9/10/12 news

And the winner is Ed Fendell for naming our mystery person in the photo.   I have had many of you confirm that and many of you suggesting other folks it might be.   We are awaiting confirmation from Terry Neal himself and we will see if Tom Stafford can recall that moment and if he remembered if it was Terry!     Thanks Ed and and thanks to the rest of you for participating in Name that Person!   Monday, September 10, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            NESC Academy Online 2.            Training Opportunity: Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion 3.            JSC Features and Roundup Readership Contest Winners 4.            Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society (JSCAS) Meeting 5.            Desktop PCs to Parallel Super Computers - Software Effectiveness 6.            Starport Boot Camp -- It's Back 7.            Nutrition Class Tomorrow 8.            Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club Meeting 9.            Job Opportunities 10.          Project Asset and Lifecycle Management System (PALMS) Training Available 11.          Basic and Advanced Health-Related Fitness Courses 12.          Fire Warden Orientation Course (Four Hours) ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Some people change their ways when they see the light, others when they feel the heat. ”   -- Caroline Schoeder ________________________________________ 1.            NESC Academy Online How would you like to expand your technical knowledge (without leaving your desk)?   The NASA Engineering and Safety Center's (NESC) mission is to perform value-added independent testing, analysis and assessments of NASA's high-risk projects to ensure safety and mission success. The NESC welcomes you:   - To online course offerings of technical knowledge in a wide variety of disciplines - To experiences ranging from Apollo through the Space Shuttle Program to future design challenges in developing new spacecraft - To presentations by NASA employees and NASA retires, academics and industry partners with decades of experience   So what do you need -- a special invitation? You got it. The new NESC Academy is now for everyone! Check it out at: http://nescacademy.nasa.gov   The NESC Academy ... a unique learning resource just got better!   Scott West, NESC Chief Engineer for JSC x46517   [top] 2.            Training Opportunity: Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion The Out & Allied Employee Resource Group (ERG), in conjunction with Human Resources, Equal Opportunity and the Employee Assistance Program, invites you to attend the center's pilot training class entitled "Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion."   Building Bridges Toward LGBT Inclusion is designed to help employees increase their level of awareness and understanding of LGBT: co-workers, peers and allies. You will have the option to attend either the 10 to 11:30 a.m. or the 1 to 2:30 p.m. session today, Sept. 10, in the Building 30 Auditorium. This training is open to all JSC team members, civil servants and contractors. There will be attendance sheets available to those who would like to receive training credit (there is no requirement to pre-register). We look forward to your participation as we strive to achieve excellence through fostering an environment that is inclusive for all.   Anthony Santiago x41501   [top] 3.            JSC Features and Roundup Readership Contest Winners The winner of the August 2012 JSC Features Readership Contest drawing is: Michael Lin   Fill in the blank: Starport was previously known as ___. Name TWO of their "most memorable milestones."   *The correct answer:   The Exchange; 1.) the ribbon cutting of the new Building 3 Café during 1964 as their first facility, 2.) the Exchange Scholarship program initiation in 1965.   The winner of the Roundup Readership Contest drawing is: Sharon Milburn   What crew "splashed up" on June 22 and encountered the sweet smell of success (and salt) ...?   *The correct answer:   NEEMO 16   http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/ http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/jscfeatures/   Neesha Hosein x27516   [top] 4.            Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society (JSCAS) Meeting Have you ever considered your life without electricity?   Dr. Ramkumar Balasubramanian, Rice University, will explain how the sun can "turn off the lights" in his "Storms from the Sun" presentation. Our calendar of activities is incredibly busy this fall with several upcoming star parties, our trip to our dark site and the highly regarded Astronomy Day designed for the whole family. While you're joining us, take in talks on topics like "What's Up in the Sky This Month?" with suggestions for beginner observing, the always intriguing "Astro Oddities," and the novice question-and-answer session.   Our meetings are held on the second Friday of each month at 7:30p.m. in the auditorium of the USRA building (3600 Bay Area Blvd. at Middlebrook Drive).   Membership to the JSCAS is open to anyone who wants to learn about astronomy. There are no dues, no bylaws -- you just show up to our meeting.   Jim Wessel x41128 http://www.jscas.net/   [top] 5.            Desktop PCs to Parallel Super Computers - Software Effectiveness Date/Time: Sept. 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.   Location: Building 1, Room 620   You are invited to JSC's SAIC and Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Speaker Forum featuring Lee Morris Taylor, Ph.D., vice president, TeraScale Division, ANATECH Corporation.   Software effectiveness will be illustrated through real-world examples of impact dynamics by the NEi Explicit code distributed by NEi Software of Westminster, Calif. Examples will include 3-D aircraft impact on large, pre-stressed concrete structures. The size and complexity of nonlinear analysis models and the necessity to perform multi-physics simulations is a challenge for the mechanics community. The demand from the analyst is for easy-to-use, cost-effective, time-efficient analysis tools for these complex problems. This talk will describe the ANATECH parallel computational framework that facilitates rapid algorithm development and testing.   Della Cardona 281-335-2074   [top] 6.            Starport Boot Camp -- It's Back Starport's October Boot Camp registration opens today! Don't miss a chance to be part of Starport's incredibly popular program. The class WILL fill up, so register now.   Early Registration (ends Sept. 14): - $90 per person (just $5 per class!) Regular Registration (Sept. 15 to 30): - $110 per person   The workout begins on Oct. 1.   Are you ready for 18 hours of intense workouts with an amazing personal trainer to get you to your fitness goal?   DON'T WAIT!   Sign up today and take advantage of this EXTREME discount while it lasts. Register now at the Gilruth Center information desk or call 281-483-0304 for more information.   Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/RecreationClasses/RecreationProgram...   [top] 7.            Nutrition Class Tomorrow Top 10 Nutrition Mistakes: You read all the books and know what phrases to look for on the food packages at the store. Studies show that most of us think we are eating a lot better than we actually are. It is easy to buy into some popular misconceptions, some that might mean we aren't eating as healthy as we thought. This class will help you identify common nutrition mistakes and offer ways to avoid them. The presentation will begin at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11.   You can sign up for this class online at: http://www.explorationwellness.com/WellnessCSS/CourseCatalogSelection/   If you're working on improving your approach to healthy nutrition but can't attend a class, we offer free one-on-one consultations with Glenda Blaskey, the JSC Registered Dietitian.   Glenda Blaskey x41503 http://www.explorationwellness.com/Web/scripts/Nutrition.aspx   [top] 8.            Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club Meeting The next meeting of the Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club will be held Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Clear Lake Park building (5001 NASA Parkway). The Clear Lake Park building entrance is at the park traffic light on the lake-side. Our speaker this month will be coming all the way from the Dallas area. Dave Hall, who has been the SCUBA Pro representative for the southwest area for as long as most of us have been diving, will be here to tell us everything about SCUBA Pro, one of the oldest manufacturers of SCUBA gear. Also scheduled to attend is Jeff Gordon from Maximum, Tom Anderson from Island Divers and David Bullard from the Texas Dive Center. All are welcome to attend, including guests and visitors.   Mike Manering x32618 http://www.lunarfins.com   [top] 9.            Job Opportunities Where do I find job opportunities?   Both internal Competitive Placement Plan (CPP) and external JSC job announcements are posted on the Human Resources (HR) portal and USAJOBS -- http://www.usajobs.gov -- website. Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open at: https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...   To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select JSC HR. The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your HR representative.   Lisa Pesak x30476   [top] 10.          Project Asset and Lifecycle Management System (PALMS) Training Available PALMS is the Engineering Directorate's new Project Management tool for online project planning, scheduling and tracking. Closely integrated with Oasis, PALMS enables Web-based project collaboration, management and publishing of project schedules, resources and associated data products. The next training session is scheduled for tomorrow, Sept. 11, and space is still available.   Registrations will be accepted until 8 a.m. on Sept. 11.   To register for PALMS classroom training, simply access SATERN and select PALMS Project Server Training for Team Members and Project Managers - SATERN Course ID: PALMS-01.   Date: Tuesday, Sept. 11 Time: 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Location: Building 20, Room 204   Stacey Zapatka x34749   [top] 11.          Basic and Advanced Health-Related Fitness Courses The Health-Related Fitness (HRF) Program is free to all JSC civil servants, contractors and dependents. Courses meet for an hour two days per week in the Starport gym. The basic course (HRF 1) for beginners meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from Sept. 17 to Dec. 5. The Advance course (HRF 3) for graduates of HRF 1 meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays and runs from Sept. 18 to Nov. 20. Classes include a 15- to 20-minute lecture on various exercise and health topics. After the lecture, students exercise according to individually prescribed programs for aerobic and muscle fitness. The staff is comprised of exercise physiologists with advanced degrees and certifications from the American College of Sports Medicine. Enroll by contacting Larry Wier or Greta Ayers (x30301/x30302) or online at: http://www.explorationwellness.com/WellnessCSS/CourseCatalogSelection/   Larry Wier x30301   [top] 12.          Fire Warden Orientation Course (Four Hours) This four-hour course will satisfy the JSC training requirement for newly assigned Fire Wardens from JSC, Sonny Carter Training Facility and Ellington Field. This course must be completed before assuming these duties.   Topics covered include: duties and responsibilities of a Fire Warden; building evacuation techniques; recognizing and correcting fire hazards; and types and uses of portable fire extinguishers.   Fire Wardens who have previously attended this four-hour orientation course and need to satisfy the three-year training requirements may attend the two-hour Fire Warden Refresher Course now available in SATERN for registration.   Date/Time: Sept. 13 from 8 a.m. to noon Where: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom   Registration via SATERN required: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...   Aundrail Hill x36369   [top]   ________________________________________ JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.         Human Spaceflight News Monday – September 10, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Need a good jobs story? Try Florida's space coast   Brian Shactman & Jessica Golden - CNBC.com   At the height of the space shuttle program, there were 18,000 people working at the Kennedy Space Center. When it ended last summer, that number dropped by more than half almost immediately. Conventional wisdom was that the surrounding communities would suffer severe economic hardship. What CNBC learned from being on the ground there: It's not the case.   Space exploration is star-crossed on campaign trail   Guy Taylor - Washington Times   Kicking off the campaign season in early 2004, President Bush had two big ideas: pursue an immigration bill in Congress, and vow to put a man back on the moon by 2020 as a precursor to “human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.” But that was eight years ago, before a dismal economy and a disastrous federal budget grounded his celestial ambitions. Advantageous as it may have been for a standing Republican president to have dreamed of the moon two elections ago, it’s a call unlikely to emerge this campaign season from either President Obama or Republican nominee Mitt Romney.   The sun in a spacewalker's hand   Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log     NASA spacewalker Sunita Williams looks as if she's reaching out to touch the sun in this picture, which is one of the coolest views ever sent down from the International Space Station. Of course, the sun is actually about 93 million miles behind her. This is one of those joke pictures like the ones that show someone plucking up the Eiffel Tower — only it was taken in outer space.   Medvedev to chair government meeting on spacecraft quality   Itar-Tass   Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will hold on Monday a government meeting dedicated to problems of the quality and reliability of Russian spacecraft, the press service of the Russian government reported on Sunday. Specifically, I is planned to discuss practical aspects of the adoption of a new quality control system at all stages of the development, production and operation of spacecraft, the press service said.   New Acting Head for Khrunichev Center   Warren Ferster - Space News   The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, has appointed Vasily Sychyov as the acting head of one of the country’s premier space manufacturers, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, the company said Sept. 6.   Space shuttle Endeavour, on way to L.A., will do flyovers   Richard Simon - Los Angeles Times   Sorry, Houston, you didn’t get a space shuttle, but at least you’ll get a glimpse of the last one to fly -- on its way to L.A. NASA’s plans for delivering the retired shuttle Endeavour to its permanent home in California call for the orbiter to fly on the back of a Boeing 747 over parts of Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico, as well as landmarks in San Francisco and Sacramento, before landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 20. The low-level flyovers are likely to draw big crowds -- pulling kids out of school and workers out of offices, not to mention stopping traffic -- as did NASA’s delivery of the shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian earlier this year in Washington.   Shuttle Endeavour's final flight itinerary revealed The shuttle will fly over sites in Texas and Southern and Northern California on its way from Kennedy Space Center to LAX this month   Mike Anton - Los Angeles Times   Before the space shuttle Endeavour glides into retirement at the California Science Center, the spacecraft will take one last spin in the air, flying over a good chunk of California. NASA released new details Friday of low-level photo-op flyovers Endeavour will make before its scheduled Sept. 20 landing at Los Angeles International Airport. That morning, Endeavour will leave Edwards Air Force Base atop its 747 transport aircraft and head north to the Bay Area.   Space Shuttle Endeavour's final flight charted   CNN   Space Shuttle Endeavour will soon make its final journey and will retire at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. But it will make some stops and flyovers along the way, NASA said Friday. Endeavour, piggybacked on the back of a modified 747 airplane, is scheduled to leave Florida's Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on September 17. After flyovers of the area it will head west. Endeavour will make low flyovers of NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly plant near New Orleans.   NASA's space shuttle Endeavour to depart on cross-country flight for display   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   NASA's space shuttle Endeavour will embark this month on a three-day journey by air that will take it from coast to coast on a mission to become a museum display. NASA on Friday revealed Endeavour's final flight plan, announcing the route that its jumbo jet will follow as it carries the shuttle piggyback from Florida to California. The trip is set to begin on Sept. 17, weather permitting, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and culminate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sept. 20. From there, Endeavour will depart in October on a two-day road trip to the California Science Center.   50 years to orbit: Dream Chaser's crazy Cold War backstory The reusable mini-spaceplane is back from the dead—again—and prepping for space   Dave Klingler - - ArsTechnica.com   One clear, sunny day this past May, the residents of Broomfield, Colorado spotted what was, for most of them, an unidentified flying object. Surrounded by excited, shouting workers in orange coveralls, an Erickson Aircrane helicopter hoisted the UFO up off its perch of rectangular white Styrofoam and carried it in circles around the local airstrip. The workers took notes and pictures, the local news took even more pictures, and the resulting images went viral. That day, the world met Dream Chaser, the small spacecraft that Sierra Nevada Corporation hopes will become NASA's future ride to the International Space Station.   NASA Document Explains Agency’s Commercial Crew Picks   Dan Leone - Space News   NASA dropped one company from its short list of potential commercial crew providers and relegated another to a backup role because of doubts that the proposed vehicles could be completed within the time and money the agency has available, according to an internal document NASA released Sept. 4. The 13-page document, known as a source selection statement, details NASA’s reasons for passing over Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and three lesser-known firms in August to pick Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Sierra Nevada Space Systems for Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) awards totaling $1.1 billion.   ATK 'moving on' after Liberty commercial proposal loss   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   ATK's Liberty rocket and crew capsule scored lower than competitors on technical and business grounds in NASA's commercial crew competition, in which Boeing Co., SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corp. netted $1.1 billion in government funding, according to a selection statement posted on NASA's website. The document describes NASA's rationale for bypassing ATK and selecting other proposals to receive a cache of financing.   Becoming an astronaut Frequent travel may be required   The Economist   Becoming an astronaut sounds to most like something only small children and fighter pilots would seriously aspire to. Preparing to be one would be like getting ready to win the lottery or be hit by a meteorite. So, despite longing to float free among the stars ever since she can remember, your correspondent long ago took her fascination with the cosmos in a different direction and became an astrophysicist. Yet here she is, filling in the paperwork NASA requires from people it deems "highly qualified" applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Class of 2013.   NASA giving away space shuttle souvenirs   Houston Chronicle   Teachers or museums looking for space souvenirs just need to ask NASA, which is giving away space shuttle tiles and astronaut food as part of a program to inspire the next generation of space explorers, scientists and engineers. The items are being given away on a first-come, first-served basis using an online application system to verify eligibility.   Clayton firm to build $1.5M Space Shuttle exhibit   Joe Cogliano - Dayton Business Journal   A Dayton-area company has been tapped to build a $1.5 million Space Shuttle exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. On Friday, museum officials announced Clayton-based Display Dynamics Inc. was awarded a contract to build a crew compartment trainer exhibit. The exhibit — a full-scale reproduction of a shuttle payload bay, tail and engine sections — will be built around the retired NASA Space Shuttle crew compartment trainer recently delivered to the museum. It is expected to be complete by Sept. 2013.   Early laptop designer Bill Moggridge dies at 69 Computer used by military, NASA in 1980s   Associated Press   Bill Moggridge, a British industrial designer who designed an early portable computer with the flip-open shape that is common today, has died. He was 69. The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum said Moggridge, its director since 2010, died on Saturday from cancer. Moggridge is credited with the design of the Grid Compass, a computer that had a keyboard and yellow-on-black display that sold for $8,150 when it was released in 1982. It was encased in magnesium and seen as rugged, and was used by the U.S. military. The computer made its way into outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985.   Obama's space vision US embarks on ambitious new direction for NASA   Rusty Schweickart - Florida Today (Commentary)   (Schweickart, the Apollo 9 lunar module pilot, is the former chairman of the California Energy Commission and an aerospace executive)   The U.S. space industry, spawned by NASA’s 0.5 percent of the federal budget, has been a critical part of our economy for more than 50 years with aerospace being the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance. But the future of space industry and the local economies that support it are in jeopardy. For the United States to maintain its world leadership in aerospace technology, we must continue a robust and challenging program of space exploration and we must invest in the people and communities who create this engine of growth.   Aging, obsolete buildings burden NASA   John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)   With thousands fewer people working on the space program, NASA centers across the country have unused and underused facilities. It's a challenge that has faced the agency for years. Facilities age, become obsolete, or just aren’t needed anymore. The retirement of the space shuttles aggravated the problem, leaving NASA with empty offices, labs, and test facilities too unique to be of use to anyone else. Some spaces are hard to sell or lease because they are behind the secure gates of a government installation. Others have historic ties that prompt complaints from preservationists if demolished.   Environmentalists sweat Texas spaceport proposal   Associated Press   A rocket launch site proposed for a South Texas Gulf Coast beach is drawing grumbles from environmental activists as federal officials prepare an environmental impact statement on the proposal. The Federal Aviation Administration can grant or refuse SpaceX its license for a Cameron County launch site space center on Boca Chica Beach, between Padre Island and the mouth of the Rio Grande.   Part 1 “A Mission We Wanted to Do:” The Maiden Voyage of Endeavour   Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org   “Ready. Ready. Grab!” The words of Rick Hieb echoed through the silent Mission Control Center. The view through Space Shuttle Endeavour’s aft flight deck windows on the evening of 13 May 1992 was quite different from anything ever seen before. Not only was this the maiden voyage of NASA’s newest orbiter – a vehicle which, but for the loss of Challenger, might have remained a set of structural spares – but it also involved the first EVA with as many as three people. This mission, STS-49, commanded by Chief Astronaut Dan Brandenstein, had long been anticipated to be the most visible Shuttle flight of 1992, but it demonstrated that human space flight retains the ability to deliver unexpected surprise. When the crew was announced, their mandate was to retrieve the Intelsat 603 communications satellite, delivered into an improper orbit by a Commercial Titan booster in March 1990. Spacewalkers Hieb and Pierre Thuot would venture into Endeavour’s payload bay to attach a new rocket motor, after which Intelsat would be boosted into its 22,600-mile geosynchronous orbit, ahead of its pivotal role in covering the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.   Part 2 “A Big Mental Switch:” The Triumph of Endeavour   From his station on Endeavour’s aft flight deck, Brandenstein noticed that Intelsat 603 was beginning to oscillate and drift somewhat, “so I got in my chase-it mode, because I had to keep him aligned”. When Thuot’s third attempt failed, Brandenstein had used a “tremendous” amount of propellant and instinctively knew that the chances of success were slim at best. The RMS exacerbated the difficulty, because its joints were being driven into positions which they could not support. “We decided, though consultations with the ground, to get out of there and try another day,” Brandenstein recollected. “That was a pretty low point, because when we left, it had a pretty good rate. We thought we’d lost this $150 million satellite…and Pierre was particularly depressed because, obviously, he thought it was his fault.” __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Need a good jobs story? Try Florida's space coast   Brian Shactman & Jessica Golden - CNBC.com   At the height of the space shuttle program, there were 18,000 people working at the Kennedy Space Center.   When it ended last summer, that number dropped by more than half almost immediately.   Conventional wisdom was that the surrounding communities would suffer severe economic hardship.   What CNBC learned from being on the ground there: It's not the case.   Unemployment ballooned to 11.7 percent last August, but since then, there's been an impressive infusion of positive energy — not to mention millions of investment dollars ... and jobs.   Boeing, Embraer, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin are some of the companies that entered Brevard County to take advantage of Florida's business friendly environment and the Space Coast's highly skilled but under-utilized work force.   Embraer invested $50 million and established two facilities — a manufacturing plant and a showroom for their private jets.   "We narrowed it down to three states and six sites," said Gary Spulak, President of Embraer Aircraft Holdings. "The one here in Melbourne caught our eye because of the qualified workforces that is available here, especially with the retirement of the Space Shuttle program."   Yes, unemployment remains uncomfortably high, but it's down two whole points in a year.   Embraer added 230 jobs. Midair SA, which leases and trades aircraft, hired 450 people in the area. SpaceX won a NASA contract and CEO Elon Musk said he will hire up to 1,000 people in the next four to five years. NASA also tabbed Boeing, which plans to add 550 jobs between now and 2015. These are not fly-by-night companies.   "Most of the people will be from the local workforce," said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for Boeing's commercial crew program.   The logical question is exactly how this happened. How?   The first key was anticipation. Local leaders knew the space shuttle era was coming to a close, and they did not wait.   "We're still working on it," said Lynda Weatherman, CEO of the Space Coast Economic Development Commission. "But we have been able to prove that if a community identifies a project early on and tries to start negotiating with the company early, that's your chance to mitigate [the loss of Shuttle program]."   "We went out to the community, to our elected officials, and said we have a plan," she said. "And we've been successful."   In the last year, Florida's Space Coast attracted more than 2,300 new jobs, $240 million in capital investment and $360 in new construction.   Diversification was the second element of this quick economic recovery. In this region, that means moving beyond the space program — even beyond aeronautics.   According to the Economic Development Commission, the biggest growth areas right now are professional services, construction, healthcare and and financial services.   "We are a community that faced this in the Apollo days, when Columbia exploded," Weatherman said. "Being used to it doesn't make you immune to it — it makes you remember it."   And that has helped the community get over it.   Space exploration is star-crossed on campaign trail   Guy Taylor - Washington Times   Kicking off the campaign season in early 2004, President Bush had two big ideas: pursue an immigration bill in Congress, and vow to put a man back on the moon by 2020 as a precursor to “human missions to Mars and to worlds beyond.”   But that was eight years ago, before a dismal economy and a disastrous federal budget grounded his celestial ambitions.   Advantageous as it may have been for a standing Republican president to have dreamed of the moon two elections ago, it’s a call unlikely to emerge this campaign season from either President Obama or Republican nominee Mitt Romney.   Mr. Obama, traveling in Florida on Sunday, did raise the issue by saying he has laid the groundwork for 21st-century space exploration.   Space ambitions get little attention outside of Florida and sometimes don't play well even inside the state.   Mr. Romney drew laughter during a Republican debate in Florida in January when he proclaimed that he would have fired primary contest rival Newt Gingrich for proposing the establishment of a human colony on the moon.   “If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I’d say, ‘You’re fired,’” Mr. Romney quipped. “The idea that corporate America wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea, but it’s not a good idea.”   For what is known as the Space Coast in Florida, exploration is an economic issue.   But for most voters, space exploration is more aspirational than concrete. They balance grand calls — such as President Kennedy’s prestigious promise to put a man on the moon — with questions about whether the government is spending enough money on schools and police.   That could be one reason why the Romney campaign has been nearly silent on the issue since the Florida primary in January. When it comes to the notion of a manned mission to Mars, for instance, the campaign won’t say one way or another whether the former Massachusetts governor supports it.   Pressed on the question recently, the campaign provided a quote from an interview with Mr. Romney on NBC the day after he chastised Mr. Gingrich.   Mr. Romney said, “I’m not going to come here today and tell you precisely what the mission will be. I’m going to tell you how I’m going to get there.   “That is by bringing in people from the Department of Defense, the Air Force and other branches of service, astrophysicists from some of the leading institutions in the world, along with people from the commercial sector, the industrial sector, as well as people from NASA.”   The appearance dovetailed with an official campaign statement that said, as president, Mr. Romney “will create conditions for a strong and competitive commercial space industry that can contribute greatly to our national capabilities and goals.”   The sun in a spacewalker's hand   Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log     NASA spacewalker Sunita Williams looks as if she's reaching out to touch the sun in this picture, which is one of the coolest views ever sent down from the International Space Station. Of course, the sun is actually about 93 million miles behind her. This is one of those joke pictures like the ones that show someone plucking up the Eiffel Tower — only it was taken in outer space.   In addition to the Suni vs. sun angle, this picture is special because the photographer is mirrored in Williams' shiny helmet visor. If you look closely at the full-resolution image, you can catch sight of Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide holding up the Nikon D2Xs camera that took the picture, with one of the space station's solar arrays behind him. The setting reminds me of Neil Armstrong's famous Apollo 11 picture of Buzz Aldrin, which similarly shows the photographer's reflection.   Speaking of reflections, the photo below is something of a self-portrait, cleverly set up by Hoshide. He held the camera in front of himself, like someone taking an iPhone self-portrait, and snapped away with the sun's glare in the background. You can't see Hoshide's face in the visor, but you can see the structure of the space station and our beautiful blue-and-white planet about 240 miles (385 kilometers) below.   These pictures and others on NASA's Flickr site were taken on Wednesday, during a 6½-hour spacewalk to replace a power switching unit and a broken camera on the robotic arm. The operation followed up on an earlier outing that went awry because Williams and Hoshide couldn't screw in one of the power box's installation bolts. This time around, the spacewalkers used an array of tools — including a wire pipe cleaner and a toothbrush — to clear metal shavings out of the bolt housings and, in Hoshide's words, "get 'er done."   These pictures prove that Hoshide can get 'er done with a camera as well as an orbital toolbox.   Medvedev to chair government meeting on spacecraft quality   Itar-Tass   Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will hold on Monday a government meeting dedicated to problems of the quality and reliability of Russian spacecraft, the press service of the Russian government reported on Sunday.   Specifically, I is planned to discuss practical aspects of the adoption of a new quality control system at all stages of the development, production and operation of spacecraft, the press service said.   The recent spacecraft failures demonstrate that the country’s space industry is facing profound problems. At the previous such meeting on August 14, the prime minister gave Russia’s Federal Space Agency one month to work out quality-improvement measures.   Taking part in the meeting there will be Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Minister of Economic Development Andrei Belousov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, director of the Federal Space Agency Vladimir Popovkin, and top executive of leading sectoral enterprises.   New Acting Head for Khrunichev Center   Warren Ferster - Space News   The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, has appointed Vasily Sychyov as the acting head of one of the country’s premier space manufacturers, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, the company said Sept. 6.   Sychyov will temporarily fill the post vacated by Vladimir Nesterov, who was relieved of his duties as Khrunichev general director in the wake of an Aug. 7 Proton rocket failure that destroyed a pair of telecommunications satellites. Khrunichev is prime contractor on the Proton, a longtime workhorse for launching government and commercial satellites.   The failure was the second involving the Proton’s Breeze M upper stage in 12 months. Roscosmos is investigating the latest mishap but at press time Sept. 7 had yet to identify a root cause.   A permanent Khrunichev general director will be named by Roscosmos following a “vacancy competition,” Khrunichev said.   Space shuttle Endeavour, on way to L.A., will do flyovers   Richard Simon - Los Angeles Times   Sorry, Houston, you didn’t get a space shuttle, but at least you’ll get a glimpse of the last one to fly -- on its way to L.A.   NASA’s plans for delivering the retired shuttle Endeavour to its permanent home in California call for the orbiter to fly on the back of a Boeing 747 over parts of Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico, as well as landmarks in San Francisco and Sacramento, before landing at Los Angeles International Airport on Sept. 20.   The low-level flyovers are likely to draw big crowds -- pulling kids out of school and workers out of offices, not to mention stopping traffic -- as did NASA’s delivery of the shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian earlier this year in Washington.   But the Endeavour flyover is likely to bring mixed emotions in Houston. Home of NASA's Mission Control, the self-described Space City was bitterly disappointed when it lost a fierce competition for one of the prized space artifacts, even more so by the fact that one of the spots chosen to get a shuttle was New York City, which landed the test craft Enterprise.   "One Giant Snub for Houston," read the headline in the Houston Chronicle after the space agency administrator announced his selections last year. (Space Center Houston ended up getting a full-size replica of a shuttle that was on display at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.)   But Jack Moore of Space Center Houston said, "We’re absolutely excited about getting the opportunity to see it one last time. Anytime the shuttle comes anywhere near Houston, it’s a big deal.’’   Endeavour is due to arrive at the California Science Center on Oct. 13, after a splashy celebration befitting the spectacle of its 12-mile journey through the city streets from LAX to Exposition Park. It will go on public display Oct. 30.   The shuttles Discovery and Enterprise are drawing crowds at the National Air and Space Museum annex in northern Virginia and at New York’s Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, respectively. The shuttle Atlantis will be towed a short distance from Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla., to the visitor complex there in November and put on public display in July.    The plane carrying the shuttle will fly over a number of places with ties to the shuttle program.   Among the sites is NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M. "It’s a big deal for the employees here because the employees here supported the shuttle program from inception to retirement," said the facilty's public affairs officer, Robert M. Cort.   Endeavour will leave Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Sept. 17, flying over Florida’s Space Coast and then over NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., and its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. It will fly over Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston in Texas before landing at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center and stay there through Sept. 18, the space agency announced.   On Sept. 19 the shuttle will head to Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso for refueling and then conduct low-level flyovers of White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M., before landing about midday at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, where it sometimes landed on its own after space missions.   On the morning of Sept. 20, the plane will conduct low-level flyovers of NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffet Field, Calif., and yet to be specified landmarks in San Francisco, Sacramento and perhaps other California cities before a low-level flyover of Los Angeles. The plane is expected to land at Los Angeles International Airport at about 11 a.m. Pacific time.   The shuttle will begin its journey from LAX to the California Science Center on Oct. 12.   NASA cautioned that plans could change depending on weather.   In Washington, Discovery flew over the monuments. In New York, Enterprise soared over the Statue of Liberty.   Still to be announced is which landmarks Endeavour will fly over.   The Hollywood sign? The Golden Gate Bridge?   The Four-Level Interchange?   Stay tuned.   Shuttle Endeavour's final flight itinerary revealed The shuttle will fly over sites in Texas and Southern and Northern California on its way from Kennedy Space Center to LAX this month   Mike Anton - Los Angeles Times   Before the space shuttle Endeavour glides into retirement at the California Science Center, the spacecraft will take one last spin in the air, flying over a good chunk of California.   NASA released new details Friday of low-level photo-op flyovers Endeavour will make before its scheduled Sept. 20 landing at Los Angeles International Airport.   That morning, Endeavour will leave Edwards Air Force Base atop its 747 transport aircraft and head north to the Bay Area.   There, the shuttle will fly as low as 1,500 feet near NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field and unspecified landmarks in multiple cities, including San Francisco and Sacramento.   It will then head back south, where Endeavour is expected to perform one last victory lap across the Los Angeles Basin. Details are still to come and are highly dependent on weather.   The route of photo-ops is in keeping with the final flights taken by the shuttle Enterprise, which flew by the Statue of Liberty on its way to a New York City museum, and the shuttle Discovery, which buzzed monuments in Washington, D.C., before landing at a Smithsonian annex at Dulles International Airport.   On its trip from Kennedy Space Center, Endeavour will also do fly-bys of NASA facilities that played big roles during the 30-year shuttle program.   Endeavour will leave Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Sept. 17, flying over Florida's Space Coast and then over NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., and its Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.   It will then fly over Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston in Texas before landing at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center.   On Sept. 19 the shuttle will head to Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso for refueling and conduct low-level flyovers of White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M.   About midday, Endeavour is expected to touch down at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards air base in the Mojave Desert, where it sometimes landed on its own after space missions.   Space Shuttle Endeavour's final flight charted   CNN   Space Shuttle Endeavour will soon make its final journey and will retire at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. But it will make some stops and flyovers along the way, NASA said Friday.   Endeavour, piggybacked on the back of a modified 747 airplane, is scheduled to leave Florida's Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on September 17. After flyovers of the area it will head west. Endeavour will make low flyovers of NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly plant near New Orleans.   The next stop, NASA says, will be Houston, which bid for a retired shuttle but did not get one. Several members of the Texas legislative delegation were outraged and expressed their displeasure to NASA, but to no avail.   As Endeavour approaches the Texas coast, it will fly over Houston, Galveston and Clearlake. The 747 carrying Endeavour will touch down at Ellington Field near the Johnson Space Center. Endeavour will spend the rest of September 17 and all of the September 18 there.   At sunrise on the 19th Endeavour will depart Houston and refuel in El Paso at Biggs Army Airfield. The next low flyovers at 1,500-feet will take place over White Sands Tests Facility in New Mexico and the Dryden Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.   If for some reason a shuttle cannot land in California or Florida, White Sands has served as an emergency shuttle landing facility. White Sands was used once for a shuttle landing as a test. So much sand was kicked up into the vehicle that after that, White Sands became a last resort landing site.   Edwards in California is where shuttles landed during the early days of the program, and later when weather at the Kennedy Space Center was not cooperative.   After the Edwards flyover, the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, SCA, will land at Dryden.   The extensive flyovers will continue on the September 20, first over Northern California. The SCA is scheduled to pass near the Ames Research Center outside San Francisco. It will make numerous flyovers of landmarks, NASA says, in multiple cities including San Francisco and Sacramento.   The final flyovers will take place over Los Angeles before landing at LAX around 11 a.m. Pacific time.   Endeavour will remain there until October 12 when it will be towed through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center.   Endeavour made its first trip to space on May 7, 1992. It replaced Challenger, which exploded in 1986, killing seven crew members, including teacher Christa McAuliffe.   NASA's space shuttle Endeavour to depart on cross-country flight for display   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   NASA's space shuttle Endeavour will embark this month on a three-day journey by air that will take it from coast to coast on a mission to become a museum display.   NASA on Friday revealed Endeavour's final flight plan, announcing the route that its jumbo jet will follow as it carries the shuttle piggyback from Florida to California.   The trip is set to begin on Sept. 17, weather permitting, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., and culminate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Sept. 20. From there, Endeavour will depart in October on a two-day road trip to the California Science Center.   Before going on public exhibit, Endeavour's ferry flight will give the public and thousands of space program workers the chance to see the shuttle as it flies over seven states and eight of NASA's facilities. The space agency's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 jetliner, will touchdown near the Houston home of Mission Control and visit the shuttle's West Coast landing site before passing by California landmarks including the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hollywood sign.   Flyovers and layovers   The carrier aircraft will arrive at Kennedy Space Center on Sept. 11. Three days later, the orbiter will be rolled out to meet the SCA at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), where Endeavour returned to Earth for its 25th and final time in the early morning hours of June 1, 2011.   Using a gantry-like steel structure called the Mate-Demate Device, Endeavour will be hoisted off the ground by crane so the jetliner can be positioned underneath it. The shuttle will then be lowered onto the SCA's back and secured for flight.   At sunrise on Sept. 17, the aircraft and shuttle combo will take off and fly over the Space Coast, including Kennedy, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base. Endeavour is expected to fly south over Cocoa Beach and north over Merritt Island before heading west.   Coordinating with the Federal Aviation Administration, the SCA will perform low flyovers — as low as 1,500 feet (457 meters) altitude — as it passes NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the agency's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Stennis tested the orbiter's main engines and Michoud is where the shuttle's iconic orange external fuel tank was constructed.   Endeavour will then continue westward, descending again to perform low passes over areas around Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston in Texas before making a landing at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center.   Weather permitting, the SCA and Endeavour will remain at Ellington for the remainder of the day and all day on Sept. 18, providing Johnson employees and the Houston public an ample opportunity to see the shuttle.   The orbiter and aircraft will take to the air again at sunrise on Sept. 19, and after a brief refueling stop at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, will conduct low-level flyovers of White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M., and Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, before landing around mid-day at Dryden.   Both White Sands and Edwards served as landing sites for the shuttle during the orbiters' 30 years returning from space. White Sands also serviced the shuttles' thrusters between flights and Edwards' dry lakebed supported the orbiter's late 1970's approach and landing tests.   Finally on the morning of Sept. 20, Endeavour, still on top of the SCA, will take off one last time, departing Dryden to fly over Northern California, passing above NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field and various landmarks in multiple cities, including San Francisco and Sacramento.   The carrier aircraft will fly near one last NASA center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena before performing flyovers over many Los Angeles landmarks on its way to a landing at LAX. A ceremony scheduled for 11 a.m. PDT (1800 GMT) will welcome its arrival.   The Big Endeavour   Endeavour's transcontinental trip is short when compared to the 122,883,151 miles (197,761,262 kilometers) that the shuttle traveled while circling the Earth 4,671 times during its 299 days in space. But it is a big endeavor in contrast to NASA's other space shuttle museum deliveries.   Both Discovery and the prototype orbiter Enterprise were also delivered for display on top of NASA's SCA, but their flights to northern Virginia and New York City in April were non-stop and each was completed in less than a day.   Endeavour's longer journey leaves it more susceptible to changing weather conditions and operational constraints. According to NASA, some of the flyovers or layovers that are planned could be delayed or cancelled as a result.   Even after Endeavour is on the ground in L.A., a final leg will remain on the shuttle's itinerary. After being removed by cranes from the SCA and spending a few weeks at a United Airlines hangar to be prepared for its transport and display, Endeavour will travel through Inglewood and Los Angeles city streets on a 12-mile road trip from the airport to the California Science Center, arriving in the evening on Oct. 13.   Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will be open to the public on display in the science center's new Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, embarking on its new mission to commemorate past achievements in space and educate and inspire future generations of explorers.   50 years to orbit: Dream Chaser's crazy Cold War backstory The reusable mini-spaceplane is back from the dead—again—and prepping for space   Dave Klingler - - ArsTechnica.com   One clear, sunny day this past May, the residents of Broomfield, Colorado spotted what was, for most of them, an unidentified flying object.   Surrounded by excited, shouting workers in orange coveralls, an Erickson Aircrane helicopter hoisted the UFO up off its perch of rectangular white Styrofoam and carried it in circles around the local airstrip. The workers took notes and pictures, the local news took even more pictures, and the resulting images went viral. That day, the world met Dream Chaser, the small spacecraft that Sierra Nevada Corporation hopes will become NASA's future ride to the International Space Station.   Dream Chaser recently completed its first milestone in the third round of NASA's Commercial Crew development program, CCiCap, and it's set to be dropped from a helicopter for first landing tests sometime in November. It's the only flying spacecraft on NASA's short list of CCiCap partners; the other two are Apollo-like capsules designed to plummet back to Earth. For those who love it, Dream Chaser inspires enthusiasm because it reminds them of a Space Shuttle, and because it can do things that a capsule can't.   But while the craft itself is new, Dream Chaser's history goes much further back than that spotting over Broomfield. The Dream Chaser is a Cold War product, replete with secret military programs, spy planes, rocket scientists, Russian trawlers, and Air Force test pilots working in the middle of the desert. Fifty years later, this descendant of a secret Soviet spaceplane might finally see its way into orbit.   Distant branches of a family tree   The American branches of the Dream Chaser family tree begin with Dale Reed, a man who loved anything that flew. Reed spent the 1960s doing experiments at what became known as NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The small research station was based at Edwards Air Force Base and located by Rogers Dry Lake, smack in the hot, parched middle of Southern California. As a fresh young aeronautical engineer in 1953, Reed by his own account "drove south from Idaho and west across the Nevada desert to the town of Mojave, California, where I made a sharp southeastern turn into the middle of nowhere."   Two years before, NASA Ames researchers had made an important discovery: a blunt-nosed airplane didn't get hot the way a pointy-nosed one did when it reached supersonic speeds because a pressure wave held the hot air away from the nose. A blunt-nosed spacecraft was therefore more likely to survive atmospheric re-entry.   It was a breakthrough, but an unsatisfying one for an airplane lover, because the blunt capsule shapes Ames researchers began testing didn't fly very well. They fell through the atmosphere and decelerated at about eight times Earth's gravity, a crushing ride for whoever would be inside. Dale Reed decided that a flying spacecraft was a better option, one with the ability to reenter gently and fly to a specific destination.   Reed didn't favor wings, however. Wings are a problem for re-entry vehicles; they burn up easily and they must be strong enough to withstand the force of reentering the atmosphere at over 20,000 miles per hour without becoming too large a portion of the spacecraft's weight. But Ames had discovered other shapes that would fly, shapes that more closely resembled bathtubs than airplanes.   Reed read the research papers and began to build models of wingless aircraft, crafted out of paper and balsa, and his fellow engineers gathered to watch them fly up and down the Dryden hallways. Eventually, he convinced his superiors to grant him the small team of people and budget necessary to build full-sized aircraft. The group didn't actually have any money for aircraft research; they only had money for building maintenance. So Reed's boss took their initial budget out of that, and arranged collaboration and political cover from Ames, several hours away at Moffett Field.   Reed's group of friends and colleagues slowly proved that by shaping a spacecraft's body to provide lift, and by giving it a blunt nose, they could enable astronauts to fly back from space rather than just falling down from it. The team built and flew many lifting bodies, changing them on the fly as they had new ideas. They crafted each using wood and metal and whatever knowledge they had picked up from the last one, turning out "flying bathtubs and flatirons" on a relatively quick basis. The first lifting body was built in roughly three months for a little over $200,000 in 2010 dollars.   Some of the test pilots who flew these vehicles, often engineers or physicists, went on to become famous—men like Chuck Yeager, who broke the sound barrier, and Dick Scobee, pilot of the last Challenger mission. In some cases, the aircraft became famous, too. The M2-F2 went on to star in the opening credits of "The Six Million Dollar Man," and a model of the X-24A became a well-used movie prop. Lifting body technology became part of the Space Shuttle and the X-33 spaceplane.   Lifting body research also became a useful way to figure out what the Soviets were doing.   Back in the USSR   The Russian side of the family tree is where surveillance and a "borrowed" design make an entrance. Western powers were the spies in this episode; they lifted the shape of a Russian spaceplane and gave it a new home in NASA Langley's paper-strewn offices and wind tunnels, changing its name several times along the way.   On June 4, 1982, the Soviet Union launched a small spaceplane called the BOR-4 from Kapustin Yar missile test range in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia. BOR-4 wasn't a real spacecraft; it was meant to test the thermal protection tiles of the Soviet space shuttle, Buran. It flew over Russia and came down again on light seas near the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. A thin layer of clouds covered the sky, but the light remained bright and the Soviets found the craft quickly with a large trawler. They sent a boatload of men to attach a harness and pull it out of the water.   Naturally, when the Soviet Union launched something from a missile test range, other countries became strongly interested. A Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion reconnaissance aircraft flew over the BOR-4 splashdown site and took photos of the strangely shaped object. It had tall, inflatable orange cones sticking out of its nose and tail, making it easy to spot in rough seas. It had a scow-shaped nose and small, highly slanted wings.   The Australians weren't sure what to make of it, but they weren't at all shy about buzzing the trawler to take better photos. (You can see just how close the Australians came in the video below.) The Soviets set off smoke generators near the spacecraft to prevent the P-3 from getting anything useful, but the wind blew up and the smoke failed to cover much. At the same time, a happy Soviet soldier was getting great video of the Orion P-3. Australian Defense Intelligence immediately sent their pictures to the CIA, while the Soviet soldier turned his film over to his superiors.   NASA Document Explains Agency’s Commercial Crew Picks   Dan Leone - Space News   NASA dropped one company from its short list of potential commercial crew providers and relegated another to a backup role because of doubts that the proposed vehicles could be completed within the time and money the agency has available, according to an internal document NASA released Sept. 4.   The 13-page document, known as a source selection statement, details NASA’s reasons for passing over Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and three lesser-known firms in August to pick Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Sierra Nevada Space Systems for Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) awards totaling $1.1 billion.   While Sierra Nevada stands to receive more than $200 million from NASA to spend the next year and a half maturing its lifting-body Dream Chaser vehicle, Boeing and SpaceX were awarded $460 million and $440 million, respectively, to develop competing commercial crew solutions featuring capsules. The awards announced Aug. 3 call for Boeing and SpaceX to complete a critical design review by May 2014 meant to clear the way for construction of their systems to begin.   NASA also received CCiCap proposals from Space Operations, American Aerospace Inc. and Spacedesign Corp., but rejected them as “unacceptable” during the first of a five-step selection process, according to the source selection document.   CCiCap is the third round of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program to develop privately operated astronaut taxi systems to restore independent U.S. access to and from the international space station by 2017. NASA currently pays Russia for those services.   Boeing and Sierra Nevada were the big winners during the first two rounds of the Commercial Crew Program, receiving $130.9 million and $125.6 million, respectively, since 2010 to develop their designs.   ATK and SpaceX both joined the program in 2011 during the second round. But while SpaceX received $75 million to prepare its flight-proven Dragon capsule to carry humans, ATK’s work on its Liberty rocket-and-capsule design proceeded under a Space Act Agreement that entitled the company to NASA technical advice but no funding.   ATK’s proposal made it through to the end and received high marks for the amount of money the company pledged toward development, but was ultimately rejected because it “lacked enough detail to determine if a safe crew transportation system could be developed in a timely and cost effective manner out of the heritage components ATK selected for this concept,” William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, wrote in the July 31 source selection statement.   Justifying the backup role assigned to Sierra Nevada, Gerstenmaier wrote that Dream Chaser’s winged design “presents some unique challenges not found in a capsule design.”   In particular, Gerstenmaier wrote, NASA selection officials were unconvinced, even after a second review of Sierra Nevada’s proposal, that the company had a plan to adequately address risks associated with Dream Chaser’s thermal protection system, which protects the vehicle from the extreme heat generated during atmospheric re-entry.   “I think it’s fair to say there’s additional risk associated in creating the first orbital vehicle, but once those risks are retired you actually have a vehicle that can do many more things in space,” Mark Sirangelo, executive vice president of Sierra Nevada Space Systems, said Sept. 7.   ATK spokesman George Torres said Sept. 5 that Liberty officials learned during a NASA debrief “that although our proposal focused on the strategic goals called out in the CCiCap solicitation — such as cost to the government, schedule and safety — those categories were not given clear weighting in the ratings of the proposal.”   Because NASA used Space Act Agreements instead of traditional government contracts for CCiCap, ATK and the other losers do not have the option of protesting the awards. Torres said it was “too early to tell” whether ATK would continue Liberty’s development absent NASA funding. “We’ll have to reassess our plans,” he said.   Boeing, meanwhile, garnered praise for a “strong technical design” that demonstrated “how heritage subsystem components would be integrated into the design” of the company’s CST-100 space capsule. Gerstenmaier said this offset the proposal’s most notable shortcoming: a “lack of significant corporate financial commitment” on Boeing’s part.   Boeing spokeswoman Paula Korn declined to say how much money the company intends to invest in CST-100, though she did say, “NASA is funding the preponderance of this activity.”   “The investment Boeing has committed to NASA is consistent with balancing NASA/Boeing risk for this phase of the program acquisition process, as well as Boeing responsibility to shareholders,” Korn wrote in a Sept. 6 email.   SpaceX’s proposal, meanwhile, “provides the earliest crewed demonstration flight under a credible schedule at the lowest development cost,” according to the source selection statement.   Gerstenmaier said he was concerned that SpaceX would not be able to adapt its cargo-only system into a crew taxi as quickly as the company proposed. However, he wrote, planned SpaceX cargo runs to the international space station, the first of which is slated for early October, should give SpaceX some of the flight data it needs to reduce risks associated with modifying its systems for crew transport.   SpaceX wants to fly a crewed orbital test flight of its astronaut transportation system in 2015. Boeing plans a similar flight by 2016, according to redacted CCiCap Space Act Agreements released in August.   ATK 'moving on' after Liberty commercial proposal loss   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   ATK's Liberty rocket and crew capsule scored lower than competitors on technical and business grounds in NASA's commercial crew competition, in which Boeing Co., SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corp. netted $1.1 billion in government funding, according to a selection statement posted on NASA's website.   The document describes NASA's rationale for bypassing ATK and selecting other proposals to receive a cache of financing.   NASA announced Aug. 3 it will award more than $1.1 billion to Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada. The money will be paid as the companies accomplish predefined milestones, such as design reviews and tests, over the next 21 months. NASA expects one or more of the companies will offer operational crew transportation services to the International Space Station by 2017.   Boeing is proposing a crew capsule called the CST-100 to transport up to seven astronauts to the space station. SpaceX is working on modifications to its Dragon cargo carrier to support astronaut crews, and Sierra Nevada is designing a lifting body space plane named the Dream Chaser.   SpaceX's Dragon capsule would launch with the company's Falcon 9 rocket family, and the Boeing and Sierra Nevada vehicles are designed to lift off on United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets.   NASA had low technical confidence in the Liberty proposal, which included contributions from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Europe's EADS Astrium aerospace and defense conglomerate, according to the selection statement, which was signed by Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human exploration and operations directorate.   "I found the ATK proposal to be the weakest of the four proposals," Gerstenmaier wrote.   Trina Helquist, an ATK spokesperson, said the company was assessing the future of the Liberty program. ATK officials previously said Liberty's development would be significantly slowed without a NASA investment. With government funding, ATK projected Liberty's first piloted orbital test flight in 2015.   "We received NASA's debrief and learned that although our proposal focused on the strategic goals called out in the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability solicitation - such as cost to government, schedule and safety - those categories were not given clear weighting in the ratings of the proposal," Helquist said in a written statement. "We have full confidence in our system's high level of safety, low cost to the government and Liberty's ability to launch crewed flights by 2015."   Mark DeYoung, ATK's president and CEO, told investors in August the firm was "moving on" after it lost out on NASA funding. DeYoung said he was disappointed the Liberty concept did not win any NASA funding, but the company will not suffer any financial harm from the decision.   ATK, the builder of the space shuttle's strap-on boosters, said it would combine an extended version of the shuttle solid rocket motor with an upper stage based on the cryogenic core of Europe's Ariane 5 rocket. A seven-person composite crew capsule built by ATK and Lockheed Martin Corp. would fly into orbit on top of the two-stage Liberty launcher.   Liberty crews would ride inside a composite crew capsule based on a design left over from the canceled Constellation moon program, and ATK says flights could also resupply the space station with cargo.   In the selection statement, NASA highlighted deficiencies in details on how ATK would incorporate heritage spacecraft components and systems into the Liberty program.   The Liberty spacecraft would be made of a lightweight composite shell developed by ATK in partnership with NASA's Langley Research Center beginning in 2007. ATK and Langley built a composite pressure vessel as an alternative to the Orion spacecraft's aluminum-lithium structure.   "In addition to this lack of detail, the proposed schedule was very aggressive without enough information to satisfy me on the credibility of the schedule," Gerstenmaier wrote.   "Basically the proposal lacked enough detail to determine if a safe crew transportation could be developed in a timely and cost effective manner out of the heritage components ATK selected for this concept," Gerstenmaier wrote. "Understanding these changes to heritage systems or the process for managing these changes is critical to understanding the viability of the overall proposal, and the integration work required can also dominate the effort if not controlled."   Gerstenmaier wrote there was a "natural break" between the quality of ATK's proposal and the three winning bids.   Mark DeYoung, ATK's president and CEO, told investors in August the firm was "moving on" after it lost out on NASA funding. DeYoung said he was disappointed the Liberty concept did not win any NASA funding, but the company will not suffer any financial harm from the decision.   With little prospect of obtaining any government investment, the Liberty program will be curtailed or could be canceled.   DeYoung said ATK placed more emphasis on work for NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System, which will initially be powered by two five-segment solid rocket boosters derived from the company's space shuttle rocket motors.   ATK also won an award in July to work on advanced booster concepts for the SLS.   "Liberty was a little bit of a longer shot for us, so we hadn't planned on it," DeYoung said. "So from that view, it should not have any significant financial impact to the company. Going forward, we're going to focus on SLS. We're going to focus on the advanced booster."   The next ground test firing of the SLS booster in Utah is planned for the spring of 2013. It will be the first qualification firing of the five-segment motor following three developmental tests.   Becoming an astronaut Frequent travel may be required   The Economist   Becoming an astronaut sounds to most like something only small children and fighter pilots would seriously aspire to. Preparing to be one would be like getting ready to win the lottery or be hit by a meteorite. So, despite longing to float free among the stars ever since she can remember, your correspondent long ago took her fascination with the cosmos in a different direction and became an astrophysicist. Yet here she is, filling in the paperwork NASA requires from people it deems "highly qualified" applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Class of 2013.   Last year, at an astronomy meeting, Babbage bumped into an astronaut she had last seen on NASA's live spacewalk webcast, climbing into the Hubble space telescope. Himself an astrophysicist, John Grunsfeld worked on the Hubble three times. After a mildly embarrassing display of fawning adulation, Babbage told him she would love to be an astronaut and asked if it was crazy to apply. He said it would be crazy not to. So when the call for applications appeared a few months later—publicised on geeky websites and an equally science-heavy Facebook feed—the decision was a no-brainer.   Rather than apply to the astronaut programme directly you in fact file an application for the astronaut-candidate programme, a two-year training course during which hopefuls are evaluated in a range of skills that might come in handy on an actual mission. The online form, which goes up every couple of years, is straightforward. First, a number of requirements must be met. You have to be an American citizen, 62 to 75 inches tall (157-190 cm), a range apparently dictated by the dimensions of Russia's Soyuz spacecraft that ferries NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station these days) with 20/20 vision (or suitable correction) and healthy blood pressure. You must also be able to swim three lengths of a pool wearing a flight suit and shoes. This makes sense—in training, low gravity (or, in the jargon, microgravity) environments are simulated under water in swimming pools; and a mission might end with the re-entry vehicle landing somewhere in the ocean.   Next, you need at least a bachelor's degree in a scientific, mathematical or engineering discipline, as well as professional experience in science, mathematics, or teaching, either as a civilian or as active-duty military. Alternatively, professional experience flying commercial jets can be traded off for science. You have to provide university course records and references. (In your correspondent's case, these were requested from six academic supervisors, who not only did not disparage the idea as unrealistic, but responded with enthusiasm; one, it turned out, had even considered applying himself.) Finally, you must comb your resumé for any relevant skills. Experience in aviation is mentioned a number of times since, if selected, you are probably going to have to learn to fly a plane anyway (the application information refers to "aircraft flight readiness training"). Knowledge of Russian no doubt also boosts the odds of success, since learning the language of the Soyuz is also part of the programme. But neither is a prerequisite—otherwise Babbage, with experience limited to being an airliner passenger and having read some Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy in translation, would not have got past the first hurdle.   The selection period is about a year and a half long, all told, and consists of several stages. In the first cut, the hopefuls (roughly 6,300 this round) are whittled down to around 400 "highly qualified" applicants and asked to obtain an Astronaut Selection Pre-Screening Medical History and Examination. This is similar to an exam a corporate or private pilot would need, and has to be performed by a certified aviation medical examiner. This turned out not to be nearly as invasive as Babbage feared. It was basically a regular physical: height and weight, blood pressure, vision tests, a bit of strictly external prodding.   After the pre-screening and reference checks are in, NASA will pick 100 or so applicants and invite them in small groups for preliminary medical evaluations, interviews and orientation activities at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston. About half will then return to Houston as finalists for a week of medical and psychological tests and more interviews. The tests are, well, intense. (Proctoscopy is said to be involved; or, as the astronaut Mike Collins refers to it in his autobiography, the "steel eel".) The lucky few selected as Astronaut Candidates, nine to 15 of them, should be known in May.   So far, Babbage has had her pre-screening exam and her referees have been contacted. Promisingly, the aviation doctor agreed with her last physician, who had once quipped that with Babbage's eyesight she should be a sniper—and added that her reflexes qualify her for a career in kickboxing. Yet your correspondent might very well be disqualified for something medical in the end. A colleague with intimate knowledge of the European astronaut-selection programme has warned that a successful candidate must be "basically physically perfect". No doubt NASA demands much the same. Even a likelihood of developing a problem in the future can be disqualifying. Such risk analysis sounds harsh but it makes sense on a long mission where calling in sick or seeing a specialist is not an option.   Astronauts have to be as faultless as the equipment they fly. Or better, since extra redundancy cannot be built into a human being. Babbage, though fit and healthy, would hesitate to use the term "basically physically perfect". Her space-walking future will probably remain out of reach. But being "highly qualified" for the astronaut program is itself a nice consolation prize. And there's always kickboxing.   NASA giving away space shuttle souvenirs   Houston Chronicle   Teachers or museums looking for space souvenirs just need to ask NASA, which is giving away space shuttle tiles and astronaut food as part of a program to inspire the next generation of space explorers, scientists and engineers.   The items are being given away on a first-come, first-served basis using an online application system to verify eligibility.   The tiles are a significant part of the space shuttle program as they allowed NASA to reuse the vessels on multiple missions. Thousands of the tiles covered the exterior of the space shuttle on their early missions to protect against temperatures up to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. NASA eventually replaced the tiles with a different flexible insulation material.   For those interested in the food, a limited number of packaged meals are available for show, not for actual consumption. The food was precooked or processed so it required no refrigeration and was ready to eat, or easily prepared, just by adding water or by heating. Each package will contain three items, including entrée, dessert and beverage.   Although all the items are free to eligible schools or museums, there is a shipping and handling fee -- $23.40 for shuttle tiles and $28.03 for the food.   Clayton firm to build $1.5M Space Shuttle exhibit   Joe Cogliano - Dayton Business Journal   A Dayton-area company has been tapped to build a $1.5 million Space Shuttle exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.   On Friday, museum officials announced Clayton-based Display Dynamics Inc. was awarded a contract to build a crew compartment trainer exhibit. The exhibit — a full-scale reproduction of a shuttle payload bay, tail and engine sections — will be built around the retired NASA Space Shuttle crew compartment trainer recently delivered to the museum.   It is expected to be complete by Sept. 2013.   The museum will continue adding artifacts to the exhibit — such as satellites, along with items obtained from NASA, including space gear, hardware and other equipment — through early 2014.   All Air Force astronauts in NASA’s Shuttle Program did work in the trainer, which will eventually allow visitors to learn how astronauts trained for their missions.   During construction of the exhibit, visitors will be able to view the trainer in the Cold War Gallery.   “This exhibit will be an important educational tool for the museum as we continue to strive to provide our visitors with opportunities to learn about the Air Force and especially programs based in science, technology, engineering and math,” said Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Jack Hudson, director of the museum.   Eventually, the exhibit will be moved to a new Space Gallery in the museum’s planned fourth building as part of a multi-phase, long-term expansion plan to house the museum’s growing space collection, as well as the Presidential Aircraft Gallery and Global Reach Gallery.   The museum worked with the Operational Contracting Division Base Support Acquisition Branch at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to seek potential contractors for the job.   Early laptop designer Bill Moggridge dies at 69 Computer used by military, NASA in 1980s   Associated Press   Bill Moggridge, a British industrial designer who designed an early portable computer with the flip-open shape that is common today, has died. He was 69.   The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum said Moggridge, its director since 2010, died on Saturday from cancer.   Moggridge is credited with the design of the Grid Compass, a computer that had a keyboard and yellow-on-black display that sold for $8,150 when it was released in 1982. It was encased in magnesium and seen as rugged, and was used by the U.S. military.   The computer made its way into outer space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985.   Although there were many portable computers being developed around that time, Grid Systems Corp. won the patent for the clamshell design with the foldable screen hinged toward the back of the machine, said Alex Bochannek, a curator at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif.   Moggridge pushed for this foldable design when it was realized the flat-panel screen, keyboard and circuitry could all fit snugly together.   “In terms of the industrial design of the enclosure, Moggridge was instrumental in proposing that,” Bochannek said. “He came up with that particular form factor.”   Until that point, portable computers resembled portable sewing machines that weighed more than 20 pounds and had a big handle, he said.   It was after using the machine that Moggridge’s ideas about design began to change, Bochannek said. His work began to focus more on how people interacted with devices, rather than just making sure they were enclosed well.   A co-founder of design consultancy firm IDEO, Moggridge authored the books “Designing Interactions,” which was published in 2006, and “Designing Media,” published in 2010.   “Beloved by the museum staff and the design community at large, Bill touched the lives of so many through his wise council, boundary-pushing ideas and cheerful camaraderie,” said Caroline Baumann, associate director of the museum, in a statement.   He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Karin, and two sons Alex and Erik.   Obama's space vision US embarks on ambitious new direction for NASA   Rusty Schweickart - Florida Today (Commentary)   (Schweickart, the Apollo 9 lunar module pilot, is the former chairman of the California Energy Commission and an aerospace executive)   The U.S. space industry, spawned by NASA’s 0.5 percent of the federal budget, has been a critical part of our economy for more than 50 years with aerospace being the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance.   But the future of space industry and the local economies that support it are in jeopardy. For the United States to maintain its world leadership in aerospace technology, we must continue a robust and challenging program of space exploration and we must invest in the people and communities who create this engine of growth.   Future U.S. leadership in space requires a foundation of sustained technology advances.   Under President Barack Obama’s leadership, America has begun a new and exciting phase of human space exploration. President Obama has tasked NASA with an ambitious vision for human spaceflight that will take American astronauts where we have never been before; sending our explorers safely into deep space for the first time — with the ultimate goal being a human mission to Mars.   On Aug. 6, America took a giant step toward accomplishing this goal with the amazing landing of the Curiosity rover right on target in a Martian crater. This was a destination we could only dream of returning to explore a few years ago. This was the kind of task for which NASA was built.   NASA can and should be challenged with such historic goals and Americans should expect no less. In order for the U.S. to remain the leader in space development and exploration, and accrue the resultant benefits, we must continuously be moving the ball forward.   As President Obama visits the Space Coast today, we are witnessing how his policies are bringing jobs to the area and new hope to the space community. Florida’s Space Coast has become not just the launching pad for commercial rockets to the station and America’s launch pad for the largest heavy-lift rocket that NASA has ever built, but is now also a launching pad for new businesses and jobs of the future.   In light of this leadership, Mitt Romney’s candidacy presents a stark choice. Romney claims to support the space program, but like many other issues this election, Romney fails to present Americans a plan for the future of NASA and the program that is forever etched in our nation’s history.   When it comes to NASA and space exploration, it is clear Romney is completely wrong on the issue and out of touch with the space industry. While Romney hasn’t presented a space plan, he has been unwavering in his support of a budget plan that slashes domestic investments and could require deep cuts in America’s space program.   Thanks to President Obama’s leadership, we have seen the United States embark on an ambitious new direction for NASA, laying the groundwork for a sustainable program of exploration and innovation. He knows the space program has improved our lives, advanced our society, strengthened our economy and inspired generations of Americans.   This is exactly why it is so essential we continue the new course President Obama has laid out, revitalizing NASA and its mission —not just with dollars, but also with clear goals and a larger purpose.   Aging, obsolete buildings burden NASA   John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)   With thousands fewer people working on the space program, NASA centers across the country have unused and underused facilities.   It's a challenge that has faced the agency for years. Facilities age, become obsolete, or just aren’t needed anymore. The retirement of the space shuttles aggravated the problem, leaving NASA with empty offices, labs, and test facilities too unique to be of use to anyone else.   Some spaces are hard to sell or lease because they are behind the secure gates of a government installation. Others have historic ties that prompt complaints from preservationists if demolished.   Among the challenges: Even when not used, the government has to spend money to maintain the facilities or loses potential revenue if they can't be sold or leased. Internal and external audits have identified facilities NASA is paying to keep up even though they haven't been used in years.   NASA currently has some 5,000 buildings, with 44 million square feet, spread over more than 100,000 acres of land.   "Over 80 percent of these facilities are 40 or more years old, and NASA faces a backlog of deferred maintenance totaling $2.5 billion," NASA’s Inspector General reported recently.   That's not good at a time when the space agency does not have money to waste. Resources are tight. Agency leaders repeatedly note that they have more assignments than money to do them. Among the solutions:   ·         Shuttering facilities, which introduces new problems. Unique facilities NASA may not need this year, but might need down the road. The service they provide could be almost impossible to re-create later. Rocket engine test facilities are a good example. ·         NASA can let others use the space via special agreements. That’s happening to some degree now. Recent examples at Kennedy Space Center include companies such as Boeing using former shuttle hangars for preparation of private spaceships. NASA has 400-plus lease agreements for others to use its facilities. ·         Consolidation of operations, so that the best facilities available across the country are used and at least some of the under-used buildings could be sold, leased or torn down. ·         Budget hawks in Congress and the White House are pushing those kinds of options, so that NASA is not wasting money it doesn't have. One hindrance is that the inspector general determined NASA does not have a good handle on the property it has. ·         "NASA does not have a complete inventory of property available to lease, which hinders its ability to advertise to potential tenants or provide effective oversight of its leasing efforts," the inspector general reported. Managers at several centers, including Kennedy, "had only partial inventories of buildings or land available for lease.”   Those are problems that need solutions as NASA continues to be the best possible steward of the limited tax dollars available for space exploration.   Environmentalists sweat Texas spaceport proposal   Associated Press   A rocket launch site proposed for a South Texas Gulf Coast beach is drawing grumbles from environmental activists as federal officials prepare an environmental impact statement on the proposal.   The Federal Aviation Administration can grant or refuse SpaceX its license for a Cameron County launch site space center on Boca Chica Beach, between Padre Island and the mouth of the Rio Grande.   "The study is being conducted as we speak right now, so I really can't talk about it in terms of what the FAA will do in the study because we don't want to skew any of the results," FAA spokesman Hank Price told The Brownsville Herald (http://bit.ly/RMzWF5) for an article in Sunday's edition.   South Texas conservation groups have expressed concern for such a project to be developed at the proposed Cameron County site.   "Basically we're in favor of the project, but we would like it to be somewhere else in Texas because putting a rocket launch facility in an area that is surrounded by a wildlife refuge and is almost immediately adjacent to a beach where endangered sea turtles nest doesn't seem like a wise idea," Jim Chapman of the Frontera Audubon Society told The Herald.   SpaceX, formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has not chosen a site yet for its planned spaceport. However, spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham says it is keenly sensitive to environmental demands.   "SpaceX is very experienced in ensuring that our sites have a minimal environmental impact," she said.   Local government officials and business leaders throughout the Lower Rio Grande Valley have lined up behind the idea. At a recent FAA forum in Brownsville, 74 people spoke in support of the project, one in opposition and another neutrally.   "This area is embracing the thought of having SpaceX come to Cameron County," said Cameron County Commissioner Sofia Benavides, whose precinct includes the proposed Boca Chica site.   But that site is "at the heart of the Sierra Club's concerns in the location chosen for the launch site," Scott Nicol, conservation co-chairman for the Lower Rio Grande Valley Sierra Club, wrote to the FAA.   He explained that the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is the native habitat to 1,100 plant species and about 700 animals, including 484 bird species that live there or are just passing through.   "Of the original habitat that once supported this enormous diversity, less than 5 percent currently remains so every acre that is lost is important," he told The Herald.   In a statement issued by the activist group Environment Texas, founder Luke Metzger said that "launching big, loud, polluting rockets from the middle of a wildlife refuge will scare the heck out of every creature within miles and spray noxious chemicals all over the place."   If chosen, the 5-acre spaceport would develop within a 50-acre tract along Texas 4 and on the eastern edge of about 200,000 acres of state, federal, nonprofit and private conservation lands comprising the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Corridor that stretches along the lower 275 miles of the Rio Grande.   Part 1 “A Mission We Wanted to Do:” The Maiden Voyage of Endeavour   Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org   “Ready. Ready. Grab!”   The words of Rick Hieb echoed through the silent Mission Control Center.   The view through Space Shuttle Endeavour’s aft flight deck windows on the evening of 13 May 1992 was quite different from anything ever seen before. Not only was this the maiden voyage of NASA’s newest orbiter – a vehicle which, but for the loss of Challenger, might have remained a set of structural spares – but it also involved the first EVA with as many as three people. This mission, STS-49, commanded by Chief Astronaut Dan Brandenstein, had long been anticipated to be the most visible Shuttle flight of 1992, but it demonstrated that human space flight retains the ability to deliver unexpected surprise. When the crew was announced, their mandate was to retrieve the Intelsat 603 communications satellite, delivered into an improper orbit by a Commercial Titan booster in March 1990. Spacewalkers Hieb and Pierre Thuot would venture into Endeavour’s payload bay to attach a new rocket motor, after which Intelsat would be boosted into its 22,600-mile geosynchronous orbit, ahead of its pivotal role in covering the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.   After the Intelsat activities, a further two spacewalks – the first with Kathy Thornton and Tom Akers, the second with Thuot and Hieb – would rehearse Space Station Freedom construction techniques. Thornton’s inclusion made her only the third woman, after Svetlana Savitskaya and Kathy Sullivan, to perform an EVA. It was a role for which she had previously trained in preparation for her first Shuttle mission, STS-33, in November 1989. “I absolutely insisted that she be the EVA person,” her STS-33 commander, Fred Gregory, later recalled in his NASA oral history, “over great protest…If we had not insisted, probably a person of her size would never have done something like this. Kathy [Sullivan] was a larger woman who could fit into the suits…but Kathy Thornton was not, so we really had to force the issue.” Doubtless, Dan Brandenstein was in full agreement that Thornton – nicknamed ‘K.T.’ in the Astronaut Office – was the most appropriate choice. She would go on to fly as part of the EVA team which first serviced Hubble in December 1993.   The other three astronauts involved in the STS-49 EVAs were male. Rick Hieb was already in training to fly STS-39 at the time the Intelsat crew was assembled in December 1990 and Tom Akers had returned only weeks earlier from the Ulysses deployment mission, STS-41. The man in charge of the team – designated ‘EV1’ and wearing red stripes around the legs of his pure-white space suit for identification – was Pierre Thuot, nicknamed ‘Pepe’. When he flew STS-36 in the spring of 1990, Thuot became the first of his class to be assigned a mission and the first to actually fly. Mike Mullane remembered Thuot as a fast mover and a fast thinker. “Pepe was a 24-volt guy in a 12-volt world,” he wrote. “He reminded me of a hummingbird in the way he darted at whatever he was doing, whether he was turning the page of a checklist, punching in a phone number or flipping cockpit switches.” From a personal perspective, as a teenager, I contacted Thuot to ask him about his career. One comment in particular stood out and proved illustrative of his work ethic. “Whatever you do in life,” he told me, “always make sure that you enjoy what you’re doing and aim high. Pick challenging goals and work hard to achieve them.”   If everything ran as timelined, STS-49 would thus be the first Shuttle flight to feature as many as three spacewalks and include two teams of spacewalkers; both of which were critical prerequisites if NASA was to execute as many as five EVAs per mission to service Hubble and build Space Station Freedom. On the face of it, retrieving and repairing Intelsat, for all its drama, offered something of a backward glance to the Shuttle’s pre-Challenger heyday and was unusual, for in the wake of the disaster it had been mandated that the reusable orbiters would henceforth not be used for commercial missions. STS-49 was thus the last of its kind. At the same time, as Space Shuttle Program Director Bob Crippen explained in June 1990, it offered “an opportunity for expanding our experience base in the planning, training and performance of EVA” by “helping preparations for Freedom”.   Others agreed that such a mission was useful for other purposes. It was “a throwback to the good old days,” said Endeavour’s first processing manager, John Talone, “when we used to go out and do these kinds of things.” Added NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Flight, former astronaut Bill Lenoir: “It’s a mission we wanted to do. It gave me the opportunity to have real work that really mattered; that was going to get measured, where we either succeeded or failed.”   The Intelsat 6 series represented the eighth generation of communications satellites, designed by Hughes for the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization – originally an inter-governmental consortium, but since July 2001 a private company, known as Intelsat, Ltd. – which were capable of providing 33,000 telephone circuits and four television channels. Five were built between 1983 and 1991 and a half-scale model of the satellite today resides in the lobby of Intelsat’s Washington, DC, headquarters. The 9,200-pound cylindrical satellites were spin-stabilized at 30 revolutions per minute, with a ‘de-spun’ segment to house the communications payload and direct it towards a desired location on Earth. Originally scheduled to be flown aboard the European Ariane 4 booster and, in the pre-Challenger era, also the Shuttle, Intelsat 6 was a wide-body satellite, measuring 11.8 feet in diameter and 17 feet tall, expanding to a height of 38.4 feet when its concentric solar arrays and communications payload were fully operational in geosynchronous orbit.   These huge satellites were fed by a twin-propellant system of nitrogen tetroxide and monomethyl hydrazine, which fed radial and axial thrusters for station-keeping and attitude control. The outer surfaces of the satellites were coated with photovoltaic solar cells, which provided around 2,600 watts of electrical power, whilst nickel-hydrogen pressure vessel batteries supported operations whilst in Earth’s eclipse. The communications payload carried 38 C-band and ten Ku-band transponders. The third Intelsat 6 – code numbered ‘603’ – was launched atop a Commercial Titan III from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on 14 March 1990, but the rocket’s second stage failed to separate properly and the satellite could only be released by means of jettisoning its attached Orbus-21 perigee kick motor. This left it effectively unable to achieve geosynchronous altitude and the $157 million Intelsat – which had not been insured, but was ‘self-insured’ with the company’s own funds – was left stranded in an inoperable low-Earth orbit.   In the weeks and months following the malfunction, Hughes entered into a contract with NASA, worth in excess of $90 million, for a Shuttle flight to reboost Intelsat 603. Two possible options quickly gained prominence: either to carry a new perigee kick motor into orbit and attach it to the satellite to reboost it into geosynchronous transfer orbit or retrieve Intelsat and bring it back to Earth for refurbishment. Concerns about the extent to which the satellite’s surfaces might degrade over two years were allayed by the test flight of several solar array sample ‘coupons’, attached to Discovery’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS) during the STS-41 mission in October 1990. These were exposed to the harsh atomic oxygen environment for a minimum of 23 hours, with few ill-effects. Two months later, in December, the STS-49 crew was named to conduct the audacious salvage.   Dan Brandenstein found himself in command of the first flight of a new Space Shuttle and a rendezvous and retrieval mission with EVAs which promised to be filled with drama. “One of my first concerns when we first got assigned and started working with Hughes on the mission,” he told the NASA oral historian, “was if we try and grab it, if we bump it, is it going to go out of whack and float away? Part of the requirements from the customer were that we didn’t touch any sensitive area, which left you a very small ring that…had a limited accessibility and that was supposed to the way we grabbed it.”   The mechanism by which Thuot and Hieb would grab Intelsat was a so-called ‘capture bar’, designed and built by engineers in the Crew and Thermal Systems Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Weighing 160 pounds, it measured 15 feet long by about 3.3 feet wide and included detachable beam extensions and a steering wheel. As Thuot rode on the end of Endeavour’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS) mechanical arm, he would be positioned close to the base of Intelsat 603 and after grappling it would lower it delicately into a Hughes-built cradle assembly. “There was a lot of analysis done,” continued Brandenstein, “and we were assured that because it was spinning slightly and it had a lot of mass, we could bump it and it would stay pretty much in place and wasn’t going to be a problem.” Throughout 1991 Thuot and Hieb trained underwater and on the air-bearing table, to such an extent that they could follow the procedure with their eyes closed.   Endeavour arose from a series of already extant Shuttle spares, assembled before the loss of Challenger to facilitate repairs or possibly the creation of a new vehicle in the event of an accident. The $389 million contract to build the spares – which consisted of an aft-fuselage, a mid-fuselage, two halves of the forward fuselage, a vertical stabilizer and rudder, wings, elevons and an aft body flap – was awarded to the Shuttle’s prime contractor, Rockwell International, in April 1983. Three years later, the destruction of Challenger added a new level of urgency to these plans and led directly to a decision to assemble the spares into a new craft, designated Orbiter Vehicle-105 (OV-105). However, several powerful political voices opposed the idea. The White House’s Chief of Staff Donald Regan and several members of Congress argued that the cost of developing the spares into a new Shuttle could be better spent on an entirely new spacecraft. Nevertheless, in September, the construction of OV-105 was approved and in July 1987 NASA awarded a $1.3 billion contract to Rockwell. Construction was completed within three years and the orbiter was formally powered-up to begin systems testing on 6 July 1990.   By this time, OV-105 had received the name ‘Endeavour’. It was spelt in the English fashion, since it paid homage to Captain James Cook, whose own vessel, HMS Endeavour, had sailed to the South Pacific in 1768-71 to observe the transit of Venus, part of ongoing scientific investigations to measure the distance between Earth and the Sun. During the course of the voyage, Cook reached Tahiti and Hawaii, charted New Zealand for the first time and surveyed the eastern coast of Australia.   In response to the tremendous outpouring of student grief in the wake of Challenger, Republican Congressman Tom Lewis of Florida initiated a resolution to enable students to name the new orbiter. Lewis’ bill, passed in Congress in October 1987, inaugurated the ‘NASA Orbiter Naming Program’. More than 71,000 students, representing 6,154 schools across the United States, submitted their entries during the course of 1988. The guidelines dictated that the name must have previously belonged to an exploratory or research vessel, that it must be ‘appropriate’ for the new Shuttle, that it must capture the spirit of America’s mission in space and that it should be easy to pronounce for radio transmission.   Three finalists were eventually announced by the judges and by NASA’s Educational Programs Officer Muriel Thorne: Endeavour, Horizon and North Star. Of these, Endeavour was by far the most popular entry, accounting for almost a third of all state-level winners in the competition and in May 1989 the new orbiter was formally named by President George H.W. Bush. When the STS-49 crew came to design their crew patch, they not only included Captain Cook’s Endeavour…but also exhibited the colors of the two winning schools – Senatobia, Mississippi (Division I, elementary) and Tallulah Falls, Georgia (Division II, secondary) – atop the ship’s masts.   Less than two years after Bush named Endeavour, on 25 April 1991, the sparkling new Shuttle was rolled out of Rockwell’s Palmdale facility in California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 7 May. Her targeted maiden launch in May of the following year quickly became mired with difficulty, as “hundreds of problems” were identified by NASA: faulty cables and connectors, contaminated propellant lines, incorrectly fitted insulation blankets and even a biscuit, mistakenly dropped in the fuselage. At their worst, in the late summer of 1991, up to 70 electronic, hydraulic or mechanical problems were being reported each week, prompting NASA to announce that it expected to delay STS-49 from May until at least July 1992. The cannibalization of parts during Endeavour’s construction to address hydrogen-leak problems with her sister ships Columbia and Atlantis compounded the delay. Then, in March 1991, cracks in Discovery’s 17-inch External Tank disconnect doors prompted inspections of Endeavour and uncovered a similar flaw. However, it was subsequently revealed that these cracks represented an inherent design error, rather than a result of poor manufacturing.   With these problems in mind, it is quite remarkable that the anticipated delay to STS-49 did not transpire and she was rolled out to Pad 39B on 13 March 1992 to begin final preparations for launch. In physical appearance, Endeavour differed very little, outwardly, from her sister ships. Internally, though, she carried Advanced General Purpose Computers, with twice as much memory and three times as much processing speed as the older versions, as well as being smaller, lighter (at just 64 pounds) and requiring less power (around 550 watts). The High-Accuracy Inertial Navigation System was intended to eventually replace earlier inertial measurement units, with one HAINS flying alongside two of the older devices on STS-49. Endeavour was also fitted with three improved Tactical Air Navigation systems, a pair of enhanced Master Events Controllers and solid-state trackers. Her Auxiliary Power Units were enhanced over previous models, as were her gas generators, fuel pumps, redundant seals and new materials.   Many of these upgrades were designed to be more reliable than earlier systems, utilizing lower power and requiring far less maintenance. She also featured a new drag chute to improve landing safety and was fitted with the plumbing and electrical connections to enable Extended Duration Orbiter (EDO) missions of up to 28 days. A fifth cryogenic oxygen tank and a fifth hydrogen tank beneath her payload bay floor supported this provision. “On the rest of the orbiter fleet,” noted a NASA release, “Columbia also has five tank pairs and Atlantis and Discovery each have four tank sets.” Although the official plans at the time called for Columbia alone to fly EDO missions, Endeavour would perform one such flight, lasting almost 17 days, later in her career.   Three weeks after rollout to the pad, on 6 April, her three main engines underwent the standard Flight Readiness Firing (FRF). This test firing had historically been performed before each orbiter’s maiden voyage to demonstrate the engines’ capability to throttle and gimbal as they would during flight. Preparations for the FRF proceeded in a manner not unlike a real countdown:   “T-minus 12, 11, ten, nine…we have a Go for engine start…”   At four seconds, Endeavour’s engines roared to life at 120-millisecond intervals, reaching 90 percent of their rated thrust and hitting the 100-percent mark precisely at T-zero.   “…two, one, zero…”   The Shuttle visibly flexed, as if she ached to break free of her shackles and climb, crewless, toward the heavens.   “…engines are now at 100 percent of rated power…”   And so they were. Vast clouds of steam billowed from the pad. Three seconds later, engineers simulated the retraction of the External Tank umbilical and the Solid Rocket Boosters’ hold-down posts and after a further 15 seconds of stable thrust, shutdown commands were issued to all three engines. In total, the FRF lasted 22 seconds and was a great success, but for a couple of technical issues. High vibration levels were detected in one of the engines’ high-pressure liquid oxygen turbopumps, whilst another exhibited a loud ‘popping’ noise shortly after shutdown, indicative of hydrogen ingestion into the fuel injector. Prudently, on 8 April NASA decided to replace all three engines with a set previously earmarked for Atlantis’ STS-46 mission in July, although a second FRF for Endeavour was not considered necessary.   Her next big test would be to launch.   Part 2 “A Big Mental Switch:” The Triumph of Endeavour   From his station on Endeavour’s aft flight deck, Brandenstein noticed that Intelsat 603 was beginning to oscillate and drift somewhat, “so I got in my chase-it mode, because I had to keep him aligned”. When Thuot’s third attempt failed, Brandenstein had used a “tremendous” amount of propellant and instinctively knew that the chances of success were slim at best. The RMS exacerbated the difficulty, because its joints were being driven into positions which they could not support. “We decided, though consultations with the ground, to get out of there and try another day,” Brandenstein recollected. “That was a pretty low point, because when we left, it had a pretty good rate. We thought we’d lost this $150 million satellite…and Pierre was particularly depressed because, obviously, he thought it was his fault.”   Thuot and Hieb returned inside Endeavour after three hours and 43 minutes and later that evening Hughes engineers confirmed that they had managed to stabilise Intelsat. Next day, at 4:30 pm EDT on 11 May, the spacewalkers were back outside for a second attempt. “Instead of doing it at night, we were going to wait and do it in daylight,” Brandenstein said. “We decided we weren’t going to even make an attempt until everything was just perfect. Pierre went in and the rotation slowed down.” From Hieb’s position, it looked as if Thuot had completed the capture…but, alas, the satellite again began to oscillate. His alignment was unquestionably correct, but the capture bar refused to seat itself properly and Intelsat wobbled. A few weeks after the mission, Thuot told me that the satellite “was much more dynamic than our training had led us to believe”.   As the disappointed spacewalkers returned inside the cabin for the second time – this time after five and a half hours – they at least knew that the Hughes engineers could regain control of Intelsat for another attempt. However, although propellant reserves allowed for it, three separate rendezvous on a single Shuttle mission had never been attempted and Brandenstein recommended a day off to plan for the third attempt.   In an interview for the Smithsonian, Rick Hieb remembered that the evening of the 11th was a sombre time. At one point, Kevin Chilton, the STS-49 pilot and the only ‘rookie’ member of the crew, joined Hieb on the flight deck and the pair entered an impromptu brainstorming session…a session which would mark a significant turnaround in the fortunes of a mission which seemed snake-bitten with ill-fortune.   As Hieb and Chilton talked, other members of the crew floated upstairs to join the discussion. The main concern was where to manually grab Intelsat. The top of the satellite, where the delicate antennas were located, was not ideal, and it was Bruce Melnick who suggested an EVA with not two spacewalkers…but three. No excursion in history had ever involved more than two members, partly due to safety concerns and partly because of the sheer practicality of getting three people into the tiny airlock. On the other hand, Endeavour carried four suits for Thuot, Hieb, Thornton and Akers, so in theory it was a possibility. “When Bruce said that,” recalled Hieb, “a big mental switch flipped over, at least for me. In my mind, having a third set of hands out there meant that we would be successful, although we weren’t yet sure how.”   Mission Control knew that the astronauts were still awake, because Endeavour’s monitors had not been turned off. At length, the crew turned them off and continued talking in the dark, but eventually called the ground with Melnick’s idea. Years later, Brandenstein remembered that it was Chilton who sketched out the practicalities of the three-person EVA scenario and held it in front of the television camera to allow mission controllers to see it. “The big choke point,” Brandenstein said, “was can you put three people in the airlock to get them outside?” In the Houston water tank, fellow astronauts Story Musgrave, Jim Voss and Michael ‘Rich’ Clifford donned suits and demonstrated the techniques and geometries involved in setting themselves up to accomplish the feat.   Their consensus: It was doable. On the evening of 12 May, Capcom Charles ‘Sam’ Gemar radioed Mission Control’s approval to the crew.   Late on 13 May, the third attempt got underway. Truss members belonging to the Assembly of Station by EVA Methods (ASEM) – a Freedom demonstration payload scheduled to be used during EVA tests later in the mission – were removed and arranged into a triangular structure for Thuot, Hieb and Akers to anchor their feet. Brandenstein positioned the orbiter directly beneath Intelsat 603 and controllers verified that its surface temperatures would not exceed the 160 degrees Celsius touch limit of the astronauts’ gloves. With Hieb close to the starboard payload bay wall, Akers in the centre, attached to an ASEM strut, and Thuot on the end of the RMS on the port side, the astronauts could do little but watch as Endeavour drew closer. They studied its slow rotation for about 15 minutes, until, on Hieb’s call, they moved in for the capture.   All at once, Thuot spotted a slight wobble. He called the attempt off.   Shortly thereafter, they tried again. This time, at last, the three men grabbed the satellite and held it firmly. The time was 7:55 pm EDT. “I actually thought the other two guys had stopped it from rotating,” Thuot said later, “so little force had I applied. Very gently, the thing came to a stop.” From the flight deck, Dan Brandenstein asked them if they had a good grasp. On Thuot’s response in the affirmative, the commander was able to advise ground controllers, with more than a hint of relief: “Houston, I think we’ve got a satellite!”   With Intelsat snared, the astronauts removed the steering wheel and installed an extension to the capture bar, which Melnick grappled using the RMS. The satellite was then positioned above its 23,000-pound Orbus-21 solid-fuelled perigee kick motor, which sat vertically in its cradle. After closing four docking clamps to secure the pair, and attaching two electrical umbilicals between Intelsat and the motor itself, the spacewalkers set a pair of deployment timers and retreated to Endeavour’s airlock. Meanwhile, Kathy Thornton prepared to activate the springs to deploy the payload. At first, it did not move. “They had made a change in the wiring of the deploy system,” recalled Brandenstein, “and the change never made it through the process [and] never got into the checklist. Fortunately, somebody in Mission Control apparently knew about it. They just quick called up a different switch sequence and she did that sequence and it went.” Deployment occurred at 12:53 am EDT on 14 May and the satellite vacated the payload bay. Less than an hour later, the three spacewalkers repressurized the airlock and returned inside the cabin.   Speaking a decade or more after the flight, Dan Brandenstein regarded those few days of STS-49 as “one of those missions from hell” and for newly-appointed NASA Administrator Dan Goldin it was truly “a baptism of fire”. Nevertheless, at 1:25 pm EDT on the following day, 15 May, Intelsat 603’s new motor ignited perfectly and it was on-station in geosynchronous orbit by the 21st. As well as becoming the first Shuttle crew to accomplish as many as three EVAs in a single mission – a record which they would break with a fourth excursion – the triumphant three-man spacewalk established itself as the longest in history. Their eight hours and 29 minutes outside would remain unbroken until March 2001.   By now, the difficulties had prompted the Mission Management Team to extend STS-49 by 48 hours from its planned seven-day duration. On 14 May, a record-breaking fourth EVA got underway when Akers and Kathy Thornton ventured outside for the ASEM station tests. Originally scheduled to involve two EVAs – one by Thornton and Akers and the second by Thuot and Hieb – the Intelsat 603 retrieval forced the cancellation of one walk.   Activities included the construction of a pyramid-shaped truss, the unberthing of a Mission-Peculiar Equipment Support Structure (MPESS) – maneuvered by the RMS – and efforts to evaluate the ability of spacewalkers to work at positions ‘above’ and ‘forward’ of the payload bay, including ‘over the nose’ of the Shuttle. The MPESS contained two node boxes for the pyramid, a releasable grapple fixture and interface plate and a truss leg and strut dispenser. Five crew rescue techniques were to be trialled, including a lasso-like ‘astro-rope’, a seven-section telescoping pole and a hand-held propulsive device. The latter, according to NASA’s STS-49 press kit, was “a redesigned hand-held maneuvering unit from the Skylab programme”, in which pressurised nitrogen jets were employed as thrusters.   During their seven hours and 43 minutes in the payload bay, Thornton and Akers completed the construction and disassembly of the ASEM attachment fixture, tested the propulsive device, affixed six of eight legs onto the MPESS…and, unexpectedly, were called upon to manually stow Endeavour’s Ku-band antenna, which had experienced a positioning motor failure. According to NASA’s post-mission report, this EVA was planned to be RMS-intensive, although the mechanical arm was used to accomplish only a single ASEM task and the spacewalkers’ timeline was further impacted by the Ku-band activity.   Returning inside Endeavour’s airlock after the excursion, the astronauts of STS-49 could now boast four EVAs – lasting a grand total of 25 hours and 27 minutes – which had snatched success from the fangs of defeat. The physical appearance of the four spacewalkers in their snow-white suits was also quite distinct from previous missions, all of which had featured no more than two members. In order to distinguish them, Thuot (designated ‘EV1’) wore red stripes around his suit legs, whilst Hieb (EV2) wore a pure-white suit…and, for the first time, Thornton (EV3) wore dashed stripes around her suit legs and Akers (EV4) wore red diagonal hatches around his suit legs. In spite of the remarkable achievement of performing four back-to-back EVAs on a single mission, only relatively minor glitches plagued the spacewalkers – a failed joint on one of the portable foot restraints, a loud noise over the headsets when power tools were being used and a battery problem, amongst others – and their suits held up exceptionally well.   Endeavour’s return to Earth on 16 May 1992, concluding her first flight in a 25-voyage space going career, brought with it a number of test objectives, the most visible of which was the deployment of the Shuttle’s long-awaited drag chute on the runway. Measuring 39 feet in diameter, when fully unfurled, the chute was designed to reduce steering problems and relieve stress on the Shuttle’s brakes and tires, which had suffered particularly significant damage on Mission 51D in April 1985. In the post-Challenger era, options to improve landing safety were extensively evaluated. As well as the drag chute, options included the emplacement of an arresting barrier at the end of the runway or the installation of a special ‘skid’ on the landing gear. In the event of a blown tire, the latter was meant to preclude the chance of a second tyre failing; effectively providing a ‘roll-on-rim’ capability for a predictable rollout pattern.   Design requirements for the drag chute – which was tested extensively at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California – included an ability to bring an orbiter to a halt in less than 8,200 feet with an 11-mile tail wind and maximum braking at a ground speed of 160 mph. Housed in a cylindrical container, just beneath the Shuttle’s vertical stabilizer fin, the chute was to be manually deployed by the pilot after main gear touchdown and ahead of nose gear touchdown. It would then be jettisoned when the rollout speed had dropped to around 70 mph. During re-entry, the orbiter’s main engines were repositioned some ten degrees ‘lower’ than normal, in order to eliminate the chance of damage to the chute.   Air trials at Dryden in the summer of 1990 saw it fitted to a modified NB-52 carrier aircraft – piloted by former astronaut Gordon Fullerton – which tested it at landing speeds of between 160-230 mph, with no negative effects. These trials enabled engineers to predict that it would reduce the Shuttle’s landing rollout distance by some 1,000-2,000 feet. Early in January of the following year, NASA modified its production contract for Endeavour with Rockwell by $33.3 million to include the design, fabrication and installation of the chute. Since STS-49 was to be its the first space mission, plans called for it to be deployed after all six wheels – main gear and nose – were firmly on the runway. After an uneventful re-entry, Endeavour’s main gear touched concrete Runway 22 at Edwards at 1:57 pm Pacific Daylight Time (4:57 pm EDT), followed by the nose a few seconds later. Then came the chute.   At the pilots’ command, pyrotechnics blew the door away from the chute compartment and a mortar fired, driving out firstly a ten-foot pilot chute, then the main canopy, which ‘reefed’ to 40 percent of its total diameter for a few seconds to lessen the initial structural loads on Endeavour herself. It trailed the orbiter by 89 feet on a 41-foot riser. Following the successful operational of the reefing line cutter, the chute blossomed to its fully inflated condition. Photographic analysis of the landing illustrated that the reefed chute rode at a higher angle than anticipated and the door trajectory differed slightly from the NB-52 tests; additionally, its behavior and closeness to the orbiter’s centerline were later attributed to the effect of the aerodynamic flow for the fully-open speed brake.   Summing up his fourth and final Shuttle mission – for he would retire from NASA in October 1992 – Dan Brandenstein was happy with Endeavour’s performance on her maiden voyage. This was particularly important in view of the Intelsat 603 difficulties and the relative paucity of additional time to tend to systems glitches. “They built a beautiful vehicle,” he said, “because it’s based on all the other things that diverted our attention on that flight. It was really nice that Endeavour performed like an old pro.” Indeed, NASA’s official post-mission report highlighted only 36 anomalies, none of which were of sufficient concern to impact the successful conduct of the mission.   In the aftermath of STS-49, the crew themselves would highlight the fact that their mission raised awareness of the need for more EVA experience in the years before the start of construction of Space Station Freedom. At one stage, in the late 1980s, as many as four EVAs per week were envisaged; an astonishing estimate which NASA Administrator Dick Truly deemed totally unacceptable. Yet as the plans for the station matured, it was obvious that the construction process would be EVA-intensive…and that required different ways of working and training. “We have to take a good look at the time it takes to do a job,” Brandenstein said. “We need better ways to train so that the learning curve isn’t quite so steep.” Pierre Thuot added that the Intelsat 603 retrieval task was something they “couldn’t train for fully”.   After their return, Kathy Thornton and Tom Akers – who would go on to service Hubble together in December 1993 – took an active role in developing new EVA methods in the Weightless Environment Training Facility (WET-F) in Houston. “Even in the tank, you still have the resistance of water,” Dan Brandenstein recalled, “so you can kick your feet and swim. In zero gravity, we’ve got movies of Tom going to that instinct. You can see him kicking his legs and nothing’s happening. Also, if you move something in the water, as soon as you stop moving it, the reason is the water stops it. But in zero gravity, you start moving something and it just keeps moving until you come back on it. They made some significant chances in the tank training procedures.” The first flight of Endeavour’s career had gone spectacularly well and had played a significant role in shaping the missions – and the assembly of the space station – which would follow.   END