Keep the shuttle flying: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Fence test

Subject: FW: fence test

Subject: fence test

This is straight forward country thinking...by Jeff Foxworthy

Which side of the fence?

If you ever wondered which side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a Republican doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a Democrat doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a Democrat is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A Democrat wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a Republican doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Democrats demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.

If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A Democrat demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a Republican reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A Democrat will delete it because he's "offended".

Well, I forwarded it.

So did I.

?

Neil Armstrong tells us, but our leaders will not listen--Come on Mitt,

The way it appears to me, we either fly shuttle commercially or we build a bigger x37B, failing that we are no longer Preeminent in Space.

Sent from my iPad

Preeminence in Space ---very Simple

The way it appears to me, we either fly shuttle commercially or we build a bigger x37B, failing that we are no longer Preeminent in Space.

COTS & SLS/Orion will not be sufficient.

Neil Armstrong: If we allow our capability to fad away, other Nations will step in where we have faltered.

Excellent summary by Neil Armstrong in Congressional Hearings.

Evolve and USE SHUTTLE
Evolve And Use Shuttle
Posted on December 7, 2011 by Bob
Instead of planning the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, America should be preparing the shuttles for their next step in space: evolving, not shutting them down and laying off thousands of people. You know the very people whose experience we will need in the years ahead. Except if you lay them off now, they won’t be around in the next decade. Today’s Shuttle operation is made up of five elements. Here’s how we can put them all to use in a whole new space program. America, extend and transform the Shuttle, don’t end ‘em.
Those five elements of a Shuttle extension – the four segment solid booster motors, the big orange External Fuel tank, the trio of liquid Shuttle main engines, the vast existing Shuttle facilities like hangars and launching pads, and above all the skilled and experienced work force that has been operating the Shuttle fleet for nearly 30 years, can be the foundation of a whole new space goal.
We need to start thinking like our friends in the Russian space program. The first launch of the Soyuz rocket that is used today for taxi flights to the International Space Station had its first flight in November 1963 — the same month President Kennedy was assassinated! But while the rocket and capsule look the same as the
one that flew first in 1963, there have been many changes, some subtle and some more obvious. Newer and more powerful engines, a new upper stage, and advanced spaceship controls and systems mark today’s Soyuz. In fact, the Soyuz itself is a more advanced version of the R-7 ICBM that Russia developed in the late 1950s and which first lofted spaceman Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Instead of abandoning the system for something entirely new — which is what the U.S. intends to do after the Shuttle — Russia has made incremental improvements to Soyuz, basically building an entire space program around that space-going workhorse.
See any lessons here?
America has invested 30 years in the Shuttle system. Instead of retiring it and beginning with a new “clean sheet of paper” approach
that will take extra time and money, I propose we follow the Russian example and make the basic Shuttle the foundation of a space program that can take us literally to Mars. Use the boosters, engines and big tank as the backbone of a new heavy lift rocket. Fly that rocket from the same facilities as the current Shuttles use. Keep much of the existing workforce working, because the only thing you will change is older designs and engines, making way for a heavy lift launcher derived from the Shuttle basics and capable of carrying large new spacecraft to the station or destinations beyond.
You may ask — how do we get from here to there?
By continuing to fly the existing Shuttles until a commercial crew-carrying cousin comes available after testing, or until the all-cargo ships start flying. On my evolution chart, I see these cargo Shuttles evolving, too, until they become a truly huge heavy lift rocket that can fly elements of an interplanetary spaceship aloft and link them
together, using the space station as the testing ground.
But I also have a place for a space capsule in this plan. An Orion-like capsule can be docked to the interplanetary ship and provide aero braking tests as we advance further and further into the solar system, headed in the direction of Mars.
What’s aero braking? That’s a way to use the gravity and upper atmosphere of Earth to sling shot a ship out either deeper into space, or slow it down to be “captured” by Earth’s gravity. It flies in a series of ever-widening spirals. What’s the big deal? Because aero braking doesn’t need a heavy and expensive rocket stage to muscle our ships around in space. It’s a technique we have used successfully in robotic missions to Mars. If we truly want to make humans on
Mars a national objective without sending the money — printing presses into overtime, that’s one way to get us there.
But none of this is possible if we abandon the Space Shuttle, and the many decades of experience in flying a winged craft into space and safely back to a runway. They call ‘em a runway lander.
And the story of why we need that instead of a spaceship-turned-boat space capsule as our space taxis is the subject of my next blog. Along with ideas on using that big orange fuel tank so familiar to those who have watched Shuttle launchings in a new role: a spaceship itself. More on those ideas soon.
By Buzz Aldrin

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Clint Eastwood & Eastwooding----He made my day---great job!!

Thank you Clint , great job.

You All Better tell Mitt to Restart Shuttle, May not be Another Chance!!!

Evolve and USE SHUTTLE
Evolve And Use Shuttle
Posted on December 7, 2011 by Bob
Instead of planning the retirement of the Space Shuttle program, America should be preparing the shuttles for their next step in space: evolving, not shutting them down and laying off thousands of people. You know the very people whose experience we will need in the years ahead. Except if you lay them off now, they won’t be around in the next decade. Today’s Shuttle operation is made up of five elements. Here’s how we can put them all to use in a whole new space program. America, extend and transform the Shuttle, don’t end ‘em.
Those five elements of a Shuttle extension – the four segment solid booster motors, the big orange External Fuel tank, the trio of liquid Shuttle main engines, the vast existing Shuttle facilities like hangars and launching pads, and above all the skilled and experienced work force that has been operating the Shuttle fleet for nearly 30 years, can be the foundation of a whole new space goal.
We need to start thinking like our friends in the Russian space program. The first launch of the Soyuz rocket that is used today for taxi flights to the International Space Station had its first flight in November 1963 — the same month President Kennedy was assassinated! But while the rocket and capsule look the same as the
one that flew first in 1963, there have been many changes, some subtle and some more obvious. Newer and more powerful engines, a new upper stage, and advanced spaceship controls and systems mark today’s Soyuz. In fact, the Soyuz itself is a more advanced version of the R-7 ICBM that Russia developed in the late 1950s and which first lofted spaceman Yuri Gagarin in 1961. Instead of abandoning the system for something entirely new — which is what the U.S. intends to do after the Shuttle — Russia has made incremental improvements to Soyuz, basically building an entire space program around that space-going workhorse.
See any lessons here?
America has invested 30 years in the Shuttle system. Instead of retiring it and beginning with a new “clean sheet of paper” approach
that will take extra time and money, I propose we follow the Russian example and make the basic Shuttle the foundation of a space program that can take us literally to Mars. Use the boosters, engines and big tank as the backbone of a new heavy lift rocket. Fly that rocket from the same facilities as the current Shuttles use. Keep much of the existing workforce working, because the only thing you will change is older designs and engines, making way for a heavy lift launcher derived from the Shuttle basics and capable of carrying large new spacecraft to the station or destinations beyond.
You may ask — how do we get from here to there?
By continuing to fly the existing Shuttles until a commercial crew-carrying cousin comes available after testing, or until the all-cargo ships start flying. On my evolution chart, I see these cargo Shuttles evolving, too, until they become a truly huge heavy lift rocket that can fly elements of an interplanetary spaceship aloft and link them
together, using the space station as the testing ground.
But I also have a place for a space capsule in this plan. An Orion-like capsule can be docked to the interplanetary ship and provide aero braking tests as we advance further and further into the solar system, headed in the direction of Mars.
What’s aero braking? That’s a way to use the gravity and upper atmosphere of Earth to sling shot a ship out either deeper into space, or slow it down to be “captured” by Earth’s gravity. It flies in a series of ever-widening spirals. What’s the big deal? Because aero braking doesn’t need a heavy and expensive rocket stage to muscle our ships around in space. It’s a technique we have used successfully in robotic missions to Mars. If we truly want to make humans on
Mars a national objective without sending the money — printing presses into overtime, that’s one way to get us there.
But none of this is possible if we abandon the Space Shuttle, and the many decades of experience in flying a winged craft into space and safely back to a runway. They call ‘em a runway lander.
And the story of why we need that instead of a spaceship-turned-boat space capsule as our space taxis is the subject of my next blog. Along with ideas on using that big orange fuel tank so familiar to those who have watched Shuttle launchings in a new role: a spaceship itself. More on those ideas soon.
By Buzz Aldrin

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BHO 's GM Lemon

yahoo.com
Subject: Fw: The GM Lemon........
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:52:11 -0500

Obama's $25 Billion Government Motors Lemon

August 14, 2012

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As the Obama campaign continues to tout the GM bailout as an industrial policy success, the Treasury Department continues to revise upward the staggering losses inflicted on U.S. taxpayers.
On the day Government Motors, aka GM, announced it was recalling at least 38,000 of its vehicles — Impalas used by police nationwide and in Canada — due to a crash risk, a new Treasury report said it now expects to lose $25 billion on the bailout, $3.3 billion more than forecast earlier.
As the Detroit News reported, this loss was based on GM's stock price at the time of the report, which was 15% higher than the previous report. Because the stock price has fallen since then, the latest report likely understates taxpayers' real losses.
The monthly report sent to Congress last Friday covers predicted losses through May 31, when GM's stock price was $22.20 a share.
On Tuesday, GM fell $0.26, or 1.3%, to $20.21.
At that price, the government would lose another $995 million on its GM bailout. The report notes the government still has 500 million shares of GM and needs to sell those shares at $53 each for the government to break even on the bailout.
Worse yet, the entire financial loss suffered by taxpayers is the result of a massive and planned redistribution of wealth from them to the auto unions that form a key part of Obama's base and re-election drive.
In its analysis, the Heritage Foundation says all the taxpayer losses occurred because the administration manipulated bankruptcy law to shelter the United Auto Workers' compensation.
"We estimate that the administration redistributed $26.5 billion more to the UAW than it would have received had it been treated as it usually would in bankruptcy proceedings. ... Thus, the entire loss to the taxpayers from the auto bailout comes from the funds diverted to the UAW," Heritage reckons.
On the jobs front, the auto bailout did less than nothing. Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the $787 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, reported to Congress that the forced closure of auto dealers, which hurt parts suppliers, was unnecessary and political.
"Treasury made a series of decisions that may have substantially contributed to the accelerated shuttering of thousands of small businesses and thereby potentially adding tens of thousands of workers to the already lengthy unemployment rolls," Barofsky said in a 45-page report.
Deciding which dealers were closed was determined by political, not business, reasons, with race and gender a key factor, the Barofsky report said. Some GM "dealerships were retained because they were recently appointed, were key wholesale parts dealers or were minority- or woman-owned dealerships."
Not even the push to force consumers into heavily subsidized electric cars like the Chevy Volt has helped.
As political consultant Karl Rove noted, GM employed roughly 252,000 workers in 2008. Now it has 207,000, with 131,000 working in foreign plants. Yet GM has not been accused of outsourcing jobs.
GM takes its place next to the Obama administration's Solyndras, another rotten fruit of an industrial policy where wealth is redistributed, not created, and where government picks winners and losers in an economy in which we all ultimately lose.

Neil Armstrong: Legacy of "Muffy"

   CCiCap Milestone Awards Raise Questions »
Neil Armstrong: The Inspiring Legacy of ‘Muffy’
By Ben Evans

Pictured in July 1965, Neil Armstrong sits in the simulator during training as backup command pilot for Gemini V. Much has been written over the years about the effect of his daughter’s death upon his future career as an astronaut. Photo Credit: NASA
Three generations of human beings (and countless more yet to be born) have been and will be inspired by the accomplishments of Neil Armstrong, including many readers of this site and the entire AmericaSpace team of writers. Yet the great man himself drew his own inspiration from various boyhood and lifetime heroes: from his parents, Steve and Viola, who instilled a work ethic from a young age, to Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, and Chuck Yeager, the first man to burst through the sound barrier…to Armstrong’s own infant daughter, Karen. And it is the tragically inspiring tale of Karen – whom Armstrong and his first wife, Janet, nicknamed ‘Muffy’ – which is amongst the most heart-rending and touching of his entire life.

Karen entered the world on 13 April 1959 and departed it in the most appalling of circumstances, less than three years later. According to James Hansen, in his acclaimed biography First Man, Armstrong chose the nickname ‘Muffy’ or ‘Muffie’ as “an endearing form of Muffin”. One day, not long after her second birthday, the little girl suffered a fall in the park which produced a nasty bump to the head. She returned home with a nosebleed and concussion, but by that evening things took a distinctly uglier turn: for Muffy’s eyes seemed not to be functioning correctly. Several visits to doctors and ophthalmologists seemed unable to cure the problem: the girl tripped frequently, her eyes were crossed and she was unable to speak coherently.

Subsequent medical investigation revealed that Muffy had a glioma of the pons – a malignant tumour in the base of her brain stem – and although relatively rare in children, the prognosis for recovery (even today) remains poor. X-ray treatments to reduce the size of the tumour hit the little girl particularly hard, rendering her unable to walk, stand – but, according to Janet, quoted by Hansen, “she never, ever complained”. Armstrong was at the time a test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and his flight logs reveal that he took time off in June and July 1961 to be with Muffy at the hospital. Slowly, she learned to crawl again, her eyes straightened and she returned home to the Armstrongs’ Juniper Hills cabin. Despite her apparent positive response to the radiation therapy, and the eternal hope and optimism, Armstrong’s brother-in-law, the physician Jack Hoffmann, was convinced that Muffy would not survive more than six months.

By the end of 1961, the symptoms returned and the only option was cobalt treatment. This was relatively new at the time and although it could destroy the cancerous cells, it also irreparably harmed healthy ones, too, and little Muffy could not take it. At length, the doctors sat down with the Armstrongs and recommended that she would be happier at home. “She made it through Christmas,” Janet told Hansen, but admitted that “she couldn’t walk by this time – she could crawl – but she was still able to enjoy Christmas. It seems like the day Christmas was over, she just went downhill. It just overcame her.”

Muffy died on 28 January 1962. It was the Armstrongs’ sixth wedding anniversary.

When Neil Armstrong was selected as a member of NASA’s second class of astronaut candidates in September 1962, he was alone among them in that he had flown the X-15 rocket-propelled aircraft into the high atmosphere. Photo Credit: NASA
The Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base grounded all of its aircraft on the day of her funeral, as a mark of respect. Despite his grief, Armstrong returned stoically to work on his various projects, including the F5D Skylancer, the X-20 Dyna-Soar and the X-15. In April 1962, he flew to an altitude of 207,500 feet in the X-15, but held the aircraft’s nose up for too long during descent, causing the vehicle to ‘bounce’ off the atmosphere, back up to 140,000 feet, and Armstrong overshot his landing site by more than 40 miles. He turned back towards the landing area and managed to touch down safely, narrowing missing a patch of Joshua trees at the south end of the runway.

Much has been written over the years that it was Muffy’s death which inspired Armstrong to enter the hallowed ranks of NASA and its astronaut corps. This is not entirely accurate, for he had already been selected in 1958 for the Air Force’s Man in Space Soonest (MISS) project and for Boeing’s Dyna-Soar. (In fact, on 15 March 1962, only weeks after his daughter’s death, Armstrong was named as one of six pilots to fly Dyna-Soar. Unfortunately, the project was later cancelled.) Meanwhile, his application to join NASA’s second astronaut class arrived a week after the 1 June 1962 deadline, but Dick Day, assistant head of Flight Crew Operations, had previously worked with Armstrong at Edwards and quietly slipped it into the pack before anyone noticed. “He was so far and away the best qualified…[that] we wanted him in.”

In James Hansen’s biography of Armstrong, it is difficult to discern a link between the tragedy of Muffy’s passing and his own application to enter the rank of the NASA astronauts. “The death of his little girl,” remembered his sister, June, “caused him to invest those energies into something very positive and that’s when he started into the space programme.” By his own admission, Armstrong was excited by the X-15 – it was real and even the Dyna-Soar was a realistic possibility – but President John Kennedy’s lunar goal “was just so overpoweringly exciting that I decided to give us these other opportunities to pursue it”. Years later, Armstrong credited Dick Day (who died in 2004) with having enabled him to make the decision to transfer from Edwards to Houston.

Certainly, by the midsummer of 1962, several newspapers, including the Washington Evening Star on 18 July, were predicting the selection of Armstrong as NASA’s first civilian astronaut. The Star even made a quirkily prophetic comment: “Conceivably,” the newspaper told its readers, “he could command America’s first attempt to land men on the Moon.” Even future Apollo 11 crewmate Mike Collins, who also applied for selection in 1962, but was ultimately picked as an astronaut a year later, wrote to his father of his conviction that Armstrong would probably be on NASA’s list of selectees, “unless his physical discloses some major problem”. According to Collins, Armstrong “has by far the best background of…the civilians under consideration”.

Armstrong looks pensive on the day that he and eight other pilots were introduced as NASA’s second group of astronaut candidates. They came to be known as ‘The New Nine’ or ‘The Next Nine’. Photo Credit: NASA
On 13 September, Armstrong received the telephone call from Deke Slayton, asking him to join the NASA corps. Two days later, he checked into Houston’s Rice Hotel, under the assumed name of ‘Max Peck’, to meet the eight other new astronauts – Frank Borman, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, Jim McDivitt, Elliot See, Tom Stafford, Ed White and John Young – and their managers and be formally introduced to the world’s press. Years later, this astronaut class, which came to be nicknamed ‘The New Nine’, would be recognised by many as one of the finest all-round groups ever selected by NASA…and Armstrong stood out among them. Although he was not the only civilian (for Elliot See was a civilian pilot for General Electric, albeit with a naval background), Armstrong was alone in the class for having flown a rocket-propelled aircraft and had just recently won the coveted Octave Chanute Award for the pilot who had contributed most to the aerospace sciences that year.

In February 1965, Armstrong received his first space mission assignment, albeit in a backup capacity, to shadow Gordon Cooper as command pilot of Gemini V. Working with his own pilot, Elliot See, and the prime pilot, Pete Conrad, the foursome immersed themselves in the minutiae of an extremely challenging mission which would attempt to seize from the Soviet Union the record for the longest manned flight. In fact, the impromptu motto for Gemini V was ‘Eight Days or Bust’. A few weeks after Cooper and Conrad returned from space, and Armstrong was thus freed from his own mission duties, he was named as command pilot of the Gemini VIII prime crew, teamed with pilot Dave Scott. The trials and tribulations of this flight were discussed in yesterday’s article and the sheer volume of scheduled tasks and their inherent complexity – performing the first rendezvous and docking in space with an unmanned target vehicle, followed by co-ordinated manoeuvres, a tricky EVA and a precision splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean – suggests the confidence in which Armstrong and his abilities were held by NASA brass.

The question of whether Muffy’s death thus inspired Neil Armstrong to turn from his career as a civilian test pilot, flying the X-15 and pointed towards Dyna-Soar, and enter the astronaut corps in Houston, remains unanswered. Certainly, many of his colleagues at Edwards were surprised in the summer of 1962 when they learned of his selection, for Armstrong had given no hint of making any such move. In their own admissions to James Hansen, Armstrong’s family members revealed that the future First Man on the Moon suffered greatly in the wake of Muffy’s death, but chose to display a face of stoicism and used his work as a coping mechanism. However, it would be a comforting thought to suppose that perhaps a combination of Armstrong’s own genius and the memory of his little daughter served to guide his steps further than any human had ever travelled before.

Tomorrow’s article will focus upon Armstrong’s Apollo 11 training in the notorious Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) and how one incident brought him within milliseconds of death.

August 31st, 2012 | Tags: aerospace, Apollo, Astronaut, Cape Canaveral, Exploration, Explore, Human Space Flight, Johnson Space Center, JSC, Lunar, Moon, NASA, rocket, Rockets, Space, space exploration | Category: Apollo, astronaut, Ben Evans, Deke Slayton, Edwards Air Force Base, Exploration, Gemini, Human Space Flight, Johnson Space Center, JSC, Launch, Moon, NASA, Space, Space Exploration
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Early Shuttle Retirement --Jeffs
On the Early Retirement of the Space Shuttle

File image.
by George W. Jeffs
for Launchspace
Bethesda MD (SPX) May 17, 2011
A Symbol: An in-space ballerina and hypersonic flying marvel, the Space Shuttle Orbiter is almost impossible for others to duplicate and continues to generate international admiration and respect for U.S. technical capabilities.
Full Potential Not Yet Realized: The multi-functional Orbiter has performed “as designed” on all assignments including reentry and a key role in the International Space Station (ISS) assembly. Like any new manned system, as crews and engineers become more familiar (like a helicopter) performance “in the box” improves and extending-the-box opportunities are identified. So far the Orbiter has operated generally within the box.

Too Young For Retirement: Each remaining Orbiter has many missions and years of life remaining. The Orbiter was designed for a one hundred mission life with a factor of four (i.e. 400 flight potential). It has experienced low flight rates and has not been structurally overloaded (maximum loads occur during the boost phase and high wind shear situations have been avoided through pre-flight meteorological observations) and receives a complete examination and any necessary refurbishment between each flight.

The System is Safe for Continued Man Flights: No critical failures have originated from within the triply redundant Orbiter itself but like any spacecraft designed for light-weight, it is vulnerable to abuse (e.g. SRB O rings, ET insulation debris); these are now known and addressable problems. The Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME)s were my principal safety concern through the development years but their flight record has been excellent and it may be that the integrity of recovered, refurbished rocket engines is as good as or even better than new ones. Some rocket engine incipient failures may lie undetected in ocean graves.

Real Usability Through “Landing With Dignity”: Turnaround man hours are costly for the Orbiter, not the least demanding being the heat shield preparation and changes are continually being made to improve the situation. Even so, this relatively light-weight, first generation radiant heat shield is itself reusable and obviates having to pay for a new vehicle and other ancillary costs such as ocean recovery for every flight. Note: In depth reviews of “flown” Apollo command modules concluded that second flights of the hardware would be too costly at that time.

New Space Initiatives Depend On The Orbiter For Identification and Pursuit: The on-orbit assembly option for a deep space manned system became more viable upon completion of the International Space Station (ISS) using the Orbiter. An “Orbiter” segment of a deep space system would be used in assembly activities, on-orbit transfers, tug functions and most importantly for the crew Earth-to-orbit and orbit-to-Earth transfer. Reliance on an Orbiter for re-entry would eliminate configuration constraints on size and shape and the weight of items such as parachutes, heat shields and landing impact structure and the energy needed to transport this otherwise useless added weight throughout the entire deep space mission. This approach essentially would trade-off these advantages against the development of an additional propulsion module for return from deep space to high/low Earth orbit. The present Orbiter would be a key mechanism in the early development of such an on-orbit assembled system.

The Shuttle Continues to Be An Intriguing Candidate For “Commercialization”: The system is presently operational. Its payload-to-orbit delivery and other capabilities are well documented. Its risks are known and assessable for payload insurance and crew-safety considerations and industrial elements are already doing much of the work in many areas. Bailing, leasing and/or other type of agreement for use of government equipment (Orbiters, pads, control centers, etc.) is probably feasible in some arrangement. Needed is an industry, NASA-government, Congressional meeting of the minds on all related elements including government flight requirements, (e.g. ISS servicing) and commercial pricing policies. If such a government hand-off to industry could be affected it would, of course, keep the Shuttle Program available for another decade or two should presently unforeseen government needs arise (even today it would be most helpful to have Apollo supply and rescue vehicles that serviced Skylab available for use on the ISS).

U. S. Taxpayers Have Not Yet Realized Their Full Return-on-Investment (ROI) From the Shuttle System:

+ It really works; it is not just a briefing chart promise.

+ It has much life remaining and could be the key to the identification and development of new systems.

+ It is man-rated and safe–probably as safe as any manned system will be-no others will get over one hundred flights down the learning curve.

+ The infrastructure is in place and operational and has provided industry through extensive, hands-on participation with the depth of training necessary to assume total system accountability.

+ To replace the Orbiter capabilities will take decades and billions.

Decommissioning the Space Shuttle should be postponed indefinitely.

George W. Jeffs is the former President of Space and Energy Operations [including Shuttle Orbiter, Integration and Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs)] at Rockwell International. He is also the former President of the Space Division, North American Aviation-Rockwell International [including Apollo Command and Service Modules and the Space Shuttle Orbiter]. He is also a helicopter and fixed-wing pilot with multiengine and instrument ratings.

Greatest Nation USA Synonymous with Greatest FLYING MACHINE WE BUILT IT!

Head in Sand---Put Shuttle Team back to work-Mitt: America Must Have Shuttle

Ccicap awards raises questions

In May of this year, SpaceX became the first company to rendezvous with and be berthed to the International Space Station. Photo Credit: NASA
By Jim Hillhouse & Jason Rhian

A recent series of articles appearing on the website Parabolic Arc raises questions about NASA’s management of NASA’s Commercial Crew program. In particular, concerns are being voiced as to how the Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) milestones and their awards were determined and why the amounts of the first few milestones are so generous.

NASA’s CCiCap program is designed to hand off responsibility for transporting U.S. astronauts to destinations in low-earth-orbit, primarily to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA announced CCiCap participating companies on Aug. 3, 2012. Although NASA has yet to publicly release the CCiCap milestones and award amounts, that information has been made public thanks to the efforts of Doug Messier’s Parabolic Arc.

The following chart was sent to AmericaSpace and confirms what the first two milestones were and when they were accomplished, but does not state the amount of the awards. Image Credit: SpaceX
The first four months of the 20 month CCiCap program appears to some to be front-loaded in the manner in which milestone awards are scheduled. Within the first 4 months, SpaceX will receive $165 million, or 37.5 percent of its total award amount, for reaching the first four of the firm’s 14 CCiCap milestones; Boeing will receive $126.9 million, or 35.3 percent of its total CCiCap funding, for reaching the first three of its milestones; Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) will receive $75 million, or 27.6 percent of its CCiCap funding, for reaching the two of its milestones.

NASA Administrator and former space shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden recently visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to highlight the efforts of the agency’s commercial partners – including SpaceX. Photo Credit: Julian Leek / Blue Sawtooth Studios
The first two CCiCap milestones for SpaceX have garnered the most interest by those questioning NASA’s rationale in creating the CCiCap milestone schedule and awards:

CCiCap Kickoff Meeting. SpaceX will hold a kickoff meeting at the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, CA, or a nearby facility to review the current state of existing hardware, processes and designs, describe plans for CCiCap program execution during both the base period and the optional period and lay the groundwork for a successful partnership between NASA and SpaceX. Scheduled: August 2012 Award: $60 million
Financial and Business Review. SpaceX will hold a financial and business review to accomplish verification of financial ability to meet NASA’s stated goals for the CCiCap program by providing NASA insight into SpaceX finances. Scheduled: August 2012 Award: $20 million

Boeing CST-100 spacecraft docking with ISS. Photo Credit: NASA
A review of the CCDev 2 Milestone Schedule provides a better appreciation of how much larger and front-loaded the CCiCap funding levels appear to be. When the same companies, SpaceX, Boeing, and Sierra Nevada, completed the first milestone under the second phase of the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) contract, the awards were as follows: SpaceX $10 million, Boeing $10 million, and Sierra Nevada Corporation $12.5 million. The second milestone awards for CCDev 2 were SpaceX $5 million, Boeing $10 million, and Sierra Nevada $2.5 million. In the first four months of CCDev 2, the first 4-5 milestones had been reached and the companies had been awarded, SpaceX $40 million, Boeing $42.5 million, and Sierra Nevada $30 million. Because the speed at which CCiCap awards are paced dwarf those CCDev 2, concerns are being raised in Congress and in the aerospace industry as to the manner in which the CCiCap milestones schedule was developed.

Because the CCiCap announcement by NASA was made after Congress had adjourned on Friday, August 1, neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate have had an opportunity to reaction to news of the CCiCap participants nor the awards milestones. There are already rumblings of a closer look by Congress when it returns as to who and how the CCiCap milestone dates and awards were created.

After SpaceX sent the milestone chart provided, it was asked for clarification regarding the dates and amounts for the milestones listed above. SpaceX has not responded to these repeated requests.

Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser docking with ISS. Image Credit: Sierra Nevada

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8/31/12 news

Happy Friday everyone. Mark your calendars early to remind you to join the NASA retirees at our monthly first Thursday of every month luncheon at Hibachi Grill next Thursday at 11:30.

Have a safe and great Labor Day weekend too.

Friday, August 31, 2012

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            What is JSC's Quality Management System Documentation?
2.            AIAA-Houston Section July/August Newsletter
3.            Save the Earth: Make Software For Environmental Sustainability in a Weekend
4.            Caregivers Resource Group
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ”

-- Theodore Roosevelt
________________________________________
1.            What is JSC's Quality Management System Documentation?
The answer to this question may surprise you. Ever since the Center established it Quality Management System and received its ISO9001 certification in 1997, this question has been hotly debated, and every directorate has defined them differently. The center recently revised its Quality Manual to define the extent of the Quality Management System Documentation, the associated records requirements and the controls.

If you own a process, manage documents or records, write procedures or manage a documentation system, this overview training is intended for you. There will be one training session in Building 30 Auditorium on Thursday, Sept. 6, from 2 to 4 p.m. The training will be presented by NA14/Cheryl Andrews, JSC ISO Lead Auditor and Corrective Action Manager on behalf of the JSC Corrective Action Manager Working Group members from each directorate.

Cheryl Andrews x35979

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2.            AIAA-Houston Section July/August Newsletter
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston Section Horizons July/August 2012 newsletter is now online at http://www.aiaahouston.org

Cover story: Ring Wing Waveriders by Dr. Patrick E. Rodi. Also on the cover: Man Will Conquer Space Soon! This is from the weekly magazine Collier's, from the March 22, 1952 issue (25 pages), by Dr. Wernher von Braun, Chesley Bonestell and many others. Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base by Colonel Jack "Stitch" Daniel, Commander. The 100 Year Starship Public Symposium in Houston, Sept. 13 to 16. The Scientific Preparatory Academy for Cosmic Explorers (SPACE) Inaugural Event, by Shen Ge. Suddenly Tomorrow Came ... A History of JSC, the Audiobook. Recent conference papers by Section members, and much more.

Eryn Beisner x40212

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3.            Save the Earth: Make Software For Environmental Sustainability in a Weekend
Cleanweb is about applying software solutions to resource and sustainability challenges in areas such as energy, water, waste, transit, food and other areas.

Today, trends in cheaper computing power, mobile connectivity, availability of big data and access to social networks enable new approaches to old problems.

Cleanweb Texas is organizing events around this idea, starting with Cleanweb Hackathon Houston at Rice University, Sept. 21 to 23. The hackathon engages the community to come together to build on new ideas and approaches as well as to solve uniquely local problems.

We provide the venue, food, mentors, possible ideas, datasets and programming tools. Participants--programmers, designers, users, and subject experts-- bring it all together to create functional, elegant software prototypes over the course of a weekend.

You do not have to be a programmer to contribute!

For more information, visit https://houston.cleanweb.co/
Pont of contact: cleanwebtexas@gmail.com

Adam Parsons x33755 https://houston.cleanweb.co/

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4.            Caregivers Resource Group
Do want to get more information about how to pay for services for yourself or loved one? Do you know what the difference is between Medicare and Medicaid? Who is eligible, and what may be covered? Join Gay Yarbrough, LCSW, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program for "An Overview of Benefits for Care Recipients."

When: Tuesday, Sept. 4
Where: Building 32, Conference Room 146
Time: Noon

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130

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________________________________________
JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.

Human Spaceflight News
Friday – August 31, 2012

HEADLINES AND LEADS

NASA assesses spacewalk options to complete power box installation

William Harwood - CBS News

The failure to install a replacement electrical distribution box during a marathon spacewalk Thursday has temporarily left the International Space Station unable to take in power from two of its eight solar array wings. But mission managers said jumpers installed before the excursion will allow near-normal operations while engineers study possible spacewalk repair options. "We are down to six power channels," said Flight Director Ed Van Cise. "We have flight rules in place that give us a maximum loading of kilowatts per channel, and that's what we work to balance across the channels we have available.

Spacewalking astronauts stymied by sticky bolts

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

Sticky bolts proved too much for spacewalking astronauts Thursday, forcing them to leave a new power-switching box dangling from the International Space Station instead of firmly bolted down. NASA scrambled to reduce the power demands of the orbiting lab and balance the electrical load, while mapping out a plan that could have the astronauts going back out as early as next week to tackle the problem. It was a major disappointment for NASA's Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide, who spent hours struggling with the bolts. They used all sorts of tools and tactics as the spacewalk went into overtime, but nothing worked. With time running out, Mission Control finally told them to tie down the box and head inside. "We'll figure this out another day," Mission Control radioed.

Stuck bolt on space station stymies spacewalkers

Irene Klotz - Reuters

NASA on Thursday halted attempts to replace a power distributor on the International Space Station after spacewalking astronauts were repeatedly stymied by a jammed bolt, officials said. NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide, both station flight engineers, had planned to spend 6.5 hours outside the orbital outpost to work on its power system and install electrical cables for a new Russian module expected to arrive next year. The astronauts ran into problems after removing the station's balky 220-pound (100-kg) power-switching unit, one of four used in a system that distributes electrical power generated by the station's solar array wings. The old unit could supply power to the station, but could not be commanded.

Stuck bolt stymies station spacewalkers
Power-switching unit tethered outside outpost as experts troubleshoot issue

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

Two spacewalking electricians tried and tried and tried Thursday, but they couldn’t bolt a new power-switching unit into place outside of the International Space Station. Wielding a pistol-grip power tool and a torque multiplier, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide was unable to secure the suitcase-sized unit during a spacewalk that went into extra innings. A single bolt required to lock the unit in place kept getting stuck.

NASA Looks to Next Week for ISS Power System Spacewalk

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

NASA's lengthy spacewalk drought may come to an end with an encore of Thursday's hard luck outing for NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who were unable to accomplish their primary task - the installation of a new Main Bus Switching Unit -- during an excursion outside the International Space Station that stretched to an unexpected eight hours. Several stubborn bolts that prevented them from quickly removing an aging MBSU and replacing it with a spare were to blame.

Stuck Bolt Forces Extra Spacewalk for Space Station Crew

Denise Chow - Space.com

A stubborn bolt that prevented two spacewalking astronauts from properly installing a replacement power unit on the exterior of the International Space Station Thursday will now require another spacewalk — possibly as early as next week — to attempt to resolve the problem, NASA officials said. NASA spaceflyer Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide spent more than eight hours working outside the orbiting complex, primarily to remove a faulty power box — called a main bus switching unit (MBSU) — and replace it with a spare. After the old unit was removed and stored, however, the spacewalkers were unable to drive in one of two bolts needed to secure the new box to the station's backbone-like truss.

Yi So-yeon remembers another space pioneer

Evan Ramstad - Wall Street Journal

After the initial news was reported on Monday, little has been said in South Korean media about the death of U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon. We asked South Korea’s first – and still only – space traveler, Yi So-yeon, for her thoughts about him. Ms. Yi in 2008 joined the crew of a Russian Soyuz flight to the International Space Station.

Ohio service planned for hero-astronaut Armstrong

Dan Sewell - Associated Press

Lunar pioneers plan to attend a private service in Ohio for astronaut Neil Armstrong, following an event to announce a children's health fund in his honor. The first man to walk on the moon died last week at age 82. His family scheduled the private service Friday in Cincinnati. A public memorial service is being planned for early September in Washington, D.C. Eugene Cernan (SIR'-nun) and James Lovell are expected at the announcement of the Neil Armstrong New Frontiers Initiative at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The family has suggested memorial contributions be made to that fund or two scholarships in Armstrong's name. Afterward, the former astronauts and others, NASA officials, family members, and friends will attend the private service. Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio will give the eulogy.

Former astronaut inspires Denver area students in math, technology

Erin Udell - Denver Post

Science can take you almost anywhere — just ask Leland D. Melvin. With degrees in chemistry and materials science engineering, Melvin went from being drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1986 to running robotics as an astronaut for two NASA space shuttle missions. Now he serves as NASA's associate administrator for education and works to get young people interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educations.

The Right Goes the Wrong Direction in Space

Rick Tumlinson - Huffington Post (Opinion)

(Tumlinson is founder of The EarthLight Institute, Space Frontier Foundation, Orbital Outfitters)

When good people do bad things, it is sad, but when they reach the point where one can predict that they will do nothing but bad things, a deeper kind of sadness sets in, almost at the level of resignation. Having read the 2012 Republican Party Platform's section on space policy, I am not so much disappointed (as I passed that marker years ago) as I am in that place where a family goes when their junkie son gets arrested yet again after crashing all the family cars and selling off everything in the house to feed his addiction, and Dad says, "Here, son, take mine..." Primarily, I am confused.

Wink at the Moon memorial service attracts hundreds in Wapak

Kate Malongowski - Lima News

Hundreds gathered outside the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta on a cool, clear Wednesday evening to celebrate the late astronaut Neil Armstrong’s life at a memorial service, the moon glowing brightly in the sky. A missing-man flight and color guard salute preceded the ceremony. The moon-shaped dome of the museum provided a backdrop for the lectern where people spoke about the first man on the moon and their memories of him. Among those were NASA astronaut Greg Johnson, NASA Glenn Research Center Director Ramon Lugo III, and personal friends of Armstrong, calling him friendly, humble and “the pilot’s pilot.”

What the Apollo astronauts did for life insurance

Chana Joffe-Walt - National Public Radio

This week, Americans have been remembering Neil Armstrong. But before he walked on the moon, he had to solve a much more prosaic problem. "You're about to embark on a mission that's more dangerous than anything any human has ever done before," Robert Pearlman, a space historian and collector with collectspace.com, told me. "And you have a family that you're leaving behind on Earth, and there's a real chance you will not be returning." Exactly the kind of situation a responsible person plans for by taking out a life insurance policy. Not surprisingly, a life insurance policy for somebody about to get on a rocket to the moon cost a fortune. But Neil Armstrong had something going for him. He was famous, as was the whole Apollo 11 crew. People really wanted their autographs.

Neil Armstrong’s lasting legacy

Daniel Goldin - Washington Post (Opinion)

(Goldin was NASA Administrator from 1992-2001)

To me, the name Neil Armstrong is synonymous with granite. I had almost believed Neil would be here forever, as elemental as the Earth he viewed from so high above. He was the symbol of all that was good about America on July 20, 1969, his courageous feat representing one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved. In my estimation, Apollo 11’s landing on the moon and Armstrong’s spacewalk saved the soul of America.

'Blue moon' Friday -- same day as Neil Armstrong service

Seth Borenstein - Associated Press

There's a rare `blue moon' on Friday, a fitting wink to Neil Armstrong by the cosmic calendar. That's the day of a private service for Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, who died last Saturday in Ohio at age 82. A blue moon occurs when there's a second full moon in one calendar month. It won't happen again until July 2015.

Stargazing: Rare blue moon fills sky tonight

Bernie Badger - Florida Today

Since August 1 was a full moon, tonight’s full moon will be the second in a month. By “modern” folklore, that makes it a blue moon. The last time there was a blue moon (in the Americas) was December, 2009. Today’s full moon occurs at 9:58 p.m. EDT.

Blue Moon Ends the Month
A Blue Moon — the second full moon within a month — will rise on Friday night

Susan Larson - Patch.com

About every two-and-a-half years, there are two full moons within one month, and August 2012 happens to be one of those rare months. At about 7:25 p.m. EDT Friday, a full moon will rise over the area, according to timeanddate.com. The first full moon of the month shone on Aug. 1.

"Blue Moon"
(Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers)

Mel Torme (1949)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3hNO3fEx9k

The Marcels (1961)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVGMmM2XjiY

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own…
__________

COMPLETE STORIES

NASA assesses spacewalk options to complete power box installation

William Harwood - CBS News

The failure to install a replacement electrical distribution box during a marathon spacewalk Thursday has temporarily left the International Space Station unable to take in power from two of its eight solar array wings. But mission managers said jumpers installed before the excursion will allow near-normal operations while engineers study possible spacewalk repair options.

"We are down to six power channels," said Flight Director Ed Van Cise. "We have flight rules in place that give us a maximum loading of kilowatts per channel, and that's what we work to balance across the channels we have available.

"The space station, now that it's fully assembled and operational, has a lot of flexibility to route power around through different means so we can be creative with how we share power across the power channels to be able to provide as much balance as we can. But that said, there are some things that do require more power and are only connected to certain power feeds."

Until the installation issue is resolved and main bus switching unit No. 1 is re-connected to the station's electrical grid, equipment that is not considered crucial will be powered down or used when scheduling permits to avoid conflicts. A robotics work station in the U.S. lab module, for example, will be powered down until it is needed. Likewise automatic heaters may be operated manually to ease the load.

Major, on-going experiments like the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer will continue to draw power, but others that operate on a more transient basis may require tighter scheduling.

"Really, on a bigger scale, we're just balancing the loads across the six channels we have without minimizing or reducing our operational redundancy we need to actually go fly the vehicle", Van Cise said. "Obviously, we want to keep doing that world-class science that we do, we just have to be smart on which facilities we have up at a given time so we don't have two facilities that use a lot of power on the same feed."

Power generated by the station's eight solar array wings, four on each end of the lab's main truss, is routed to four main bus switching units, all located in the central S0 truss segment. Two power channels feed into each 220-pound MBSU, which in turn deliver 160-volt array power to a pair of transformers known as DC-to-DC converter units. The DDCUs step the primary power down to the 124 volts used inside the station.

The MBSUs are critical to station operation, providing grounding and allowing flight controllers or station astronauts to crosstie power channels or to isolate them as needed when problems develop.

Several months ago, MBSU No. 1 stopped responding to commands, although it still delivered electricity from power channels 1A and 1B, generated by a right-side inboard solar array and one starboard outboard panel respectively.

Replacing MBSU No. 1 was the top priority of a spacewalk Thursday by astronauts Sunita Williams and Akihiko Hoshide. They successfully removed the malfunctioning unit but were unable to install a replacement when a bolt used to pull the 220-pound device down onto a gang of electrical connectors and cooling fins would not drive home.

The replacement MBSU was left partially torqued down, but not connected to power channels 1A and 1B.

"The team installed some jumpers prior to powering down the MBSU in preparation for the EVA and those jumpers allowed us to get power to all the ISS systems and payloads," said Program Manager Mike Suffredini. "So really, what the team has to do, they can get power to all the systems but we only have three quarters of the power available that we normally have.

"Depending on the task at hand over the next several days, the team may have to manage power loads a little bit, but this is familiar territory and we'll be able to deal with that while we decide what our next plan is."

The problem comes at a busy time for the station crew, with the departure of two cargo ships next month and three of the station's six crew members.

"While we think about our plan and when we might do another EVA if we decide that's necessary, we'll have to take all of that into account and move things around in order to accommodate that," Suffredini said. "But if we do decide to do an EVA ... you'll hear us talking about doing that sooner rather than later in the program."

If engineers can figure out what went wrong with the bolt on the replacement MBSU and how to fix it or work around the problem, Williams and Hoshide possibly could stage another spacewalk as early as next week.

But as of this writing, that's far from certain. For the MBSU's electrical connections and cooling fins to engage their counterparts in the truss housing, the box must be firmly seated.

Engineers will use ground spares to study possible techniques to free and then drive a possibly galled bolt without breaking it off or stripping its threads. Another option may be to partially disassemble the attachment fittings to work around the bolt.

In the meantime, Van Cise thanked Williams and Hoshide for "an awesome job today."

"Everybody down here passes on their congratulations for going way above and beyond and they expressed their thanks, all the way up to the program manager. He wanted me to specifically thank you for all that you put into making this as successful as it could be given the circumstances", Van Cise radioed.

"So thank you very much, job well done. Get some rest tonight, and I'll make sure (Flight Director) Tony (Ceccacci) gives you plenty of time to sleep in. Good job."

"Thank you very much for those words," astronaut Joseph Acaba replied from the Quest airlock, where he was helping Williams and Hoshide out of their spacesuits. "As you can see, these guys are happy, we're glad they went out and got back safe, that's what's important.

"You guys worked just as hard as we did, so thank you very much. We'll get these guys out and they can relax a little bit. Have a great night and we'll touch bases with you guys tomorrow."

This was the 164th spacewalk devoted to station construction and maintenance since assembly began in 1998, the third so far this year, the fifth for Williams and the first for Hoshide. With this EVA, 109 astronauts and cosmonauts have logged 1,035 hours and 55 minutes -- 43.2 days -- of station EVA time.

Williams has now logged 37 hours and 34 minutes of EVA time, moving her up to 27th on the list of most experienced spacewalkers. She is second only to Peggy Whitson in total EVA time for a female astronaut. Hoshide is the third Japanese astronaut to walk in space.

Spacewalking astronauts stymied by sticky bolts

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

Sticky bolts proved too much for spacewalking astronauts Thursday, forcing them to leave a new power-switching box dangling from the International Space Station instead of firmly bolted down.

NASA scrambled to reduce the power demands of the orbiting lab and balance the electrical load, while mapping out a plan that could have the astronauts going back out as early as next week to tackle the problem.

It was a major disappointment for NASA's Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide, who spent hours struggling with the bolts. They used all sorts of tools and tactics as the spacewalk went into overtime, but nothing worked.

With time running out, Mission Control finally told them to tie down the box and head inside.

"We'll figure this out another day," Mission Control radioed.

Thursday's spacewalk was supposed to last 6 1/2 hours but stretched past eight hours. It ended up in NASA's top 10 list for longest spacewalks - at the No. 3 spot.

The power router is one of four, and NASA stressed that the other three are working fine. Nonetheless, electrical usage will need to be closely monitored at the 260-mile-high lab given Thursday's failed effort.

"The team may have to manage power loads a little bit, but this is familiar territory," said NASA's space station program manager, Mike Suffredini. "We'll be able to deal with that while we decide what our next plan is."

While the space station remains in stable condition, NASA would like to take another crack at securing the box as soon as possible - perhaps next week - because of the mid-September departure of half the six-member crew, including the second U.S. astronaut, who ran the robot arm Thursday from inside the station. And the longer this situation goes on, the more vulnerable the space station is to additional failures, Suffredini noted.

Until the problem is resolved, the space station is able to draw power from just three-quarters of its solar wings - six instead of all eight.

The old switch box started acting up last fall, and NASA decided to replace it before it failed. This was the first spacewalk by Americans since the final shuttle flight a year ago.

Williams and Hoshide had trouble getting the old unit out because of two sticky bolts, and they found metal shavings in the sockets. They squirted in compressed nitrogen gas to clear the holes, and some debris came out. But still, the main bolt would not go in properly; the companion bolt was left undone.

The frustration mounted as the minutes and hours ticked by. At one point, Mission Control radioed, "We've tried almost every backup we have on this stupid bolt."

At a news conference later in the day, NASA officials said possible solutions might involve lubricating the thick, sturdy bolts or applying more torque.

Putting in a new switching box was the No. 1 priority of the spacewalk. In separate work, the astronauts managed to hook up one power cable and get another cable halfway connected. They never got around to replacing a bad camera on the space station's big robotic arm.

Mission Control did its best to cheer up the spacewalkers as they re-entered the space station. "You guys are rock stars, just so you know," Mission Control said.

It was the second spacewalk in less than two weeks. On Aug. 20, two Russians worked outside the orbiting complex, installing shields to protect against micrometeorite strikes.

It's no longer common for astronauts to step into the vacuum of space. That's because after almost 14 years, the space station is virtually complete. Plus NASA's shuttles are retired and now museum pieces.

Williams is the lone woman at the space station. She and Hoshide arrived a month ago, launching from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian rocket.

Stuck bolt on space station stymies spacewalkers

Irene Klotz - Reuters

NASA on Thursday halted attempts to replace a power distributor on the International Space Station after spacewalking astronauts were repeatedly stymied by a jammed bolt, officials said.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide, both station flight engineers, had planned to spend 6.5 hours outside the orbital outpost to work on its power system and install electrical cables for a new Russian module expected to arrive next year.

The astronauts ran into problems after removing the station's balky 220-pound (100-kg) power-switching unit, one of four used in a system that distributes electrical power generated by the station's solar array wings. The old unit could supply power to the station, but could not be commanded.

"We uncovered this problem some months ago and had been living with it ever since," station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters during a press conference on Thursday. "We waited to conduct the (spacewalk) until we were ready and had every thing in place."

But problems surfaced as soon as Hoshide tried to remove the old unit. Once it was finally wrested free of its housing, Williams reported finding metal shavings on one of its bolts and around the housing.

As a precaution, astronauts used a canister of nitrogen gas to blow away shavings in the housing before attempting to install the new unit, but problems mounted.

Repeated attempts to attach the new device failed when a bolt jammed, preventing astronauts from hooking it up into the station's power grid.

"We're kind of at a loss of what else we can try," astronaut Jack Fischer at NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston told the crew after more than an hour of trouble-shooting. "If you guys have any thoughts or ideas or brilliant schemes on what we can do, let us know."

Hoshide suggested using a tool that provides more force on bolts, but NASA engineers were reluctant to try anything that could make the situation worse.

As the spacewalk slipped past seven hours, flight controllers told the astronauts to tether the unit in place, clean up their tools and head back into the station's airlock.

"We're going to figure it out another day," Fischer said.

The loss of one power distributor cuts the amount of electricity available for station operations and science experiments by 25 percent, though managers said they expect to be able to minimize impacts by carefully juggling schedules.

"We have to do a balancing act," said NASA flight director Ed Van Cise.

Managers said another attempt to install the power distributor could come as early as next week if engineers can figure out what to do to fix the stuck bolt.

The eight-hour, 17-minute spacewalk, NASA's first since the final space shuttle mission in July 2011, turned out to be one of the longest in the agency's history.

Thursday's outing followed a six-hour Russian spacewalk on August 20 by cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Yuri Malenchenko to relocate a crane, launch a small science satellite and install micrometeoroid shields on the station's Zvezda command module.

The station, a $100-billion project of 15 countries, is an orbiting laboratory used for medical and basic science experiments, microgravity research and technology development.

Williams was able to finish most of the work to install electrical lines for the new Russian laboratory. But the astronauts were unable to get to a third task replacing a camera on the station's robot arm.

Stuck bolt stymies station spacewalkers
Power-switching unit tethered outside outpost as experts troubleshoot issue

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

Two spacewalking electricians tried and tried and tried Thursday, but they couldn’t bolt a new power-switching unit into place outside of the International Space Station.

Wielding a pistol-grip power tool and a torque multiplier, Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide was unable to secure the suitcase-sized unit during a spacewalk that went into extra innings.

A single bolt required to lock the unit in place kept getting stuck.

Hours into their attempt, Hoshide and U.S. astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams made one last try.

“All right, give it a go, buddy. It’s going to be all the way,” U.S. astronaut Jack Fischer radioed up from Mission Control Center in Houston.

“All the way,” Hoshide said as the bolt started turning. “Going. Going. Going.”

Stuck! Again.

Hoshide got the bolt to turn nine times. But engineers needed 15 turns to secure the power-switching unit.

NASA mission managers decided the best course of action was to tether the unit in place, and then let agency experts come up with a troubleshooting plan. ISS program manager Mike Suffredini said a follow-up spacewalk could take place early next week.

The power-switching unit is one of four that route electricity generated by the station’s massive American solar arrays to various outpost systems. Hoshide and Williams had removed a faulty unit and were trying to bolt a replacement in place.

NASA officials said the failure to secure the new unit wouldn’t disrupt station operations. However, it will force engineers to carefully distribute electrical power from three operating units to various station systems.

The excursion was the second this month at the international outpost, and the first performed by a U.S. astronaut since July 2011’s final shuttle mission.

The spacewalk was the 164th conducted in the assembly and maintenance of the station, the first two building blocks of which were linked in low-Earth orbit in 1998. More than 100 astronauts and cosmonauts have tallied 1,000-plus hours working in the deadly vacuum environment outside the outpost.

NASA Looks to Next Week for ISS Power System Spacewalk

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

NASA's lengthy spacewalk drought may come to an end with an encore of Thursday's hard luck outing for NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, who were unable to accomplish their primary task - the installation of a new Main Bus Switching Unit -- during an excursion outside the International Space Station that stretched to an unexpected eight hours.

Several stubborn bolts that prevented them from quickly removing an aging MBSU and replacing it with a spare were to blame.

Williams and Hoshide could make an unscheduled walk early next week -- if NASA's station program managers, flight control team and resident engineers can pinpoint a cause for the difficulties and devise a plan to overcome them. In the meantime, the six person space station crew will have to make due with 75 percent of the electricity normally available.

That means some science experiments will likely have to be re-scheduled to adjust the power draw. Heaters that warm the station's outer walls will likely be adjusted manually rather than by thermostats.

"From a systems perspective we are stable and in good shape," Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager, assured a news briefing called to address the implications of the difficult spacewalk.

"I would tell you this is not a configuration we want to stay in for a long period of time, even if this configuration is robust to many failures," Suffredini added. "We will try to get out the door early next week if we can come up with a plan. The biggest driver is knowing what we can do."

Thursday’s spacewalk, which was scheduled for 6 1/2 hours, marked the first NASA organized excursion outside the orbiting science lab since July 2011. The previous walk was incorporated into the final shuttle mission, which marked the end of NASA's long running assembly of the station's U. S. segment. At that point, NASA turned its focus to science experiments and engineering demonstrations rather than construction.

Repair tasks outside the station are allowed to accumulate until a spacewalk is warranted.

Williams, a veteran of previous spacewalks, and Hoshide, a rookie, departed the airlock early Thursday with an ambitious agenda, replace the faulty MBSU, one of four power distribution boxes fastened to the station's solar power truss to route power to electrical components inside and outside the lab; string two power cables for a future Russian science module; replace a failed video camera on the Canadian robot arm; and perhaps fasten a protective shield on the docking port once used by visiting shuttles.

Williams managed to fully string one of the cables along the station's U. S. segment and partially string the second.

The spacewalkers ran into difficulties, though, when they tried to remove two bolts securing MBSU-1. The switching unit arrived at the station in 2002 as part of the central solar power truss segment and stopped responding to remote commands in October 2011. Though Williams and Hoshide finally succeeded in freeing the old switching unit, they encountered similar problems when they attempted to secure a replacement MBSU with new bolts.

Further inspection revealed some galling in the bolt receptacle, which Williams attempted to remove with pliers and puffs of nitrogen gas. That helped but didn't solve the issue. The spacewalkers attempted to drive, then remove one of the new bolts with a power ratchet and a torque multiplier.

Their efforts left the new MBSU partially secured by a single bolt and strapped down to an external hand rail with a strap. They didn't attempt to temporarily connect the circuit box to the power grid.

In the coming days, NASA's experts will look to lubricants as a possible solution, inspect MBSU production records for clues of a hidden assembly issue and sort through the station's big tool inventory in search of a solution.

Stuck Bolt Forces Extra Spacewalk for Space Station Crew

Denise Chow - Space.com

A stubborn bolt that prevented two spacewalking astronauts from properly installing a replacement power unit on the exterior of the International Space Station Thursday will now require another spacewalk — possibly as early as next week — to attempt to resolve the problem, NASA officials said.

NASA spaceflyer Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide spent more than eight hours working outside the orbiting complex, primarily to remove a faulty power box — called a main bus switching unit (MBSU) — and replace it with a spare. After the old unit was removed and stored, however, the spacewalkers were unable to drive in one of two bolts needed to secure the new box to the station's backbone-like truss.

Agency officials are now planning another spacewalk and discussing ways to fix the problem. The extra excursion could take place early next week, said Mike Suffredini, NASA's International Space Station program manager.

"If we can determine what we can do to get the MBSU ultimately installed, you'll hear us talking about perhaps trying to do that sooner rather than later in the program," Suffredini told reporters in a news briefing today from the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "If we can, we'll try to get out the door early next week if we can come up with a plan."

A main bus switching unit relays power from the space station's solar arrays and distributes it throughout the orbiting lab. Typically, there are four MBSUs operating on the station at any time, and without the use of one, the station is essentially unable to harness the power collected by two of its eight solar arrays, Suffredini explained.

Engineers and flight controllers are currently trying to determine why the bolt is stuck and how they can remedy the situation.

Without the MBSU up and running, NASA officials are also deciding how best to allocate the available power aboard the outpost to keep the crew safe, and with minimal disruption to the station's operations. During the time that the outpost relies on three MBSUs, systems that require a lot of power, such as the space station's robotic arm, will be powered down until they are needed again, said flight director Ed Van Cise.

"We can be creative with how we share power across the channels to provide as much balance as we can across them," Van Cise said. "The space station arm, when it's in use, does draw power, so one thing we'll do if we haven't done it already is, they will disconnect the robotic work station in the U.S. lab so that piece is not drawing power off the power channels. And we'll turn off equipment that is not necessarily required."

After repeated attempts to install the new power unit failed, Williams and Hoshide were forced to use a special tether to temporarily tie it down to the space station's truss.

Today's marathon spacewalk clocked in at a whopping 8 hours and 17 minutes, making it the third longest spacewalk in history and the longest ever performed by a space station crew.

Yi So-yeon remembers another space pioneer

Evan Ramstad - Wall Street Journal

After the initial news was reported on Monday, little has been said in South Korean media about the death of U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.

We asked South Korea’s first – and still only – space traveler, Yi So-yeon, for her thoughts about him. Ms. Yi in 2008 joined the crew of a Russian Soyuz flight to the International Space Station.

She was born in 1978, nearly a decade after Mr. Armstrong’s moon flight and several years after the moon missions ended. Yet Ms. Yi is one of only about 530 people to fly to space, still one of the rarest of all human experiences.

Her note:

“Landing on the moon was an event in the history book for me. Whenever I think of the Apollo missions or the moon landing, the black and white image on the chubby, Braun tube television comes to my mind first.

“Nowadays, most kids don’t have any idea about those old televisions at all. My family had one in the living room when I was a kid. Neil Armstrong’s mission was before I was born, so it felt far from my life, even like in totally different world. After my space flight, however, I felt a little closer and I dared to dream to meet Neil Armstrong in person.

“How is it to be the first in the world, and to be one of only 12 people in all, who have been to the moon? I couldn’t imagine. Just as the first Korean in space, and just one of 500 astronauts in the world, sometimes I feel it’s tough. I’m sure that my feeling could be nothing compared with his.

“Luckily, I have met several astronauts and space experts who worked with Mr. Armstrong. Of course, all of them told me Mr. Armstrong is a humble hero and recommended that I meet him in person. Some of them told that I would have a chance definitely. So I had my own list of questions to ask him, and sometimes I even imagined meeting him.

“Actually, I owe him too much. As a Korean, I cannot forget that he is a veteran of the Korean War. As an astronaut, he is the greatest. And of course, how I can not mention the inspirational way he lived, as a teacher, after his space career? After hearing the sad news, I felt sorry that it became impossible to meet him. But I can say he is definitely my hero. I dare dream to be like him, and I wish I can find a way to pay back all he gave me in any way, even though I will not be able to directly tell him.”

As Ms. Yi mentioned, Mr. Armstrong had a special connection to South Korea – he flew 78 combat missions as a U.S. Navy pilot for the South’s freedom during the Korean War.

One of the roughest happened on Sept. 3, 1951, less than a week after his first mission, when his Panther jet was hit by anti-aircraft fire near Wonsan, North Korea, and he spun out of control. He struggled and finally regained control at just 20 feet above the ground, then hit a pole that sheered a few feet off of his right wing.

According to a 2005 biography written by James R. Hansen, Mr. Armstrong flew the badly-damaged plane back over water, got it up to 14,000 feet and headed south. The plane was too damaged to land, so he ejected from it and came down near Pohang.

In December that year, he had another scare when the engine on his plane quit. In all, Armstrong spent five combat tours in the Korean War, more than 121 hours in the air.

He visited South Korea again in November 1969 as part of a promotional tour after the moon landing. He returned in 1971 as a consultant for the Peace Corps.

There was some talk that Mr. Armstrong might visit South Korea last year to commemorate the 60-year anniversary of the retaking of Seoul during the Korea War. But for whatever reason, he wasn’t part of that event.

Mr. Armstrong will be eulogized at a private ceremony in Ohio today.

Ohio service planned for hero-astronaut Armstrong

Dan Sewell - Associated Press

Lunar pioneers plan to attend a private service in Ohio for astronaut Neil Armstrong, following an event to announce a children's health fund in his honor.

The first man to walk on the moon died last week at age 82. His family scheduled the private service Friday in Cincinnati. A public memorial service is being planned for early September in Washington, D.C.

Eugene Cernan (SIR'-nun) and James Lovell are expected at the announcement of the Neil Armstrong New Frontiers Initiative at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The family has suggested memorial contributions be made to that fund or two scholarships in Armstrong's name.

Afterward, the former astronauts and others, NASA officials, family members, and friends will attend the private service. Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio will give the eulogy.

Cernan flew two moon missions and is the last man to have walked on the moon. Lovell's four space missions included commanding the harrowing Apollo 13 flight that was recounted in his book and depicted in the popular movie, in which Tom Hanks played Lovell.

A complete list hasn't been released, but other attendees will include Apollo astronaut William Anders and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Cincinnati Children's spokesman Jim Feur said the hospital is still working out the details for the Armstrong fund. Cernan and Lovell were to be joined at the hospital by patient Shane DiGiovanna, 14. He has a rare tissue disease and received a cochlear implant that allows him to hear. The cochlear device was developed by a NASA scientist.

Armstrong's family described Armstrong, who largely shunned publicity after his moon mission, as "a reluctant American hero."

Raised in rural western Ohio in Wapakoneta, he developed an early love for aviation. He served as a U.S. Navy pilot flying combat missions in Korea, then became a test pilot after finishing college. Accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962, he commanded the Gemini 8 mission in 1966.

He then commanded Apollo 11's historic moon landing on July 20, 1969. As a worldwide audience watched on TV, Armstrong took the step on the lunar surface he called "one giant leap for mankind."

After his space career, he returned to Ohio, teaching aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati and generally avoiding public view for most of the rest of his life.

Armstrong married Carol Knight in 1999, and the couple lived in suburban Indian Hill. He had two sons from a previous marriage.

Two UC student groups interested in space will gather Friday evening on a campus lawn with telescopes for viewing the moon, and to hear some of Armstrong's former students speak.

In announcing his death, Armstrong's family requested that when people "see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

Former astronaut inspires Denver area students in math, technology

Erin Udell - Denver Post

Science can take you almost anywhere — just ask Leland D. Melvin.

With degrees in chemistry and materials science engineering, Melvin went from being drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1986 to running robotics as an astronaut for two NASA space shuttle missions.

Now he serves as NASA's associate administrator for education and works to get young people interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educations.

Melvin spoke to a packed audience of SciTech and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) students at Eaglecrest High School in Centennial on Thursday, telling each student that they have the opportunity to take space exploration to the next level, or at least be a part of it.

AVID is a college readiness system aimed at increasing performance among underserved students.

"You are the future of our civilization," Melvin said to the crowd. " You have to take these engineers' and scientists' place."

Sponsored by Shades of Blue, a non-profit organization that promotes aviation and aerospace in schools, Melvin's appearance at Eaglecrest was one of several in Colorado.

Earlier on Thursday, he visited students at Aurora Central High School and was set to make an appearance in the Denver Public Schools district.

Friday, Melvin will visit high schools in Colorado Springs.

Throughout his speech, Melvin elicited cheers and laughter from the students as he told stories about building his own skateboard and misadventures with a chemistry set that ended in him ruining his mother's living room carpet and becoming interested in science.

Melvin also used his experiences in sports, where he sustained injuries in NFL training camps, to illustrate how important perseverance is.

"We have all failed at something," Melvin said. "But it's not that you failed. We have launched rockets into space that have failed. If we had given up, we wouldn't have had Neil Armstrong walking as the first human being on the lunar surface.

"When you fail. Don't give up," he said. "Keep going. You never know who's watching you. You never know what the outcome is going to be."

After the event, Melvin signed autographs, posed for pictures and held a short question-and-answer session with students interested in aviation and aerospace engineering.

"We have a really strong SciTech program," Eaglecrest Principal Gwen Hansen-Vigil said, referring to the school's college preparatory program for students interested in pursuing STEM educations. "Now we realize that all of our kids also need to be inspired and pushed further into science, math and technology."

Hansen-Vigil said it means so much to be able to connect students with people like Melvin, who can set them on a path they may never have considered.

After showing videos and photos of himself floating — and even playing with his food — in space, Melvin said he hopes his experiences help students realize their dreams.

"You are that next generation, and you're going to be the ones who help lead and guide our planet to greatness - our nation to greatness," Melvin said.

"If anyone tells you that you can't do something, tell them you can. It's just an apostrophe and a 't' that's in your way. Live your dreams and do anything you put your mind to," he said. "Stay inspired."

The Right Goes the Wrong Direction in Space

Rick Tumlinson - Huffington Post (Opinion)

(Tumlinson is founder of The EarthLight Institute, Space Frontier Foundation, Orbital Outfitters)

When good people do bad things, it is sad, but when they reach the point where one can predict that they will do nothing but bad things, a deeper kind of sadness sets in, almost at the level of resignation.

Having read the 2012 Republican Party Platform's section on space policy, I am not so much disappointed (as I passed that marker years ago) as I am in that place where a family goes when their junkie son gets arrested yet again after crashing all the family cars and selling off everything in the house to feed his addiction, and Dad says, "Here, son, take mine..." Primarily, I am confused.

Having seen in Tampa several days of celebration of American ideals such as individual initiatives, entrepreneurship, and enterprise, to actually read the core document put out by the party and its take on U.S. space policy was almost nauseating. I had truly hoped that the obvious and glaringly real rise of an incredible and dynamic commercial space industry that is almost completely U.S.-born and bred would be embraced as an icon of a new, can-do, Right Stuff kind of American spirit. (We call it NewSpace, by the way.)

Nope. Didn't happen. Not only does the platform not embrace NewSpace, not only does it not speak of a bold new partnership to open the frontier, but it ignores the economic star of space completely in favor of reorganizing the government bureaucracy now in charge. To those who wrote what I believe will come to be seen, in years to come, as one of the great failures of the free-enterprise right, there is no space but government space, and no space without government control. It is a disaster, a dead end, and an embarrassing throwback to a Cold War, command-economy mentality, and I am sad for my Republican friends who get what is happening in space and have to somehow defend such a document.

Yet it reflects the reality we see in Washington of late. A member of the Republican Party can sit in a hearing and decry in fiery rhetoric the socialist satan of state-based medicine, waxing poetic about individual mandates and markets. They then get up, walk down the hall into a hearing on national space policy, and not only embrace the idol of a socialist space program but attack the idea of empowering the people of America to open space themselves, or encouraging NASA to hand off operational tasks to companies who are proving themselves ready over and over to take on the job so that our explorers can get back to exploring.

Yet I know that this probably-cash-induced myopia is not a party-wide syndrome. There are Republicans who have championed pro-Frontier policies for years. Robert Walker, Dana Rohrabacher, and others (including, yes, Newt Gingrich) have long understood the importance of a new partnership in space. Outside Washington, state and local leaders of both parties are actually competing for NewSpace businesses. For example, I held a meeting between Texas Governor Rick Perry and commercial space leaders recently, and he was, as they say, "all over it." He was on the ball, asking questions that spoke of knowledge, and proactively reaching out to do what he could to help space companies in the Lone Star State. I hear the same about the Republican governor of Virginia, and others.

It could be such a huge win for them, too. President Obama will go down in history as the man who opened space to the people by letting the private sector take over basic jobs like transport to orbit (and thus helping create a NewSpace commercial industry that opens the frontier). But Republicans could raise the ante, giving us direction and hardcore challenges to bring out our best. They could call for a new partnership between NASA and NewSpace to not just go back to the Moon but build a U.S. community there before 2020; to not just visit an asteroid but mine it for resources we now rip from the Earth; and to not just send astronauts to leave footprints on Mars in some distant future but put in place a plan for our first settlements on the Red Planet in the lifetimes of voters. That would be exciting! It would promote core values, create millions of jobs, and motivate a young demographic just when the party is losing them. But no. Not happening. They have pushed the bidding for the future down, not up. Now for the next round.

This week it was the Republicans. I am not holding my breath for the Democrats, because, as I said, this is not a partisan issue; it is a vision, lobbying, and control issue, between those who prize vision over greed and centralized power and those who don't. It is just more glaring in the case of those who espouse free enterprise and smaller government in other areas as the solution to our national ills.

Somewhere along the way (perhaps at 60 miles, the edge of space?) the concept of being pro-business and for small government shifted in the Republican Party to mean pro-government control and for big government projects -- even if, in the end, like giving money and car keys to a junkie, it ends up killing everyone's dreams.

NewSpace is everything we want in this nation: energy, entrepreneurship, and excitement that spurs education, innovation, and an enlightened approach to the future. NewSpace companies are staffed by young, new leaders who worship the giants who got us here, such as the recently passed Neil Armstrong, and are eager to work with NASA to do great things together -- but we have to both give them a chance and get out of the way. And the first step is acknowledging that they exist, and acknowledging their importance at a time when so many bemoan our failing leadership. It is insane not to, but sadly, this is just what the Republicans have done, and I am afraid the Democrats will, too.

We need a change, and I frankly don't care which party it comes from. Leadership in space is not about which party you belong to; it is about vision. Being a Kennedy Democrat doesn't automatically mean you have it, and being a Republican doesn't mean you automatically don't. After all, Ronald Reagan and both Bushes tried to create projects that, had they not been destroyed by the space-industrial complex (SIC), would have had a space station in orbit by 1992 and humans already living on the Moon and probably Mars.

Like most Americans I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I am pro-future, pro-hope, and pro-abundance. I am pro-frontier, and will talk to and work with anyone else who shares my belief that it is our goal and destiny to expand life and civilization into space. I may publish writings in what some see as liberal venues, but I work, at times closely, with the far right. You see, the frontier is not a partisan issue; it is an American issue. It is an issue that concerns our very future and our ability to appreciate, understand, and support our own people when they take on the challenge of literally lifting the nation to a higher place.

As I said, there are those in both parties who understand the absolutely pivotal importance of this seemingly incidental issue. We are at the turning point of human civilization, and a few decisions made by a few people can make all the difference.

Right now, on the right, we have the wrong people, and on the left the right people are being attacked for the wrong reasons, by those who prefer the status quo to the uncertainty of the adventure ahead. But each time a new rocket flies, more minds change. Each time a new space company is created, more attention is drawn to the cause. And each new politician who gets it means one less roadblack and perhaps one more champion for the frontier and the future. So there is hope -- if the well-greased palms of those now holding the wheel can be pried away and better drivers put in their place.

OK, Democrats, it's your turn: Show us you get it when it comes to the space revolution.

Wink at the Moon memorial service attracts hundreds in Wapak

Kate Malongowski - Lima News

Hundreds gathered outside the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta on a cool, clear Wednesday evening to celebrate the late astronaut Neil Armstrong’s life at a memorial service, the moon glowing brightly in the sky.

A missing-man flight and color guard salute preceded the ceremony.

The moon-shaped dome of the museum provided a backdrop for the lectern where people spoke about the first man on the moon and their memories of him. Among those were NASA astronaut Greg Johnson, NASA Glenn Research Center Director Ramon Lugo III, and personal friends of Armstrong, calling him friendly, humble and “the pilot’s pilot.”

“I remember when I was 7 years old, back in 1969,” Johnson said. “And I watched on a black-and-white TV as Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon. I was in awe. And at that point, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut.”

When Johnson had the opportunity to meet him years later, he said they spoke for 45 minutes and not once mentioned the moon landing.

“He flew wonderful, challenging aircraft all through his career, and that was what he was really proud about. And he was extremely humble about his experiences being the guy. It was all about teamwork. It was about those 10,000 people that were behind him as he made a very important step for mankind,” he said.

Lugo only met Armstrong for the first time a few years ago, but got choked up speaking about the man that inspired him for decades.

“I think I will remember Saturday afternoon like a lot of us will remember a lot of dates in history. And so it was a very hard day for me,” he said, his voice beginning to crack.

Many visitors, of course, were no strangers to Armstrong, either. They packed lawn chairs into the grass to honor and respect the beloved Ohioan.

“It feels to me like I lost a good friend, an old friend,” said Helen Brown, of Wapakoneta.

Her daughter Kay Dorner, of Wapakoneta, sat beside her. Years ago, when Brown worked at the now defunct Brown’s Restaurant and she helped out with the business, Dorner met Armstrong briefly.

“He came in to eat with his family, and I was at the cash register,” she recalled.

She said once he left, her mom asked her to go to the parking lot to get his autograph. The year was 1976; she remembered because he signed a bicentennial place mat from that year.

Frank Oen, of Cridersville, said his father and Armstrong were friends from childhood to adulthood.

“Whenever Neil was in town, he’d always call my dad,” he said.

Oen met Armstrong twice and described him as “a really nice guy.”

And although Dennis Walther had never met the man, he held high regard for him, especially back in 1969.

“I was just about to go into the service,” said Walther, of Wapakoneta. He said that during a time of turmoil and rioting against the Vietnam War, “we had him doing something good.”

He hadn’t learned of how much of a decorated war hero Armstrong was until after he died, making Walther honor him all the more.

“We’ll never have a hero like this again,” he said. “Not from this town.”

What the Apollo astronauts did for life insurance

Chana Joffe-Walt - National Public Radio

This week, Americans have been remembering Neil Armstrong. But before he walked on the moon, he had to solve a much more prosaic problem.

"You're about to embark on a mission that's more dangerous than anything any human has ever done before," Robert Pearlman, a space historian and collector with collectspace.com, told me. "And you have a family that you're leaving behind on Earth, and there's a real chance you will not be returning."

Exactly the kind of situation a responsible person plans for by taking out a life insurance policy. Not surprisingly, a life insurance policy for somebody about to get on a rocket to the moon cost a fortune.

But Neil Armstrong had something going for him. He was famous, as was the whole Apollo 11 crew. People really wanted their autographs.

"These astronauts had been signing autographs since the day they were announced as astronauts, and they knew even though eBay didn't exist back then, that there was a market for such things," Pearlman said. "There was demand."

Especially for what were called covers -– envelopes signed by astronauts and postmarked on important dates.

About a month before Apollo 11 was set to launch, the three astronauts entered quarantine. And, during free moments in the following weeks, each of the astronauts signed hundreds of covers.

They gave them to a friend. And on important days — the day of the launch, the day the astronauts landed on the moon — their friend got them to the post office and got them postmarked, and then distributed them to the astronauts' families.

It was life insurance in the form of autographs.

"If they did not return from the moon, their families could sell them — to not just fund their day-to-day lives, but also fund their kids' college education and other life needs," Pearlman said.

The life insurance autographs were not needed. Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon and came home safely. They signed probably tens of thousands more autographs for free.

But then, in the 1990s, Robert Pearlman says, the insurance autographs started showing up in space memorabilia auctions. An Apollo 11 insurance autograph can cost as much as $30,000.

Neil Armstrong’s lasting legacy

Daniel Goldin - Washington Post (Opinion)

(Goldin was NASA Administrator from 1992-2001)

To me, the name Neil Armstrong is synonymous with granite. I had almost believed Neil would be here forever, as elemental as the Earth he viewed from so high above. He was the symbol of all that was good about America on July 20, 1969, his courageous feat representing one of the greatest triumphs ever achieved.

In my estimation, Apollo 11’s landing on the moon and Armstrong’s spacewalk saved the soul of America.

After our incredible victory in World War II, a series of sobering events created concern and stress among the American people. From our position as the savior of the world, we watched as the Soviet bloc grew out of the dark reaches of fascism. The threat appeared increasingly menacing as the Soviets exploded atomic and hydrogen bombs and almost drew us into nuclear war over Cuba.

Then, in addition to the Soviets’ demonstration of nuclear power, they beat us into space with Sputnik, a blow that devastated the American psyche. At home, we weathered the vitriol of McCarthyism, the violent passions of the civil rights movement and the growth of urban blight. The Vietnam War was ripping the United States apart, destroying our self-image as the bastion against communism.

In the midst of this darkness, on the evening of July 20, 1969, Armstrong announced: “Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.” The world stood still, and we all watched on live television as Neil walked on the moon with Buzz Aldrin. Almost immediately, a new confidence and pride blossomed in our country. Neil didn’t do it all himself, but he was the embodiment of the extraordinary effort put forth by thousands of talented, dedicated people around this country and the world. America was transformed that evening.

Looking across our nation and our technical leadership today, it is easy to see how Apollo affected the future.

Right after Sputnik, two great men recognized the growing peril to the United States’ technical and industrial capacity to be prepared for the modern era. First, President Dwight Eisenhower formed NASA and began building the leadership team, industrial capacity and momentum of America’s drive to enter space. Eisenhower’s efforts enabled his successor, John F. Kennedy, to lay out a vision. Kennedy told Congress on May 25, 1961: “First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

It was crazy. Impossible. Audacious. But the seeds had been planted, and Americans knew they had to make it happen: Beat the Russians to the moon, and build a new technical and educational infrastructure to turn the vision into reality.

Invigorated by the moon walk, Americans began to search deeper into our known universe to understand its limits, size, origin and evolution. Perhaps the clearest link with Apollo are the shuttle and the space station programs, which taught us how humans can live and work safely and ever more efficiently in space. Observatories were launched that revolutionized our understanding of space, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory.

While looking outward, NASA has used satellites to help humanity understand the interaction of Earth’s land, seas, atmosphere and ice. And orbiting, landing, roving and fly-by missions within our solar system continue to capture imaginations, such as the Viking and Curiosity missions to Mars to search for life; the Galileo mission to Jupiter; and the Cassini mission to Saturn, which dropped the Huygens probe into Titan, its moon. These are the first steps toward believing that humans will one day venture to the far reaches of space.

This summer I witnessed the landing of Curiosity on Mars from mission control at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After the “seven minutes of terror” and Curiosity’s successful arrival, I knew that NASA still has the right stuff. NASA is filled with future Neil Armstrongs — outstanding rocket engineers, scientists and dreamers.

I can think of no greater testimony to the entire Apollo team than to undertake another audacious activity that, although risky, will raise the American spirit and create opportunities for future generations. This next challenge will be the catalyst for the scientific and engineering breakthroughs central to the future vitality of our nation. We must reach for the stars.

'Blue moon' Friday -- same day as Neil Armstrong service

Seth Borenstein - Associated Press

There's a rare `blue moon' on Friday, a fitting wink to Neil Armstrong by the cosmic calendar.

That's the day of a private service for Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, who died last Saturday in Ohio at age 82.

A blue moon occurs when there's a second full moon in one calendar month. It won't happen again until July 2015. The full moon cycle is 29.5 days so a blue moon is uncommon and has come to mean something rare. The moon actually won't be colored blue.

Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb said the moon is far more important to lovers, literature and folklore than to science.

Armstrong's family has suggested paying tribute to him by looking at the moon and giving the astronaut a wink.

Stargazing: Rare blue moon fills sky tonight

Bernie Badger - Florida Today

Since August 1 was a full moon, tonight’s full moon will be the second in a month. By “modern” folklore, that makes it a blue moon. The last time there was a blue moon (in the Americas) was December, 2009.

Today’s full moon occurs at 9:58 p.m. EDT.

Full moons come about 29½ days apart, so there can only be a second full moon in a month if the first full moon happens to fall in the first few days of the month. February is not long enough to have two full moons. The next North American blue moon won’t be until July, 2015.

This modern folklore has taken root in our culture, and it seems destined to stay. Yet it was not always so. The expression “once in a blue moon” goes back a long time, and indicates that something is a rare occurrence. But it didn’t mean the second full moon in a month.

Before 1946, the blue moon had a different meaning. The Farmer’s Almanac used what has become known as the Maine rule. A year may have 12 full moons, but sometimes there are 13. Since there are four seasons in a year, when there are 12 full moons, they come 3 per season. Traditional names are given to these, such as the Lenten moon, which is considered the last full moon of winter. When there are four full moons in a season the 3rd was designated a blue moon. The 4th or last full moon usually referred to the following seasonal event, such as “Moon Before Yule” and so would retain its traditional name and not be the “extra” blue moon.

How did it happen that the meaning was changed? In March 1946 an article in Sky and Telescope magazine entitled "Once in a blue moon" by James Hugh Pruett referenced the 1937 Maine almanac, but his version wasn’t exactly faithful to the Maine rule. He said, "Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called blue moon."

In late January 1980, Deborah Byrd mentioned the term on the popular National Public Radio program Star Date. Then it appeared in The Kids World Almanac of Records and Facts in 1985. The following year it became a Trivial Pursuit question based on that reference.

Why has it taken hold so strongly? Probably it fits with our desire for simplicity. Either way, the idea of a blue moon rests on folklore; therefore it is appropriate for the folks to make the choice.

Space station sighting

Just after 8 p.m. tonight, the International Space Station will cut across the sky from NW to SE with the blue moon in the east. Nearly as bright as Venus, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it if skies are clear. By 8:11 p.m., it will be gone.

Blue Moon Ends the Month
A Blue Moon — the second full moon within a month — will rise on Friday night

Susan Larson - Patch.com

About every two-and-a-half years, there are two full moons within one month, and August 2012 happens to be one of those rare months.

At about 7:25 p.m. EDT Friday, a full moon will rise over the area, according to timeanddate.com. The first full moon of the month shone on Aug. 1.

August's second full moon is a Blue Moon, the name that has come to mean the second full moon in a month.

Many Native American tribes tracked the seasons by naming each of the recurring full moons. August's annual moon is traditionally called the Full Sturgeon Moon. "Some Native American tribes knew that the sturgeon of the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain were most readily caught during this full Moon," reports The Old Farmers' Almanac.

Other tribes called it the Green Corn Moon or the Grain Moon.

Once in a Blue Moon

Once in a Blue Moon ... is a common way of saying not very often, but what exactly is a Blue Moon?

According to the popular definition, it is the second Full Moon to occur in a single calendar month.

The average interval between Full Moons is about 29.5 days, whilst the length of an average month is roughly 30.5 days. This makes it very unlikely that any given month will contain two Full Moons, though it does sometimes happen.

On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century, so you could say that once in a Blue Moon actually means once every two-and-a-half years.

"Blue Moon"
(Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers)

Mel Torme (1949)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3hNO3fEx9k

The Marcels (1961)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVGMmM2XjiY

Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

Blue Moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for

And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
I heard somebody whisper, 'Please adore me'
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold

Blue Moon, now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own

END

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Friday, August 31, 2012