Tuesday, September 25, 2012
9/25/12 news
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. JSC Early Morning Shuttle Van Service To Be Discontinued
2. Reduction of Office Personnel Moves
3. HSI ERG Meeting Today - Featuring Human Spaceflight Training
4. This Week at Starport
5. JSC New Technologies Published in NASA Tech Briefs
6. Guided Relaxation Session
7. Chronic Illness Group
8. Need a Spring Intern?
9. Get Your Flu Shot on Safety & Health Day
10. AIAA Honors and Awards Nominations - Deadlines Approaching
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”
-- Bruce Lee
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1. JSC Early Morning Shuttle Van Service To Be Discontinued
Effective Oct. 1, the Center Operations Directorate will discontinue the early morning shuttle van service route. This route runs between JSC and the Houston Metro pickup/drop-off point located at 1150 Gemini. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but the limited usage does not justify the cost of continuing this service.
Marty Cassens, JB7/Transportation and Support Services Branch x36503
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2. Reduction of Office Personnel Moves
The beginning of the new fiscal year has required some significant budget reductions, which impact the services provided at JSC. Rather than allow these reductions to result in the cancellation of services, JSC's Logistics Division is modifying the manner in which certain services are provided in order for their continuation. One of the services being modified is the management of intra-center personnel moves. Beginning Oct. 1, all personnel moves will only be performed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Organizations are encouraged to factor this new operational component in planning their requirements, which will assist both the organization and the Logistics Division. The center appreciates your patience and understanding as these modifications are implemented in the coming year. For questions regarding a scheduled move, possible move or the new move process, please contact Delores Marshall at x36504.
Delores Marshall x36504
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3. HSI ERG Meeting Today - Featuring Human Spaceflight Training
The JSC Human System Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) meeting will feature Jason Hutt of the Spaceflight Training Management Office. He will present an overview of the process for developing human spaceflight training, including a review of the high-level milestones and approval path. We will meet today from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 1, Room 220. Bring your lunch, and join us!
Deb Neubek 281-222-3687 http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx
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4. This Week at Starport
It's Hispanic Heritage month. To celebrate, the cafes will feature some flavors from Mexico! On Wednesday enjoy beef machaca enchiladas and chipotle chicken with pico de gallo. Then stop by on Thursday, and try some beer-braised sausage with sauerkraut and sauerbraten in honor of Oktoberfest.
The last Parent's Night Out of the year is this Friday. Don't miss out- register now! http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Youth/PNO.cfm
Memberships are still available to our new soothing sanctuary at the Gilruth Center, the Inner Space. Anyone can purchase a membership to the Inner Space where we offer many Yoga and Pilates classes, morning and evening. Whether you purchase a pass to a single class or a four, six or 12-week membership and attend as many classes as you like, we have the option that's right for you. Visit http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/MindBody/ for more information.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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5. JSC New Technologies Published in NASA Tech Briefs
Several outstanding new technologies and innovations from JSC are recognized in the August issue of NASA Tech Briefs.
The main purpose of Tech Briefs is to introduce information on new innovations and technologies that stem from advanced research and technology programs conducted by NASA.
The August 2012 JSC briefs include: General Methodology for Designing Spacecraft Trajectories, High-Thermal-Conductivity Fabrics, Saliva Preservative for Diagnostic Purposes, Ultra-Compact Motor Controller, and Hands-Free Transcranial Color Doppler Probe.
To read and learn more, click here.
To find more NASA Tech Briefs, go to http://www.techbriefs.com
Holly Kurth x32951
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6. Guided Relaxation Session
Take time away from the stress and pressure in your life to unclutter your mind, center your emotions, and remove tension from your body. On September 25 from 11:30 - 12:30 in Bldg 32 Room 146 Jackie Reese of the (EAP) will take participants through a guided relaxation exercise designed to leave you feeling rested and renewed. Space is limited, so please rsvp to (Lorrie) by September 24th.
Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130
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7. Chronic Illness Group
Do you want to know how to best protect your relationships while dealing with medical issues? Join Gay Yarbrough, LCSW, for a discussion of "Relationship Tips When Dealing With Chronic Illness."
When: Tuesday, Sept. 25
Time: 4 p.m.
Where: Building 32, Conference Room 142
Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130
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8. Need a Spring Intern?
The Office of Education is now accepting intern project requests for spring 2013.
Session: Spring 2013 (college students)
Session Dates: Jan. 14 to April 26
Submission Deadline: Oct. 5
All projects should be entered in NASA's SOLAR System. As a mentor, you are now able to submit a description of your internship opportunity for spring 2013.
To upload your project and make student selections, click on the following link: https://intern.nasa.gov
1. Complete a mentor profile.
- Provide or update contact information, primary area of expertise and job title
2. Submit your opportunities.
- Create a new internship or fellowship opportunity, or modify an existing opportunity.
- Submit the opportunity for approval by your organization.
For questions, please contact: Diego Rodriguez at 281-792-7827 or diego.rodriguez@nasa.gov
Thank you for your support and dedication to the Office of Education at Johnson Space Center.
Diego Rodriguez x27827
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9. Get Your Flu Shot on Safety & Health Day
Talk about convenience! Not only will you have plenty of safety and health educational opportunities on Oct. 11, you can take in the keynote speaker at Teague Auditorium, 9 a.m. and then waltz into the Teague lobby for your annual flu shot!
The JSC Occupational Health Clinic will see you between 8:30 to 11:30 a.m., have a short break for lunch and will return from 12:30 to 3 p.m. So, don't miss this chance to get protected before flu season starts rolling.
This is just one of many special features of Safety & Health Day this year. Watch for more announcements!
Angel Plaza, Co-Chair, Safety & Health Day Committee x37305
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10. AIAA Honors and Awards Nominations - Deadlines Approaching
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston Section is soliciting nominations for several awards that have deadlines approaching in less than a week, and we would like to have as many nominees from the Houston section as possible.
The following links detail how to submit a nomination:
Link to AIAA honors and awards (includes frequently asked questions, nomination links and membership upgrades on right-hand menu):
https://aiaa.org/secondary.aspx?id=230
Award descriptions (please read full description before submitting a nomination):
https://aiaa.org/HonorsAndAwardsList.aspx?id=5859
Direct link to nomination form (requires login):
https://www.aiaa.org/IframeOneColumn.aspx?id=3411&returnURL=https%3a%2f%2faia...
There are other awards offered with deadlines later in the year. These can also be found at the award description link above. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at honors2012@aiaahouston.org with "AIAA 2012 Awards" in the subject line.
Further information is available at: http://www.aiaahouston.org/
Best of luck to all of our Houston-area colleagues!
Jennifer Wells 281-336-6302
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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.
NASA TV:
· 8:40 am Central (9:40 EDT) – Expedition 33 event with Huffington Post & CBS Radio
· 2 pm Central (3 EDT) – File of E33/34 News Conference at Star City & visit to Red Square
· 5:15 pm Central (6:15 EDT) – Undocking of ISS ATV3 (Undocking at 5:35 p.m. CDT)
· 7 am Central WEDNESDAY (8 EDT) - Live Interviews with Expedition 31/32’s Joe Acaba
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...
Z1 Spacesuit and Suitport Testing
Cristina Anchondo, Z1 spacesuit test director, stops by Mission Control to talk about the Z1 spacesuit and some of the suitport tests they are performing in the building 32 vacuum chamber at JSC. The new Z1 spacesuit design incorporates a suitport, which is an interface between the interior of a space vehicle and the spacesuit that is mounted on the exterior of a space vehicle. This allows the wearer to quickly get into the spacesuit from the interior of a spacecraft then detach it from the suitport and begin exploring on the exterior.
Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – September 25, 2012
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Commission approves main, backup crews of next ISS expedition
Itar-Tass
The main and backup crews of the next expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully passed the qualifying examination and are ready to fly on the Soyuz spaceship, according to the decision made on Tuesday by the interdepartmental commission, the Cosmonaut Training Centre (CTC) told Itar-Tass. “The main crew is approved as follows: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Yevgeny Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford,” CTC press secretary Irina Rogova said.
NASA considering deep-space outpost on far side of moon
Fox News
Will NASA’s next mission send its astronauts beyond the moon?
The space agency is weighing a proposal to build a “gateway spacecraft” that would hang in space about 277,000 miles from the Earth and 38,000 miles past the moon -- more than a quarter million miles further into space than the orbit of the International Space Station.
A report by the Orlando Sentinel details the plan to park the orbiting spacecraft on the far side of the moon, in a precisely calculated spot called Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2. The gravitational pull of the planets balances out at this point in space, allowing NASA to essentially “park” there permanently rather than orbiting. In contrast, the ISS orbits the Earth at a height of about 230 miles. In a statement to FoxNews.com, a NASA spokesman said the agency was evaluating several potential routes to Mars, an asteroid and elsewhere in space. "NASA is executing President Obama's ambitious space exploration plan that includes missions around the moon, to asteroids, and ultimately putting humans on Mars. There are many options -- and many routes -- being discussed on our way to the Red Planet, “Trent J. Perrotto said.
NASA: Let's Build a Space Station on the Far Side of the Moon
Andrew Moseman - Popular Mechanics
Everyone needs something audacious on their wish list. NASA's is a space station not 200 miles about the Earth, as the International Space Station is, but an installation 277,000 miles away, on the far side of the moon. Over the weekend, the Orlando Sentinel reported that NASA administrator Charles Bolden had briefed the Obama administration on a plan to build such an outpost that would travel to the Earth-moon Lagrange Point 2, or L2.
Romney-Ryan space plan could mean big changes
Concerns over 'rebuilding NASA'
WKMG TV (Orlando)
Mitt Romney announced Saturday that he wants to make America the leader in space, by “Rebuilding NASA, restoring U.S. leadership, and creating new opportunities for space commerce,” according to a campaign press release. The release continued, “Romney will bring together all the stakeholders — from NASA, from the Air Force, from our leading universities, and from commercial enterprises — to set goals, identify missions, and define a pathway forward that is guided, coherent, and worthy of our great nation.”
Olson plan brings ‘some certainty’ to JSC
Jeff Newpher - Bay Area Citizen
A bill that would dramatically change how NASA operates, from the top down, has been introduced in Congress. If the “Neil Armstrong Space Leadership Act” becomes law, it would create a 10-year term for the NASA Administrator and also (the sponsors hope), “...provide crucial stability of the leadership structure at NASA so that decisions are made based on science and are removed from the politics of changing administrations.” Texas Congressmen Pete Olson, John Culberson and Lamar Smith were joined by Congressmen Frank Wolf of Virginia, Bill Posey of Florida and James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin introducing the bill.
The fleeting fame of commercial space travel
David Worthington - SmartPlanet.com
The era of commercial space travel is upon us, and if NASA’s Apollo missions are any precedent, it will likely become routine as the initial excitement fades. Interest in space will wax and wane. You couldn’t escape the hubbub when SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft launched in May - my colleagues at SmartPlanet fired off a steady succession of articles. A commercial spacecraft linking up with the International Space Station (ISS) is absolutely novel in the wake of the space race and U.S. shuttle’s renowned run of service.
Endeavour: Astronauts hope shuttle will inspire future generations
Los Angeles Times
Of the folks assembled at the United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport last week to watch Endeavour's arrival, three had firsthand experience with the space shuttle. Garrett Reisman came to LAX to watch the shuttle with the past and present on his mind. He first flew on Endeavour in 2008, when he went to space for the first time. He left NASA 18 months ago and now works at SpaceX and lives in Manhattan Beach.
AF launching secretive X-37B space plane in October, could land in Fla.
Leonard David - Space.com
The U.S. military's hush-hush robotic X-37B space plane is slated to blast off again next month, Air Force officials say. The mission will test the robotic spacecraft's reusability and may eventually land on the Florida runway once used for NASA space shuttles. The X-37B space plane's next mission — called Orbital Test Vehicle-3, or OTV-3, because it is the program's third-ever spaceflight — is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) sometime in October.
SpaceX's reusable rocket testbed takes first hop
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
SpaceX's Grasshopper testbed, a slender white rocket fitted with insect-like landing legs, took off for a brief hop at the company's Texas test site Friday. The short flight of approximately 6 feet lasted less than 3 seconds, but it kicked off a campaign of more ambitious testing to demonstrate the ability to land spent rocket stages for reuse. SpaceX's concept calls for the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage to descend and land vertically, using engine thrust to settle to a soft touchdown at or near the launch site. The first stages are currently only used once and jettisoned to fall into the ocean.
SpaceX 'Grasshopper' Takes Its First Hop
Irene Klotz - Discovery News
Last week, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) took a tiny leap -- literally -- in its quest to develop a reusable rocket that can take off and land itself vertically. The prototype vehicle, named Grasshopper, lifted off ever so slightly from a test stand in McGregor, Texas, on Friday and landed on its four steel legs, a new video posted on the firm's website shows. The six-foot hop was the first major milestone for Grasshopper -- "a critical step," the company said, toward a reusable first stage for its Falcon 9 rockets. Grasshopper's next trick? Hover about 100 feet off the ground. (NO FURTHER TEXT)
SpaceX Grasshopper reusable test bed makes first short hop
Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com
SpaceX's Grasshopper reusable rocket test bed has made an initial hop at the company's McGregor, Texas engine test site. The hop, on or about 21 September, lasted less than 1sec but begins the official flight test regime, According to documents filed with the Federal Aviation Administration, the flight test period will consist of dozens of flights, increasing in altitude and speed.
Chris Hadfield launch to space station pushed back two weeks
Peter Rakobowchuk - Canadian Press
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield plays coy when asked whether his upcoming six-month visit to the International Space Station will be his last trip into the cosmos. "Never, say never," he said in an interview at the Canadian Space Agency on Monday. The veteran astronaut is due to launch on a Russian spacecraft with NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko on Dec. 19 -- two weeks later than planned.
Space shuttle Endeavour made final flight packed with souvenir patches
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
Space shuttle Endeavour's hatch will be opened by NASA techs one last time this week, in part to retrieve thousands of souvenir patches and a photo — the retired orbiter's final flown cargo. Endeavour, which is now temporarily parked in a United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), is being prepared for its delivery to the California Science Center (CSC) for display. The shuttle, piggybacking atop a NASA jumbo jet, landed at LAX on Friday after a three-day cross-country ferry flight and four-hour flyover of its new home's state. Just a few days before Endeavour left the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the last time, NASA fulfilled a request by the CSC and stowed a care package on the shuttle's mid-deck inside its crew compartment. Stored in a locker, the pouch was flown with the orbiter on its last time taking to the air, and the final ferry flight of the space shuttle era.
The Broken Beyond: How Space Turned Into an Office Park
All the exciting parts of exploring the solar system have been leeched out. What's left is the drudgery of the everyday and the dreams of the rich.
Ian Bogost - The Atlantic (Opinion)
(Bogost is a researcher, designer, and critic who focuses on videogames. He's a professor at Georgia Tech and a founding partner of Persuasive Games, a videogame studio.)
I am a Space Shuttle child. I ogled big exploded view posters of the spaceship in classrooms. I built models of it out of plastic and assembled gliders in its shape out of foam. I sat silent with my classmates watching the television news on a VCR cart after Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. Six years later, I worked as an instructor at the New Mexico Museum of Space History's summer "Shuttle Camp," a name that will soon seem retrograde if it doesn't already. Last summer the last Space Shuttle took its last space flight, but last week it took its last worldly one. It ended my generation's era of space marvel, which turned out to take a very different path from that of our parents. During the 1950s and 1960s, space exploration was primarily a proxy for geopolitical combat. It was largely symbolic, even if set against a background of earnest frontiersmanship. First satellite, first man in space, first spacewalk, first manned moon mission, and so on. Space as a frontier was a thing for science fiction fantasy, although we dipped our toes far enough across that border to make it clear that such exploration was possible, even if not yet feasible.
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COMPLETE STORIES
Commission approves main, backup crews of next ISS expedition
Itar-Tass
The main and backup crews of the next expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully passed the qualifying examination and are ready to fly on the Soyuz spaceship, according to the decision made on Tuesday by the interdepartmental commission, the Cosmonaut Training Centre (CTC) told Itar-Tass.
“The main crew is approved as follows: Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Yevgeny Tarelkin and NASA astronaut Kevin Ford,” CTC press secretary Irina Rogova said.
Last Thursday and Friday, Novitsky, Tarelkin and Ford, as well as their backups demonstrated their skills at the Cosmonaut Training Centre on mock-ups of the Russian ISS segment and the Soyuz TMA-M digital series spaceship.
During the integrated training the cosmonauts of the main had not only to cope with several contingencies on the Soyuz spacecraft, but also to deal with the cause of failure of the systems of communication and the station’s oxygen supply, fix the toilet, as well as to extinguish a fire in the Russian segment.
The interdepartmental commission also confirmed readiness for the flight of the backup crewmembers Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy. They can now relax and think about their future flight, scheduled for March 2013, just after the start of the Soyuz TMA-06M spaceship, which will take the main crew into orbit.
The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is tentatively scheduled for 14:51 MSK on October 23. The orbital mission of the main crew of the ISS Expedition 33/34 will continue for about five months.
NASA considering deep-space outpost on far side of moon
Fox News
Will NASA’s next mission send its astronauts beyond the moon?
The space agency is weighing a proposal to build a “gateway spacecraft” that would hang in space about 277,000 miles from the Earth and 38,000 miles past the moon -- more than a quarter million miles further into space than the orbit of the International Space Station.
A report by the Orlando Sentinel details the plan to park the orbiting spacecraft on the far side of the moon, in a precisely calculated spot called Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2. The gravitational pull of the planets balances out at this point in space, allowing NASA to essentially “park” there permanently rather than orbiting.
In contrast, the ISS orbits the Earth at a height of about 230 miles.
“[Placing a spacecraft at the Earth-Moon Lagrange point beyond the moon as a test area for human access to deep space is the best near-term option to develop required flight experience and mitigate risk," concluded the NASA report.
The new outpost -- which may be built from parts leftover from the construction of the ISS -- would be an ideal first mission for the heavy lift spacecraft dubbed Space Launch System that is being developed at NASA.
That rocket is being designed to carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a capsule that can hold crew on missions to the moon or beyond. It can also carry important cargo, equipment and science experiments to Earth's orbit and destinations beyond, according to NASA.
The Space Launch System will be NASA's first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took American astronauts to the moon over 40 years ago, the space agency said.
A deep-space base or “gateway spacecraft” would present unique opportunities and challenges. It would expose astronauts to the radiation of deep space, and would be challenging to resupply. But it would greatly ease communications further out into space, and would presumably be a jumping off point for human travel to Mars.
It was unclear whether this space base would be manned. NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Division recently detailed work on a deep-space habitat that would allow crew to live and work safely in space for up to a year. The group built a mockup of such a space habitat in July at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.
In a statement to FoxNews.com, a NASA spokesman said the agency was evaluating several potential routes to Mars, an asteroid and elsewhere in space.
"NASA is executing President Obama's ambitious space exploration plan that includes missions around the moon, to asteroids, and ultimately putting humans on Mars. There are many options -- and many routes -- being discussed on our way to the Red Planet, “Trent J. Perrotto said.
"In addition to the moon and an asteroid, other options may be considered as we look for ways to buy down risk -- and make it easier -- to get to Mars."
Paying for any such a project would be an immense challenge in itself. The Orlando Sentinel reportedly studied internal NASA documents on the project, which don’t include any sort of price tag. And NASA has been wrestling with budget cuts for years.
On Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released a policy paper detailing his vision for NASA called “Securing U.S. Leadership in Space” – it underscores the concept of doing more with less.
“A strong and successful NASA does not require more funding, it needs clearer priorities,” the document reads.
In February, Space.com obtained NASA memos detailing the formation of a team to develop a cohesive plan to explore the Lagrange point. The first construction flight to build a waystation there could take place as soon as 2019, according to the Sentinel.
There are many options — and many routes — being discussed on our way to the Red Planet," spokesman David Weaver said.
NASA: Let's Build a Space Station on the Far Side of the Moon
Andrew Moseman - Popular Mechanics
Everyone needs something audacious on their wish list. NASA's is a space station not 200 miles about the Earth, as the International Space Station is, but an installation 277,000 miles away, on the far side of the moon.
Over the weekend, the Orlando Sentinel reported that NASA administrator Charles Bolden had briefed the Obama administration on a plan to build such an outpost that would travel to the Earth-moon Lagrange Point 2, or L2.
The Lagrange Points are spots in our planet's neighborhood where the gravities of the Earth and the moon cancel each other out. L2 is an ideal spot for a station, since you wouldn't need much energy to hold the thing in place.
Sending astronauts so far from Earth could be a major stepping stone toward sending them further distances, like to Mars. For one thing, building this mission would mean NASA would have to learn how to keep astronauts safe in deep space.
An L2 outpost would lie beyond the Earth's protective magnetosphere, putting astronauts in much more danger from radiation and thus required new shielding. And if NASA needed to execute a rescue mission, 277,000 miles is a bit more challenging than 200.
According to the Sentinel, it's unclear whether the president would support such a mission. And like all things NASA, the cost is an enormous issue. There's no clear price tag on an L2 space station, but at the very least it would require NASA to actually build the Space Launch System that would blast its Orion capsule (now called the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle) into orbit. The agency is congressionally mandated to do so, but it's unclear whether the project will ever truly be funded.
Romney-Ryan space plan could mean big changes
Concerns over 'rebuilding NASA'
WKMG TV (Orlando)
Mitt Romney announced Saturday that he wants to make America the leader in space, by “Rebuilding NASA, restoring U.S. leadership, and creating new opportunities for space commerce,” according to a campaign press release.
The release continued, “Romney will bring together all the stakeholders — from NASA, from the Air Force, from our leading universities, and from commercial enterprises — to set goals, identify missions, and define a pathway forward that is guided, coherent, and worthy of our great nation.”
The Romney-Ryan campaign insisted, “A strong and successful NASA does not require more funding, it needs clearer priorities. Romney will ensure that NASA has practical and sustainable missions.”
The space announcement was timed to coincide with Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan's town hall-style meeting at the University of Central Florida on Saturday. Immediately after the rally, Ryan sat down with Local 6 Weekend Anchor Erik von Ancken.
Von Ancken asked, “Orion, the capsule, is being built at Kennedy Space Center as we speak, you have Space X that launches from KSC, are these practical and sustainable missions? Will they be part of your plan going forward?”
“That's why we want to have a stakeholders meeting. We want to engage with NASA, commercial technology, the private sector, and our national security to come up with a space program mission,” said Ryan.
The Romney-Ryan plan calls for “stakeholders from NASA, from the Air Force, from our leading universities, and from commercial enterprises — to set goals, identify missions, and define a pathway forward that is guided, coherent, and worthy of our great nation.”
"It sounds like that could mean the SLS, and servicing the ISS could be on the chopping block?” asked von Ancken.
“No I'm not suggesting any of that. I think we need to have a reassessment, to put together a mission-critical space program; that's not what we have right now. So in office we need to come up with a viable space program,” said Ryan.
“And possibly cut those programs?” asked von Ancken.
“I don't know the answer to that,” said Ryan.
Former shuttle worker Jerry Mulberry, who spent 30 years at Kennedy Space Center, said he is glad that Republicans are talking about space and making it a priority, but is concerned what changes could come.
"It seems like it is a fight every 4 years, that the space program is not in the forefront or funded," said Mulberry, who now owns Space Shirts down the road from the Kennedy Space Center. "We seem to have lost our focus; this might be a good thing to do... maybe it is a good idea to get everyone together and say ok, we have a viable NASA infrastructure, and we have done a lot of incredible things, so what is the next big thing NASA could do."
Olson plan brings ‘some certainty’ to JSC
Jeff Newpher - Bay Area Citizen
A bill that would dramatically change how NASA operates, from the top down, has been introduced in Congress.
If the “Neil Armstrong Space Leadership Act” becomes law, it would create a 10-year term for the NASA Administrator and also (the sponsors hope), “...provide crucial stability of the leadership structure at NASA so that decisions are made based on science and are removed from the politics of changing administrations.”
Texas Congressmen Pete Olson, John Culberson and Lamar Smith were joined by Congressmen Frank Wolf of Virginia, Bill Posey of Florida and James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin introducing the bill.
Olson’s current district includes the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake.
In a statement accompanying the bill, the six agreed, “The last 30 years have been marked by canceled programs due to cost-overruns, mismanagement or abrupt program changes at the start of each new administration. In the past 20 years alone, 27 programs have been cancelled resulting in over $20 billion wasted on uncompleted programs.”
The cancellation of the Constellation project by President Obama is the most glaring, recent example of waste, Olson said.
“That was $10 billion spent with no end result,” Olson said.
“By doing so, without any sort of replacement, he’s relegated us to being ‘space hitchhikers.’ We have to put our thumb out to go to the International Space Station with the Russians,” added Olson.
The bill would give the NASA Director a ten-year appointment, as the FBI Director has now.
Olson said that is important, “To give the people at the Johnson Space Center some certainty.”
One of Culberson’s goals is “…to make NASA less political and more professional by modeling their internal leadership after the FBI and the National Science Foundation.”
He is a member of the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee, which funds NASA.
Another major component of the proposed legislation is the creation of a Board of Directors made up of former astronauts and eminent scientists--chosen by the White House and both houses of Congress.
The Board would “…provide a quadrennial review of space programs and a vision for space exploration that will set a tone for NASA’s endeavors to ensure American preeminence in the space industry,” according to the bill’s sponsors.
They also endorsed a new budget process for the space agency which would, “…make NASA funding more stable and predictable by enabling them to design and build new rockets and new spacecraft in the same way that the Navy designs and builds new submarines and ships. These reforms will save money and help their budget go farther in tough times, but more importantly, we hope to restore the NASA we knew when we were young and America landed the first man on the moon.”
Asked what his priority would be if he were “Chairman of the Board,” Olson replied, “Moon, Moon, Moon.”
He said the best stepping stone to Mars is the Moon. “Our biggest challenge is the propulsion system and making sure people can survive. People need water and food to survive. If we can find water on the Moon, that is a huge progress point to go to Mars and beyond.”
Olson is advised by the last man to walk on the Moon, Captain Gene Cernan.
“It has been a bi-partisan commitment in the Congress since the days of JFK’s challenge to go to the moon. But, it has lacked long-term stability and focus because of the constantly changing political whims of the Executive Branch of government. This legislation is critical to providing the much needed continuity for the future of NASA’s far-reaching goals in space,” Cernan said.
The fleeting fame of commercial space travel
David Worthington - SmartPlanet.com
The era of commercial space travel is upon us, and if NASA’s Apollo missions are any precedent, it will likely become routine as the initial excitement fades. Interest in space will wax and wane.
You couldn’t escape the hubbub when SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft launched in May - my colleagues at SmartPlanet fired off a steady succession of articles. A commercial spacecraft linking up with the International Space Station (ISS) is absolutely novel in the wake of the space race and U.S. shuttle’s renowned run of service.
The Dragon is now tentatively scheduled to lift off for its second unmanned space flight in October - with many to follow. SpaceX earned NASA’s stamp of approval to run its cargo missions, and will triumphantly fulfill its service contract with the agency. The public will also be much less tuned in by then.
Even Elon Musk, the company’s prolific CEO, can’t endure our fickle attention spans. The latest gadgets, television, movies, politics, and tabloid gossip provide for endless distractions and interruptions. Our distractibility holds true beyond our own planet, and NASA is proof of that.
NASA was at the height of its popularity in the late 1960’s as the world witnessed its crowning achievement: the 1969 Apollo moon landing. Space was a big deal - both politically and socially - but then public interest began to wane with each succeeding mission. NASA only experienced a brief comeback during the 1980’s.
It’s not fair to single out SpaceX, because there’s plenty of other examples. NASA’s Curiosity rover has been eclipsed by the iPhone 5 launch. And I doubt that launching billionaires into space for kicks, which many other private enterprise aim to do, will prove terribly popular these days.
Could Musk and SpaceX pull off a comeback? Sure, and I hope that he and his team do. SpaceX’s inspirations stretch all the way to Mars and human colonization of space. Musk has stated that his goal is to make trips to mars as affordable as buying a house, and that’s a remarkable vision. Visions just aren’t always shared.
Government contracts sustain commercial space travel for the time being, but a key difference is that NASA has had the Federal government’s checkbook and wherewithal to stick it out for decades. We’ll mine the poles bare before we harvest asteroids or take other commercial activity into space and off the drawing board.
Will private investors be as patient if business goals fall much closer down to Earth? Probably not - unless there’s suddenly a sustained sense of urgency to back it all up.
Endeavour: Astronauts hope shuttle will inspire future generations
Los Angeles Times
Of the folks assembled at the United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport last week to watch Endeavour's arrival, three had firsthand experience with the space shuttle.
Garrett Reisman came to LAX to watch the shuttle with the past and present on his mind. He first flew on Endeavour in 2008, when he went to space for the first time. He left NASA 18 months ago and now works at SpaceX and lives in Manhattan Beach.
"Both Endeavour and I have left NASA and moved on, but neither one of us is washed up," he said. "We've got a lot of work to do."
He says having a shuttle at the California Science Center will inspire future generations, but he's especially excited about the opportunity to take his one-and-a-half-year-old son to see Endeavour.
“I can take my son to see my spaceship,” he said. “That will be very cool. ... He'll grow up with Endeavour in his backyard.”
Astronaut Mike Fincke — who said Endeavour "was a beauty to fly" on its final mission last year — said he was "so proud of L.A." for its welcome of the shuttle.
"When does a city just come together for a good occasion?" he said. "I can feel the vibe. It's just electric."
Fincke wanted to be an astronaut from age 3, when he saw a moonwalk on television. After he "dragged his parents" to their local science center, he was hooked.
And like Reisman, Fincke said having Endeavour at the Science Center would encourage an interest in space.
"They're going to be inspired and they're going to be the next generation to come of doctors and engineers and scientists and astronauts," he said. "It happened for me and I know it's going to happen for all these other kids."
Astronaut Gregory Chamitoff agreed.
"It's one thing to see it on TV but it's very different to see it in person," he said. "I think when folks see it at the museum here they will get that same feeling of how magnificent it is that we can build something like this that can go to space. It's very inspiring."
On Saturday, NASA officials completed the delicate task of removing space shuttle Endeavour from the back of a modified Boeing 747 after its tour of California. The Times captured the epic effort in a time-lapse video.
The elaborate operation began late Friday night, according to NASA, as cranes gently lowered a giant 37,000-pound yellow sling that was used to lift the 78-ton shuttle from the airplane.
Endeavour will remain at Los Angeles International Airport until Oct. 12, when it begins its two-day parade across the wide boulevards of Inglewood and Los Angeles before it arrives at its new home at the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin display pavilion.
AF launching secretive X-37B space plane in October, could land in Fla.
Leonard David - Space.com
The U.S. military's hush-hush robotic X-37B space plane is slated to blast off again next month, Air Force officials say. The mission will test the robotic spacecraft's reusability and may eventually land on the Florida runway once used for NASA space shuttles.
The X-37B space plane's next mission — called Orbital Test Vehicle-3, or OTV-3, because it is the program's third-ever spaceflight — is scheduled to launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) sometime in October.
"Preparations for launch at Cape Canaveral have begun," said Major Tracy Bunko at the Pentagon’s Air Force press desk. "We are on track to launch OTV-3 next month; however, the exact date remains subject to change based on range conditions, weather, etc."
A mysterious mission
As with the X-37B program's two previous spaceflights — OTV-1 and OTV-2 — OTV-3's payload and mission details are classified. But the focus remains on testing vehicle capabilities and proving the utility and cost-effectiveness of a reusable spacecraft, Bunko told SPACE.com.
Bunko said in an earlier communiqué that this third flight will use the same X-37B spacecraft that flew the first test flight, the OTV-1 mission, back in 2010.
That maiden voyage of the miniature space plane lasted 225 days. It launched into orbit on April 22, 2010, and then landed on Dec. 3 of that year, zooming in on autopilot over the Pacific Ocean and gliding down onto a specially prepared runway at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
A different X-37B vehicle made a similar Vandenberg touchdown this past June 16, having stayed in orbit for 469 days on its OTV-2 mission.
The X-37B program is being run by the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. The two space planes — which are 29 feet (8.8 meters) long and 15 feet (4.5 m) wide, with a payload bay about the size of a pickup truck bed — were built by Boeing Government Space Systems.
While they're sparing with details about the X-37B program, Air Force officials say the vehicles enable them to test out how new technologies perform in space.
“One of the most promising aspects of the X-37B is it enables us to examine a payload system or technology in the environment in which it will perform its mission and inspect them when we bring them back to Earth,” Bunko said. “Returning an experiment via the X-37B OTV enables detailed inspection and significantly better learning than can be achieved by remote telemetry alone.”
A new landing site?
While both previous X-37B missions touched down at Vandenberg, the Air Force is considering landing future flights at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, next door to the Cape Canaveral launch site.
In fact, the Air Force is currently conducting taxi and braking tests as part of an ongoing appraisal. The prospect of a returning the robotic space plane to the KSC landing strip — which was used by NASA's now-retired space shuttle fleet — is seen as a cost-saving measure.
"We are also considering consolidating landing, refurbishment and launch operations at KSC or CCAFS in an effort to save money," Bunko said.
“We are seeking to leverage previous space shuttle investments and are investigating the possibility of using the former shuttle infrastructure for X-37B OTV landing operations," Bunko added. "Those investigations are in an early state, and any specifics will not be known for some time, but could potentially be used as early as for the landing of OTV-3."
SpaceX's reusable rocket testbed takes first hop
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
SpaceX's Grasshopper testbed, a slender white rocket fitted with insect-like landing legs, took off for a brief hop at the company's Texas test site Friday.
The short flight of approximately 6 feet lasted less than 3 seconds, but it kicked off a campaign of more ambitious testing to demonstrate the ability to land spent rocket stages for reuse.
SpaceX's concept calls for the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage to descend and land vertically, using engine thrust to settle to a soft touchdown at or near the launch site. The first stages are currently only used once and jettisoned to fall into the ocean.
Engineers constructed a 106-foot-tall test vehicle with four steel landing legs. SpaceX also built a half-acre Grasshopper launch pad at the company's rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.
According to SpaceX, Friday's successful flight will be followed by another test in the next several months, in which the Grasshopper will hover at roughly 100 feet.
The Grasshopper - shaped like a white cylindrical water tank - consists of a Falcon 9 first stage and a Merlin 1D engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to generate up to 122,000 pounds of thrust.
High-altitude supersonic tests of the Grasshopper are also planned by SpaceX, and those flights could be staged from McGregor or White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
SpaceX officials have not said when they could attempt a vertical landing on a real space launch, but Elon Musk, the company's founder and CEO, believes developing a fully reusable rocket is crucial for realizing his vision of drastically lowering the cost of space transportation.
SpaceX Grasshopper reusable test bed makes first short hop
Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com
SpaceX's Grasshopper reusable rocket test bed has made an initial hop at the company's McGregor, Texas engine test site.
The hop, on or about 21 September, lasted less than 1sec but begins the official flight test regime, According to documents filed with the Federal Aviation Administration, the flight test period will consist of dozens of flights, increasing in altitude and speed.
The vehicle is essentially a fuel tank from the company's standard Falcon 9 launch vehicle, powered by a reusable Merlin 1D rocket engine fueled by RP-1 and liquid oxygen and attached to a system of struts.
Grasshopper is capable of greater altitudes than the 11,500 approved by the FAA, but SpaceX has not disclosed the exact parameters, nor has the US government yet granted permission for such flights.
Grasshopper is a test bed for reusable technology, primarily reusable engine systems and guidance. An inexpensive reusable first stage has long been considered a holy grail for launch vehicle builders. While several reusable test beds and prototypes have surpassed Grasshopper's current flight test status, none besides the US space shuttle have made repeated trips into space.
SpaceX has repeatedly stated its intent to develop an operational reusable launch vehicle based on the Falcon 9. SpaceX CEO and chief technologist Elon Musk has characterized building a reusable launch vehicle as "super damn hard".
SpaceX was unavailable for comment following the flight test.
Chris Hadfield launch to space station pushed back two weeks
Peter Rakobowchuk - Canadian Press
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield plays coy when asked whether his upcoming six-month visit to the International Space Station will be his last trip into the cosmos.
"Never, say never," he said in an interview at the Canadian Space Agency on Monday.
The veteran astronaut is due to launch on a Russian spacecraft with NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko on Dec. 19 -- two weeks later than planned.
The three were originally scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 5.
Hadfield says a Russian Soyuz will be visiting the space station in a couple of weeks and that trips by a couple of resupply ships are also planned.
"Until those have gone, we don't know for sure, but right now it's planned for Dec. 19 at about 7 a.m. eastern time," he said.
During Hadfield's lengthy stay, he will become the first Canadian to command the space station. That will happen during the second half of his mission.
But the Canadian astronaut won't confirm it will definitely be his last trip into space.
"If you just look at the natural career of an astronaut, this would be an obvious time that this would be the last flight," he said.
"But I just turned 53 and I'm healthy so let's see what the future brings and what all the things I've learned give me the opportunity to do in the future."
Hadfield may have his eye on a number of commercial space companies like Virgin Galactic, which will take tourists into space for flights 100 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
It hopes to begin its first sub-orbital space flights by 2013.
"Hopefully within the next couple of years, we will have commercial vehicles launching and getting into sub-orbital and someone's gotta fly those vehicles, so, you never know," he said in an interview.
Hadfield's first space trip was in November 1995 when he visited the Russian Space Station Mir. His second voyage was a visit to the International Space Station in April 2001, when he also performed two walks.
Hadfield also hasn't ruled out the possibility of another space walk during his upcoming visit to the giant orbiting laboratory.
He noted there was a recent electrical failure on the space station which could involve replacing the rotating structure that turns the solar panels on the space station.
"We may have a space walk to do and I'd love a chance to walk in space again," Hadfield said.
Space shuttle Endeavour made final flight packed with souvenir patches
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
Space shuttle Endeavour's hatch will be opened by NASA techs one last time this week, in part to retrieve thousands of souvenir patches and a photo — the retired orbiter's final flown cargo.
Endeavour, which is now temporarily parked in a United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), is being prepared for its delivery to the California Science Center (CSC) for display. The shuttle, piggybacking atop a NASA jumbo jet, landed at LAX on Friday after a three-day cross-country ferry flight and four-hour flyover of its new home's state.
Just a few days before Endeavour left the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the last time, NASA fulfilled a request by the CSC and stowed a care package on the shuttle's mid-deck inside its crew compartment. Stored in a locker, the pouch was flown with the orbiter on its last time taking to the air, and the final ferry flight of the space shuttle era.
Over the course of its 25 missions to space, Endeavour flew numerous significant payloads including equipment to service and upgrade the Hubble Telescope, Spacelab and Spacehab modules, and the components to assemble the International Space Station (ISS). Endeavour's final cargo, carried on what the CSC dubbed as "Mission 26: The Big Endeavour," may be more memento than mission-critical but still served a purpose: to say thank you.
25:123:12
The California Science Center flew 5,000 woven patches aboard Endeavour featuring a design that celebrated both of the modes of transport that the shuttle has and will use to reach its new display pavilion.
The 4.5-inch wide (11.4-centimeter) colorful badges depict Endeavour soaring on top of NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and riding the self-propelled overland transporter that will take it on its road trip to the CSC. Endeavour is set to depart LAX and travel through Inglewood and Los Angeles city streets on Oct. 12-13 as the final leg of "Mission 26."
The numbers "25:123:12" are inscribed along the top of the patches. The "25" is for Endeavour's 25 missions to space and the "123" represents the more than 123 million miles (198 million kilometers) the orbiter traveled in flight. The "12" is the number of miles the shuttle will travel on the road to the science center.
While black-bordered versions of the patches are already for sale in the CSC's gift shop, the flown patches — which are set apart by their gold thread border — will not be sold. Instead, says science center officials, they will be gifted to those who made "Mission 26" possible: team members who worked on the ferry flight and the upcoming overland transport, as well as the center's donors who helped fund Endeavour's temporary and permanent exhibits.
Since last year, the CSC has invited its supporters to join Team Endeavour as part of its "EndeavourLA" campaign. Donors could (and still can) choose to sponsor one of the more than 23,000 heat shield tiles that cover the shuttle's underbelly and upper surfaces. For donations of $1,000 or more, supporters receive a "limited edition Endeavour gift" — the ferry flight flown patch.
The CSC has said it has already raised close to half of the $200 million it needs to transport and display Endeavour. A significant portion came from just a single benefactor — who was represented aboard Endeavour's final ferry flight, too.
Oschin journey
When Endeavour rolls up to the California Science Center by dusk on Oct. 13, it will enter a display pavilion named for the late Samuel Oschin.
Oschin's widow requested CSC fly a photo of her husband aboard Endeavour for its flight to Los Angeles. The photo, which was of both Samuel and Lynda Oschin, flew inside the same pouch as the patches.
In life, Oschin and his wife set up a family foundation to support causes related to astronomy, the arts, medicine, advocacy and education. After her husband died, Lynda made a "transformational gift" towards bringing Endeavour to the California Science Center.
"This is my husband's dream, his vision and his passion, everything he loved and believed in, rolled into one," said Lynda Oschin at LAX on Friday after the shuttle and SCA taxiied to a stop.
"One day, a child will walk in to the new 20-story Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center," she continued. "That child will look up in sheer, utter amazement when he sees the Endeavour in the launch position, and that child will be so inspired to lead the way for the future of the United States and for the future of our world."
The Oschin Air and Space Center is expected to be ready by 2017. Until then, the shuttle will be held in the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, which the CSC plans to open to the public on Oct. 30.
The Broken Beyond: How Space Turned Into an Office Park
All the exciting parts of exploring the solar system have been leeched out. What's left is the drudgery of the everyday and the dreams of the rich.
Ian Bogost - The Atlantic (Opinion)
(Bogost is a researcher, designer, and critic who focuses on videogames. He's a professor at Georgia Tech and a founding partner of Persuasive Games, a videogame studio.)
I am a Space Shuttle child. I ogled big exploded view posters of the spaceship in classrooms. I built models of it out of plastic and assembled gliders in its shape out of foam. I sat silent with my classmates watching the television news on a VCR cart after Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. Six years later, I worked as an instructor at the New Mexico Museum of Space History's summer "Shuttle Camp," a name that will soon seem retrograde if it doesn't already.
Last summer the last Space Shuttle took its last space flight, but last week it took its last worldly one. It ended my generation's era of space marvel, which turned out to take a very different path from that of our parents. During the 1950s and 1960s, space exploration was primarily a proxy for geopolitical combat. It was largely symbolic, even if set against a background of earnest frontiersmanship. First satellite, first man in space, first spacewalk, first manned moon mission, and so on. Space as a frontier was a thing for science fiction fantasy, although we dipped our toes far enough across that border to make it clear that such exploration was possible, even if not yet feasible.
By the 1970s, space had become a laboratory rather than a frontier. Despite its status as "space station," Skylab was first called Orbital Workshop, making it sound more like dad's vision for his garage than like Kubrik's vision of 2001. The fact that Skylab was permanently disfigured during launch only concretized the program's ennui. Space exploration became self-referential: missions were sent to SkyLab in order to repair SkyLab.
The Space Shuttle turned the workaday space lab into a suburban delivery and odd-jobs service. Satellites were deployed, space labs serviced, probes released, crystals grown. Meanwhile, the aspects of space travel that really interest people--such as the fact that it's travel in motherfucking outer space--were downplayed or eliminated.
For one of our Shuttle Camp classroom gimmicks, we'd have a kid hold a real high-temperature reusable surface insulation tile, one of the 20,000 such tiles that line the orbiter's underbelly to facilitate reentry. After finishing her freeze-dried space spaghetti and Tang, this unassuming third-grader would clasp at the edges of the impossibly light tile, which seemed like little more than Styrofoam. We'd heat its surface with a propane torch until it glowed red with heat and hazard, only to dissipate a few moments later. The danger was real, and the kids knew it. A decade later, a chunk of foam insulation would break free of Columbia's external fuel tank on launch and damage part of this thermal protection system, dooming the orbiter to destruction.
The very idea of a reusable space vehicle is contrary to everything that space travel had previously represented--wealth and power for one, but also enormity and smallness and risk and brazenness and uncertainty and dark, dark darkness--expedition rather than experimentation. It's no wonder the space spaghetti and the thermal protection tiles were so interesting to those kids. They represented the experience of space (the frontier) rather than its taming as laboratory (the settlement). Look at the Saturn V. It's a badass rocket. Now look at the Space Shuttle. It's a humble tractor.
Last summer the Shuttle retired. Last week it began its funeral procession. Endeavour meandered around California on a tour of its monuments. Awkward like a big RV, Endeavour was hoisted atop its Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified version of the Boeing 747-100, a once miraculous jumbo jet that's itself reached middle age. It was like watching an adult man taking an elderly father on a final tour: the Golden Gate, the State Capitol, the Hollywood sign. To mount Endeavour to the SCA, NASA uses a custom-built mate-demate device (MDD) that lifts the orbiter on and off the jumbo's back. A NASA file photo of the MDD mating process taken after STS-44 in December 1991 shows the proud orbiter taking its position on a shiny 747, evening light pouring over both. Today, the image reads differently: a cripple hoisted uncomfortably by machine for an easy-does-it orbit measured in feet rather than miles. Sunsetting.
Watching Californians watch their once-starbound vessel sing its silent swan song, one can't help but think of another 1980s icon who came home to live forever in Los Angeles: Ronald Reagan. Reagan neither initiated nor retired the Space Shuttle program, but as President during its zenith, he is forever inseparable from it. That January evening after Challenger's destruction, Reagan addressed the nation: "We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers."
Flying low before California's landmarks, the orbiter had an easier time dazzling us this month. Crowds gathered, pointing skyward with glee, apparently unaware they were watching a wake instead of a parade. Tweets, Instagrams, Facebook posts followed. A generation of millennial high-tech startup employees young enough to be my former campgoers took a break from setting up their new iPhone 5s to point at a spaceship flying lower than a biplane. So little have we come to expect from space travel that near-earth travel is now sufficient spectacle. Like the idea of a product is sufficient implementation, the idea of a spaceship has become sufficient thrill. "Nothing ends here," Reagan told us in 1986. But things do end, eventually. Even iPhone 5 has come down to earth, having removed the longstanding default lock screen image of Earth from space in favor of a more humble pond ripple.
Reagan's cortège was more involved and protracted than Endeavour's, starting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, and taking a detour through D.C. to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda before making a somber returning to Southern California that punctuated the end of an era, for good and for ill. Endeavour's arrived at LAX with more fanfare. As it landed, the Smithsonian Magazine proudly announced that Endeavour's trip wasn't quite finished: "Right now, it's being prepared for a cross-town move from the airport to the [California] Science Center," the nation's flagship museum announced, marking "the first, last and only time a space shuttle will travel through urban, public city streets" on its way to interment at the facility's air and space exhibits in Los Angeles's Exposition Park. Not even a biplane's flight will be necessary to impress us anymore: Endeavour will be content as a commuter car, or a parade float. The stars down to earth.
In one of hundreds of images posed with Endeavour atop the SCA, employees at SpaceX clambered to the roof of their headquarters in Hawthorne, near LAX. They are the Shuttle Program's accidental legacy. Created by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2002, the company produces the Falcon 9 two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle and the Dragon capsule, the first commercial spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit. This fall, Falcon9/Dragon will commence deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS) under what remains of NASA's low-Earth space efforts, which goes by the workaday name of Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS). A cosmic UPS service.
Musk is a hero of the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who have themselves taken over the role of hero from Yuri Gagarin and John Glenn and Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride. He's also perhaps the closest real-world counterpart to Tony Stark, the fictional playboy and industrialist who becomes Iron Man in Stan Lee's comic books. Musk started SpaceX shortly before selling PayPal in 2002. Like Stark he's a modest man, taking only the titles of CEO and CTO at SpaceX, in addition to his role as Chairman and CEO at Tesla Motors, the electric car manufacturer he founded a year later. SpaceX's contract under the NASA COTS program is worth up to $3.1 billion, more than twice what Ebay shelled out for PayPal.
Musk is in the space freight business, hauling materials and equipment from earth to sky, a kind of twenty-first century Cornelius Vanderbilt in the making. Elsewhere, rich men lust jealously for space now that Earth's challenges have proven tiresome. John Carmack, the co-founder of iD software and co-creator of Doom started Armadillo Aerospace in 2000, eyeing space tourism via a sub-orbital commercial craft. Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos helped found another private spaceflight company, Blue Origin, in the same year. And of course, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson established Virgin Galactic in 2004, to provide sub-orbital space tourism as well as orbital satellite launch. In 2008, Richard Garriott, the role-playing game creator and son of American Skylab astronaut Owen K. Garriott, paid Space Adventures a reported $30 million to be flown via Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS. Just four years later, Branson's Virgin Galactic was selling tickets for sub-orbital rides on SpaceshipTwo for a mere $200,000. Ashton Kutcher and Katy Perry have already signed up. TMZ Galactic can't be far behind.
In grade school during the early days of the Shuttle program, I remember writing and illustrating "astronaut" as a response to the dreaded "what do you want to be when you grow up" prompt. I didn't really want to be an astronaut, but I knew that unlike my first inclination, garbage collector, it would be accepted as a suitably ambitious aspiration.
Space, once a place for governments and dreamers who would really just be civil servants, has become a playground for billionaires. Owen Garriott was an engineer from Oklahoma and a U.S. Naval Officer selected for life science service in space. Richard Garriott was a lucky rich guy with connections. We don't have flying cars, but we have a billionaire who sells electric cars to millionaires. We don't have space tourism, but we have another billionaire who will take you on a magic carpet ride for two-hundred large. Today, a kid who says "I want to be an astronaut" is really just saying "I want to be rich." Isn't that what everyone wants? All of today's dreams are dreams of wealth.
The official mission of the final Space Shuttle, STS-135, reads more like a joke from The Office than a science fictional fantasy: "Space Shuttle Atlantis is carrying the Raffaello multipurpose logistics module to deliver supplies, logistics and spare parts to the International Space Station." Among its tasks: the delivery of a new tank for a urine recycling system, and the removal of a malfunctioning space sewage pump. If only I'd known in 1982 that astronaut and garbage collector would turn out to be such similar jobs.
Despite what you read in comic books, even Stark Industries has to bend metal and mold plastic. Elon Musk will take over the task of shipping sewage pumps and waste processing units and air filtration systems to the ISS. Richard Branson will sell Justin Bieber and Mitt Romney tickets past the Kármán line. Eventually, inevitably, Mark Zuckerberg will slip a bill to the surly bonds of earth and start his own space enterprise, just to keep up with the Rothschilds. Quiet maybe-billionaire Craig Newmark will expand his eponymous service to taxi unwanted minibikes and toasters other worldly junk into space, the Final Landfill.
It's not so much that the space program is broken in the sense of inoperative. Space is alive and well, for the wealthy at least, where it's become like the air and the land and the sea: a substrate for commerce, for generating even more wealth. Instead, the space program is broken in the sense of tamed, domesticated, housebroken. It happens to all frontiers: they get settled. How many nights can one man dance the skies? Better to rent out laughter-silvered wings by the hour so you can focus on your asteroid mining startup.
In the 1960s we went to the moon not because it was easy but because it was hard. In the 1980s we went to low Earth orbit because, you know, somebody got a grant to study polymers in zero-gravity, or because a high-price pharmaceutical could be more readily synthesized, or because a communications satellite had to be deployed, or because a space telescope had to be repaired. The Space Shuttle program strove to make space exploration repeatable and predictable, and it succeeded. It turned space into an office park. Now the tenants are filing in. Space: Earth's suburbs. Office space available.
END
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