Happy Friday everyone and have a great and safe weekend.
Friday, June 29, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. See the Expedition 31 Crew Arrive Home on NASA TV
2. Building 30 Mission Control Center Security Office is Moving Temporarily to Building 110
3. JSC Features and Roundup Readership Contest Winners
4. Family Space Day at the George Observatory
5. Recent JSC Announcements
6. The JSC Safety Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
7. Your Opinion Matters
8. Crane Operations & Rigging Safety Refresher ViTS: Aug. 10, 7:30 a.m.
9. Scaffold Users Seminar ViTS: Noon, Aug. 10
10. Presentation Skills Course Offering
11. General Industry Safety & Health - Aug.13 to 17, Gilruth Longhorn Room
12. Celebrate 50 years of JSC Co-ops on July 25
13. System Safety Workshop Class August 7 to 9, JSC Building 226N, Room 174
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ I want to do it because I want to do it. ”
-- Amelia Earhart
________________________________________
1. See the Expedition 31 Crew Arrive Home on NASA TV
NASA Television will cover the July 1 return of three crew members who have called the International Space Station home for more than six months.
Expedition 31 crew members Don Pettit of NASA, Oleg Kononenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency are headed back to Earth after spending 193 days in space and 191 days aboard the space station. They are scheduled to land their Soyuz TMA-03M spacecraft in southern Kazakhstan at 3:14 a.m. on July 1.
Coverage on NASA TV for Expedition 31's return to Earth begins at the following times:
Friday, June 29
6:35 p.m. - Live Expedition 31/32 change of command ceremony.
Saturday, June 30
8:15 p.m. - Live Soyuz TMA-03M crew farewell and hatch-closure coverage (hatch closure scheduled at 8:40 p.m.).
11:30 p.m. - Live Soyuz TMA-03M undocking coverage (undocking scheduled at 11:48 p.m.)
Sunday, July 1
2 a.m. - Live Soyuz TMA-03M deorbit burn and landing coverage (deorbit burn scheduled at 2:19 a.m., landing scheduled at 3:14 a.m.).
5 a.m. - Video file of the Soyuz TMA-03M landing and post-landing activities.
4 p.m. - Video file of the Soyuz TMA-03M landing and post-landing activities, including the return of Kononenko to Chkalovsky Airfield near Star City.
JSC employees with wired computer network connections can view NASA TV using onsite IPTV on channels 404 (standard definition) or 4541 (HD) at http://iptv.jsc.nasa.gov/eztv/ or on channel 204 here: http://mcs.jsc.nasa.gov/Multicasts4.aspx
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.
For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
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2. Building 30 Mission Control Center Security Office is Moving Temporarily to Building 110
The Building 30 Mission Control Center (MCC) Security will be getting a renovation. The office will be closed in the MCC main lobby from July 4 through end of Sept. 2012.
Mission Operations Directorate (Buildings 30, 9, 5) badging (escort required, official visitors, etc.) will now be handled through Building 110 Security Office, located at the front Gate, until renovations are complete.
For more information, call the Security Office at x32119.
Tiffany Sowell x32119 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/js/js4/external/badpro.cfm
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3. JSC Features and Roundup Readership Contest Winners
The winner of the June 2012 JSC Features Readership Contest drawing is: Wanda Norris
What happened on June 3, 1965?
*The correct answer:
Gemini IV lifted off from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Kennedy on June 3, 1965, with astronauts James A. McDivitt and Edward H. White.
The winner of the Roundup Readership Contest drawing is: Simon Halbur
What device "could have a major impact on human health, particularly in developing countries and other hard-to-reach regions" and "would also be a convenience for recreational uses in campgrounds, cabins or on boats?"
*The correct answer:
Solar-powered refrigerator
Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all contest participants and readers. The next contest will post after publication of the July Roundup. Don't be a stranger, and don't be shy! Join the fun. You could be the next winner of the JSC Features and Roundup readership contest!
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/jscfeatures/
Neesha Hosein x27516
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4. Family Space Day at the George Observatory
The Challenger Learning Center at the George Observatory is holding a Family Space Day that is open to the public on Saturday, July 14, from about 3 to 8 p.m.
There will be various types of rockets and robots available to play with along with other activities.
For purchase are tickets to see "We Choose Space" in the Discovery Dome and a Challenger Center Mission to the Moon!
Challenger Center Mission tickets may be purchased for $10 a person online at http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404&Itemid=427
Discovery Dome tickets will be available at the Gift Shop for $3 a person.
After enjoying the day in space, stay for the evening and look at the night sky through our telescopes!
George Observatory is located in the heart of Brazos Bend State Park. Admission to the park is $7 for adults, and kids under 12 are free.
Megan Hashier 281-226-4179 http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404&Ite...
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5. Recent JSC Announcements
Please visit the JSC Announcements Web Page to view the newly posted announcements:
12-016: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Program Integration follow-on Contract
12-017: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for the Environmental Compliance and Operations Contract at the White Sands Test Facility
Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx
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6. The JSC Safety Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
When you hear the alarm, don't scream and shout. Know your fire evacuation route! Congratulations to July 2012 "JSAT Says..." winner Fred Gimenes, JSC-IC/ITAMS. Any JSAT member (all JSC contractor and civil servant employees) may submit a slogan for consideration to JSAT Secretary Reese Squires. Submissions for August are due by Monday, July 9. Keep those great submissions coming. You may be the next JSAT Says Winner!
Reese Squires x37776 \\jsc-ia-na01b\JIMMS_Share\Share\JSAT\JSAT Says\JSAT Says 07-2012.pptx
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7. Your Opinion Matters
We encourage you to visit the newly created Employee Viewpoint Resources web page at the link below, watch the new "It Matters" video, read the results from last year's Employee Viewpoint Survey, and see what JSC is already doing based on previous responses.
And for our civil servant workforce we'd like to remind you if you haven't done so yet to please take about 30 minutes to share your thoughts on the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. The link to the survey is contained in an email sent to you recently by the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. Center management uses JSC and directorate-level results to continually work on making JSC a better workplace.
Paul Cruz x31158 https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/jsc_human_capital/294/emp...
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8. Crane Operations & Rigging Safety Refresher ViTS: Aug. 10, 7:30 a.m.
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0028 - This course serves as a refresher in overhead crane safety and awareness for operators, riggers, signalmen, supervisors and safety personnel and to update their understanding of existing Federal and NASA standards and regulations related to such cranes. Areas of concentration include: general safety in crane operations, testing, inspections, pre-lift plans, and safe rigging. This course is intended to provide the classroom training for re-certification of already qualified crane operators, or for those who have only a limited need for overhead crane safety knowledge.
Registration in SATERN is required.
Shirley Robinson x41284
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9. Scaffold Users Seminar ViTS: Noon, Aug. 10
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0316: This four-hour course is based on OSHA CFR 1910.28 and 1926.451, requirements for scaffolding safety in the general and construction industries. During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely on scaffolds including standards, terminology and inspection of scaffold components, uses of scaffolds, fall protection requirements, signs and barricades, etc. Those individuals desiring to become "competent persons" for scaffolds should take the three-day Scaffold Safety course, SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0312. This course will be primarily presented via the NASA target audience: Safety, Reliability, Quality, and Maintainability Professionals; and anyone working on operations requiring the use of scaffolds.
Registration in SATERN is required.
Shirley Robinson x41284
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10. Presentation Skills Course Offering
Need to improve your public speaking skills? As part of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Subject Matter Expert course series, Steven Bockmiller and Peter Layshock will lead a Presentations Skills session where you will learn how to confidently and effectively deliver presentations in a way that will leave the audience informed and impressed. This course will focus on securing the confidence to effectively present to all levels of the organization and will include presentation delivery, content and design. The course is scheduled on Thursday, July 12, from 1 to 2 p.m. in Building 45, Room 251. You can participate via WebEx also. Please register in SATERN via one of the links below or by searching the catalog for the course title.
Class:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
WebEx:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Mary A. Plaza x41048
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11. General Industry Safety & Health - Aug.13 to 17, Gilruth Longhorn Room
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-501:This course is intended to provide instruction on general industry safety and health topics at the introductory level. Examples of topics include an introduction to OSHA standards, lockout/tagout, confined space electrical safety and hazard communications. CFR 1910, Occupational Safety and Health Standards, is the primary source document for this course. NASA Headquarters level safety documentation and NASA mishap examples and experience have been integrated into the OSHA-provided course material. A 30-hour General OSHA card will be issued. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit.
Registration in SATERN is required.
Shirley Robinson x41284
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12. Celebrate 50 years of JSC Co-ops on July 25
Are you a current or former NASA Co-op? Please join us for the 50th Anniversary Celebration for the NASA/JSC Co-op Program at the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom July 25th, 4:30-7:00 pm. There will be speakers, refreshments, heavy hors d'oeuvres, fun activities, and nostalgia. Tickets are $15 and will be sold at the Building 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops as well as the Gilruth Front Desk starting next Monday, 7/1. Tell all your NASA Civil Servant (former or current) Co-op friends! Limited to 250 guests. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/coop50th for a questionnaire about your time as a co-op!
Randy Eckman x48230
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13. System Safety Workshop Class August 7 to 9, JSC Building 226N, Room 174
This course teaches the fundamentals of hazard recognition and analysis for hardware and operations. Basic hazard concepts and the basics of the analytical process are stressed. Types and techniques of hazard analysis are addressed in enough detail to give the student a working knowledge and provide a basis for continued refinement of analytical skills. Extensive use of in-class workshops and group exercises allow hands-on practice in techniques discussed. Note: students who have attended SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0002 System Safety Fundamentals should not attend this course. Attendees should arrive prior to 8 a.m. to be ready to start class at 8 a.m. SATERN registration is required. Contractors note: You need to update your SATERN profile with current email, phone, supervisor and NASA organization code your contract supports prior to registering to speed approval process. Class is 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
Polly Caison x41279
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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 SOYUZ TMA-03M LANDING COVERAGE:
Today
6:35 pm Central (7:35 EDT) – Expedition 31/32 Change of Command Ceremony
Saturday
· 8:15 pm Central (9:15 EDT) – Exp 31 farewells & hatch closure (closes at ~8:40 CDT
· 11:30 pm Central (12:30 am Sunday EDT) – undocking coverage (undocks 11:48 CDT)
Sunday
· 2 am Central (3 EDT) – TMA-03M deorbit burn & landing coverage (burn at 2:19 CDT)
· 3:14 am Central (4:14 EDT) – LANDING targeting southern zone NE of Dzezkazgan
Ø Expedition 31 & Soyuz TMA-03M Commander Oleg Kononenko
Ø Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers
Ø Flight Engineer Don Pettit
· 5 am Central (6 EDT) – Video File of Expedition 31 Landing & Post- Landing Activities
· 4 pm Central (5 EDT) – Video File of Soyuz TMA-22 landing and post-landing highlights:
Ø Interviews with Flight Engineers Kuipers & Pettit
Ø Return of Kononenko to Chkalovsky Airfield near Star City
Human Spaceflight News
Friday, June 29, 2012
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returns to Earth after successful docking tests
William Harwood - CBS News
China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying two men and the first Chinese woman to fly in space, returned to Earth Friday after an ambitious flight to a prototype space station module, plunging back into the atmosphere and descending under a large parachute to a jarring touchdown in Inner Mongolia. The re-entry was carried live on Chinese television, with commentary, shots of the crew in the cramped descent module and views of the spacecraft's fiery re-entry plume as it streaked across the sky on a steep northeasterly descent toward the landing zone.
Chinese crew returns to Earth after space station test flight
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft parachuted to a jolting rocket-assisted landing in Inner Mongolia on Friday, safely returning three astronauts to Earth after nearly 13 days in orbit. Landing occurred at around 0202 GMT (10:02 p.m. EDT; 10:04 a.m. Beijing time) in Siziwang Banner, a county in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Commander Jing Haipeng and crewmates Liu Wang and Liu Yang, China's first female space flier, were helped from the capsule about one hour later. The astronauts were placed in chairs and carried nearby for a photo opportunity. All three crew members appeared healthy and good spirits, flashing smiles and waving to the recovery team.
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka to take over ISS command
Itar-Tass
Power transfer will take place aboard the International Space Station Saturday. The ceremony to turn over the command from Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko to his fellow countryman Gennady Padalka will begin at 7:35 pm Friday EDT. The latter will be in command of the station until his return to Earth, planned for late September. Together with Padalka, Russian Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba will work aboard the station until the arrival of the next crew, a source at the Mission Control Centre based near Moscow told Itar-Tass. Current ISS Crew 31 commander Kononenko is planned to end his more than six-month-long orbital mission on July 1, when aboard Soyuz TMA-03M he will return to Earth together with his two colleagues American Donald Pettit and Dutchman Andre Kuipers.
NASA upgrading Space Station to boost research
Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week
NASA has plans to upgrade the International Space Station (ISS) in the months ahead to make it more efficient as a research laboratory. With assembly of the U.S. portion of the lab completed and the U.S.-side crew working to its planned average capacity of 35 hr. a week collectively spent on research, efforts are under way to improve communications links that scientists on the ground can use to help astronauts run their experiments. Also on the agenda is new hardware to take advantage of the coming availability of commercial cargo deliveries to the orbital lab.
Medical, scientific breakthroughs via the ISS
Amy Svitak - Aviation Week
Since the International Space Station (ISS) first became habitable in 2000, researchers have been using it to study the impact of the near-zero-gravity environment, making new discoveries in the life sciences, biomedicine and materials science that are spurring development of ground-breaking high-tech spinoffs on Earth. In Europe, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics are using plasma—electrically charged gas—to develop tools that can zap drug-resistant bacteria and viruses that cause infections in hospitals, where the Multiple-Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteria kills 37,000 people each year and affects more than 150,000 patients, adding about €380 million ($488 million) in extra costs to EU healthcare systems.
Space Station Science at a Critical Point, NASA Says
Stephanie Pappas - LiveScience.com
It's time to get serious about science in space, and the International Space Station is the perfect place to start, NASA officials said Tuesday. "We are in a position in space research and space exploration where we have to push the ball and advance forward or we're about ready to retreat from space," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a crowd of researchers here at the first annual ISS Research and Development Conference.
ATK makes progress on Liberty launch vehicle development
Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com
The ATK Liberty launch vehicle development effort is making steady progress, completing a software milestone and tests on the second stage fuel tanks. ATK has completed the software technical interface meeting (TIM), a gathering with NASA to finalise software development plans. The software must act as a bridge between existing software systems that control the ATK-built solid-fuel lower stage, the Astrium-built Vulcain 2 upper stage and ATK's composite-structure space capsule.
SpaceX Moves Ahead With Merlin 1D Full-Duration Firing
Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org
Riding the triumphant coattails of last month’s Dragon demo flight to the International Space Station – the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) 2+ mission – SpaceX has successfully concluded a full-duration firing of its new Merlin 1D engine, destined for use aboard the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy vehicles. The test occurred at the company’s Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, ahead of current plans for the engine’s debut, sometime next year.
Shuttle logistics depot to be taken over by Craig Technologies
James Dean - Florida Today
A Cape Canaveral facility with a long history serving the space shuttle program will remain open under new management, preserving a local manufacturing capability and expanding its operations beyond the space industry. Craig Technologies will take over the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot on Astronaut Boulevard and maintain roughly 1,600 pieces of NASA equipment housed there, the company and space agency confirmed Thursday. Starting Jan. 1, the facility operated for years by United Space Alliance will become the new headquarters for Melbourne-based Craig Technologies, which will use the equipment on loan from NASA to bolster a recently launched machine and tool division.
NASA says there are no plans for human spaceflight cutbacks at Glenn
John Mangels - Cleveland Plain Dealer
A NASA official reasserted Thursday that the agency does not intend to get rid of human space flight workers at Cleveland's Glenn Research Center, despite a document obtained by NASA's former administrator suggesting such plans were under consideration. The one-page chart given to reporters came from Michael Griffin, who ran NASA during George W. Bush's presidency, and shows that the agency could save $216 million between 2013 and 2016 by eliminating 244 human space flight jobs at Glenn and 825 similar positions at seven other NASA centers. NASA press secretary Lauren Worley said the chart was part of a budget-planning exercise conducted by mid-level staff, and that senior NASA leadership has "no intention of approving the Glenn Research Center recommendations contained in the pre-decisional staff document."
A giant leap for Guju food!
Sunita Williams may carry Amdavadi delicacies into outer space
India Today
Gujarati food is set to go where no Indian food has gone before. US-born Indian origin astronaut Sunita William is likely to carry delicacies from her ancestral state's cuisine on her forthcoming mission into space. Sunita's family, which is based in Ahmedabad, claims that she is fond of Gujarati sweets and samosa. Her uncle, Dinesh Raval, a local Congress leader, who is visiting US early next month would carry some of these homemade sweets so that the astronaut can carry the same with her.
How Astronauts Train at the Bottom of the Sea
Katharine Gammon - Popular Science
Since 2001, planners at NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) program have been sending people to live in Aquarius, an underwater laboratory three and a half miles south of Key Largo, Florida. Last month, during NEEMO’s 16th mission, three astronauts lived there for 12 days, testing strategies for future asteroid expeditions, evaluating the best spacewalking techniques, and planning how to sample rocks and soil.
Learning About Life on Mars, via a Detour to Mexico
Karla Zabludovsky - New York Times
Studying Mars usually involves tilting one’s head up toward the heavens, but not here in the Chihuahuan Desert, where the vast, scorching plain is so inhospitable — and so Mars-like — that scientists seeking insight into that distant planet look down at their feet. Largely arid and extremely hostile, Cuatro Ciénegas is inhabited by organisms able to survive on few nutrients, high salinity, soaring temperatures and high ultraviolet radiation. Scientists say such an environment resembles that of Mars billions of years ago. And the gypsum dunes in the valley, blindingly white in the afternoon sun, are not unlike the Gale crater on present-day Mars, where NASA’s Curiosity rover is scheduled to land in August, scientists say.
Crowd-funded space telescope to spy dangerous space rocks
Brian Vastag - Washington Post
A former NASA astronaut worried about asteroids smashing into Earth is launching a crowd-funded effort to build a space telescope for spotting dangerous space rocks. Plans are for the telescope, called Sentinel, to launch in 2017 or 2018, drift toward Venus and then spend 51 / 2 years surveying the inner solar system as it orbits the sun. The telescope’s unblinking eye will spot the warm glow of asteroids larger than about 100 feet across — large enough to destroy a city. The mission is designed to give earthlings a head start of several years — or decades — to prepare a mission to deflect any threatening asteroids.
Asteroid hunters want to launch private telescope
Alicia Chang - Associated Press
Who will protect us from a killer asteroid? A team of ex-NASA astronauts and scientists thinks it's up to them. In a bold plan unveiled Thursday, the group wants to launch its own space telescope to spot and track small and mid-sized space rocks capable of wiping out a city or continent. With that information, they could sound early warnings if a rogue asteroid appeared headed toward our planet. So far, the idea from the B612 Foundation is on paper only. Such an effort would cost upward of several hundred million dollars, and the group plans to start fundraising. Behind the nonprofit are a space shuttle astronaut, Apollo 9 astronaut, former Mars czar, deep space mission manager along with other non-NASA types.
Ex-astronauts plan to map near-Earth asteroids
David Pearlman - San Francisco Chronicle
Two veteran astronauts with faraway dreams announced in San Francisco on Thursday they plan to send a satellite around the sun to map the solar system's near-Earth asteroids and warn of any threats to our home planet. Apollo 9 pilot Rusty Schweickart and Ed Lu, a physicist on both the space shuttle and the International Space Station, said their nonprofit B612 Foundation is preparing to build an infrared telescope and launch it into solar orbit aboard a satellite called Sentinel within the next six years.
Ex-NASA astronauts aim to launch asteroid tracker
Agence France Presse
A private company made up of former NASA astronauts and US scientists said Thursday it is planning to build and launch its own space telescope to track dangerous asteroids and protect the Earth. The project by the B612 Foundation aims to launch the "first privately funded deep space mission -- SENTINEL -- a space telescope to be placed in orbit around the sun." The foundation is headed by Ed Lu, a former NASA astronaut who flew aboard the US space shuttle and Russia's Soyuz and worked at the International Space Station. Lu said the project would expand on knowledge about asteroids -- NASA already tracks potentially dangerous near-Earth objects 24 hours a day -- and protect Earth's citizens.
Tiny Torah travels from hell on earth into outer space
Lauren Markoe - Religion News Service (RNS)
Nearly a decade ago, Dan Cohen set out to make a film about the Holocaust and dead astronauts, a story some told him would be too depressing to tell. Released last year, “An Article of Hope” unflinchingly delves into two tragedies – one almost too massive to contemplate, the other fresher in our minds. “It’s some very, very dark and depressing subject matter, but really the message of the movie is hope,” said Garrett Reisman, a Jewish former astronaut who is helping to promote the film. “Embedded in these two incredibly tragic events, of a completely different scale, there is the story of the constant human desire to achieve goodness.” “An Article of Hope” takes us to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center on January 16, 2003, with intimate footage of the astronauts’ faces as they ride and then walk toward the space shuttle Columbia. On board the Columbia is a crew of seven – six Americans and Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut and the son of a survivor of Auschwitz. Also aboard, in Ramon’s care, is a Torah, given to him by another Holocaust survivor.
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COMPLETE STORIES
Shenzhou 9 spacecraft returns to Earth after successful docking tests
William Harwood - CBS News
China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, carrying two men and the first Chinese woman to fly in space, returned to Earth Friday after an ambitious flight to a prototype space station module, plunging back into the atmosphere and descending under a large parachute to a jarring touchdown in Inner Mongolia.
The re-entry was carried live on Chinese television, with commentary, shots of the crew in the cramped descent module and views of the spacecraft's fiery re-entry plume as it streaked across the sky on a steep northeasterly descent toward the landing zone.
The 12-day 15-hour mission ended with a jarring rocket-assisted landing in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, around 10:04 a.m. local time (GMT+8; 10:04 p.m. EDT Thursday). The spacecraft appeared to slide along on its base for an instant before rolling end over end, coming to rest on its side.
Within minutes, recovery crews stationed nearby reached the landing site, opened the vehicle's hatch and carried out initial medical checks. The crew was said to be in good health and all three smiled and waved to well wishers when they left the vehicle more than an hour after touchdown.
"I feel very happy and very proud of my country," Liu Yang, China's first female "taikonaut," told an interviewer.
All three crew members were to be flown by helicopter to Beijing for more extensive medical exams, debriefing and reunions with friends and family.
Launched June 16 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north central China, commander Jing Haipeng, the first Chinese astronaut to make a second spaceflight, monitored an automated docking with the Tiangong 1 space station module on June 18. Jing, Liu Yang and crewmate Liu Wang then floated into the space station module for more than a week of tests and experiments.
A highlight of the flight was the crew's temporary departure from Tiangong 1 last weekend to test manual docking procedures that might be needed during future flights if the automatic system malfunctioned. Liu Wang successfully completed a manually controlled return to the station module to accomplish one of the major goals of the flight.
The solar-powered Tiangong 1 is roughly 34 feet long, 11 feet wide and weighs about 8.5 tons. The spacecraft includes an experiment module where visiting crews can live and work and a service module that houses electrical power, propulsion and life support systems.
Tiangong 1 is a prototype of the much larger laboratory components China hopes to launch and assemble in orbit later in the decade to build a Mir-class space station by the end of the decade. While Chinese officials have mentioned the possibility of eventual flights to the moon, the space station project is the near-term focus of China's manned space program.
To perfect the techniques and procedures needed to build a space station, an unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft carried out an automated docking with Tiangong 1 shortly after lab module was launched late last year. The Shenzhou 9 flight was China's first manned docking mission and at least one more piloted flight to Tiangong 1 is expected next year.
The Chinese news agency Xinhua said Tiangong 1 would be maneuvered to a higher orbit after Shenzhou 9's departure to "wait for another spacecraft." The news agency said the module was designed to operate for two years and accommodate six docking "procedures."
"Based on current conditions, the service of Tiangong 1 can be extended," He Yu, chief manner of the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, was quoted by Xinhua. "It has consumed less than one-fourth of its fuel and no back-up systems have been used."
He even raised the possibility that Tiangong 1 might still be serviceable after Tiangong 2 is eventually launched.
"If Tiangong 1 was in perfect shape, it could work side by side with Tiangong 2," he said.
Chinese crew returns to Earth after space station test flight
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
China's Shenzhou 9 spacecraft parachuted to a jolting rocket-assisted landing in Inner Mongolia on Friday, safely returning three astronauts to Earth after nearly 13 days in orbit.
Landing occurred at around 0202 GMT (10:02 p.m. EDT; 10:04 a.m. Beijing time) in Siziwang Banner, a county in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
Commander Jing Haipeng and crewmates Liu Wang and Liu Yang, China's first female space flier, were helped from the capsule about one hour later. The astronauts were placed in chairs and carried nearby for a photo opportunity.
All three crew members appeared healthy and good spirits, flashing smiles and waving to the recovery team.
"It feels really good to feel the ground and to be back home," Liu Wang said to a reporter from Chinese state television.
The astronauts activated China's Tiangong 1 space lab module, living and working aboard the bus-sized craft for about 10 days. Tiangong 1 is a testbed for a future Chinese space station.
Shenzhou 9 pilot Liu Wang flew the capsule to China's first manual docking in space, proving future astronauts could control the Shenzhou spacecraft by hand. China's earlier docking procedures were conducted automatically.
Shenzhou 9 and Tiangong 1 formed a complex stretching more than 60 feet long.
"It's like a home on Tiangong 1, and I feel very happy and very proud of my country," Liu Yang said after landing.
The astronauts were scheduled to fly to Beijing on Friday for debriefings, medical exams, and reunions with family.
Shenzhou 9 blasted off June 16 on a Long March 2F rocket, entering orbit and pursuing the Tiangong space lab more than 200 miles above Earth. The two vehicles linked up automatically June 18, followed on June 24 by the manual docking.
The manual docking maneuver was crucial for China's future space aspirations, which include the launch of a larger man-tended Tiangong space lab in a few years. But first, China plans another crewed flight to Tiangong 1 some time next year.
Engineers will operate Tiangong 1 from the ground until the next mission arrives. China plans to move the module to a higher orbit, and the state-run Xinhua news agency reported its mission could be extended.
"This manned docking mission of Tiangong 1 and Shenzhou 9 marks a milestone and a major breakthrough for China to master space docking technologies, and also it marks a decisive step forward on China's second step in its space strategy," said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who read a letter to mission controllers in Beijing from China's political leadership.
Shenzhou 9 was China's fourth human spaceflight since it started flights in 2003.
China plans to launch a Mir-class space station around 2020 to potentially house permanent inhabitants. China is also developing a heavy-lift Long March rocket to haul massive modules into orbit, and engineers are researching human voyages to the moon.
Tiangong means heavenly palace in English, while Shenzhou is translated as divine craft.
Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka to take over ISS command
Itar-Tass
Power transfer will take place aboard the International Space Station Saturday.
The ceremony to turn over the command from Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko to his fellow countryman Gennady Padalka will begin at 03:35 Moscow time on June 30 (7:35 pm Friday EDT). The latter will be in command of the station until his return to Earth, planned for late September.
Together with Padalka, Russian Sergei Revin and American Joseph Acaba will work aboard the station until the arrival of the next crew, a source at the Mission Control Centre based near Moscow told Itar-Tass.
Current ISS Crew 31 commander Kononenko is planned to end his more than six-month-long orbital mission on July 1, when aboard Soyuz TMA-03M he will return to Earth together with his two colleagues American Donald Pettit and Dutchman Andre Kuipers.
Power transfer aboard the station is a formal ceremony regulated by corresponding documents. It lasts no longer than 20 minutes, the MCC source said. The expedition number is also changed. This time, 31 will be replaced with 32. The crew rings the station bell, which is located in the American segment, to mark the command transfer.
Before the official documents are signed, the crew will hold another ceremony -- after the breakfast, Kononenko and Padalka will sign a document to turn over the Russian segment to the other crew.
Padalka, one of most experienced Russian cosmonauts, will become ISS commander for the third time. He headed Russian-American Crew Nine in 2004 and the first united crew of six people, Expedition 19, in 2009.
For Kononenko, Pettit and Kuipers, this Friday is a concluding working day in orbit. They put their "luggage" and biotechnological experiment containers into the spacecraft, and the Russian cosmonaut also conducts a sanitary inspection of the station. Kononenko will also have some more training in the Chibis-M system for better adaptation for the gravitation conditions and drink special salted water to prevent organism dehydration during the landing.
In connection with the planned night operations before the departure, the united crew's work and rest schedule is changed this Friday. After they get up at 10:00 Moscow time, they will work and at 18:00 Moscow time will have a rest for four hours. Then, they will continue to work until 05:30 on Saturday. During the day before the landing, the crew will rest until 21:00 Moscow time, and then they will be busy with the preparation of the Soyuz for landing.
The undocking of the spacecraft from the ISS is planned for 08:48 Moscow time, July 1. The landing is planned for 12:15 Moscow time.
NASA upgrading Space Station to boost research
Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week
NASA has plans to upgrade the International Space Station (ISS) in the months ahead to make it more efficient as a research laboratory.
With assembly of the U.S. portion of the lab completed and the U.S.-side crew working to its planned average capacity of 35 hr. a week collectively spent on research, efforts are under way to improve communications links that scientists on the ground can use to help astronauts run their experiments.
Also on the agenda is new hardware to take advantage of the coming availability of commercial cargo deliveries to the orbital lab.
“We don’t believe we should be spending any time and money trying to make the space station any bigger,” Michael Suffredini, NASA’s station program manager, told the first ISS Research and Development Conference here June 26. “What we think we should be spending our resources on is making it able to produce more research.”
Among the upgrades are high-definition video to improve fluids and combustion research by sharpening the view of how flame and various liquids perform in microgravity, and new instruments to allow some kinds of sample analysis in orbit instead of requiring a return to ground labs in scarce “down-mass” capacity.
Today, down-mass is limited to a small amount that can be carried with returning crews on Russian Soyuz capsules. But the rendezvous and berthing of the first SpaceX Dragon cargo carrier at the station clears the way to bring more samples to and from the station. Beginning on the third Dragon mission, NASA will fly six powered middeck lockers to and from the ISS with SpaceX, Suffredini says. The agency also has approved a redesigned middeck freezer called Polar that will double the capacity of existing middeck freezers.
The added down-mass also will permit NASA to maintain 40 mice on the station for experiments, he says, including freezing killed mice after the experiments, returning them to Earth for analysis and delivering more to habitats in the station. If necessary, the number of mice might grow beyond 40, he says.
To improve the links between scientists and the crewmembers who serve as what veteran ISS astronaut Mike Fincke called their “hands, eyes, ears and noses” in space, NASA will begin installing communications upgrades this summer that will double downlink bandwidth to 300 mbps and increase uplinks to 25 mbps. The Improved Communication Unit, which will take the place of seven Orbital Replacement Units on the station, also will allow ground commanding via Ku-band and S-band links, and will add two more channels to the air-to-ground voice links.
“Today we have two comm channels to talk to the crew,” Suffredini says. “That is always busy. So we’re adding two additional comm channels in order to increase our capability to have multiple payload-specific conversations with multiple crews at one time.”
Medical, scientific breakthroughs via the ISS
Amy Svitak - Aviation Week
Since the International Space Station (ISS) first became habitable in 2000, researchers have been using it to study the impact of the near-zero-gravity environment, making new discoveries in the life sciences, biomedicine and materials science that are spurring development of ground-breaking high-tech spinoffs on Earth.
In Europe, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics are using plasma—electrically charged gas—to develop tools that can zap drug-resistant bacteria and viruses that cause infections in hospitals, where the Multiple-Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) bacteria kills 37,000 people each year and affects more than 150,000 patients, adding about €380 million ($488 million) in extra costs to EU healthcare systems.
“Resistant bacteria are killed by plasma in a few seconds,” says Gregor Morfill, director of the Max Planck Institute based in Germany. “This is a great advantage to have that kind of a weapon at your disposal.”
Plasma research on the ISS initially took place in the Plasmakristall Experiment Nefedov lab, which was replaced in 2006 by the PK-3 Plus lab. Both were developed under a bilateral effort between the German and Russian space agencies. The European Space Agency (ESA) is funding development of a third-generation lab to continue complex plasma experiments on the ISS beyond 2013.
Research done to date is developing plasma technologies that work with the human immune system to treat infections and speed the healing of burn wounds by as much as 15%, Morfill says. ESA is also helping Morfill's team to develop a hand disinfection system for hospitals, though so-called cold plasma technology could eventually be used in the home to sanitize surfaces as well as hard-to-reach cracks and crevices.
A logical next step for plasma technology, Morfill says, is global hygiene in underdeveloped countries, “where we believe that bringing plasma into those areas, for instance to make water drinkable and remove bacterial infection, is a very, very important area for health globally.”
Morfill says plasma technology is also being used in dental hygiene and food sterilization and could one day be used to protect seeds from infection and even stimulate plants to grow more quickly.
“We didn't expect this at the time, but this is research,” Morfill says.
The 19-nation ESA has about 150 ISS research projects ongoing or in preparation as part of the European Program for Life and Physical Sciences (Elips), though officials say there is room for more.
Since 2002, Elips has served as the agency's clearinghouse for conducting life- and physical-science experiments aboard the ISS, though Elips utilizes a variety of platforms, including drop towers, parabolic flights and sounding rockets as well.
Christer Fuglesang, head of ESA's Science and Application Div., says the current batch of Elips projects are due for completion in 2017, with new announcements of opportunity likely in 2013-14.
Although ESA does not directly fund science experiments on the ISS, the agency does provide hardware, launch and operations services for science and technology initiatives paid for by participating member states.
ESA's own goals for ISS utilization are concentrated on preparation for manned space exploration, technology demos, climate-change studies and education.
In the area of Earth monitoring, ESA is hosting an investigation on its Columbus module that since June 2010 has been testing the viability of tracking global maritime traffic from the station's orbit hundreds of kilometers above the planet.
The ship-detection demo is based on the Automatic Identification System (AIS), the maritime equivalent of air-traffic control. All international vessels, cargo ships above certain weights and passenger carriers of certain sizes must carry “Class A” AIS transponders, continually broadcasting updated identity, position, course, speed and other data to and from other vessels and shore.
AIS relies on VHF radio signals with a horizontal range of just 40 nm, making it useful within coastal zones and on a ship-to-ship basis, but not in the open ocean. However, because AIS signals travel further vertically, the space station is an ideal location for space-based AIS signal reception.
In the area of materials science, ESA is supporting ISS research into processing, structure and properties of new high-performance metal alloys for industrial use in turbine blades and catalytic powders. The Intermetallic Materials Processing in Relation to Earth and Space Solidification Project (Impress), a joint effort between ESA and the European Commission, is one that utilizes the Materials Science Lab on the ISS to research the solidification process of liquid metals when they form solid structures, research that was previously possible only on the ground or through brief parabolic flights.
“ISS opens up a lot of possibilities that on a short parabolic flight or through other means there is no chance to have the exact length of time you need for solidification experiments in metals,” says Robert Guntlin, managing director of Access, an independent research center associated with the Technical University of Aachen in Germany.
Knowledge derived from ground research and space experiments have led to a macro-scale prototype of a light-weight turbine blade that could further the EU's goal of decreasing aircraft fuel consumption and emissions. The turbine blade developed on the station is 50% lighter than a conventional nickel-based super alloy blade.
Other real-world spinoffs use technology from the space station's Canadarm2 and Dextre, Canadian robots that service and maintain the ISS, to produce the world's first robot capable of performing brain surgery. Dubbed the neuroArm-TM, the technology is now licensed to a private, publicly traded medical device manufacturer planning to develop a two-armed version that will enable neurosurgeons to see three-dimensional images and apply pressure to tissue.
In the area of space medicine, Russia has made great strides in turning research conducted on the ISS into practical applications at home.
Georgy Karabadzhak of Russia's TsNIIMash says experiments on the station have led to a number of patents in the areas of human health and biotechnology. Roscosmos has also developed basic manufacturing processes in microgravity conditions, including investment projects in new bacterial and fungi strains to produce a Hepatitis-B vaccine and plant-growth stimulators that could be used to recultivate oil-polluted lands.
He says results from the Russian Biorisk experiment, which exposed plant seeds on the ISS for 23 months with no negative impact, confirm the feasibility of long-term storage of plant seeds in space. Russian research has also produced two patents for probiotic production in space.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is increasingly focused on bio- and space-medicine sciences, including improved healthcare technologies for astronauts, says Makoto Asashima, a fellow at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Japan's largest research organization. Using its Kibo experiment module on the ISS, JAXA is pursuing long-term targets over the next five years that include chemical science to support green combustion systems. In the near term, the agency is pursuing research in container-free processing and soft materials that could have applications on Earth.
Asashima says JAXA released a Kibo utilization announcement of opportunity in April, with proposals due June 29. A number of large-scale projects in these high-priority research areas will be selected, and there are plans to issue the solicitation annually.
Space Station Science at a Critical Point, NASA Says
Stephanie Pappas - LiveScience.com
It's time to get serious about science in space, and the International Space Station is the perfect place to start, NASA officials said Tuesday.
"We are in a position in space research and space exploration where we have to push the ball and advance forward or we're about ready to retreat from space," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a crowd of researchers here at the first annual ISS Research and Development Conference.
Science experiments on the space station have been under way since the outpost's early days, of course. Construction of the orbiting laboratory began in 1998, and there has been a continuous human presence on the station since 2000. Now, however, there is little left to build and many opportunities to exploit, according to NASA speakers, who encouraged scientists to spread the word.
"We need to really reach out and push and use that same creativity and innovation that we used to build this wonderful facility to actually utilize it," Gerstenmaier said.
In May, SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule successfully docked with the space station, becoming the first commercial spacecraft in history to do so. With SpaceX and other private companies providing transportation, private research companies will have the routine access they need to commit to space research, Gerstenmaier said. Meanwhile, upgrades like Earth-compatible power outlets and wireless internet connectivity will make it easier for terrestrially bound scientists to create experiments that will work in space, said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS Program Director.
Keeping humans in space
The human component to space exploration was at the forefront in NASA officials' messages. Human experimenters can be part of experiments, making observations in a way that an automated system never could, said NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati. And human perseverance can also yield surprising results.
For example, now-retired astronaut Shannon Lucid was once conducting a fluid physics experiment on the Russian research satellite Mir, Gerstenmaier said. Her job was to shake a container of liquid in an attempt to form a bubble in a certain spot. Based on computer models, researchers were certain that the experiment was physically impossible — but Lucid didn't know that. With communications temporarily interrupted between Mir and Earth, she kept at the experiment for over an hour. Finally, she got the bubble to form.
"It blew away their theory," Gerstenmaier said. "They believed their computer analysis. She didn't know that and really pushed that boundary."
Space station research can have applications for humanity on Earth — one experiment performed on the station uncovered immune system changes that can predict shingles, a painful skin disorder caused by the chickenpox virus, Suffredini said — as well as for future space travel and basic science.
Some instruments on the space station pull double duty. For example, Gerstenmaier said, a particle physics detector called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is designed to detect dark matter and antimatter. But it also detects cosmic rays, providing data that researchers can use to understand how exposure to these rays could affect astronauts during long-term space travel.
"I think of this as really a gateway to our future, to a universe of opportunity," Abdalati said of the ISS. "It's an opportunity to look outward, an opportunity to look inwards and an opportunity to look homeward."
ATK makes progress on Liberty launch vehicle development
Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com
The ATK Liberty launch vehicle development effort is making steady progress, completing a software milestone and tests on the second stage fuel tanks.
ATK has completed the software technical interface meeting (TIM), a gathering with NASA to finalise software development plans. The software must act as a bridge between existing software systems that control the ATK-built solid-fuel lower stage, the Astrium-built Vulcain 2 upper stage and ATK's composite-structure space capsule.
"Understanding how your system will work together throughout the mission is critical in reducing risk and schedule delays," says Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and Liberty programme manager. "Holding this TIM provides us valuable insight into expertise provided by the NASA team and ensures there are no issues we are overlooking."
The Liberty is being developed in conjunction with an unfunded NASA space act agreement (SAA) under the second round of commercial crew development (CCDev) grants. The unfunded SAA means that though NASA gives no money to ATK, they will exchange technical information with the company. ATKs' final CCDev milestone is scheduled for completion in July, though the company submitted a bid for the follow-on commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap)
Astrium meanwhile has completed a series of tests on the tanks that will hold the cryogenic liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer. The tanks intended for the Liberty are slightly thicker and stiffer than those generally used on the Ariane 5, Europe's main launch vehicle, for which the Vulcain serves as the core stage.
SpaceX Moves Ahead With Merlin 1D Full-Duration Firing
Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org
Riding the triumphant coattails of last month’s Dragon demo flight to the International Space Station – the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) 2+ mission – SpaceX has successfully concluded a full-duration firing of its new Merlin 1D engine, destined for use aboard the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy vehicles. The test occurred at the company’s Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, ahead of current plans for the engine’s debut, sometime next year.
The Merlin 1D is the newest version of a powerplant which has helped propel the dreams of entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company from its birth in 2002 to its present position as one of the world’s most promising providers of commercial cargo and crew services. As it burned hot and hard for 185 seconds, delivering an impressive 147,000 pounds of thrust, the Merlin 1D proved itself to carry great value for SpaceX’s ambition to confer full reusability on both the Falcon 9 and the forthcoming Falcon Heavy.
In its current guise, the Falcon 9 carries nine Merlin 1C engines in its first stage, fed by refined, rocket-grade kerosene (known as ‘RP-1’) and liquid oxygen, with a propulsive yield of over 1.1 million pounds at liftoff. The Merlin 1D upgrade produces a 16 percent thrust increase at sea level over its predecessor and is capable of throttling from 100 percent to 70 percent of rated performance. Moreover, with an advertised 160:1 thrust-to-weight ratio, it promises to be one of the most efficient rocket engines ever built. At the same time, it will maintain the structural and thermal margins necessary to transport human passengers safely into orbit.
Heritage-wise, it draws heavily upon the design of the Merlin 1C, under whose thrust the Falcon 9 first rose to orbit in June 2010, followed by the first Dragon test mission the following December and, most recently, last month’s docking flight to the space station. For his part, Elon Musk is confident that more efficient manufacturing processes – including the use of robotic construction techniques – will contribute to expanding the number of engines produced from eight per month to an eventual goal of 400 per year.
“This is another milestone in our efforts to push the boundaries of space technology,” Musk said. “With the Merlin 1D powering the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, SpaceX will be capable of carrying a full range of payloads to orbit.” If the nature of these payloads is exciting, then the potential for the rockets themselves also serves to whet the appetite. The giant Falcon Heavy – standing 227 feet tall and slated for its maiden launch in 2013 – will effectively comprise three Falcon 9 ‘cores’, each boasting nine Merlin 1D engines, to produce a colossal 3.8 million pounds of thrust and deliver a payload of up to 53 metric tons into low-Earth orbit. This capability reportedly makes it 50 percent more powerful than the Delta IV Heavy and only 50 percent less powerful than the Saturn V, which still holds first place as the most powerful rocket ever brought to operational status.
SpaceX also has its sights set on making both the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy reusable. During the McGregor test, the Merlin 1D executed multiple engine restarts at target thrust levels and specific impulses, both of which are key requirements in the drive for reusability. Last September, Musk unveiled plans for the first and second stages of both rockets to be able to return to their launch site, under their own power, for refurbishment and reuse. He even went so far as to declare that he would “consider us to have failed” if this reusability went unachieved by SpaceX.
Musk’s plan encompasses a nominal launch and staging, whereupon the entire first stage would rotate through 180 degrees and three of its nine Merlin 1Ds would be restarted to boost it back towards a landing. Video simulations reveal that the first stage will touch down vertically on deployable landing legs. Meanwhile, the second stage will continue towards orbital insertion and, after releasing its payload, it too will perform a 180-degree about-turn, burning its engines for the return home. During its fiery descent back through the atmosphere, it will be protected from thermal extremes by a phenolic impregnated carbon ablator, akin to the one already trialled successfully by Dragon.
In his September 2011 remarks to the National Press Club, Musk declared his conviction that such reusability would have a profound impact upon reducing launch costs. “If you look at the cost of a Falcon 9 rocket – which is a big, one-million-pounds-of-thrust rocket, yet the lowest-cost rocket in the world – it’s still $50-60 million,” he said, “but if you look at the cost of the fuel and oxygen and so forth, it’s only about $200,000. Obviously, if we can reuse the rocket, say, one thousand times, then that would make the capital cost of the rocket, per launch, only about $50,000.” To press his point, Musk compared it to a Boeing 747, which costs several hundred million dollars to build, but whose inherent reusability ultimately brings down the cost to fare-paying passengers to a “relatively small” figure that covers little more than “fuel, pilots and incidentals”.
The success of the Merlin 1D test has removed another obstacle on the road to an increasingly more reliable and flexible launch architecture; one which Musk believes could eventually reduce the cost of delivering a pound of payload to low-Earth orbit to a thousand dollars or less. In the meantime, hardware for the first Falcon Heavy is due to arrive at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California before the end of 2012 and the first complement of Merlin 1Ds will probably fly on Falcon 9 Flight 6, early next year.
SpaceX also appears unruffled by the relative paucity of firm customer bookings for the Falcon Heavy. Certainly, its growing public image and success rate is paying dividends; in the wake of the Dragon mission to the International Space Station, the company’s value doubled to approximately $4.8 billion. Only last month, a few days after the Dragon launch, Intelsat became the Falcon Heavy’s first customer and the booster will loft a major telecommunications satellite to geostationary orbit.
In the meantime, a tentative launch date of 5 October has been set for the first ‘real’ Dragon cargo flight to the International Space Station. With the flight of ‘SpX-1’ – conducted under the requirements of the $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract, signed between SpaceX and NASA in December 2008 – the company will begin the first of a dozen such cargo delivery missions between 2012 and 2015. Parallel to these efforts are dozens of other commercial satellite launches and Musk hopes to conduct the first manned voyage of the DragonRider crew capsule by 2015 and perhaps a Mars sample return mission at some point thereafter. He has made it clear that the company’s eventual goal is to establish a permanent human presence on Mars. A few years ago, such an outlandish proposal would have been laughable; indeed, to a great extent, it still is. Yet the dramatic strides taken by SpaceX in such a short span of time are now causing many observers to wonder.
Shuttle logistics depot to be taken over by Craig Technologies
James Dean - Florida Today
A Cape Canaveral facility with a long history serving the space shuttle program will remain open under new management, preserving a local manufacturing capability and expanding its operations beyond the space industry.
Craig Technologies will take over the NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot on Astronaut Boulevard and maintain roughly 1,600 pieces of NASA equipment housed there, the company and space agency confirmed Thursday.
Starting Jan. 1, the facility operated for years by United Space Alliance will become the new headquarters for Melbourne-based Craig Technologies, which will use the equipment on loan from NASA to bolster a recently launched machine and tool division.
The move could help the engineering and technology services contractor win new business that creates jobs.
“Our intent is to grow, to retain the skill set that’s already here in Brevard County,” said founder and CEO Carol Craig. “This is going to help the county diversify its economic base. It’s not just about space.”
The depot, known as the “NSLD,” was developed for the shuttle program and used to inspect, test and build thousands of space system components, some no longer available from original manufacturers.
The agreement with Craig Technologies enables NASA to preserve that capability for future spaceflight programs without having to bear the annual cost of maintaining equipment it doesn’t need during a gap in spaceflight programs.
“Partnering with Craig Technologies will benefit new customers who will use this valuable equipment in the near-term, while enabling Kennedy to retain ownership so that when we are ready, we will use it for future spaceflight endeavors,” said Mike Curie, a Kennedy Space Center spokesman.
Lead shuttle contractor USA once hoped to continue running the depot well after the shuttle program’s retirement last year, transitioning its specialized equipment and skilled employees to work in other industries, such as refurbishment of military hardware.
But local leaders say Houston-based USA’s parent companies, The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., later pulled the plug on those plans, directing managers not to sign new contracts.
NASA in February announced it was seeking a partner to maintain the depot equipment.
USA’s impending exit raised the prospect that the depot, which is part of an eight-building complex, could be abandoned and its equipment scattered across the country if NASA couldn’t find a suitable partner.
But it turned out to be an opportunity for Craig Technologies, which 18 months ago opened a machine and tool division based in Port Canaveral.
“It was perfect timing for us,” Craig said of NASA’s announcement. “It fits right in line with what we had already planned on doing, but it’s going to speed things up.”
Nearly 100 of Craig Technologies’ roughly 300 employees are based in Brevard, where the company established a presence in 2004.
Craig said the company has annual revenue of $30 million, with about 60 percent of its business performed for Department of Defense clients and 30 percent for NASA.
The company can start marketing its expanded machining, environmental testing and manufacturing capability to about 30 existing customers.
“We’ve got a huge list of potential customers,” said Craig.
Local economic development officials applauded the agreement as one that would help diversify the local aerospace economy after 30 years of shuttle flight.
“The transformation of NSLD utilization from the space shuttle program to a more commercial marketplace focus reflects the type of diversification that will ensure continued high-tech growth on the Space Coast,” said Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida.
Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, said the deal was an example of a “winning public-private partnership.”
Craig Technologies plans to consolidate its local operations in the 160,000-square-foot depot building, which includes a machine shop, avionics lab and office space.
As of February, fewer than 60 USA employees still worked at the depot complex, down from a peak of about 400, including at an adjacent administrative building that is not part of Craig Technologies’ plans.
Under its Space Act Agreement with NASA, Craig Technologies must keep the depot’s equipment in good working condition and be prepared to return it to the agency within five years.
Over time, the company expects to replace some old NASA hardware with newer equipment it will keep.
Now it just needs to line up more customers.
“If we get the business, and we can grow like we’ve done already with Craig Technologies in this area, then the opportunity is pretty much boundless,” said Craig.
NASA says there are no plans for human spaceflight cutbacks at Glenn
John Mangels - Cleveland Plain Dealer
A NASA official reasserted Thursday that the agency does not intend to get rid of human space flight workers at Cleveland's Glenn Research Center, despite a document obtained by NASA's former administrator suggesting such plans were under consideration.
The one-page chart given to reporters came from Michael Griffin, who ran NASA during George W. Bush's presidency, and shows that the agency could save $216 million between 2013 and 2016 by eliminating 244 human space flight jobs at Glenn and 825 similar positions at seven other NASA centers.
Griffin, a space policy adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has frequently criticized President Barack Obama's administration for failing to support human space exploration, and under-funding NASA.
Griffin and former NASA associate administrator Scott Pace, who also is a Romney space policy adviser, repeated those criticisms Thursday at a news conference organized by the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, saying the potential cutbacks at Glenn showed the lack of a clear, coherent human space flight mission.
Griffin and Pace said they were expressing their personal concerns, not speaking for the Romney campaign. Griffin would not say how he obtained the chart. He acknowledged he had "no knowledge as to how far along that plan is."
If implemented, the loss of 244 jobs at Glenn would represent about 15 percent of the center's total workforce.
NASA press secretary Lauren Worley said the chart was part of a budget-planning exercise conducted by mid-level staff, and that senior NASA leadership has "no intention of approving the Glenn Research Center recommendations contained in the pre-decisional staff document."
"President Obama's budget for next year increases funding at Glenn and helps support nearly 9,000 jobs in Ohio," Worley said. "The Glenn Research Center always has – and always will – play a critical role in America's leadership in space."
Worley provided numbers showing that Glenn's workforce had declined by 214 positions between 2005 and 2009, the years during which Griffin served as NASA's administrator.
The Obama administration also weighed in on the issue. "Nobody at the White House has seen or approved any document transferring human space flight research and development activities from the Glenn Research Center -- and we have no intent to transfer such activities," or to reduce jobs at Glenn, said White House spokeswoman Joanna Rosholm.
"The administration's plan for NASA human space flight emphasizes the development of new space technologies to lower the cost and increase the capabilities of future missions – areas where Glenn has unique and critical skills," Rosholm said.
With the retirement of the space shuttles last year, Obama has pushed for private companies to take over transporting crew and cargo to the International Space Station so that NASA can focus on other missions. He has directed the agency to develop a new heavy-lift rocket and plan for deep-space manned voyages, such as an asteroid landing and an eventual Mars visit, though there are no firm timetables.
Obama's proposed 2013 NASA budget is $17.7 billion, $59 million less than the agency got in 2012. An independent panel that reviewed NASA's human space flight program in 2009 determined that an annual budget of about $21 billion was necessary to conduct "meaningful" human space exploration.
Romney has not spelled out his vision for the U.S. space program, saying he wants to study various options.
A giant leap for Guju food!
Sunita Williams may carry Amdavadi delicacies into outer space
India Today
Gujarati food is set to go where no Indian food has gone before. US-born Indian origin astronaut Sunita William is likely to carry delicacies from her ancestral state's cuisine on her forthcoming mission into space.
Sunita's family, which is based in Ahmedabad, claims that she is fond of Gujarati sweets and samosa. Her uncle, Dinesh Raval, a local Congress leader, who is visiting US early next month would carry some of these homemade sweets so that the astronaut can carry the same with her.
Sunita's father, Dr. Dipak Pandya, a well-known neurologist in US, had started his carrier at the Vadilal Sarabhai Hospital in Ahmedabad in the late 1950s.
According to NASA, Sunita is scheduled to take off on July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Williams would be the Commander of Expedition 33 on reaching the space station.
Born in September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, Sunita is married to Michael J Williams. She had joined the US Navy in May 1987 and became a naval aviator in July 1989. She became the officer-in-charge of an H-46 detachment in September 1992 and was sent to Miami, Florida, for Hurricane Andrew relief operations onboard the USS Sylvania.
After doing her MS in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995, Sunita was selected by NASA for training and was sent to Moscow to work with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) and with the first expedition crew to the ISS in 1998.
How Astronauts Train at the Bottom of the Sea
Katharine Gammon - Popular Science
Since 2001, planners at NASA’s Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) program have been sending people to live in Aquarius, an underwater laboratory three and a half miles south of Key Largo, Florida. Last month, during NEEMO’s 16th mission, three astronauts lived there for 12 days, testing strategies for future asteroid expeditions, evaluating the best spacewalking techniques, and planning how to sample rocks and soil.
At night, after hours of walking on the ocean floor, aquanauts recognize their undersea habitat by a strange light in the distance. “You see the glow coming out of the portholes,” says astronaut Mike Gernhardt, who has logged 43 days in space and also works on the NEEMO program. “It really is like coming back to a spaceship.” Aquanauts enter their school-bus-size underwater home by swimming up through a hole in its floor. Aquarius constantly hums with white noise from carbon dioxide scrubbers that, similar to those on the space shuttle, make the air safe to breathe. The main living area is kept at 2.5 atmospheres of pressure so that residents can swim outside without becoming ill. The heavy, pressurized air makes it difficult to whistle.
At the end of their mission, the aquanauts open Aquarius’s vents to depressurize the habitat and themselves over the course of 16 hours. Then they don their wetsuits and swim to the surface.
Learning About Life on Mars, via a Detour to Mexico
Karla Zabludovsky - New York Times
Studying Mars usually involves tilting one’s head up toward the heavens, but not here in the Chihuahuan Desert, where the vast, scorching plain is so inhospitable — and so Mars-like — that scientists seeking insight into that distant planet look down at their feet.
Largely arid and extremely hostile, Cuatro Ciénegas is inhabited by organisms able to survive on few nutrients, high salinity, soaring temperatures and high ultraviolet radiation. Scientists say such an environment resembles that of Mars billions of years ago.
And the gypsum dunes in the valley, blindingly white in the afternoon sun, are not unlike the Gale crater on present-day Mars, where NASA’s Curiosity rover is scheduled to land in August, scientists say.
A team of researchers piled into a caravan of off-road vehicles last month and drove for hours across the valley, in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila. They searched for the pockets of water that may house their study subjects: microbes, bacteria and fish that survived in an environment similar to one scientists say Mars once had.
No water in sight.
But then, like a mirage in the desert, an archipelago of scattered lagoons sprouted from the ground. Some had cerulean-tinted water beckoning the heat-stricken group; others were foul-smelling, crimson muddy dumps. A few were the size of Olympic pools; others were no bigger than puddles one might find on the street.
Cauliflower-like structures filled several of these ancient pools. These fossils called stromatolites, vestiges of the earliest Earth microbes, could provide insight into the possibility that life arose on early Mars when it was warmer and wetter, scientists say.
“If we understand the origins of these ecosystems, we can extrapolate them and develop them in other planets,” said German Bonilla, a doctoral student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as he held down the outstretched legs of a colleague leaning over a lagoon to collect samples.
But just as water on Mars eventually ebbed, the water in Cuatro Ciénegas, which some scientists say has biological diversity rivaling that of the Galápagos Islands, is under threat.
Experts and activists working in the region say that local farmers, stockbreeders and other landowners, aided by a lack of oversight from the government, have free access to the waters of Cuatro Ciénegas, which are recognized internationally as important wetlands.
“The problem is that they have no way to measure how much water they extract,” said Arturo Contreras, director of the Cuatro Ciénegas Center for Scientific Investigation, a research station affiliated with the University of Texas. “We believe that the majority takes out more water than they are entitled to.”
Evan Carson, a biologist at the University of New Mexico, had a dejected air about him as he walked around sparse shrubs, carrying a fishnet. Dr. Carson studies the recovery of fish here, but had little to inspect.
“We used to swim here,” said Valeria Souza, a scientist with the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as she walked over a gypsum field with cracks cutting through the dry ground like deep scars.
Mexican authorities have been trying to reach a long-term solution that would satisfy both the researchers and the landowners and rectify an uneasy coexistence.
The government designated the valley a protected area in 1994. It was not until 2007 that President Felipe Calderón took the first steps toward limiting water extraction in the region. He is expected to sign a broader ban in the coming months.
As it is now, water level markers stick out of the ground like misplaced hairpins throughout the valley, left there by scientists tracking changes in the size of some of the pools.
Scientists who work in Cuatro Ciénegas say that with budget cuts in space exploration, which most likely means fewer spacecraft going to Mars in the coming years, research on Earth is increasingly important.
“If we know what to look for based on our study at Cuatro Ciénegas basin, then our Mars missions will be more prepared to identify signs of life,” said Sherry L. Cady, editor in chief of the journal Astrobiology, which plans an edition dedicated to Cuatro Ciénegas this summer.
The Cuatro Ciénegas region is prone to drastic climate changes — a hurricane flooded the valley in 2010 — but experts agree that last year marked a record low in the water level.
“The ecosystem has lost its resilience,” Dr. Souza said. “It’s very damaged now.”
Dr. Carson, the biologist studying fish, said it was too soon to tell how much had been lost, but warned that the system may have already collapsed.
During a recent afternoon, the scientists, leaving their gloves and notebooks behind, gathered by one of the blue-green lagoons to admire the deep pink and purple hues above the setting sun. As Dr. Carson marveled at the beauty, he was unable to shake off a sense of impending dread.
“There’s an irony,” he said, “to the sunsets here.”
Crowd-funded space telescope to spy dangerous space rocks
Brian Vastag - Washington Post
A former NASA astronaut worried about asteroids smashing into Earth is launching a crowd-funded effort to build a space telescope for spotting dangerous space rocks.
Plans are for the telescope, called Sentinel, to launch in 2017 or 2018, drift toward Venus and then spend 51 / 2 years surveying the inner solar system as it orbits the sun.
The telescope’s unblinking eye will spot the warm glow of asteroids larger than about 100 feet across — large enough to destroy a city.
The mission is designed to give earthlings a head start of several years — or decades — to prepare a mission to deflect any threatening asteroids.
Spearheaded by Ed Lu, a physicist who flew on the space shuttle and the international space station, the project needs to raise “a few hundred million” dollars to get off the ground.
“This is crowdsourcing but on a grand level,” he said.
While NASA spends some $5 million a year searching for big “planet killer” asteroids — and finding no such threats — no one has surveyed for smaller but still possibly catastrophic space rocks, Lu said.
“The chances were pretty minimal somebody else was going to do this,” Lu said. “Federal budgets being what they are, it’s just not going to happen.”
The project’s gen esis reaches to 2001, when Lu joined with former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart to start the nonprofit B612 Foundation. The group brought together scientists to draw up plans for how to deflect any asteroids headed toward Earth.
In the past year, Lu and the B612 Foundation — named after an asteroid in the 1943 French children’s tale “The Little Prince” — have rounded up a who’s who of space scientists, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to lead the campaign.
They’ve designed a telescope, tapped a company to build it — Ball Aerospace of Colorado, which has built other space telescopes — and signed an agreement with NASA to use the agency’s radio dishes for communication.
Now they just need the money. The group is negotiating the final price with Ball.
The dropping cost of computers, telescope components and rocket launches made the project feasible, Lu said.
But another expert is skeptical that the telescope will cost just “a few hundred million” dollars. Tim Spahr of the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., which tracks asteroids — and which would eventually analyze data from Sentinel — was part of a team that in 2003 proposed a similar mission to NASA. The cost of that unbuilt project: $400 million.
Spahr is also skeptical that Sentinel will spot every possible threat. “It is a spectacular challenge,” he said. The telescope will miss some asteroids that take a long time to orbit the sun and will have to track each asteroid for “years” to determine whether it hit Earth, Spahr said.
Still, Lu is confident that his group can pull off the mission. “We’ll be successful,” he said.
And what will donors get for their contributions?
Said Lu: “You get to take part in saving the Earth.”
Asteroid hunters want to launch private telescope
Alicia Chang - Associated Press
Who will protect us from a killer asteroid? A team of ex-NASA astronauts and scientists thinks it's up to them.
In a bold plan unveiled Thursday, the group wants to launch its own space telescope to spot and track small and mid-sized space rocks capable of wiping out a city or continent. With that information, they could sound early warnings if a rogue asteroid appeared headed toward our planet.
So far, the idea from the B612 Foundation is on paper only.
Such an effort would cost upward of several hundred million dollars, and the group plans to start fundraising. Behind the nonprofit are a space shuttle astronaut, Apollo 9 astronaut, former Mars czar, deep space mission manager along with other non-NASA types.
Asteroids are leftovers from the formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago. Most reside in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter but some get nudged into Earth's neighborhood.
NASA and a network of astronomers routinely scan the skies for these near-Earth objects. And they've found 90 percent of the biggest threats - asteroids at least two-thirds of a mile across that are considered major killers. Scientists believe it was a 6-mile-wide asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs.
But the group thinks more attention should be paid to the estimated half a million smaller asteroids - similar in size to the one that exploded over Siberia in 1908 and leveled more than 800 square miles of forest.
"We're playing cosmic roulette. We're flying around the solar system with these other objects. The laws of probability eventually catch up to you," said foundation chairman and former shuttle astronaut Ed Lu.
Added former Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart: "The current priority really needs to be toward finding all of those asteroids which can do real damage if they hit or when they hit. It's not a matter of if; it's really a matter of when."
Asteroids are getting attention lately. NASA nixed a return to the moon in favor of a manned landing on an asteroid. Last month, Planetary Resources Inc., a company founded by space entrepreneurs, announced plans to extract precious metals from asteroids within a decade.
Since its birth, the Mountain View, Calif.-based B612 Foundation - named after the home asteroid of the Earth-visiting prince in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" - has focused on finding ways to deflect an incoming asteroid. Ideas studied include sending an intercepting spacecraft to aiming a nuclear bomb, but none have been tested.
Last year, the group shifted focus to seek out asteroids with a telescope.
It is working with Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which has drawn up a preliminary telescope design. The contractor developed NASA's Kepler telescope that hunts for exoplanets and built the instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope.
Under the proposal, the asteroid-hunting Sentinel Space Telescope will operate for at least 5 1/2 years. It will orbit around the sun, near the orbit of Venus, or between 30 million to 170 million miles away from Earth. Data will be beamed back through NASA's antenna network under a deal with the space agency.
Launch is targeted for 2017 or 2018. The group is angling to fly aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which made history last month by lifting a cargo capsule to the International Space Station.
Experts said the telescope's vantage point would allow it to spy asteroids faster than ground-based telescopes and accelerate new discoveries. NASA explored doing such a mission in the past but never moved forward because of the expense.
"It's always best to find these things quickly and track them. There might be one with our name on it," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which monitors potentially dangerous space rocks.
Aside from the technological challenges, the big question is whether philanthropists will open up their wallets to support the project.
Nine years ago, the cost was estimated at $500 million, said Tim Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at Harvard University who was part of the team that came up with the figure for NASA.
Spahr questions whether enough can be raised given the economy. "This is a hard time," he said.
The group has received seed money - several hundreds of thousands of dollars - from venture capitalists and Silicon Valley outfits to create a team of experts. Lu, the foundation chair, said he was confident donors will step up and noted that some of the world's most powerful telescopes including the Lick and Palomar observatories in California were built with private money.
"We're not all about doom and gloom," Lu said. "We're about opening up the solar system. We're talking about preserving life on this planet."
Ex-astronauts plan to map near-Earth asteroids
David Pearlman - San Francisco Chronicle
Two veteran astronauts with faraway dreams announced in San Francisco on Thursday they plan to send a satellite around the sun to map the solar system's near-Earth asteroids and warn of any threats to our home planet.
Apollo 9 pilot Rusty Schweickart and Ed Lu, a physicist on both the space shuttle and the International Space Station, said their nonprofit B612 Foundation is preparing to build an infrared telescope and launch it into solar orbit aboard a satellite called Sentinel within the next six years.
The foundation, named for the fictional asteroid in Antoine de Saint-Exupery's novella, "The Little Prince," is set to seek "hundreds of millions of dollars" from contributors worldwide to finance the first private venture into what astronomers call Deep Space, said Lu, the foundation's chairman and chief executive officer.
Schweickart, the foundation's former chairman, has been warning tirelessly and publicly for years that unknown numbers of asteroids - most orbiting between Mars and Jupiter - could be flying on paths that threaten to collide with Earth. He says scientists should be developing technologies to divert them before it's too late.
"But you've got to know they're coming before you can deflect them," he said Thursday in an interview.
And that is what the foundation's space engineers and physicists are doing, the two astronauts said.
They have arranged with Elon Musk's SpaceX Corp. to launch the Sentinel mission aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket. Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo., builders of NASA's Kepler and Spitzer space telescopes, will be building their solar orbiting spacecraft, equipped with the latest in infrared optics, they said.
Launch time, with a fly-by past Venus, is scheduled for 2017 or 2018.
The entire venture might have seemed quixotic only a few years ago, but the success in May of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft flying to the Space Station and back has encouraged the private space industry to plan missions - including the B612 Foundation's Sentinel planners.
Ex-NASA astronauts aim to launch asteroid tracker
Agence France Presse
A private company made up of former NASA astronauts and US scientists said Thursday it is planning to build and launch its own space telescope to track dangerous asteroids and protect the Earth.
The project by the B612 Foundation aims to launch the "first privately funded deep space mission -- SENTINEL -- a space telescope to be placed in orbit around the sun."
The foundation is headed by Ed Lu, a former NASA astronaut who flew aboard the US space shuttle and Russia's Soyuz and worked at the International Space Station.
Lu said the project would expand on knowledge about asteroids -- NASA already tracks potentially dangerous near-Earth objects 24 hours a day -- and protect Earth's citizens.
"The orbits of the inner solar system where Earth lies are populated with a half million asteroids larger than the one that struck Tunguska (Russia, June 30, 1908)," Lu said in a statement.
"And yet we've identified and mapped only about one percent of these asteroids to date."
Sentinel expects to launch sometime around 2017 or 2018 on a five-year mission, possibly aboard a rocket owned by the US company SpaceX that recently sent its own cargo ship to the ISS and back.
During that time it would "discover and track half a million near Earth asteroids, creating a dynamic map that will provide the blueprint for future exploration of our solar system, while protecting the future of humanity on Earth," the foundation said in a statement.
The foundation is working with Colorado-based Ball Aerospace to design and build the space telescope, which will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Scanning the night sky every 26 days, it would send information back to NASA's Deep Space Network, the Laboratory for Space Physics, and research institutions and governments via NASA's Minor Planet Center.
NASA is already tracking asteroids and says it has found 9,064 near-Earth objects so far, about 847 of which are asteroids with a diameter of approximately one kilometer (0.6 miles) or larger.
Just over 1,300 have been classified as "Potentially Hazardous Asteroids" (PHAs).
"We believe our goal of opening up the solar system and protecting humanity is one that will resonate worldwide, said Lu.
"We've garnered the support and advice of a number of individuals experienced with successful philanthropic capital campaigns of similar size or larger, and will continue to build our network."
Tiny Torah travels from hell on earth into outer space
Lauren Markoe - Religion News Service (RNS)
Nearly a decade ago, Dan Cohen set out to make a film about the Holocaust and dead astronauts, a story some told him would be too depressing to tell.
Released last year, “An Article of Hope” unflinchingly delves into two tragedies – one almost too massive to contemplate, the other fresher in our minds.
“It’s some very, very dark and depressing subject matter, but really the message of the movie is hope,” said Garrett Reisman, a Jewish former astronaut who is helping to promote the film. “Embedded in these two incredibly tragic events, of a completely different scale, there is the story of the constant human desire to achieve goodness.”
“An Article of Hope” takes us to the launch site at the Kennedy Space Center on January 16, 2003, with intimate footage of the astronauts’ faces as they ride and then walk toward the space shuttle Columbia.
On board the Columbia is a crew of seven – six Americans and Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut and the son of a survivor of Auschwitz. Also aboard, in Ramon’s care, is a Torah, given to him by another Holocaust survivor.
Joachim Joseph, an Israeli physicist, was born in the Netherlands, and deported as a boy to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with thousands of other Dutch Jews. There, at 13, he was secretly bar mitzvahed with a small Torah – the scrolls of the Hebrew Bible - that had been smuggled into the camp.
As Joseph recounts in the documentary, his dying rabbi pressed the Torah into his hands, and asked him to promise to protect it. Use it, he said, to tell the story of what happened here.
Joseph, who died in 2008 before the film was completed, explains in the documentary why Ramon asked permission to take the Torah on his mission: “He thought he would show it to the world as a symbol of how a person can go from the depths of hell to the heights of space.”
“An Article of Hope” uses the 60-year journey of the Torah to weave together the stories of Ramon and Joseph, with footage from NASA, animated drawings of Joseph’s life in the camp and television news accounts of the day the Columbia was lost.
We learn that Ramon, a decorated fighter pilot, was a hero in Israel well before he became an astronaut. In addition to Joseph’s Torah, he brought to space a picture of the Earth, from the perspective of the moon, drawn by a Jewish boy killed at Auschwitz.
We learn that Joseph was a climatologist who worked on an experiment Israelis had prepared for the Columbia, and that he had never, until Ramon asked him about the little Torah in his home, figured out how to fulfill his boyhood promise to the rabbi.
Cohen, a former news producer who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, made the film on a $300,000 budget, collaborating with established Los Angeles producers Christopher Cowen and Mark Herzog. Cowen convinced actor Tom Hanks, who shares the producers’ fascination with space exploration, to sign on as an executive producer.
For more than a year, the documentary has made the rounds of film festivals, both Jewish oriented and not. Synagogues and Jewish community centers have organized special showings, often inviting Cohen and others involved with Holocaust remembrance and the space program to speak on panels afterward.
“You are devastated by the end of the film but there is a hopefulness,” said Hilary Helstein, executive director of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, where the film won best documentary. We showed it a year ago, “but people are still talking about it.”
Howard Elias, who runs the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, said friends were skeptical when he told them he wanted to open it last November with “An Article of Hope.”
“They said, ‘Nobody wants to see a film about a dead astronaut.’” But, as Elias predicted, the audience voted to award it first prize.
While “An Article of Hope” has resonated among Jewish filmgoers, Cohen wants to show it nationally, on public television.
The Public Broadcasting Service is eager, but requires financial support from the producers. Cohen has to raise $35,000 more to guarantee it an airdate. He wants to time it to mark the 10th anniversary of the last flight of the Columbia, which exploded on Feb. 1, 2003.
As a Jewish director, Cohen was moved to create a documentary that would teach about the Holocaust. But he aimed for a universal story, and decided the best way to achieve one was to focus on the Columbia crew, and how they became a family.
“They are a shining example of the magnificence of diversity and what diversity brings to the world,” said Cohen. “And woven around them is the story of the Holocaust and this little Torah scroll, in this horrific moment in our history, in which there was an attempt to stamp out diversity.”
END
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