Just a reminder that our first Thursday of every month, Monthly NASA retirees luncheon for July has been delayed until next Thursday at Hibachi Grill at 11:30.
Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. JSC Today: IT Services Impacted by JSC Firewall Outage July 7-8 and July 10
2. Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System
3. OCFO Presentation Skills Course Offering
4. Environmental Brown Bag - Living Buildings
5. Relief Valve Set Testing and Hydrostatic Testing for Designated Verifiers
6. Exercise Role in Disease - Should You Take Supplements and More
7. Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting - July 10
8. Investigations on In-suit Shoulder Injuries
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation. ”
-- Oscar Wilde
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1. JSC Today: IT Services Impacted by JSC Firewall Outage July 7-8 and July 10
JSC's Information Resources Directorate will perform a two-stage firewall upgrade that will impact network connectivity from several on-site and off-site facilities.
Intermittent network outages will take place throughout the day:
- Saturday, July 7, and Sunday, July 8: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (stage 1)
- Tuesday, July 10: 7 p.m. to midnight (stage 2, with back-up dates of July 12 and July 14)
MAJOR impacts will take place on Saturday, July 7, from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and again from 1 to 3 p.m.
Impacts include:
- Network connectivity from JSC to other NASA centers (excluding WSTF), Russia, other international partners, contractors both around and outside the Clear Lake area, USA, and the public Internet will be disrupted (Example: Email/NOMAD)
- Network connectivity from other NASA centers (excluding WSTF), Russia, other international partners, contractors both around and outside the Clear Lake area, and USA to JSC will be disrupted.
- JSC remote access services, including VPN (https://vpn.jsc.nasa.gov) R2S (https://remote.jsc.nasa.gov/) & Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) will also be disrupted.
- USA's access to and from JSC internal resources; including access to ESA, JAXA , local area contractors both around and outside the Clear Lake area connected to the DMZ Firewall, will be disrupted. (USA access to the Internet from offsite will not be disrupted.)
- Onsite JSC users will not be able to update/synchronize their computer's Outlook email/calendaring information.
Technical Support
During the outage, please call x34800 for the Enterprise Service Desk for technical support.
For more information on this specific activity, please contact your organization's IRD Customer Service Agent (CSA) at http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/IRDHelp/whotocall/Lists/IRD%20Customer%20Service%20Ag...
For more information and specifics, please go to: http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/Lists/wIReD%20in%20The%20Latest%20IRD%20News/DispForm...
JSC IRD Outreach x42721 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov
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2. Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System
The Emergency Dispatch Center and Office of Emergency Management will conduct the monthly test of the JSC Emergency Warning System (EWS) on Thursday, July 5th at noon. The EWS test will consist of a verbal "This is a Test Message" followed by a "short tone" and then followed by the second verbal "This is a Test Message". The warning tone will be the "Wavering Tone" which is associated with an "Attack Warning" message. Please visit the JSC Emergency Awareness website at http://jea.jsc.nasa.gov for EWS tones and definitions. During an actual emergency situation the particular tone and verbal message will provide you with protective information.
Dennis G. Perrin x34232 http://jea.jsc.nasa.gov
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3. OCFO 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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4. Environmental Brown Bag - Living Buildings
What is the Living Building Challenge? It's the next generation of green building design using restorative principles. It's designing buildings that act more like living plants than collections of concrete, steel and wiring. It's a commitment to catalyzing a global transformation toward true sustainability. Join us at the Environmental Brown Bag on Tuesday, July 10, in Building 45, Room 751, from noon to 1 p.m. as Amanda Tullos from the Living Building Institute describes some of Houston's newest and most exciting green buildings.
Michelle Fraser-Page x34237
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5. Relief Valve Set Testing and Hydrostatic Testing for Designated Verifiers
This course covers the fundamentals and requirements regarding hydrostatic testing of pressure vessels and pressure systems and pressure relief valve set-testing.
Course objectives include:
- Define Designated Verifier (DV):
- Test Area Guidelines
- References: JPR 1710.13, NS-PRS-009, NT-QAS-024
- Safety Guidelines
- Procedures
Re-certification required every two years.
Date/Time: Aug. 1 - From 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Where: Safety Learning Center, Building 226N, Room 174
Register via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Aundrail Hill x36396
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6. Exercise Role in Disease - Should You Take Supplements and More
A variety of wellness classes are being offered next week. Sign up online to reserve your seat!
Exercise Role in Disease, Ageing and Gender
Class explains the role of exercise in cardiovascular disease risks, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, cancer, psychological stress and ageing. Gender differences in physical fitness are also discussed.
Supplements: Things Every Consumer Should Know
Are you currently taking or considering taking a supplement? Learn about the different types of supplements in the market today, industry safety standards and where to find reliable information on the safety of supplements.
Financial Wellness Foundation
What is Financial Wellness? Is there such a thing as being financially healthy? A person's level of readiness plays a significant role in establishing healthy financial goals and behaviors.
Budgets, Debt, Insurance and Long Term Care
Budgeting approaches, emergency cash, debt reduction and insurance are introduced. Long Term Care options are defined.
See link for details.
Jessica Vos x41383
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7. Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting - July 10
"Live and Let Live" is the slogan Al-Anon members remember during the heat of the summer to keep our temperature cool. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet Tuesday, July 10, in Building 32, Room 142, from 11 to 11:50 a.m. Visitors are welcome.
Lorraine Bennett x36130 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/EAP/Pages/default.aspx
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8. Investigations on In-suit Shoulder Injuries
For every one hour spent performing EVA in space, astronauts spend approximately six to 10 hours training in the EMU at the NBL. In 1997, NASA introduced the planar hard upper torso (HUT), which subsequently replaced the existing pivoted HUT. An extra joint in the pivoted shoulder allows increased mobility but also increased complexity. Over the next decade a number of astronauts developed shoulder problems requiring surgical intervention, many of whom performed EVA training in the NBL. Join us as Flight Surgeon Dr. Richard Scheuring elaborates on a study that investigated whether changing HUT designs led to shoulder injuries requiring surgical repair.
When: Tuesday, July 10, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: Building 5 South, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor).
SATERN Registration is encouraged. Link will be available soon.
For additional information, contact any EC5 Spacesuit Knowledge Capture point of contact: Cinda
Chullen (x38384), Juniper Jairala (281-461-5794) or Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795).
Juniper Jairala 281-461-5794
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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:
· 7:55 am Central (8:55 EDT) – Exp 32 with LaRC at Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond
Human Spaceflight News
Thursday, July 5, 2012
HEADLINES AND LEADS
“Hit the Ground Running”: Busy Space Station Times Ahead
Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org
Sunday’s landing of Soyuz TMA-03M brought Oleg Kononenko, Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers safely back to Earth after more than half a year in orbit and ushered in the official start of Expedition 32 on the International Space Station. The coming months aboard the outpost promise to be exciting and dramatic, with no fewer than two spacewalks scheduled from the US and Russian segments, plus a Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), SpaceX’s first dedicated Dragon cargo flight, the maiden voyage of Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus craft, the departure of a European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and a ‘fast-rendezvous’ experiment which aims to dock a Progress freighter onto the space station just seven hours after launch.
ATK extends Liberty proposal to include cargo resupply
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
ATK announced Tuesday its Liberty space transportation system will comprise crew and cargo modules to haul seven astronauts and up to 5,000 pounds of supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station on the same flight. The combined crew and cargo capability differentiates ATK from its commercial competitors, which plan to offer only limited resupply capacity on crewed missions. "Liberty's expanded service allows us to bring a commercial capability delivering up to seven crew members, 5,000 pounds of pressurized cargo, along with external cargo in a single flight," said Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and program manager for Liberty. "This results in tremendous value since all other commercial offerings would need two flights to accomplish what Liberty does in one."
Unique Liberty Cargo Capability Unveiled
Jim Hillhouse - AmericaSpace.org
Several companies are vying to launch cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). Most companies are focused on doing one or the other, whether it is SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, or any of the others participating in NASA’s commercial cargo or crew programs. Today ATK announced that its Liberty Launcher will have a cargo capability in addition to launching its crewed spacecraft. This is not unique SpaceX’s Dragon can carry some amount of unpressurized cargo behind the Dragon spacecraft. What differentiates ATK’s solution is launching 5,000 lbs (2.27 mT) of pressurized cargo at the same time it launches a crewed spacecraft. This is something no other company has yet offered.
Team Liberty Announces Independent Assessment Panel
Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org
In order to assure ATK’s Liberty program meets or exceeds safety requirements, the Utah-based company has assembled an independent assessment team to determine how well the program’s various elements are doing in terms of crew safety and component integration. ATK announced on May 9th that the Composite Crew Module (since renamed the Liberty spacecraft) would be added to the launch vehicle and launch abort system that the company already has. This means ATK has all the components required to launch a spacecraft. ATK not only has the combined launcher and spacecraft but also ground and mission operations and passenger training and flight test crew. ATK has partnered with Lockheed-Martin to utilize Lockheed-Martin’s simulators and test facilities. Liberty’s independent assessment team will be led by Bryan O’Connor with team members Ken Bowersox, Kevin Leclaire and Alain Souchier. Liberty’s team boasts former space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) astronauts along with experts in NASA Safety and Mission Assurance, commercial space business and cryogenic engine development.
NASA to announce commercial space shuttle successors soon
Carl Franzen - Talking Points Memo's Idea Lab
A competition is currently underway between seven private spacecraft companies vying to replace the retired space shuttle when it comes to ferrying humans and crew into space, and NASA will soon announce the winners of the final round. NASA’s spokesperson told TPM that the agency ultimately aims to select “more than one” transport providers for getting astronauts to the International Space Station, and the agency is likely to announce up to three funding awards soon.
Orion's first test flight offers SLS a look at hardware operation, integration
Space-Travel.com
When NASA conducts its first test launch of the Orion spacecraft in 2014, the crew module's designers will record invaluable data about its performance - from launch and flight, to re-entry and landing. Orion will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before, sustaining the crew during space travel and providing emergency abort capability and safe re-entry from deep space. Orion will launch atop the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's next flagship rocket currently under design. The SLS will power the Orion spacecraft on deep space missions to asteroids, the moon, Mars and other destinations in our solar system. The first flight test of the full-scale SLS is planned for 2017.
Orbital rocket gets NASA approval
Deal is first step to future contracts
Carol Vaughn - Salisbury Daily Times (Maryland)
Orbital Sciences Corp. announced Wednesday it has successfully completed contract negotiations to add the Antares rocket to NASA's list of approved launch vehicles under the NASA Launch Services program. It is a first step toward getting additional contracts for Antares in the future, beyond the company's current $1.9 billion contract with NASA for cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station. "It potentially could mean more Antares launches from Wallops if our rocket is selected to carry out the launch of a science satellite for NASA, a non-cargo mission whose orbit is compatible with a launch from Wallops," Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said.
Veteran Astronaut Steve Robinson Leaves NASA
Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org
Veteran NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson has decided to leave the space agency; his final day was on June 30. Robinson spent 36 years with NASA and tallied more than 48 days on orbit and three spacewalks during his time there. Starting in the fall of 2012, Robinson will be a professor for the University of California at Davis.
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti set for ISS in 2014
Space-Travel.com
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has been assigned to be launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2014 for a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, Thomas Reiter, and the International Space Station partners board have released the official assignment for the European-Italian flight. Italy's space agency, ASI, proposed Samantha for this mission of 6-7 months. "It is a great satisfaction to see the third astronaut of the 2009 recruited class assigned to a mission to space," said Director Reiter.
Spaceport America unveils new look
Associated Press
New Mexico's commercial spaceport is unveiling a new look and a new website in time for the Fourth of July holiday. New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson says the effort is aimed at introducing Spaceport America to the world. The new logo features a pair of blue and red shapes that are meant to symbolize two stars coming together and the collaboration behind man's reach into space.
Space shuttle Enterprise exhibit opening July 19 at New York City's Intrepid
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
When NASA's space shuttle Enterprise goes on display later this month at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, visitors will be able to view the original prototype orbiter from all angles, including from above and below. Enterprise, which flew atmospheric approach and landing tests in the late 1970s to prove the pathway home for its sister space-worthy shuttles, will make its debut inside the Intrepid's new "Space Shuttle Pavilion" on Thursday, July 19. The climate-controlled, pressurized fabric shelter was inflated over Enterprise on June 21, two weeks after the shuttle was delivered to the converted aircraft carrier. The pavilion sits on the rear of the Intrepid's flight deck.
Could We Build 'Star Trek's' Starship Enterprise?
Nola Taylor Redd - Space.com
Since its first appearance on the original "Star Trek" series in 1966, the starship Enterprise has become a symbol for space travel. Recently, an anonymous engineer claimed that an approximation of this iconic ship could be built in the next two decades. But just how close is mankind to zipping through the stars at warp speed? On the website BuildTheEnterprise.org, a self-proclaimed engineer who identifies himself only as "BTE-Dan" suggests that a working facsimile of the iconic ship could be built and launched over the next 20 to 30 years. The ship would require a few modifications, but would look a great deal like Captain Kirk's famous ship.
Space, the Missing Frontier
Douglas MacKinnon - New York Times (Opinion)
(MacKinnon was a press secretary to former Senator Bob Dole. He was also a writer for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and a special assistant for policy and communications in the Defense Department. He is the author, most recently, of a memoir, “Rolling Pennies in the Dark.”)
As most of us who have worked in and around politics for any length of time know, if a certain issue is not an immediate vote-getter or “tangible” for a politician, there is a better than even chance that the issue will be ignored or deposited upon the furthest back-burner. For many of our elected officials, everyday political calculation comes down to this: “What’s best for my re-election and what’s best for my party?” In that order. With fewer and fewer people in power whose first thought is: “What’s the best decision I can make that will be in the best interests of my constituents?” It’s no wonder that more young people are giving up on politics while their elders abandon the political parties to become Independents.
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COMPLETE STORIES
“Hit the Ground Running”: Busy Space Station Times Ahead
Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org
Sunday’s landing of Soyuz TMA-03M brought Oleg Kononenko, Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers safely back to Earth after more than half a year in orbit and ushered in the official start of Expedition 32 on the International Space Station.
The coming months aboard the outpost promise to be exciting and dramatic, with no fewer than two spacewalks scheduled from the US and Russian segments, plus a Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), SpaceX’s first dedicated Dragon cargo flight, the maiden voyage of Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus craft, the departure of a European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and a ‘fast-rendezvous’ experiment which aims to dock a Progress freighter onto the space station just seven hours after launch.
The three men touched down on the barren steppe at 2:14 pm local time, in the hinterland of the large copper-mining city of Jezkazgan in Kazakhstan’s semi-arid heart. Kononenko, who now has a cumulative year in orbit from his two space missions, seemed to wince as he was extracted from the Soyuz descent module. He also appeared tired and drawn. It was reported that Pettit fainted briefly, but was later photographed savouring his first experience of the sweet air of Earth, and an exhausted Kuipers grinned broadly for photographers. Shortly thereafter, the men separated, departing on Russian MI-8 helicopters to a nearby airfield, from whence Kononenko returned to Star City, near Moscow, and Pettit and Kuipers to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Their mission, which began shortly before Christmas, extended to 192 days, 18 hours and 58 minutes; some six weeks longer than originally planned, due to delays in preparing the Soyuz spacecraft of the present station crew, Gennadi Padalka, Sergei Revin and Joe Acaba. With this impressive duration, Dutch physician Kuipers smartly eclipsed the previous European single-flight record of Belgium’s Frank de Winne, who had chalked up almost 188 days in May-December 2009. Meanwhile, Pettit became only the fourth American to spend a cumulative year in orbit. The 57-year-old chemical engineer now stands behind Mike Fincke, Chief Astronaut Peggy Whitson – who was on hand at the landing site – and Mike Foale as America’s fourth most experienced spacefarer, with almost 370 days aloft. Pettit also became the oldest long-duration resident of the station. In terms of the ‘old-man’ crown, Pettit’s accomplishment will be broken in April 2013, when 59-year-old Pavel Vinogradov arrives aboard Soyuz TMA-08M.
A few hours before landing, Kononenko officially handed over command to fellow cosmonaut Padalka, who has been aboard the International Space Station with crewmates Sergei Revin and NASA’s Joe Acaba since mid-May. At the helm of Expedition 32, Padalka becomes the first person to command three long-duration flights aboard the station. His crew is due to expand to a full strength of six on 17 July, when Soyuz TMA-05M arrives with NASA astronaut Suni Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Aki Hoshide of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Due to the Soyuz delays experienced earlier this year, both expeditions will run for around four months, with Padalka’s crew scheduled to return to Earth on 17 September and Williams’ crew on 12 November. This is somewhat shorter than the normal six-month span of each increment and although the astronauts and cosmonauts have expressed disappointment, the consensus was summed up well by Williams: “Any spaceflight is a great spaceflight!”
The work of spaceflight will begin almost immediately, with Japan’s third HTV scheduled for launch on 21 July. Following a six-day rendezvous profile, it will be captured by the station’s Canadarm2 and berthed onto the Earth-facing nadir port of the Harmony node. With Aki Hoshide aboard, this will be the first time that a Japanese astronaut has been present for the arrival of a Japanese cargo craft. “It’s a very personal visiting vehicle for me,” he explained, “and I look forward to being there when HTV-3 arrives. Obviously, it’s a Japan-built vehicle, launching on a Japanese rocket, and, I guess, having a Japanese crew member up there to work on it will be of very significant importance.” According to Hoshide, a minimum of three crew members on the US segment are required to support a HTV berthing and thus its arrival could not occur whilst Acaba was alone. On 27 July, the two men will operate Canadarm2 from within the dome-like Cupola and Acaba will perform the actual grapple of the incoming craft.
After berthing, HTV-3’s equipment-laden Exposed Pallet will be robotically transferred by Canadarm2 to the Japanese Exposed Facility, a large ‘porch’ at the far end of the Kibo laboratory complex. The Japanese module’s mechanical arm will then remove the Multi-Mission Consolidated Equipment (MCE) from the Exposed Pallet and install it onto the Exposed Facility. Shortly thereafter, the station’s Dextre robot will remove the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) testbed from the Exposed Facility and install it onto one of the Express Logistics Carriers. The now-empty Exposed Pallet will then be transferred back to HTV-3. “Pretty complex,” said Joe Acaba, with the subtlest hint of understatement. “You’re using all the arms pretty much that we have on station. It’ll be fun to do.”
For Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide, the arrival of HTV-3, so soon after their own arrival, offers little time for them to acclimatise to their new environment. “We had some of these discussions,” said Williams, “with our flight control team and our flight directors and we’ve made some trade-offs, ’cause initially there’s some time in the beginning for a handover.” On this mission, Williams’ team will have no such luxury and have spent much time in recent weeks engaging in training video teleconferences with Padalka’s men in orbit, to ensure that “we’ll be ready to hit the ground running as soon as we arrive”.
The pace of the mission will show no signs of slacking and, in fact, will noticeably accelerate as the summer progresses. Following the undocking of Russia’s Progress M-15M/47P cargo craft at the end of July, a new vehicle will be launched on the evening of 1 August…with a noticeable difference over its predecessors. It has become clear in recent weeks that the new Progress M-16M/48P will attempt an experimental ‘fast-rendezvous’ approach profile and should be in position to dock with the space station early on 2 August…a mere seven hours after launch! Yuri Malenchenko is assigned primary responsibility for Progress docking and undocking operations and if this fast rendezvous succeeds, it will undoubtedly also be applied to subsequent missions.
Next month should feature two EVAs: a Russian excursion by Padalka and Malenchenko on 16 August, followed by a spacewalk from the US segment, featuring Williams and Hoshide, on the 30th. (Ahead of the first EVA, Williams has half-jokingly warned her two Russian crewmates to be careful, since Padalka and Malenchenko are the commanders of Expedition 32’s respective Soyuz craft.) Spacewalking is nothing new to either cosmonaut – Padalka has previously done six, Malenchenko four – and on this outing they will relocate the large Strela cargo crane from the Pirs docking compartment onto the Zarya control module. This work will be in preparation for the eventual undocking of Piers and the arrival of the new ‘Nauka’ Multi-Purpose Laboratory Module (MLM), already many years overdue, but according to Padalka now scheduled for launch “in one year”.
As his two comrades labour outside, Sergei Revin will be based inside the Poisk Mini-Research Module (MRM-2) – to which Soyuz TMA-04M is present docked – and will be responsible for their safety and for film coverage of the EVA. Malenchenko expects them to spend up to six hours outside and in addition to relocating the Strela they will release a small free-flying satellite, collect several exposed material samples and deploy a series of micrometeoroid orbital debris panels. “Based on the hydrolab runs that we’ve had,” said Malenchenko, “we feel very comfortable that these activities are well within realm of possible.”
Two weeks later, on 30 August, Williams – a veteran of four previous EVAs – and Hoshide will venture out of the Quest airlock to remove and replace a failed Main Bus Switching Unit (MBSU-1), a distribution hub for the electrical power system. “We have four of them on the space station,” said Williams. “One of them hasn’t been working quite a hundred percent for probably the last eight or nine months and we’ve been talking about trying to get this guy replaced. It’s nothing critical at the moment in time. It just decreases some of our redundancy and, of course, with a humungous space station that we have and all the laboratories that are running and all the power that’s coming from the solar arrays, we like to have as much flexibility as possible. So we’d like to replace that MBSU.” A secondary goal of the EVA is to route a set of cables – carried aloft aboard Progress M-16M/48P – to the Russian segment, part of get-ahead work in anticipation of the MLM launch.
According to Williams, these two tasks originally formed two EVAs, which have since been combined into a single, six-hour excursion. “One spacewalker will be primarily doing the MBSU,” she said, “and there’s a couple critical places where they need to probably have two people, when the spare is getting disconnected from its platform and when the prime MBSU is going to get installed into its final home. That’s when the two crew members will work together, then the other crew member will be laying the cables from the S-0 [truss], all the way back towards [Zarya].”
The sheer size and bulk of the MBSU, which weighs approximately 220 pounds, will require the support of Joe Acaba, inside the station. He will control Canadarm2, driving Hoshide to the External Stowage Platform (ESP-2) to pick up the MBSU and eventually to the S-0 truss. It will be Hoshide’s first EVA and he has received much guidance from other astronauts. Acaba has performed spacewalks on his first mission, STS-119, and for him it will be “pretty cool” to see his Japanese friend go outside. One other task for Williams and Hoshide is the installation of a thermal cover onto the Pressurised Mating Adaptor (PMA-2) at the forward end of the Harmony node. Since this adaptor is no longer needed for Shuttle dockings, and will not be required for several years until the first commercial crew vehicle arrives, the cover will provide thermal protection.
Six days after the spacewalk, the crew will bid farewell to HTV-3 and on 17 September to Padalka, Revin and Acaba, as they return to Earth after four months in orbit. At this point, Williams will assume command, becoming only the second woman ever to take this position of ultimate responsibility. From her perspective, however, she does not foresee any serious problems. “Everybody up there is so experienced and so knowledgeable,” she said. “I’ve got a team that we’ve worked for the last two and a half years together and I think that’s where you really foster that leadership-followership thing. When you get up on the space station, you know what to do, so I’m not nervous about it at all. I’m psyched.”
With Padalka’s men gone, Williams, Malenchenko and Hoshide will be on their own for a full month until the next increment – NASA’s Kevin Ford and Russians Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeni Tarelkin – arrives aboard Soyuz TMA-06M on 17 October. During their month alone, Williams and her two colleagues will oversee the departure of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) on 23 September and, if the present schedule holds, will welcome the first dedicated Dragon mission under the $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract, signed between SpaceX and NASA in December 2008. Dragon is slated to arrive on 7 October and will form the first of 12 contracted cargo flights between 2012 and 2015.
The second key player in this commercial cargo contract, Orbital Sciences, is presently scheduled to launch a full-up demonstration of its freighter, Cygnus, in November, but this depends entirely upon the performance of the company’s Antares booster on its maiden flight in August. By the time Cygnus arrives, the next crew of Ford, Novitsky and Tarelkin should be aboard the International Space Station. Ford, a veteran Shuttle pilot, will assume command from Williams and on 7 December the next three station crew members – Canadian Chris Hadfield, NASA’s Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko – will arrive aboard Soyuz TMA-07M to begin the station’s march into 2013.
If Russia’s MLM Nauka module arrives next year and does not meet with additional delay, it should bring the multi-national outpost ever closer to completion, some 15 years after the launch of the first elements in November-December 1998. Yuri Malenchenko has seen the International Space Station change significantly during his four missions there: in September 2000, it was comparatively small, whilst in mid-2003 construction had effectively stalled in the wake of the Columbia disaster. His third expedition in 2007-2008 saw the station expand with European and Japanese components and now, in this Olympic year, he will see it in its near-final state: as a shining icon of international co-operation and near-miraculous technological accomplishment. “This,” said Malenchenko, “is very exciting for me.”
ATK extends Liberty proposal to include cargo resupply
Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com
ATK announced Tuesday its Liberty space transportation system will comprise crew and cargo modules to haul seven astronauts and up to 5,000 pounds of supplies and science experiments to the International Space Station on the same flight.
The combined crew and cargo capability differentiates ATK from its commercial competitors, which plan to offer only limited resupply capacity on crewed missions.
"Liberty's expanded service allows us to bring a commercial capability delivering up to seven crew members, 5,000 pounds of pressurized cargo, along with external cargo in a single flight," said Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and program manager for Liberty. "This results in tremendous value since all other commercial offerings would need two flights to accomplish what Liberty does in one."
Astronauts and cargo will blast off on a Liberty rocket, which ATK is proposing for NASA's commercial crew program. NASA expects to award two companies between $300 million and $500 million in 21-month agreements beginning as soon as this month.
The space agency plans to release about half that amount of funding to a third company, which will continue development of a commercial crew transportation system at a slower pace.
ATK is currently working on the Liberty proposal with private funding, and company officials say government financing is necessary to meet a schedule calling for a first piloted mission to low Earth orbit by late 2015.
The aerospace firm has an unfunded Space Act Agreement with NASA, where the space agency shares expertise with ATK but does not pay an award.
SpaceX, Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp., and Blue Origin currently have funded Space Act Agreements with NASA. The next round of awards - called the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability phase - will pick up at the conclusion of the ongoing agreements this summer. All companies with funded agreements with NASA must re-compete to continue receiving government financing.
ATK, the builder of the space shuttle's strap-on boosters, plans to combine an extended five-segment version of the shuttle solid rocket motor with an upper stage based on the cryogenic core of Europe's Ariane 5 rocket. A seven-person capsule built by ATK and Lockheed Martin Corp. would fly into orbit on top of the two-stage Liberty launcher.
A Liberty logistics module will also fly with the crew capsule, carrying up to 5,100 pounds of cargo, including up to four full-size research racks for placement into the space station's laboratories.
The crew spacecraft would be made of a lightweight composite shell developed by ATK in partnership with NASA's Langley Research Center beginning in 2007. ATK and Langley built a composite pressure vessel as an alternative to the Orion spacecraft's aluminum-lithium structure.
If it proceeds into full development, Lockheed Martin would oversee final assembly of the crew capsule at the Kennedy Space Center.
The Liberty cargo module would be based on the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module carried about space shuttle flights to outfit the space station.
NASA's requirements for bidders in the commercial crew program do not specify cargo capacity as a decision point for monetary awards.
Unique Liberty Cargo Capability Unveiled
Jim Hillhouse - AmericaSpace.org
Several companies are vying to launch cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). Most companies are focused on doing one or the other, whether it is SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, or any of the others participating in NASA’s commercial cargo or crew programs. Today ATK announced that its Liberty Launcher will have a cargo capability in addition to launching its crewed spacecraft. This is not unique SpaceX’s Dragon can carry some amount of unpressurized cargo behind the Dragon spacecraft. What differentiates ATK’s solution is launching 5,000 lbs (2.27 mT) of pressurized cargo at the same time it launches a crewed spacecraft. This is something no other company has yet offered.
The Liberty Logistics Module or LLM, which is based off of NASA’s Multi-Purpose Logistics Module, will provide a shirt-sleeve environment for cargo and will be stored behind the Liberty crewed spacecraft at launch and docking with ISS. The LLM will include a common berthing mechanism and could be used to transport four full-sized science racks to the International Space Station. To date, none of the companies involved in either of NASA’s commercial cargo or crew development programs have brought this sort of crew and cargo capability to the table allowing ATK’s offering to stand out among other competitors.
“Liberty’s expanded service allows us to bring a commercial capability delivering up to seven crew members, 5,000 pounds of pressurized cargo, along with external cargo in a single flight,” said Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and program manager for Liberty. “This results in tremendous value since all other commercial offerings would need two flights to accomplish what Liberty does in one.”
The LLM will have a common berthing mechanism that is used by all the spacecraft that berth to the ISS. LLM will have a crago capacity of 5,100 pounds of pressurized cargo. What this means is that the LLM could transport four full-sized science racks to the orbiting laboratory along with the scientists that would conduct the experiments.
According to a press release issued by ATK Liberty is designed to not only revolutionize access to low-Earth-orbit or LEO – but to also do so safely and reliably.
Liberty is unique among the many companies vying to provide a vehicle to return astronauts to LEO in that it is an international affair. While the first stage is a highly-modified solid rocket booster (SRB) similar to what was used on the space shuttle, the upper stage consists of the core stage of an Ariane 5 rocket. Astrium an EADS company will provide this element of the Liberty system. Astrium is based out Paris, France.
Human-rating launch vehicles and spacecraft is complex endeavor – one which neither company involved in this project has to worry about as they have already accomplished this goal. The SRB-derived first stage comes from the human-rated space shuttle and the upper stage comes from the Ariane 5 – which was developed to launch Europe’s Hermes shuttle before the program was cancelled.
Liberty became a complete commercial crew system on May 9 of this year with the announcement of the addition of the Liberty spacecraft. The Liberty system now comprises the “full package” with a human-rated composite spacecraft, advanced abort system, a launch vehicle as well as ground and mission operations.
Uncrewed test flights are scheduled for 2014 and 2015, followed by the first crewed flights in 2015 with a Liberty flight crew planned to fly to the International Space Station. Although there are numerous commercial designs and spacecraft out there – industry experts point to Liberty as the system in the lead.
“Only one system has everything to accomplish commercial cargo and crew and that’s Liberty,” said long-time aerospace correspondent Jay Barbree during the recent unveiling of the Orion spacecraft at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “Liberty has the launcher, spacecraft, launch abort and ground support systems.”
Team Liberty Announces Independent Assessment Panel
Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org
In order to assure ATK’s Liberty program meets or exceeds safety requirements, the Utah-based company has assembled an independent assessment team to determine how well the program’s various elements are doing in terms of crew safety and component integration.
ATK announced on May 9th that the Composite Crew Module (since renamed the Liberty spacecraft) would be added to the launch vehicle and launch abort system that the company already has. This means ATK has all the components required to launch a spacecraft.
ATK not only has the combined launcher and spacecraft but also ground and mission operations and passenger training and flight test crew. ATK has partnered with Lockheed-Martin to utilize Lockheed-Martin’s simulators and test facilities.
Congress has authorized the Federal Aviation Administration to regulate commercial access to low-Earth-orbit (LEO). This has been done to ensure crew and passenger safety. The various companies involved with providing access to LEO are waiting for these guidelines to be issued and rely on NASA for guidance in the interim. ATK has opted to put in place elements such as this assessment team to see that stringent safety measures are in place from the outset. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has established a similar panel to oversee the company’s efforts.
Liberty’s independent assessment team will be led by Bryan O’Connor with team members Ken Bowersox, Kevin Leclaire and Alain Souchier. Liberty’s team boasts former space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) astronauts along with experts in NASA Safety and Mission Assurance, commercial space business and cryogenic engine development.
“As we build Liberty using streamlined and affordable commercial approaches, we intend to maintain a steady emphasis on crew safety, which is why we brought together top talent for the Liberty independent assessment team,” said Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and program manager for Liberty. “We have one of the best teams whose background and expertise will ensure Liberty is safe and reliable for our commercial customers.”
O’Connor, a two-time shuttle veteran will lead the independent assessment team. His background experience is in flight testing, program management and safety and mission assurance. Before he joined NASA, O’Connor served in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was a test pilot. While at NASA he was the space shuttle program director as well as the chief of Safety and Mission Assurance where it was his job to ensure the safe and efficient management of NASA’s numerous programs.
“I am looking forward to working with ATK on their commercial human certification plan for Liberty,” said O’Connor. “It is extremely important to get this plan right. Fortunately, they have a head start because all of Liberty’s subsystems were originally designed to be human-rated.”
The other members of the Liberty assessment team have similar backgrounds in spacecraft design and testing.
Ken Bowersox is a former U.S. Navy test pilot and space shuttle astronaut having not only flown four times on the shuttle but once on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as well. He served as the commander of the Expedition-6 crew, in charge of the orbiting laboratory for five months. It is his time at NASA that highlights why he was selected for this panel, having served as the chief of the Astronaut Office Safety Branch and chairman of the Spaceflight Safety Panel. Until December of 2011 Bowersox worked as Space Exploration Technologies’ (SpaceX) vice president of Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance. Bowersox will be in charge of crew training and commercial crewed certification plan for Liberty.
Kevin Leclaire is experienced in developing space-related companies. He has served in a variety of roles in private industry, all of them with a focus on space, satellite and technology development. Leclaire served as a senior associate at a venture capital firm whose primary interest was space-related firms. Leclaire’s background makes him a natural fit to govern business aspects of the Liberty program. This is no easy task as Leclaire must ensure that Liberty has a solid business foundation while not jeopardizing crew safety.
Alain Souchier was the manager in charge of the design of the Ariane 5’s stage propulsion system as well as the cryogenic engine and stage propulsion systems on the Vulcain Ariane 5. As Liberty’s upper stage is the central core of an Ariane 5, having him on the team should be an asset. Souchier has 30 years worth of experience in the aerospace industry and has been awarded medals from the French space agency (CNET) for his efforts. Souchier’s field of interest on Liberty will be the Vulcain 2 engine upgrades (these engines, normally ground-started need to be converted to air-started).
ATK has made steady strides in terms of Liberty. having signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA in September of last year. Then, this past May, ATK announced that the Liberty spacecraft would be added to the launch and launch abort system that the company already has in place. Finally, just this past week, ATK unveiled a new cargo feature for the Liberty spacecraft.
NASA to announce commercial space shuttle successors soon
Carl Franzen - Talking Points Memo's Idea Lab
A competition is currently underway between seven private spacecraft companies vying to replace the retired space shuttle when it comes to ferrying humans and crew into space, and NASA will soon announce the winners of the final round.
NASA’s spokesperson told TPM that the agency ultimately aims to select “more than one” transport providers for getting astronauts to the International Space Station, and the agency is likely to announce up to three funding awards soon.
The awards will be worth a total “between $300 and $500 million,” according to NASA’s spokesperson, and they will be announced in the “July/August” timeframe
NASA wants the winners to take the spot of the shuttle fleet, which was retired following the final flight of the shuttle Atlantis in July 2011. Currently, NASA astronauts have to hitch a ride aboard the Russian Soyuz vessel at a cost of upwards of $60 million per seat. NASA hopes that the commercial providers it is pitting against one another will be able to come up with a more cost-effective solution.
“The program is currently in a blackout period and we cannot discuss who has applied,” the NASA spokesperson said.
But it’s pretty clear just which companies are involved in this new commercial space race, also known as NASA’s “commercial crew development program,” or “CCDev,” for short.
Back in 2011, NASA signed agreements to fund four companies involved in the competition to the tune of a combined nearly $270 million.
The four companies represent the stark divide in space contractors these days. Two are the upstart offspring of Internet billionaires: Blue Origin, the creation of Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, received $22 million. SpaceX, the brainchild of PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, picked up $75 million.
The other two companies are more traditional, coming from the U.S. defense aerospace contracting sector: Boeing was awarded $92.3 million and Sierra Nevada Corporation, a company that designs landing gear for U.S. Predator drones and is led by an enigmatic founder, received $80 million.
NASA also entered into “unfunded agreements” to collaborate on launch and orbital tourism efforts with three other partners: United Launch Alliance, a joint venture from Boeing and Lockheed Martin, defense contractors Alliant Techsystems and ATK, and private spacefaring company Excalibur Almaz.
In order to get the next round of funds, the companies will have to show NASA their technology offers an all-in-one solution for getting astronauts and crew into space.
“NASA is looking for a fully integrated system which includes a spacecraft, launch vehicle, ground operations and mission control center,” NASA’s spokesperson told TPM.
Last week, NASA went on a PR blitz, publicizing the recent successful tests and other gains made by the participants in the contest, tweeting from the official commercial crew development Twitter account.
“This week, we’ll show you the progress being made for future crewed missions to low Earth orbit, starting with @Boeing,” NASA’s commercial crew Twitter account posted on June 25, including a link to the following video demo of Boeing’s own experimental crew vessel, the CST-100, which has only been tested on the ground so far, and specifically the craft’s thrusters.
“Depending on NASA level of funding during the next phases of Commercial Crew program, we could begin flying test flights as early as 2015,” a Boeing spokesperson told TPM.
Following the Boeing video, NASA’s commercial crew development Twitter account posted another demo, this one of ATK’s Liberty Launch rocket, also currently under development.
“Liberty will give the U.S. a new launch capability with a robust business case and a schedule that we expect will have us flying crews in just three years, ending our dependence on Russia,” said Kent Rominger, vice president and program manager for Liberty, in a statement.
“NASA is investing in U.S. technologies that will help send astronauts back to the ISS and will push U.S. technology and innovation,” NASA’s spokesperson told TPM.
The agency’s plans to hold a fierce competition to replace the space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz vessel were almost axed by Congress early this year, with cost wary legislators contemplating cutting 40 percent of the commercial crew development program’s budget. Instead, NASA reached an agreement in June with Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations subcommittee to allow the program to continue but in a more limited scope, revising downward the number of awards from the four originally called for and awarded last time to “2.5,” that is, two full awards and one half-funded award, also changing the nature of the funding agreements to give NASA greater oversight of the development of the private craft.
Orion's first test flight offers SLS a look at hardware operation, integration
Space-Travel.com
When NASA conducts its first test launch of the Orion spacecraft in 2014, the crew module's designers will record invaluable data about its performance - from launch and flight, to re-entry and landing. Orion will carry astronauts farther into space than ever before, sustaining the crew during space travel and providing emergency abort capability and safe re-entry from deep space. Orion will launch atop the Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's next flagship rocket currently under design.
The SLS will power the Orion spacecraft on deep space missions to asteroids, the moon, Mars and other destinations in our solar system. The first flight test of the full-scale SLS is planned for 2017.
In 2014, NASA will fly the Orion module on Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1). Perched on top of a Delta IV rocket operated by United Launch Alliance at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., the Orion capsule will travel 3,000 miles into space - 15 times farther away from Earth than the International Space Station. Because the Delta rocket was not originally designed and built to launch Orion, engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are building innovative adapter hardware to connect the two. This same hardware design eventually will be used on the flexible configurations of SLS flights.
"While this is an SLS design, we have the unique opportunity to design the hardware early and provide it for Exploration Flight Test 1, saving time and money," said David Beaman, spacecraft and payload integration manager for NASA's SLS Program.
"By designing the adapter for both missions, we provide an affordable solution to keep our human exploration mission moving forward. EFT-1 becomes a test flight for the crew spacecraft and our adapter elements. Our designers and machinists are hard at work, fabricating the large aluminum rings needed to support the test flight, and we will deliver this hardware ahead of schedule."
EFT-1 also will benefit the SLS program by flight-testing two elements similar to the top portion of the initial SLS vehicle: Orion itself and the EFT-1 cryogenic propulsion stage, or kick stage. The kick stage will be similar to the SLS Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage used for the initial rocket missions slated for 2017 and 2021.
"When you fly a vehicle for the first time you want to know as much as possible and the EFT-1 mission will allow our SLS team to learn about the structural, mechanical and electrical interfaces - the internal environment between Orion and the launch vehicle," said Garry Lyles, chief engineer for the Space Launch System at Marshall.
"Our team will capture flight data that will be useful to calibrate guidance, navigation and control algorithms and structural loads for SLS; separation dynamics between Orion and the launch vehicle; and overall vehicle stability - all vital data to reduce risk and increase reliability and sustainability for America's next launch vehicle."
The first SLS mission, Exploration Mission 1, in 2017 will launch an uncrewed Orion to demonstrate the integrated system performance of the SLS rocket and spacecraft prior to a crewed flight. The second SLS mission, Exploration Mission 2, is targeted for 2021 and will launch Orion and a crew of up to four American astronauts.
The Orion Program is managed by NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The SLS Program is managed by the Marshall Center. Both programs are managed by the Explorations Systems Development Division within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Orbital rocket gets NASA approval
Deal is first step to future contracts
Carol Vaughn - Salisbury Daily Times (Maryland)
Orbital Sciences Corp. announced Wednesday it has successfully completed contract negotiations to add the Antares rocket to NASA's list of approved launch vehicles under the NASA Launch Services program.
It is a first step toward getting additional contracts for Antares in the future, beyond the company's current $1.9 billion contract with NASA for cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station.
"It potentially could mean more Antares launches from Wallops if our rocket is selected to carry out the launch of a science satellite for NASA, a non-cargo mission whose orbit is compatible with a launch from Wallops," Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said.
But he said the so-called "on-ramping" of Antares onto the NASA Launch Services program, while it puts the vehicle on the list of approved rockets from which NASA can choose, does not in itself add any firm contracts.
Launch vehicles that have qualified under the NLS program "have completed stringent technical and pricing reviews," according to a press release from Orbital Sciences. Antares joins other Orbital rockets, as well as vehicles from other providers, in the NLS program.
Orbital rockets already have carried out 27 successful missions for NASA since 1996 under the NLS program and other contracts, the release said. Those include the recent successful launch of a Pegasus rocket carrying the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array satellite into orbit in June.
"The on-ramping of the Antares rocket to the NLS program is an important step in broadening the launch manifest beyond the cargo logistics missions to the ISS," said Ron Grabe, Orbital's executive vice president and general manager of its Launch Systems Group.
Grabe added, "The NLS program has served as an effective way for NASA to procure the appropriately sized and priced launch vehicles, which has had mutual benefits to NASA and Orbital. We anticipate providing reliable and affordable launch services to NASA with America's newest medium-class launch vehicle."
Orbital is scheduled to conduct two launches of Antares before the end of the year from Wallops under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services demonstration program with NASA.
The company also will launch from Wallops eight cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station through 2016 under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract.
NASA Wallops Flight Facility is ideally suited for missions to the space station and can also accommodate launches to other orbits.
Orbital also is currently evaluating options for developing a West Coast launch site that would enable the Antares rocket to address a wider range of customer missions.
Antares, which stands 130 feet tall and 13 feet wide -- almost twice the size of the Minotaur rocket launched from Wallops in 2009 -- provides a significant increase in the payload launch capability Orbital can provide NASA. The rocket will be able to launch up to 13,000 lbs. into low-Earth orbit and lighter payloads into higher-energy orbits.
According to the company, Antares provides a cost-effective alternative to other vehicles on the NLS list and is a good size for launching many scientific payloads.
A 2011 Salisbury University study commissioned by the Eastern Shore Defense Alliance with support from Accomack County found government and business operations at Wallops Island have an economic impact of nearly $400 million -- including almost $200 million in the lower Eastern Shore region of Accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia and Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties in Maryland.
Accomack County alone receives around $78 million in value from Wallops. Activities at Wallops support 1,206 jobs in the county and a total of 2,341 jobs in the region, plus another 704 outside the area.
The impact on tax revenue is $2.6 million a year in state and local taxes and $2.3 million in federal taxes.
Salisbury University's BEACON Director Memo Diriker said at the time the study was released increased activities associated with the COTS and CRS missions will add hundreds more jobs and tens of millions of dollars of total economic value to those figures.
Veteran Astronaut Steve Robinson Leaves NASA
Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org
Veteran NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson has decided to leave the space agency; his final day was on June 30. Robinson spent 36 years with NASA and tallied more than 48 days on orbit and three spacewalks during his time there. Starting in the fall of 2012, Robinson will be a professor for the University of California at Davis.
Robinson’s tenure at NASA began in 1975 when he was selected as a cooperative education student at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Twenty years later he was tapped to become an astronaut. He flew into space four times serving as a mission specialist on each. Robinson flew with STS-85, STS-95 with spaceflight legend John Glenn, the second return-to-flight mission, STS-114 and finally STS-130 in 2012.
It was on STS-114 that Robinson entered the history books. On an unplanned spacewalk Robinson was delivered to the underside of space shuttle Discovery to perform the only in-flight repair to the shuttle’s thermal protection system. Robinson removed two “gap-fillers” that were protruding from between the tiles. On his final mission to orbit, STS-130 Robinson coordinated the installation of both the Tranquility node and the cupola on the International Space Station.
“Steve will be sorely missed by the Astronaut Office,” said Janet Kavandi, director of Flight Crew Operations. “He was a fellow classmate, and I will personally miss his ever-positive attitude and smiling face. We wish him the best in his future endeavors, and we are confident that he will be a positive influence and wonderful mentor to inquisitive minds at the University of California at Davis.”
NASA has seen many of its veteran astronauts depart the agency for either the private sector or academia. Some experts fear that this will leave the space agency without enough experienced personnel to properly conduct the commitments it currently has. Besides keeping the International Space Station properly staffed, NASA needs astronauts to test out many of the new commercial spacecraft that are starting to come online as well as the Orion spacecraft which is hoped to return NASA to the business of space exploration.
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti set for ISS in 2014
Space-Travel.com
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has been assigned to be launched on a Soyuz spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2014 for a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station. ESA's Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations, Thomas Reiter, and the International Space Station partners board have released the official assignment for the European-Italian flight. Italy's space agency, ASI, proposed Samantha for this mission of 6-7 months.
"It is a great satisfaction to see the third astronaut of the 2009 recruited class assigned to a mission to space," said Director Reiter.
Samantha completed basic training in 2010. She is now training on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Station systems, robotics and spacewalks. Samantha, a captain in the Italian Air Force, has logged more than 500 hours of flying time on six types of military aircraft.
"The past three years as a European astronaut have been an amazing time of personal and professional growth," said Samantha after receiving the news of her assignment.
"I am now thrilled to continue this journey with the goal of serving Italy and Europe as a crewmember of the International Space Station.
"I am grateful to the Italian space agency, the European Space Agency and the Italian Air Force for this humbling opportunity and I will try my best to be worthy of their trust.
"As the privileged temporary inhabitants of humanity's outpost in space, we will make every effort to share the orbital perspective and virtually take along all those who want to join our journey."
As a member of ESA's Astronaut Corps, Samantha will undergo extensive training in preparation for this mission at the various facilities in the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and Germany at the European Astronaut Centre, home of the European Astronaut Corps.
She will work on the Station as part of the six-astronaut international crew. This will be the eighth long-duration mission for an ESA astronaut.
When not in training, Samantha enjoys hiking, scuba diving and interacting with space enthusiasts on blogs and twitter as @astrosamantha
ESA's astronauts are heavily involved in Station operations. Andre Kuipers, from the Netherlands, returned from the Station on Sunday. Italy's Luca Parmitano and Germany's Alexander Gerst are training for long-duration missions beginning with launches in May 2013 and May 2014, respectively.
Spaceport America unveils new look
Associated Press
New Mexico's commercial spaceport is unveiling a new look and a new website in time for the Fourth of July holiday.
New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson says the effort is aimed at introducing Spaceport America to the world.
The new logo features a pair of blue and red shapes that are meant to symbolize two stars coming together and the collaboration behind man's reach into space.
The taxpayer-financed spaceport is the world's first terminal, hangar and runway built specifically for commercial space travel.
Virgin Galactic, its anchor tenant, plans to offer suborbital flights to paying customers.
The Spaceport Operations Center is also one step closer to being complete.
Officials say design of the interior is under way and work will begin by the end of the year.
Space shuttle Enterprise exhibit opening July 19 at New York City's Intrepid
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
When NASA's space shuttle Enterprise goes on display later this month at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City, visitors will be able to view the original prototype orbiter from all angles, including from above and below.
Enterprise, which flew atmospheric approach and landing tests in the late 1970s to prove the pathway home for its sister space-worthy shuttles, will make its debut inside the Intrepid's new "Space Shuttle Pavilion" on Thursday, July 19. The climate-controlled, pressurized fabric shelter was inflated over Enterprise on June 21, two weeks after the shuttle was delivered to the converted aircraft carrier. The pavilion sits on the rear of the Intrepid's flight deck.
Inside the pavilion, museum-goers will discover Enterprise displayed 10 feet (3 meters) above the deck floor, allowing visitors to walk directly underneath the shuttle. Or, if they prefer, guests can ascend to a viewing platform positioned near Enterprise's nose to get an up-close overhead look at the iconic spacecraft.
According to the Intrepid, dramatic lighting and a series of backlit images and video stations will highlight Enterprise inside its display as "a vehicle that continues to enable a greater understanding of science and technology."
"The exhibition brings to life the remarkable story of the Enterprise as the original prototype space shuttle orbiter in relation to NASA's historic role in experimental aircraft throughout the twentieth-century," according to the Intrepid in a press release. "The experience will inspire visitors of all ages, offering an unforgettable look at the past, present and future of space missions."
Pavilion party
To celebrate the grand opening of Enterprise's exhibit, the Intrepid is hosting a four day "Spacefest," sponsored by Samsung, that will offer more than 40 interactive displays, activities and exhibitions.
The festival kicks off July 18, the night before the Space Shuttle Pavilion opens to the public, with a free concert on Intrepid's flight deck. The music will feature cutting edge, eclectic and curatorial concerts and DJ sets, and will be based on the EDM and indie rock global scenes.
The next day, the Intrepid will formally open Enterprise's pavilion during an 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) ribbon cutting. A group of shuttle astronauts will be on hand, including several native New Yorkers, including Ellen Baker, Mario Runco, Charles Camarda and Mike Massimino.
The astronauts will then be on-hand through Sunday (July 22) for meet and greet opportunities as the public tours the new shuttle pavilion and the exhibits that are part of the Spacefest. Among the NASA-loaned displays will be full size models of Mars rovers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, the latter set to land on the Red Planet next month.
Opening day tickets
All of the "SAMSUNG SpaceFest" activities are free with admission to the Intrepid, which runs $24 for adults.
Entrance to the Space Shuttle Pavilion with Enterprise as its centerpiece adds $6 to the regular ticket price (visitors can save $2 by purchasing tickets online).
The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum complex, which is located on Pier 86 on Manhattan's west side, includes the 900-foot-long World War II aircraft carrier with seven full decks and four theme halls, the guided missile submarine Growler, and a collection of 27 aircraft including the A-12 Blackbird and a British Airways Concorde.
The Intrepid is the latest and — by all plans — last home for Enterprise, which previously was exhibited at the 1983 Paris Air Show in France, the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans, and most recently at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. Enterprise's relocation to New York City was part of NASA's selection of museums for the permanent public display of its retired space shuttle fleet.
Could We Build 'Star Trek's' Starship Enterprise?
Nola Taylor Redd - Space.com
Since its first appearance on the original "Star Trek" series in 1966, the starship Enterprise has become a symbol for space travel. Recently, an anonymous engineer claimed that an approximation of this iconic ship could be built in the next two decades. But just how close is mankind to zipping through the stars at warp speed?
On the website BuildTheEnterprise.org, a self-proclaimed engineer who identifies himself only as "BTE-Dan" suggests that a working facsimile of the iconic ship could be built and launched over the next 20 to 30 years. The ship would require a few modifications, but would look a great deal like Captain Kirk's famous ship.
Built in space, the ship would never visit the surface of any moon or planet, and so would never need to reach the high speeds necessary to escape surface gravity. The engines would be powered by nuclear reactors onboard the ship, and use argon rather than xenon for propellant, saving a few hundred billion dollars in cost. As an added bonus, BTE-Dan notes that argon can be mined from the atmosphere of Mars.
Although such a ship would a lack a warp drive (the technology that allows the "Star Trek" version to zip between stars across the galaxy), it could reach the moon in three days and Mars in three months. BTE-Dan suggests it might function as a combination of a space station and a space port, allowing humans to orbit planets and moons within the solar system while using a "universal lander" to travel to and from their surfaces. Such a spaceship could house 1,000 people within its gravity wheel.
The entire ship would be more than 3,000 feet (almost 1 kilometer) long, with its central disk making up nearly half its length.
According to the website, much of the technology needed to build the ship described is within our grasp, including the rotating gravity wheel, which could be suspended by electromagnets within a vacuum to eliminate mechanical wear and tear. Also easily within reach, he claims, are a 1.5 GWe (gigawatt electrical) nuclear reactor safe to carry in a spacecraft, and composite materials that would save mass, add strength and improve radiation shielding.
Design challenges
BTE-Dan describes himself as a systems and electrical engineer who has spent the past 30 years employed at a Fortune 500 company. He is presently declining interviews.
Though the prospect of a real-life Enterprise is appealing, the proposed ship is not without problems.
Adam Crowl, an engineer with Icarus Interstellar Inc., a nonprofit foundation dedicated to interstellar exploration, pointed out that a spaceship built with a sufficiently powerful nuclear reactor would need large thermal radiators, ruining the classic Enterprise look.
"Engineering physics doesn't respect our aesthetics," he told SPACE.com by email.
BTE-Dan's ship is essentially an iconic replica of the famous starship, and may not be practical.
"I would love to see 1,000 people go to Mars, but I need convincing that they need to be on the Enterprise to do so," said Crowl.
Other engineers said the similarities between BTE-Dan's ship and the Enterprise are only skin-deep.
"He wants to build something using foreseeable technology that just looks like the Enterprise," said Marc Millis, an aerospace engineer at NASA's Glenn Research Center. "It's nowhere close to being what the Enterprise is."
Still, the site received so many visits soon after its launch that it crashed, revealing how appealing the idea is to many people.
Today's technology
Though some aspects of the Enterprise are far out of reach today, many are within our grasp, and some are part of our daily lives. Sliding doors, futuristic in the 1960s, now welcome almost every grocery store visitor, and today's flip-open cellphones resemble Star Trek's tricorders. The touch-screen devices ubiquitous today even look like those used in the 1990s episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
"If you had shown someone an iPad in the 1990s and told them it was 23rd century technology, they would have believed you," Richard Obousy, co-founder and president of Icarus Interstellar Inc., told SPACE.com.
Advances with 3D printers also provide opportunities for voyages through space, allowing the replication of parts while using materials found at the destination. Andreas Hein, an aerospace engineer also with Icarus Interstellar, suggested that it might not be long before such printers make food similar to the way meals were synthesized by replicators on the Enterprise.
Additionally, engineers working at NASA's Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory, informally known as Eagleworks, are working on a Q-thruster that bears a striking resemblance to the impulse engines on the Enterprise.
Nuclear woes
Millis suggested the next step in rocket propulsion will likely include utilizing a nuclear power source, an option that is stymied by the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. He acknowledged that the barriers aren't just political ones, as people are nervous about the idea of launching nuclear rockets from Earth's surface, despite the fact that it could be done safely.
Obousy agreed that nuclear rockets could provide the necessary thrust, pointing to the large, multibillion-dollar projects around the world seeking ways to unlock fusion as an energy source. Of course, such projects primarily focus on powering homes and cities on Earth, but once unlocked, fusion could be used to travel through the stars.
"In terms of propulsion technology, fusion engines are potentially within a generation or two," Obousy said, though he added that sudden technological jumps could accelerate the process.
Visiting a planet without being seen may also be not too far out of reach.
"We're doing things with meta-materials that'll allow practical cloaking, maybe even invisibility," Crowl said.
Gravity presents one of the greatest challenges: The Enterprise of television and the movies lacks a gravity wheel, instead utilizing synthetic gravity. According to Millis, if we could find a way to master gravitational forces, such technology could also be utilized in tractor beams or the ship's propulsion.
Warp speed ahead
"Star Trek"-like propulsion remains a key problem. Fans are familiar with the warp drive, which accelerated the ship faster than the speed of light and allowed its crew to zip between stars. Such travel defies our present understanding of physics.
"I think this is one of the most important aspects that prevents an Enterprise-type ship in the near future," Hein said.
Obousy agreed. "One of the staples of these warp drives is that they require an exotic form of energy that we have not been able to create in the labs, dark energy being the salient example," he said.
Dark energy is the unexplained force behind the accelerated expansion of the universe. Scientists don't yet understand what it is, which makes it a challenge to use in propulsion.
A warp drive would require an enormous amount of energy. Theoretical calculations using dark energy to move a starship would require more energy than that contained within the planet Jupiter, making it uneconomical.
In the "Star Trek" universe, the warp drive relied on antimatter. When matter and antimatter annihilate one another, the energy produced is immense. Though such an energy source could conceivably power the ship, it is available only briefly.
Crowl pointed out that antimatter technology itself is developing rapidly. Ultra-high intensity lasers may soon allow it to be directly created from energy, and useful amounts may be trapped in the magnetic fields of planets like Earth and Saturn.
But, like dark energy, antimatter may prove to be more trouble than it's worth.
"Using antimatter right now is very expensive," Millis said. "But that doesn't mean that it always will be."
When mankind finally travels to the stars, we may have to forgo warp speed for something else, such as the manipulation of space-time itself. According to Albert Einstein, nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light. But Millis points out that such limits do not necessarily apply to space-time. Theories in peer-reviewed journals explore the possibility of surrounding a craft with a bubble of space-time that expands and contracts, perhaps allowing it to exceed the speed of light.
"It's the difference between moving a pencil across a piece of paper or moving the whole paper," Millis said.
Beam me up, Scotty
Another potential challenge to recreating the "Star Trek" universe is the system of matter transmission. The crew often traveled to a planet by transporter, beaming from the Enterprise directly to the surface by way of machines that could scan a body, atom-by-atom, and then recreate it in another place.
Recent advances have been made in quantum teleportation, but Obousy and Millis both stressed the difference from "Star Trek"-style travel.
In quantum teleportation, "it's not the same photon you started out with, but a replica," said Obousy.
Such travel would require enormous precision.
"If you were going to recreate a human being transported from one place to another, you'd want to make sure everything's in the exact place," he said.
Millis suggested that, rather than matter transmission, scientists might one day learn how to utilize very small wormholes for travel.
"Of course, if you put mass through it, it might make the wormhole collapse," he noted.
Ultimately, the greatest challenge to replicating the Star Trek journeys may not come from the technological front.
"One of the things that I really liked about watching [the show] was the very good behavior of the crew," Millis said. "The prejudices and petty human differences that make up so much of television are pretty much absent. When I think about relative impossibilities, I think it will be easier to make technology for the starship Enterprise than to finally make humans behave that honorably."
Space, the Missing Frontier
Douglas MacKinnon - New York Times (Opinion)
(MacKinnon was a press secretary to former Senator Bob Dole. He was also a writer for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and a special assistant for policy and communications in the Defense Department. He is the author, most recently, of a memoir, “Rolling Pennies in the Dark.”)
As most of us who have worked in and around politics for any length of time know, if a certain issue is not an immediate vote-getter or “tangible” for a politician, there is a better than even chance that the issue will be ignored or deposited upon the furthest back-burner.
For many of our elected officials, everyday political calculation comes down to this: “What’s best for my re-election and what’s best for my party?” In that order. With fewer and fewer people in power whose first thought is: “What’s the best decision I can make that will be in the best interests of my constituents?” It’s no wonder that more young people are giving up on politics while their elders abandon the political parties to become Independents.
While the if-it’s-not-tangible-and-I-can’t-game-it-immediately-to-my-benefit test may be great for a politician, it’s often very bad for the country. “Tangible” being political slang for “that federal office building will now be located in my district.”
As for the “non-tangible,” a great example would be our space program. Or to be more accurate, our non-space program. It has never really been relevant for most of our politicians or presidents. The truth is that only one president really thought that space exploration was a tangible national vote-getter.
Whatever his real motivation, on Sept.12, 1962 at Rice University, John F. Kennedy stated in no uncertain terms that in the interests of science, industry and national security, the United States would become the “world’s leading spacefaring nation.” And so we did – for nearly five decades.
Today, that preeminence is nothing more than a fading memory. While President Obama — who as a candidate made it very clear that he valued education over space exploration — may have pushed our human spaceflight program over the cliff, other presidents led it to the edge.
With Florida a key battleground state in the presidential election, the White House and the political appointees at NASA will argue furiously that the president has not walked away from our human space program. They will point to his plans to land astronauts on the asteroids one day. Right. That goal, exactly like George H.W. Bush’s plan in 1989 to send astronauts to Mars, is simply fiction.
I worked in politics for a long time, but I began life as a space geek. I started a scrapbook on the Soviet space program when I was 10 and decades later got to write a book about the 12 men who have walked on the moon. After my time in government, I worked as a consultant for NASA and the Space Shuttle team. In other words, I admit that I have always been a fan of humans in space. Any humans in space.
That said, the humans who are now winning the space race come from the People’s Republic of China. It is clear from their own propaganda that China means to replace us as the “world’s leading spacefaring nation.”
It has been argued in the past that while the United States and other Western nations see the future in terms of months or years, the Chinese see it in terms of decades or even centuries. With that perspective in mind, the Chinese government intends to win not the space race, but the space marathon. They intend to take military, industrial and scientific advantage there.
After the just completed launch and recovery of China’s first female astronaut — Liu Yang, who with two male astronauts, was part of a very successful 13 day mission to dock with a Chinese space station — many in the media covered it as a human-interest story or even a politically correct equal-rights story. Nice, but the completely wrong way to view the Chinese achievement.
Naïve and irresponsible beliefs aside, China’s space program is essentially military. Its every function is designed to carry out a military objective or one that improves the welfare of the state. Nothing else matters to the Chinese leadership.
Toward that end, the Chinese government has been investing a great deal of time and talent in a wide range of anti-satellite weapons and technologies. Aside from direct ascent kinetic kill vehicles (like the one it tested in 2007), the Chinese military space program is also working on laser, jamming, microwave and cyber-weapons.
Why? Because the Chinese leadership — the same leadership that has made hacking our military and commercial computers a priority — understands that no nation on earth is more dependent for its overall survival on its satellites than the United States. Satellites control our military communications, our financial transactions and our day-to-day lives. What if they went dark or were destroyed in orbit?
The Chinese leaders — and others — would certainly say that a military advantage in space is “tangible” and a goal worth attaining. But preeminence is space is about much more than military advantage. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, outlined that argument when he told Popular Science earlier this year:
If China sets up a permanent base on the moon, and tries to explore Mars on a time scale shorter than ours, that will be another space race. I am just certain of it. I am trying to get people to do this without having to view it as an act of war, or an act of a response to an adversary. One way is because of economics; the government could do this, and they could say, “The economic return is the scientists and technologists who invent the new tomorrow.” Space exploration is the carrot that incites people to become scientifically literate. So I view it as an economic development plan.
Maybe it’s time for the president and his Republican opponent to elevate a few issues to the “tangible” list regardless of personal or partisan self-interest. As China launches military satellite after military satellite while declaring its intention to colonize the moon, maybe preeminence in space should be one of them.
During the transition period after he defeated John McCain, Obama contemplated combining the best of the space programs at the Pentagon and NASA to compete with the rapidly accelerating Chinese space program. For whatever reasons, he declined to follow through on that plan when he became president.
The president should dust off those plans. Given the fact that during the height of the war in Iraq, our government was spending nearly a billion dollars a day, I suspect the American people would support spending a month’s worth of that budget every year to ensure that our assets in space and our future on earth are more secure. But to support it, they first need to be convinced of its importance. So do our leaders.
END
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