below for a planned flyby to make sure the capsule's navigation, flight control and communications systems are operating properly. If the tests go well, NASA flight controllers in Houston will clear their counterparts at SpaceX's Hawthorne, Calif., control center to maneuver the cargo ship to within just 30 feet of the station early Friday. At that point, flight engineer Donald Pettit, operating the lab's robot arm, plans to lock on and pull the Dragon capsule in for berthing.
 
Dragon set to approach space station
 
Scott Powers - Orlando Sentinel
 
The world's first private spacecraft is now approaching the International Space Station. At 4:43 a.m. Dragon, built and operated by SpaceX, fired its engines for the second time this morning, starting its final approach. Over the next hour or so the spacecraft will pass by the station. Though the capsule will get no closer than 1.5 miles from the station, that visit will make history, giving NASA and the Hawthorne, Calif., based rocket company the chance to see if a private spacecraft can be maneuvered around the station.
 
So far, so good for Dragon's test run
Unmanned craft poised to fly under space station
 
James Dean - Florida Today
 
The International Space Station’s six-person crew expected to get a first look at SpaceX’s Dragon capsule early this morning as it was expected to fly close below the outpost, performing tests that could set up an historic attempt to berth there Friday. So far, the unmanned cargo craft was performing well in orbit, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported Wednesday. “All systems green,” he said on Twitter.
 
SpaceX's Commercial Spaceship Chasing Space Station in Orbit
 
Clara Moskowitz - Space.com
 
The first commercial spacecraft ever launched toward the International Space Station is playing a game of catch-up Wednesday as it heads toward an unprecedented rendezvous with the orbiting lab. Dragon, built by commercial rocket firm Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida early Tuesday. The unmanned capsule will become the first non-governmental vehicle to meet up with the space station and attach to it at 240 miles (390 km) above Earth. The spacecraft is packed with about 1,200 pounds ( 544 kilograms) of supplies for the space station, including food, clothing and student scientific experiments.
 
Pioneering U.S. commercial spaceflight quiets critics
 
Irene Klotz - Reuters
 
A pioneering commercial spaceship closed in on the International Space Station on Wednesday, a key test in a controversial program to reduce the U.S. government's role in human space flight. Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, launched its Dragon cargo capsule into orbit on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for a test run to the $100 billion orbital outpost. Dragon is expected to make its first pass by the space station on Thursday. Starting from a point 6.2 miles (10 km) below and behind the outpost, Dragon will use GPS satellite navigation data and data from the space station itself to precisely maneuver to a point 1.6 miles (2.5 km) away.
 
SpaceX rocket launch hailed as 'a new era in space exploration'
 
Los Angeles Times
 
In a pivotal moment for private spaceflight, a towering white rocket lifted into space a cone-shaped capsule headed for a three-day trip carrying cargo to the International Space Station and a tricky rendezvous in outer space this week. The launch Tuesday marked the first time a private company has sent a spacecraft to the space station. On a column of fire, a Falcon 9 rocket — built by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX — carried the unmanned Dragon capsule into space after a 3:44 a.m. EDT launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. But the launch is just the beginning of the mission, and some of the most challenging tasks lie ahead.
 
SpaceX launch: private industry inspires new generation of rocketeers
 
Pete Spotts - Christian Science Monitor
 
If SpaceX's destination — the International Space Station in “ho hum” low-Earth orbit – is certain to be uninspiring to a new generation of would-be rocketeers, someone forgot to tell many of those rocketeers-in-training. The prospect of working for private companies launching cargo to the space station and, eventually, humans into space has emerged as an alluring option for a new generation of aerospace-engineering students, some educators say. The evidence is anecdotal; no formal surveys have appeared to validate the trends these educators say they see.
 
Commercial space race gets crowded behind SpaceX
 
Seth Borenstein - Associated Press
 
A privately built space capsule that’s zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race. The capsule called Dragon was due to arrive near the space station for tests early Thursday and dock on Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk — was hired by NASA to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost. And the space agency is hiring others, too.
 
SpaceX launch, a strong start for commercial spaceflight
 
Jeff Ward-Bailey - Christian Science Monitor
 
Ever since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet last year, the United States has had no way to send astronauts into space by itself. But the successful launch on May 22 of the Falcon 9 rocket and unmanned Dragon spacecraft, built by the California-based SpaceX company, puts the country one step closer to regaining that ability. The Dragon is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station later this week to deliver more than 1000 pounds of food, clothing, and scientific equipment, the first time a commercial company has docked a craft with the station. It's also the first time an American craft has been launched toward the International Space Station since the inauguration of the space shuttle fleet in 1981.
 
SpaceX to deliver green-propulsion testbed to ISS
 
Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week
 
SpaceX will get an early opportunity to show what it can do to help scientists and engineers use the International Space Station by flying a powerful thruster testbed up in the unpressurized section of its Dragon cargo capsule. That capability to fly large unpressurized cargo, and to bring samples back from space to a splashdown recovery off the California coast, will ease a couple of transportation bottlenecks as NASA shifts gears from building the space station to using it.
 
Big Day for a Space Entrepreneur Promising More
 
Kenneth Chang - New York Times
 
He does not have the name recognition of some other space entrepreneurs, people like Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin empire, or Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, or Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com billionaire. That will probably change if things keep going his way. Elon Musk, a computer prodigy and serial entrepreneur whose ambitions include solving the world’s energy needs and colonizing the solar system, was the man of the hour — or of 3:44 a.m. Tuesday, Eastern time — when the rocket ship built by his company, SpaceX, lifted off gracefully in a nighttime launching and arced off in a streak of light amid loud applause.
 
NASA chief visits Wallops site
 
Melissa Watterson - Tasley Eastern Shore News
 
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. stopped by the Wallops Island Flight Facility Wednesday evening for his first tour of the completed cargo module for the Cygnus spacecraft. The cargo module, currently housed in the Payload Processing Facility at Wallops, will carry two tons of crew supplies to the International Space Station. "I had never been up that close and had a chance to look inside an empty module so that's always pretty good," said Bolden, who oversees every spacecraft mission for NASA. Bolden's tour was led by Frank L. Culbertson Jr., the senior vice president and deputy general manager of advanced programs for Orbital Sciences Corp., a private industry that specializes in manufacturing small to medium-class space and rocket systems.
 
NASA taps Memphis firm to build space station models
 
Wayne Risher - Memphis Commercial Appeal
 
The 1/50th-scale model of the International Space Station looks other-worldly, like an over-the-top Tinkertoy creation. All that's missing is a tiny reproduction of the SpaceX capsule Dragon, which is expected to rendezvous Friday with the space station 230-plus miles above the Earth. The NASA-funded model is nearing completion in a Downtown Memphis workshop, capping more than two months of work by Scale Models Unlimited. The company won a contract to build two space station models in competitive bidding overseen by project management company DB Consulting Group.
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COMPLETE STORIES
 
SpaceX capsule closes in on station for flyby tests
 
William Harwood - CBS News
 
After a picture-perfect launch Tuesday, a commercial cargo ship closed in on the International Space Station early Thursday, approaching from behind and below for a planned flyby to make sure the capsule's navigation, flight control and communications systems are operating properly.
 
If the tests go well, NASA flight controllers in Houston will clear their counterparts at SpaceX's Hawthorne, Calif., control center to maneuver the cargo ship to within just 30 feet of the station early Friday. At that point, flight engineer Donald Pettit, operating the lab's robot arm, plans to lock on and pull the Dragon capsule in for berthing.
 
"This is a test flight," said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell. "What's important from a SpaceX perspective on a test flight is to make sure we learn something. Hopefully we learn a lot, and hopefully we make a lot of progress. But really what we're here to do is demonstrate this spacecraft, wring it out to the maximum extent possible and then obviously the ultimate goal is the berth."
 
Today's close approach, or "fly under," was designed to begin at a point 6.2 miles below and well behind the space station. Incorporating data from navigation satellites and the space station to precisely compute its position in space, Dragon's flight computers were expected to maneuver the spacecraft to a point just 1.6 miles below the complex.
 
"The way the two vehicles navigate together is relative, where you get pieces of information from both vehicles and you do the calculation and then they know exactly where they are in space relative to each other," NASA Flight Director Holly Ridings said before launch "And so we're gathering information to make sure that navigation system works."
 
The fly under "is very important to us because it's the first time the Dragon and the space station will communicate with each other, an absolute requirement for proximity operations," she said. "It's the first time the crew on board the ISS will send commands to Dragon and get a response.
 
"This is just a test command ... but it's leading towards the crew potentially being able to send more invasive commands, such as hold or retreat or even an abort later, and command the Dragon when it's at the capture point."
 
The Dragon spacecraft was expected to pass directly below the space station around 6:30 a.m. EDT (GMT-4). After the close-approach fly-under tests are complete, the flight plan called for the Dragon to drop back down to a point 6.2 miles below the station. From there, the capsule will pull out in front of the station, loop up and over it and eventually return to a standby position behind and below the laboratory.
 
If all of that goes well, the Dragon spacecraft will be cleared to move in for berthing Friday, flying a stepwise approach to hold points 1.5 miles and .9 miles directly below the station. After additional tests to make sure the craft can be precisely controlled during final approach, the capsule will be maneuvered to a point just 30 feet below the lab.
 
Pettit then will use the lab's robot arm to latch onto a grapple fixture and move the Dragon to a docking port on the Earth-facing side of the forward Harmony module. Once precisely aligned, motorized bolts will drive home to seal the cargo ship to the docking port.
 
The crew plans to open hatches and float into the capsule Saturday to begin unloading supplies and equipment. For the test flight, only about 1,100 pounds of low-priority cargo were on board.
 
SpaceX hopes to begin regularly scheduled cargo deliveries later this year under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for at least 12 cargo missions. A second company, Orbital Sciences, holds a $1.9 billion contract for eight missions to deliver the same amount of cargo, about 44,000 pounds.
 
NASA's goal is to replace the cargo delivery capability that was lost with the space shuttle's retirement. To save money, the agency implemented a more commercial approach to contracting, giving the companies more say in engineering decisions and flight control. As a result, this week's mission is being billed as the first commercial space flight to the station.
 
NASA and SpaceX initially planned three test flights under a separate contract valued at up to $396 million, but the company successfully lobbied to combine the objectives of flights two and three into a single mission.
 
The test objectives for today's close approach -- navigation, abort and commanding tests -- will meet most of the goals originally laid out for the second test flight. The planned Friday berthing, along with close-in tests during final approach to the station, should accomplish the original goals of the third mission.
 
So far, the flight has proceeded without a hitch. After a spectacular pre-dawn climb to space, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket released the Dragon capsule into an orbit with an average altitude of 201 miles, about 1.6 miles lower than expected. That was easily adjusted in a subsequent rendezvous rocket firing.
 
The capsule's solar panels, being tested in space for the first time, deployed normally to provide power and recharge the capsule's batteries and a protective cover over critical navigation sensors was opened as planned.
 
The Dragon started the chase trailing the International Space Station by about 3,700 miles. After four rendezvous burns, the spacecraft was 2,200 miles behind the lab and about 19 miles below.
 
While the rendezvous sequence proceeded, flight controllers carried out a series of abort demonstration tests and another to collect so-called "free drift" data when the thrusters were disabled as they will be at the end of the rendezvous.
 
There were no technical problems of any significance, engineers said. One thruster briefly "failed off," but it later was deemed a momentary glitch and restored to normal operation. Another issue with an inertial measurement unit was cleared up with a navigation update.
 
Dragon set to approach space station
 
Scott Powers - Orlando Sentinel
 
The world's first private spacecraft is now approaching the International Space Station.
 
At 4:43 a.m. Dragon, built and operated by SpaceX, fired its engines for the second time this morning, starting its final approach. Over the next hour or so the spacecraft will pass by the station.
 
Though the capsule will get no closer than 1.5 miles from the station, that visit will make history, giving NASA and the Hawthorne, Calif., based rocket company the chance to see if a private spacecraft can be maneuvered around the station.
 
This first engine burn sends the Dragon upward to a position about 30 miles behind the space station and about 1.5 miles lower. Now SpaceX has fired the engines again, sending it on a parallel trajectory to catch the station, directly beneath it.
 
That will give astronauts aboard the station and controllers at NASA's Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston the chance to use remote control to turn on a light on Dragon and send other commands. Those activities will occur later this morning.
 
If this morning's tests work, then tomorrow Dragon will re-approach the station and actually berth with it. The capsule will fly within 30 feet. Space station astronauts will operate a grappling arm to grab it and bring it up to the station's docking hatch, and lock it in place. Then Saturday morning, the astronauts will open the hatches and retrieve about a half ton of supplies on board the spaceship.
 
That will begin the new era for NASA, in which private companies like SpaceX bring goods – and one day astronauts – to the station and other lower-Earth orbit missions.
 
The first privately operated spacecraft to head for the International Space Station should be dancing with the flying laboratory by early this morning as both fly around Earth at 17,000 mph.
 
The Dragon space capsule was launched by SpaceX from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station early Tuesday morning.
 
SpaceX and NASA hope to open a new era of space transportation, in which private companies take over cargo — and, ultimately, crew — deliveries previously handled by the now-retired NASA space shuttle and by government-run spacecraft from Russia, Japan and Europe.
 
Thursday's dance will test how well Dragon can be maneuvered by remote control, first by controllers at NASA Mission Control in Houston's Johnson Space Center and then by astronauts aboard the space station.
 
The outcome is critical to getting NASA's OK to actually dock with the space station. If Dragon passes all its tests Thursday, docking — the capsule will come within 30 feet of the station so the shuttle's remote arm can grab it and guide it into place — is scheduled for early Friday morning.
 
"There's still a thousand things that need to go right," said NASA's commercial crew and cargo manager Alan Lindenmoyer.
 
If things go wrong, it could be disastrous. Though there is no gravity in low Earth orbit, Dragon has a mass of 7,300 pounds. Any collision, slow-motion or otherwise, would be like the delicate, $100 billion station getting broadsided by a Ford F-250 pickup.
 
Dragon is packed with a half-ton of clothing, food and other supplies, which will be offloaded Saturday if all goes well. The capsule, which will then be loaded with trash from the station, is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific next Thursday.
 
If completely successful, SpaceX could immediately go from being a test company to being a commercial-resupply contractor, said NASA Deputy Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration Operations. NASA has a $1.5 billion, five-year contract with SpaceX to provide 12 cargo flights during the next several years.
 
Ultimately, SpaceX hopes to deliver astronauts — Dragon is designed to carry up to seven — to the station as well.
 
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk compares this flight to the time in the 1990s when commercial interests took over development of the Internet, dramatically accelerating innovation and making it accessible to mass markets.
 
"I hope and I believe this mission will be historic in marking that turning point toward a rapid advancement in space-transportation technology," said Musk, a South African-born entrepreneur who became a billionaire as a co-founder of the Internet service PayPal. He started SpaceX in 2002 and also founded a car company that makes the battery-powered Tesla.
 
The mission is also a critical test of the Obama administration's decision to rely on commercial spacecraft to supply the space station. NASA, now reliant on Russian-built rockets and government-built spacecraft, hopes to ship future cargo via SpaceX and a competitor developing its own rockets, Orbital Sciences.
 
It's also an election year, and the administration is touting its commercial space policies as a job generator for the Space Coast, which lost about 10,000 jobs when the shuttle retired.
 
"Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration, a future in space that will create good-paying jobs here on the Florida coast as well as throughout the United States of America," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, who came to Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday for the launch of Dragon.
 
"It's a great day for America. It's actually a great day for the world. There are people who felt that we had gone away. No. We had not gone away at all," he added.
 
So far, so good for Dragon's test run
Unmanned craft poised to fly under space station
 
James Dean - Florida Today
 
The International Space Station’s six-person crew expected to get a first look at SpaceX’s Dragon capsule early this morning as it was expected to fly close below the outpost, performing tests that could set up an historic attempt to berth there Friday.
 
So far, the unmanned cargo craft was performing well in orbit, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reported Wednesday.
 
“All systems green,” he said on Twitter.
 
If all went according to plan, Dragon was to approach within 1.5 miles of the station before 4 a.m. Eastern time, Musk said.
 
The “fly-under” is the first time the Dragon and station will communicate directly with each other.
Station crew members planned to send their first radio command to the spacecraft, asking it to turn on a strobe light.
 
The simple test is “leading towards the crew potentially needing to send more invasive commands such as a hold or retreat or even an abort later,” said Holly Ridings, NASA’s lead station flight director during the operation.
 
The automated Dragon also must prove its ability to track its location precisely relative to the station and its rate of approach, using Global Positioning System sensors.
 
“As you get closer to the space station, you have to be able to navigate more accurately,” Ridings said before the mission began.
 
With the fly-under complete, the Dragon planned to loop out in front, above and back around the station to get in position for Friday’s ultimate rendezvous.
 
On Wednesday, station flight engineers Don Pettit, Joe Acaba and Andre Kuipers spent more than three hours practicing how they would grapple the Dragon with the station’s robotic arm and pull it into a docking port.
 
Three Russian cosmonauts are also part of the Expedition 31 crew.
 
“All of them have an eye on the important activity coming up Thursday morning,” said NASA TV commentator Pat Ryan.
 
Meanwhile, the Dragon, which launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, fired its thrusters to close the gap to the station, which is flying 250 miles above Earth.
 
On the way, the spacecraft completed several demonstration objectives, showing it could stop and float freely as it should when grappled, and that it could perform different abort scenarios.
 
Today’s fly-under was once planned as the primary goal of the demonstration flight, which is the second under a NASA program developing two new commercial systems to deliver cargo to the station. NASA later agreed to let SpaceX attempt the berthing as well.
 
Successfully completing that feat and a safe return home, targeted for next Thursday, would allow SpaceX to begin the first of 12 cargo shipments under a $1.6 million contract.
 
Working in the station’s windowed cupola, Pettit and Kuipers plan to grab the Dragon with the robotic arm just after 8 a.m. Friday, and attach it to the Harmony node around 11 a.m. The crew would open the hatch and enter the Dragon around 5:30 a.m. Saturday to begin unloading 1,100 pounds of cargo.
 
SpaceX's Commercial Spaceship Chasing Space Station in Orbit
 
Clara Moskowitz - Space.com
 
The first commercial spacecraft ever launched toward the International Space Station is playing a game of catch-up Wednesday as it heads toward an unprecedented rendezvous with the orbiting lab.
 
Dragon, built by commercial rocket firm Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida early Tuesday. The unmanned capsule will become the first non-governmental vehicle to meet up with the space station and attach to it at 240 miles (390 km) above Earth.
 
The spacecraft is packed with about 1,200 pounds ( 544 kilograms) of supplies for the space station, including food, clothing and student scientific experiments.
 
The launch went off flawlessly, after an earlier attempt on May 19 was called off less than a second before liftoff because of a rocket engine glitch.
 
"We obviously still have to go through a number of steps but everything is looking really good and I would really count today as a success no matter what happens with the rest of the mission," SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk said after the launch.
 
On Thursday, the Dragon spacecraft will approach the station, flying 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) away from it in a maneuver designed to test its navigation and control systems. If all goes smoothly, the capsule will repeat the fly-by Friday (May 25) and eventually move close enough for astronauts Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers, inside the lab, to grab onto Dragon with the space station's robotic arm.
 
Pettit will use the arm to position Dragon on the end of the outpost's Harmony node, where it will be berthed for about a week. The hatches between the station and the space capsule are due to be opened on Saturday.
 
The mission is a test flight for SpaceX, which has a contract with NASA to fly 12 cargo delivery runs to the space station over the next few years. If Dragon can prove it can safely rendezvous and berth with the station during this flight, those delivery missions could begin in the fall.
 
NASA has been working to hand off transportation duties to low-Earth orbit to the commercial space sector so the agency can build a new vehicle to take people to asteroids, the moon and Mars.
 
"This frees us up to really focus on below low-Earth orbit," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration Operations Directorate. "We're looking for those bigger targets to push beyond. This lets NASA focus on those harder destinations."
 
Pioneering U.S. commercial spaceflight quiets critics
 
Irene Klotz - Reuters
 
A pioneering commercial spaceship closed in on the International Space Station on Wednesday, a key test in a controversial program to reduce the U.S. government's role in human space flight.
 
Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, launched its Dragon cargo capsule into orbit on Tuesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for a test run to the $100 billion orbital outpost.
 
Dragon is expected to make its first pass by the space station on Thursday. Starting from a point 6.2 miles (10 km) below and behind the outpost, Dragon will use GPS satellite navigation data and data from the space station itself to precisely maneuver to a point 1.6 miles (2.5 km) away.
 
After a flurry of tests, including the first attempt by astronauts aboard the station to directly command the capsule, it will drop back into position for a possible docking on Friday.
 
If all goes as planned, station flight engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers will use the station's robotic arm to pluck Dragon from orbit and attach it to a berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node.
 
Dragon is carrying about 1,200 pounds (544 kg) of food, water, clothing and supplies for the station crew.
 
The capsule will be repacked with equipment to bring back to Earth and is scheduled to leave the station on May 31. It should splash down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California about 4.5 hours later.
 
Since the space shuttles were retired last year, the United States has been dependent on partner countries to reach the station, which flies 240 miles (about 390 km) above Earth.
 
If successful, this week's demonstration flight will give NASA back its space wings, albeit by proxy. Rather than building and flying its own ships to the station, the United States is hiring private companies to do the work.
 
Cargo missions are the first step.
 
SpaceX, owned and operated by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, and a second firm, Orbital Sciences Corp, already hold contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion for station cargo flights through about 2015.
 
A more controversial step is the Obama administration's so-called Commercial Crew efforts to develop space taxis to carry astronauts to and from the station. The initiative, which has been criticized by such luminaries as Apollo 11 moonwalker Neil Armstrong, may be helped by SpaceX's high-profile flight.
 
Dispelling some doubts
 
"“I hope that the success of this mission - thus far at least, and hopeful it's entirely successful - will dispel some of the doubts that people have," Musk told reporters after launch.
 
“"In some cases, people have had legitimate concerns because there's no precedent for what we're doing here," he added.
 
Tuesday's launch drew a flurry of statements from members of Congress, some of whom voted to cut Obama's $830 million budget request for space taxi development for the year beginning Oct. 1 to about $500 million.
 
“"I am happy to see this very challenging mission begin," said Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a Texas Republican who prefers that NASA spend more on a government initiative to build a heavy-lift rocket and deep-space capsule for missions beyond the space station's orbit.
 
“"There are many crucial milestones to be reached and capabilities to be demonstrated during this flight, all of which we hope leads to a demonstrated ability to provide cargo service to the International Space Station," Bailey Hutchinson said in a statement.
 
She made no mention of the follow-on program for commercial space taxis.
 
Others were quick to link the success of NASA's alternative partnerships, which led to the Dragon's space station debut, to the Commercial Crew program.
 
"“Endeavors like this will make it possible for the private industry to venture into outer space and capitalize on the associated economic growth," said U.S. Representative Chaka Fattah, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on a NASA appropriations subcommittee.
 
"The SpaceX mission is “not just a single venture into space but a change in the trajectory of how we think of space exploration," Fattah said in a statement.
 
“"This program brings NASA one more step in the right direction," said U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican.
 
“"We must change orbital spaceflight from being dependent on and controlled by government employees, toward more entrepreneurial, cost-effective, commercial-based alternatives."
 
NASA is in the process of reviewing proposals from at least four firms, including SpaceX, for space taxi development funds. Selection of at least two and possibly more space taxi designs are expected in August.
 
SpaceX rocket launch hailed as 'a new era in space exploration'
 
Los Angeles Times
 
In a pivotal moment for private spaceflight, a towering white rocket lifted into space a cone-shaped capsule headed for a three-day trip carrying cargo to the International Space Station and a tricky rendezvous in outer space this week.
 
The launch Tuesday marked the first time a private company has sent a spacecraft to the space station. On a column of fire, a Falcon 9 rocket — built by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX — carried the unmanned Dragon capsule into space after a 3:44 a.m. EDT launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
 
But the launch is just the beginning of the mission, and some of the most challenging tasks lie ahead.
 
The Dragon capsule is on its way to rendezvous with the space station as it circles the Earth at about 17,000 mph. Once the Dragon catches up to the station, the next big step will take place Thursday, when Dragon's sensors and flight systems will be given a series of complicated tests to determine whether the vehicle is ready to berth with the space station.
 
These tests include delicate maneuvers to guide the vehicle to within 1.5 miles of the station. If all goes well, the crew aboard the station will try to grab the spacecraft Friday with a robotic arm and pull it in.
 
"We obviously have to go through a number of steps to berth with the space station, but everything is looking really good, and I think I would count today as a success no matter what happens with the rest of the mission," Elon Musk, SpaceX's 40-year-old billionaire founder and chief executive, said at a predawn news conference after the launch.
 
Musk spoke at company headquarters in Hawthorne. It was there that SpaceX employees had gathered, watched and cheered as the Falcon 9 climbed toward the heavens. The Dragon's roughly two-week mission will be completed when it splashes down in the Pacific hundreds of miles off Southern California. The craft will deploy parachutes to slow its descent after entering Earth's atmosphere.
 
"Everything that SpaceX is doing in orbit from now on is new for a private company and really pushing the envelope," said Alexander Saltman, executive director of the private space trade group Commercial Spaceflight Federation. "Because the mission is so difficult, it's quite possible that they won't accomplish all their goals. But even if they don't get everything this time, they'll be sure to try again next time around."
 
SpaceX's mission is considered the first test of NASA's plan to outsource space missions to private companies now that its fleet of space shuttles is retired. SpaceX aims to prove to NASA that its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule are ready to take on the task of hauling cargo — and eventually astronauts — for the space agency.
 
"Today marks the beginning of a new era in exploration," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in a speech Tuesday at Cape Canaveral. "And while there is a lot of work ahead to successfully complete this mission, we are certainly off to good start."
 
After years of testing, the space agency is hoping to turn the job of carrying cargo and crews over to private industry at a lower cost. Meanwhile, the agency will focus on deep-space missions to land probes on asteroids and Mars.
 
The agency has poured nearly $400 million in seed money into SpaceX in hopes that the company can one day complete routine missions to the space station. NASA now is paying $63 million to the Russians each time it wants to send an astronaut to the station.
 
Critics, including some former astronauts, have voiced concerns about NASA's move toward private space missions. They said that private space companies are risky ventures with unproven technology.
 
SpaceX is one of the leading contenders to carry astronauts for NASA one day. Company officials say cargo missions will yield valuable flight experience toward accomplishing this goal by 2015.
 
Still, the company has experienced repeated delays over the years. For instance, SpaceX planned to launch the current mission Saturday. The countdown was flawless until the last second, when the rocket engines briefly fired up and then went dark.
 
SpaceX said a flight computer detected an anomaly in one of the rocket's nine engines and automatically shut down the launch sequence. Later that day, company engineers traced the problem to a faulty valve, and technicians fixed it within hours.
 
That made Tuesday's launch all the more exciting for Musk, who said that when he saw the Falcon 9 finally lift off, "every bit of adrenaline in my body released at that point."
 
Founded in 2002, SpaceX makes the Dragon and Falcon 9 at a sprawling facility in Hawthorne that once was used to assemble fuselage sections for Boeing 747s. The hardware is put on a big rig and trucked to Cape Canaveral for launches.
 
The company, with about 1,800 employees, has a $1.6-billion contract to haul cargo in 12 flights to the space station for NASA. If the current mission is successful, SpaceX will begin fulfilling the contract this year.
 
Congratulations flowed in to SpaceX from Twitter users all over the world, including members of Congress, executives at Virgin America and even the Republican Party of Florida.
 
"We're at the dawn of a new era in space exploration," Musk said. "There are no precedents for what we're doing here."
 
SpaceX launch: private industry inspires new generation of rocketeers
 
Pete Spotts - Christian Science Monitor
 
If SpaceX's destination — the International Space Station in “ho hum” low-Earth orbit – is certain to be uninspiring to a new generation of would-be rocketeers, someone forgot to tell many of those rocketeers-in-training.
 
The prospect of working for private companies launching cargo to the space station and, eventually, humans into space has emerged as an alluring option for a new generation of aerospace-engineering students, some educators say.
 
The evidence is anecdotal; no formal surveys have appeared to validate the trends these educators say they see.
 
And while graduates with advanced degrees are peppering long-established giants such as Boeing or Lockheed Martin, as well as NASA, with resumes, so-called New Space firms that have emerged during the past 10 to 20 years — SpaceX, among them — hold a special attraction.
 
“It used to be that the hottest job you could get was at NASA,” says Thomas Zurbuchen, a professor of space science and aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and associate dean for entrepreneurship. “Ten years ago, if someone got a [Joint Propulsion Laboratory] job, they never rejected it,” even if the student had received a more-lucrative offer from one of the aerospace giants.
 
Now, he says, when students with newly minted graduate degrees consider offers from NASA and private industry, “New Space wins hands down,” even though the salaries tend to be lower that those the big corporations or NASA pay.
 
Elsewhere, students graduating with advanced aerospace engineering degrees may spread themselves a bit more evenly. In an economy still struggling to rise from the so-called Great Recession, getting a foothold in one's chosen field, even if the employer is not a first choice, beats the alternative.
 
Still, NASA's new direction — contracting with commercial launch providers to carry cargo and people to destinations in low-Earth orbit while focusing on human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit — is putting extra spring in students' steps.
 
“What we're looking at here is not Apollo 2.0, it's a whole new future in spaceflight,” says Robert Braun, professor of space technology at Georgia Tech and former chief technologist at NASA. “And that is something that I can tell you reverberates with a lot of energy and excitement on college campuses across the country.”
 
Part of the interest may lie in the novelty the new companies represent, some specialists say. But a big part of it surely lies in the big ideas these companies are pursuing.
 
Even before its Dragon capsule launched on a Falcon 9 rocket to the space station, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) announced a joint marketing deal with Bigelow Aerospace in which SpaceX would launch people and payloads to Bigelow's inflatable habitats on orbit, a type of space module originally developed at NASA. Bigelow has two small-scale prototypes circling Earth now. The market the two companies see is international — providing access to space for countries outside the usual cast of spacefaring nations.
 
Meanwhile, in December, entrepreneur Paul Allen announced the formation of a new company, Stratolaunch Systems. It teams Allen with SpaceX, Scaled Composites, founded by aircraft designer Burt Rutan, and another company, Dynetics, to build an air-launched rocket system. A multistage rocket would be released at high altitude from an enormous jet with six engines used on Boeing 747s. The rocket would carry cargo and people to orbit.
 
These big ideas highlight a point that emerges from conversations with educators and one-time students now hard at work designing and building hardware. Although the Apollo program that carried men to the moon in the late 1960s and 1970s continues to serve as a kind of eternal torch of inspiration for some, the generation at hand appears to draw much of its inspiration from the space program at hand.
 
Pick a point in time, and they find something that inspires them.
 
For his part, Dr. Braun was four years old when Neil Armstrong stepped out of the lunar excursion module and into history as the first human to set foot on the moon. Braun says he has no recollection of the event, although his parents told him he sat in front of the TV watching it with them at the time. His passion for space blossomed with the Viking missions to Mars in the mid-1970s, he says.
 
For Zachary Krevor, it was a high-school visit to NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. “I had a really great experience there,” he recalls. Much of what he saw involved work the center had done to support the space shuttle program. That kindled an interest in spacecraft design that shaped his college career.
 
In 2007, Dr. Krevor took his newly minted PhD to Lockheed Martin, where he worked on the Orion program — the multi-purpose crew capsule NASA envisioned as part of President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration. “The prospect of being close to the hardware really excited me about that opportunity,” he recalls.
 
Three years later, he moved to Sierra Nevada Corporation, a privately held aerospace firm developing its “Dream Chaser” craft, one of the four development projects NASA is funding under its commercial-crew development program. The craft looks like a mini space shuttle, minus the aircraft-like tail.
 
The Orion program was on the rocks. NASA was supporting the development of private-sector alternatives for carrying crews to and from the space station. And the opening at Sierra Nevada “was a step up in terms of responsibilities,” he says. “It was a pretty exciting opportunity, one I decided I couldn't pass up.”
 
The excitement factor is a strong one with his top students, says Dr. Zurbuchen. The students tend to have a entrepreneurial spirit, he says, and gravitate toward the opportunities that may be risky in terms of job security, but give them the feeling that, “hey, we're going to kick in some doors and have an impact,” he says. “The feeling now is that the place to do that is in these small private companies.”
 
“It's not easy to work for some of these,” he says. “In fact, they're a little bit crazy.”
 
But the students that sign on with these companies “get a lot of satisfaction; they think they're changing the world,” he says.
 
Beyond the buzz lies a deeper attraction, suggests Jeff Greason, president of XCOR Aerospace. The company is designing a winged vehicle to take people and payloads on 30-minute suborbital flights.
 
When he was graduating from college, he considered a career in the aerospace industry, but he says. “I decided not to because it didn't look like I'd ever get to work on anything that flew. What kind of a career is that?”
 
“Now that there is an emerging competitive landscape, by the nature of competition people are always trying to improve or replace the product, so there are a lot more things being developed that are going to fly,” he says. “That makes the whole field enormously more exciting.”
 
Nor are students waiting until the eve of graduation to make contact, explains Norman Fitz-Coy, an associate professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville and director of its Advanced Space Technologies Research and Engineering Center.
 
“These kids are making their connection along the way with social media,” he says. Because of the popularity of SpaceX and other New Space companies, “the students are reaching out to those companies” well before recruiters come to campus.
 
These companies also represent a motivational force in class, Fitz-Coy adds. He says he might frame an assignment in a spacecraft-design course in terms of “SpaceX wants to launch a constellation of satellites; what are the requirements of the vehicle?” Instead of a generic problem, it's pegged to a specific company, providing a basis for name recognition later on.
 
And while Fitz-Coy says he's having a hard time getting representatives of the New Space companies to visit his classes, “I am getting visitors from the more traditional companies like Boeing,” which may be feeling the competition from the New Space upstarts.
 
What does the level of student interest look like from a New Space company's perspective?
 
“I have stacks of resumes from every school that has a aeronautical-engineering program in the United States,” Mr. Greason says. “People are beating down the door to get into these businesses.”
 
Commercial space race gets crowded behind SpaceX
 
Seth Borenstein - Associated Press
 
A privately built space capsule that’s zipping its way to the International Space Station has also launched something else: A new for-profit space race.
 
The capsule called Dragon was due to arrive near the space station for tests early Thursday and dock on Friday with its load of supplies. Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — run by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk — was hired by NASA to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbital outpost.
 
And the space agency is hiring others, too.
 
Several firms think they can make money in space and are close enough to Musk’s company to practically surf in his spaceship’s rocket-fueled wake. There are now more companies looking to make money in orbit — at least eight — than major U.S. airlines still flying.
 
Private space companies have talked for years about ferrying goods and astronauts for NASA, but this is the first time one is actually in orbit and about to make a delivery for the space agency.
 
“Dragon is not the only entrant in commercial cargo,” said Jeff Greason, president of XCOR Aerospace, which specializes in the also busy suborbital marketplace. “They have competitors nipping at their heels.”
 
Still, Dragon’s launch is “the spark that will ignite a flourishing commercial spaceflight marketplace,” said Michael Lopez-Alegria, the president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and a former astronaut.
 
Hiring Musk’s SpaceX and other private companies is a key part of NASA’s plan to shift focus. Instead of routine flights to the space station with the now retired space shuttles, NASA is aiming further out to places like asteroids and Mars. After this test flight, SpaceX has a contract with NASA for a dozen delivery runs.
 
The idea is to “let private industry do what it does best and let NASA tackle the challenging task of pushing the boundary further,” NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said last week.
 
NASA has given seed money and contracts to several companies to push them on their way. But eventually, space missions could launch, dock to a private space station or hotel and return to Earth and not have anything to do with NASA or any other country’s space agency.
 
Earlier this month, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX signed an agreement with Bigelow Aerospace of Nevada which is designing inflatable space stations for research and maybe even tourists. SpaceX and other companies will provide the transportation — like airlines — and Bigelow the place to stay. There are already eight different licensed spaceports in the U.S. where companies can launch from and most of them have no connection to NASA.
 
Another space launch-and-tourism company, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is working separately from NASA and the space station.
 
If NASA isn’t involved, there is one federal agency that is. The Federal Aviation Administration has a commercial space office that licenses private space missions and works with NASA to set safety standards.
 
An update on some of the closest competitors to SpaceX:
 
— Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is in the cargo-only business, but it is closest to launch. It has a NASA contract for $1.9 billion for eight cargo flights to the space station once its rockets succeed. The early versions of its Antares rocket and Cygnus spaceship are already built, but the company is waiting for its launch pad to be finished at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. A stay-on-the-ground test is aimed for late July, a launch test in the fall and trial run to the space station around November, said spokesman Barron Beneski.
 
— Alliant Techsystems, headquartered in Arlington, Va., isn’t funded by NASA’s commercial space program, but has developed the Liberty rocket and passenger spacecraft system. Most of the rocketry and capsule systems have been tested. A key structural test of the rocket’s second stage is scheduled for early July, with the first unmanned test flight in 2014. Tests with a private crew aboard would be in 2015 and it would be ready to ferry NASA material and astronauts in 2016, according to Kent Rominger, a former astronaut and Liberty’s program manager.
 
— Boeing Co. of Chicago has nearly $113 million in NASA commercial crew funding and just finished its second parachute drop test in the Nevada desert. It has completed 46 of 52 milestones needed before flights, spokeswoman Susan Wells said. A landing airbag test is targeted for the fall. The Boeing space capsule, called a CST-100, will carry astronauts and cargo with three test launches aimed for 2015 and 2016, the last one with a crew on board.
 
— The Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev., with nearly $106 million from NASA, is building a mini-shuttle crew vehicle called Dream Chaser with a first flight targeted for 2016 or possibly 2017. The company this year finished landing gear tests and has a full-scale ship for flight testing attached to a helicopter this fall in California.
 
— The most secretive of the companies, Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., is run by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and has received $22 million from NASA. Its crew and cargo vehicle, called New Shepard, would also take tourists to suborbit. Its shell passed wind tunnel tests and its engines are now being test fired at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.
 
SpaceX launch, a strong start for commercial spaceflight
 
Jeff Ward-Bailey - Christian Science Monitor
 
Ever since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet last year, the United States has had no way to send astronauts into space by itself. But the successful launch on May 22 of the Falcon 9 rocket and unmanned Dragon spacecraft, built by the California-based SpaceX company, puts the country one step closer to regaining that ability.
 
The Dragon is scheduled to dock with the International Space Station later this week to deliver more than 1000 pounds of food, clothing, and scientific equipment, the first time a commercial company has docked a craft with the station. It's also the first time an American craft has been launched toward the International Space Station since the inauguration of the space shuttle fleet in 1981.
 
The Dragon is an important step in NASA's plan to outsource space travel to the private sector. The government hopes that private companies will be able to ferry cargo and astronauts to and from space more efficiently, freeing it to focus on deep-space missions and a potential trip to an asteroid and to Mars. To that end, SpaceX already has $1.6 billion in launch contracts from NASA, and if they can prove that they can safely bring cargo to and from the space station, they will ease concerns about the safety of commercial space travel and strengthen their ties to the space agency.
 
The two-stage Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. before dawn on Tuesday morning, carrying the cone-shaped Dragon capsule into orbit before separating. The Dragon successfully extended its solar arrays, which provide power to the craft. SpaceX hopes to dock the capsule with the International Space Station by May 25 after it's performed a series of tests to show that the Dragon can operate safely near the station. Once the craft catches up with the station, the crew aboard – two Americans, three Russians, and a Dane – will guide it in with a robot arm and transfer the supplies aboard. The Dragon will then return to earth, splash down in the Pacific Ocean and guided back to land on a ship.
 
This was the third successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, but the second try for this particular mission. It was initially scheduled to fly on May 19, but a flight computer shut down the engines just a half-second after ignition when sensors found a faulty valve in one of the rocket's engines. Engineers fixed it over the weekend, making Tuesday's successful launch all the more significant for the company and for NASA.
 
SpaceX to deliver green-propulsion testbed to ISS
 
Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week
 
SpaceX will get an early opportunity to show what it can do to help scientists and engineers use the International Space Station by flying a powerful thruster testbed up in the unpressurized section of its Dragon cargo capsule.
 
That capability to fly large unpressurized cargo, and to bring samples back from space to a splashdown recovery off the California coast, will ease a couple of transportation bottlenecks as NASA shifts gears from building the space station to using it.
 
Last week the agency cleared Innovative Space Propulsion Systems (ISPS), a Houston-based partnership developing green rocket engines that use its patented non-toxic monopropellant, to fly a thruster testbed on the space station. The experimental package, which will ride in the unpressurized section of a Dragon set for launch next year, is exactly the type of work the station was built to accomplish.
 
“We want to do the hard things, if they're of benefit to society,” says Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager. “So a high specific impulse, relatively non-toxic engine that uses green storable propellant has a lot of interest to a lot of folks.”
 
The “NOFBX” engine that ISPS has been developing for the past eight years has attracted “very broad interest from spacecraft and system integrators, as well as propulsion suppliers,” says Max Vozoff, the company's vice president of business development. The work has generated more than 30 patents for the propellant—a proprietary blend of nitrous oxide and other ingredients—and for the engine technology developed to burn it, Vozoff says.
 
In ground tests, the engines have demonstrated they can be started with a spark igniter, are self-pressurizing and will fire if the propellant is in the liquid or gas states, he says. The company has patented four different propellant mixtures, which deliver specific impulses ranging up to 325 sec., comparable to standard hypergolic propellants.
 
But unlike hypergols, the monopropellant is non-toxic, Vozoff says, and can be loaded without protective gear or the need for technicians trained to work with hazardous materials. That saves money, as do a number of engine features—low-cost materials throughout, low operating temperatures inside the regeneratively cooled engine jackets, and etching-based production processes borrowed from the microchip industry.
 
Before joining ISPS, Vozoff spent five years at Space Exploration Technologies Inc.—the formal name for SpaceX. Among his duties was drafting the company's proposal for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) seed-money effort. SpaceX was set to close out its COTS milestones this week, with the first docking of a commercial vehicle at the ISS set for May 25.
 
Aside from Dragon, the only other vehicle that can deliver unpressurized cargo to the ISS is Japan's H-II Transfer Vehicle. Tentatively set for the Dragon's third commercial flight, the 430-lb. NOFBX Green Propellant Demonstration will ride in the unpressurized bay so the station robotic arm can grapple it.
 
The demonstration package will be mounted on a Columbus External Payload Adapter, the European version of NASA's Flight Releasable Attach Mechanism (FRAM) pallet, and installed on the outside of the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory module. The 46 X 34 X 26-in. testbed will include 8 liters of the non-toxic monopropellant, a 100-lb.-thrust engine, and associated valves, tanks and other hardware.
 
During a year-long test period, the engine will go through a series of hot-fire tests, including steady-state burns, pulses, deep throttling, and restart after long-term storage. Because of the risk associated with firing a rocket attached to the station, the clearance process was rigorous.
 
“When a new rocket engine, this NOFBX rocket test, wants to go on station, that's a big deal,” says Suffredini. “It fits on a FRAM interface, but ultimately it wants to fire its rocket at different levels, at different times, and the whole station is affected by that.”
 
Just as NASA took pains to ensure the rocket tests will be safe, the agency's station program office undertook elaborate software checks before certifying that the Dragon will be able to berth at the station safely.
 
The caution exercised in granting clearance to berth does not reflect the level of anticipation among agency scientists awaiting the capability the Dragon can offer. In addition to the external-cargo capability ISPS will use, which can be applied to telescopes and other exposed sensors, the company has procedures to accommodate last-minute stowage in both directions.
 
“SpaceX becomes really key for our biotechnology development on the NASA lab side, as well as [NASA-funded] life sciences and human research,” says Julie Robinson, the agency's ISS chief scientist. “You have to be able to put those samples in right before you launch, not load them too early . . . and you sometimes need to take them off the space station right before you undock and get them home quickly. SpaceX is going to have the best capability for both those launch and return issues.”
 
Big Day for a Space Entrepreneur Promising More
 
Kenneth Chang - New York Times
 
He does not have the name recognition of some other space entrepreneurs, people like Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin empire, or Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, or Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com billionaire.
 
That will probably change if things keep going his way. Elon Musk, a computer prodigy and serial entrepreneur whose ambitions include solving the world’s energy needs and colonizing the solar system, was the man of the hour — or of 3:44 a.m. Tuesday, Eastern time — when the rocket ship built by his company, SpaceX, lifted off gracefully in a nighttime launching and arced off in a streak of light amid loud applause.
 
“Falcon flew perfectly!!” Mr. Musk posted exultantly on Twitter from his iPhone at 4:04 a.m. “Dragon in orbit, comm locked and solar arrays active!! Feels like a giant weight just came off my back :)”
 
If all goes as planned, his unmanned Dragon capsule, lifted into orbit by his Falcon 9 rocket, will berth at the International Space Station on Friday bearing a modest cargo: 162 meal packets (45 of them low-sodium), a laptop computer, a change of clothes for the station astronauts and 15 student experiments.
 
Far more important than the supplies is the proof of concept. Mr. Musk is trying to show the world that a determined entrepreneur can start a rocket company from scratch and, a decade later, end up doing a job that has until now been the exclusive province of federal governments.
 
“Every launch into space is a thrilling event,” John P. Holdren, President Obama’s assistant for science and technology, said in a statement. “But this one is especially exciting because it represents the potential of a new era in American spaceflight.”
 
It is the latest achievement by Mr. Musk, a cocky businessman who was born in South Africa and is one month shy of his 41st birthday. Best known for helping found PayPal and selling it to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, he currently multitasks by running two companies he founded: SpaceX, officially known as the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, and Tesla Motors, which in 2008 brought to market a head-turning all-electric sports car, the Tesla Roadster. He is also chairman of SolarCity, a company that designs and installs solar energy systems.
 
SpaceX is based in Hawthorne, Calif., a few miles from Los Angeles International Airport, and Tesla is in Palo Alto in Northern California, but Mr. Musk runs both hands-on. He shuttles up and down the state, spending a few days a week at each. Early Saturday morning, he was in SpaceX’s mission control for the first launching attempt of the Falcon 9 when the computers called a last-second abort, shutting down engines that had already ignited.
 
Two days later, he was crowing about a victory for Tesla’s new all-electric sedan.
 
“Major Tesla milestone,” he wrote on Twitter on Monday. “All crash testing is complete for 5* (max) safety rating. Cars can now be built for sale to public!”
 
On Tuesday, the Falcon 9 launched, putting Mr. Musk at the center of NASA’s ambitious effort to turn over basic transportation to low-Earth orbit to private companies. On the same day, Tesla put out a news release announcing that customer deliveries of its electric sedan, the Model S, would begin on June 22 — ahead of schedule.
 
The Model S “represents Tesla’s transition to a mass-production automaker and the most compelling car company of the 21st century,” Mr. Musk is quoted as saying, sparing no modesty.
 
(His characteristic confidence was also on view on Sunday night, when he told his 38,000 followers on Twitter that the abort on Saturday was actually overcautious: “Simulations show launch ok with bad valve,” he wrote. “Still, better to stop & fix. Recalling rockets after launch is not an option.”)
 
The Dragon is scheduled to stay at the station until the end of the month as astronauts unpack its cargo and replace it with items to bring back to Earth. Undocking on May 31, the Dragon will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off California. With the completion of a successful demonstration, SpaceX would begin a $1.6 billion contract to fly 12 cargo missions to the space station, and it hopes to be among the companies that NASA selects to take astronauts to the station.
 
“We’re really at the dawn of a new era of space exploration, and one where there’s a much bigger role for commercial companies,” Mr. Musk said at a news conference after the launching Tuesday.
 
The moment was also an inflection point in Mr. Musk’s own career. After leaving South Africa for Canada at 17, he wound up at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned degrees in economics and physics.
 
In 1995, Mr. Musk went on to a graduate program in applied physics and materials science at Stanford. He stayed two days before dropping out to start Zip2, a company that developed Web sites for media companies; he and his brother sold it to Compaq in 1999.
 
Mr. Musk then founded X.com, which provided financial services and payment by e-mail. X.com merged with another company, Confinity, to form PayPal, and Mr. Musk built it into the primary means that eBay bidders use to pay for their purchases.
 
After the sale of PayPal, Mr. Musk looked for new things to do. By the standards of Internet tycoons, he was a pauper: after taxes, he had a fortune of about $170 million.
 
Unlike most Web entrepreneurs, however, he did not start more Internet companies. Instead he chose ventures involving complex technology and plowed almost all of his PayPal fortune into them: $100 million into SpaceX, which he founded in 2002, $50 million into Tesla and $10 million into SolarCity.
 
Just four years ago, SpaceX went through a near-death experience. The first three launchings of the company’s small Falcon 1 rocket failed. One more failure, Mr. Musk said, and he would have run out of money. As he went through a divorce from his first wife, with whom he has five sons, he had to borrow money from friends.
 
The fourth launching succeeded. Late in 2008, NASA awarded SpaceX the cargo contract. The first two Falcon 9 launchings, in 2010, also succeeded.
 
Early Tuesday morning, the success streak continued. As the countdown clock hit zero, the engines remained ignited. Less than 10 minutes later, the Dragon was in orbit. It then aced several other early tasks like the deployment of solar arrays and navigational sensors and the testing of GPS equipment.
 
“Anything could have gone wrong,” Mr. Musk said. “And everything went right, fortunately.”
 
NASA chief visits Wallops site
 
Melissa Watterson - Tasley Eastern Shore News
 
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. stopped by the Wallops Island Flight Facility Wednesday evening for his first tour of the completed cargo module for the Cygnus spacecraft.
 
The cargo module, currently housed in the Payload Processing Facility at Wallops, will carry two tons of crew supplies to the International Space Station.
 
"I had never been up that close and had a chance to look inside an empty module so that's always pretty good," said Bolden, who oversees every spacecraft mission for NASA.
 
Bolden's tour was led by Frank L. Culbertson Jr., the senior vice president and deputy general manager of advanced programs for Orbital Sciences Corp., a private industry that specializes in manufacturing small to medium-class space and rocket systems.
 
In December 2008, Orbital signed a $1.9 billion contract with NASA for eight missions to carry supplies to the International Space Station between 2012 and 2015.
 
Supplies include items such as food, astronaut clothing and electronic components for the International Space Station.
 
The Cygnus spacecraft consists of two components, a cargo module and a service module. The latter will contain control and power devices that will help guide and propel the spacecraft, according to Culbertson.
 
The service module is in its final stage of construction at Orbital's headquarters in Dulles and its expected delivery to Wallops is set for this summer.
 
Bolden said NASA is anticipating Cygnus' much-awaited launch aboard the Antares space launch vehicle.
 
"We had hoped that Orbital would've flown by now, but as all things happen in development, you get some hiccups. The big hiccup here is the launchpad. Everybody's waiting anxiously so that the launchpad can be checked out and certified," he said.
 
Culbertson said Orbital and NASA are doing tests on the launchpad and Antares' fueling system. Once tests are complete, they will conduct a test flight followed by a demonstration flight where Cygnus is carried to the International Space Station.
 
NASA taps Memphis firm to build space station models
 
Wayne Risher - Memphis Commercial Appeal
 
The 1/50th-scale model of the International Space Station looks other-worldly, like an over-the-top Tinkertoy creation.
 
All that's missing is a tiny reproduction of the SpaceX capsule Dragon, which is expected to rendezvous Friday with the space station 230-plus miles above the Earth.
 
The NASA-funded model is nearing completion in a Downtown Memphis workshop, capping more than two months of work by Scale Models Unlimited.
 
The company won a contract to build two space station models in competitive bidding overseen by project management company DB Consulting Group.
 
The project coincidentally came as Space Exploration Technologies Corp. prepared for Wednesday's launch of a rocket boldly carrying the Dragon where no commercial spacecraft had gone before.
 
SpaceX, the first private company hired by NASA to resupply the space station, is hauling 1,200 pounds of supplies to the space station.
 
It also launched into orbit a memorial canister containing ashes of people including actor James Doohan, Scotty of "Star Trek" fame.
 
Scale Models Unlimited, a partnership of model builder Kamran Kiani and Rainbow Studio owner Dan Oppenheimer, expects to deliver two space station models to NASA's Houston headquarters in two to three weeks.
 
For a company that has miniaturized the ostentatious, an Atlantis resort in Dubai, as well as the practical, the Hoover Dam U.S. 93 Bypass Bridge in Arizona, the NASA job apparently falls somewhere in the middle.
 
"The things that we do, some of them are important and functional, and some of them are cosmetic," said the Iranian-born Kiani, who teamed up with Oppenheimer to buy the company in the late 1990s.
 
Kiani leads a team that includes model builder Jeff Dutton, computer-assisted draftsman Howard Janga and pattern maker Jay Long.
 
Kiani trained as an architect and worked for Scale Models Unlimited founder Don Nusbaum in Palo Alto, Calif., before coming to Memphis as a freelance model builder in the 1980s.
 
He met Oppenheimer when House of Blues founder Isaac Tigrett hired Oppenheimer to work on a model of a rock and roll museum once proposed for The Pyramid.
 
Kiani and Oppenheimer bought out Nusbaum and moved the business to Memphis in 1999. It's housed at 400 S. Front along with the stained-glass studio and businesses related to a collection of the late photographer Jack Robinson's work.
 
The space station model, 7 feet long, 5 feet wide and about 2 1/2 feet deep, hangs by strings in a workshop on the top floor of the old Hunter Fan building at Front and Huling.
 
Where the real thing weighs nearly a million pounds, the models are lightweight and portable, easily disassembling to fit in a rolling packing case that measures about 30 inches cubed, Dutton said.
 
The model re-creates the space station out of laser-cut acrylic and hand-tooled high-tech composite materials.
 
The team began with drawings and photographs of station components. Janga translated that information into three-dimensional computer images to program the shop's laser cutters.
 
Other jobs are somewhat easier, like cutaway models of nuclear reactors commissioned by a power company, because they come with construction drawings, Oppenheimer said.
 
The International Space Station, 11 years in the making, is a series of canisters, spheres and panels held together by beams. Solar collectors and cooling panels are arrayed along a central truss that spans the length of a football field.
 
Notable features evident in the model include large robotic arms that can be "walked" around the station's exterior and Dextre, a multi-armed robotic device that carries out small repairs requiring more dexterity.
 
Dutton studied NASA's website to glean such details as locations of toolboxes and storage compartments on the station's exterior.
 
He can point to the exact spot where the Dragon is programmed to dock in one of the silver United States modules, if all goes as planned.
 
END
 


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