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Monday, June 11, 2012
6/11/12 news
Monday, June 11, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. Feds Feed Families 2012
2. June LGBT Month Event
3. JSC AED/CPR Program Web Link Revision
4. Learn About UH-Clear Lake's Significant Transformation Over Lunch
5. Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting - June 12
6. Nutrition Class on Hydration Tomorrow
7. Your Greatest Health Benefit: The Ability to Learn
8. Let Your Voice Be Heard! 2012 Employee Viewpoint Survey
9. Russian Phase One Language Course -- For Beginners
10. Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club Meeting
11. AIAA Houston Email Distribution List
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ We should not only use the brains we have, but all that we can borrow. ”
-- Woodrow Wilson
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1. Feds Feed Families 2012
We are off and running again this summer with Feds Feed Families for 2012. Our challenge is to beat last year's incredible performance of over 44,000 pounds, so it is only fitting that we target 50,000 pounds in honor of JSC's 50th birthday! We need your help, so please contact Bridget Montgomery at x38082 or Karen Schmalz at x47931 to register your team and request collection bin delivery. The drive will run now through Aug. 31. Proceeds for this worthy cause will support the Clear Lake Food Pantry and the Galveston County Food Bank.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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2. June LGBT Month Event
In 2009, President Barack Obama designated June as National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. The Office of Equal Opportunity & Diversity (OEOD) and Out and Allied @ JSC, JSC's LGBT Employee Resource Group (ERG), would like to jointly recognize LGBT Pride Month.
On June 14 at 9 a.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium, Out and Allied @ JSC Co-Chair Bryan Snook will present and host an interactive discussion, with topics ranging from LGBT diversity and applicability in the workplace, being out in the workplace, national and NASA LGBT demographics, information on the Out and Allied @ JSC ERG and how to become involved, regardless of one's sexual orientation. This presentation and discussion is open to everyone at JSC.
For a complete list of the national special observances, please visit OEOD's website at: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oeod/special_programs/proclamations.html
For more information on Out and Allied @JSC, please visit: http://collaboration.jsc.nasa.gov/iierg/LGBTA/SitePages/Home.aspx
OEOD and Out & Allied @ JSC x30607
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3. JSC AED/CPR Program Web Link Revision
The JSC Automated External Defibrillators (AED)/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Program home page Web link has been revised to current American Heart Association 2010 Guidelines for CPR. Are you aware that the guidelines provide changes to conventional CPR? Did you know that Airway, Breathing and Compressions (ABC) are now Compressions, Airway and Breathing (CAB)? Do you know who can perform "hands-only CPR?" How about the locations of AED at JSC?
To learn the answers to these questions and more, on the JSC home page, go to: http://sd.jsc.nasa.gov/omoh/scripts/HumanTestSupport.aspx
Learning to save a life is only a click away.
James (Jim) Catrett 281-792-5728
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4. Learn About UH-Clear Lake's Significant Transformation Over Lunch
Please join us for an inspiring presentation about how the University of Houston-Clear Lake is transforming for continued success at this month's JSC National Management Association Chapter luncheon.
Date: June 28
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Gilruth, Alamo Ballroom
Speaker: Dr. William A. Staples, President, University of Houston-Clear Lake
Please RSVP by close of business June 22 at: http://www.jscnma.com/Events (Click on June 28 event.)
For RSVP technical assistance, please contact Lorraine Guerra at lorraine.guerra-1@nasa.gov or 281-483-4262.
Cassandra Miranda x38618
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5. Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting - June 12
"Keep it simple" is a slogan Al-Anon members use to chill out during busy, fun days of summer. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who live with the family disease of alcoholism. We will meet tomorrow, June 12, in Building 32, Room 146, from 11 to 11:50 a.m. Visitors are welcome.
Employee Assistance Program x36130 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/EAP/Pages/default.aspx
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6. Nutrition Class on Hydration Tomorrow
It is getting hot outside ... which makes it the perfect time to join us for this class on the importance of staying hydrated! Good hydration plays a very important role in our health. Wondering about how healthy your morning coffee intake is, or if you should be adding in sports drinks? This class will include a discussion on adequate intake for healthy adults, as well as some guidelines for optimal fluid choices. Class will be held tomorrow, June 12, at 5 p.m. in the Gilruth Center San Jacinto Room.
You can sign up for this class and other upcoming nutrition classes online at: http://www.explorationwellness.com/WellnessCSS/CourseCatalogSelection/
If you're working on improving your approach to healthy nutrition but can't attend a class, we offer free one-on-one consultations with Glenda Blaskey, the JSC Registered Dietitian.
Glenda Blaskey x41503 http://www.explorationwellness.com/Web/scripts/Nutrition.aspx
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7. Your Greatest Health Benefit: The Ability to Learn
We all have hectic lives, and adding healthy activities to an already busy schedule can feel like a daunting task. Besides, where do we even start? Some of us already have, or are ready to commit to, a lifetime of healthy behaviors. But studies show that for many of us, making significant changes simply takes time.
Breaking through barriers often starts with education. Gaining accurate and impactful knowledge about fitness, nutrition or stress management is a key first step. Wellness classes offer education opportunities in quick one-hour classes in onsite conference rooms.
Topics include:
- Basic Principles of Health-related Fitness
- Exercise and Eating Plan for Health-related Fitness
- Top 10 Nutrition Mistakes
- Fun Stress Relievers
- Financial Wellness (finance classes are available in the evenings as well)
See link for details. For specific class dates and times, be sure to click on the "Sign Up Online" link.
Jessica Vos x41383 http://www.explorationwellness.com/rd/AE104.aspx?June_Signup.pdf
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8. Let Your Voice Be Heard! 2012 Employee Viewpoint Survey
If you haven't done so already, please complete the 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. You should have already received an email from the Office of Personnel Management with a link to the survey. The purpose of this survey is to gather input and measure employees' attitudes and perceptions for topic areas such as leadership and knowledge management, performance culture and job satisfaction. The ultimate goal of the survey is to provide agencies with a true perspective of current strengths and challenge areas. We encourage your voluntary participation in this survey and hope you view this as an opportunity to influence positive change in our agency. Prior to taking the survey, we encourage you to visit the newly created Employee Viewpoint Resources Web page posted on the JSC Human Resources portal. This site provides information regarding 2011 survey results, utilization of the results and quick reference links to other employee resources.
Pablo Cruz x31158 https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/jsc_human_capital/294/emp...
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9. Russian Phase One Language Course -- For Beginners
Russian Phase One is an introductory course designed to acquaint the novice student with certain elementary aspects of the Russian language and provide a brief outline of Russian history and culture. Our goal is to introduce students to skills and strategies necessary for successful foreign language study that they can apply immediately in the classroom. The linguistic component of this class consists of learning the Cyrillic alphabet and a very limited number of simple words and phrases, which will serve as a foundation for further language study.
Who: All JSC-badged civil servants and contractors with a work-related justification
Dates: July 2 to 27
When: Monday through Friday, 1 to 2 p.m. or 4 to 5 p.m.
Where: Building 20, Room 133
Please register through SATERN. The deadline for registration is June 26.
Natalia Rostova 281-851-3745
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10. Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club Meeting
The next meeting of the Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club will be held Wednesday, June 13, at 7 p.m. at the Clear Lake Park building (5001 NASA Parkway). The Clear Lake Park building entrance is at the park traffic light on the lake-side. Our speaker for this month will be Terry Moore from Terry Moore Images, who will present his show on Bonaire. You may remember Moore from the fantastic slideshow he did for us earlier this year on Iraq and Afghanistan. Guests and all are welcome to attend.
Mike Manering x32618 http://www.lunarfins.com
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11. AIAA Houston Email Distribution List
If you're interested in receiving email notifications for lunch/dinner events, lectures, networking opportunities and more from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston section, please send your contact information to Eryn Beisner. You don't have to be a member to get the announcements, though it is highly encouraged!
Eryn Beisner x40212
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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.
Human Spaceflight News
Monday, June 11, 2012
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Private Spaceflight's Rise Gives NASA a Boost
Mike Wall - Space.com
The recent rise of private spaceflight has stolen some of the spotlight away from NASA, but the space agency doesn't mind a bit. Last month, SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule became the first private vehicle ever to dock with the International Space Station (ISS), and the craft will likely start making regular supply runs to the orbiting outpost this autumn. SpaceX hopes a crewed version of Dragon will be ready to fly astronauts to the station by 2015 or so, and a handful of other companies are developing their own manned spaceships with similar timelines in mind. But NASA is not threatened by this new private space race; rather, the agency has actively encouraged it, so that it is able to focus its human spaceflight efforts farther afield.
Veteran Space Company Orbital Sciences Ready for ISS
Jason Paur - Wired.com
With a few decades of space launch experience already under its belt, the Orbital Sciences Corporation is next up to demonstrate cargo delivery capabilities to the International Space Station. With so much attention focused on SpaceX’s successful demonstration flight last month, it might be easy to forget Elon Musk’s company is just one of two receiving investments from NASA as part of its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to deliver cargo to the ISS. And unlike upstart SpaceX, the other company in the COTS program is a veteran of the commercial space industry. Orbital Sciences Corporation is a 30-year-old firm with more than 60 launches to space using its own rockets, and more than 125 satellites delivered to orbit. The company was founded in 1982 by a trio of Harvard Business School friends who thought a commercial company could provide space products and launch services in a much more affordable way than what was available at the time. After raising the cash, Orbital began work on its first space launch vehicle in the mid-1980s, and by 1990 the company had eight successful launches under its belt.
Is Dream Chaser the new space shuttle?
Thom Patterson - CNN's Light Years
Have you been listening to all the kvetching and tooth-gnashing about America paying Russia $65-to-$70 million for each astronaut to ride to the space station? You should hear what people at NASA and elsewhere in the U.S. aerospace industry are telling their friends: They're embarrassed - even angry - that the guys who won the Cold War space race are no longer in the driver's seat. Why, oh, why, they moan, did Washington end the shuttle program before building a replacement? How fast can the United States develop a new machine to deliver Americans into orbit so they can make scientific and technological breakthroughs?
Lawmakers Discuss Renewing FAA Space Launch Insurance
Jen DiMascio - Aviation Week
What happens if a commercial space launch vehicle explodes upon takeoff? The FAA’s “indemnification program” allows the government to share the cost with industry against injuries or property damage in such a potential disaster. Although that kind of insurance has not been used in more than 200 launches, the current program expires at the end of the year. So during a House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee hearing on June 6, lawmakers considered whether to extend the program, by how much and for how long. The program authorizes the government to ask Congress for $2.7 billion to cover such damages; companies have to pick up the tab for any additional costs.
China to launch spacecraft in mid-June for manned space docking
Xinhua News Agency
China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June to perform the country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module, a spokesperson said here Saturday. The spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, were moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday, a spokesperson with the country's manned space program said. "The Shenzhou-9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module," Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program, said as he accompanied the spacecraft to the launch platform,
China rolls out Shenzhou-9 spacecraft for docking mission
William Harwood - CBS News
A Chinese Long March-2F rocket carrying a three-seat Shenzhou spacecraft was moved to its launching stand at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China Saturday for work to ready the craft for launch later this month on a flight to dock with a prototype research module launched last year, Chinese space officials said. Three yet-to-be-named Chinese astronauts, possibly including the country's first female "taikonaut," are in the final stages of training for what would be China's first manned docking, according to Chinese news reports.
China Plans Its First Manned Space Docking
Kevin Drew - New York Times
China’s space agency said on Saturday that it will launch astronauts later in June to perform the country’s first manned space docking, the latest step in the country’s ambitious plan for space exploration. The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will dock with the Tiangong 1 orbital module “sometime in mid-June,” according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency, quoting an unidentified spokesman for the country’s space program. The government did not say how long the mission will last.
Report: China plans manned space launch this month
Associated Press
China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday. A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was moved to a launch pad in China's desert northwest on Saturday for the mid-June flight, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an space program spokesman. The three-member crew will dock with and live in the Tiangong 1 orbital module launched last year, Xinhua said. The government has not said how long the mission will last.
China to launch manned spacecraft in June: Xinhua
Agence France Presse
China will launch a spacecraft this month to conduct its first manned space docking, state media said Saturday, the latest step in a plan aimed at giving the country a permanent space station by 2020. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket have already been moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, the Xinhua news agency said, quoting the country's manned space programme. The launch -- China's first manned space mission since September 2008 -- would occur "sometime in mid June", it said.
China is days away from launching three astronauts
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
China rolled a Long March booster to a desert launch pad Saturday, setting up for the launch of three astronauts as soon as this week on a mission to dock with an orbiting laboratory module 200 miles above Earth. Chinese space officials said only the launch would occur in mid-June, but the state-run CCTV television news channel reported Sunday the blastoff was scheduled for June 16. The flight would mark China's fourth human spaceflight and the first crewed mission to the country's Tiangong 1 spacecraft, a bus-sized module launched in September 2011.
China to Launch 3 Astronauts to Space Lab This Month
Tariq Malik - Space.com
China will launch its first manned mission to an orbiting space laboratory in mid-June, according to state media reports and the country's human spaceflight agency. A Long March 2F rocket will launch three astronauts aboard a Shenzhou 9 capsule for China's first manned space docking at the mini-space station Tiangong-1. The space lab module has been circling Earth unmanned since its launch last year. "The Shenzhou 9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space lab module," the Xinhua news agency quoted Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, as saying Saturday.
Chinese female astronaut to join docking mission
CNN
China's historic spacecraft docking mission this month will involve a female astronaut, state-run Xinhua reported. Either Liu Yang or Wang Yaping -- selected among China's first batch of women astronauts -- will be among the three-person crew to launch aboard the Shenzhou-9, according to Xinhua.
Before Deep Space, NASA Heads Deep Under Water
Elizabeth Shogren - National Public Radio
NASA may have retired its shuttles, but it has its sights on sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before. These voyages are years away, but on Monday, astronauts are heading underwater to take part in a simulation that will help them figure out how they might explore one possible new destination: a near-Earth asteroid. It'll be the space agency's 16th NEEMO expedition — NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations — commanded by astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. She flew on one of the last space shuttle missions, and even helped prepare Atlantis for its final launch.
UK astronaut Tim Peake aims for 'asteroid splashdown'
Jonathan Amos - BBC News
British astronaut Tim Peake is going on a mission to an asteroid... at the bottom of the ocean. "Major Tim" is joining Nasa's latest Neemo expedition to an underwater lab located near Key Largo, Florida. He will spend 12 days in the Aquarius habitat with three crewmates, testing new tools and techniques that could be used on a real mission to a space rock.
New Rocket Plane to Begin Space Tourist Launches in 2014
Denise Chow - Space.com
Thrill seekers looking for the ultimate rocket ride may soon turn that dream into a reality aboard a new suborbital spaceship, a winged rocket plane slated to start launching space tourists from California and a tiny Caribbean island by 2014. The Mojave, Calif.-based XCOR Aerospace is developing the suborbital Lynx space plane to carry paying passengers to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, to altitudes up to and exceeding 62 miles (100 kilometers). XCOR is aiming to begin operational Lynx flights from California's Mojave Spaceport in 2013 and from the Dutch-controlled island of Curacao in the Caribbean a year later, said Andrew Nelson, XCOR's chief operating officer. XCOR officials unveiled their launch targets Thursday (June 7) during a news briefing here to announce a new partnership with Space Expedition Corporation (SXC, formerly Space Expedition Curacao), a Netherlands-based space tourism firm that will now act as the sales agent for future Lynx flights.
A pioneer in space and on Earth
W. Patrick McCray - CNN (Opinion)
(McCray is a professor of the history of science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Visioneers: How a group of elite scientists pursued space colonies, nanotechnologies, and a limitless future.")
Recently, technology enthusiasts around the planet had the opportunity to get better acquainted with Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX, the first privately owned company to send a spacecraft to the space station. Launched in the same manner as a Silicon Valley startup, SpaceX designed and manufactured the Dragon capsule, which successfully completed a mission with the International Space Station before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean. I see Musk, a 40-year-old entrepreneur who made his fortune by co-founding PayPal, as a "visioneer."
The Scientific Case for Exploring the Moon
Megan Garber - The Atlantic
Science says: The lunar surface is much more awesome than you think it is. Here are ten heavenly bodies, ranked according to their general awesomeness. While this list might not be 100 percent scientifically accurate ... still, poor Moon. It lacks the intrigue of the sun, the mystery of Mars, even the lonely metaphor of the wandering satellite.
1. The sun
2. The crab nebula
3. Molecular clouds
4. Black holes
5. Venus
6. Saturn
7. An asteroid
8. A lost satellite
9. Space dust
10. The moon
Shuttle play piece's retirement sparks real emotion
Adam Lowenstein - Florida Today
Given the strengths of our economy these days, a fitting symbol for Brevard County might be an airplane, or a cruise ship, or even a luxury yacht. Yet the vehicle that many feel best represents Brevard, still, is the space shuttle. I understand. The shuttle for 30 years kept thousands of our family members, friends and neighbors employed. It brought money and prestige and an identity to our narrow little stretch of Atlantic shoreline. The Space Coast! Even our area code sounds like a countdown! Space and the shuttle are ingrained in Brevard County. Mess with either at your peril.
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COMPLETE STORIES
Private Spaceflight's Rise Gives NASA a Boost
Mike Wall - Space.com
The recent rise of private spaceflight has stolen some of the spotlight away from NASA, but the space agency doesn't mind a bit.
Last month, SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule became the first private vehicle ever to dock with the International Space Station (ISS), and the craft will likely start making regular supply runs to the orbiting outpost this autumn.
SpaceX hopes a crewed version of Dragon will be ready to fly astronauts to the station by 2015 or so, and a handful of other companies are developing their own manned spaceships with similar timelines in mind. But NASA is not threatened by this new private space race; rather, the agency has actively encouraged it, so that it is able to focus its human spaceflight efforts farther afield.
"It was an effort that will revolutionize the way we carry out space exploration, with the private sector taking over responsibility for transportation to the ISS," NASA chief Charlie Boldensaid on May 25 after Dragon's historic docking. "This will free NASA up to focus on the really hard stuff, like sending our astronauts to an asteroid and, eventually, on to Mars."
A big shift for NASA
Over the past several decades, NASA spent about $209 billion sending astronauts (along with some cargo) to low-Earth orbit and back. That's the rough cost of the agency's space shuttle program, which retired last July after 30 years of orbital service.
In 2010, President Barack Obama instructed NASA to get astronauts to an asteroid by 2025, and then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s. The agency is depending on private firms to take over the shuttle's orbital-taxi role while it puts its limited resources toward achieving these ambitious deep-space goals.
NASA has given money to four companies — SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada — in the hopes that at least two of them can have crewed vehicles up and running by 2017. Until that happens, NASA astronauts will continue to hitch rides on Russian Soyuz spacecraft, at a cost of roughly $62 million per seat.
So agency officials were elated with the success of Dragon's demonstration mission.
"Now more than ever we're counting on the inventiveness of American companies and American workers to make the International Space Station and other low-Earth orbit destinations accessible to any and all who have dreams of space travel," Bolden said in a statement last week, after Dragon splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.
NASA still busy
For its part, NASA is working on ways to get astronauts to near-Earth asteroids and beyond. It's developing a huge heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) and a capsule known as the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
In its initial configuration, the SLS will stand 320 feet (97.5 meters) tall and be capable of lofting 70 metric tons of payload. But NASA hopes an evolved version will one day tower at 400 feet (122 m) with a payload capacity of 130 metric tons. (For comparison, the space shuttle could carry 24.4 metric tons to orbit.)
The gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule is designed to carry up to four astronauts. NASA hopes to launch an unmanned Orion on an orbital test flight in 2014. The first test flight of the SLS isn't slated until late 2017, so Orion's maiden journey will likely take place aboard a Delta 4 Heavy rocket.
The space agency has said it hopes the SLS-Orion combo will carry its first crews by 2021 or so.
Robotic exploration has also been keeping NASA busy. In 2011, the space agency launched three unmanned missions to solar system bodies beyond Earth — the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter in August, the twin Grail probes to the moon in September and the Curiosity rover to Mars in November.
The 1-ton Curiosity rover is slated to touch down at the Red Planet's huge Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5, when it will embark on a two-year mission to study whether the area is, or ever was, capable of supporting microbial life.
The future of NASA's robotic exploration program is somewhat up in the air, however. Obama's proposed 2013 federal budget, which was released in February, cuts the agency's planetary science funding by 20 percent, with much of that coming out of the Mars program.
As a result, NASA has had to scale back and fundamentally rethink its unmanned Mars exploration program. For example, it pulled out of the European-led ExoMars mission, which aims to launch a rover and orbiter to the Red Planet in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Veteran Space Company Orbital Sciences Ready for ISS
Jason Paur - Wired.com
With a few decades of space launch experience already under its belt, the Orbital Sciences Corporation is next up to demonstrate cargo delivery capabilities to the International Space Station.
With so much attention focused on SpaceX’s successful demonstration flight last month, it might be easy to forget Elon Musk’s company is just one of two receiving investments from NASA as part of its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to deliver cargo to the ISS. And unlike upstart SpaceX, the other company in the COTS program is a veteran of the commercial space industry.
Orbital Sciences Corporation is a 30-year-old firm with more than 60 launches to space using its own rockets, and more than 125 satellites delivered to orbit. The company was founded in 1982 by a trio of Harvard Business School friends who thought a commercial company could provide space products and launch services in a much more affordable way than what was available at the time. After raising the cash, Orbital began work on its first space launch vehicle in the mid-1980s, and by 1990 the company had eight successful launches under its belt.
“COTS is exactly what the company was founded to do,” says Orbital spokesman Barry Beneski.
Roughly a third of the company’s $1.5 billion revenue this year will come from civil government contracts, including the NASA COTS development program and the Commercial Resupply Services contracts to deliver cargo to the ISS. Beneski says a little less than a third of the company’s business comes from commercial customers, mainly communication satellite companies, while the rest of the business is comprised of military and intelligence customers.
“We’re not a new space company,” Beneski told Wired, emphasizing Orbital’s history of building and launching satellites.
Orbital fills a gap between some of the big veteran companies in the space industry, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and the newer firms, such as SpaceX and the yet-to-fly-to-space Blue Origin. “We’re big enough to take on big challenges and have the experience to back it up,” Beneski says, touting Orbital’s capabilities.
It would be easy to understand if Orbital felt a bit ignored in all the recent news about private companies getting involved with delivering cargo to the space station, and Beneski says there was a bit of “we do that too.” But he says the company is simply ready to show it has the expertise to build upon its launch experience and deliver cargo to the ISS. “We’re confident and we’re ready to show [our capabilities] later this year.”
Under the COTS program, Orbital received $288 million in funding from NASA to develop its cargo launch capability. That’s around $100 million less than SpaceX received, and Orbital has had around three years less time to develop the program.
The company will be launching from a newly refurbished pad at NASA’s Wallops Island launch facility on Virgina’s east coast. Orbital will use its Antares rocket to launch its Cygnus spacecraft into orbit. Like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the Antares is a two-stage rocket using kerosene and liquid oxygen as propellant for the first stage. Antares’ second stage is powered by a solid-fueled rocket.
Unlike SpaceX, Orbital does not build all of its own launch and space vehicles. The company works on the engineering and development of the vehicles, calling itself the “prime integrator” on the Antares rocket with Ukrainian partners Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzmash producing much of the first stage. On the Cygnus spacecraft, Orbital is the “prime contractor,” again working on engineering and development but leaving production to several companies with the pressurized capsule being built by the European company Thales Alenia Space.
Thales Alenia has plenty of experience in space and at the ISS. The Italian-based company built the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for the European Space Agency. The ATV is one of only five vehicles that has delivered cargo to the ISS, with the others being the Space Shuttle Orbiters, the Soyuz capsules, Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle, the Russian Progress vehicles and as of last month, SpaceX’s Dragon. Thales Alenia has also been involved with building several nodes of the ISS itself.
Another big difference between SpaceX and Orbital is the lack of reusability with the Orbital system. The company’s launch vehicle and spacecraft are expendable systems, meaning the rocket will not be reused and Cygnus cannot return cargo to Earth. Instead it will be sent on a destructive re-entry, burning up as it returns to Earth.
With a long and successful history in space vehicle development and launches, Orbital brings plenty of experience to the COTS program. If the COTS demonstration flights go according to plan, like SpaceX, Orbital already has a contract to carry out cargo resupply missions to the ISS. The company has a $1.9 billion contract for eight missions carrying 20,000 kg (44,092 pounds) through 2015. More cargo flights could follow these initial missions.
Orbital expects systems testing at its new launch facility on Wallops Island, Virginia to be complete by the end of this month and is planning its first test flight of Antares in August. The company has two launch windows for the COTS demonstration flight to the ISS later in the year.
Is Dream Chaser the new space shuttle?
Thom Patterson - CNN's Light Years
Have you been listening to all the kvetching and tooth-gnashing about America paying Russia $65-to-$70 million for each astronaut to ride to the space station?
You should hear what people at NASA and elsewhere in the U.S. aerospace industry are telling their friends: They're embarrassed - even angry - that the guys who won the Cold War space race are no longer in the driver's seat.
Why, oh, why, they moan, did Washington end the shuttle program before building a replacement? How fast can the United States develop a new machine to deliver Americans into orbit so they can make scientific and technological breakthroughs?
How fast? Last month, less than a year after the final space shuttle mission, a SpaceX unmanned Dragon became the first private spacecraft to reach the orbiting space station.
But you probably knew that. Here's what you may have missed: A few days after SpaceX's triumph, a winged mini-space shuttle took to the air in its first flight test.
Wait. What? There's a new space shuttle in development?
Yep, it's called Dream Chaser. And it's made to fly on laughing gas.
But more on that in a second.
During the May 29 aerodynamic test, Sierra Nevada Corp. engineers hung the company's 25,000-pound spacecraft from a helicopter flying about 10,000 feet above Jefferson County, Colorado.
"It performed perfectly and did exactly what our team designed it to do," said Col. Jim Voss, a retired NASA astronaut and Sierra Nevada's vice president of space exploration systems.
Perhaps many folks who don't closely follow the space industry are completely unaware of this sleek orbiter.
Like NASA's shuttle, Dream Chaser is reusable. It's also got wings that allow it to fly back to Earth. But it's a lot smaller. Unlike the shuttle, it's designed to blast off on top of an Atlas V rocket, carrying up to seven astronauts to the orbiting space station.
Then, if everything goes as planned, the thing is supposed to use its onboard rockets to cross into the atmosphere and land on a conventional runway.
Among the several firms competing to be NASA's new astronaut taxi, Dream Chaser is the only system with wings, according to Sierra Nevada.
Why aren't more people aware of Dream Chaser? "We're pretty quiet as a company," Voss said. Sierra Nevada develops special aircraft for the Defense Department and devices for communication and intelligence gathering, Voss said. "Because of that, I think the company has just not felt like it has needed to do a bunch of advertising."
A few quick Dream Chaser tidbits:
· Its engine system is a hybrid. It burns a solid tire-like rubber called HTPD (hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene) and nitrous oxide. That's right, laughing gas, the same stuff some dentists use to kill the pain when you get a tooth pulled or a root canal. "We picked this system because it is the safest possible configuration there is," Voss said. "But you don't get as much performance per pound of fuel that you use."
· The Dream Chaser is based on a design concept that was originally developed decades ago by the Soviets. NASA reverse engineered it to learn how it worked. Sierra Nevada is using that engineering information to develop the spacecraft.
· It can go from roll-out to the launch pad in as fast as two hours, according to Sierra Nevada.
· During re-entry, it's designed to inflict on passengers a very light g-force of 1.5 times gravity, which will make it less likely that passengers would blackout.
Dream Chaser is just one of several systems being developed by private firms in hopes of winning additional NASA funding.
Also in the mix with Sierra Nevada and SpaceX is Boeing, which is developing a spacecraft of its own - a capsule-based vehicle called CST-100, which it tested in a Nevada helicopter drop last month. Capsules are less complicated than a winged craft, but they have fewer landing options. To deal with that, SpaceX plans to develop a capsule that can land with rockets.
Although SpaceX is widely seen as leading the pack in this private space race, insiders say it's too early to know whether Sierra Nevada or Boeing poses a threat. It's hard to know which systems will be the most reliable, the cheapest and most efficient.
"I don't know if you'd call it a space race," Voss said. "But we're the only competitors with a vehicle that will physically fly back to runway, so we think we're in a good position to provide the type of transportation that NASA will want for their crews."
More than a few data-head aerospace engineers acknowledge they have a romantic soft-spot for a winged spacecraft so reminiscent of NASA's shuttle.
So what's the next giant leap for Dream Chaser? Autonomous flight.
This August or September, Voss said, they'll drop the spacecraft from a powerful helicopter above California's Edwards Air Force Base.
Perhaps a military CH-46 Sea Knight or CH-47 Chinook might be brought in to let Dream Chaser spread its wings from as high as 20,000 feet. If all goes well, this bird will fly on its own for the first time, before it glides to a landing.
So what do you think? Is Dream Chaser going to follow NASA's shuttle and become the next generation's icon for U.S. space travel?
Or will a capsule-based system like SpaceX's or Boeing's win the race?
Or perhaps you think all of this is a giant waste of time, money and effort. Share/view thoughts and comments here:
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/08/is-dream-chaser-the-new-space-shuttle/?hpt=hp_c2
Lawmakers Discuss Renewing FAA Space Launch Insurance
Jen DiMascio - Aviation Week
What happens if a commercial space launch vehicle explodes upon takeoff?
The FAA’s “indemnification program” allows the government to share the cost with industry against injuries or property damage in such a potential disaster. Although that kind of insurance has not been used in more than 200 launches, the current program expires at the end of the year. So during a House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee hearing on June 6, lawmakers considered whether to extend the program, by how much and for how long.
The program authorizes the government to ask Congress for $2.7 billion to cover such damages; companies have to pick up the tab for any additional costs.
China, France and Russia provide no upper limit on their coverage, according to Alicia Cackley of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Risk-modeling experts told GAO the calculations driving FAA’s current coverage are outdated.
But there are risks in increasing the maximum possible loss, according to testimony by George Nield, FAA’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation. “Companies with fewer resources would struggle to manage risk, and investors would be discouraged from providing capital to companies with catastrophic risk exposure, further restricting access to capital and suppressing growth,” Nield writes.
Industry wants Congress to extend the U.S. insurance coverage for as long as possible.
“The indemnification provides certainty,” says Allison Alfers, a DigitalGlobe executive. Without the program, commercial space launch companies would be liable for all potential risk, and that would be passed on to consumers. But the space launch market is competitive, and if that would drive higher launch prices, foreign competitors would be more attractive.
“We encourage Congress to at a minimum extend, and to consider a significant extension, or eliminate the sunset program,” Alfers says.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) says he remains a believer in minimal government intervention in the market and asked why the space industry should receive government assistance, rather than other industries.
Frank Slazer of the Aerospace Industries Association contends the indemnification program is a national security imperative. The U.S. needs to keep its launch capability for military and NASA satellites, and the program helps to “spread the cost around.” Without it, the cost of launches would continue to escalate, he says.
China to launch spacecraft in mid-June for manned space docking
Xinhua News Agency
China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June to perform the country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module, a spokesperson said here Saturday.
The spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, were moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday, a spokesperson with the country's manned space program said.
"The Shenzhou-9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module," Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program, said as he accompanied the spacecraft to the launch platform,
"It means China's spacecraft will become a genuine manned shuttle tool between space and Earth. It can send human beings to space stations or space labs. This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history," Zhou said.
In the next few days, scientists will conduct functional tests on the spacecraft and the rocket, as well as joint tests on selected astronauts, spacecraft, rocket and ground systems, according to the spokesperson.
The manned spacecraft Shenzhou-9 and its carrier rocket were delivered to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in early April this year.
The Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, was lowered to docking orbit in early June and is orbiting normally, the spokesperson said.
The final preparations are running smoothly, and the selected astronauts have completed their training and are in sound physical and mental conditions, according to the spokesperson.
Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the country's manned space program, said in March that the three-person crew on Shenzhou-9 might include female astronauts, but the final selection would be decided "on the very last condition."
The space docking mission will be manually conducted by astronauts, giving China another chance to test its docking technology, the program's spokesperson said in February.
One of the three Shenzhou-9 crew members will not board the Tiangong-1 space module lab, but will remain inside the spacecraft as a precautionary measure in case of emergency, the spokesperson said in February.
The target module Tiangong-1, which blasted off on Sept. 29, 2011, went into long-term operation in space awaiting the docking attempts of the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 after completing China's first space docking mission with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November.
China rolls out Shenzhou-9 spacecraft for docking mission
William Harwood - CBS News
A Chinese Long March-2F rocket carrying a three-seat Shenzhou spacecraft was moved to its launching stand at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China Saturday for work to ready the craft for launch later this month on a flight to dock with a prototype research module launched last year, Chinese space officials said.
Three yet-to-be-named Chinese astronauts, possibly including the country's first female "taikonaut," are in the final stages of training for what would be China's first manned docking, according to Chinese news reports.
"The Shenzhou 9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space lab module," Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, was quoted by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.
"It means China's spacecraft will become a genuine manned shuttle tool between space and Earth. It can send human beings to space stations or space labs. This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history."
China became the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, to launch a manned spacecraft in October 2003 when Yang Liwei blasted off aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft. Shenzhou 6, carrying two crew members, was successfully launched in October 2005 and Shenzhou 7, carrying a three-man crew, flew in September 2008.
The Tiangong 1 -- "Heavenly Palace" -- research module was launched Sept. 29, 2011, to serve as a target for unmanned and then manned flights to test the rendezvous and docking systems needed for construction and operation of a Mir-class space station later in the decade.
One month after Tiangong 1 reached orbit, China launched the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft, which carried out an automated rendezvous and televised docking with the research module two days later. The Shenzhou 9 crew preparing for launch later this month will attempt a manual docking.
Chinese space officials said earlier this year the crew might include a female astronaut, but the final selection will not be made until shortly before launch. Assuming a successful linkup, only two of the crew members will actually enter Tiangong 1, space officials say. One taikonaut will remain behind aboard Shenzhou 9 as a safety precaution.
The solar-powered Tiangong 1 is a prototype space station core module that measures 34 feet long, 11 feet wide and weighs about 8.5 tons. It features a pressurized experiment module where visiting crews can live and work and a "resource module" housing electrical power, propulsion and life support systems.
For comparison, the International Space Station operated by the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan, is the size of a football field, weighs more than 450 tons and has a multi-module pressurized volume comparable to a 747 jumbo jet. It has been staffed with rotating crews of up to six astronauts and cosmonauts for the past 12 years.
While years behind the United States and Russia in manned space operations, the Chinese are committed to building a space station and developing their own space technology. Orbital rendezvous and docking technology "will lay a key technical foundation for China's building of space station and deep-space exploration," Zhou said during the Shenzhou 8 campaign.
China Plans Its First Manned Space Docking
Kevin Drew - New York Times
China’s space agency said on Saturday that it will launch astronauts later in June to perform the country’s first manned space docking, the latest step in the country’s ambitious plan for space exploration.
The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will dock with the Tiangong 1 orbital module “sometime in mid-June,” according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency, quoting an unidentified spokesman for the country’s space program. The government did not say how long the mission will last.
Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the country’s manned space program, said the three-person crew may include female astronauts, Xinhua reported, but the decision will be made “on the very last condition.”
On Saturday the spacecraft and its carrier rocket were moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a rocket-launching complex in the Gobi Desert in northwest China. In the coming days, tests will be performed on the selected astronauts, the spacecraft, carrier rocket and ground systems, according to Xinhua, citing the spokesman for the space agency.
One crew member will remain aboard the Shenzhou 9 as a precautionary measure while the others enter the orbital module, Xinhua said.
Beijing announced last December a five-year plan for space exploration that includes launching a space lab and collecting samples from the moon by 2016. The government has previously vowed to reach the moon and launch its own manned space station by 2020.
The plan, released by the State Council, China’s cabinet, shows how Beijing intends to draw on its military and civilian resources to reach the goals. The People’s Liberation Army drives China’s space program, and civilian institutions such as universities and laboratories are subject to the military’S efforts.
China is considered a leader in the business of launching satellites, but analysts say the country is still years behind the United States in its space program. The Chinese government has relied on its own aerospace engineers and spent billions of dollars in recent years to build its space program. In 2003 the country carried out its first successful human spaceflight, and in 2008 Chinese astronauts took their first spacewalk.
China completed its first space docking last November when the Shenzhou 8 capsule coupled with the Tiangong 1 orbital module by remote control, an event that was broadcast live on national television and observed by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao from the control center in Beijing.
Report: China plans manned space launch this month
Associated Press
China will launch three astronauts this month to dock with an orbiting experimental module, and the crew might include its first female space traveler, a government news agency said Saturday.
A rocket carrying the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft was moved to a launch pad in China's desert northwest on Saturday for the mid-June flight, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an space program spokesman.
The three-member crew will dock with and live in the Tiangong 1 orbital module launched last year, Xinhua said. The government has not said how long the mission will last.
Xinhua cited Niu Hongguang, deputy commander in chief of the manned space program, as saying the crew "might include female astronauts."
The government said in 2010 that two female air force pilots had joined the astronaut program but has disclosed no other details.
China's space program has made steady progress since a 2003 launch that made it only the third nation to put a man in space on its own. Two more manned missions have followed, one including a space walk.
China completed its first space rendezvous in November when the unmanned Shenzhou 8 docked with the Tiangong 1 by remote control. Tiangong 1 was launched on Sept. 29.
Over the next few days, scientists will test the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, the Long March 2F rocket and ground systems, Xinhua said, citing the spokesman.
During the flight, one crew member will remain aboard the Shenzhou 9 "as a precautionary measure in case of emergency" while the others enter Tiangong 1, Xinhua said.
China has scheduled two space docking missions for this year and plans to complete a manned space station around 2020 to replace Tiangong 1. At about 60 tons, the Chinese station will be considerably smaller than the 16-nation International Space Station.
Beijing launched its independent space station program after being turned away from the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. objections. Washington is wary of the Chinese program's military links and of sharing technology with an economic and political rival.
China to launch manned spacecraft in June: Xinhua
Agence France Presse
China will launch a spacecraft this month to conduct its first manned space docking, state media said Saturday, the latest step in a plan aimed at giving the country a permanent space station by 2020.
The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and its carrier rocket have already been moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China, the Xinhua news agency said, quoting the country's manned space programme.
The launch -- China's first manned space mission since September 2008 -- would occur "sometime in mid June", it said.
Officials said the mission would involve three astronauts manually docking with the Tiangong-1 module currently orbiting Earth.
In March state media said China may send its first woman into space this year after including female astronauts in the team training for its first manned space docking.
Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the manned space programme, has said that the Shenzhou-9 crew may include female astronauts, Xinhua reported.
China sent its first person into space in 2003 and has since conducted several manned missions, but has never included a woman.
After the space rendezvous, two of the astronauts will move temporarily into the Tiangong-1 (Heavenly Palace), where they will perform scientific experiments.
One of crew will remain on board the spacecraft as a precaution in case of an emergency, according to the official quoted by Xinhua.
In November, an unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft returned to Earth after completing two space dockings with Tiangong-1 in the nation's first ever hard-to-master "space kiss", bringing together two vessels in high speed orbit.
Mastering space docking technology is a delicate manoeuvre that the Russians and Americans successfully completed in the 1960s.
Tiangong-1, China's first space station module, was launched in September.
China sees its space programme as a symbol of its global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.
The current programme aims to provide China with a space station in which a crew can live independently for several months, as at the old Russian Mir facility or the International Space Station.
In 2003, China became the third country to send humans into space after Russia and America, and it is now also looking into sending astronauts to the moon, although nothing has been set in stone.
A white paper released late December outlining China's ambitious space programme said the country "will conduct studies on the preliminary plan for a human lunar landing".
No one has been back to the moon since the last US Apollo landing in December 1972.
China is days away from launching three astronauts
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
China rolled a Long March booster to a desert launch pad Saturday, setting up for the launch of three astronauts as soon as this week on a mission to dock with an orbiting laboratory module 200 miles above Earth.
Chinese space officials said only the launch would occur in mid-June, but the state-run CCTV television news channel reported Sunday the blastoff was scheduled for June 16.
The flight would mark China's fourth human spaceflight and the first crewed mission to the country's Tiangong 1 spacecraft, a bus-sized module launched in September 2011.
China's earlier piloted orbital flights accomplished the program's first spacewalk in 2008, and two astronauts spent nearly five days in space on a 2005 mission. Yang Liwei became the first Chinese citizen to reach space in 2003.
Tiangong 1 was the destination for the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft in November, which successfully accomplished two automated link-ups with the module in orbit. The dockings were the first in China's space program, according to official media outlets.
The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, mounted atop a 191-foot-tall Long March 2F rocket, rolled to a launch complex at the Jiuquan space base Saturday. Several days of final testing are planned before the mission is approved for launch, officials said.
The one-mile rollout from the Long March assembly building to the launch pad began at about 10:30 a.m. local time (0230 GMT) Saturday, according to a statement issued by the China Manned Space Engineering Office, or CMSEO, a military division which oversees Chinese human space missions.
The rollout "indicates that the manned space rendezvous and docking mission between [the] Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 9 spacecraft has entered the last preparation phase," the China Manned Space Engineering Office said in a statement posted on its website.
Tiangong means heavenly palace in English, while Shenzhou is translated as divine craft.
Chinese space officials previously said the Shenzhou 9 flight would include three astronauts, including the country's first female space flier. The identities of the crew have not been announced.
The CMSEO said in a statement the Shenzhou 9 crew has completed manual rendezvous and docking simulation training and the astronauts are in "good condition" for the mission.
Mission controllers remotely commanded the Tiangong 1 module to lower its orbit in early June, placing the spacecraft in position for docking with Shenzhou 9.
Chinese officials last year said that while the unmanned Shenzhou 8 mission would test automated dockings in orbit, the Shenzhou 9 crew would demonstrate a delicate manual link-up with a pilot at the controls.
Shenzhou 8 took about two days to reach Tiangong 1 following launch. China has not said whether Shenzhou 9 will follow a similar rendezvous profile.
The mission's duration has also been kept secret. The capsule will make a parachuted landing in China's Inner Mongolia province at the end of the mission.
The state-run Xinhua news agency reported one astronaut would remain inside the Shenzhou 9 capsule as a precautionary measure in the event of an emergency. Two crew members will enter Tiangong 1 for a slew of unspecified engineering and scientific investigations.
Shenzhou 8 and Tiangong 1 will form a combined spacecraft stretching approximately 60 feet long.
China to Launch 3 Astronauts to Space Lab This Month
Tariq Malik - Space.com
China will launch its first manned mission to an orbiting space laboratory in mid-June, according to state media reports and the country's human spaceflight agency.
A Long March 2F rocket will launch three astronauts aboard a Shenzhou 9 capsule for China's first manned space docking at the mini-space station Tiangong-1. The space lab module has been circling Earth unmanned since its launch last year.
"The Shenzhou 9 will perform our country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong 1 space lab module," the Xinhua news agency quoted Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, as saying Saturday.
Zhou's comments came as he accompanied the rocket set to launch the Shenzhou 9 mission to a pad at China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest region.
The mission, Zhou told Xinhua, will be a major milestone for China's space exploration program.
"It means China's spacecraft will become a genuine manned shuttle tool between space and Earth. It can send human beings to space stations or space labs," Zhou told Xinhua. "This will be a significant step in China's manned space flight history."
China's Shenzhou 9 mission will mark the fourth human spaceflight for the country, which has been making steady advances since the launch of Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei in 2003 on Shenzhou 5, the country's first human spaceflight. China is the third country to achieve human spaceflight after Russia and the United States.
Since its first flight, China has launched two more manned missions, the two-man Shenzhou 6 flight and three-person Shenzhou 7 mission. Last September, China launched the Tiangong 1 module — a prototype for a future space station — into orbit. That launch was followed in November by the unmanned Shenzhou 8 mission, which successfully docked a capsule with the space laboratory twice during the test flight.
The Shenzhou 9 mission will mark China's first human spaceflight to an orbiting module. Earlier this year, space program officials said the mission could also mark the first launch of China's first female astronaut, but a final decision on that is pending, Xinhua reported.
A translation of an announcement released online by the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE), which oversees China's human spaceflight program, stated that preparations of both the rocket and Shenzhou 9 astronaut crew are going smoothly.
A series of spacecraft and rocket tests, as well as final mission training, are underway ahead of the planned spaceflight, CMSE officials said.
China's Shenzhou (or "Divine Vessel") spacecraft are three-module space capsules with a design originally based on Russia's Soyuz space capsules, but the Chinese vehicles carry substantial modifications.
Like the Soyuz, Shenzhou vehicles carry up to three astronauts and consist of a propulsion module, a crew capsule and an orbital module. But unlike Russia's Soyuz, the orbital module of Shenzhou spacecraft carries its own solar arrays and can remain in space after its crew returns to Earth in the crew capsule.
China's Tiangong 1 ("Heavenly Palace 1") space laboratory module, meanwhile, is a prototype space station designed to test the technologies required for a much larger space station complex currently under development. The Tiangong 1 module is 34 feet long (10.4 meters), 11 feet wide (3.35 m) and weighed about 8.5 metric tons.
Chinese space officials have said the country is developing a larger, 60-ton space station that will consist of several modules. That space station is slated to be launched in 2020.
China is currently following a three-step space exploration program that ultimately aims to land an astronaut on the moon. According to a white paper released by the Chinese government in December, the country plans to launch a series of robotic moon landers and a lunar sample-return mission by 2016.
Chinese female astronaut to join docking mission
CNN
China's historic spacecraft docking mission this month will involve a female astronaut, state-run Xinhua reported.
Either Liu Yang or Wang Yaping -- selected among China's first batch of women astronauts -- will be among the three-person crew to launch aboard the Shenzhou-9, according to Xinhua.
If all goes well with the launch, which is planned for mid-June, the Shenzhou-9 will dock with China's orbiting space laboratory, making the nation the third after the United States and Russia to complete a manned space docking.
As a precaution in case of an emergency, one of the crewmembers will not board the lab, a spokesperson for the space program said in February.
China has big aspirations for its space program with hopes to build a space station like the International Space Station and to conduct a manned mission to the moon.
On Saturday the Shenzhou-9 and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, were moved to a launch platform in northwest China's Gansu province to allow scientists to conduct tests before the launch, according to Xinhua.
The Tiangong-1 space lab module was launched into space in September, and two months later it successfully completed China's first space docking with an unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhou-8, according to Xinhua.
The efforts demonstrate "China's continued commitment to becoming a first-class space power with an independent space capability," Taylor Fravel, associate professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said this year.
"This is a very exclusive club."
On Thursday in Beijing, the China National Space Administration and the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission signed a space cooperation plan through 2020, state-run China Daily reported. The agreement was signed, while Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was visiting for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit.
China's efforts come as the United States refocuses its space program toward deep space exploration, and private companies like SpaceX make strides toward the commercialization of spaceflight.
Last month SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule completed the first ever commercial mission to the International Space Station.
Before Deep Space, NASA Heads Deep Under Water
Elizabeth Shogren - National Public Radio
NASA may have retired its shuttles, but it has its sights on sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before.
These voyages are years away, but on Monday, astronauts are heading underwater to take part in a simulation that will help them figure out how they might explore one possible new destination: a near-Earth asteroid.
It'll be the space agency's 16th NEEMO expedition — NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations — commanded by astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. She flew on one of the last space shuttle missions, and even helped prepare Atlantis for its final launch.
"It was a very bittersweet time," says Metcalf-Lindenburger, who wants to go into space again. In the meantime, she's commanding a four-person crew that's putting on scuba gear instead of space suits. She says we all have to move on.
"Like in all things. I just had my daughter finish up her last day of preschool before she goes off to kindergarten. We have to shut chapters and begin new chapters and we had to do that in the space program, too," Metcalf-Lindenburger says.
Her crew will spend two weeks working underwater, which is the best approximation on this planet of what it would be like to operate in the zero gravity of an asteroid.
Their base will be an underwater lab called Aquarius. It's about the size of a school bus and sits 60 feet under the surface a few miles off the coast of Key Largo, Fla.
Metcalf-Lindenburger says floating underwater is a lot like floating in space.
"Water is a nice way to free your body and get to explore a different way of movement," she says. "Since we're so stuck with walking here on Earth, it's nice to float around, flip around — just like in space."
How To Hammer Rocks In Space
Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres is heading to Aquarius for the second time. His last NEEMO mission was cut short because of a hurricane.
He's thrilled to get another chance to help figure out what kinds of equipment might help people do research on an asteroid someday. Last time, Squyres and his crewmates strapped jet packs to their backs and had a blast zooming through the water.
"They were great for moving around," he says. "You'd see a rock outcrop 30 meters away, and you'd go flying over to it."
But they learned jet packs were terrible if you needed to stay still for any length of time, like say, if you want to take a sample from an asteroid.
"If you just do something as simple as hit a rock with a hammer, you're going to go flying off into space, so we've got to develop a whole new set of tricks and tools for operating on the surface of an asteroid," Squyres says.
This time, they're going to see whether mini submarines might allow them to hover in place.
"Imagine this little submarine with a 6-foot-long beam sticking off the front of it, and an astronaut on the front of that like a hood ornament," Squyres says.
NASA hopes to start sending astronauts and equipment to asteroids after 2025.
What's So Interesting About Asteroids?
You might wonder why anyone would want to go to an asteroid, but Squyres says there are many reasons.
Some asteroids are made of stuff like metals, that some people think could be harvested. Squyres says we need to learn all we can about asteroids to understand more about the origin of the solar system and to protect ourselves.
"Asteroids are a threat. Asteroids have hit the Earth before, we know that," he says. "Asteroids have caused mass extinctions. A small asteroid hitting the Earth wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago — unless we as a species know how to prevent it."
Just sending robots to asteroids isn't enough, he says. That means a lot coming from Squyres, considering he's a robot guy. He's the principal investigator for the Mars Rover project.
"What our state-of-the-art robot on Mars can do in a day, you can do in about 30 seconds," he says.
Metcalf-Lindenburger predicts that as soon as NASA figures out how to get people to an asteroid, people will want to go there.
"Humans are explorers by nature," she says. "We've been doing it for a very, very long time."
When NASA finally does sends people deeper into space, she says, she hopes to be among them.
UK astronaut Tim Peake aims for 'asteroid splashdown'
Jonathan Amos - BBC News
British astronaut Tim Peake is going on a mission to an asteroid... at the bottom of the ocean.
"Major Tim" is joining Nasa's latest Neemo expedition to an underwater lab located near Key Largo, Florida.
He will spend 12 days in the Aquarius habitat with three crewmates, testing new tools and techniques that could be used on a real mission to a space rock.
Nasa is planning a huge new rocket to send an advanced manned capsule to an asteroid sometime in the 2020s.
Astronauts have long trained in deep pools to simulate the weightlessness of working in orbit, but the Neemo expeditions take that idea to another level, allowing crews to simulate extended periods off Earth but without actually leaving the planet.
"It's an excellent analogue for what we do in space," explained Major Tim, a former British Army Air Corps helicopter pilot.
"We'll even have a 50-second delay in our communications with Capcom [mission control], and friends and family."
The delay simulates the time it would take real signals to travel many millions of kms across space from an asteroid.
Neemo is an acronym for Nasa Extreme Environment Mission Operations. The US space agency has been running the programme since 2001, using the 20m-deep Aquarius habitat as its test-bed facility.
Major Tim's expedition will be the 16th in the programme, and, weather permitting, he will "splashdown" on Monday.
The crew is led by Nasa astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, and includes Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and planetary sciences expert Steve Squyres. Prof Squyres is the principal investigator for the Mars rovers, Opportunity and Spirit.
"It's been just awesome having Steve around," Major Tim told me.
"Every morning, he opens his laptop to look at the latest pictures from Opportunity on the surface of Mars. So, first thing we get a lecture on Mars from Steve, and then we all get our asteroid briefing for Neemo. It's fantastic."
President Barack Obama has set Nasa the target of landing a crew on an asteroid in 2025, or very soon after.
To get there, the agency is building the Space Launch System, a colossal rocket capable of putting in orbit all the tonnes of equipment that will be needed on such a venture.
The astronaut vehicle itself, known as Orion, is nearing its first test flight.
But the crew will require a strategy once they get to the asteroid. As big as many of these space rocks are, they're tiny compared with planets and moons. And that means their gravitational fields will be puny. You cannot simply walk on them. One step and you'd likely lift off into space again.
Crew members would either have to anchor themselves to the asteroid or use some kind of free-floating exploration vehicle that could work as a platform to get the astronauts close to the rock.
"These are some of the big questions we're trying to answer," said Major Tim.
"We will have deep-worker submersibles with us and they will be our space exploration vehicles, with robotic arms and foot plates on them, so we can attach ourselves and explore the asteroid, taking samples - soil samples, rock samples, etc.
"Nasa also wants to know what sort of team compositions are required. Is it better with one SEV [space exploration vehicle] or two SEVs, working in pairs or as individuals? We'll be coming up with all sorts of data that will shape Nasa's asteroid mission."
Major Tim still has to make his first real spaceflight.
He is in a competitive queue at the European Space Agency.
Selected as one of six new astronaut trainees in 2009, he is now waiting for a bunk on the space station to become available to him.
This should happen in 2017 or 2019 at the absolute latest.
He will be hoping it happens sooner, of course, and has been following closely the progress of the California company SpaceX, which last month successfully sent an unmanned cargo capsule to the station.
SpaceX intends to put seats and a life-support system in its Dragon vehicle, so it can double up as an astronaut taxi.
The firm would then sell rides to Nasa, which currently has no means of its own to launch astronauts and is very restricted in the number of missions it can run to the orbiting platform.
With up to seven seats available in a Dragon, more opportunities to go into orbit are likely to open up.
"I would jump at the chance to fly in Dragon; I'd be the first to volunteer," said Major Tim.
"The SpaceX mission was a real inspiration, and has shown the way forward. It's time to let the commercial sector look after transport in low-Earth orbit, leaving Nasa free to go and explore beyond the station at places like asteroids."
New Rocket Plane to Begin Space Tourist Launches in 2014
Denise Chow - Space.com
Thrill seekers looking for the ultimate rocket ride may soon turn that dream into a reality aboard a new suborbital spaceship, a winged rocket plane slated to start launching space tourists from California and a tiny Caribbean island by 2014.
The Mojave, Calif.-based XCOR Aerospace is developing the suborbital Lynx space plane to carry paying passengers to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, to altitudes up to and exceeding 62 miles (100 kilometers). XCOR is aiming to begin operational Lynx flights from California's Mojave Spaceport in 2013 and from the Dutch-controlled island of Curacao in the Caribbean a year later, said Andrew Nelson, XCOR's chief operating officer.
XCOR officials unveiled their launch targets Thursday (June 7) during a news briefing here to announce a new partnership with Space Expedition Corporation (SXC, formerly Space Expedition Curacao), a Netherlands-based space tourism firm that will now act as the sales agent for future Lynx flights. The swanky event was held at the Park Avenue Armory, where artist Tom Sachs is currently showcasing his "Space Program: Mars" art installation on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
As part of the agreement, SXC will be responsible for selling seats aboard the Lynx space plane for flights departing from Mojave and from the picturesque island of Curacao, a territory that remains under the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
"Today, we are at the dawn of a new space age," Nelson told an audience that included officials from Curacao and the Mojave Spaceport, and Michael Lopez-Alegria, a former NASA astronaut and the current president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. "The old ways of government-designed space exploration are slowly drifting away, and a new commercial space industry is being born right before you."
XCOR's two-seat Lynx space plane is designed to carry one pilot and one passenger, making it an intimate and extremely personal journey, he added. The reusable vehicle will be capable of flying up to four flights per day, and is able to take off and land on a conventional airport runway.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the saying 'the sky is the limit' is something of the past," said Abdul Nasser El Hakim, Curacao's Minister of Economic Development. "In Curacao, we say 'the space is the limit.'"
Watchmaker Luminox also recently announced a partnership with SXC to provide special timepieces for the firm's space tourists. The watches are being developed to withstand the G-forces that will be encountered during the flight.
Virgin Galactic is expected to carry out a series of critical tests later this year and could begin flying paying customers by the end of 2013, company officials have said.
By providing lower cost suborbital flights, XCOR and SXC are hoping to make commercial spaceflight more accessible to the public, said Michiel Mol, CEO of Space Expedition Corporation. XCOR and SXC together have taken over 175 reservations from clients eager to launch aboard the Lynx spacecraft.
"It's becoming available to all," Nelson of XCOR said. "Space, in a certain era, was something you saw and you were amazed [by], but perhaps you didn't feel like you were really going to be the one to participate in. But now, we can transfer ourselves into the faces and the names and the sights that we're seeing develop in front of us. I think it's going to revolutionize the way we view space, the way we approach space, the way we create new industries."
And as the development of commercial suborbital and orbital vehicles continues at an aggressive pace, the possibilities for this burgeoning private industry are limitless, said Rick Searfoss, a former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander, and XCOR's chief test pilot.
"The world, in general, doesn't realize how quickly it will be upon us," Searfoss said. "We just don't know — we cannot imagine what this might lead to. Who knows where we might go, where we might be 20 to 30 years from now?"
A pioneer in space and on Earth
W. Patrick McCray - CNN (Opinion)
(McCray is a professor of the history of science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Visioneers: How a group of elite scientists pursued space colonies, nanotechnologies, and a limitless future.")
Recently, technology enthusiasts around the planet had the opportunity to get better acquainted with Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX, the first privately owned company to send a spacecraft to the space station.
Launched in the same manner as a Silicon Valley startup, SpaceX designed and manufactured the Dragon capsule, which successfully completed a mission with the International Space Station before splashing down into the Pacific Ocean.
I see Musk, a 40-year-old entrepreneur who made his fortune by co-founding PayPal, as a "visioneer." That is to say, he is someone who combines scientific and engineering prowess -- in his case, a degree in physics -- with an expansive view of how technology will upend traditional economic models, and has the ability to inspire others to support his work.
Musk has bold visions for the future. When he finished college, he identified three areas that could change the world. One was the Internet; another was new sources of energy; and the third was transforming our civilization in such a way so that it could expand out into the solar system.
His success with PayPal and then with Tesla Motors -- a company he started that makes high-performance electric roadsters -- pushed him to take on the challenge of SpaceX. The successful launch of Dragon was a big step toward the completion of Musk's trifecta.
SpaceX launches first private spacecraft Musk's entrepreneurial activities rest on the shoulders of previous visioneers. In the 1970s, Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill achieved celebrity status for designing and advocating free-floating space colonies as the new frontier for humanity. In 1977, when California hosted its first Space Day, O'Neill's ideas were discussed by scientists, aerospace executives and politicians, including then-Gov. Jerry Brown.
While today, such visions of the future seem fantastical -- space colonies ... really? -- they make more sense if seen in the context of their time. In O'Neill's day, fears of overpopulation, resource shortages and general eco-catastrophism permeated public discussions and popular culture as people fretted about an impending era of limits. Compared with that era's other mega-projects such as the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline, O'Neill's ideas were not so far-fetched.
Musk has inherited O'Neill's concept for the "humanization of space." But like other dot-com billionaires who make up the so-called NewSpace movement, his pursuits have a decided libertarian strain. Many visioneers champion free markets, less government, fewer regulations and profits for those who test the technological envelope. This is different from what O'Neill had in mind, which aimed mostly to benefit society at large.
Musk may be the most prominent visioneer, but he is not the only one. Recently, the New York Times profiled J. Craig Venter, the biologist-entrepreneur who is hoping to create bioengineered bacteria that can generate food and fuel for an increasingly crowded planet. Then there are others who have proposed radical geoengineering schemes, such as injecting tons of sunlight-reflecting particulates into the stratosphere as a way to address the threat of climate change.
So far, America has remained the No.1 destination for people such as Musk or Venter. As the rest of the world catches up -- think China -- and competes with us on innovation and technology, we must make sure that our country can continue to attract brilliant minds who can take speculative ideas out of the hands of sci-fi writers and technological forecasters and put them on firmer ground. The U.S. government as well as private groups like the X Prize Foundation can play an important role in stimulating and helping budding visioneers through prizes, funding or other forms of support.
For someone like Musk, the present is merely a prototype -- a provisional plan for what may become a magnificent and perhaps less limited future. Who knows, his trailblazing might just make it feasible and affordable for you to take a vacation to Mars.
The Scientific Case for Exploring the Moon
Megan Garber - The Atlantic
Science says: The lunar surface is much more awesome than you think it is.
Here are ten heavenly bodies, ranked according to their general awesomeness:
1. The sun
2. The crab nebula
3. Molecular clouds
4. Black holes
5. Venus
6. Saturn
7. An asteroid
8. A lost satellite
9. Space dust
10. The moon
While this list might not be 100 percent scientifically accurate ... still, poor Moon. It lacks the intrigue of the sun, the mystery of Mars, even the lonely metaphor of the wandering satellite.
While the moon once represented humanity's wildest technological aspirations, it's now taken a "been there, done that" quality. The last time a human set foot on the lunar surface was December. Of 1972.
A team of scientists thinks the moon deserves another shot. In a paper soon to be published in the journal Planetary and Space Science, Ian Crawford, of Birkbeck College in London, and his colleagues lay out a detailed case for amped-up lunar exploration.
First, they argue, the moon is actually a really good place to learn about the earth. "As the Earth's closest celestial neighbor the Moon retains a unique record of the inner Solar System environment under which life evolved on our planet," they write.
The moon could house as many as 200 kilograms of ancient earth matter per lunar kilometer -- an odd but rich source of data about our planet. The moon's surface also likely contains a record of solar wind flux, solar luminosity, and galactic cosmic rays as they interacted throughout the history of the solar system -- which could offer clues not only into the environment of the solar system itself, but also into the past habitability of earth.
The moon might also be an ideal spot for making astronomical observations. While we've gotten really good at making those observations from earth, across the electromagnetic spectrum, there's one section that's been inaccessible to us: the ultra low-frequency radio waves.
And the dark side of the moon offers the perfect, silent spot to make measurements -- specifically, the authors suggest, with a radio telescope that could be thousands of kilometers in diameter. "The low-frequency universe is the last uncharted part of the electromagnetic spectrum," they note, "and a lunar infrastructure would greatly benefit its exploration."
Most controversially, however, the team makes the specific argument for humans -- not just robots -- exploring the moon. For one thing, they say, it would give us valuable insight into the effects of low gravity on the human body.
That line of argument, however, is less convincing. As Tech Review points out, "a similar argument is often made about humans on the International Space Station but this work has produced little, if any, benefit for the rest of us. (Indeed the presence of humans is what makes the International Space Station profoundly unsuitable for most micro gravity experiments and astronomical observations.)"
For now, we can make a case for walking on the moon. It just might not be human feet taking the steps.
Shuttle play piece's retirement sparks real emotion
Adam Lowenstein - Florida Today
Given the strengths of our economy these days, a fitting symbol for Brevard County might be an airplane, or a cruise ship, or even a luxury yacht.
Yet the vehicle that many feel best represents Brevard, still, is the space shuttle.
I understand. The shuttle for 30 years kept thousands of our family members, friends and neighbors employed. It brought money and prestige and an identity to our narrow little stretch of Atlantic shoreline. The Space Coast! Even our area code sounds like a countdown!
Space and the shuttle are ingrained in Brevard County. Mess with either at your peril.
Just ask John Meyers. He owns nine McDonald’s restaurants in Brevard County, including one on Courtney Parkway on Merritt Island that, until recently, had a shuttle replica atop its outdoor PlayPlace.
Driving on that road, as thousands of space workers did heading to and from Kennedy Space Center on the island’s north end, you couldn’t miss it. Until you could.
Last month, Meyers took it down. The decade-old canvas and metal replica was dirty with graffiti and bird droppings and it was showing its age. And it was probably unsafe.
“As a one-of-a-kind piece, it became difficult, if not impossible, to find replacement parts that would meet McDonald's stringent safety standards, particularly within a PlayPlace for children,” Meyers offered in a written statement. “At that point, the decision was made to remove the canopy.”
Think people get angry when their drive-thru order is messed up? Now, it was as if Meyers became the person responsible for the end of the shuttle program itself.
“How heartless this owner’s decision is,” wrote Helga Roberts, a Merritt Island resident, in a letter published in FLORIDA TODAY. “I, for one, will never go there again.”
Turns out, Roberts worked at Kennedy Space Center for 32 years as an administrative assistant. (“It was amazing, just simply amazing. I loved every minute of it.”) Her late husband worked there for 20 years, primarily as a technician on the shuttle.
They moved to Merritt Island (motto: “Where dreams are launched.”) in 1967 and never left.
So yes, the space program and its shuttle mean a lot in the Roberts household. When the program ended in July, about 11 years after Roberts retired, she felt the anger and helplessness that burned in many of the workers who had just lost their jobs.
And that all bubbled forth with Meyers’ decision.
In the intervening days, she received “a very nice letter” from Meyers and, admittedly, calmed down a bit. She even said she was “a little rash” in her never-go-there-again decree.
But she still pines for that shuttle, and, really, the shuttle program.
“Our space shuttle program is finished, and here’s this replica. Kids can go to it with their parents, say, ‘What’s that, Daddy?’ and he can say, ‘I used to work on that shuttle.’ And now it’s gone,” she said in an interview late last week.
While it’s important to remember the past, noted Melissa Stains, president of the Merritt Island-based Cocoa Beach Chamber of Commerce, it is OK, and healthy, actually, for a community’s identity to evolve.
“Our port is booming, our tourism is booming, military is staking claim in our area for extended periods of time,” she said. “Honoring our past is wonderful, we don’t want to ever forget, but we have to move forward.”
Roberts, 75, will accept a new symbol for Brevard County some day, but not today.
She said, “I would like to try to hang on to the shuttle thing for a little while longer.”
Letter: Shuttle replica's removal from McDonald's upsetting
By Helga Roberts
I strongly protest the removal of the space shuttle replica from the front of McDonald’s on Merritt Island.
I called and spoke to the manager, who said it was removed because the shuttle program has ended and the replica was a health hazard for the kids. She said it was the owner’s decision to remove it.
What a slap in the face to all of us who worked in the program and loved seeing the replica in front of McDonald’s. The kids need to be reminded there was a shuttle program, that it was important to our economy, of which McDonald’s reaped its rewards.
How heartless, cruel and despicable this owner’s decision is. I, for one, will never go there again.
END
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