9/20/12 news

      Thursday, September 20, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll 2.            WebTADS Fiscal Year-End 2012 Closeout and Fiscal Year 2013 Reopening 3.            Inspire the World About Space 4.            Crew Health and Performance Improvements and Resource Impacts With Reduced CO2 5.            Volunteers Needed for Open House 6.            Hot Air Balloon Crew Needed 7.            JSC Expected Behaviors 8.            The Do's and Don'ts of Relating With People 9.            Optimism: Don't Worry ... Be Happy 10.          Reminder: JSC Remote Access/VPN Services Down Tonight -- 7 to 8 p.m. 11.          NASA@work Challenges -- Submit Your Solution Today 12.          JSC Still Imagery and Mission Video Resources Training 13.          Electronics Recycling Event -- This Saturday ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”   -- Mae West ________________________________________ 1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll Marco Polo was your choice for Greatest Explorer of All Time last week. Pretty good competition, but good choice. You thought Johnny Cash was the Greatest Country Music Singer ever. I'm sorry, but the correct answer is Ernest Tubb.   This week we start getting geared up for the Ballunar Liftoff Festival coming Sept. 28, 29 and 30, with our fantastic Open House on Sept. 29. What a fun weekend it is at JSC, and a great way to reach out to kids and show them what's possible at NASA. Every balloon has a name, and some of them are funny. Can you pick out the answer in question one that isn't a balloon name? Question two is a test of your social media hipness. Do you use Pinterest? Twitter? Other? Google your Yahoo on over to get this week's poll.   Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 2.            WebTADS Fiscal Year-End 2012 Closeout and Fiscal Year 2013 Reopening WebTADS, the civil servant Time and Attendance System, will be unavailable to employees to update their time beginning Tuesday, Sept. 25.   Civil servants should keep track of their time and attendance manually and enter their time in WebTADS after the system reopens, which will be no earlier than Sept. 27, but no later than Oct. 3. The Fiscal Year (FY)12/FY13 codes will be available for use as appropriate.   If you need assistance with labor codes, please contact your organization's Resources Management Office analyst.   If you have questions regarding WebTADS, please contact the JSC Payroll Office at x35987 or x34718.   JSC Payroll Office x35987   [top] 3.            Inspire the World About Space Encourage youth 10 to 18 years old to participate in the international Humans in Space Youth Art Competition and express their views of the future of human space exploration via visual, literary, musical and video art. Youth artwork will be woven into multimedia displays and performances worldwide to inspire people of all ages and promote dialogue about space.   The deadline for artwork submissions is Oct. 21.   Go to the website to learn more. Share the link with friends, neighbors, schools and youth organizations. Sign up to be a judge and see what the next generation thinks is important for the future of space.   Jancy McPhee 281-244-2022 http://www.humansinspaceart.org   [top] 4.            Crew Health and Performance Improvements and Resource Impacts With Reduced CO2 There are reports that International Space Station crews are experiencing adverse health effects from on-orbit exposure to CO2 levels well below the current Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration (SMAC) of 5.3 mmHg for 180 days of exposure. John James, NASA's chief toxicologist, discusses: 1) comparison of reports of headaches by the crew during private medical conferences to cabin CO2 levels to find at what level crews were really at risk; 2) whether neuro-cognitive effects could be associated with CO2 levels; 3) resource utilization to meet various levels of CO2 control if the SMACs were lowered; and 4) potential interactions of intracranial pressure and CO2 levels in eliciting ocular effects.   Today, Sept. 20, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.   Location: Building 5 South, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor)   SATERN Registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_..   If there are issues with this link, try a SATERN search for "spacesuit," which will bring up all the spacesuit knowledge capture series offerings.   For additional information, contact any EC5 spacesuit knowledge capture POC: Cinda Chullen (x38384); Juniper Jairala (281-461-5794); Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795); or Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681).   Juniper Jairala 281-461-5794   [top] 5.            Volunteers Needed for Open House Ballunar and Open House are just around the corner! This unique weekend of fun takes place at JSC Sept. 28 to 30. The center transforms into the location of the RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival and JSC's Open House. It's a one-of-a-kind tribute to human flight -- from the beauty of mass hot air balloon ascensions to the high-tech world of modern space flight. In addition to tours and exhibits at NASA buildings, astronaut autograph sessions are scheduled in the Ballunar Area at the Experience NASA exhibit on Saturday, Sept. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.   Volunteer shifts for the information booths and education activities are: Saturday, Sept. 29, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m.   Volunteer shifts for sign take-downs are: Sunday, Sept.30, from 4 to 5 p.m.   Please contact Hallie Frazee (hallie.frazee@nasa.gov or x27929) with the dates/times you are interested in volunteering for.   Hallie Frazee x27929   [top] 6.            Hot Air Balloon Crew Needed The RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival is looking for volunteers to help crew on the hot air balloons for our out-of-town pilots. You must be at least 17 years of age and in good physical condition since there will be some lifting involved. Flights will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 28 to 30) during the following time periods:   Friday - 6 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday - 6 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Sunday - 6 a.m.   Each flight will last about two to three hours.   If you would like to join us for a fun-filled weekend of hot-air ballooning, please visit the RE/MAX Ballunar Liftoff Festival website at http://www.ballunarfestival.com and follow the links to the volunteer crew registration area, or contact us via email at: BallunarCrewTexas@yahoo.com   Hallie Frazee x27929   [top] 7.            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 third of four expected behaviors.   -- Be accountable. Be answerable and responsible for your actions. We are personally answerable for fulfilling our individual and team commitments.   Ask yourself: Do I consistently deliver my work as I have promised? Do I willingly and gracefully accept well-meaning feedback? When resolving a problem, do I consider how my actions contributed to it? Do I emphasize face-to-face communication over email? Do I confirm that my message has been received as intended? Do I purposefully plan what information to communicate and how best to do that?   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] 8.            The Do's and Don'ts of Relating With People Do you ever wish that we could all just get along? Would you like to learn about interactive styles and how to best approach others whose interpersonal style may differ from your own? Join Gay Yarbrough, LCSW of the JSC Employee Assistance Program, for a presentation on "The Do's and Don'ts of Relating With People."   Date: Monday, Sept. 24 Time: 12 noon to 1 p.m. Place: Building 30 Auditorium   Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130   [top] 9.            Optimism: Don't Worry ... Be Happy The statement "seeing the brighter side of life is good for you" is not a myth after all. Join Takis Bogdanos, LPC, CGP, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program, on Friday, Sept. 21, at 12 noon in Building 30 Auditorium as he explores the facts about optimism and the physical and mental health benefits of being optimistic.   Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130   [top] 10.          Reminder: JSC Remote Access/VPN Services Down Tonight -- 7 to 8 p.m. For all JSC employees who connect remotely to JSC's internal resources via the Virtual Private Network (VPN) and R2S, please note that connectivity will be intermittent from 7 to 8 p.m. CDT tonight. However, if you must connect to the VPN during this period, you may also use the White Sands Test Facility VPN at: https://vpn.wstf.jsc.nasa.gov   During that period, JSC's Information Resources Directorate (IRD) will perform service maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience.   If you have any questions, please call x34800. For questions leading up to this activity, please select the option for IRD's Customer Support Center, and then option 6.   JSC IRD Outreach x46367 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 11.          NASA@work Challenges -- Submit Your Solution Today A new challenge has just launched on the NASA@work platform: Solution needed for data exchange to support the conference room availability/booking tool. Jump on the NASA@work site at http://nasa.innocentive.com to view the challenge problem, submit your solution, or to check out other active challenges on the platform. New to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agencywide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Anyone can participate! Check it out and submit your solution today.   Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com/   [top] 12.          JSC Still Imagery and Mission Video Resources Training Want to find that "perfect" picture? Learn how during a webinar on Thursday, Sept. 27, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. CDT. Mary Wilkerson, Still Imagery lead, will show users how to find and obtain NASA still images in Imagery Online (IO) and the Digital Imagery Management System (DIMS). IO is now the source for on-orbit mission video from International Space Station (ISS) Expeditions and ISS-assembly shuttle missions. Leslie Richards, Video Imagery lead, will show users the video functionality in IO.   This training is open to any JSC/White Sands Test Facility contractor or civil servant. To register, click on the "Classroom/WebEx" schedule at: http://library.jsc.nasa.gov/training/default.aspx   Provided by the Information Resources Directorate: http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx   Ebony Fondren x32490 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 13.          Electronics Recycling Event -- This Saturday There will be an electronics recycling drive this Saturday, Sept. 22, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anything with wires can be recycled, including PC towers, laptops, monitors, cables from computers, other electronics, cell phones, cell-phone batteries, printers, cordless phones, electric motors, Christmas lights and more. (No CRT TVs - LCD/plasma are OK.)   Drop off your items at the Clear Brook High School parking lot (4607 FM 2351, Friendswood, 77546). Hard drives to be shredded at the recycling facility, or on site if requested.   Matt Lemke x30853   [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.       ENDEAVOUR HEADS WEST: Endeavour atop the SCA departs Ellington about 7 am Central heading south for one more low pass over Clear Lake and JSC before turning northwest over downtown. Austin will get a low pass just south of the Texas State Capitol building en route to a fuel stop in El Paso. Then it’s on to Edwards/Dryden for an overnight stay.   NASA TV: 2:20 pm Central (3:20 EDT) – Coverage of Endeavour arrival at Dryden   Human Spaceflight News Thursday – September 20, 2012   On departure from KSC Wednesday   HEADLINES AND LEADS   NASA chief Bolden says criticism of agency’s direction ‘undermines our nation’s goals at a very critical time’   Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac   NASA Administrator Charles Bolden dismissed rumors that the future of U.S. space exploration is in jeopardy and rejected speculation that his agency has no plans for future human spaceflight. “Those who perpetuate that myth only hurt the space program,” Bolden told businessmen, academics and journalists Tuesday afternoon at the National Press Club. “Such talk undermines our nation’s goals at a very critical time,” he said. “The truth is we have an ambitious series of deep space destinations we plan to explore and we are hard at work exploring the hardware and the technologies to get us there.”   Jeffrey Manber, Managing Director, Nanoracks LLC   Debra Werner - Space News   For two decades, Jeffrey Manber has been focused on a single goal: to create a climate in the United States where commercial space enterprises could flourish. In the 1980s, Manber established the first commercial space investment fund for Shearson Lehman Brothers in New York, before moving to Washington to set up the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce. While working in Washington, Manber traveled to the Soviet Union for the launch of a U.S. pharmaceutical experiment destined for the Soviet Mir space station. During that trip, he developed relationships that led to his next two jobs: managing director of Energia Ltd., a U.S. office of Russia’s NPO Energia; and president of MirCorp, a company that signed up commercial customers to use Mir until the Russian government opted to deorbit the space station in 2001. Manber spoke recently with Space News correspondent Debra Werner…   Getting down with the cavenauts in training   Lisa Grossman - New Scientist   You just emerged from six days in a cave in Sardinia, Italy. Why were you down there? I was training with an international team of astronauts. The idea was for them to become better at what they need to do best: to work together as international teams in stressful environments, but making critical decisions to get the job done.   End to Space Suits Over Astronauts' Souvenirs Under Bill   Brian Faler - Bloomberg News   Call it the Edgar Mitchell bill.   The U.S. House has approved legislation that would grant astronauts of the Apollo era and earlier the right to keep crew patches, flashlights and a lot of other souvenirs from their historic missions. The mementos have become the subject of a heated battle between astronauts and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which would rather see many of the items --which can command six-figure prices from private collectors --in a museum. The astronauts were told long ago by NASA that they could keep the memorabilia, only to find the agency demanding their return decades later, according to the bill’s sponsors.   ENDEAVOUR FERRY FLIGHT NEWS   Space shuttle Endeavour has Houston stopover   Ramit Plushnick-Masti - Associated Press   Waving American flags and space shuttle toys, hundreds of people lined the streets and crowded the airport Wednesday as they watched space shuttle Endeavour touch down in Houston on its way to be permanently displayed in California. But for many, the experience was bittersweet, tinged with an aftertaste of having been cheated of something they believe should rightfully have been theirs.   Thousands gather for chance to see shuttle Endeavour   Houston Chronicle   When it comes to fans of space flight, few are as dedicated as Houston resident Nathan Moeller, who has traveled around the nation to see four shuttles that now include the Endeavour at Houston's Ellington Airport. "We chase shuttles all over the place whenever we get a chance," said Moeller, 25, who was accompanied by his dad, Mark Moeller, and friend Marlene Morgan of Friendswood. "You have a vehicle that weighs 100 tons and flew in space numerous times at 5 miles a second, 250 miles above the earth. You can't beat it. But it's sad to know that they will never be airborne again."   Shuttle Endeavour heads for California   William Harwood - CBS News   Bolted to the back of a 747 jumbo jet, the space shuttle Endeavour took off on its final voyage Wednesday, a "bittersweet" valedictory tour highlighted by low-altitude passes over NASA field centers, towns and cities along the way to museum duty in Los Angeles, giving the public one last chance to see the winged spaceplane in flight. Running two days late because of stormy weather along the Gulf Coast, the NASA 747 and its 78-ton payload lifted off the Kennedy Space Center's 3-mile-long shuttle runway at 7:22 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), following a southeasterly flight path for a low-level pass along beaches stretching from Cape Canaveral south to Patrick Air Force Base just beyond Cocoa Beach.   Space Shuttle Endeavour Heads West to New Mission   Marcia Dunn - Associated Press   Space shuttle Endeavour began a journey to its new life as a museum piece Wednesday, heading west on the last ferry flight of its kind and leaving behind its NASA home. Bolted to the top of a jumbo jet, NASA's youngest shuttle departed Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Wednesday on the first leg of its flight to California.   Shuttle Endeavour sets off for California museum   Irene Klotz - Reuters   Riding piggyback atop a 747 jet, the space shuttle Endeavour left its Florida home port for the last time on Wednesday, heading to California to begin a new mission as a museum exhibit. After waiting two days for weather to clear, the specially modified carrier jet sped down the shuttle's runway shortly after dawn on Wednesday, the first leg of a planned three-day trek to the west coast. "There's sadness to it go, but the space shuttle program had to end for us to move on to the next thing," said astronaut Greg Chamitoff.   Endeavour's tour of Brevard enraptures fans and astronauts alike One last look for all of us   James Dean - Florida Today   The baby of the shuttle fleet, Endeavour, left Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday just as it and four other orbiters arrived, mounted majestically atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft. The site impressed even those who have flown Endeavour to space. “The first thought is just, ‘what a beautiful ship,’ ” said astronaut Kay Hire, a former shuttle engineer at KSC who flew Endeavour in 2010. “But also, for me personally, I’m experiencing a great deal of pride because this is now an opportunity to share Endeavour with the world.”   Crowds around Brevard say goodbye to Endeavour   Todd Halvorson, Dave Berman & Mackenzie Ryan - Florida Today   The sun had just begun peeking out over the Atlantic Ocean, and people already were gathering on the edge of the Indian River Lagoon at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville. “Is the shuttle supposed to fly by? Is that why everybody is here?” an early-morning runner asked in passing. In a word, yes. Mounted atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, the orbiter Endeavour soon would be taking off from Kennedy Space Center, heading out on a cross-country trip to a museum in Los Angeles.   Kennedy Space Center bids final farewell to Endeavour   Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com   Bound for Southern California where America's space shuttle fleet was born, the retired spaceship Endeavour left her homeport this morning atop a modified 747 carrier jet to become a tool of inspiration at a children's science museum in Los Angeles. The California Science Center, located in Exposition Park next to the LA Memorial Coliseum, was selected in the hotly-contested race to receive one of the space shuttles after the program was shut down last year.   Shuttle Endeavour: Queen Mary on new L.A. flyover route   Los Angeles Times   Disneyland, the Getty Center and Griffith Observatory are already on the list, but space shuttle Endeavour will see a lot more of Southern California before landing in Los Angeles on Friday morning. Weather permitting, the retired orbiter will also be flown over Venice Beach, Universal Studios, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Long Beach Aquarium and the Queen Mary, officials with the California Science Center announced Wednesday. The shuttle will also fly over the Exposition Park museum, its new permanent home.   Space Shuttle Endeavour flies over Epcot and Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World   Inside The Magic   On Sept. 19, 2012, Space shuttle Endeavour flew over the Epcot and Magic Kingdom theme parks at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida early this morning. The shuttle departed Kennedy Space Center at 7:22 a.m. local time, the final ferry flight of the U.S. space shuttle program. Endeavour's ultimate destination is the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA., where it will be on display to inspire future generations with the storied history of the Space Shuttle era. (NO FURTHER TEXT)   Huntsville native pilots Endeavour to CA   Christine Pae - WAFF TV (Huntsville)   After two weather-related delays, the space shuttle Endeavour took off for its ferry flight to California early Wednesday morning. The shuttle will make stops at several NASA facilities before landing in Los Angeles where it will be on display at the California Science Center. The Endeavour is bolted on top of a 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft that will carry it during the flight. One of the pilots escorting the Endeavour during the flight is Huntsville native Jeff Moultrie. His mother, Colleen, said she is excited her son has the opportunity.   Endeavour’s Last Journey, Through Contentious Space   Ian Lovett - Los Angeles Times   The space shuttle Endeavour traveled 122,883,151 miles during its 25 missions, bursting out of the atmosphere at more than 17,000 miles an hour. On the last flight of its 20-year career, a three-day victory lap across the country on the back of a transport aircraft, it will log a few thousand miles more before touching down for the final time on Friday at Los Angeles International Airport. But the final segment of Endeavour’s journey has proved perhaps the toughest yet: 12 miles through the dense urban landscape of Los Angeles, past streetlights and trees, to say nothing of city bureaucracy and politics, on its way to retirement at the California Science Center.   MEANWHILE ON MARS...   Mars rover poised to begin first 'hands on' geology   William Harwood - CBS News   NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is about half way to its first major scientific destination, project managers said Wednesday, a region known as Glenelg where three different terrains come together. But the science team plans to pause a few days to perform the mission's first hands-on "contact science," using instruments on the vehicle's robot arm to photograph and chemically assess an intriguing pyramid-shaped rock.   Mini-Great Pyramid of Giza on Mars intrigues Curiosity rover team   Pete Spotts - Christian Science Monitor   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is eying a target for the first tandem test of two instruments crucial to the rover's mission of determining whether its new home, Gale Crater, as well as the crater's central Mt. Sharp, could have hosted life early in the planet's history. At 16 inches wide and about 10 inches tall, the target rock looks like a miniature Great Pyramid of Giza, with one face artisans neglected to maintain. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   NASA chief Bolden says criticism of agency’s direction ‘undermines our nation’s goals at a very critical time’   Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac   NASA Administrator Charles Bolden dismissed rumors that the future of U.S. space exploration is in jeopardy and rejected speculation that his agency has no plans for future human spaceflight.   “Those who perpetuate that myth only hurt the space program,” Bolden told businessmen, academics and journalists Tuesday afternoon at the National Press Club.   “Such talk undermines our nation’s goals at a very critical time,” he said. “The truth is we have an ambitious series of deep space destinations we plan to explore and we are hard at work exploring the hardware and the technologies to get us there.”   Bolden’s remarks came after he was awarded the International Public Service Award by the Word Affairs Council of Washington.   Though he is still waiting for Congress to adopt a budget for 2013, Bolden said NASA is in “relatively good shape” financially, crediting the discontinuation of the space shuttle program, which he said cost the administration $2 billion just to maintain.   NASA’s requested budget for the 2013 fiscal year comes to a little more than $17.71 billion, a decrease of about $60 million from this 2012 estimated budget. The biggest decrease in the requested budget is in the space operations section, accounting for a $173.8 million cut, thanks to nearly $500 million being shaved off from this year’s space shuttle budget.   “If you look at what we do for the money that we get I think we’re doing very well,” he said. “The prospect for the future is good unless your a pessimist and you believe that the people we hire, that we elect to run the government won’t rise to the occasion and  run the government. But I’m an eternal optimist.”   The future of NASA’s budget remains a question heading into potentially a new presidential administration. Bolden said he has not given much thought to the idea of a Mitt Romney White House, saying that he “loves” and “admires” President Barack Obama, who in 2009 chose Bolden to be NASA’s 12th administrator.   Texas Republicans have been critical of the Obama’s space flight priorities and complain that he has tilted toward Florida, a swing state in presidential election, at the expense of heavily Republican Texas.   Last month, in an online discussion forum hosted by the website reddit.com, Obama voiced his support for the space program, calling it a priority for his administration.   “The key is to make sure that we invest in cutting edge research that can take us to the next level – so even as we continue work with the international space station, we are focused on a potential mission to a asteroid as a prelude to a manned Mars flight,” Obama said in response to a question.   Romney has yet to take a firm stance on the future of NASA and space exploration.   With officials of private spaceflight companies such as SpaceX and Lockheed Martin in attendance, Bolden said he welcomed advancements in commercial space flight and “anything that brings jobs and income into the economy.”   He also expressed support for private flights and privately owned space stations for tourist purposes.   “Commercial space is not a national priority, it is an imperative,” he said. “NASA can’t go to the exploration that we want to do if we don’t have a viable, sustainable commercial space program with US capability to get humans into orbit.”   Jeffrey Manber, Managing Director, Nanoracks LLC   Debra Werner - Space News   For two decades, Jeffrey Manber has been focused on a single goal: to create a climate in the United States where commercial space enterprises could flourish. In the 1980s, Manber established the first commercial space investment fund for Shearson Lehman Brothers in New York, before moving to Washington to set up the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce.   While working in Washington, Manber traveled to the Soviet Union for the launch of a U.S. pharmaceutical experiment destined for the Soviet Mir space station. During that trip, he developed relationships that led to his next two jobs: managing director of Energia Ltd., a U.S. office of Russia’s NPO Energia; and president of MirCorp, a company that signed up commercial customers to use Mir until the Russian government opted to deorbit the space station in 2001.   Manber said the experience he gained marketing Mir has been tremendously helpful in establishing Houston-based NanoRacks LLC. Since 2009, NanoRacks has been offering customers the chance to send research payloads to the international space station. In June, NanoRacks announced plans to market space for people and research payloads on Alliant Techsystems’ Liberty commercial spacecraft. NanoRacks also is working with Virgin Galactic to build equipment to carry research payloads on SpaceShipTwo.   Manber spoke recently with Space News correspondent Debra Werner.   How is the climate in the United States for commercial space enterprises?   We’ve made remarkable progress since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Our Russian friends moved rapidly to support commercial ventures. Slowly, the United States has been moving in that direction, realizing that it’s OK for NASA to purchase goods and services from the private sector.   How would you rate NASA’s current support of the commercial space industry?   It’s surprisingly good. The role of the space agency with respect to the private sector is changing. Large groups of people both at NASA headquarters and at NASA field centers understand that. I’d say the place where we still have the most difficulty is in Congress. There are still people there who view the space program as a jobs program.   What impediments remain to a real, healthy commercial space program?   The chief problem, in terms of low Earth orbit and in terms of manned space operations, is that NASA is saddled with a system that is not cost efficient.   The NASA system was designed to prevent a third shuttle accident. They are slowly moving toward the recognition that they are no longer burdened with the responsibility of running the shuttle program. At Johnson Space Center, we are seeing reorganization of how they do payload integration, which I applaud. But NASA is still running itself as if it still was responsible for the shuttle program and for the lives of those seven astronauts.   So it’s all about the safety?   Yes, to a degree that can only be rationally explained by the two tragedies and the determination to prevent a third. The system has not yet fully grasped that NASA is free from that responsibility.   NASA has responsibility today for the lives of the astronauts on the space station but it’s far different from the responsibility of operating the space shuttle. When you look at the safety record of Soyuz, Mir and the international space station, you see that there is a lot of cost efficiency and regulation reduction that could be done.   At NanoRacks we are focused on low cost and speed. We are averaging nine months from signing a contract with a customer to launching a payload. We are getting through the NASA safety process in six months. It should be half that.   What is your vision for NanoRacks?   We identify niche markets in low Earth orbit and beyond that are commercially viable. As you see more demand in suborbital transportation, low Earth orbit transportation and asteroid mining, we will look for niche markets.   For the time being, we don’t see ourselves as the team leader. We are not there yet. But when someone needs a service, we believe we can deliver it as quickly and as safely as anybody on the planet right now.       Is NanoRacks making money?   Yes. In our first year, 2011, we had income from operations, which is extraordinary in a commercial space company. This year, we already have income of over $3 million. We will do our second round of financing in the fall.   We have an exciting development where we are reaching out to Astrium NA to manufacture an external [space station] platform. That’s a significant development for us. It puts us in an entirely new market and is our first step outside the station.   Is NanoRacks profitable?   We are growing. If I showed profits at this point, I’d be doing something wrong. About 30 percent of our revenue is being reinvested in new programs and hardware. We just announced the payload tracker software.   What’s that?   We identified a problem: tracking payloads through the NASA system. We made an investment in developing software that will allow multiple stakeholders to track individual payloads through the NASA system. We hope to have it commercially available in October.   You have often said the Shearson Lehman space fund lost every dime. Could a fund making investments in commercial space succeed now?   There probably are only a handful of pragmatic investment opportunities in low Earth orbit. So, no. It’s still a little too early for that. It’s the Holy Grail.   Early microgravity research did not produce the extraordinary results that some customers anticipated. Does that research still look more promising?   Yes. Twenty years ago, you had NASA deciding what research would fly. Now you are beginning to have the market push promising experiments.   Twenty years ago, we were completely dependent on the shuttle program. Today, we have a multiplicity of cargo vehicles. Now, commercial customers who have done research in 1 g and want to obtain data from research in zero g can do that. The cost is compatible with doing research on the ground. In 2014, we will start to see a number of new, serious researchers coming to the space station.   Why?   Because companies are gaining greater access to [space station] research facilities and the space agency has an enlightened pro-commercial policy. Twenty years ago it was unclear who would own the intellectual property for research conducted on the space station.   You are an advocate for free trade in space commerce. Is there any progress on that front?   No. The space station remains the most bizarre relic of protectionism. If it were on the ground, no one would suggest that the Japanese only use Japanese services and the Europeans only use European services and the Americans only use American services.   The international space station should be part of the World Trade Organization, so that anyone can bid on building new hardware. The result would be lower prices and quicker construction. Governments are inefficient and protectionism encourages inefficiency to flourish.   What are your thoughts on the nonprofit agency selected last summer to manage the space station’s U.S. national laboratory, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)?   It’s incredibly important for CASIS to succeed. Any failure of the nongovernmental organization operating the space station would be jumped on by opponents of manned space as an opportunity to cancel manned space programs. The utility of the space station should be, must be, a central goal of all people who believe in an American space program.   We cannot dream of asteroid mining or going to Mars until we show critics that we know how to use that which we have. All of us made a promise to Congress when the station was being built that we would use it. And by God, we have to use it.   How is utilization right now?   The Americans are taking the lead right now in utilization because NASA had the foresight to wrap up agreements with other nations to use their cargo mass capacity. NASA and those who are signing agreements with NASA are able to use the European, Japanese, Russian and commercial American cargo systems.   As CASIS begins to gather momentum, basic research and some applied research will come online. One has to remember that in the previous presidential administration, the space station was scheduled to deorbit in 2015 and funding for basic research was terminated. It takes government a while to ramp that back up. I think NASA is doing an adequate job.   Getting down with the cavenauts in training   Lisa Grossman - New Scientist   You just emerged from six days in a cave in Sardinia, Italy. Why were you down there? I was training with an international team of astronauts. The idea was for them to become better at what they need to do best: to work together as international teams in stressful environments, but making critical decisions to get the job done.   Why a cave? It allows us to operate in a high-stress environment, where the decisions you make and everything you do – even walking – is difficult, and the consequences of those decisions are real and significant. It's dark in there. You can get injured if you don't follow proper safety protocols.   What was it like? It's like mountain climbing in the dark. We travelled almost a kilometre underground throughout the six nights we spent in this cave. We had to use rappelling ropes and harnesses to move up and down the cave walls.   And it was dark. There was total blackness when the lights went out, and those lights are your means of survival. Without lights you're lost. One of the jokes each day was, "Let's wait until tomorrow to do that, when the sun comes out so we can see." But of course the sun never came out. It was a fantastic experience.   Was it like space at all? You can't say a cave is like space. But there are parts of living in a cave for six nights that are analogous to being on a space mission.   Some of the techniques we use, like tethering – where we have short ropes or hooks that keep us attached to the climbing apparatus – are similar to a spacewalk. You have to be sure that every move you make is very calculated. Things don't come naturally. You have to be precise. In that sense it was very much like space. And working with an international crew – that was similar.   Do you think you might get to use these skills in lava tubes on Mars, for example? Not directly. We weren't there to learn how to be cavers. We were learning to work on an international team to accomplish common goals and objectives.   How did it feel when you came out? It felt a little bit like when I came home from space. Coming out of the cave, the first thing that strikes you is the smell of earth. My experience of spaceflight was the same. When the hatch of the space shuttle was opened, it wasn't the visuals that struck me, it was the fact that I could smell Earth. I could smell the grass, I could smell mould. It lit up my imagination and reminded me I was coming home. I didn't expect coming out of the cave to bring back those same memories. That was a little bit surprising.   Andrew Feustel was picked as a NASA Mission Specialist in 2000. He was on the final space shuttle mission to the Hubble Telescope in 2009. In 2011 he went on the penultimate shuttle mission to the International Space Station, clocking up four spacewalks. He has a PhD in geology from Queens University in Ontario, Canada, and restores cars in his spare time.   End to Space Suits Over Astronauts' Souvenirs Under Bill   Brian Faler - Bloomberg News   Call it the Edgar Mitchell bill.   The U.S. House has approved legislation that would grant astronauts of the Apollo era and earlier the right to keep crew patches, flashlights and a lot of other souvenirs from their historic missions.   The mementos have become the subject of a heated battle between astronauts and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which would rather see many of the items --which can command six-figure prices from private collectors --in a museum.   The astronauts were told long ago by NASA that they could keep the memorabilia, only to find the agency demanding their return decades later, according to the bill’s sponsors.   “This stuff had been properly given to us and who are these young jerks, excuse the word, 40 years later saying you can’t have this stuff,” said Mitchell, who flew on Apollo 14 and was the sixth man to walk on the moon.   “All of the astronaut corps was up in arms,” he said yesterday in a telephone interview.   Mitchell said NASA sued him over a camera that he salvaged after his 1971 mission to the moon.   The astronauts-rights bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.   Big Money   NASA Spokesman Bob Jacobs declined to comment. Agency administrator Charles Bolden said in January there had been “fundamental misunderstandings and unclear policies” over who owned what. The agency would search for a solution that would “ensure that appropriate artifacts are preserved and available for display to the American people,” he said in a press release.   Space memorabilia can fetch thousands from collectors. In 2009, a plastic disc-shaped star char used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on their 1969 Apollo 11 moonwalk went for $218,000.   Mitchell agreed to give up his disputed camera, which he said he retrieved from a lunar module that was to be destroyed, rather than battle the government in court. It went to the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum in Washington.   “It really wasn’t worth spending a year in court and $100,000” in legal expenses, he said.   The bill, approved on a voice vote, declares that the government has no right to items that aren’t explicitly required to be returned to NASA and “other expendable, disposable and personal-use items.”   Moon Rocks   That may include personal logs, checklists, flight manuals and other items. It wouldn’t apply to moon rocks and other lunar material.   “These men are heroes,” said Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Ralph Hall, the Texas Republican who sponsored the bill.   “They took extraordinary risks to establish American preeminence in space, and by doing so helped our country become a world leader,” said Hall. “It is a miscarriage of justice that today NASA should seek return of these very same mementos.”   The bill, H.R. 4158, would apply to Apollo, Gemini and Mercury crews.   ENDEAVOUR FERRY FLIGHT NEWS   Space shuttle Endeavour has Houston stopover   Ramit Plushnick-Masti - Associated Press   Waving American flags and space shuttle toys, hundreds of people lined the streets and crowded the airport Wednesday as they watched space shuttle Endeavour touch down in Houston on its way to be permanently displayed in California.   But for many, the experience was bittersweet, tinged with an aftertaste of having been cheated of something they believe should rightfully have been theirs.   "I think that it's the worst thing that they can do, rotten all the way," said 84-year-old Mary Weiss, clinging to her walker just before Endeavour, riding piggy back on a jumbo jet, landed after flying low over Gulf Coast towns, New Orleans and then downtown Houston and its airports.   Space City, partly made famous by Tom Hanks when he uttered the line "Houston, we have a problem" in the movie "Apollo 13," has long tied its fortune to a mix of oil and NASA. Astronauts train in the humid, mosquito-ridden city. Many call it home years after they retire. The Johnson Space Center and an adjacent museum hug Galveston Bay.   Yet Houston's bid for a shuttle was rejected after the White House retired the fleet last summer to spend more time and money on reaching destinations such as asteroids and Mars. Instead, Houston got a replica that used to be displayed at the Kennedy Space Center.   "I think it's a pretty rotten deal, basically," said Scott Rush, 54, of Crystal Beach, Texas, wearing a T-shirt proudly proclaiming that he had witnessed Endeavour's final launch. "The one we're getting is a toy. An important toy, but a toy nonetheless."   Back-to-back delays in the ferry flight resulted in one day being cut from the Houston visit. But Wednesday dawned under bright sunshine and cooler-than-normal temperatures, drawing hundreds of excited people, many of whom brought children or grandchildren along.   After landing, the Endeavour rolled slowly in front of the cheering crowd. It circled and preened like a model on the catwalk, giving awed spectators an opportunity to take pictures from a variety of angles.   "I want to go on it," said 3-year-old Joshua Lee as he headed to the landing area with his mother and grandmother.   Joshua's mother, Jacqueline Lee of Houston, viewed the landing as an educational opportunity she had to share with her son.   "It's history in the making and it probably will be the end and I don't know if he'll get to see this again," Lee said. "I wish we were able to rally enough to have it stay here in Texas since we've had a major input in all the history of NASA."   NASA still plays a large role in Houston, and astronaut Clayton Anderson, who lived on the International Space Station from June to November 2007, encouraged people to focus on a new era of space exploration.   "The shuttles are a wonderful legacy, a huge part of Houston, but now it's time to look to the future," said Anderson, who lives in the Houston suburb of League City.   Earlier Wednesday, hundreds gathered in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to bid Endeavour farewell. The shuttle will spend the night in Houston before continuing its journey to Los Angeles International Airport, where it's scheduled to land Friday.   In mid-October, Endeavour will be transported down city streets to the California Science Center.   This is the last flight for a space shuttle. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy for display. Discovery already is at the Smithsonian Institution, parked at a hangar in Virginia since April.   Endeavour — the replacement for the destroyed Challenger shuttle — made its debut in 1992 and flew 25 times in space before retiring. It logged 123 million miles in space and circled Earth nearly 4,700 times.   Connie West, 60, of Deerfield, Kan., viewed the landing with friends from Wichita. The group expressed sadness that the shuttle program had ended. They felt the pain of Houstonians who felt cheated, and agreed they should have had a shuttle.   Still, the excitement of seeing one was enough on Wednesday.   "I felt awesome," West said. "I wanted to see it make its last flight and couldn't get there (to Florida), so this is awesome."   Thousands gather for chance to see shuttle Endeavour   Houston Chronicle   When it comes to fans of space flight, few are as dedicated as Houston resident Nathan Moeller, who has traveled around the nation to see four shuttles that now include the Endeavour at Houston's Ellington Airport.   "We chase shuttles all over the place whenever we get a chance," said Moeller, 25, who was accompanied by his dad, Mark Moeller, and friend Marlene Morgan of Friendswood. "You have a vehicle that weighs 100 tons and flew in space numerous times at 5 miles a second, 250 miles above the earth. You can't beat it. But it's sad to know that they will never be airborne again."   Moeller joined thousands of visitors for an up-close–and-personal look at the shuttle Endeavour, which touched down in Houston aboard its shuttle aircraft carrier. Endeavour left Florida about 4 a.m. CST, and after an overnight stop in Houston will depart at daybreak Thursday for its new home in California.   NASA officials have extended the viewing time at Ellington to 9 p.m. Wednesday.   Baytown residents Margaret Ammons and her husband, Ken, arrived at the airport at 6:30 a.m. to secure a prime viewing spot in their Mercedes Winnebago.   "We're very excited about the space shuttle," said Margaret Ammons, a retired salesperson. "We enjoy anything that has to do with the space program. My husband is a retired Marine, we're local and we can't wait for it to get here."   Ken Ammons said he shares his wife's passion for space flight.   "We've followed the space shuttle since the beginning, and I just think it's absolutely terrible that we had to retire such a beautiful piece of equipment," he said. "I just hope that we've got something in the works that can take its place because this (space program) put us in the forefront of the whole world. I kind of feel like this is our last shot at it."   Shuttle fans began trickling into Ellington at daybreak Wednesday, and by early afternoon the crowd grew into the thousands. The shuttle circled over the airport around 10 a.m., and the crowd erupted in cheers as it made its final approach to the runway. About 1,200 viewers tuned into NASA's live stream on USTREAM on the NASA-JSC channel, said Daniel Willett of NASA.   But nothing came close to seeing it unfold live, said Spring Branch resident Gene Cover, 70. "I wouldn't miss this for the world," he said.   Mission specialist astronaut Clayton C. Anderson was on hand to see Houston's final shuttle visit.   "This is a huge thing for Houston and the NASA-Johnson Space Center area," said Anderson, who flew on STS-117 to the International Space Station. "All these people have contributed to the success of NASA and the space shuttle program, and the fact that they get to see this vehicle fly over and land here, and to get a sense of how technologically complex it is, is validation for all their work."   During its Houston visit, Endeavour flew over city landmarks that included George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston Hobby Airport, Reliant Stadium, the San Jacinto Monument, the Fred Hartman Bridge and the Johnson Space Center.   The shuttle is expected to be on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles by late October.   Shuttle Endeavour heads for California   William Harwood - CBS News   Bolted to the back of a 747 jumbo jet, the space shuttle Endeavour took off on its final voyage Wednesday, a "bittersweet" valedictory tour highlighted by low-altitude passes over NASA field centers, towns and cities along the way to museum duty in Los Angeles, giving the public one last chance to see the winged spaceplane in flight.   Running two days late because of stormy weather along the Gulf Coast, the NASA 747 and its 78-ton payload lifted off the Kennedy Space Center's 3-mile-long shuttle runway at 7:22 a.m. EDT (GMT-4), following a southeasterly flight path for a low-level pass along beaches stretching from Cape Canaveral south to Patrick Air Force Base just beyond Cocoa Beach.   At that point, the huge airplane slowly turned and flew back up the Indian River to the Kennedy Space Center, flying over the Visitor Complex, the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the Launch Complex 39 area before climbing to the west and disappearing from view, leaving the spaceport for the last time.   Despite low clouds that hampered visibility, area residents and tourists turned out in force to witness the shuttle's departure and NASA's final ferry flight, a long-familiar sight along Florida's "space coast."   Pat Hill of nearby Port St. John, Fla., watched the fly over from the Cocoa Beach Pier.   "It's sad," she said a few moments before Endeavour flew almost directly overhead. "I've seen a lot of them, and it's always exciting. I wanted to get a picture of the last one. It's very sad."   Delia Brillon of Merritt Island, Fla., said she was "sad for all the people who lost all the jobs."   "They're looking forward to something better," she said. "I always believe, even though I'm a very old lady, I believe in progress. The show must go on. But I feel sorry for those people who lost all those jobs."   Sune Echeles of Merritt Island summed up the feelings of many when she said Endeavour "had a great run, it had a huge impact on history and I'm sorry to see it leave the area."   "But I'm hoping that we will still be growing and that the space center will come up with something new for the space program and that it will continue," she said. "We need to continue exploring space and I'm sure they have something in the works. They've got to. This area is very much a space center support area, so we are hit by the fact that it's closing down. It's bittersweet to watch it retire, but we're out here ... to say goodbye."   After crossing the Gulf of Mexico, the transport crew planned to drop down for a 1,500-foot-high pass over NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., and then over Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility on the east side of New Orleans, where the shuttle's external fuel tanks were manufactured.   The first leg of the cross-country flight to Los Angeles was scheduled to conclude with a low-altitude flight over Houston and the Johnson Space Center, where mission controllers orchestrated Endeavour's 25 missions.   Landing at nearby Ellington Field was expected around 11:45 a.m. (10:45 a.m. CDT). The aircraft will remain parked near NASA Hangar 990 for the rest of the day, on display for area residents and nostalgic NASA personnel.   If all goes well, Endeavour will take to the sky once more at sunrise Thursday, flying first to El Paso, Texas, for refueling and then on for low-level flights over the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M., and finally, NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Fifty four of NASA's 135 shuttle missions ended at the Mojave Desert Air Force base just north of Los Angeles.   Early Friday, weather permitting, Endeavour will head north for a San Francisco fly over and low-altitude passes over NASA's Ames Research Center, Sacramento and other communities before returning to Los Angeles and flying over the Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Hills and the historic Los Angeles City Hall. Touchdown at Los Angeles International Airport is expected around 2 p.m. (11 a.m. PDT).   The orbiter will be housed temporarily in a United Air Lines hangar and then hauled along 12 miles of Inglewood and Los Angeles streets Oct. 12 to its final destination at the California Science Center.   Earlier this year, NASA delivered the veteran shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport outside Washington. The same team then flew the prototype shuttle Enterprise to New York City for a barge ride to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.   Atlantis will remain at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In November, the spaceplane will be hauled 10 miles to a new $100 million display facility under construction at the spaceport's privately operated Visitor Complex.   Space Shuttle Endeavour Heads West to New Mission   Marcia Dunn - Associated Press   Space shuttle Endeavour began a journey to its new life as a museum piece Wednesday, heading west on the last ferry flight of its kind and leaving behind its NASA home.   Bolted to the top of a jumbo jet, NASA's youngest shuttle departed Kennedy Space Center at sunrise Wednesday on the first leg of its flight to California.   Hundreds of people — astronauts, space center workers, tourists and journalists — gathered at the runway to bid Endeavour farewell following two days of rain delays. Crowds also lined the beaches of Cape Canaveral as the shuttle swooped low overhead in one final show.   Onlookers waved, saluted, applauded and cheered as Endeavour made one last swoop over its old landing strip, and then aimed for the Gulf of Mexico.   "I am feeling a tremendous amount of pride," said astronaut Kay Hire, who flew aboard Endeavour two years ago.   Endeavour will make it as far as Houston on Wednesday. That's home to Mission Control and all the astronauts.   The shuttle is due to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday. In mid-October, it will be transported down city streets to the California Science Center.   If Endeavour couldn't remain anchored at the International Space Station, its main destination in recent years, then the science center is an ideal final stop, said astronaut Gregory Chamitoff. He grew up in California and flew to the space station on Endeavour's final trip to orbit.   This is the last flight for a space shuttle. Atlantis will remain at Kennedy for display. Discovery is already at the Smithsonian Institution, parked at a hangar in Virginia.   Endeavour flew 25 times in space before retiring last year. It logged 123 million miles in orbit and circled Earth more nearly 4,700 times.   Shuttle Endeavour sets off for California museum   Irene Klotz - Reuters   Riding piggyback atop a 747 jet, the space shuttle Endeavour left its Florida home port for the last time on Wednesday, heading to California to begin a new mission as a museum exhibit.   After waiting two days for weather to clear, the specially modified carrier jet sped down the shuttle's runway shortly after dawn on Wednesday, the first leg of a planned three-day trek to the west coast.   "There's sadness to it go, but the space shuttle program had to end for us to move on to the next thing," said astronaut Greg Chamitoff.   NASA retired its three-ship fleet last year after completing the U.S. portion of the $100 billion International Space Station, a permanently staffed research complex that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.   The agency is developing a new spaceship and rocket that can fly astronauts to the moon, asteroids and eventually to Mars. Russia now flies NASA astronauts to the station, at a cost of more than $65 million a seat. NASA hopes to buy rides from commercial companies beginning in 2017.   Endeavour was built as a replacement ship for Challenger, the shuttle lost in a 1986 launch accident that killed seven astronauts. It went on to fly 25 missions, including 12 to build and outfit the space station.   It flew the first assembly mission, carrying up the Unity connecting node, which was attached to the Russian Zarya base module.   "It's hard to believe it was 14 years ago," said Kenendy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, a former astronaut who commanded NASA's first station assembly flight in 1998.   Endeavour is the second of NASA's three surviving shuttles to be sent to a museum. Discovery, NASA's oldest surviving shuttle, is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center outside Washington.   Atlantis, which flew NASA's 135th and final shuttle mission in July 2011, will be towed down the road to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in November.   NASA lost a fourth shuttle, Columbia, in another fatal accident in 2003. That shuttle as not replaced.   Endeavour will be headed to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.   Endeavour's tour of Brevard enraptures fans and astronauts alike One last look for all of us   James Dean - Florida Today   The baby of the shuttle fleet, Endeavour, left Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday just as it and four other orbiters arrived, mounted majestically atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft.   The site impressed even those who have flown Endeavour to space.   “The first thought is just, ‘what a beautiful ship,’ ” said astronaut Kay Hire, a former shuttle engineer at KSC who flew Endeavour in 2010. “But also, for me personally, I’m experiencing a great deal of pride because this is now an opportunity to share Endeavour with the world.”   For Space Coast residents, it was the last time they’d spot a shuttle in local skies. For Endeavour, it was goodbye to its homeport of 22 years.   Endeavour is on its way to the California Science Center, where it will go on permanent public display late next month.   The jumbo jet and spaceship took off from Kennedy’s three-mile runway at 7:22 a.m., embarking on a three-day journey to Los Angeles.   Thousands of Brevard County residents and visitors lined northern beaches, the Pineda Causeway and the Indian River to pay respects to Endeavour as the ferry flight completed a a 20-minute farewell tour, cruising overhead at 1,500 feet.   After roaring low over the shuttle runway one last time, Endeavour tipped its wings, banked west toward Orlando and disappeared from view behind low-lying clouds.   A smattering of applause could be heard from the 2,400 invited and paying guests gathered at the runway’s midfield to watch Endeavour depart, but it was a mostly quiet event.   “I think everybody here is realizing it’s the last time, they want to take in the moment, they wanted to capture it with their cameras,” said astronaut Greg Chamitoff, a member of Endeavour’s 25th and final crew just over a year ago. “The applause came later, after it was gone.”   More than four hours later, a large crowd greeted and cheered Endeavour’s arrival at Houston’s Ellington Field near Johnson Space Center, the home for decades to top shuttle program managers and the astronaut corps.   Some there remain upset that NASA did not award the city a retired shuttle, forcing it to settle for a high-fidelity mock-up long displayed at KSC.   Earlier this year, Discovery left Kennedy for a Smithsonian Institution annex in Chantilly, Va.. Displaced by Discovery, the prototype orbiter Enterprise relocated to New York’s Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.   Atlantis is scheduled to be towed down the road to the KSC Visitor Complex on Nov. 2.   And weather permitting, Endeavour will take off again at sunrise today for Edwards Air Force Base in California, then tour northern California early Friday on its way to Los Angeles International Airport.   Built to replace Challenger, which was lost with its crew in a 1986 explosion 73 seconds after launch, Endeavour’s construction began in 1987. A 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft delivered it to Kennedy in May 1991.   The new shuttle’s first mission a year later featured the dramatic capture and redeployment of a stranded communications satellite by three spacewalking astronauts.   It went on to fly the first Hubble Space Telescope repair mission, visit Russia’s Mir space station and fly missions that bookended assembly of the International Space Station.   “This particular spaceship brought me home to my family twice from space safely, and so to me there’s an emotional connection to a very beautiful machine,” Chamitoff said.   NASA turned over title of Endeavour to the California Science Center last October. The transfer order for “excess personal property” lists the value of “OV-105” — short for Orbiter Vehicle-105 — at nearly $2 billion.   Once at LAX, Endeavour will be removed from the 747, loaded onto a transporter and temporarily stowed in a United Airlines hangar. On Oct. 12, it’s expected to start a two-day, 12-mile trek through the cities of Los Angeles and Inglewood to reach the science center.   It will first open sitting horizontally inside a recently built pavilion. By 2017, the museum plans to open a new exhibit facility featuring Endeavour standing vertically as if on the launch pad.   Endeavour’s departure on the final shuttle ferry flight felt less heavy with emotion than Discovery’s in April. Moods may have changed now that more than a year has passed since the final shuttle flight. And the Space Coast knows it can look forward to seeing Atlantis on display here.   “I think a lot of folks were just kind of holding their breath and taking in the moment,” Hire said of the crowd at the runway, including many current and former space center employees. “I think some folks were a little bit sad to see her go, but I think in the long run they, too, will experience the pride when folks can visit these orbiters in museums and they can point to those orbiters and say, I was a part of that.”   Crowds around Brevard say goodbye to Endeavour   Todd Halvorson, Dave Berman & Mackenzie Ryan - Florida Today   The sun had just begun peeking out over the Atlantic Ocean, and people already were gathering on the edge of the Indian River Lagoon at Kennedy Point Park in Titusville.   “Is the shuttle supposed to fly by? Is that why everybody is here?” an early-morning runner asked in passing.   In a word, yes.   Mounted atop a modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, the orbiter Endeavour soon would be taking off from Kennedy Space Center, heading out on a cross-country trip to a museum in Los Angeles.   A final Space Coast flyover was on tap, and about three-dozen people had gathered almost directly across the brackish waters from the south end of KSC’s three-mile shuttle runway.   “There she is!” a woman said, pointing east. All eyes turned toward NASA’s shuttle homeport. The 747 and piggybacking Endeavour executed a slow climb out from Runway 33. They formed a dark silhouette against brightening skies.   The world’s biggest biplane banked east, into the clouds. Within a short while, they re-emerged over the KSC Visitor Complex, flying north toward the Launch Complex 39 area.   The two passed over the Shuttle Landing Facility a final time, then turned west and flew over the causeway on the north end of town before exiting the vicinity.   “We’ll never see that again,” a spectator said, shaking his head.   Godspeed, Endeavour.   For Betty McCallister of Viera, watching space shuttle Endeavour’s fly-out Wednesday from the Space Coast was a little extra special.   Her grandson, astronaut Tom Marshburn, flew on Endeavour as a mission specialist in 2009.   McCallister and one of her daughters, Leslie Redrup of Melbourne, staked out a spot at POW/MIA Park near the Pineda Causeway, along the banks of the Indian River Lagoon, to watch the shuttle ferry flight pass overhead.   “We’re saying goodbye to the Endeavour because we have a very, very special feeling towards it,” McCallister said.   Even with the retirement of the shuttle fleet, McCallister and Redrup will continue to watch the space program closely. Marshburn, a medical doctor who completed three spacewalks on his Endeavour flight, has been assigned to spend six months on the International Space Station, beginning in December.   Eight-year-old Amber Pillsbury stood in the ocean tide at Lori Wilson Park, her eyes following shuttle Endeavour as the ferry flight flew overhead.   “Wow,” the third-grader said, dragging the word out for emphasis.   Her twin sister Mia marveled at the spacecraft.   “It looked like the size of an elephant,” she said. “But not the same color.”   Their grandfather Andy Noonan, 54, of Merritt Island, brought the twins and their brother Zack to see Endeavour off to its new home in California. It was the first — and last — time they would see it in the air.   Endeavour made just a brief appearance in Cocoa Beach. Rain had drizzled less than an hour before, and skies cleared just enough for onlookers to snap photos and witness history.   Nancy Thomas, 54, of Merritt Island, cheered, the shuttle making her feel proud of what Americans have accomplished in space.   “It’s amazing what man can do,” she said.   Others watched solemnly as an end of an era flew past. It gave Susan Robards, 50, of Merritt Island, goosebumps.   “It’s just the awe of it,” she explained. “Even though it’s in retirement, I’m still in awe.”   Kennedy Space Center bids final farewell to Endeavour   Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com   Bound for Southern California where America's space shuttle fleet was born, the retired spaceship Endeavour left her homeport this morning atop a modified 747 carrier jet to become a tool of inspiration at a children's science museum in Los Angeles.   The California Science Center, located in Exposition Park next to the LA Memorial Coliseum, was selected in the hotly-contested race to receive one of the space shuttles after the program was shut down last year.   Endeavour, the final orbiter built more than two decades ago and now a decommissioned museum piece, departed the Kennedy Space Center this morning atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft at 7:22 a.m. EDT after a two-day weather delay.   Initially heading towards the south, the flying duo buzzed the Space Coast beaches of Brevard County in a stirring farewell to the locals who saw Endeavour's spaceflight career spanning 25 missions, 122,883,151 miles, 4,677 orbits of the planet and 299 days aloft.   The aircraft then made a U-turn to travel up the river and perform a low-altitude pass above the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex and the runway in a final goodbye to the ship's home since 1991.   "The best analogy I can use is one of a parent and a child because the way we took care of these vehicles is basically like caring for a child. We ensured they were protected as much as we can...now we are to the point where we are releasing them from the nest, we're no longer going to have the ability to watch them 24/7," said Stephanie Stilson, the NASA manager in charge of shuttle retirement activities.   "It is little hard for us to let go. You'll see that with anybody who has been working on these vehicles as long as we have we don't want to let go. We sure don't. But it is good to know the people who are taking them are just as excited about taking care them, preserving them and showing them to public."   Grounding the space shuttles was a national policy ordered by President George W. Bush on Jan. 14, 2004, a decision that called for flying only the minimum number of additional missions to finish constructing the International Space Station before retiring the spaceplanes.   The change in direction for the U.S. space program came in the wake of the Columbia tragedy, the second fatal accident for the shuttles. The remaining orbiters would conduct just 22 more flights after Columbia, completing the orbiting science laboratory and giving one last tuneup to the Hubble Space Telescope.   The Bush Administration proposed a new capsule and rocket design that would come online a few years after the shuttle fleet stopped flying, automatically creating "a gap" in American access to space. But that turmoil has spiraled and the inability for the U.S. to launch its own people into space has grown even longer, extending NASA's reliance on Russia to ferry all crews to the station through at least 2017.   President Barack Obama terminated Bush's proposed follow-on system and turned to the private sector in hopes firms like Boeing, SpaceX or Sierra Nevada could develop the means to launch Americans again on a quicker timeline and for less money, but Congress has slashed recent funding for that concept and "the gap" goes on.   All that is certain with space program these days is the final resting places for the orbiters -- Discovery, Enterprise, Endeavour and Atlantis.   Endeavour's maiden voyage in May 1992 was a dramatic adventure to rescue the wayward Intelsat 603 telecommunications satellite that required the astronauts to improvise with the first-ever three-man spacewalk to manually grab the spacecraft after attempts using a specially-designed capture bar failed to work. The ship also conducted the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing in 1993, one of the stellar achievements for the space program that installed corrective optics to fix the observatory's flawed vision.   Other trips in the 1990s deployed and retrieved satellites, mapped the Earth with radar and scanned the cosmos with payloads carried in the orbiter's cargo bay. She also visited the Russian space station Mir once.   Then Endeavour opened the International Space Station era by launching the first American piece of the outpost -- the Unity connecting node -- to begin orbital construction in December 1998. Subsequent flights by Endeavour would take up the station's initial solar array power tower, all three sections of Canada's robotics including the arm, mobile transporter and Dextre hands, the Japanese science facility's "attic" and "back porch" for research, and the Tranquility utility room with the Cupola.   The 12th and final mission to the International Space Station by Endeavour finished the American assembly efforts, which this ship originally began, by adding the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and a final spare parts deck.   Construction of Endeavour started in September 1987 as a replacement vehicle for Challenger. The spaceplane was rolled out of the Palmdale factory in April 1991. She became NASA's fifth and final operational space shuttle with her inaugural launch a year later.   Endeavour should arrive at the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday for unloading. A day-and-a-half procession through city streets is planned for Oct. 12 and 13 to reach the California Science Center. She will go on public display at the pavilion built in Exposition Park on Oct. 30.   Discovery was delivered to the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in April and Enterprise was transported in June to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on the Hudson River in New York City   Atlantis is the final orbiter still undergoing the decommissioning ahead of her trip down the road to the KSC Visitor Complex on Nov. 2.   Shuttle Endeavour: Queen Mary on new L.A. flyover route   Los Angeles Times   Disneyland, the Getty Center and Griffith Observatory are already on the list, but space shuttle Endeavour will see a lot more of Southern California before landing in Los Angeles on Friday morning.   Weather permitting, the retired orbiter will also be flown over Venice Beach, Universal Studios, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Long Beach Aquarium and the Queen Mary, officials with the California Science Center announced Wednesday.   The shuttle will also fly over the Exposition Park museum, its new permanent home.   Riding piggyback on a modified Boeing 747 aircraft, the retired shuttle departed Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning for Houston, the first leg in a two-day trip to California. It flew low over several NASA sites across the South en route to the Texas city, where it landed safely and will spend Wednesday night.   It is scheduled to reach Edwards Air Force base Thursday afternoon. About 7:15 a.m. Friday, the shuttle will take off, flying low over Palmdale, Lancaster, Rosamond and Mojave before heading north to Sacramento, NASA officials said.   There, Endeavour will fly over the Capitol and turn to San Francisco, where those hoping to catch a glimpse of the shuttle are advised to watch from one of several Bay Area museums, including the Chabot Space and Science Center, the Exploratorium, the Bay Area Discovery Museum and the Lawrence Hall of Science. It can also be viewed from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.   It should reach the Los Angeles area by mid-morning and is expected to touch down at Los Angeles International Airport about 11 a.m.   Los Angeles police Cmdr. Scott Kroeber urged those hoping to see the shuttle to arrive at viewing locations early -- and not stop while driving to take pictures.   "We don't want this to be the mother of all distracted driving incidents," he said.   Huntsville native pilots Endeavour to CA   Christine Pae - WAFF TV (Huntsville)   After two weather-related delays, the space shuttle Endeavour took off for its ferry flight to California early Wednesday morning.   The shuttle will make stops at several NASA facilities before landing in Los Angeles where it will be on display at the California Science Center.   The Endeavour is bolted on top of a 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft that will carry it during the flight.   One of the pilots escorting the Endeavour during the flight is Huntsville native Jeff Moultrie. His mother, Colleen, said she is excited her son has the opportunity.   Moultrie, now a Madison resident, said her son began taking flying lessons when he was 15-years-old. She recalled the first time he flew over their home in a non-commercial airplane.   "He told me, ‘I'm coming and flying over the house and so you can watch for me.' I went out, heard him coming and I could see him waving at me," Moultrie said.   She said her son has gone on several ferry-assisted flights before, but Moultrie will not see her son fly over Huntsville during Endeavour's flight.   It will fly low over several NASA facilities en route to California, but the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville is not one of them.   Jennifer Stanfield, spokesperson for the Marshall Space Flight center, said Huntsville is just north of the direct route from Florida to California.   Standard operations are very rigorous in the ferry flight and the primary mission is to get the shuttle safely to California, according to Stanfield. She said fly-overs are only acceptable if it was on the flight path.   Moultrie said she's disappointed that the shuttle will not fly over Huntsville but is glad her son is part of the journey.   "We would have loved to have had it over Huntsville and other people too. Especially the ones who have worked on this shuttle," Moultrie said.   The Endeavour will make stops in Houston and Edwards Air Force Base in California before it arrives at his permanent home in Los Angeles Friday.   Endeavour’s Last Journey, Through Contentious Space   Ian Lovett - Los Angeles Times   The space shuttle Endeavour traveled 122,883,151 miles during its 25 missions, bursting out of the atmosphere at more than 17,000 miles an hour. On the last flight of its 20-year career, a three-day victory lap across the country on the back of a transport aircraft, it will log a few thousand miles more before touching down for the final time on Friday at Los Angeles International Airport.   But the final segment of Endeavour’s journey has proved perhaps the toughest yet: 12 miles through the dense urban landscape of Los Angeles, past streetlights and trees, to say nothing of city bureaucracy and politics, on its way to retirement at the California Science Center.   A path was cleared just days before the shuttle’s scheduled arrival, but not without controversy. A storm of criticism and threats of legal action arose in low-income neighborhoods in South Los Angeles over plans to remove hundreds of trees to make way for the bulky aircraft.   “We would all like the space shuttle in Los Angeles; it’s a great asset,” Carl Morgan, a longtime South Los Angeles resident and member of the local neighborhood council, said last week. “But you don’t have to destroy the community to get the thing there, this disenfranchised community of color, which is just repeatedly disrespected.”   This week, the science center agreed to donate more than $2 million to those communities.   For all the jacarandas that fill the city and the palms that line the streets, South Los Angeles is low on shade and green space, and residents of this overwhelmingly black and Latino community remember when South Los Angeles families were forced from their homes to make way for the freeways.   Convinced that their community had too often been shunted aside by city power brokers, some residents threatened to sue to prevent the tree removal, forcing the last-minute concessions.   The science center, which has had to cut down 400 trees to clear a path for the shuttle, said it would replace the trees in South Los Angeles at a rate of four for each one removed, twice the rate of replacement in the neighboring city of Inglewood. It will also pay to repair thousands of feet of sidewalks, trim existing trees, train and hire local youths, and fund scholarships for hundreds of neighborhood children to attend its summer camp.   All told, said Jeffrey Rudolph, president of the center, more than $2 million will be spent in South Los Angeles, where the science center is located.   Los Angeles issued permits on Monday to allow the science center to begin taking out the trees.   “We know that some residents continue to be concerned and unhappy with the loss of trees, but we are doing everything we can to minimize the impact,” Mr. Rudolph said. “We will also be adding to South L.A. one of the most incredible educational resources and economic development resources in the world.”   Three other retired shuttles have taken their places at other locations: Enterprise is at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York, Discovery is in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Va., and Atlantis is at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Fla.   Planning for Endeavour’s final trip, which will take place Oct. 12 and 13, was complicated from the start. “We’ve had this challenge of the logistics since NASA awarded us the Endeavour,” Mr. Rudolph said. “They said, ‘How are you going to get it from the airport to the science center?’ ”   Transporting the shuttle on the freeways was quickly ruled out, because it was too large to fit through an underpass. An airlift was impossible because of the shuttle’s weight: two helicopters could not lift it, and using more than two was considered too risky.   So planners turned to surface streets through Los Angeles and Inglewood.   The Endeavour is not the first famous oversize object to make its way through the streets here. Earlier this year, a 340-ton piece of rock art was hauled along public streets from a quarry in Riverside County to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a trip that took 11 nights, with travel only between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.   Endeavour, though not nearly as heavy, is far larger — 122 feet long, with a wingspan of 78 feet and a tail that is 57 feet tall.   The aircraft will be carried aboard a 160-wheel carrier, designed to move bridges and ships, that can rotate 360 degrees in its own footprint. Trees will be felled, streetlights will be moved, telephone lines lifted.   And if all goes well, Endeavour will be open to the public, free of charge, by the end of October, housed in a temporary exhibition at the science center until a permanent display space is built.   Edward Conley, who lives nearby, said he planned to take his 8-year-old son, Jack, to see the shuttle as it makes its way through South Los Angeles.   “It’s historic,” Mr. Conley. “We didn’t get to see any of the takeoffs, and we’ll be able to see the space shuttle up close when it comes through the neighborhood.”   At least Endeavour will not have to fight the notorious Los Angeles rush-hour freeway traffic. But as it travels at just 2 miles per hour, it will be moving at about the same pace.   MEANWHILE ON MARS...   Mars rover poised to begin first 'hands on' geology   William Harwood - CBS News   NASA's Mars Curiosity rover is about half way to its first major scientific destination, project managers said Wednesday, a region known as Glenelg where three different terrains come together. But the science team plans to pause a few days to perform the mission's first hands-on "contact science," using instruments on the vehicle's robot arm to photograph and chemically assess an intriguing pyramid-shaped rock.   Data from the arm-mounted Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer, or APXS, will be compared with remote sensing data from another instrument known as Chemcam that uses a powerful laser to vaporize tiny sections of a target's surface. Debris from the laser strike is measured remotely to help determine chemical composition.   "The science team has had an interest for some time now as we're driving across the plains to find a rock that looks like it's relatively uniform in composition to do some experiments between ChemCam, which we've been acquiring a lot of data with, and APXS, which we haven't used yet on a rock," said John Grotzinger, the Mars Science Laboratory project scientist.   "Both of those instruments could make a measurement and there could be differences between the measurements because one is measuring at a small scale (ChemCam) and one is measuring at a larger scale (APXS). These rocks that we drive by on the plains here that look dark, they probably have basaltic composition. That's a familiar material to us."   The rock chosen for the initial APSX measurements, and closeup photography by the Mars Hand Lens Imager instrument, or MAHLI, has been dubbed "Jake" in honor of Jacob Matijevic, a Jet Propulsion Laboratory mathematician and engineer who died a few days after Curiosity's Aug. 6 landing in Gale Crater.   "The hope is we can analyze this rock and then do a cross comparison between the two instruments," Grotzinger said. "Not to mention it's just a cool-looking rock there, sitting out on the plains with almost pyramidal geometry, so that's kind of fun as well."   Curiosity is expected to spend three to four days collecting data from the MAHLI, APXS and the ChemCam instruments before resuming its slow trek to Glenelg.   New photographs from Curiosity show the approach to Glenelg and a stair-like terrain Curiosity will need to negotiate to reach the heart of the target zone.   "We really do think it's going to be interesting," Grotzinger said. "You can see a light-toned (rock) unit, which we believe to be material that from orbit has this signature, this property, of having relatively high thermal inertia. That's the ability of a material to retain its heat. So late in the day or at night, orbiters are able to observe this rock well. We don't know what the reason for that is, but it's always been a bit of a beacon for us and we're getting closer and closer to it."   As for getting there, Grotzinger said the Curiosity will have to descend several yards, passing through darker layers that may be inter-bedded with the denser, light-toned material.   "We can also see in the (orbital) data that we can detour around that and kind of contour our way down into those lower reaches where we hope to do the bulk of our investigation at that Glenelg region," he said. "We have all the tools we need to get into this exciting area."   Curiosity's long-range goal is the base of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-high mound of layered terrain in the center of Gale Crater that is expected to provide major insights into the geologic history of Mars and whether or not any organic compounds might be present like those required for life as it is known on Earth. The foothills of Mount Sharp are five to seven miles away and Curiosity is not expected to get there until early next year.   In the meantime, along with studying martian geology and weather, Curiosity's cameras also are doing a bit of astronomical observing, photographing Mars' two moons Phobos and Deimos as they pass in front of the sun. Using faster cameras than those available on earlier missions, scientists are able to precisely time the events and in so doing, measure the satellites' orbits with unprecedented accuracy.   By studying how the orbits change over time due to gravitational interactions, researchers can gain insights into the internal composition of Mars and the moons as tidal forces affect their passage. Based on earlier observations, it appears Phobos, for example, will break apart under stress from Mars' gravity some 10 million to 15 million years from now.   "Why do we take all these images of these two little moons crossing in front of the sun?" asked Mark Lemmon, a science team co-investigator at Texas A&M University. "For one thing, they have tidal forces that they exert on Mars, they change Mars' shape ever so slightly. That, in turn, changes the moon's orbit. Phobos is slowing down, Deimos is speeding up like our moon is. This is something that happens very slowly over time.   "Phobos will eventually break up and fall into Mars and with the transits, we can measure their orbits very precisely and figure out how fast they are doing this. The reason that's interesting is it constrains Mars' interior structure. We can't go inside Mars, but we can use these to tell how much Mars deforms when the moons go by."   By precisely timing the transits, "we get information on Mars' interior structure," Lemmon said. "We think the precision of these measurements ... will also tell us something about Phobos' insides and whether it's uniformly dense or if there are variations."   Mini-Great Pyramid of Giza on Mars intrigues Curiosity rover team   Pete Spotts - Christian Science Monitor   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is eying a target for the first tandem test of two instruments crucial to the rover's mission of determining whether its new home, Gale Crater, as well as the crater's central Mt. Sharp, could have hosted life early in the planet's history.   At 16 inches wide and about 10 inches tall, the target rock looks like a miniature Great Pyramid of Giza, with one face artisans neglected to maintain.   But it's just the ticket for testing the rover's ChemCam and and Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), a complementary set of tools for determining the composition of the rocks and soils the rover will encounter during its two-year prime mission on Mars   Six weeks into its visit to the Red Planet, Curiosity is performing well, noted Richard Cook, deputy project manager for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. It has traveled 289 meters (948 feet) from its touchdown spot at Bradbury Landing on the floor of Gale Crater.   That means the research team is more than half way to its first major science destination, Glenelg, an area marked by the confluence of three distinct types of terrain. These include formations that appear to consist of the same type of heat-capturing rock seen elsewhere on the crater floor from orbit, says John Grotzinger, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., and the mission's project scientist.   That rock is of interest because its ability to retain heat is similar to that of rocks on Earth that have been cemented through interaction with water. Finding geochemical evidence that the crater once could have hosted water that persisted long enough to help form such rocks could help strengthen the case that this patch of the planet might once have been suitable for sustaining microbial life.   During the commute to Glenelg, scientists have been looking for a rock that looks to have uniform composition to run joint experiments with ChemCam and the APXS, Dr. Grotzinger said during a briefing on Wednesday.   The rock the team has settled on looks to meet that requirement; it looks to be made of basalt – of volcanic origin. It's a rock type with which the researchers are very familiar and, indeed, Curiosity carries a small piece of basalt as a calibration target for ensuring the APXS is working properly.   But that's not its only draw. "It's just a cool-looking rock there," Grotzinger adds.   The stone also carries some sentimental value. The Curiosity team has named it for Jake Matijevic, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena who passed away shortly after Curiosity landed. Mr. Matijevic played a vital role in each of the rover missions NASA has sent to Mars, including the current one.   The ChemCam/APXS test will mark the first attempt at "contact" measurements, in which Curiosity's arm will bring the instrument turret constituting its "hand" close to a rock. The X-ray spectrometer is one of the instruments on the turret.   During the past week, Curiosity also has played the role of astronomer, building movies of the partial transit of the sun by Phobos, one of Mars's two diminutive moons. Both Phobos and Deimos exert tiny but measurable tidal forces on the Martian crust, which changes the planet's shape, in turn altering the moons' orbits, notes Mark Lemmon, a researcher at Texas A&M University and a co-investigator on MastCam, a high-resolution camera atop Curiosity's seven-foot mast.   Monitoring the transits allows researchers to determine the orbits of the moons with high precision. From that, scientists can determine how fast the orbits are changing. For Phobos, which is slowly spiraling in toward the planet, that's a big deal. Dr. Lemmon notes that Phobos's ultimate fate is to break up and pepper the planet with its remains.   For researchers interested in Mars's innards, information on the moons' orbits and their effect on the shape of Mars also yield insights into the planet's interior structure, he says. Transits and partial transits happen often enough on Mars to make these observations a MastCam staple.   END