9/18/12 news

  Tuesday, September 18, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Today: Attend Tree-Planting Ceremony in Honor of Dr. Sally Ride 2.            JSC Expected Behaviors 3.            This Week at Starport 4.            Starport Boot Camp -- Sign Up Fast 5.            First Quarterly Roundup Coming This October 6.            Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, Sept. 19 7.            Date Correction: Communications Satellites - An Introduction 8.            Financial Education Seminars - Social Media 2012 - What You Need to Know 9.            Project Management Institute Clear Lake Galveston Chapter Presentation 10.          Recent JSC Announcement ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. ”   -- Dale Carnegie ________________________________________ 1.            Today: Attend Tree-Planting Ceremony in Honor of Dr. Sally Ride JSC team members are invited to attend the tree-planting ceremony in honor of Dr. Sally Ride today, Sept. 18, in the Memorial Tree Grove at 9 a.m.   Ride was born May 26, 1951, in Los Angeles, and passed away on July 23. Renowned as the first American woman in space, Ride was an inspiration to a new generation of female explorers. A veteran of two spaceflights (1983 and 1984), she also served as a member of the Presidential Commission that investigated the Challenger accident.   Her legacy will continue to live on, as in 2001 she founded Sally Ride Science to pursue her long-time passion of motivating girls and young women to pursue careers in science, math and technology. The company creates entertaining science programs and publications for upper elementary and middle school students and their parents and teachers. Ride also authored five science books for children: "To Space and Back;" "Voyager;" "The Third Planet;" "The Mystery of Mars" and "Exploring Our Solar System."   Diana Norman x32646   [top] 2.            JSC Expected Behaviors The NASA values consist of Safety, Teamwork and Integrity in support of mission success. We commit without compromise to embodying our core values in all that we do. To realize these values, we have defined a set of supporting behaviors for the contractors and civil servants that comprise the JSC community. Everyone in the JSC community is expected to demonstrate these behaviors every day. Below is the first of four expected behaviors:   Be respectful - demonstrate consideration or appreciation. We respect ourselves and each other. We appreciate the creativity and broader perspective of a diverse team. This diversity is vital to our success.   Ask yourself: Do I actively solicit contributions from the people I work with, regardless of their badges or roles? Do I use the term "team" more than the term "I?" Do I treat others as I wish to be treated? Do I share accolades in public and constructive criticism in private? Do I accord others the benefit of the doubt and understand a situation before responding? Do I value all constructive input and use this to make a decision? Do I credit others for their work? Am I aware of non-verbal cues, whether my own or others?   Effective communication is a crucial ingredient to practicing these behaviors daily. Communication is a two-way process that requires us to listen and understand at least as much as we speak. We openly share information and knowledge, focusing on quality, not quantity.   Brought to you by the JSC Joint Leadership Team: http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/   Erin Misegades x40003   [top] 3.            This Week at Starport The first day of autumn is Saturday, and starting this week Starbucks will have pumpkin spice fall drinks! Stop by the Starbucks kiosk in the Building 1 café for this seasonal favorite.   Get your Curiosity shirts while supplies last! Available in the Buildings 3 and 11 gifts shops or online at: http://shopnasa.com   NASA Night at Constellation Field is tomorrow night. Discount tickets to see the Sugarland Skeeters take on the York Revolution are only $8. http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/   Fall dodgeball registration is going on now. Sign your team up today! http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 4.            Starport Boot Camp -- Sign Up Fast Starport's October boot camp still has a few spots left! Don't miss a chance to be part of Starport's incredibly popular program. The class WILL fill up, so register now.   Registration ends Sept. 30. - $110 per person   The workout begins on Monday, 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!   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] 5.            First Quarterly Roundup Coming This October JSC's popular magazine Roundup begins quarterly distribution this October, both online and printed. For more than 50 years the magazine has been a staple for employee communications tools, and we'll continue to share important JSC information and stories in lots of different ways. By going quarterly, the JSC External Relations Office is taking advantage of some of the new -- and "greener" -- media techniques. That's right -- we've got all the news that's fit to click!   Just so you know, we already share the JSC story on the JSC home site on NASA.gov; through JSC Today updates that link you to videos, articles and images; more news and articles on the Inside JSC internal home page; up-to-the minute updates through the NASA_Johnson Twitter account and on NASA's Johnson Space Center Facebook site; and interesting news about people and teams on our long-popular JSC Features website. Be sure to scroll on over to find out what's new and what JSC's team is doing. You can find us on the World Wide Web!   Here are some links to bookmark: JSC home page: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/index.html InsideJSC: http://internal.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAJSC Twitter: http://twitter.com/NASA_Johnson and http://twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/reelnasa JSC Features: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/jscfeatures/ JSC Roundup Archive: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/ JSC Today: http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives/day.cfm   See you on the Internet!   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 6.            Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, Sept. 19 Do you need some hands-on, personal help with FedTraveler.com? Join the Business Systems, Innovation and Process Improvement Office for an Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab tomorrow, Sept. 19, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 20, Room 204. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through Extended TDY travel processes and learn more about using FedTraveler during this informal workshop. Bring your current travel documents or specific questions that you have about the system and join us for some hands-on, in-person help with FedTraveler. If you'd like to sign up for this Extended TDY FedTraveler Live Lab, please log into SATERN and register. For additional information, please contact Judy Seier at x32771.   Gina Clenney x39851   [top] 7.            Date Correction: Communications Satellites - An Introduction The program for the September Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Galveston Bay Section meeting will introduce the concept of communications satellites. Details of communication satellites' support subsystems and their components will be described. The presenter, Dr. Zafar Taqvi, has worked for 41 years on the Apollo, space shuttle and International Space Station, mainly on communication and tracking subsystems. Taqvi also taught at the University of Houston as an adjunct professor. He is professionally active in IEEE, ISA and AIAA, holding local and national positions.   The presentation will start at noon and finish by 1 p.m. on Sept. 20 in the Gilruth Center Discovery Room. We will offer lunch at 11:30 a.m. for $8 for the first 10 requestors. There is no charge for the presentation. Please RSVP to Stew O'Dell at stewart.odell@ieee.org and specify whether you are ordering lunch. Lunch is free for unemployed IEEE members; advise when reserving.   Stew O'Dell x31855   [top] 8.            Financial Education Seminars - Social Media 2012 - What You Need to Know JSC Federal Credit Union's free financial education seminars give you the opportunity to learn everything you should know about four very important topics, including auto buying, home buying, social media and credit. Each seminar is jam-packed with cohesive, up-to-date information that will help get you and your family on the right track.   Social media is all the rage and has transformed the way we communicate. Our guest speaker, Shelly Roth of Springboard Social Media, will cover the following topics in this impactful seminar: - Types of social media sites - Best practices and safety tips when engaging in social media - How to set up, use and make the most out of social media sites   Please note that this seminar covers tips and tools for setting up and managing social media for individuals, not businesses.   - Sept. 25 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Discovery Room.   RSVP to bday@jscfcu.org to attend, or visit: https://www.jscfcu.org/news/2012-09-25-social-media-seminar.php   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 9.            Project Management Institute Clear Lake Galveston Chapter Presentation The Project Management Institute Clear Lake Galveston Chapter presents "No More Lame Conference Calls - The Six Principles You Need to Lead Great Meetings," on Sept. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. Byron Van Arsdale and his fast-paced interactive presentation will focus on you as the leader when the "conference call" is your personal platform to practice and develop your leadership skills.   The meeting will be held at Mario's Flying Pizza Restaurant (618 W. NASA Parkway). Please make your reservation by noon on Tuesday, Sept. 25. Register online at http://www.pmiclg.org (preferred method). The cost of the meeting is $20 for members and $25 for non-members. Dinner is included. Email: VP-Programs@PMICLG.ORG   Registration/social - 6 p.m.; dinner - 6:30 to 7 p.m.; program - 7 to 8 p.m. One professional development unit hour credit is achieved by attending this presentation.   Cheyenne McKeegan x31016   [top] 10.          Recent JSC Announcement Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement:   JSCA 12-027: Communications with Industry Related to the Certification Products Contract Competition   Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page.   Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx   [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.         FERRY FLIGHT UPDATE: Departure of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft & Endeavour from KSC continues to look favorable for tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. The next weather briefing is at 10 am Central (11 EDT) today. Plans remain to fly over Stennis & Michoud before heading to Ellington for the day/night. Departure for California would be at sunrise Thursday.   NASA TV: ·                     5:45 am Central WEDNESDAY (6:45 EDT) - SCA/Endeavour departure from KSC coverage ·                     ~6:15 am Central WEDNESDAY (7:15 EDT) - SCA/Endeavour departs KSC for Ellington Fld ·                     ~10 am Central WEDNESDAY (11 EDT) - Coverage of Clear Lake / Ellington flyover/landing ·                     1 pm Central (2 EDT) – Interpreted Version of Exp 33 Event for JAXA with Nippon Radio)   Human Spaceflight News Tuesday – September 18, 2012 Another “money shot” of Soyuz TMA-04M landing Mon. night by NASA’s Carla Cioffi riding in a Russian helo   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Russian delay sets up SpaceX cargo shot   Todd Halvorson - Florida Today   Launch of the next crew to the International Space Station is being delayed about a week so specialists can replace a part on a Soyuz spacecraft, Russian and U.S. officials said Monday. U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford and two Russian cosmonauts — Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin — had been slated to blast off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 15. NASA mission commentator Amiko Kauderer said the delay will clear the way for SpaceX to proceed with plans to launch its first commercial resupply mission to the station as scheduled. That flight is expected to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station around Oct. 9 or Oct. 10.   Flight not guaranteed for Boeing's commercial crew capsule   Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com   Boeing may yet shelve future development of its CST-100 capsule, despite a recent award of more than $460 million from NASA's programme to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). "Our base business case is based on transportation to ISS through 2020," says John Elbon, Boeing's vice-president of space exploration. Though not formalised, the company requires at least two flights per year from NASA to make the project viable.   Company agrees to 10 space flights from E. Shore   Associated Press   The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority has reached an agreement with a Northern Virginia company on plans to launch rockets from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Gov. Bob McDonnell announced the agreement with Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp. Monday regarding the launch site on Virginia's Eastern Shore. The new agreement states that Orbital will launch 10 flights from the facility, including eight resupply missions to the International Space Station. Virginia will pay to complete additional improvements at the spaceport to support the missions.   NASA Astronaut Completes 1st Triathlon in Space   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has completed the first triathlon in space, running, biking and "swimming" along with athletes in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in Southern California over the weekend. "I'm happy to be done," Williams said from the International Space Station Sunday after she crossed the orbital finish line. "It wasn't easy, and I'm sure everybody in California's very happy to be done too." Sunita Williams is the U.S. commander of the Expedition 33 crew aboard the space station, which is orbiting Earth about 240 miles (386 km) overhead.   Building a ‘live Google Earth’   Richard Hollingham - BBC News   Fourteen years ago, in November 1998, I stood on a low mound overlooking the bleak Kazakhstan steppe. It was early morning. The ground was covered in a light dusting of snow and a bitter wind tore across the cracked concrete, flattening the surrounding scrappy clumps of grass. A stream of garbled Russian crackled from a loudspeaker mounted on an army truck. The speech was overwhelmed by static and the angry muttering of a technician attempting a hasty repair. Neither of us looked particularly happy to be there. At least I was being paid – in Yeltsin’s Russia, the chances were he hadn’t received a salary for several weeks. Nevertheless, we were both about to witness a significant moment in space history. Some 2 km (1.4 miles) away – its white pencil-shape barely visible against the grey sky – a Proton rocket rose from the ground. A few seconds later, we heard it: a roar, followed by the crackle of the boosters as the launcher disappeared into the cloud. On board, the first stage of the International Space Station (ISS).   NASA Calls for Ceasefire in Human-Robot Space Budget Wars   Jeremy Hsu - Innovation News Daily   On the morning of the public memorial service for Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, NASA officials called for a new era of cooperation between human and robotic space explorers in an era of tighter budgets. Space agency officials spoke of a future where astronauts and robots would work together to explore the scientific mysteries of other planets and to expand humanity's foothold in space. Their words could bring about a truce of sorts, after years of historic budgetary battles between NASA's human exploration program and its robotic science efforts.   Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say. A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre; however, subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy. Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.   Coming up at Johnson Space Center: Why does the heart shrink in space?   Kate Lunau - Maclean's (Canada)   A few weeks ago, the Canadian Space Agency offered me the chance to visit NASA’s Johnson Space Center and shadow astronaut Chris Hadfield, who will be the first Canadian to assume command of the International Space Station. So Sunday morning I hopped on a plane to Houston.   Canada looks to first space station command opportunity   Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily   Veteran space traveler Chris Hadfield is training to become the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to assume command of the International Space Station. His two-month stint at the helm of the six-person orbiting science laboratory begins in March 2013 and may include the arrival of the first Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial resupply craft. Hadfield, 53, has trained for two years with cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, 41, and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, 52, for a Dec. 5 liftoff aboard the 33 Soyuz mission to the station and a six-month tour of duty.   Historic NASA facilities going to waste   Jeremy Kaplan - Fox News   The space agency has an unusual problem: space. A recent review of NASA’s land holdings on earth revealed a new challenge for the agency: poorly maintained, aging facilities once used for research and development or space vehicle construction, now essentially useless. NASA spends about $1.1 billion annually on maintenance and upkeep of its more than 5,400 buildings, landing strips and other unique sites; but approximately 9 percent of its real property assets aren’t being used, NASA told FoxNews.com. The solution, according to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG): lease them.   Sarah Brightman May Sign Onto Space Trip in October, RIA Reports   Marina Sysoyeva - Bloomberg News   British singer Sarah Brightman may join a tourist flight to the International Space Station, RIA Novosti reported, citing an industry official it didn’t identify. Brightman, the former wife of Phantom of the Opera composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, may sign a contract at the end of October or early November, the Russian news service said. The space station may start accepting tourists from the Soyuz spacecraft after the Russian Federal Space Agency agrees on a new schedule for sending astronauts into space with international partners, according to RIA Novosti. (NO FURTHER TEXT)   NASA defends deal with NO film studio   David Jacobs - Baton Rouge Business Report   NASA is renting out space at the Michoud Assembly Center in New Orleans to Big Easy Studios, which has attracted major film productions. Meanwhile, Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at the Celtic Media Centre sits largely empty, prompting complaints that the federal government is providing an unfair advantage to Big Easy. NASA's rules state that any deal with an outside entity must serve the agency's mission and must not compete with the private sector. Patrick Mulhearn, director of studio operations at Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge, says the deal with Big Easy seems to violate both rules, although Robert Champion, deputy director at Michoud, says that's not the case.   Giving Direction to American Human Exploration   Mark Sykes – Space News (Opinion)   (Sykes is chief executive and director of the Planetary Science Institute)   The next president of the United States may have the last opportunity to do something no administration has ever done: define a rationale for an American human space program that is long-term and open-ended.   ENDEAVOUR FERRY FLIGHT NEWS     Space shuttle Endeavour stuck at home in Florida   Marcia Dunn - Associated Press   Space shuttle Endeavour apparently doesn't want to leave home. NASA's youngest shuttle was supposed to depart Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Monday for its permanent museum home in Los Angeles. But stormy weather along the Gulf of Mexico nixed the travel plans until Wednesday morning.   Endeavour's departure from Florida now delayed until Wednesday   Amina Khan - Los Angeles Times   NASA space shuttle Endeavour’s departure for Los Angeles has been delayed another day, officials at Kennedy Space Center said Monday. A low-pressure front in the northern Gulf of Mexico is generating stormy weather along Endeavour’s flight path, grounding the orbiter until Wednesday. Endeavour, mounted onto a specially modified 747 carrier aircraft, was originally set to be ferried to its final home in the California Science Center at sunrise Monday.   Westward, no: Endeavour and 747 wait out weather   James Dean - Florida Today   Endeavour is now expected to depart Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Wednesday, after storms delayed its takeoff atop a 747 jumbo jet for a second day. Thunderstorms in the northern Gulf of Mexico interfered with the ferry flight’s path to Houston, the first planned stop on a multi-day trip to Los Angeles. Managers considered putting off a decision until early this morning, but by Monday afternoon concluded conditions would not improve today.   Endeavour now set to leave Wednesday   Scott Powers - Orlando Sentinel   The final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour was postponed again because of weather and now is set to leave on Wednesday morning. Endeavour — atop a modified Boeing 747 — was set to make a three-day flight Monday morning to California, but weather conditions scratched that. By Monday afternoon, NASA officials decided Tuesday morning's forecast was not favorable either.   Shuttle Endeavour to begin voyage to new home   Nell Greenfieldboyce - National Public Radio   Space shuttle Endeavour begins a kind of farewell tour this week. The shuttle will set off on a cross-country trip to its retirement home, flying from Florida to Los Angeles on the back of a modified jumbo jet. Along the way, the spaceship will stop off in Houston, home of NASA's Mission Control and, weather permitting, fly over NASA centers and various landmarks in cities that include San Francisco and Sacramento.   Weather delays last flight of space shuttle Endeavour to museum   Kevin Gray - Reuters   The departure of the space shuttle Endeavour on its final flight to a Los Angeles museum has been delayed until Wednesday by bad weather, NASA said. Endeavour, which was retired last year, was scheduled to travel piggyback on top of a specially modified 747 jet, but storms along the planned flight path have pushed back its departure from the Kennedy Space Center until Wednesday. It was the second delay caused by weather in transporting the shuttle, which was originally intended to depart on Monday.   Space shuttle Endeavour expected to take final flight over Silicon Valley   Mike Cassidy - San Jose Mercury News   If all goes as planned, the Bay Area will be treated to the stunning spectacle Friday of the space shuttle Endeavour riding across the region's sky and dipping low toward the ground on the back of a 747 carrying a piece of American ingenuity into retirement. I'm pretty jazzed. And Silicon Valley should be, too. Face it: If any one place could get excited about hosting the first and last Northern California flyover of a space shuttle, it's Silicon Valley, a place that not only can claim to be the spaceship's birthplace (more or less), but also is the land where the geekerati are obsessively fixated on just what technology makes possible.   Shuttle Endeavour's Los Angeles landing delayed to Friday   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   Space shuttle Endeavour's highly anticipated arrival in Los Angeles has been deferred by a day. The retired spacecraft, which will be ferried on top NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 jet, was originally targeted to land at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Thursday. Destined for display at the California Science Center (CSC), Endeavour, riding piggyback atop the SCA, is now scheduled to touch down on Friday at about 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT; 1800 GMT). "The decision to reschedule the flight was made Monday in coordination with the science center to ensure a safe flight for Endeavour and the SCA," NASA announced in a statement.   Center gets final OK to cut trees in space shuttle's path Officials agree to plant four times as many trees, provide scholarships and job training in exchange for clearing Endeavour's route   Angel Jennings - Los Angeles Times   The California Science Center received final approval Monday to chop down 265 trees to make room for the space shuttle Endeavour as it rolls through the streets of Los Angeles. To garner residents' support, the center sweetened the deal at the last minute and agreed to replant four times as many trees, repair additional sidewalks, and offer scholarships and job training. "While we sincerely regret the loss of many majestic trees which have aided this community for decades, what we accomplished through this agreement is a greener South L.A. for the health of our community, as well as educational opportunities at the Science Center for generations to come," said a statement released through the Neighborhood Council groups' attorney, Gideon Kracov.   California Science Center Foundation to replant trees removed for space shuttle Endeavour's trip from LAX to new home   Rick Orlov - Los Angeles Daily News   Hoping to allay concerns that hundreds of trees will be removed along the space shuttle Endeavour's route from LAX to its new home, the president of the California Science Center Foundation pledged Monday to replant more trees than are removed and to repair sidewalk damage from existing trees. In a presentation to the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, foundation President Jeffrey Rudolph said the plan is to exceed the city's requirement to replace trees on a three-to-one and four-to-one basis. Also, the foundation, which is coordinating the move, will take care of the trees for three to five years. As part of its plan, Rudolph said some trees are being preserved, such as those planted in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King.   Michigan GOP: Letting Toyota truck haul shuttle offensive   David Shepardson - Detroit News   The Michigan Republican Party harshly criticized the Obama administration for allowing a Toyota Motor Corp. pickup truck to tow one of the retired space shuttles to its final home in Los Angeles. "Barack Obama acts as if he single handedly built the U.S. domestic auto industry, meanwhile, a symbol of American greatness will be towed to its final resting place by a foreign competitor, forever cementing the image of a Toyota truck towing a retired space shuttle," said Matt Frendewey, director of communications for the Michigan Republican Party on Monday. "The symbolism of this PR stunt should be offensive to every red-blooded American with vested interest in the success of the U.S. automotive industry." __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Russian delay sets up SpaceX cargo shot   Todd Halvorson - Florida Today   Launch of the next crew to the International Space Station is being delayed about a week so specialists can replace a part on a Soyuz spacecraft, Russian and U.S. officials said Monday.   U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford and two Russian cosmonauts — Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin — had been slated to blast off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 15.   The three will round out the six members of the 33rd expedition to the station. The others — U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — already are on board the outpost.   However, engineers encountered trouble with a device aboard the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft being prepped at the cosmodrome for the flight.   The faulty descent stage part will be removed and replaced. The spare will be tested.   After that work is complete, a new launch date will be set.   NASA mission commentator Amiko Kauderer said the delay will clear the way for SpaceX to proceed with plans to launch its first commercial resupply mission to the station as scheduled.   That flight is expected to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station around Oct. 9 or Oct. 10.   The mission will be the first of 12 the company plans to launch to the station under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.   Flight not guaranteed for Boeing's commercial crew capsule   Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com   Boeing may yet shelve future development of its CST-100 capsule, despite a recent award of more than $460 million from NASA's programme to transport astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).   "Our base business case is based on transportation to ISS through 2020," says John Elbon, Boeing's vice-president of space exploration. Though not formalised, the company requires at least two flights per year from NASA to make the project viable.   "That's just for the ISS. That's kind of the basement," adds Elbon. More flights than those to the ISS are required he says, and Boeing is cautious about over-committing itself while future revenue streams are unclear.   NASA has funding for two full awards and one partial award in the commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap) programme, to be doled out gradually according to established technical milestones. The two full grants were awarded to Boeing and SpaceX, while Sierra Nevada Corporation won the partial award.   Attached to each space act agreement, as the contracts are known, is an extensive list of optional milestones that takes the companies into flight testing.   While Boeing stands to gain at least $460 million by completing all 19 milestones during the 21-month base period, which would bring the CST-100 through the critical design review stage, an undisclosed, but significant, amount of additional funding may be gained through accomplishing 33 optional milestones.   But the base-period investment alone may not be enough for Boeing to justify continued funding, which may bring CST-100 development to an end.   While the cut-off point "wouldn't be at the end of this base period", says Elbon, it may be in the following option period.   "It's more important to have a definite market there. Obviously Boeing has significant resources, and if there's a business caseit's important that it's clear NASA is committed to the commercial crew programme going forward, that they're going to use it for flights to the ISS, and that we can grow some markets around that."   Boeing is working closely with space station manufacturer Bigelow Aerospace and orbital tourism company Space Adventures in an attempt to secure non-NASA revenue. While Bigelow and Space Adventures have racked up tangible success, neither has yet demonstrated a requirement for regular passenger trips into orbit.   The CCiCap contenders' business cases were among the criteria by which NASA evaluated their proposals. In a NASA justification document released after the selection announcement, Boeing's business case was described in "neutral" terms. It says: "Proposed corporate investment during the CCiCap period does not provide significant industry financial investment and there is an increased risk of having insufficient funding in the base period."   Boeing programme manager John Mulholland said it was difficult to compare the contributions made by companies. He said: "We are only counting things that are direct monetary contributions as an investment, we have a very conservative guideline that we use for what we call true investment. There is a lot of additional contributions we are making to the programme beyond that cash infusion."   Company agrees to 10 space flights from E. Shore   Associated Press   The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority has reached an agreement with a Northern Virginia company on plans to launch rockets from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.   Gov. Bob McDonnell announced the agreement with Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Corp. today regarding the launch site on Virginia's Eastern Shore.   Virginia partnered with the company in 2008 to make improvements to the spaceport that are expected to be completed later this month.   The new agreement states that Orbital will launch 10 flights from the facility, including eight resupply missions to the International Space Station. Virginia will pay to complete additional improvements at the spaceport to support the missions.   Under the agreement, the authority will own and operate all assets that are not specific to Orbital's missions and can be used for other customers.   NASA Astronaut Completes 1st Triathlon in Space   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has completed the first triathlon in space, running, biking and "swimming" along with athletes in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in Southern California over the weekend.   "I'm happy to be done," Williams said from the International Space Station Sunday after she crossed the orbital finish line. "It wasn't easy, and I'm sure everybody in California's very happy to be done too."   Sunita Williams is the U.S. commander of the Expedition 33 crew aboard the space station, which is orbiting Earth about 240 miles (386 km) overhead. She used exercise equipment, including a stationary bike, treadmill and strength-training machine specially formulated for weightlessness, to simulate the triathlon experience in space.   After "swimming" half a mile (0.8 km), biking 18 miles (29 km), and running 4 miles (6.4 km), Williams finished with a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 33 seconds, she reported.   The space station has its own treadmill and stationary bike, which use harnesses and straps in place of gravity to keep astronauts from floating away. To simulate the swimming portion of the race, Williams used what's called the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in microgravity.   "It's critically important to understand human physiology and how to keep you strong on orbit," NASA's flight director in Mission Control said after Williams completed the triathlon, congratulating her on a race "well done."   Exercise is mandatory for all astronauts, because without it spaceflyers' muscles and bones would deteriorate in weightlessness.   "A big shout out to our astronaut strength and conditioning folks, who were really interested in this and who got this whole workout together," Williams said after her race, adding thanks to the staff of NASA's Exercise Lab as well as neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, CNN's medical correspondent, who trained with Williams before her launch and completed the race in Malibu.   "Thanks everybody for your support and ideas about health and fitness and how important it is for humans and getting us back into long-duration spaceflight," Williams said.   An avid athlete, Williams began training for the triathlon before she launched to the space station July 14. After arriving in space, she virtually ran the Aug. 12 Falmouth Road Race, a seven-mile race run in Falmouth, Mass., as part of her training regimen for the triathlon.   The triathlon wasn't her first orbital athletic achievement. During her last stint on the orbiting outpost in 2007, Williams ran the Boston Marathon on the space treadmill, finishing in four hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds.   Williams is one of three people living and working on the space station right now. Her Expedition 33 crewmates Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan arrived with her in July, and the three will return home together in November.   Three more spaceflyers — Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Sergei Revin and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba — departed the station and landed in Kazakhstan late Sunday EDT. Three new crewmembers are expected to launch in October.   Building a ‘live Google Earth’   Richard Hollingham - BBC News   Fourteen years ago, in November 1998, I stood on a low mound overlooking the bleak Kazakhstan steppe. It was early morning. The ground was covered in a light dusting of snow and a bitter wind tore across the cracked concrete, flattening the surrounding scrappy clumps of grass.   A stream of garbled Russian crackled from a loudspeaker mounted on an army truck. The speech was overwhelmed by static and the angry muttering of a technician attempting a hasty repair. Neither of us looked particularly happy to be there. At least I was being paid – in Yeltsin’s Russia, the chances were he hadn’t received a salary for several weeks. Nevertheless, we were both about to witness a significant moment in space history.   Some 2 km (1.4 miles) away – its white pencil-shape barely visible against the grey sky – a Proton rocket rose from the ground. A few seconds later, we heard it: a roar, followed by the crackle of the boosters as the launcher disappeared into the cloud. On board, the first stage of the International Space Station (ISS).   Today, six astronauts live and work on the ISS but it’s never really caught the popular imagination. You’ll find most people don’t know they’re there and many others don’t particularly care.   Originally conceived as an American project, Russia was hastily recruited after the collapse of the Soviet Union to help keep its space industry afloat (and its rockets out of hostile hands). The ISS was subsequently used as the justification to extend the life of the Space Shuttle programme and now it’s being sold as an orbital laboratory for, as the press releases would have it, “ten years of science”.   As it happens, I’m a supporter of the ISS. Before we to go back to the Moon and onto Mars, we need to learn how to live in orbit first. Long duration space flight is tough and far better to overcome the challenges close to home rather than in the isolation of deep space. There might even be some significant scientific discoveries or medical breakthroughs. However, science from the station has yet to generate a single significant peer-reviewed paper.   What the ISS desperately needs is a purpose, something that excites the imagination and makes it relevant to everyone on Earth.   Space wedding   On a laboratory bench in the south of England, lies a box of electronics, a mirror and a metre-long cylinder, that could be the answer.   “What you see here are all the components laid out, prior to assembly, for the video camera we’re going to install on the International Space Station,” explains Ian Tosh, as we look through the glass into the clean room at RAL Space, near the city of Oxford. It is one of two cameras being built at the firm, which will be fitted to the outside of the ISS – one fixed, the other swiveling to  point in different directions.   “You’re looking at about a metre per pixel,” says Tosh. “Similar to the Google Earth type images of your house. You won’t quite see the tiles but you’ll see all the detail in the garden.” But, unlike those Google pictures, these video images will be live - in real time - or very nearly.   The project was conceived by Canadian company, UrtheCast, and its Director and President, Scott Larson, admits that promoting the ISS was certainly part of the appeal for the space agencies. “One of the things we think that UrtheCast will do is increase the awareness of the Space Station,” he tells me. “And so, in talking to our partners, that was one of the key benefits they wanted to get out of what we’re doing.”   The basic service on offer will be free – with users able to log into the site and see live or archived images and video of anywhere on Earth. With the ISS orbiting the planet around 15 times a day, sooner or later it’ll be above something you want to look at.   “You can enter in your address and find out when it was above there last,” says Larson. “And at the same time, because we know where the space station is, you can enter in your address and find out when it’s going to be above you next. And so you can go outside, you can hold your event, your wedding, your sports day around when it’s going to be imaged from space.”   However, as the cameras won’t be able to see through cloud, arranging your wedding pictures around the orbit of the ISS is something of a gamble. UrtheCast plans to give software developers free access to its code, allowing them to develop new applications such as games or utilities. But how does Larson hope to make any money?   “The goal isn’t to make a tonne of money, the goal is to try to break even,” he says. “We’re talking with seven or eight different companies around the world who buy and sell Earth observation data, and they use it to track crops or monitor cities [for example]…and we’ll just enter that market with our data.” There’s also the potential for broadcasters or websites to buy time on the moveable camera to track live news, sports games or events.   The cameras are due to be completed in the next few months and will be transported to the ISS on an unmanned Russian proton supply ship early next year. Cosmonauts are in training to maneuver the bulky equipment into the station from the capsule and for the space walk necessary to install the cameras on the outside structure.   For the engineers at RAL Space, more used to building satellites, the work has proved a welcome change. “It certainly makes it more interesting for a pub discussion,” says Tosh. “Rather than saying ‘I’m an optical design engineer…okay I’ll go and talk to someone else’…now it’s going on the space station and they’ll be real live video, it makes it much more exciting for everyone.”   NASA Calls for Ceasefire in Human-Robot Space Budget Wars   Jeremy Hsu - Innovation News Daily   On the morning of the public memorial service for Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon, NASA officials called for a new era of cooperation between human and robotic space explorers in an era of tighter budgets.   Space agency officials spoke of a future where astronauts and robots would work together to explore the scientific mysteries of other planets and to expand humanity's foothold in space. Their words could bring about a truce of sorts, after years of historic budgetary battles between NASA's human exploration program and its robotic science efforts.   "Let's stop pitting science against exploration," said Colleen Hartman, director for science, operations and programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The battle between humans and robots is a false one and a waste of time."   Hartman and others spoke here Thursday (Sept. 13), the last day of AIAA Space 2012, a conference organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. [Future Visions of Human Spaceflight]   About half of NASA's proposed $17.7 billion budget for 2013 is slated to go toward human exploration — a trend unchanged for the past decade — with almost $5 billion reserved for the robotic science and exploration program.   But the time is right to find new areas for human-robot cooperation and even redefine the old meanings of exploration and science, said Lt. Gen. Eugene Tattini, a retired U.S. Air Force officer and deputy director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory here in Pasadena. Tattini moderated the morning panel, which was called "Human and Robotic Space Science."   All the NASA center directors sitting on the panel echoed the idea of merging human and robotic capabilities in future space missions, regardless of whether their centers had traditionally supported human spaceflight missions or robotic science missions.   "The human-robotic interface is going to be key to our success now and in our future," said Robert Cabana, director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "You've seen the robotic devices we use to support astronauts in space. It's absolutely phenomenal."   Human missions going to the moon, asteroids, Mars or deep space will need robotic housesitters that can watch over outposts between visits by crews, said Stephen Altemus, director of engineering at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.   He pointed to an early example in Robonaut 2 — the humanoid robot aboard the International Space Station that will get a pair of gripping legs to climb outside the orbiting lab in 2014.   Even as robots take over routine and risky jobs (such as spacewalks), humans could potentially do much more meaningful science with their robot buddies. Future missions may have astronauts controlling robots on planetary surfaces from orbit, riding on robotic rovers, and even wearing robotic gloves or full-body exoskeletons to boost their natural strength and mobility, Altemus said.   The idea of eliminating the traditional divide between human and robot missions emerged in the planning stages of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover mission, which landed on the Red Planet. Aug. 5. Curiosity's mission represents a natural stepping stone for possible cooperation on human-robot efforts such as a returning a sample of Martian rock or soil to Earth, researchers said.   "Curiosity is controlled by people but is smart in its own right," said James Garvin, chief scientist for the science and exploration directorate at NASA Goddard. "It is a forerunner for what we could do with people."   Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.   A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre; however, subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.   Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.   "There is hope," Harold "Sonny" White of NASA's Johnson Space Center said here Friday (Sept. 14) at the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting to discuss the challenges of interstellar spaceflight.   Warping space-time   An Alcubierre warp drive would involve a football-shape spacecraft attached to a large ring encircling it. This ring, potentially made of exotic matter, would cause space-time to warp around the starship, creating a region of contracted space in front of it and expanded space behind.   Meanwhile, the starship itself would stay inside a bubble of flat space-time that wasn't being warped at all.   "Everything within space is restricted by the speed of light," explained Richard Obousy, president of Icarus Interstellar, a non-profit group of scientists and engineers devoted to pursuing interstellar spaceflight. "But the really cool thing is space-time, the fabric of space, is not limited by the speed of light."   With this concept, the spacecraft would be able to achieve an effective speed of about 10 times the speed of light, all without breaking the cosmic speed limit.   The only problem is, previous studies estimated the warp drive would require a minimum amount of energy about equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter.   But recently White calculated what would happen if the shape of the ring encircling the spacecraft was adjusted into more of a rounded donut, as opposed to a flat ring. He found in that case, the warp drive could be powered by a mass about the size of a spacecraft like the Voyager 1 probe NASA launched in 1977.   Furthermore, if the intensity of the space warps can be oscillated over time, the energy required is reduced even more, White found.   "The findings I presented today change it from impractical to plausible and worth further investigation," White told SPACE.com. "The additional energy reduction realized by oscillating the bubble intensity is an interesting conjecture that we will enjoy looking at in the lab."   Laboratory tests   White and his colleagues have begun experimenting with a mini version of the warp drive in their laboratory.   They set up what they call the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer at the Johnson Space Center, essentially creating a laser interferometer that instigates micro versions of space-time warps.   "We're trying to see if we can generate a very tiny instance of this in a tabletop experiment, to try to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million," White said.   He called the project a "humble experiment" compared to what would be needed for a real warp drive, but said it represents a promising first step.   And other scientists stressed that even outlandish-sounding ideas, such as the warp drive, need to be considered if humanity is serious about traveling to other stars.   "If we're ever going to become a true spacefaring civilization, we're going to have to think outside the box a little bit, we're going to have to be a little bit audacious," Obousy said.   Coming up at Johnson Space Center: Why does the heart shrink in space?   Kate Lunau - Maclean's (Canada)   A few weeks ago, the Canadian Space Agency offered me the chance to visit NASA’s Johnson Space Center and shadow astronaut Chris Hadfield, who will be the first Canadian to assume command of the International Space Station. So Sunday morning I hopped on a plane to Houston.   After a few hours’ flight, I landed in hot, muggy Houston. As I skimmed around downtown, passing strip malls and palm trees, I knew I was headed in the right direction when I started seeing car dealerships with names like “Space City.” My hotel, just down the road from JSC, decorates its walls with framed photos of galaxies and star clusters.   The JSC, which is home to NASA’s astronaut corps, is the lead NASA center for the 16-nation ISS. By contributing robotics like the Canadarm2 to the Space Station, Canada earns a place for its astronauts to train here. Hadfield, a highly regarded member of the space community, is also very musical guy: last time we met, he told me about how he liked to play his guitar in space. I was happy to see he plans to do so again on this mission.   Monday and Tuesday I’ll be shadowing Hadfield and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. We visit the Neutral Buoyancy Lab and the Human Research Facility, where scientists are studying why the heart muscle seems to shrink in long-duration spaceflight. Tomorrow I’ll be seeing the Virtual Reality lab.   Canada looks to first space station command opportunity   Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily   Veteran space traveler Chris Hadfield is training to become the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to assume command of the International Space Station. His two-month stint at the helm of the six-person orbiting science laboratory begins in March 2013 and may include the arrival of the first Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial resupply craft.   Hadfield, 53, has trained for two years with cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, 41, and NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, 52, for a Dec. 5 liftoff aboard the 33 Soyuz mission to the station and a six-month tour of duty.   As commander of Expedition 35 from mid-March to mid-May, Hadfield would become only the second non-American, non-Russian to lead a station crew. European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne, of Belgium, became the first during October and November of 2009. The station has been continuously staffed since November 2000.   “It’s hugely exciting and a great honor to be asked to be the commander of the ISS. It’s just a dream come true at this stage of my life,” Hadfield, a Canadian air force test pilot and two-time space shuttle crew member, told a Sept. 13 news briefing at NASA ’s Johnson Space Center.   But for Canada, one of the station program’s five major global partners, the experience promises to be as galvanizing as the August landing of NASA ’s Curiosity mission on Mars has been in the U.S., Hadfield anticipates.   “It becomes disproportionately important for the Canadian space industry and Canadian space policy just because of the high level of public awareness that will come from my presence,” said Hadfield. “It’s a motivator for me to do my job right, do my homework and try to look at the whole thing globally.”   Current scheduling, said Hadfield, includes the possible arrival of the initial Cygnus cargo vessel during his command period.   The crew currently anticipates the arrival of a SpaceX Dragon supply craft in January followed by the inaugural Cygnus capsule in April, said Marshburn, who like Hadfield is trained for the Canadian arm track and capture duties .   SpaceX became the first of the two U.S. companies to deliver cargo with its Dragon spacecraft in May. SpaceX is preparing for a Dragon cargo delivery in October as well.   Hadfield will also serve as Romanenko’s flight engineer 1 – or co-pilot – aboard the Soyuz TMA-07M that launches the three fliers and returns them to Earth.   “He’s well organized, a highly disciplined person,” said Romanenko of his Canadian colleague through a translator. “He’s able to make decisions, which are the only correct ones in a given situation.”   If the scheduling holds, Hadfield, Romanenko and Marshburn will join ISS Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford, of NASA , and cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Evgeny Tarelkin, as the 33 Soyuz spacecraft docks with the station two days after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazkhstan.   Hadfield is scheduled to assume command in mid-March, as Expedition 35 begins with the departure of Ford, Novitsky and Tarelkin.   Historic NASA facilities going to waste   Jeremy Kaplan - Fox News   The space agency has an unusual problem: space.   A recent review of NASA’s land holdings on earth revealed a new challenge for the agency: poorly maintained, aging facilities once used for research and development or space vehicle construction, now essentially useless.   NASA spends about $1.1 billion annually on maintenance and upkeep of its more than 5,400 buildings, landing strips and other unique sites; but approximately 9 percent of its real property assets aren’t being used, NASA told FoxNews.com. The solution, according to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG): lease them.   Kennedy leases a clean room where Apollo capsules were readied 40 years ago to Lockheed Martin. Boeing is building space taxis in a processing hangar where shuttles were once routinely readied to soar. And there are plenty of others, from Rolls-Royce and Google to local schools and, in areas where businesses aren’t interested, parks, gardens and visitor centers.   But not enough, according to Paul K. Martin, NASA Inspector General.   “Few incentives exist for NASA to identify underutilized property as unnecessary to its mission needs,” he concluded in the August report.   Olga Dominguez, NASA’s assistant administrator for the office of strategic infrastructure, agreed that the agency wasn’t 100 percent sure how many buildings and facilities were unusued. Part of the challenge, she said, was the changing nature of the space agency’s mission. As NASA has refocused from the space shuttle to the private space industry, its needs have changed as well.   “Because our mission has gone through such extensive changes, all of these new programs -- commercial crew, commercial space -- all of these have different requirements,” she told FoxNews.com. “So the space needs have changes every year.”   “Right now, well we think we might need [a facility] and then seven months later, no we don’t.”   NASA is the ninth largest land owner in the federal government, with more than 100,000 acres that occupy 44 million square feet and are estimated to cost $29 billion to replace.   Over 80 percent of these facilities are 40 years old or more, however, and NASA faces a backlog of deferred maintenance totaling $2.5 billion. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010 requires the agency to eliminate property for which it has no current use -- but what of unique properties it may someday need again?   The best solution for many such cases, according to Martin, is to lease those moldering facilities out. That’s easier said than done, however.   “I have a lot of facilities that we, NASA, no longer need,” Robert Cabana, NASA Kennedy Space Center director and a four-time space shuttle flier, told the Washington Post in February. “I don’t have the money to maintain them, I don’t have the money to tear them down. They’re just going to sit and rot.”   Cabana was frustrated with NASA administration’s inability to adapt, explained Joyce Riquelme, director of center planning and development directorate at Kennedy.   “We do have facilities that are unused or underutilized as a result of the shuttle program shutting down,” she told FoxNews.com.   But thanks to current deals and new agreements -- with nano-satellite firm Micro Aerospace Solutions, engineering company Special Aerospace Services and others -- Kennedy is right-sizing.   “We’re really making good progress,” Riquelme said.   As of September 2011, NASA had 430 leasing agreements of various types at 9 of its 10 centers.   ·         The Navy uses buildings and land at Stennis Space Center. ·         Airship Ventures uses 24,000 square feet of space at Ames’ Moffett Field to store a rigid airship. ·         Google leases 42.2 acres at Ames as well, planning up to 1.2 million square feet of offices and R&D space. ·         Rolls-Royce has office space and engine test facilities at Stennis.   Yet the agency is having a hard time finding tenants, partly because NASA relies heavily on word of mouth. According to the OIG report, that just isn’t working.   A prime example is Hangar One, a Silicon Valley landmark built in the 30s and one of the world’s largest free-standing structures. In April, NASA said it was working to dispose of it.   Leasing Hangar One is illegal, according to current policy, since there’s no immediate need for the vast space. Yet selling it would be a dire hit to Silicon Valley and even national security, many warn.   “The very vitality and future of NASA Ames as a center is at risk,” the Silicon Valley Leadership Group said in May.   The facility is currently being cleaned up by the original tenant, the Navy, according to Scott Anderson, environmental coordinator for the former Naval Air Station. In mid-November, NASA will take over again -- but what happens then is anyone’s guess.   “NASA is responsible for residing the hangar, paying for the cost to reside the hangar, and making any additional upgrades and repairs necessary to prepare the hangar for reuse,” Anderson told FoxNews.com.   Google -- one of the largest tenants of NASA properties -- has offered to pay for tens of millions for that work and to rent the structure through H211 LLC, a private plane operator linked to the search giant.   The status of that offer is unclear.   “NASA has made improvements to its leasing program in recent years,” Martin wrote in his report. Riquelme agreed that headway was, at last, being made.   “In the next three to four months, you’ll see several interesting things come out that will show progress,” she told FoxNews.com.   NASA defends deal with NO film studio   David Jacobs - Baton Rouge Business Report   NASA is renting out space at the Michoud Assembly Center in New Orleans to Big Easy Studios, which has attracted major film productions. Meanwhile, Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge at the Celtic Media Centre sits largely empty, prompting complaints that the federal government is providing an unfair advantage to Big Easy.   NASA's rules state that any deal with an outside entity must serve the agency's mission and must not compete with the private sector. Patrick Mulhearn, director of studio operations at Raleigh Studios Baton Rouge, says the deal with Big Easy seems to violate both rules, although Robert Champion, deputy director at Michoud, says that's not the case.   The old space shuttle has been retired, so NASA is no longer building the shuttle's external tanks at Michoud. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are at work there on the next-generation spaceship, but they don't need as much room. Offsetting the cost of the additional space by renting to commercial tenants like Big Easy supports the agency's overall mission, Champion says.   As for the unfair competition argument, Champion says NASA is required to recover the full cost of the rented space. However, he says, the agency works with "state and local economic development agencies to vet our pricing to make sure we're not competing [with] or undercutting the local market." Neither BRAC nor LED reports having any discussions with NASA specifically about lease rates for a film studio.   "We've had many conversations with NASA officials about the need to offer more competitive lease rates at Michoud to better position the facility to attract advanced manufacturing projects," says LED Secretary Stephen Moret by email, adding that they've not discussed the movie business specifically, but that his understanding is that the facility charges about the same rates to all private-sector tenants.   Mulhearn obtained a copy of the agreement between NASA and Big Easy Studios through a Freedom of Information Act request, although all the financial information was blacked out. The lease rates are considered proprietary information.   "All I've been given is hearsay from producers who tell me that our rates are more expensive than theirs," he says. "The taxpayers didn't fund [Michoud] to make movies. … I know that the O'Connors never would have built this facility if they knew they were going to have to compete with NASA."   "On a per-square-foot basis, our prices are higher," contends Jerry Lathan, a partner with Big Easy.   Lathan says his operation doesn't compete with the state's other studios at all; instead, it vies for massive projects that otherwise wouldn't even consider Louisiana, but might end up in Melbourne, Australia, or Vancouver, Canada. For example, Ender's Game, a big-budget fantasy flick that was filmed at Big Easy, was set to film in London and Morocco before being lured to New Orleans at the last minute, he says.   "We got that movie from overseas," Lathan says. "Louisiana is better for it."   Giving Direction to American Human Exploration   Mark Sykes – Space News (Opinion)   (Sykes is chief executive and director of the Planetary Science Institute)   The next president of the United States may have the last opportunity to do something no administration has ever done: define a rationale for an American human space program that is long-term and open-ended.   This program has surged, then lurched and sputtered for more than 50 years. President John F. Kennedy’s objective was to beat the Russians. We did. Richard M. Nixon signed off on the space shuttle on false promises of $180 per kilogram to orbit and the capability of capturing Russian satellites (and to avoid being responsible for ending the greatest symbol of American exceptionalism since World War II). Ronald Reagan signed off on the space station to give the shuttle a destination and as a tool to support international cooperation. George H.W. Bush proposed the Space Exploration Initiative (back to the Moon, this time to stay, then on to Mars). It collapsed in the face of trillion-dollar cost estimates. George W. Bush defined his Vision for Space Exploration to return to the Moon. He restructured NASA but never requested the required funds from Congress to fund his plan.   When it entered office, the administration of President Barack Obama was faced with a train wreck (one of several) in the space program. A huge infusion of funds into NASA for the Bush initiative was not possible. At the same time, the transition from the shuttle to a follow-on capability was to leave the U.S. without independent crewed access to space. The “flexible path” the administration chose effectively kicked the can down the road well beyond an anticipated second Obama term, embracing a “terminal target” — Mars — as its ultimate goal, with the intermediate step of a human mission to a near-Earth asteroid. Unfortunately, a “terminal target” envisions nothing beyond and is basically a “flags and footprints” scenario.   In difficult economic times, coincident with a particularly low ebb of flight activity, it is possible for the American human space program to come to an end. It is expensive as performance art. Perhaps as long as tourists could be commercially flown on a suborbital arc, an administration could take credit for American exceptionalism being preserved.   Many space advocates have desired a return to big NASA budgets to restore the excitement of the 1960s. The lesson they took from that period is that you need an Apollo-like program with an ambitious (but dead-end) goal, such as returning to the Moon or going to Mars. This is the wrong lesson. The excitement of the 1960s was not driven by the thought of beating the Russians to the Moon (though this was sufficient for Congress to appropriate the funds needed). People were caught up in the idea that this was the “Dawn of the Space Age,” that space represented a new American frontier that ultimately would be experienced by everyone — not just test pilots, but regular people. This had a profound effect on American culture and optimism about the future. We were recapturing something fundamental about ourselves and expanding the American dream.   People thought this was all inevitable. They would wake up one day, look outside and see the Jetsons. After the Moon landing, it became apparent that nothing was happening beyond repeating the feat. People were quickly bored. Under the budgetary pressure of the Vietnam War, support for continued high levels of funding quickly waned. The rest was not the history envisioned less than a decade earlier.   I think there is a rationale that could capture the imagination of the American people and personally reconnect them to our national endeavor: to answer the question of whether humanity has a future beyond Earth, and if it does, to lead the way and ensure that American values are planted in that future. This is an optimistic vision, creating positive options for the American population, economy and culture.   “Whether” and “if” are important here. We cannot guarantee a specific outcome. Explorers push into the unknown. The United States is the only country in the world — perhaps for the next couple of decades — that can address this fundamental question and take advantage of what we learn. We still have the industrial base, and we still have an unparalleled and deep bench of scientists and engineers with the required knowledge and skills.   What needs to be done?   We need to determine if Earth life (including us) can thrive in lunar and/or martian gravities. A centrifuge on the international space station, analogous to the one canceled in 2005, could run these experiments — including mammals — over a number of years. If the outcome is negative, it would highlight the importance of preserving the one planet on which we might live. We would face the challenge, and choice, of engineering options to redefine what it would mean to be a spacefaring species.   In parallel, we need to identify recoverable resources such as water, likely from near-Earth objects (carbonaceous asteroids and dormant or extinct comets) in accessible orbits, that could be economically utilized to support a relatively self-sustainable space transportation system. We cannot afford to bring everything we need for expanded space activity up from the gravity well of the Earth. Identifying resource objects would require a relatively inexpensive, space-based survey telescope based on the recent Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission (an effort already being laid out for finding targets for the currently contemplated human mission to an asteroid). There also would be new technologies to be developed such as automated resource extraction for which the space station would be the logical test platform.   Such a long-term, open-ended rationale for American human exploration would:   ·         Provide focus and direction to an essentially rudderless program, giving much-needed context within which programmatic plans, such as launch systems and human transport vehicles, could be defined and decisions made. ·         Create an expectation of continued investment in a high-profile, high-tech industry (and science), improving confidence in that industry and work force. ·         Allow for expenditures at a rate that fits the state of the economy, while still advancing the objectives of American human exploration regardless of pace. ·         Make possible continued and substantive American leadership and a legacy that would rival and probably surpass that of John F. Kennedy. After all, if everything works out and humanity expands beyond Earth, hundreds of years from now people would look to a speech given by the next president as the pivot point that created their future.   ENDEAVOUR FERRY FLIGHT NEWS     Space shuttle Endeavour stuck at home in Florida   Marcia Dunn - Associated Press   Space shuttle Endeavour apparently doesn't want to leave home.   NASA's youngest shuttle was supposed to depart Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Monday for its permanent museum home in Los Angeles. But stormy weather along the Gulf of Mexico nixed the travel plans until Wednesday morning.   The shuttle will be bolted to the top of a modified jumbo jet when it leaves Florida.   Endeavour will stop off in Houston, home to Mission Control, and fly low over NASA facilities en route. After a stop at Edwards Air Force Base in California, it will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, a day later than planned.   Endeavour, which retired last year, will go on display at the California Science Center.   Endeavour's departure from Florida now delayed until Wednesday   Amina Khan - Los Angeles Times   NASA space shuttle Endeavour’s departure for Los Angeles has been delayed another day, officials at Kennedy Space Center said Monday.   A low-pressure front in the northern Gulf of Mexico is generating stormy weather along Endeavour’s flight path, grounding the orbiter until Wednesday.   Endeavour, mounted onto a specially modified 747 carrier aircraft, was originally set to be ferried to its final home in the California Science Center at sunrise Monday.   Managers are considering their options, NASA spokesman Mike Curie said. The planned touchdown at LAX was set for Thursday. A Wednesday departure would further squeeze the ferry flight's original three-day window.   The threat of thunderstorms had already prompted managers on Sunday to postpone the shuttle’s departure from Cape Canaveral by 24 hours to Tuesday, shortening its scheduled visit to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Now, NASA officials are discussing how the delay will affect the shuttle’s flight path and scheduled visit to Houston, home of the astronaut office.   Thus far, said NASA spokesman Mike Curie, “the forecast for Wednesday looks good.” By then, the low-pressure system should have moved northeast and out of the Gulf region.   NASA officials will hold another weather briefing Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern.   Westward, no: Endeavour and 747 wait out weather   James Dean - Florida Today   Endeavour is now expected to depart Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Wednesday, after storms delayed its takeoff atop a 747 jumbo jet for a second day.   Thunderstorms in the northern Gulf of Mexico interfered with the ferry flight’s path to Houston, the first planned stop on a multi-day trip to Los Angeles.   Managers considered putting off a decision until early this morning, but by Monday afternoon concluded conditions would not improve today.   “It became obvious that the forecast offered us no opportunity to safely fly through the weather that is blocking our path from Florida westward,” said Mike Curie, a KSC spokesman.   “Because a lot of people are interested and following this flight, we wanted to make sure to provide enough advance notice for everyone.”   The last shuttle ferry flight had been scheduled to start Monday. After the departure slipped to Tuesday, NASA still hoped to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday.   “It looks very promising to be able to fly on Wednesday,” Curie said.   Endeavour is now expected to arrive in Los Angeles on Friday, a day later than originally planned   After taking off from KSC, the piggybacked jet and spaceship are expected to fly low over Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, south along the beach to the Pineda Causeway, circle back up the Indian River and make final passes over the KSC Visitor Complex and the space center.   A veteran of 25 shuttle missions, Endeavour is headed to its permanent display home at the California Science Center.   Endeavour now set to leave Wednesday   Scott Powers - Orlando Sentinel   The final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour was postponed again because of weather and now is set to leave on Wednesday morning.   Endeavour — atop a modified Boeing 747 — was set to make a three-day flight Monday morning to California, but weather conditions scratched that. By Monday afternoon, NASA officials decided Tuesday morning's forecast was not favorable either.   The flight is now tentatively set for 7 a.m. Wednesday. NASA now must determine a new flight plan; Endeavour initially was to arrive in Los Angeles by way of Houston, New Mexico and Edwards Air Force Base in California. It is supposed to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, but that is now subject to change.   After it arrives in Los Angeles, it will be trucked over local streets to its permanent home at the California Science Center.   When Endeavour does leave, the B-747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft carrying it is expected to make a farewell flyover salute to the Space Coast, flying low over Patrick Air Force Base, Cape Canaveral Air Station, Kennedy Space Center and the center's visitor complex before it heads west.   Shuttle Endeavour to begin voyage to new home   Nell Greenfieldboyce - National Public Radio   Space shuttle Endeavour begins a kind of farewell tour this week. The shuttle will set off on a cross-country trip to its retirement home, flying from Florida to Los Angeles on the back of a modified jumbo jet.   Along the way, the spaceship will stop off in Houston, home of NASA's Mission Control and, weather permitting, fly over NASA centers and various landmarks in cities that include San Francisco and Sacramento.   If all goes as planned, the shuttle will take off from Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on Wednesday and land at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. Endeavour was scheduled to leave Florida on Monday but bad weather has delayed the start of the trip.   Then, after processing at the airport, the shuttle will have to make a long, unprecedented trip through city streets. The giant spaceship will ride on top of a special transporter for about 12 miles.   That two-day, 1-mile-per-hour trip is scheduled for mid-October, and the planning for it has rivaled the amount of preparation it used to take to launch Endeavour into space.   That's because Endeavour is simply huge: Its wingspan is 78 feet and the tip of its tail is five stories off the ground. Getting it through the city streets in one piece is no easy feat.   Taking the space shuttle apart and transporting it in pieces just wasn't possible because of the way it's covered in heat shield tiles, explains Ken Phillips, curator for aerospace science at the California Science Center, which won a fierce competition last year to get one of NASA's retired shuttles.   "You couldn't take the tail off it," Phillips says. "You can't pull the wings off and do things like we could with other aircraft."   So the iconic shuttle will be a surreal sight, moving slowly down wide commercial boulevards and passing places like Starbucks coffee shops and fast-food joints.   "There are McDonald's along the way, absolutely, there are McDonald's everyplace in L.A.," says a laughing Phillips, who knows the route well. "I come to work that way every day."   The route was selected after a team of engineers donated hundreds of hours to figuring out the best way to get the intact shuttle from the airport to the science center. They had to find streets that were wide enough, not too steep, and able to bear the weight of the 170,000-pound spacecraft. They used computer simulations and lasers to precisely measure distances to possible obstructions, like buildings to traffic lights. A lot of stuff has to be moved.   "For almost seven months now, we've been elevating power lines so that the tail can clear the power lines," notes Phillips.   Workers have also been cutting down trees. Nearly 500 trees need to go. And that's upset some local residents.   The science center says the vast majority are small trees. It's promised to not just replace them but plant even more in a 2-for-1 deal.   Local officials have approved the plans. Mawusi Watson, chief of staff to the city administrator for Inglewood, says, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And in municipal government, it's rare that you get an opportunity to participate in such a nationally significant event."   Even with obstructions gone, the route will sometimes be a tight squeeze. At some spots, there are clearances of just 6 inches or so, says Phillips.   "And as a curator, to be perfectly candid, that makes me a little nervous," Phillips says, noting that although the shuttle's tiles were designed to withstand the extreme heat of re-entering Earth's atmosphere, they're actually very fragile. "You could take your thumb, for example, and just punch it right through one of the tiles."   After Endeavour is safely at its final resting place, NASA will have delivered three of its four shuttles. The others went to museums in New York and outside Washington, D.C.   The last shuttle left will be Atlantis, and it will make the shortest trip of all. It's staying in Florida, at the visitor center right next door to the Kennedy Space Center.   Weather delays last flight of space shuttle Endeavour to museum   Kevin Gray - Reuters   The departure of the space shuttle Endeavour on its final flight to a Los Angeles museum has been delayed until Wednesday by bad weather, NASA said.   Endeavour, which was retired last year, was scheduled to travel piggyback on top of a specially modified 747 jet, but storms along the planned flight path have pushed back its departure from the Kennedy Space Center until Wednesday.   It was the second delay caused by weather in transporting the shuttle, which was originally intended to depart on Monday.   NASA said Endeavour is now expected to arrive on Friday in Los Angeles, where it will go on display at the California Science Center on October 30.   On its trip, Endeavour is expected make a low pass over the beachside communities surrounding the Kennedy Space Center before heading west. It will make additional flyovers near NASA facilities in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.   Endeavour was built as a replacement for the shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed in an accident that killed seven astronauts in 1986.   Endeavour's lifespan was relatively short by shuttle standards - 25 missions over 20 years, totaling 299 days in space.   Space shuttle Endeavour expected to take final flight over Silicon Valley   Mike Cassidy - San Jose Mercury News   If all goes as planned, the Bay Area will be treated to the stunning spectacle Friday of the space shuttle Endeavour riding across the region's sky and dipping low toward the ground on the back of a 747 carrying a piece of American ingenuity into retirement.   I'm pretty jazzed. And Silicon Valley should be, too.   Face it: If any one place could get excited about hosting the first and last Northern California flyover of a space shuttle, it's Silicon Valley, a place that not only can claim to be the spaceship's birthplace (more or less), but also is the land where the geekerati are obsessively fixated on just what technology makes possible.   Weather permitting, it will be a morning of wide eyes and craned necks, as the 100-ton shuttle jets from Sacramento, where it will make a low pass near the Capitol; to San Francisco, where it will fly low near the Golden Gate Bridge; and on to Moffett Field, where in honor of NASA Ames, the piggybacking shuttle will make its final low pass -- at 1,500 feet or so, NASA officials say.   "I just think it's so cool. It's going to fly low and people will be able to see it," says Donald James, NASA Ames' acting director of new ventures and communication who's been with the space agency for 30 years. "A space shuttle has never been in Northern California, ever, and it's never going to be here again."   The flight, which should reach Moffett sometime after 9 a.m., is a farewell flight, after all.   And the public is invited to say goodbye at an informal ceremony at the Mountain View airfield. The space shuttle program has run its astronomical course, its orbiters parceled out to museums in Florida, Washington, D.C., New York City, and in Endeavour's case, the California Science Center in Los Angeles. The museum will be the ship's last stop after a nine-year career in which it blasted into space 25 times and traveled 122,883,151 miles.   While the shuttle remains a technological marvel, Endeavour's goodbye tour is a reminder that there is only so much humans can conquer with know-how. The weather, particularly low cloud cover, could wreak havoc on NASA's plans, or even scrub Endeavour's last mission. Stormy weather along Endeavour's cross-country flight path already has pushed its Bay Area visit back from Thursday to Friday. Friday's Bay Area forecast is for low clouds, burning off by late morning, so keep your fingers crossed.   Only a general flight schedule had been released as of Monday, but considering the flight's schedule at Moffett and its need to be in Los Angeles by about 11 a.m., you can assume the shuttle and its chauffeur will be flying through the Bay Area from roughly 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.   So, you're wondering, how best to see this amazing sight? Your best bet, for my money, is the event at Moffett Field. The gates open at 6 a.m. There will be food trucks and informational booths explaining NASA Ames' shuttle connections, a few short speeches and a countdown to the shuttle sighting starting at 9 a.m.   (More information and parking pass registration is here)   Otherwise, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how to see this bit of rocket technology.   "I think any place where people can look up, mid-Peninsula, close to the water," says James. Think Shoreline Park or the Baylands in Palo Alto. Farther north there is Coyote Point in San Mateo County, the Golden Gate Bridge vista points and Crissy Field.   The aerial visit to Moffett is in honor of NASA Ames' contribution to the shuttle program, which goes back to the very beginning, when the base's massive wind tunnels were used in the early conceptual work.   "The very design of the shuttle was based on work done by NASA Ames people," James says. "The shuttle tiles were invented at Ames. We have a simulator that every shuttle pilot who has ever flown the shuttle has come here to fly."   And so, James, who started at Ames in 1984, practically has goose bumps, like many in the Bay Area who have been mesmerized by a shuttle liftoff, or who've mourned a shuttle disaster, or who've had their notions of what was humanly possible challenged by witnessing men and women fly off into space only to return and land about the same way the Southwest shuttle touches down at Mineta San Jose International Airport.   But maybe the aerial visit is even more important to those who weren't even born when the first space shuttle blasted off in 1981. That's why administrators at Mountain View's Theurerkauf Elementary, across Highway 101 from Moffett Field, were planning to have the kids out looking skyward when the shuttle passes, as long as it doesn't interfere with valuable instructional time.   "The weather has been pretty good here," school secretary Mary Colon says hopefully.   Let's hope that holds true Friday. I can't think of a better way to inspire the innovators of tomorrow.   Shuttle Endeavour's Los Angeles landing delayed to Friday   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   Space shuttle Endeavour's highly anticipated arrival in Los Angeles has been deferred by a day.   The retired spacecraft, which will be ferried on top NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 jet, was originally targeted to land at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Thursday. Destined for display at the California Science Center (CSC), Endeavour, riding piggyback atop the SCA, is now scheduled to touch down on Friday at about 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT; 1800 GMT).   "The decision to reschedule the flight was made Monday in coordination with the science center to ensure a safe flight for Endeavour and the SCA," NASA announced in a statement.   The one-day delay stems from NASA having to postpone Endeavour's departure from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a result of a low pressure weather front and its associated thunderstorms posing a threat to the ferry flight during its first leg to Houston. The carrier aircraft had been set to takeoff from Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility on Monday morning, but was delayed twice, first to Tuesday and then Wednesday.   "Weather predictions are favorable on Wednesday for the flight path between Houston and NASA's Kennedy Space Center," the space agency said.   Endeavour's last liftoff from Florida and the final ferry flight of the shuttle era is now targeted to begin on Wednesday (Sept. 19) at sunrise, at about 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT).   Delaying the shuttle's Los Angeles arrival to Friday offered NASA the leeway to resume its plans to conduct several low flyovers and stopovers at many of its facilities spread across the southern and western regions of the country.   After taking off from Kennedy on the same runway where Endeavour made its 25th and final return from space in June 2011, the shuttle and SCA duo will perform a flyover of Florida's Space Coast, including Kennedy, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Patrick Air Force Base.   The air- and spacecraft will then fly west and conduct low level passes of the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where NASA tested the orbiters' engines and built the shuttles' external tanks respectively. As the ferry flight arrives over the Gulf Coast area, the SCA will fly low passes over the Houston area before touching down at Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center.   The Texas Gulf Coast region flyover is scheduled to occur between about 9 and 10:30 a.m. CDT. Landing at Ellington is scheduled for approximately 10:45 a.m. Endeavour and the SCA will spend the night in Houston.   At sunrise on Thursday, the aircraft and shuttle will depart Ellington, make a refueling stop at Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, and conduct low-level flyovers of White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M., and the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., before landing around mid-day at Dryden.   On the morning of Sept. 21, the SCA and Endeavour will take off one last time from Dryden and perform a low-level flyover of northern California, passing near NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field and various landmarks in multiple cities, including Sacramento and San Francisco. The aircraft will also fly over many Los Angeles landmarks before arriving at LAX.   Once on the ground and following a ceremony welcoming Endeavour to Los Angeles, the shuttle will be removed from the SCA and spend a few weeks at a United Airlines hangar undergoing preparations for transport and display. Endeavour will then travel through the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles on a two-day, 12-mile (19-kilometer) road trip from the airport to the science center, arriving on the evening of Oct. 13.   Beginning Oct. 30, the shuttle will debut on display in the science center's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, beginning its new educational mission to commemorate past achievements in space and inspire the next generations of explorers.   Center gets final OK to cut trees in space shuttle's path Officials agree to plant four times as many trees, provide scholarships and job training in exchange for clearing Endeavour's route   Angel Jennings - Los Angeles Times   The California Science Center received final approval Monday to chop down 265 trees to make room for the space shuttle Endeavour as it rolls through the streets of Los Angeles.   To garner residents' support, the center sweetened the deal at the last minute and agreed to replant four times as many trees, repair additional sidewalks, and offer scholarships and job training.   "While we sincerely regret the loss of many majestic trees which have aided this community for decades, what we accomplished through this agreement is a greener South L.A. for the health of our community, as well as educational opportunities at the Science Center for generations to come," said a statement released through the Neighborhood Council groups' attorney, Gideon Kracov.   In all, nearly 400 trees will be cut down in Inglewood and South Los Angeles in the 12-mile route between Los Angeles International Airport and the shuttle's permanent home in Exposition Park. (Of those, 119 are in South Los Angeles, 124 are in Westchester, 128 are in Inglewood and the rest are near LAX).   Community members packed the Board of Public Works meeting at City Hall on Monday morning to voice their concerns. Some residents said they felt slighted and left with few options.   "I'm tired of people coming to our community and doing things behind our backs and then at the last minute inviting us to the meetings and it's already too late," Ayana McCowen, 39, said to a boisterous crowd. "This is an injustice to me and my community."   South Los Angeles resident Lark Galloway-Gilliam, a driving force behind the deal, told the board of a recent visit to the California Science Center with a 10-year-old girl.   The youngster found a $20 bill on the floor of the museum, but instead of keeping it, she told Galloway-Gilliam she wanted to donate it to the Endeavour fundraising effort.   "She is why we are here today to sign this agreement," Galloway-Gilliam said. "She exemplifies the integrity, the graciousness of the community I call home. The space shuttle will provide an exciting exhibit for our children."   Near the end of the three-hour meeting, Commissioner Andrea Alarcón applauded the work of residents in South Los Angeles communities.   "Your advocacy really pushed us to a new place," she said, adding later that the outspoken group was able to secure more improvements to their neighborhood.   Other neighborhoods, including Inglewood and Westchester, will receive the state minimum requirement of two replanted trees for every one removed.   In addition to the extra trees, the agreement calls for larger trees to be planted, $400,000 toward tree trimming, and up to five years of tree maintenance.   The California Science Center also agreed to provide at least 10 scholarships to area students, pay $100,000 to an education fund and train local teachers in science. Local youths will be hired to perform at least half of the tree maintenance.   Tree removal in Los Angeles could begin as early as next week in anticipation of a two-day parade from LAX to the California Science Center that will begin Oct. 12.   Although the parade is still on track, NASA officials pushed Endeavour's grand homecoming to Los Angeles back a day to Friday.   A cross-country farewell tour is still planned. On the back of a modified 747 aircraft, Endeavour will dip low over several NASA sites along the southern United States and spend one night in Houston before reaching Edwards Air Force base Thursday afternoon.   Endeavour will leave the Mojave Desert base early Friday, touring several landmarks across Northern California and the Los Angeles area before touching down at LAX midday.   NASA spokesman Michael Curie said despite the changes, officials were "expecting everything to fall into place."   California Science Center Foundation to replant trees removed for space shuttle Endeavour's trip from LAX to new home   Rick Orlov - Los Angeles Daily News   Hoping to allay concerns that hundreds of trees will be removed along the space shuttle Endeavour's route from LAX to its new home, the president of the California Science Center Foundation pledged Monday to replant more trees than are removed and to repair sidewalk damage from existing trees.   In a presentation to the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, foundation President Jeffrey Rudolph said the plan is to exceed the city's requirement to replace trees on a three-to-one and four-to-one basis.   Also, the foundation, which is coordinating the move, will take care of the trees for three to five years. As part of its plan, Rudolph said some trees are being preserved, such as those planted in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King.   "We are trying to remove as few trees as possible," Rudolph said, adding that those causing sidewalk damage are the first to be removed.   The plan calls for 265 trees to be removed within the city of Los Angeles and those removal permits have already been issued. The hearing Monday was informational.   In all, some 400 trees are to be removed along the route, which includes the community of Westchester, the city of Inglewood and the city of L.A. to Exposition Park. The shuttle will towed at 2 to 3 miles per hour along city streets to its new exhibition site.   To accommodate the shuttle, which has a 78-foot wingspan and is 57 feet tall, several light poles are being temporarily moved to make room for the ship.   Rudolph said the shuttle could not be dismantled. Officials did look at trying to use helicopters to carry it, but it is too large.   "This is considered a historic piece and the federal government has been very clear on what we can do," Rudolph said. "For instance, we will be unable to open the payload door, because it only works in the gravity of space."   The addition of the shuttle is expected to draw an additional 800,000 visitors a year to the science center.   There has been concern from some South Los Angeles communities that removing trees will have a negative impact on their neighborhoods, and several residents from Leimert Park warned the removal of mature trees will hurt public health and the environment.   Kevin Brown, a resident of Leimert Park, said some of the trees are 80 years old.   "There are eucalyptus trees and jacaranda trees and what are they going to replace them with?" Brown asked. "We sent the rover Curiosity to Mars and it sent back all these pictures and what did you see? No trees. If we can sent an aircraft to Mars, surely we can find a better way to go 12 miles to the California Science Center."   Pamela Austin, a Crenshaw Boulevard resident, complained there was not enough outreach on the project.   "We should not have to come in at the back end to make a deal on this," Austin said. "I beg of you to treat us with the dignity we deserve."   However, Steve Soboroff, who serves on the California Science Center Foundation board and is former president of the city Recreation and Parks Commission, said a survey of the trees found that none were native or heritage trees.   "We engaged tree people to be involved and the vast majority to be removed are sick, dying or creating havoc on the sidewalks and a number are scheduled to be replaced," Soboroff said.   Nissen Davis of the Southern California Aero Club, which supports the plans, said he believes the shuttle move will be an event bringing the city together.   "In 1984, we moved a DC 8 to the center and the entire community along the route turned out to celebrate it," Davis said. "I think we will see the same thing here."   Rudolph said the city was fortunate in winning the Endeavour to be placed on display.   "Several years ago, when NASA announced they would accept proposals, more than 20 museums competed," Rudolph said. "We, in Los Angeles were not considered a favorite, but last April we were awarded the Endeavour."   Weather has delayed the shuttle's departure from Florida, but it is now scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on Friday. The plans call for the shuttle to begin its move to the Science Center on Oct. 12.   The Endeavour was the fifth shuttle to be put in service in 1992 and flew 25 missions.   Michigan GOP: Letting Toyota truck haul shuttle offensive   David Shepardson - Detroit News   The Michigan Republican Party harshly criticized the Obama administration for allowing a Toyota Motor Corp. pickup truck to tow one of the retired space shuttles to its final home in Los Angeles.   "Barack Obama acts as if he single handedly built the U.S. domestic auto industry, meanwhile, a symbol of American greatness will be towed to its final resting place by a foreign competitor, forever cementing the image of a Toyota truck towing a retired space shuttle," said Matt Frendewey, director of communications for the Michigan Republican Party on Monday.   "The symbolism of this PR stunt should be offensive to every red-blooded American with vested interest in the success of the U.S. automotive industry."   He also used the opportunity to criticize the Obama administration's space policy. "From an administration that outsourced our entire space program, I guess this is fitting," he said.   An Obama campaign spokesman didn't comment.   Toyota has about 1,000 direct employees in Michigan. The company has operations in Michigan at its Toyota Technical Center in Washtenaw County, Toyota Financial Services dealer office in Livonia and at its Hino Motors Manufacturing USA subsidiary in Farmington Hills. It also has about 5,901 indirect jobs at its 32 Michigan dealers and auto suppliers.   The pickup truck that will haul the shuttle is built at the Japanese automaker's assembly plant in San Antonio, Texas.   A Toyota spokeswoman, Martha Voss, said the Tundra is an American vehicle.   "There is only one country in the world where the Toyota Tundra is produced — in the good old US of A by thousands of American workers. What's not to like about that?" Voss said.   Toyota said last week that a standard Tundra — no different than any other pickup off the assembly line — will tow the space shuttle Endeavour during its scheduled final journey to the California Science Center Oct. 13, where it will go on permanent display.   The 300,000-pound Endeavour will travel 12 miles from Los Angeles International Airport on city streets to the Science Center, with the Tundra towing the last quarter mile. Toyota tested the Tundra extensively to ensure it could do the job.   A 2012 Tundra CrewMax half-ton pickup, identical to models currently found in Toyota dealerships — with no additional modifications made to increase towing capacity or generate more power — will haul the shuttle.   It has a 5.7-liter, V-8 engine, producing a maximum tow capacity of 10,000 pounds. Toyota worked with the Sarens Group, a heavy lifting and engineered transport company, to develop a dolly specifically for hauling the Endeavour.   "There is no larger or more recognizable icon of the U.S. space program's success than the shuttle, and to have it towed by the Toyota Tundra is not only an incredible example of the capabilities of the truck, but an honor to be part of history," said Ed Laukes, Toyota Motor Sales USA's vice president of marketing communications, in a statement last week.   "The entire journey is something the world will be watching, and gives us a chance to prove that the 'overbuilt' Tundra is built to do any job — even tow the space shuttle."   END