6/19/12 news

 
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
 
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Today: SWME Development and Testing for the Advanced Spacesuit
2.            Lessons Learned on Applying for a P.E. License in the State of Texas
3.            This Week at Starport -- Ice Cream Sundaes in Building 3 Postponed
4.            Tune in to ISS Update This Week
5.            Read All About it! Gemini IV: A Mission of Firsts
6.            Blood Drive June 19 (Ellington) and June 20 to 21 (JSC)
7.            Openings at JSC Child Care Center
8.            Register Now for Parent's Night Out to Receive Discounted Price
9.            SpaceUp Houston Free Event on Thursday
10.          JSC AED/CPR Program Home Page Web Link
11.          Feds Feed Families 2012 Kickoff
12.          TFAWS 2012 Registration is Now Open
13.          Summer Water-Bot Camps
14.          Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, June 20
15.          Confined Space Entry 8:30 a.m. and Lockout/Tagout 1 p.m. -- July 24, Building 226N, Room 174
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ”
 
-- Henry David Thoreau
________________________________________
1.            Today: SWME Development and Testing for the Advanced Spacesuit
Join us at lunchtime today as Janice Makinen and Grant Bue, engineers from the Crew and Thermal Systems Division, discuss the recent design, hardware development and testing on the Portable Life Support System (PLSS) Suit Water Membrane Evaporator (SWME). SWME provides cooling to the spacesuit liquid cooling garment and PLSS electronics by evaporating water across a membrane into the vacuum of space. As the water turns to vapor and is vented into space, the liquid is cooled and recirculated through the cooling loop.
 
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Building 5 South, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor)
 
SATERN Registration is encouraged. Click: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
 
(NOTE: Event description may be inaccurate due to bugs with new SATERN system. Rely on date info.)
 
For additional information, contact any EC5 Spacesuit Knowledge Capture point of contact: Cinda
Chullen (x38384), Juniper Jairala (281-461-5794) or Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795).
 
Juniper Jairala 281-461-5794
 
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2.            Lessons Learned on Applying for a P.E. License in the State of Texas
Ever thought about getting your P.E. license? The JSC Hispanic Employee Resource Group (HERG) invites all JSC team members to a lessons learned presentation on "Applying for a Professional Engineer (P.E.) License in the State of Texas." The presentation will be given by Jody Muniz, P.E., and will cover the following topics:
 
- Requirements and recommendations on your application and examination
- Why would I want a P.E. license?
- Why you DON'T want to wait 10 years after college to take the P.E. exam
 
Muniz will share his experience in obtaining a P.E. license today, June 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium. All JSC team members are invited to attend.
 
To add this meeting to your Outlook calendar, open and save the following link: http://www.nasa.gov/660268main_Lessons.ics
 
To learn more about the HERG, please visit: http://collaboration.jsc.nasa.gov/iierg/hisp/default.aspx
 
Hispanic ERG x42835 http://collaboration.jsc.nasa.gov/iierg/hisp/default.aspx
 
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3.            This Week at Starport -- Ice Cream Sundaes in Building 3 Postponed
Monday's JSC Today announced that ice cream sundaes would be available in Building 3 on Thursday from 2 to 3 p.m. This has been postponed to another date later this summer. Check back for more details!
 
Tomorrow is the last day to purchase Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus tickets. Prices and dates vary. Contact the Buildings 3 and 11 gift shops for details.
 
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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4.            Tune in to ISS Update This Week
Tune in this week to the International Space Station Update at 10 a.m. on NASA TV for an interview with Steven Squyres, NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) 16 crew member.
 
Today, Squyres will link in for an interview from Aquarius Base to discuss ongoing NEEMO 16 mission activities. Squyres is also a Goldwin Smith professor of astronomy at Cornell University and chairman of the NASA Advisory Council.
 
Check the latest ISS Update programming at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/update/index.html
 
If you missed the ISS Updates from last week, tune in to REEL NASA at http://www.youtube.com/user/ReelNASA to get the full videos. Or, view the videos at NASA's video gallery: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html
 
For the latest NASA TV scheduling info, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html
 
To follow along with the current NEEMO misson, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/neemo
 
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
 
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5.            Read All About it! Gemini IV: A Mission of Firsts
Gemini IV lifted off from Cape Kennedy on June 3, 1965. Most remember the flight for Ed White conducting the first American spacewalk. Also notable to JSC history -- Gemini IV was the first mission to be controlled by the newly built Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR).
 
The MOCR represented a giant leap forward for the nation's space program: 1) Was much larger than the Cape's Mercury Control Center, which had managed the Mercury flights and first few Gemini missions; 2) Featured newer and faster computers; and 3) Was surrounded by staff support rooms filled with spacecraft experts to help flight controllers during missions.
 
This historic mission marked the beginning of other "firsts" for the spaceflight program. For more information on this exciting mission, read some selected oral history interview excerpts about Gemini IV at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/special_events/GeminiIV.htm
 
JSC's History Office is a service of JSC's Information Resources Directorate.
 
JSC IRD Outreach 281-990-0007 http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/special_events/GeminiIV.htm
 
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6.            Blood Drive June 19 (Ellington) and June 20 to 21 (JSC)
Summertime typically brings a decrease in blood donations as donors become busy with activities and vacations. But the need for blood can increase due to these summer activities and the three major holidays: Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. Your blood donation can help up to three people. Please take an hour of your time to donate at our next blood drive.
 
You can donate at Ellington Field on June 19. A donor coach will be located between Hangars 276 and 135 for donations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Note the time change.)
 
You can donate at JSC from June 20 to 21 in the Teague Auditorium lobby or at the donor coach located next to the Building 11 Starport Café from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can also donate at the donor coach located in parking lot of the Gilruth Center on June 21 from 7:30 a.m. to noon. (Note the time change.)
 
Teresa Gomez x39588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm
 
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7.            Openings at JSC Child Care Center
Space Family Education, Inc. (SFEI) has openings available to dependents of JSC civil servants and contractors.
 
Immediate openings:
- One for a child currently 13 to 20 months
- Two for children currently 3 years
- Two for children currently 4 years
 
Openings available Aug. 27 for a child that will be:
- One for a child 25 to 34 months
- One for a child 3 years
- One for a child 4 years
 
Program Details:
1. Open 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. (Closed federal holidays.)
2. Competitive pricing with other comparable child cares, but SFEI includes more amenities.
3. Additional security. Badges required to get on site and an additional security code to get in the school's front door.
4. Accelerated curriculum in all classes with additional enrichment and extracurricular programs.
5. Convenience. Nearby and easy access for parents working at JSC.
6. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack are all included.
7. Video monitoring available from computers, Androids and iPhones.
 
Brooke Stephens 281-792-6031
 
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8.            Register Now for Parent's Night Out to Receive Discounted Price
Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport! We will entertain your children at the Gilruth Center with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, movie and dessert.
 
When: June 29 from 6 to 10 p.m.
Where: Gilruth Center
Ages: 5 to 12
Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by June 27. If registered after June 27, the fee is $25/ first child and $15/ additional sibling.
 
Register at the Gilruth Center front desk. Visit http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Youth/PNO.cfm for more information.
 
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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9.            SpaceUp Houston Free Event on Thursday
Join SpaceUp Houston for the third Commercial Spaceflight Panel on Thursday, June 21, at the Lunar & Planetary Institute. The event will be from 7 to 9 p.m. and is open to the public. Registration is free.
 
SpaceUp Houston is an organization that advocates the communication and inspiration of space exploration to the general public.
 
For more information, visit: http://spaceuphouston.org/commercial-spaceflight-panel-june-2012/
 
John Saiz x38864 http://spaceuphouston.org/commercial-spaceflight-panel-june-2012/
 
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10.          JSC AED/CPR Program Home Page Web Link
Have you seen the revised JSC Automated External Defibrillators (AED)/Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Program home page Web link? It's full of useful information concerning the JSC Public Access Defibrillation Program. This program gives guidelines for performing CPR and using an AED at JSC. Do you know what to do if someone has a Sudden Cardiac Arrest at JSC? Do you know the numbers to call for help? Do you know where the closest AED is in your building? Find these answers and more about AEDs and CPR at: http://sd.jsc.nasa.gov/omoh/scripts/HumanTestSupport.aspx
 
Learning to save a life is only a click away.
 
James Catrett 281-792-5728
 
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11.          Feds Feed Families 2012 Kickoff
Form a team and challenge yourself and your co-workers to help your community! The Office of the Chief Financial Officer, White Sands Test Facility (WSTF), Safety, Human Resources, Strategic Opportunities and others have already signed up. Help us meet the 50,000-pound goal for 2012 to honor JSC's 50th birthday. Proceeds will go to the Clear Lake Food Pantry, Galveston County Food Bank and multiple food pantries in the White Sands area. Individual contributions, also appreciated, can be made in the cafés and Building 1, Building 45 and Building 4S lobbies. In Houston, contact Bridget at x32335 or Karen at x47931 to sign up your team or request collection bins. At WSTF, contact Mary Burke at 575-524-5449.
 
Karen Schmalz x47931 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
 
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12.          TFAWS 2012 Registration is Now Open
The 23rd Thermal and Fluids Analysis Workshop (TFAWS), sponsored by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center and hosted by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will be held Aug. 13 to 17 at the Westin Pasadena Hotel in Pasadena, Calif.
 
Although registration is free, participants must register for planning purposes. To register, visit http://tfaws.nasa.gov/TFAWS12 and click the "Registration" button on the left-hand side of the page. The registration deadline is Tuesday, July 31.
 
Also, check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TFAWS
 
Laurie Carrillo x35831 http://tfaws.nasa.gov/TFAWS12
 
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13.          Summer Water-Bot Camps
Come join San Jacinto College Aerospace Academy at our Summer Water-Bot Camps, July 16 to 20 and July 23 to 27, for students ages 14 to 18 and 12 to 13. Students will work in teams and learn how to build an underwater robot. They will have a hands-on experience and will also enjoy fields trips to JSC and the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Staff will be available for early drop-off and late pick-up times. The cost is $250.
 
Angie Hughes x37252
 
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14.          Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, June 20
Do you need some hands-on, personal help with FedTraveler.com? Join the Business Systems, Innovation and Process Improvement Office for an Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab tomorrow, June 20, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 20, Room 204. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through Extended TDY travel processes and learn more about using FedTraveler during this informal workshop. Bring your current travel documents or specific questions that you have about the system and join us for some hands-on, in-person help with FedTraveler. If you'd like to sign up for this Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab, please log into SATERN and register. For additional information, please contact Judy Seier at x32771.
 
Gina Clenney x39851
 
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15.          Confined Space Entry 8:30 a.m. and Lockout/Tagout 1 p.m. -- July 24, Building 226N, Room 174
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0806, Confined Space Entry
The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for safe entry to and operations in confined spaces. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard 29 CFR 1910.146, "Confined Space," is the basis for this course. The course covers the hazards of working in or around a confined space and the precautions one should take to control these hazards. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
 
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0814, Lockout/Tagout
The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for the control of hazardous energy through lockout and tagout of energy-isolating devices. OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)," is the basis for this course. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
 
Use the direct links to register in SATERN.
 
Shirley Robinson x41284
 
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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:
·         11:10 am Central (12:10 pm EDT) - E31 with Fox Bus. News & American Geophysical Union
 
Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
 
HEADLINES AND LEADS
 
NASA, FAA to share space crew safety oversight
Commercial projects in spotlight
 
James Dean - Florida Today
 
As it does with passenger planes, the Federal Aviation Administration will license flights of commercial rockets and spacecraft carrying astronauts. But when NASA crews are on board, the space agency will continue to certify that the flights are safe. An agreement announced Monday outlined those roles, clarifying how the two agencies plan to share oversight of commercial crew flights to the International Space Station.
 
NASA, FAA Sign Pact on Human Spaceflight Regulation
 
Dan Leone - Space News
 
When privately operated spacecraft begin ferrying NASA astronauts to the international space station, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will license launch and re-entry but leave it to NASA to decide whether the vehicles are fit to dock with the station and carry astronauts in the first place, the heads of the two agencies said June 18 in a joint press briefing. NASA and FAA held the briefing to discuss a memorandum of understanding (MOU) they signed June 4. The document lays the foundation for developing the federal regulations that will govern crewed flights of privately operated spacecraft.
 
NASA, FAA work out spaceship rules
 
Alan Boyle - MsNBC.com's Cosmic Log
 
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration have worked out their division of labor for clearing a new generation of private-sector spaceships for liftoff — putting the aviation agency in charge of any crew-carrying spacecraft that launches and lands, but requiring the space agency's additional signoff on any missions it's paying for. The arrangement was set out under the terms of a memo signed this month. It's in line with Congress' mandate that the FAA regulate spacecraft to protect public safety, while letting spaceship companies fly private passengers at their own risk.
 
NASA & FAA Agree on Private Space Taxi Safety Rules
 
Denise Chow - Space.com
 
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will collaborate and share responsibilities for regulating future commercial spaceflights to and from the International Space Station, representatives from both agencies announced Monday. NASA administrator Charles Bolden and FAA acting administrator Michael Huerta announced today they have signed an agreement to establish licensing standards and policy for commercial missions to the space station. As the nascent private space industry continues to grow, NASA and the FAA will coordinate safety standards for government and nongovernment trips to low-Earth orbit.
 
NASA, FAA working on commercial space flight rules
 
Christopher Smith Gonzalez - Galveston Daily News
 
Commercial flights into space might be a few years away, but NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration are laying the groundwork for the licensing and regulation requirements for those flights. Heads of the two government agencies signed a memorandum of agreement that aviation administration acting Administrator Michael Huerta said provides a regulating framework and avoids conflicting sets of requirements and standards. Under the agreement, the aviation administration will license commercial space flight providers to ensure the safety of the launch and re-entry of the spacecraft.
 
NASA, FAA Collaborate On Commercial Space Travel
 
John Foley - InformationWeek
 
NASA and the FAA on Monday announced plans to work together on standards for commercial space travel, an attempt to avoid conflict and duplication of effort as private sector companies increasingly transport astronauts into low-Earth orbit and to the International Space Station. The agencies reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) based on their common, "interdependent" interests in ensuring that commercial space flights to the ISS are safe and effective. They agreed to share data and information in support of those goals.
 
NASA, FAA delineate commercial spaceflight certification
 
Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com
 
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) clarifying the certification process for commercial spaceflight. The MoU essentially delineates what had previously been unclear - that NASA would be given no responsibility to approve spaceflights unconnected to its missions. "In the case of a non-NASA mission, the FAA will still license the flight to ensure public safety, and NASA will have no involvement," says NASA administrator Charles Bolden.
 
Next Giant Leap Arrives at Kennedy Space Center on July 2, 2012
 
Mike Killian - AmericaSpace.org
 
On July 2, the main structure of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  The Orion will be delivered from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility located in New Orleans, where engineers have been busy constructing the main structure of the spacecraft. Orion’s delivery to KSC will mark a critical milestone in the preparation for its first test flight currently scheduled to take place in 2014. That first test flight, called Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), will see the Lockheed-Martin-built spacecraft thunder away from Earth atop a mammoth 24-story tall United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta-IV Heavy rocket.  The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37).
 
NASA Undersea 'Asteroid' Mission Passes Halfway Mark
 
Mike Wall - Space.com
 
Four aquanauts have spent the last week living and working beneath the waves off Florida's coast, conducting research that could help future astronauts explore an asteroid in deep space. The adventurers are living 62 feet (19 meters) underwater inside the Aquarius research station — which is about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) from Key Largo — on an undersea mock asteroid mission that began June 11. It's the 16th expedition of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations program, or NEEMO. The main goal of NEEMO 16, which wraps up on Friday, is to help NASA prepare for a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid, a key priority for the space agency. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to work toward getting astronauts to a space rock by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.
 
Florida, 2 others vie to host new SpaceX launchpad
 
Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel
 
A record-breaking mission to the International Space Station has triggered another space race back on Earth, with Florida competing against Texas and Puerto Rico for the chance to land a new launchpad for SpaceX and its ambitious line of Falcon rockets. The rivalry — already ongoing — only has intensified in the weeks since SpaceX became the first commercial company to blast a spacecraft to the station and return it safely to Earth. And though none of the rivals has made public the incentives each is offering, the numbers are certain to be in the millions of dollars.
 
Secret US spaceplane shows China the future
 
Paul Marks - New Scientist
 
China's space agency took the plaudits for successfully docking its crewed Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with its orbiting lab Tiangong-1, but the feat was slightly overshadowed by the weekend landing of the US X-37B spaceplane, which after a record-breaking orbital flight of 469 days showed just how far China has to go to catch up with advanced spacefaring nations. At around noon local time, the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre relayed live pictures of Shenzhou-9's docking on state broadcaster China Central Television. The space capsule held off at a distance of 62 kilometres from Tiangong-1 before making its docking approach just before 2pm - and once the crew had manually locked on to the latter's cruciform docking target it took only eight minutes to latch the spacecraft together safely.
 
Sally Ride, NASA’s first female astronaut, took flight 29 years ago
‘In an instant, little girls learned that even the sky wasn't the limit’
 
Helen Kennedy - New York Daily News
 
Sally Ride was the sort of trail blazer who literally blazed a trail across the sky. When the first female NASA astronaut blasted off into space on June 18, 1983, her rocket burned a path to the stars that showed women could have the Right Stuff, too. “In an instant, little girls learned that even the sky wasn't the limit,” Ride’s NASA bio says. At 31, she was also the youngest American ever in space. A Los Angeles native, Ride was a nationally ranked tennis player as a student and briefly dropped out of college to turn pro. She was back in school, earning a Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University in 1977, when she spotted a help-wanted ad in the college newspaper. It said NASA was looking for scientists to work on a new project: a reusable spacecraft to be called the Space Shuttle. It was the year NASA finally started accepting women in the astronaut training corps.
 
Kennedy Space Center's biggest exhibit yet
 
Shelley Dempsey - Australian Associated Press
 
Space travel. They tell us that soon, we'll take day trips into space and that we're not far off landing a human on Mars. Sound impossible? All these sci-fi scenarios become believable when you visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an inspiring experience, unique in the world. To learn what astronauts see and do in their daily work and the sheer guts and mental steel it must take to fly into space truly captures the imagination. And the kids might even learn something during a break from the nearby Orlando theme parks. The centre, which turns 50 in July this year and attracts 1.5 million visitors annually, will launch next year its biggest attraction yet - a $US100 million ($A100.14 million) interactive display on the retired space shuttle Atlantis, which travelled into space 33 times.
__________
 
COMPLETE STORIES
 
NASA, FAA to share space crew safety oversight
Commercial projects in spotlight
 
James Dean - Florida Today
 
As it does with passenger planes, the Federal Aviation Administration will license flights of commercial rockets and spacecraft carrying astronauts.
 
But when NASA crews are on board, the space agency will continue to certify that the flights are safe.
 
An agreement announced Monday outlined those roles, clarifying how the two agencies plan to share oversight of commercial crew flights to the International Space Station.
 
“When (the FAA licenses) a launch, they’re doing so to ensure that it doesn’t pose a hazard to the uninvolved public,” explained Jeff Foust, an industry analyst with Futron Corp. “NASA will have their safety standards to ensure that the launch vehicle also doesn’t pose a risk to the people sitting on top of it.”
 
NASA hopes to begin flying crews commercially by 2017 and is working with a group of companies to fund the development of new vehicles.
 
The agency expects to announce around mid-July the winners of its next round of seed funding to complete system designs, Bolden said. The agency plans to fund three companies, two with full awards — expected to range from $300 million to $500 million over nearly two years — and one with a partial award.
 
Monday’s announcement confirmed industry expectations for how NASA and the FAA would partner to sign off on crewed flights to the station.
 
The process will work much like it did during SpaceX’s recent unmanned demonstration flight to the outpost.
 
The FAA, which licenses commercial space missions, approved the launch and re-entry of the company’s Dragon capsule, focused on the safety of the general public.
 
NASA, meanwhile, was concerned about the Dragon’s ability to safely fly around and berth with the space station to deliver its cargo.
 
For future crewed missions, the agency has published the human-rating standards it will use to certify commercial vehicles’ safety, and it will perform flight readiness reviews before giving a “go” for launch.
 
“We are responsible for ensuring the safety of the crews when they fly on NASA missions,” Bolden said.
 
NASA will have no involvement in flights of non-NASA astronauts to private space stations or other destinations. That will be up to the FAA and the flights’ customers.
 
NASA controlled every aspect of flight during shuttle operations.
 
That’s changing now that the agency won’t own and operate station-bound vehicles.
 
“They’re not paying for the launch, they’re paying for the service,” Foust said. “They’re paying to have X thousand pounds of cargo delivered to the space station or seven astronauts sent to the space station, and more of the responsibility for how to do that falls into the lap of the commercial provider.”
 
This month, NASA and the FAA signed a five-page memorandum of understanding outlining how they would collaborate to promote safety while avoiding duplication and conflicting requirements.
 
“Working together, we will assure clear, consistent standards for the industry,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
 
NASA, FAA Sign Pact on Human Spaceflight Regulation
 
Dan Leone - Space News
 
When privately operated spacecraft begin ferrying NASA astronauts to the international space station, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will license launch and re-entry but leave it to NASA to decide whether the vehicles are fit to dock with the station and carry astronauts in the first place, the heads of the two agencies said June 18 in a joint press briefing.
 
NASA and FAA held the briefing to discuss a memorandum of understanding (MOU) they signed June 4. The document lays the foundation for developing the federal regulations that will govern crewed flights of privately operated spacecraft.
 
“This MOU is intended to support the transition to commercial transport of government and non-government passengers to low-Earth orbit in a manner that avoids conflicting requirements and multiple sets of standards,” the document states.
 
FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation is the licensing and permitting body for all U.S. commercial space transportation.
 
“On the FAA side, the licensing requirements and our assurance of public safety is the same, whether it’s a NASA mission or a pure commercial mission,” Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said. “It’s all just to maintain the safe environment during launch and reentry.”
 
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said NASA will have no jurisdiction over commercial human space transportation unless the vehicles are carrying NASA personnel or visiting NASA destinations, such as the space station.
 
“The FAA is always involved,” Bolden said during the briefing. “NASA is only involved when there is a NASA fee being paid for the service because there are NASA crew members aboard.”
 
The first privately operated, passenger-carrying spacecraft likely to reach orbit are being developed in part with NASA funding for the purpose of getting NASA astronauts to and from the international space station.
 
At least four companies are vying for funding under the third round of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program: ATK Aerospace, Magna, Utah; Boeing Space Exploration, Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems, Louisville, Colo.; and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, Calif.
 
The companies are competing for awards worth $300 million to $500 million apiece over a 21-month technology development period. NASA’s goal is to get designs for at least two competing systems, including a crew vehicle and a launcher, ready to enter production in time to begin crewed flights by 2017. The agency will pick three winners around mid-July, Bolden said during the teleconference.
 
One of those three will be funded at half the level of the other two winners, Bolden said.
 
“Two companies will get full funding at whatever level is decided based upon the amount in the NASA appropriation for commercial crew,” Bolden said. “The third company would get about half of that.”
 
This arrangement is part of a compromise NASA reached with Rep. Frank Wolf, chairman of the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee, as a condition of Wolf dropping his insistence that NASA immediately pick a single company to build an astronaut taxi system.
 
Although only three companies will be eligible for funding, NASA wants to keep “upwards of three companies” involved in the third round of the Commercial Crew Program, which is known as the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability phase.
 
In the Commercial Crew Program’s previous round, which is set to wrap up in August, NASA gave financial assistance to four companies working on crewed spacecraft. Three other companies, however, got unfunded Space Act agreements. The latter type of agreement provides access to NASA facilities, documents and technical expertise, but no NASA funding.
 
The Commercial Crew Program has encountered resistance among congressional appropriators, who have yet to appropriate anything close to the more-than $800 billion in annual funding the White House has sought for the past two years. The program got $406 million last year. This year, spending bills in the House and Senate provide $500 million and $525 million, respectively, for 2013. Wolf has agreed to fund the program at the Senate-approved level, but that will not become official until legislators in both chambers gather in conference to iron out the differences in the two spending bills.
 
While Bolden praised the compromise, he once again warned that the Commercial Crew Program will need more cash soon to meet its goal of producing a domestic astronaut transportation system by 2017. He said NASA will seek a “significant increase” in commercial crew funds in 2014.
 
“Ideally, I would say that what we want is to see the president’s [2013] request, which was the $850 million,” Bolden said during the briefing.
 
NASA, FAA work out spaceship rules
 
Alan Boyle - MsNBC.com's Cosmic Log
 
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration have worked out their division of labor for clearing a new generation of private-sector spaceships for liftoff — putting the aviation agency in charge of any crew-carrying spacecraft that launches and lands, but requiring the space agency's additional signoff on any missions it's paying for.
 
The arrangement was set out under the terms of a memo signed this month. It's in line with Congress' mandate that the FAA regulate spacecraft to protect public safety, while letting spaceship companies fly private passengers at their own risk.
 
"As it stands today, our regulatory authority is associated with the launch and re-entry itself," acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta explained today during a media teleconference. "We don't have any charter or authority to do anything beyond that, at least until 2015."
 
That's when the "fly at your own risk" mandate runs out, and it's also just about the earliest time that any of the companies developing crew-carrying spaceships will be ready to fly passengers.
 
NASA has been paying four companies — Blue Origin, the Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX — more than $400 million to develop spaceships for flying U.S. astronauts. Today, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said NASA expected to announce which companies will be involved in the next phase of the commercial crew program by mid-July. Under the terms of a compromise worked out with congressional leaders, the program will give its full support to two spaceship teams, and roughly half that level of support to a third team.
 
The companies involved in the program have generally said they'd be ready to fly their craft as early as 2015, assuming that they receive adequate support from NASA. Bolden, however, is focusing on 2017 for the resumption of U.S.-based crew launches to the International Space Station.
 
The White House requested $830 million to support the program in the next fiscal year, but during its budget deliberations, Congress has been setting aside no more than $525 million. "We will ask for a significant increase in 2014 and the other years if we are to hold to the 2017 first-flight date for commercial crew to the International Space Station," Bolden told reporters.
 
The FAA-NASA arrangement for crew-carrying vehicles builds upon the existing arrangement for cargo vehicles, exemplified by last month's successful test of SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule. In that case, SpaceX received a license from the FAA for launch and re-entry, and clearance from NASA and its space station partners for operations at the orbital outpost.
 
Going forward, the FAA will have to license all U.S. spacecraft that carry passengers, orbital as well as suborbital. As part of the regulatory process, the FAA would focus on such issues as the placement of the launch site, airspace clearance, the availability of the appropriate safety equipment, emergency plans and indemnification, Huerta said. For non-NASA flights, would-be passengers would merely have to sign an informed-consent form acknowledging that they knew the risks of spaceflight. But if NASA is involved, the space agency would be responsible for crew safety and mission assurance.
 
"Anytime we're paying for the service from a provider, NASA standards will apply," Bolden explained. "You have to understand, if this works out the way that we envision, humans will be going to space strictly for commercial purposes, whether it's tourism, or going to an orbiting laboratory. ... Every flight from here on out, because it involves humans, may not be a NASA flight."
 
Theoretically, NASA would not have any formal say over the flight of a Boeing CST-100 space capsule that's launched on an Atlas 5, heading for a Bigelow Aerospace orbital module. But because NASA is expected to be the biggest customer by far for orbital spaceflight services, the space agency would probably play a key role in the development of any private-sector orbital spacecraft developed in the U.S., even if that craft ended up occasionally going someplace other than the International Space Station. Pragmatically speaking, it's likely that NASA would be to spaceflight standards what California is to auto emission standards, or Texas is to school textbook standards.
 
In any case, the formal lines of regulatory authority are now set for the coming age of commercial spaceflight.
 
"This important agreement between the FAA and NASA will advance our shared goals in commercial space travel," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in an FAA-NASA news release. "Working together, we will assure clear, consistent standards for the industry."
 
I asked NASA spokesman Joshua Buck how NASA and the FAA would work together if NASA-funded researchers wanted to take suborbital rather than orbital flights with their experiments. Here's the emailed response:
 
"NASA follows all due diligence through its own, established safety processes to assure that payloads are safe to fly before manifesting them on a commercial vehicle. We review all safety and licensing data (where appropriate) of the commercial provider before we agree they are a safe ride provider. It is the responsibility of the commercial provider to obtain the requisite license and permits from the FAA."
 
NASA & FAA Agree on Private Space Taxi Safety Rules
 
Denise Chow - Space.com
 
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will collaborate and share responsibilities for regulating future commercial spaceflights to and from the International Space Station, representatives from both agencies announced Monday.
 
NASA administrator Charles Bolden and FAA acting administrator Michael Huerta announced today they have signed an agreement to establish licensing standards and policy for commercial missions to the space station. As the nascent private space industry continues to grow, NASA and the FAA will coordinate safety standards for government and nongovernment trips to low-Earth orbit.
 
"I'm really pleased to join FAA administrator Huerta to announce the two agencies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for how we're going to regulate safe commercial transport of government and nongovernment crews," Bolden told reporters in a news briefing.
 
The agreement helps establish ground rules for U.S. commercial spaceflights to ensure the safety of onboard crews and the public.
 
"The Obama administration recognizes the scientific, technological and economic benefits of maintaining the United States' leadership in space travel and exploration," Huerta said. "This agreement between the FAA and NASA continues and advances those vital national interests." [Now Boarding: The Top 10 Private Spaceships]
 
As part of the understanding, the FAA will distribute licenses to commercial companies provided that safety standards for their vehicle's launch and re-entry are met, Huerta explained. For flights taken by American astronauts, NASA will be responsible for overseeing the safety of the mission and crew.
 
"This allows both agencies to incorporate experience and lessons learned over the years," Bolden said.
 
The signed Memorandum of Understanding represents an important step in establishing a working legislative framework for the commercial spaceflight industry.
 
"This important agreement between the FAA and NASA will advance our shared goals in commercial space travel," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "Working together, we will assure clear, consistent standards for the industry."
 
Several private companies are building new spaceships to carry NASA astronauts and other paying passengers to the International Space Station and other planned destinations in low-Earth orbit. NASA's Commercial Crew Program aims to foster the development of these vehicles through funding awards and space act agreements.
 
The companies selected to receive funds in the third and final round of NASA's Commercial Crew Program are expected to be announced in mid-July, Bolden said.
 
The FAA will be responsible for regulating and licensing all American private companies and individuals involved in commercial space transportation to maintain a safe environment on the ground and in the national airspace during launch and re-entry, Huerta said.
 
According to agency officials, the FAA has licensed 207 successful launches to date, including two nonorbital commercial human spaceflights in 2004 and the recent launch of SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.
 
NASA, FAA working on commercial space flight rules
 
Christopher Smith Gonzalez - Galveston Daily News
 
Commercial flights into space might be a few years away, but NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration are laying the groundwork for the licensing and regulation requirements for those flights.
 
Heads of the two government agencies signed a memorandum of agreement that aviation administration acting Administrator Michael Huerta said provides a regulating framework and avoids conflicting sets of requirements and standards.
 
Under the agreement, the aviation administration will license commercial space flight providers to ensure the safety of the launch and re-entry of the spacecraft.
 
Huerta said the aviation administration would look at things such as the safety of the launch sight, appropriate contingency plans should something abnormal happen during the launch and cleared airspace.
 
“What we’re focused on is the safety of the launch and safety of the re-entry as it passes through the national airspace,” Huerta said.
 
NASA will get involved only when it is paying for the commercial flight, said Charles Bolden, NASA administrator.
 
“We are responsible for ensuring the safety of the crews when they fly on NASA missions,” he said.
 
Anytime NASA is paying for the services of a commercial space flight, the space agency’s standards will be applied, Bolden said. But in the future, not every flight into lower earth will be a NASA mission, and if NASA is not paying for the flight, it will not get involved, he said.
 
Commercial space flight companies will need to meet FAA requirements. But for now, that extends only to the safety of the launch and re-entry. Huerta said the FAA would not screen potential passengers on private space flight.
 
“Our regulatory authority is associated with the launch and re-entry itself,” Huerta said. “We don’t have any charter or authority to do anything beyond that, at least until 2015.”
 
Huerta said after 2015, the aviation administration and the commercial companies will work out any further regulations. Until then, passengers on commercial space flights will need to sign an informed consent waiver.
 
“If this works out the way we envision, humans will be going to space strictly for commercial purposes,” Bolden said.
 
NASA, FAA Collaborate On Commercial Space Travel
 
John Foley - InformationWeek
 
NASA and the FAA on Monday announced plans to work together on standards for commercial space travel, an attempt to avoid conflict and duplication of effort as private sector companies increasingly transport astronauts into low-Earth orbit and to the International Space Station.
 
The agencies reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) based on their common, "interdependent" interests in ensuring that commercial space flights to the ISS are safe and effective. They agreed to share data and information in support of those goals.
 
The agreement follows last month's launch and return of Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon to the ISS, the first commercial spacecraft to make that roundtrip. A second SpaceX flight to the ISS is scheduled for August, to be followed by a test flight of Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket later this year.
 
NASA has turned to the private sector to provide transportation services to the ISS, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 after 135 missions over 30 years. More than 60 companies are partners and suppliers to NASA's Commercial Crew Program.
 
The FAA is responsible for regulating U.S. companies involved in commercial space transportation, and it has licensed 207 commercial launches since 2004. Last month, Virgin Galactic announced that the FAA had issued an experimental launch permit to Scaled Composites for its suborbital spacecraft, SpaceshipTwo, and carrier aircraft, WhiteKnightTwo. In the spring, Virgin Galactic announced that it signed its 500th future passenger, actor Ashton Kutcher.
 
A report on the commercial space market, published recently by the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation office and the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, forecasts an average of 29.1 commercial launches annually over the next 10 years, with just over half of those being for geosynchronous orbit satellites.
 
An FAA commercial space license is required for any launch or reentry within the United States, or operations conducted by U.S. companies outside of the U.S. The agency reviews applications for public safety, environmental impact, payload, national security or foreign policy issues, and insurance. The FAA also issues experimental permits for space flight research and development.
 
NASA, FAA delineate commercial spaceflight certification
 
Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com
 
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) clarifying the certification process for commercial spaceflight.
 
The MoU essentially delineates what had previously been unclear - that NASA would be given no responsibility to approve spaceflights unconnected to its missions.
 
"In the case of a non-NASA mission, the FAA will still license the flight to ensure public safety, and NASA will have no involvement," says NASA administrator Charles Bolden.
 
Commercial missions operated on NASA's behalf will have to receive certification from the FAA. NASA's role in those flights will be to ensure crew and vehicle safety, with the ability to approve or veto any flight that endangers those assets.
 
"The MoU was primarily oriented towards commercial human spacelight," says FAA acting director Michael Huerta. "We already have processes to handle noncrewed flightwe've pretty much got that process all taken care of."
 
"As it stands today our regulatory authority is limited to the launch and reentry itself," he adds.
 
Bolden noted during the press conference that a downselect in NASA's commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap) is scheduled for "no later than mid-July or so," confirming that the agency's examination of bids is progressing at a rapid clip.
 
Next Giant Leap Arrives at Kennedy Space Center on July 2, 2012
 
Mike Killian - AmericaSpace.org
 
On July 2, the main structure of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.  The Orion will be delivered from NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility located in New Orleans, where engineers have been busy constructing the main structure of the spacecraft. Orion’s delivery to KSC will mark a critical milestone in the preparation for its first test flight currently scheduled to take place in 2014.
 
That first test flight, called Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), will see the Lockheed-Martin-built spacecraft thunder away from Earth atop a mammoth 24-story tall United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta-IV Heavy rocket.  The mission will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 37 (SLC-37).
 
Orion will orbit the Earth twice and remain attached to the upper stage of the Delta-IV rocket.  After the first orbit, the vehicle will perform a burn to reach an altitude of more than 3,600 miles – fifteen times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station and ten times higher than any human-rated spacecraft has been since 1972 when the crew of Apollo 17 visited the moon.  Orion will then detach from the Delta-IV upper stage and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at more than 20,000 miles per hour – nearly 5,000 miles per hour faster than the space shuttle.  It will then parachute gently into the Pacific Ocean off the west coast United States.
 
Orion needs to demonstrate its thermal protection system works on re-entry, enduring temperatures 2,000 degrees hotter than any manned spacecraft since the days of Apollo.  The plan is for the vehicle to ultimately be used for crewed deep-space missions on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) in the coming years.  The EFT-1 re-entry phase of the flight will mirror return flights astronauts will endure when returning from voyages beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO).
 
The EFT-1 mission will be unique in that it is the first flight in 40 years (42 years in 2014) designed to send humans out of LEO and farther out into space – to the Moon, asteroids, and eventually Mars.  Currently all commercial space ambitions are focused on just achieving LEO and providing launch services to government and private industry for LEO-related activities (such as crew and supply transportation to and from the International Space Station).  Companies such as SpaceX have expressed interest in crewed voyages beyond LEO, but vehicles for those long missions are not in any development and testing phase like the Orion is.  Private companies – with the exception of SpaceX – still need to prove they can even reach LEO safely and provide reliable ISS transport for NASA before thinking about ever going beyond LEO with crews.
 
Orion is being designed to be reusable for up to ten flights, capable of carrying four to six astronauts on missions to destinations deeper into space than any human spaceflight mission has ever been.  The EFT-1 test flight will be conducted by Lockheed-Martin Space Systems under a NASA contract, serving to check the majority of Orion’s systems and provide teams on Earth with priceless experience and testing that can only be gained from an actual space flight.  Test data from the unmanned flight will be used for additional design and development of the capsule which will ultimately fly fully operational crewed mission beyond LEO after 2020.
 
“There are people coast to coast building and developing Orion.  Just as this test will check how it all works together in space, it already has pulled that team together on the ground,” said Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer.  “Their diligence, dedication, and focus have been tremendous.  They have truly excelled, and when the vehicle for this flight moves to the launch site (KSC), they will enter the final lap toward this test.”
 
Upon arrival at Kennedy Space Center in a couple weeks, the Orion EFT-1 vehicle will begin its next round of assembly; outfitting the spacecraft for its launch in 2014.  With its launch pad only a few miles away, the spacecraft will be fully assembled and integrated on site in the 90,000 square foot Operations and Checkout Facility (O&C).  The Apollo-era building recently completed a $55 million renovation, transforming it into a state-of-the-art multi-purpose-use facility to prepare for crewed deep space missions and support NASA’s new human space flight initiatives.
 
“President Obama and Congress laid out an ambitious space exploration plan, and NASA is moving out quickly to implement it,” said NASA’s Associate Administrator for Communications David Weaver.  “This flight test (EFT-1) will provide invaluable data to support the deep space exploration missions this nation is embarking upon.”
 
A test version of Orion, the Orion Ground Test Vehicle, has been at the O&C facility since April performing pathfinding operations in preparation for the arrival of the EFT-1 Orion July 2.  The test version of Orion has already undergone rigorous tests to simulate launch and spaceflight environments at Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Facility near Denver, Colorado, and – after pathfinding operations are completed at KSC – will receive new backshell panels and head to Langley Research Center in Virginia for splash down testing at NASA’s Hydro Impact Basin.
 
The effort to get Orion, and the next generation of NASA’s human space program, going again truly is a nationwide effort.  NASA’s SLS team in Huntsville, Alabama is developing a spacecraft adaptor, or interface ring, that will be used during NASA’s future SLS missions and will be tested on EFT-1.  Last February a test model of Orion was dropped by the USAF from an altitude of 25,000 feet above Arizona to test the vehicle’s entry, descent, and landing parachutes – data which helped examine how disturbance of air flow behind the vehicle would affect the performance of Orion’s parachute system.  Personnel at the Johnson Space Center in Houston have begun preparing Mission Control for the test flight as well, putting the Shuttle Flight Control Room back to work with EFT-1 simulations and training exercises – the first operational work in the Flight Control Room since Space Shuttle Atlantis landed on STS-135 and ended NASA’s 30-year shuttle program a year ago.
 
“This flight test is a challenge.  It will be difficult.  We have a lot of confidence in our design, but we are certain that we will find out things we do not know,” Geyer said.  “Having the opportunity to do that early in our development is invaluable, because it will allow us to make adjustments now and address them much more efficiently than if we find changes are needed later.  Our measure of success for this test will be in how we apply all of those lessons as we move forward."
 
The spacecraft, at first glance, resembles the Apollo Command and Service Modules – Orion’s CSM and CM are based on those vehicles.  That, however, is where many of the similarities end.  Orion is Apollo on steroids:  its rocket launcher (SLS) is bigger and more powerful than Apollo’s Saturn-V, Orion’s Command Module (CM) is larger than Apollo’s (2.5 times the volume) and can support a larger crew for a longer time.  The Service Module (SM) will provide additional space to mount cargo and experiments in addition to providing power and fuel to the spacecraft as well as storing oxygen and water.  Orion will benefit from advances derived from the space shuttle program, featuring a “glass cockpit” and a NASA docking system similar to that which was used by the shuttle fleet.  Life support, propulsion, thermal protection, and avionics systems will be upgradeable over time as new technologies become available.
 
After the EFT-1 test flight in 2014, Orion will be put through its first integrated launch in 2017 on the first flight of NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket, the vehicle chosen to replace the now retired space shuttle fleet.  That test will put the entire integrated system that could return mankind to deep space travel into action.  Crewed missions on Orion, launched atop NASA’s SLS, are expected to take place after 2020, with the spacecraft also being available as a backup for LEO missions to and from the ISS.  Of course, these plans are dependent on NASA’s budget, which has been continuously slashed over the years by political leaders from both parties in Washington D.C.
 
NASA Undersea 'Asteroid' Mission Passes Halfway Mark
 
Mike Wall - Space.com
 
Four aquanauts have spent the last week living and working beneath the waves off Florida's coast, conducting research that could help future astronauts explore an asteroid in deep space.
 
The adventurers are living 62 feet (19 meters) underwater inside the Aquarius research station — which is about 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometers) from Key Largo — on an undersea mock asteroid mission that began June 11. It's the 16th expedition of the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations program, or NEEMO.
 
The main goal of NEEMO 16, which wraps up on Friday, is to help NASA prepare for a manned mission to a near-Earth asteroid, a key priority for the space agency. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to work toward getting astronauts to a space rock by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.
 
"We are here to do science and to understand things here on Earth before we spend large amounts of money and go out into space," NASA astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, NEEMO 16's leader, told SPACE.com in an undersea interview last Friday (June 15). "So we're learning a lot here, figuring out what works and what doesn't work before we go out into space."
 
Undersea 'spacewalks'
 
Metcalf-Lindenburger talked to SPACE.com while outside Aquarius, on a simulated spacewalk. She and the other three aquanauts — European Space Agency astronaut Timothy Peake, Japanese spaceflyer Kimiya Yui and Cornell University professor Steve Squyres — are spending a lot of time out in the water.
 
"We have a very aggressive spacewalk agenda," Metcalf-Lindenburger said. "We are doing two people out the door in the morning and two in the afternoon, which requires at least one person being the crewmember inside speaking to the spacewalkers."
 
The crewmembers' activities during NEEMO 16 focus on three core areas, NASA officials have said: dealing with communication delays, figuring out optimum crew sizes and coming up with ways to attach to an asteroid.
 
"We've looked at tethers that were tightly pulled, and we've used what we call a boom, which is basically a long pole," Metcalf-Lindenburger said. "I gotta tell you, it's a lot of fun."
 
Squyres, who is the lead scientist for NASA's Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, is also having a good time on NEEMO 16. In a recent mock spacewalk, he fastened his feet to a small submarine, then was driven around from spot to spot.
 
This technique (with a spacecraft substituting for the sub, of course) could be used to help astronauts explore an asteroid while keeping their hands free. So the exercise was a useful one — but it was also a lot of fun, Squyres said.
 
"I would be remiss if I didn't say something about the cool factor in all of this," he wrote in a NEEMO 16 blog post Sunday (June 17). "At the start of today's EVA [extravehicular activity], I was floating above the bottom, listening to the voice communications in my headset and watching for the sub. Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, I saw the lights coming toward me through the blue mist. It was like being inside a science fiction movie. And then, once we were flying about the surface — man, I've never experienced anything like it."
 
Aquarius is the world's only undersea research station, according to NASA officials. It's owned by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and managed by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
 
The research station sits on a sandy patch of seafloor next to coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. So the aquanauts share the water with lots of intriguing wildlife, including colorful reef fish.
 
"I love being out here in the water," said Metcalf-Lindenburger, who flew on the space shuttle Discovery's STS-131 mission in 2010. "Usually we're so focused when we're doing our work outside that we don't get to really appreciate the fish around us. But the fish out here this morning are just super-interesting, and it's really just a pleasure to be out here."
 
However, she stressed the serious nature of the aquanauts' work, and its potential importance to future generations of space explorers.
 
Before sending humans into deep space, "we would want to have a good plan," she said. "We're doing some of that early work, so that we'll have a good plan when we go to explore an asteroid."
 
Florida, 2 others vie to host new SpaceX launchpad
 
Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel
 
A record-breaking mission to the International Space Station has triggered another space race back on Earth, with Florida competing against Texas and Puerto Rico for the chance to land a new launchpad for SpaceX and its ambitious line of Falcon rockets.
 
The rivalry — already ongoing — only has intensified in the weeks since SpaceX became the first commercial company to blast a spacecraft to the station and return it safely to Earth. And though none of the rivals has made public the incentives each is offering, the numbers are certain to be in the millions of dollars.
 
The stakes are high: hundreds of good-paying jobs at SpaceX and supporting companies that would pop up around its operation, as well as the prestige — at a time when NASA is no longer flying its own rockets — of serving as home to the commercial space industry's most successful startup.
 
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the Internet billionaire who founded his company a decade ago in California, is expected to take full advantage of the competition.
 
As part of his victory lap following the successful return of his Dragon capsule from the space station, Musk met Wednesday with Texas Gov. Rick Perry to discuss locating a launchpad at the southernmost tip of the Lone Star State.
 
Texas officials and economic leaders have acknowledged working on an incentive package, estimated in the millions of dollars, to lure SpaceX to the city of Brownsville. And the Federal Aviation Administration, which must sign off on new launch sites, already has held a public hearing on that possibility.
 
"Please be assured that as you seek to expand the capabilities of SpaceX to launch spacecraft, whether unmanned or manned, the State of Texas stands ready to support you and the work of your talented employees who are blazing a new trail into space," Perry wrote to Musk earlier this month.
 
So far, SpaceX has not disclosed what incentives it has been offered or the timing of its decision, though Musk recently indicated that Texas might have the inside track, calling it the "lead candidate" before meeting with Perry.
 
Florida officials acknowledge the competition is keen. They're hoping to leverage the fact that SpaceX already has one launchpad at Cape Canaveral, which the company will use to launch all its NASA flights, including the dozen space-station resupply missions in its $1.6 billion contract with the agency. Any future crew flights would also be launched from there.
 
But SpaceX officials said the one Florida pad isn't enough to handle both its government work and flights for commercial customers.
 
"Our manifest is growing quickly, and we will need an additional launch site," said Kirstin Brost Grantham, the company's spokeswoman.
 
SpaceX recently inked a deal with Intelsat, a major satellite operator, for a future launch aboard a massive new rocket that is still under development. And its manifest already shows more than a half-dozen commercial flights through 2014 in which SpaceX will carry satellites to orbit.
 
Florida officials also note they have a track record of helping the company. Space Florida, the state's aerospace booster, has invested more than $8.5 million so far to help establish the company at Cape Canaveral.
 
Frank DiBello, head of Space Florida, said the state intends to be "aggressively competitive" in landing the new launchpad — by offering financial incentives; one offer under consideration is converting a pad formerly used by the space shuttle at Kennedy Space Center into a facility for SpaceX.
 
DiBello said he's also making a broader argument, that keeping its operations in one place would enable SpaceX to simplify its supply chain and lower its costs.
 
"We are going to try and make the case with those things that directly impact his business model and ease of operations," he said.
 
DiBello said he's also trying to convince Musk to build a facility in Florida to reprocess the engines of his Falcon rockets. SpaceX hopes to eventually develop technology that would allow its rocket stages to steer themselves back to Earth to be used again, which can drive down costs.
 
Still, DiBello admitted that Florida faces one obstacle that has no immediate solution. The Air Force and NASA already use Cape Canaveral for launches — of government satellites and space probes — and SpaceX at times could be forced to wait its turn until the range is clear.
 
"There is only so much flexibility they can have with others on the range," DiBello said.
 
Considering that Musk has designed his company to be as autonomous as possible, having to wait for a launch window might be a deal breaker when compared to remote locations in Texas and Puerto Rico.
 
Indeed, Puerto Rican officials are making geography a core argument in their pitch.
 
José Pérez-Riera, the island's secretary for economic development and commerce, said Puerto Rico has been talking with SpaceX for more than a year about potential sites on the east coast.
 
Pérez-Riera said Puerto Rico is closer to the equator than Cape Canaveral or Brownsville, which means SpaceX rockets would use less fuel (and thus cost less to launch to orbit) because rockets get more of a "boost" from Earth's rotation near the equator.
 
He said Puerto Rico could provide significant tax breaks and other incentives for SpaceX — for the same reason that Texas and Florida are crafting offers.
 
"It would put Puerto Rico on the map for this budding industry," he said.
 
Secret US spaceplane shows China the future
 
Paul Marks - New Scientist
 
China's space agency took the plaudits for successfully docking its crewed Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with its orbiting lab Tiangong-1, but the feat was slightly overshadowed by the weekend landing of the US X-37B spaceplane, which after a record-breaking orbital flight of 469 days showed just how far China has to go to catch up with advanced spacefaring nations.
 
At around noon local time, the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre relayed live pictures of Shenzhou-9's docking on state broadcaster China Central Television. The space capsule held off at a distance of 62 kilometres from Tiangong-1 before making its docking approach just before 2pm - and once the crew had manually locked on to the latter's cruciform docking target it took only eight minutes to latch the spacecraft together safely.
 
They didn't hang around: shortly afterwards, all three crew - commander Jing Haipeng plus astronaut Liu Wang and China's first woman in space, Liu Yang - were all pictured inside the space laboratory and smiling broadly as they stretched their legs in zero-g. They will spend the rest of their two week mission conducting "scientific experiments and technical tests" - though compared to the ISS (and even the now deorbited Mir) Tiangong-1's bare, padded interior looks surprisingly devoid of instruments.
 
Not much is known about Tiangong-1's purpose beyond its claimed role as a testbed for docking systems for larger space station modules that will fly later this decade. That lack of knowledge has fuelled speculation that the US Air Force's X-37B spaceplane, which was loitering in various orbits after being launched in March 2011, was spying on the space lab. 
 
This Boeing-built spaceplane, roughly one quarter the size of the space shuttle, is equally mysterious. It flies to orbit on a regular rocket and when there deploys a solar array that gives its sensors the power they need for extended missions. It also has enough propellant to fire thrusters that make small changes to its orbit in a bid to foil surveillance. The vehicle re-enters the atmosphere just like the shuttle but lands entirely autonomously, making it a space drone.
 
At no point has the USAF revealed the craft's purpose: in addition to spacecraft surveillance, it could deploy a robot that repairs (or disables) satellites in orbit, say some, while at the darker end of the spectrum of possibilities - it was a DARPA project in its early days - it could carry a warhead, using its drone homing capability to provide surprise precision strike from orbit.
 
But whatever it is for, the X-37B seems to be a triumph of spacecraft reusability, the holy grail of latter-day western spaceflight. In December 2010, the first X-37B (called OTV-1) landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California after a 220-day mission, its nose still glowing in infrared footage with the residual heat of its incandescent re-entry. Now that mission time has been more than doubled by the second vehicle which landed on 16 June: OTV-2 managed an astonishing 469-days in orbit.
 
In geopolitical terms, and at a time of major cost pressures, developing viable reusability like this is key. It is the major technology driver for SpaceX, for example, the first firm to fly a commercial cargo flight to the ISS and which is now converting that technology for crewed missions. Boeing says the X-37B is designed to develop "reusable space vehicle technologies that could become key enablers for future space missions". It's design is scalable, too, so larger versions could be made to carry astronauts.
 
So while China's achievement today is impressive, it's on the trailing edge of spaceflight technology: the US and Russia docked with their own orbital space stations in the early 1970s - and even with each other in Apollo and Soyuz capsules in 1975. So its congratulations to the Chinese space agency - but the landing of the X-37B only serves to show them how far they have to go.
 
Sally Ride, NASA’s first female astronaut, took flight 29 years ago
‘In an instant, little girls learned that even the sky wasn't the limit’
 
Helen Kennedy - New York Daily News
 
Sally Ride was the sort of trail blazer who literally blazed a trail across the sky.
 
When the first female NASA astronaut blasted off into space on June 18, 1983, her rocket burned a path to the stars that showed women could have the Right Stuff, too.
 
“In an instant, little girls learned that even the sky wasn't the limit,” Ride’s NASA bio says.
 
At 31, she was also the youngest American ever in space.
 
A Los Angeles native, Ride was a nationally ranked tennis player as a student and briefly dropped out of college to turn pro.
 
She was back in school, earning a Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University in 1977, when she spotted a help-wanted ad in the college newspaper.
 
It said NASA was looking for scientists to work on a new project: a reusable spacecraft to be called the Space Shuttle. It was the year NASA finally started accepting women in the astronaut training corps.
 
Of 8,000 applicants, only 35 were chosen and just six were women. Their very presence revolutionized NASA.
 
“Out of roughly 4,000 technical employees at the Johnson Space Center, I think there were only four women, so that gives you a sense of how male the culture was,” Ride later said in an interview for the Academy of Achievement.
 
In 1983, after working on two previous missions, she became the first American woman tapped to go to space, part of the crew of five assigned to the Space Shuttle Challenger.
 
Her flight was the seventh shuttle mission and Challenger’s second trip into space.
 
Ride was not the first woman in space by a long shot: the USSR’s Valentina Tereshkova preceded her by exactly 20 years and two days.
 
But her trip was a sensation in the United States.
 
There were “Ride, Sally, Ride” bumper stickers, a flood of magazine covers and blanket TV coverage — not all of it flattering.
 
One male reporter asked her, “Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?” Others wanted to know if she’d wear a bra or makeup in space. Johnny Carson joked that the flight was delayed so Ride could find a purse to match her shoes.
 
The one person who wasn’t really impressed with all the Sally Ride hoopla was Sally Ride, who was so busy training she didn’t pay attention.
 
“I don't think I appreciated how much of a trailblazer I was for women and how much women would look up to me as a role model and the things that I had done until after my first flight, after I landed,” she said.
 
“I wasn't face to face with women until I came back from my flight, and then it hit home pretty hard how important it was to an awful lot of women in the country.”
 
Ride was also still a newlywed when she went to space: she had married fellow astronaut Steve Hawley a year earlier. The marriage did not last.
 
During Ride’s 6-day mission, the STS-7 crew deployed two communications satellites, collected research on a number of scientific experiments and orbited the Earth 97 times.
 
The following year, Ride rocketed back to space, again on Challenger.
 
She was training for her third mission when Challenger blew up in January 1986, killing everyone on board.
 
Ride was on a passenger plane when the pilot announced the terrible news. She later told AARP Magazine that she got out her NASA badge and went to the cockpit so she could listen to radio reports about the fallen shuttle.
 
Ride served on the board that investigated the explosion, a role she revisited in 2003 when Columbia exploded on reentry.
 
She retired from NASA in 1987 to return to academia, teaching at Stanford, her alma mater, and then UC San Diego.
 
Ride has written five science books for children and started Sally Ride Science in 2001, which creates entertaining science programs for elementary and middle school students.
 
Her legacy is plain in how little fuss was made when NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman spent 159 days at the International Space Station last year. The relatively unknown Coleman is the latest of 48 American women to leave earth’s atmosphere and reach for the stars.
 
Kennedy Space Center's biggest exhibit yet
 
Shelley Dempsey - Australian Associated Press
 
Space travel. They tell us that soon, we'll take day trips into space and that we're not far off landing a human on Mars.
 
Sound impossible? All these sci-fi scenarios become believable when you visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, an inspiring experience, unique in the world.
 
To learn what astronauts see and do in their daily work and the sheer guts and mental steel it must take to fly into space truly captures the imagination.
 
And the kids might even learn something during a break from the nearby Orlando theme parks.
 
The centre, which turns 50 in July this year and attracts 1.5 million visitors annually, will launch next year its biggest attraction yet - a $US100 million ($A100.14 million) interactive display on the retired space shuttle Atlantis, which travelled into space 33 times.
 
"Visitors will be able to view the orbiter up close and see the story of the 30-year Space Shuttle Program, including construction of the International Space Station (ISS) and the Hubble Space Telescope," says centre spokeswoman Andrea Farmer.
 
To mark its 50th year, the centre is offering special tours and discounts, so this is a good year to go.
 
Spending a whole day at the Kennedy Space Center is easy - for kids and adults alike - with up to a dozen different activities.
 
You can book lunch with an astronaut for an extra fee. Or train like an astronaut in a special half-day session, where you take the helm in mission control.
 
A normal day ticket, however, will keep the kids busy for hours. In the Imax theatres, you can watch a 3D movie shot in space, where astronauts swim through the air weightless. And sleep standing up and have slow motion food fights with popcorn.
 
Once aboard the NASA Space Shuttle Simulator ride, you can feel what the astronauts feel as they blast off, complete with all the shudders and mock flames outside. Strap in for the ride of your life as a voice counts down to blast off.
 
"The simulator was the best thing all day," said our nine-year-old son Jack. "But I also liked that the rockets were so big. There were some that were huge, a lot bigger than I thought they'd be."
 
Yes, perhaps the most astonishing sight is that of the largest rocket ever made, the enormous 111-metre long Saturn V rocket - which is so huge and heavy, you marvel at how it ever got off the ground for the Apollo missions.
 
Then there's the guided tour of the eight real rockets in the "rocket garden", used in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
 
Guests can also take a bus tour to see the Cape Canaveral launch pads, view a launch mission in a control room or tour the massive Vehicle Assembly Centre, where they built the rockets.
 
For that wow factor in souvenirs, the best thing to take away for $US20 is a photo of the whole family floating weightless in space. It's only a clever mock-up, but it's really cool.
 
At the Exploration Space Centre, junior explorers can land a lunar module on the Moon using a computer and learn how 12 astronauts have walked on the Moon, after performing 160 spacewalks in training.
 
Then there's the Astronaut Encounter, where visitors can hear an astronaut talk, or the Astronaut Hall of Fame, which displays astronaut memorabilia from legends such as Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon in 1969.
 
You can relive the moon landing at the centre and remember the awful 1986 Challenger and 2003 Columbia disasters.
 
Twenty-four astronauts have died since 1958 in more than 100 manned launches and more than 300 men and women have journeyed into space for NASA.
 
The Kennedy Space Centre focuses on the past 50 years of space travel, but also on the future, where private operators such as Space-X will refuel the space station.
 
NASA is also now working on landing a human on Mars. US President Barack Obama says NASA will send humans to orbit Mars by the mid-2030s, adding: "A landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it."
 
So, what of space travel for non-astronauts? Anyone can book a day trip into space on the Virgin Galactic website, and experience six minutes of weightlessness during the trip.
 
But it will cost you $US200,000 and despite test flights taking place, there are no definite announcements on timing. Will the day trips ever get off the ground?
 
Judging from what has happened in the past 50 years, the possibilities seem nothing short of limitless.
 
END
 
 


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