10/11/12 news

    Thursday, October 11, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Don't Miss the Side-by-Side Fire Burn Demo Today 2.            Visit the Sustainability Booth at Safety and Total Health Day 3.            Why Do You Work Safely? 4.            Give Us Goosebumps! (Just in Time for Halloween) 5.            JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar 6.            Space Medicine Medical Operations -- Human Systems Academy Course 7.            Formal Mentoring Program Applications to Open Soon 8.            Youth Karate at the Gilruth Center -- Sign Up Now 9.            Mall Area Water Recirculation Project 10.          ISS Update Features Bill Gerstenmaier on SpaceX Commercial Resupply Mission 11.          Volunteers Needed to Mentor Reduced Gravity Flight Teams 12.          Society of Women Engineers National Conference ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Don't let the past steal your present.”   -- Cherralea Morgen ________________________________________ 1.            Don't Miss the Side-by-Side Fire Burn Demo Today Fire is spectacular. Fire is destructive. Your senses will take in both truths as you watch two furnished rooms -- one with a sprinkler system and one without -- set ablaze by the Pearland Fire Marshal's Office to demonstrate the amazing difference.   It will all happen at 12:30 p.m. in the parking lot behind Teague Auditorium and the Astronaut Memorial Grove as part of today's Safety and Health Day event.   This breathtaking, unforgettable example will give you something to think about and, perhaps, added safety to plan for.   Art Knell, Co-Chair, Safety & Health Day Committee x41280   [top] 2.            Visit the Sustainability Booth at Safety and Total Health Day Are you a "natural champion" already? Perhaps you are the employee that gets irritated when you find an aluminum can or plastic bottle in the trash (especially when it's right next to the recycling bin!). Maybe you already drive an electric car, or perhaps you are the person that always seems to be shutting off the lights in your building's conference rooms at the end of the day. Well, thank you for what you're already doing! Please continue to do so and, more importantly, start telling your co-workers what you're doing. You are our "embedded" sustainability team within your organization. You are a "natural champion." Download your copy of the JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy at: http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm   Stop by the sustainability booth today to give us your feedback, as well as suggestions, for meetings we can spread the word in to help make sustainability more ingrained in our entire workforce.   Laurie Peterson x39845   [top] 3.            Why Do You Work Safely? Your JSC Safety Action Team is hosting the "Why I Work Safely" photo-laminating booth at today's JSC 2012 Safety and Health Day. Don't forget to bring a photo of the reason you work safely (family, pets, sports car, boat, motorcycle, etc.), and we will laminate it for display on your lanyard. Show everyone your reason(s) for working safely!   Note: Please trim photos to 2 inches wide by 2.5 inches in length. Scanned photos work well also.   Reese Squires x37776   [top] 4.            Give Us Goosebumps! (Just in Time for Halloween) Even though the end of a fiscal year is scary enough, JSC Features has a desire to be reeeally scared—and to share those chills with others. Are you up for the challenge? Do you have a personal ghost story or your own experience with paranormal activity that you'd like to share with the JSC audience? Share your spooky experience in 300 words or less (with your name and mail code) to: jsc-roundup@mail.nasa.gov   Your tale could be selected for a Halloween compilation of stories shared by fellow JSC team members at: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/jscfeatures/   The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, Oct. 17.   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 5.            JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar Come out to the Gilruth Center on Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for some holiday shopping! We'll have the gymnasium and ballroom packed with local craftspeople and vendors selling crafts, jewelry, bath and beauty products, home and holiday décor, candles, baked goods and more. This event is free and open to the public, so invite your family and friends to come browse through the more than 60 vendors who are ready to spread some holiday cheer.   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 6.            Space Medicine Medical Operations -- Human Systems Academy Course Join the Human Systems Academy in a lecture that introduces attendees to Space Medicine Medical Operations. Learn about medical care guidelines and requirements, how new medical devices and protocols are established and how physical strength conditioning and rehabilitation are determined for crew members. The course is today, Oct. 11, from 3 to 4 p.m. in Building 37, Conference Rooms 1 and 2.   Register in SATERN.   MaGee Johnson 281-204-1500   [top] 7.            Formal Mentoring Program Applications to Open Soon The formal mentoring "Y.O.D.A." program will begin its official cycle soon. All civil servants are encouraged to apply and participate in the program.   Applications for the program will be available for submission on Monday, Oct. 15. The application will be open until Nov. 16. Please visit the Y.O.D.A. website for further details and to see innovative changes to this cycle.   Joseff White 281-792-7831 http://mentoring.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 8.            Youth Karate at the Gilruth Center -- Sign Up Now Starport now offers Youth Karate as a recreation program at the Gilruth Center. Classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. in the Mind/Body Studio for youth ages 3 to 6. The cost is $120/month, but your child can try the first class for free! Classes start on Oct. 30. Sign up at the Gilruth Center front desk. Visit http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Youth/RecPrograms.cfm for more information.   Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 9.            Mall Area Water Recirculation Project Are you curious to know what went on at the mall pond last year? What was all that digging about? Find out about the 87 percent reduction in water use at JSC by reading the recent issue of JSC's "The Greener Side."   Environmental Office x36207 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm   [top] 10.          ISS Update Features Bill Gerstenmaier on SpaceX Commercial Resupply Mission On Oct. 10, ISS Update featured Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, who spoke about SpaceX's first commercial resupply mission and the arrival of the Dragon capsule at the International Space Station. He also talked about lessons learned from the SpaceX demonstration mission back in May, and more on the commercial launch company's partnership with NASA.   Watch the complete interview here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=153678381   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 11.          Volunteers Needed to Mentor Reduced Gravity Flight Teams The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program is looking for JSC scientists and engineers of all levels who would like to advise and mentor a flight team. Teams can be composed of college undergraduate students or K-12 teachers. Preference will be given to individuals who are currently working as scientists and engineers and are familiar with the type of experiments appropriate for reduced-gravity flight. Interested in learning more? We will offer two optional information sessions to interested mentors on Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 10 to 11 a.m. (Building 20, Room 205/206), and Thursday, Oct. 18, from 3 to 4 p.m. (Building 20, Room 205/206). Please feel free to attend. Already know you want to participate? Please visit http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/security/mentors/app/ for more details and to apply. The deadline is Oct. 26.   James Semple 281-792-7872 http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 12.          Society of Women Engineers National Conference Are you interested in leadership and career development advice; resources for conducting outreach; science, technology, engineering and math education; local industry tours; work/life balance and transitions; or current innovation and technology developments?   Whether you are a student, educator, professional or in transition and figuring out where to go next, the Society of Women Engineers annual conference can provide you with resources and networking opportunities. This year the conference is being held right here in Houston at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Nov. 8 to 10.   Want more information? - Check out http://we12.swe.org/ - Join the Texas Space Center section of the Society of Women Engineers for a social hour and to hear from women who have experienced the conference on Monday, Oct. 15, at 5:30 p.m. at Chelsea Wine Bar (4106 NASA Parkway, El Lago, 77586)   Hope to see you there!   Irene Chan 713-933-6892 http://www.swe.org/swe/regionc/sections/c008/   [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.         NASA TV: 9:25 am Central (10:25 EDT) – Expedition 33’s Suni Williams with ABC News & CNN   IN CASE YOU MISSED IT...   CST-100 Mock-Up Undergoes Airbag Stabilization Test   http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=153565591   Boeing’s CST-100 spacecraft was put through water landing development tests last week at Bigelow Aerospace's headquarters on the outskirts of Las Vegas. The capsule-shaped spacecraft has been dropped into an outdoor pool from a crane to test airbag stabilization during landings. The tests are part of Boeing's work supporting its funded Space Act Agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Pgm during the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability development phase.   Human Spaceflight News Thursday – October 11, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   NASA pleased with flawless berthing of Dragon cargo craft   William Harwood - CBS News   After getting off to a rocky start with an engine failure during launch Sunday, a commercial cargo capsule loaded with a half-ton of equipment and supplies, including ice cream, carried out a flawless final approach to the International Space Station early Wednesday, pulling up to within 60 feet so Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, operating the lab's robot arm, could pluck it out of open space for berthing. "The control center team here and the team out at Hawthorne (Calif.) at SpaceX just did a phenomenal job of making a pretty complex ballet in space look pretty easy," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's director of space operations. "And it was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. But they just did a great job, and it's great to have the Dragon spacecraft on board the space station."   Dragon's delivery to ISS really hits the spot Astronauts eager to unload their gear, sweet treats   James Dean - Florida Today   International Space Station astronauts today plan to start unpacking the first cargo delivered by a commercial resupply mission, a day after they captured and berthed SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and opened its hatch. The privately designed and operated Dragon flew what appeared to be a flawless approach to the station early Wednesday. As it floated 32 feet from the orbiting laboratory complex, a 58-foot robotic arm steered by Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide reached out and snared the spacecraft at 6:56 a.m.   ISS managers mull spacewalks to address power, cooling issues   Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily   With Space Exploration Technologies’ Dragon supply ship reaching the International Space Station (ISS), NASA plans to step up the troubleshooting of elusive ISS electrical and coolant system issues that will likely lead to a pair of U.S. spacewalks, possibly within the next several weeks. The first issue is associated with a significant short on Sept. 1 that prompted a shutdown of the 3A solar power channel, one of eight channels that provide electricity to the station; the second is a longer-running ammonia leak in the P-6 solar power truss, which may rise in urgency. The coolant leak, which began to increase in June, could trip coolant system limits by early January, Mike Suffredini, NASA’s ISS program manager, told an Oct. 6 news briefing at Kennedy Space Center during the SpaceX Dragon launch countdown.   Lagrangian Point gaining appeal as next stop for humans   Frank Morring, Jr. & Amy Svitak - Aviation Week   International space partners are starting to feel their way beyond their orbiting station for mankind's next step into the Solar System. Some of them at the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples are finding a lot more to like about the Earth-Moon Lagrangian points, and particularly the L-2 site beyond the far side of the Moon. While cash-strapped governments scramble to squeeze as much value as they can out of the International Space Station (ISS), scientists and market-hungry space companies around the world are leading the way toward the curious regions in space where gravity is largely nulled by pairs of celestial bodies. As a result, spacecraft can essentially hover there without using much energy. The infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is being developed for the supercold temperatures at the Sun-Earth L-2 point.   Big day for SpaceX as Elon Musk tells his mom 'I haven't started yet'   Hannah Elliott - Forbes   When Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon capsule berthed with the International Space Station earlier today it was the first successful cargo mission there made by a private company. Maye Musk, up at 6am in New York, saw every second. Not that it was a relaxing experience. “The weeks coming up to the launch you feel sick in the gut,” she told me, just back from a fashion shoot in Holland. The excitement in her South African lilt spoke volumes. “It’s your child! And it’s not just your child–it’s America! This is for America, for the planet. It’s for other planets. It’s kind of huge.”   Singer Sarah Brightman books flight to space station   William Harwood – CBS News   Soprano Sarah Brightman, believed to be one of the world's wealthiest classical crossover performers, has booked a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 10-day visit to the International Space Station, the singer announced Wednesday. The launch schedule has not been announced, but the first available flight is believed to be in the mid- to late-2015 timeframe. "As I'm sure you may know, I'm planning to become a spaceflight participant and have been recently approved to begin my spaceflight training by the Russian space federation having passed the necessary medical and physical tests," she said, reading prepared remarks at a news conference in Moscow.   New blastoff for Sarah Brightman: flight to space   Laura Mills - Associated Press   Sarah Brightman's voice, beloved by audiences and renowned for its three-octave range, rocketed to fame more than two decades ago as the heroine of "The Phantom of the Opera." Now the world's biggest-selling soprano is heading to outer space. On Wednesday, Brightman told a news conference in Moscow that she has booked a trip to the International Space Station. Brightman, who had a hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper" and has sold more than 30 million records, will become the first recording artist in space. The British singer said that after touring the world in 2013 for her new album, Dreamchaser, she will spend six months in Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center. "I think of myself not just as a dreamer, but as a dream chaser," she said.   Sarah Brightman's next tour stop: the International Space Station   Mary Forgione - Los Angeles Times   British classical soprano Sarah Brightman plans to head for the stars, becoming the latest tourist to visit the International Space Station. Brightman, 52, announced her planned trip during a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday, the same day the cargo-loaded SpaceX mission made history by connecting with the space station. Brightman said she wants to be the first professional musician to sing from space during her 16 spins around the Earth, according to a statement from Russian-based Space Adventures Ltd. In the YouTube video, Brightman explains her reasons for wanting to go into space.   Singer Sarah Brightman becomes next space tourist   Todd Halvorson - Florida Today   International singing sensation Sarah Brightman will become the next “space tourist” to fly to the International Space Station through an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency, officials said Wednesday. A classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriting and dancer, Brightman was approved to train for a spaceflight after medical assessments in July at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City outside Moscow.   Sarah Brightman to travel to space station   BBC News   British singer Sarah Brightman is to travel as a space tourist to the International Space Station. The classical recording artist, once married to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, will be part of a three-person crew flying to the ISS. After completing a tour in 2013, Ms Brightman will embark on six months of preparation at the Star City cosmonaut training centre in Moscow. She will be the seventh space tourist to visit the ISS.   Sarah Brightman and Chris Hadfield: Musicians in space   Susan Noakes - Canadian Broadcasting Co News   British singer Sarah Brightman, who had a hit in 1978 with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper, is headed into space. Her flight could be in 2015, making her the first space tourist to the International Space Station since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté. There have only been seven people so far to ride into space just to satisfy the itch for space travel. Russia said in 2010 that it was halting space tourism for lack of free seats on its Soyuz capsules and for most of us, it's just too expensive. Brightman is the world's best-selling soprano, beloved for performing as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera. In a news conference Wednesday to announce her space flight, she hinted at a musical performance in space. But she won't be first in that department. It turns out Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is a musician on the side and plans some guitar jamming after he docks at the International Space Station on a trip beginning on Dec. 5.   Commercial crew chief bullish on Brevard   Todd Halvorson & Michelle Spitzer – Florida Today   He’s responsible for overseeing NASA’s multimillion-dollar investment in the development of commercial space taxis that will ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station. Ed Mango is the program manager at NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Office at Kennedy Space Center. Veteran space reporter Todd Halvorson and reporter Michelle Spitzer interviewed Mango ahead of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch. They asked him about candidate spacecraft and the challenges that lie ahead…   Launch pad operations begin for Orbital contract   Carol Vaughn - Gannett News Service   Orbital Sciences Corp. has begun operations at a new launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport leading up to the first launch of its Antares rocket. The company announced Monday the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, which oversees the spaceport, has cleared it to begin on-pad operations at the liquid-fuel launch complex on Wallops Island.   Lawmaker wants to end politics at NASA   Gannett News Service   Rep. Frank Wolf is a bit of a romantic when it comes to the space program. He can still recall that the New England town where he worked as a lifeguard in his youth buzzed with excitement when Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard visited one day. After moving to Washington in the 1960s, Wolf impressed his parents by driving them past astronaut John Glenn’s house. This spring, he marveled at the sight of the space shuttle Discovery flying over the nation’s Capitol to retirement at the Smithsonian. But now that U.S. astronauts ride Russian rockets to the International Space Station, a plan to return to the moon has been scrapped and a manned trip to Mars is at least 20 years away, Wolf, 73, believes NASA has lost its way.   Mark Kelly Pens Children's Book Still Focused on Wife Gabrielle Giffords's Recovery     Andrea Billups - People Magazine   Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, has written a book – but don't expect it to be about his life. Instead, Kelly, who flew four shuttle missions and piloted 39 naval combat tours in Operation Desert Storm, has written a children's book with an astronaut mouse as hero, FOX News reports. Kelly, 48, tells the network he was inspired to write Mousetronaut after taking mice into space for research purposes.   Endeavour gets set for final journey   Guy Norris - Aviation Week   The people of Los Angeles are expected to turn out in their thousands on Friday and Saturday to watch the space shuttle Endeavour slowly make its way from Los Angeles International Airport to its final display site at the California Science Center. The shuttle has been at LAX since arriving on the back of NASA Boeing 747 SCA N905NA on Sept 21 and will start its last journey (dubbed Mission 26 by organizers) from there at 2 am on the morning of Oct 12.   Toyota blasts off hype for space shuttle Endeavour tow   Chris Woodyard - USA Today   Toyota has cranked up the publicity machine when it comes to its planned towing of the space shuttle Endeavour across a Los Angeles freeway overpass with one of its Tundra pickup trucks. The automaker has created a pretty cool website devoted to its bit part in the move starting Friday. The decommissioned shuttle is on its way from Los Angeles International Airport, where it was dropped off by its Boeing 747 hauler, to its retirement home at the California Science Center near the city's downtown.   Lodi’s Patterson Heavy Haul to tow space shuttle across LA freeway   Jennifer Bonnett - Lodi News-Sentinel   On Thursday, Lloyd Patterson will get an up-close look at the Space Shuttle Endeavour, currently housed at Los Angeles International Airport. But he won't be a mere spectator as it is moved this week to its permanent location at the California Science Center museum. Patterson's equipment will be hauling it. Patterson, who owns Patterson Heavy Haul in Lodi, flew down late Monday to assess the load and discuss its ever-changing route. He will return Thursday driving his specially fabricated trailer dollies, built by Stockton-based Rackley Bilt Custom Trailers. The shuttle move is being overseen by Rigging International, based in Alameda. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   NASA pleased with flawless berthing of Dragon cargo craft   William Harwood - CBS News   After getting off to a rocky start with an engine failure during launch Sunday, a commercial cargo capsule loaded with a half-ton of equipment and supplies, including ice cream, carried out a flawless final approach to the International Space Station early Wednesday, pulling up to within 60 feet so Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, operating the lab's robot arm, could pluck it out of open space for berthing.   Making the first of at least 12 cargo deliveries under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, the SpaceX Dragon capsule, after a successful test flight last May, is the first commercially developed spacecraft to visit the station, the centerpiece of a push to restore U.S. resupply capability in the wake of the space shuttle's retirement last year.   Hoshide used station's robot arm to latch onto a grapple fixture on the side of the Dragon capsule at 6:56 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California.   "Houston, station on (channel) two, capture complete," Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams radioed. "Looks like we've tamed the dragon. We're happy she's on board with us. Thanks to everybody at SpaceX and NASA for bringing her here to us. And the ice cream."   Williams and Hoshide then maneuvered the Dragon capsule to the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module and locked it in place at 9:03 a.m., completing the rendezvous and berthing.   "The control center team here and the team out at Hawthorne (Calif.) at SpaceX just did a phenomenal job of making a pretty complex ballet in space look pretty easy," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's director of space operations. "And it was not easy by any stretch of the imagination. But they just did a great job, and it's great to have the Dragon spacecraft on board the space station."   The long-awaited commercial cargo mission began with a spectacular launch Sunday night from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. But during the climb to space, one of the Falcon 9 booster's nine first-stage engines malfunctioned and shut down, forcing the flight computer to fire the other engines longer than planned to compensate for the shortfall.   The Dragon capsule ended up in a useable orbit, but the engine failure prevented the Falcon 9 second stage from boosting a small secondary payload, an Orbcomm data relay satellite, into its planned orbit. As it was, SpaceX flight controllers had to quickly revise the Dragon rendezvous sequence to keep the craft on course and to conserve propellant.   All of that went off without a hitch and the spacecraft moved into position for grapple right on schedule.   The capsule will remain attached to the space station for the next three weeks while the lab crew unloads science gear, spare parts and crew supplies, including ice cream packed in a science freezer as a special treat for the three-person crew. The capsule will be re-packed with no-longer-needed hardware, failed components and experiment samples for return to Earth around Oct. 28.   Unlike Russian, European and Japanese cargo craft that routinely visit the station, the Dragon capsule was designed to make round trips to and from the lab complex, giving it the ability to bring major components and experiment samples back to Earth for the first time since shuttles stopped flying last year.   "This is tremendously important," said Gerstenmaier. "When we retired the shuttle, we needed a way to get scientific investigations, as well as necessary supplies, crew equipment, food, other things, to and from space station. ... Now, this is the first commercial flight where we're buying essentially services to carry up things to orbit."   And to bring them back.   "We have three minus 85-degree freezers on board space station," Gerstenmaier said. "We've not returned anything from those freezers since the shuttles quit flying last year, so they're stocked full of really precious blood samples from the crew, there's also biological samples in there, there's also some plant samples.   "These are unbelievably unique and precious specimens. Locked in these frozen samples (is) potentially information that can reveal a lot about what microgravity is and how it works in a biological sense. ... We're going to take approximately one-third of the samples that have been stored in those freezers on orbit and return them here to Earth."   The NASA contract with SpaceX requires the company to deliver 44,000 pounds of equipment and supplies over 12 flights. To pave the way for operational resupply missions, SpaceX carried out two successful test flights, one that tested the capsule's systems in a solo flight and another that included a berthing at the station last May.   The Dragon capsule measures 14.4 feet tall and 12 feet wide, with trunk section that extends another 9.2 feet below the capsule's heat shield that houses two solar arrays and an unpressurized cargo bay. The spacecraft can carry up to 7,297 pounds of cargo split between the pressurized and unpressurized sections.   For the first resupply mission, the Dragon capsule is loaded with 882 pounds of hardware, supplies and equipment including:   ·         260 pounds of crew food, clothing, low-sodium food kits and other crew supplies ·         390 pounds of science gear, including a low-temperature Glacier freezer for experiment samples, fluids and combustion facility hardware, a commercial generic bioprocessing apparatus, cables for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and research gear for the Japanese and European space agencies ·         225 pounds of space station hardware, including crew health care system components, life support system parts, filters and electrical components ·         7 pounds of computer gear   For its return to Earth, the Dragon spacecraft will be carrying 1,673 pounds of experiment samples and hardware, including:   ·         163 pounds of crew supplies ·         518 pounds of vehicle hardware ·         123 pounds of computer gear, Russian cargo and spacewalk equipment ·         866 pounds of science gear & experiment samples, including 400 samples of crew urine   Under a separate $440 million contract with NASA, SpaceX engineers are working on upgrades to convert the Dragon capsule into a manned spacecraft that can ferry crews to and from the station. SpaceX managers believe they will be ready for initial manned test flights in the 2015 timeframe, assuming continued NASA funding. Two other companies, Boeing and Sierra Nevada, are developing their own spacecraft designs under similar contracts.   Dragon's delivery to ISS really hits the spot Astronauts eager to unload their gear, sweet treats   James Dean - Florida Today   International Space Station astronauts today plan to start unpacking the first cargo delivered by a commercial resupply mission, a day after they captured and berthed SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and opened its hatch.   The privately designed and operated Dragon flew what appeared to be a flawless approach to the station early Wednesday.   As it floated 32 feet from the orbiting laboratory complex, a 58-foot robotic arm steered by Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide reached out and snared the spacecraft at 6:56 a.m.   “Looks like we’ve tamed the Dragon,” radioed NASA astronaut and Expedition 33 commander Suni Williams, as the vehicles flew 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean west of southern California. “We’re happy she’s on board with us.”   Another Dragon reached the station in May on a demonstration flight that carried low-value cargo such as food and clothing.   The newest arrival is the first launched by SpaceX under a $1.6 billion NASA contract, and carried a full load of crew supplies, spare parts and science research materials – nearly 1,000 pounds in all.   Williams welcomed the Dragon and its most popular payload so far, cups of vanilla and chocolate swirled ice cream stored in a freezer for biological samples.   “Thanks to everybody at SpaceX and NASA for bringing her here to us — and the ice cream,” she joked after the Dragon's capture.   The Dragon climbed slowly to its capture point from roughly 1,100 feet below the station, pausing several times for SpaceX and NASA mission controllers and the three-person station crew to confirm they were ready to proceed.   Software improvements apparently prevented the kind of confusing signals from laser radar and thermal imaging systems that in May slowed the Dragon’s approach and forced it to retreat once.   Williams took over control of the robotic arm to berth the Dragon to the station’s Harmony node and complete the first leg of its round-trip voyage.   “This is a big moment in the course of this mission and for commercial spaceflight,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a statement after watching the action unfold from company headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. “We are pleased that Dragon is now ready to deliver its cargo to the International Space Station.”   The cargo includes 260 pounds of crew supplies, 225 pounds of parts and 390 pounds of science equipment intended to support the $100 billion station’s reason for existing – research.   During a planned 18-day stay, the Dragon will be unloaded and packed with nearly 1,700 pounds of items returning to Earth, including blood and other biological samples that haven’t had a ride home since the shuttle program ended last year.   Dragon is the only spacecraft flying today that can return large quantities of cargo to the ground, which Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA human spaceflight programs, said was extremely important.   There were many skeptics of NASA's plan to rely on commercial providers to supply the station after the shuttle's retirement, he said, but another success by SpaceX shows the plan can work. Williams and Hoshide wasted no time opening the Dragon's hatch, a job that had been scheduled for this morning.   The hatch swung open at 1:40 p.m., less than five hours after Dragon's arrival.   ISS managers mull spacewalks to address power, cooling issues   Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily   With Space Exploration Technologies\’ Dragon supply ship reaching the International Space Station (ISS), NASA plans to step up the troubleshooting of elusive ISS electrical and coolant system issues that will likely lead to a pair of U.S. spacewalks, possibly within the next several weeks.   The first issue is associated with a significant short on Sept. 1 that prompted a shutdown of the 3A solar power channel, one of eight channels that provide electricity to the station; the second is a longer-running ammonia leak in the P-6 solar power truss, which may rise in urgency.   The coolant leak, which began to increase in June, could trip coolant system limits by early January, Mike Suffredini, NASA’s ISS program manager, told an Oct. 6 news briefing at Kennedy Space Center during the SpaceX Dragon launch countdown.   Station commander Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide expect to grapple and berth Dragon using the orbiting lab’s Canadian robot arm early Oct. 10, a little more than 60 hr. after a successful launch from Cape Canaveral.   “We need to consider whether we need to do a [spacewalk] sooner rather than later, and if we decide we need to do it sooner, we will need to do it with Suni and Aki,” Suffredini says.   Williams and Hoshide, who teamed to replace the failing external Main Bus Switching Unit-1 during spacewalks on Sept. 5 and Aug. 30, are scheduled to return to Earth on Nov. 12 aboard a Russia Soyuz spacecraft with cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, ending a four-month mission. Replacements Tom Marshburn of NASA and Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency, who have been trained for U.S. segment spacewalks, are currently scheduled to launch on a Soyuz capsule with cosmonaut Roman Romanenko on Dec. 19.   “If the data tells us we can go much beyond January, that would give us the option to just wait. We will talk about that thoroughly in the near future,” said Suffredini. “I  think you will see us lean toward trying to get [spacewalks] done before Suni and Aki leave,” Suffredini says.   As the station’s U.S. segment assembly drew to a close in mid-2011, NASA attempted to curtail time-consuming spacewalk activities to focus the astronauts’ efforts on science experiments and technology demonstrations.   The P-6 truss and twin solar array were launched in late 2000 (STS-97, December 2000) to provide the initial electricity to the station’s growing U.S. segment. It was moved to its permanent port-side outboard location in late 2007 (STS-120, October-November 2007).   Potential sources of the leak include the coolant pump, radiator or the plumbing associated with the 12-year-old truss.   As far as the short, station engineers are looking at several possible culprits, including a direct current switching unit, a voltage regulating sequential shunt unit or the beta gimbal assembly that adjusts the angle of the solar panels to the Sun.   Lagrangian Point gaining appeal as next stop for humans   Frank Morring, Jr. & Amy Svitak - Aviation Week   International space partners are starting to feel their way beyond their orbiting station for mankind's next step into the Solar System. Some of them at the 63rd International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Naples are finding a lot more to like about the Earth-Moon Lagrangian points, and particularly the L-2 site beyond the far side of the Moon.   While cash-strapped governments scramble to squeeze as much value as they can out of the International Space Station (ISS), scientists and market-hungry space companies around the world are leading the way toward the curious regions in space where gravity is largely nulled by pairs of celestial bodies. As a result, spacecraft can essentially hover there without using much energy. The infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is being developed for the supercold temperatures at the Sun-Earth L-2 point.   Space-exploration architects have long eyed the Earth-Moon L-2 as a way point where spacecraft carrying humans bound deeper into the Solar System can be assembled. More recently, it has drawn attention as a possible hand-off point where astronauts could rendezvous with vehicles transporting samples collected robotically on Mars. Spacecraft circling in “halo orbits” around the far-side L-2 point can move on with relatively little change in velocity, compared to taking off or landing in the “gravity wells” of the Earth, Moon or Mars.   “We're trying to learn how to use these gravity lanes to maneuver around space with humans,” says William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, who likens the routes between Lagrangian points to the rivers that took explorers into uncharted continents in the days of sail. He is also quick to stress that the idea has not even reached the “pre-study phase” at NASA.   But it is not being ignored at the U.S. space agency, which is spending $3 billion a year to develop the deep-space crew vehicle and heavy-lift rocket needed for exploration beyond low Earth orbit. “Crude” simulations have given way to more sophisticated computer models as engineers delve into the issue, Gerstenmaier says. And NASA contractor Lockheed Martin has generated enticing architectures using the L-2 point as an early target for the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle it is developing for NASA.   Boeing, too, is working in the area, as are large aerospace companies in Europe, Japan and Russia. “Space infrastructure should be international,” says Alexander Derechin, the deputy chief designer at Russia's RSC Energia, who co-authored an IAC technical paper on the subject with Michael Raftery of Boeing Defense, Space & Security in Houston. “It's too big for any country.”   The very uncertainty about the next stop in human space exploration—the Moon, an asteroid, Mars or one of its moons—argues for development of a human-tended facility at the cislunar L-2 point, Derechin says.   “If we're talking about infrastructure to support unclear goals, we need to make a decision about infrastructure that might be useful for all our goals,” he said during his IAC presentation on the subject.   A pressurized module derived from those that make up the habitable volume of the ISS could sustain Orion crews at L-2 much longer than they could remain there in the big capsule alone, and the linked vehicles could use Gerstenmaier's gravity lanes to reach more interesting destinations such as lunar orbit, an asteroid, the vicinity of Mars or even the JWST for upgrades or repairs.   “It doesn't take much delta-v to do that,” says Gerstenmaier, using the term for change in velocity. “It takes a long time.”   At the 62nd IAC in Cape Town, South Africa, Gerstenmaier and others were considering recycling space station modules to one of the Earth-Moon Lagrangian points. Closer examination has proved that idea impractical—station modules were not built for the radiation, thermal and gravity environments, all of which are poorly understood. “We have different gravitation conditions at Lagrangian points,” says Derechin. “It may be simple, but we will need new technology for rendezvous and docking.”   The Russian engineer suggests the time to begin addressing those problems is now, while the ISS is still functioning and can be used as a starting point.   Space-agency chiefs who partner with NASA on the ISS are much more focused on finding funds to operate the station now than they are on figuring out how to move pieces of it somewhere else after 2020. In an IAC press conference, they were unanimous in their support for keeping the station running as long as possible after that date.   “Myself, I would like to make sure we extend the ISS beyond 2020 because it is useful,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency, which will learn at a ministerial conference next month if its partner nations are willing to fund ESA at the station until 2020. He was joined in that view by Keiji Tachikawa, president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Steve MacLean, president of the Canadian Space Agency.   Sergey Saveliev, deputy head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, also agreed with Dordain on the need to focus on the station after 2020. Russia, which plans to invest $1 billion a year in human spaceflight activities in 2015-25, expects that the ISS will be used to support future exploration, no matter what the destination.   In May, Alexey Krasnov, head of human spaceflight at Roscosmos, said Moscow needs to begin planning by 2014 if Russia is to remain in the partnership beyond the end of this decade.   “We don't need firm commitments then, but indications of what the partners want to do,” Krasnov told an ISS-utilization symposium in Berlin. “We know this deadline might create some difficulties. But we have to have some idea of what we are going to do for this 10-year budget.”   While the ISS partners debate the future of their facility, China is moving ahead steadily on its plan to build a smaller space station in low Earth orbit by 2020. To that end, crew members on China's next mission to the Tiangong-1 mini-space station will start practicing on-orbit repairs and refueling techniques, according to Wang Zhaoyao, director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office.   The mission next year will continue work started with the Shenzhou 9 flight in June, Wang told an IAC audience, adding to China's experience with rendezvous and docking. Under present planning, he said, Shenzhou 10 will be China's only human spaceflight in 2013, and the last to Tiangong-1. After that, the mini-station will remain in orbit as an outpost for experiments operated from the ground. A second version, Tiangong-2, is planned for launch in the 2014-16 time frame.   During that same period, China will test the unmanned cargo vehicle it is developing and complete work on the Long March 7 launch vehicle. Scheduled for its first flight in 2013, that launcher will have a 30,000-lb. lift capability.   Taikonauts, as the Chinese space crews now call themselves, will visit Tiangong-2 for longer “mid-term” stays, Wang said, and continue to develop their skills in on-orbit repairs, while the cargo vehicle will be used for additional refueling demonstrations. The work is building toward deployment of the space station by 2020, after which plans call for three-member crews to conduct six-month tours there and, in theory, play host to space travelers from other countries.   “The Chinese space station is open to all,” said Yafeng Hu, a top international affairs official at the China National Space Administration, during a separate session, drawing applause from his IAC audience.   Big day for SpaceX as Elon Musk tells his mom 'I haven't started yet'   Hannah Elliott - Forbes   When Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon capsule berthed with the International Space Station earlier today it was the first successful cargo mission there made by a private company.   Maye Musk, up at 6am in New York, saw every second. Not that it was a relaxing experience.   “The weeks coming up to the launch you feel sick in the gut,” she told me, just back from a fashion shoot in Holland. The excitement in her South African lilt spoke volumes. “It’s your child! And it’s not just your child–it’s America! This is for America, for the planet. It’s for other planets. It’s kind of huge.”   Indeed. Maye has closely followed the SpaceX launches for months, arranging viewing parties at her Manhattan apartment and live Tweeting about them as they happen. (An example: “@MayeMusk ‘@SpaceX At 1:40PM ET, astronauts opened #Dragon’s hatch, one day ahead of schedule. Success!’ Ice cream is the motivator.”)   There’s a duality to her view of events: On the one hand, this successful nutritionist and working model is fully aware of the historical and scientific importance of the berthing. On the other, she compares it to watching her son play as a child.   “When I talk with him about it, he just kind of giggles like a little boy with his toy,” she says.   After unloading the Dragon, the crew of the Space Station will reload it with new cargo for departure to Earth on October 28. Will it mean more tension in the gut for Maye? Yes. But she can’t wait–her son has only just begun.   “He takes on too much!” she says. “I was going on and on about it, and he just got this look on his face and said, Mom, I haven’t started yet.”   Singer Sarah Brightman books flight to space station   William Harwood – CBS News   Soprano Sarah Brightman, believed to be one of the world's wealthiest classical crossover performers, has booked a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 10-day visit to the International Space Station, the singer announced Wednesday. The launch schedule has not been announced, but the first available flight is believed to be in the mid- to late-2015 timeframe.   "As I'm sure you may know, I'm planning to become a spaceflight participant and have been recently approved to begin my spaceflight training by the Russian space federation having passed the necessary medical and physical tests," she said, reading prepared remarks at a news conference in Moscow.   "The final scheduling and details of my trip by Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station will be determined very shortly by Roscosmos and the ISS partners."   Brightman said she will go on tour next year to promote a new album, visiting five continents before returning to Russia to begin six months of mission-specific training.   "This extraordinary voyage has been many months in the planning but more accurately, has been many years in the making," she said. "Throughout most of my life, I felt an incredible desire to take the journey to space that I have now begun."   She said her dream began in 1969 when she was eight years old watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon   "There, as a small an incredulous child, I watched a man bound gently from the steps of a rocket ship and land on the surface of the moon," she said. "This really was an adventure, it was something miraculous. For me, it was an epiphany.   "A journey into space is the greatest adventure I can imagine. The opportunity to orbit the Earth, witnessing multiple sunrises and sunsets every day, looking back to our small blue life-sustaining jewel from a distance gives me the greatest sense of anticipation."   The Russians launched eight "spaceflight participants" to the station between 2001 and 2008, including one who flew twice. Seven of those were considered space tourists, paying between $20 million and $50 million per flight. The flights were arranged by Space Adventures of Vienna, VA, which represented Brightman.   But tourists flights have been on hold in recent years with all available Soyuz seats booked for professional astronauts and cosmonauts making up the station's  six-member crew. A NASA contract with the Russian space agency effectively reserves all non-Russian seats for U.S., European, Canadian and Japanese astronauts.   Last week, however, NASA and the Russians announced plans for an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to spend a full year aboard the space station in 2015-16, twice as long as current crews, to collect medical data on long-duration spaceflight. That will free up two Soyuz seats for paying customers, including one for Brightman.   In their latest contract with NASA, the Russians charge more than $60 million for training and a seat for Soyuz flights to and from the space station. Eric Anderson, president of Space Adventures, would not say how much Brightman is being charged, but he jokingly assured the questioner "it is a round-trip ticket."   NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, plan to announce who will fly the yearlong mission in the next few weeks. The crew members are expected to take off in March 2015 aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft, accompanied by a Russian spacecraft commander who will stay aboard the lab for a normal six-month tour.   Under that scenario, the next Soyuz in the rotation, TMA-17M, would launch with a three-person station crew the following May. The Soyuz after that, TMA-18M, would take off that September or October 2015, presumably carrying Brightman to the space station along with a Russian commander and, perhaps, a second tourist.   Brightman would spend about 10 days aboard the lab complex and return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft with the same commander that ferried the long-duration crew to orbit the previous March.   "I have no idea, really, at this moment what the feeling will be like," Brightman said of flying in space. "Obviously, one has to get that information from other cosmonauts who have been up there and astronauts also.   "My music has always been inspired by space. Seeing the first man on the moon back in he 60s actually inspired me and gave me the courage to go into the career that I have. I have to say, at moments when I'm feeling nervous on stage or when I'm feeling unsure, I actually look to the stars and the planets and space and it gives me courage and inspiration."   Brightman said she plans to work with UNESCO to effectively communicate that excitement to young girls around the world to spark an interest in science education and the idea of sustainability.   "I'm not an expert in the field of sustainability, but I do understand that tackling poverty is key for us to have any chance of minimizing its impact." she said. "Educating girls is one of the best sustainable investments any of us can make. Girls in poor countries who benefit from education go on to create self-sufficient communities. They invest in their families and improve the lives of those around them. Not surprisingly, we aim to help the cause of educating girls in poor countries.   "We also want to use this voyage to bring more girls, not just those in poor countries, but from around the world into the educational fold and hopefully enable many of them to further advance into science and technology. It's in everyone's interest to help close the gender gap in the sciences."   New blastoff for Sarah Brightman: flight to space   Laura Mills - Associated Press   Sarah Brightman's voice, beloved by audiences and renowned for its three-octave range, rocketed to fame more than two decades ago as the heroine of "The Phantom of the Opera." Now the world's biggest-selling soprano is heading to outer space.   On Wednesday, Brightman told a news conference in Moscow that she has booked a trip to the International Space Station. Brightman, who had a hit in 1978 with "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper" and has sold more than 30 million records, will become the first recording artist in space.   The British singer said that after touring the world in 2013 for her new album, Dreamchaser, she will spend six months in Russia's Star City cosmonaut training center.   "I think of myself not just as a dreamer, but as a dream chaser," she said.   Brightman, a UNESCO ambassador, said the trip would also serve as a way to promote the U.N. agency's message, by encouraging women's education in the sciences and environmental awareness. She hinted at the possibility of doing a promotional "space concert."   She wouldn't give a precise time for her mission, but Alexei Krasnov, the head of manned programs at the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said she would likely make it in the fall of 2015.   Krasnov said the price tag for the flight was in "tens of millions of dollars," but refused to name a precise figure.   Brightman teamed up with the private company Space Adventures, which organizes trips for private space explorers. When questioned about the expense of the journey, Eric Anderson, co-founder and chairman of Space Adventures, wouldn't give a figure but joked that "it's a round-trip flight."   Previous flights have cost the adventurous travellers over $20 million each, according to several of the participants.   The cost should be of little concern for Brightman, who has grossed millions of dollars from her tours and albums. Brightman, ex-wife of Broadway playwright Andrew Lloyd Webber, said in a 2008 interview with the Guardian that she had offered to return the money she won in their divorce settlement, worth 6 million pounds.   Brightman will be the eighth private space explorer to take such a journey. Most other participants lacked Brightman's fame.   "I think she is a natural candidate," Anderson said, "somebody whose entire career revolves around inspiring people and communicating messages and really inspiring emotion. ... When they come back they can really share that experience with a much broader set of the public."   Wednesday's announcement came despite Russia's announcement in 2010 that it was halting space tourism for lack of free seats on its Soyuz capsules. The Soyuz have become the only means of ferrying crews to the international space station since NASA put its shuttles out of business last year.   Sarah Brightman's next tour stop: the International Space Station   Mary Forgione - Los Angeles Times   British classical soprano Sarah Brightman plans to head for the stars, becoming the latest tourist to visit the International Space Station.   Brightman, 52, announced her planned trip during a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday, the same day the cargo-loaded SpaceX mission made history by connecting with the space station.   Brightman said she wants to be the first professional musician to sing from space during her 16 spins around the Earth, according to a statement from Russian-based Space Adventures Ltd.   She's to be aboard the space station for 10 days, though no flight schedule has been set yet.   The UNESCO artist for peace ambassador said in the statement: "I hope that I can encourage others to take inspiration from my journey both to chase down their own dreams and to help fulfill the important UNESCO mandate to promote peace and sustainable development on Earth and from space."   Her plan has her releasing a new record, "Dreamchaser," in January, followed by a world tour. After that, she's to begin a six-month training period in Moscow that she'll write about on her Cosmonaut in Training blog.   Space Adventures says Brightman passed mental and physical evaluations for the training program in July.   The BBC reported that Brightman will be the seventh tourist to board the space station. American Dennis Tito was the first in 2001. The cost of the trip wasn't disclosed, but Cirque du Soleil Chief Executive Guy Laliberte paid $35 million for his trip in 2009, the BBC said.   In the YouTube video, Brightman explains her reasons for wanting to go into space.   Singer Sarah Brightman becomes next space tourist   Todd Halvorson - Florida Today   International singing sensation Sarah Brightman will become the next “space tourist” to fly to the International Space Station through an agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency, officials said Wednesday.   A classical crossover soprano, actress, songwriting and dancer, Brightman was approved to train for a spaceflight after medical assessments in July at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City outside Moscow.   Space Adventures, a space tourism company based in Virginia, brokered the flight. Brightman is the eighth “spaceflight participant” to arrange a trip to the station through the company.   NASA pays the Russian space agency about $60 million per seat to train and fly American astronauts to and from the space station. Officials would not reveal the cost of Brightman’s trip.   “The price of the flight is confidential,” said Space Adventures Founder Eric Anderson. “But it is a round trip.”   No exact date was announced for the flight. But published reports indicate it will take place in 2015.   Brightman is world’s biggest-selling soprano and is famous for having a vocal range of over three octaves. She told reporters at a news conference in Moscow today that she has wanted to fly into space ever since watching the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969.   “For me it was an epiphany,” Brightman said.   Brightman also is a star of stage. In the 1981s, she appeared in the musicals "Cats," "The Phantom of the Opera," "Song" and "Dance and Requiem."   She married composer Andrew Lloyd Webber in 1984. They were divorced in the early 1990s.   Brightman is an “artist for peace” for UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. During her two-week trip to the station, she will be working with the organization to promote the importance of science, technology, and math education, particularly for women and girls.   Sarah Brightman to travel to space station   BBC News   British singer Sarah Brightman is to travel as a space tourist to the International Space Station.   The classical recording artist, once married to Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, will be part of a three-person crew flying to the ISS.   After completing a tour in 2013, Ms Brightman will embark on six months of preparation at the Star City cosmonaut training centre in Moscow.   She will be the seventh space tourist to visit the ISS.   Once there, she says she intends to become the first professional musician to sing from space.   "This voyage is a product of a dream, my dream. Finally it can be a reality. I am more excited about this than anything I have done in my life to date," she told a news conference in Moscow.   She added that the schedule for her flight would "be determined very shortly by (Russian federal space agency) Roscosmos and the ISS partners."   Alexey Krasnov, head of the ISS programme at Roscosmos, said Ms Brightman had passed the required mental and physical examinations to fly into space.   Space Adventures, the Vienna-based company that organises flights for private spacefarers, did not disclose how much Ms Brightman had paid for her seat on the Soyuz.   But the last space tourist, Cirque du Soleil chief executive Guy Laliberte, paid around $35m for the privilege.   Sarah Brightman began her career with the dance troupe Hot Gossip, which had a chart hit in 1978 with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper.   She subsequently starred on the West End stage in Cats and Phantom of the Opera, both penned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, whom she married in 1984.   The pair divorced in 1990 and Brightman embarked on a solo singing career. She helped popularise the classical crossover genre, scoring a worldwide hit with her duet with Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, Time To Say Goodbye.   Sarah Brightman and Chris Hadfield: Musicians in space   Susan Noakes - Canadian Broadcasting Co News   British singer Sarah Brightman, who had a hit in 1978 with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper, is headed into space. Her flight could be in 2015, making her the first space tourist to the International Space Station since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté.   There have only been seven people so far to ride into space just to satisfy the itch for space travel. Russia said in 2010 that it was halting space tourism for lack of free seats on its Soyuz capsules and for most of us, it's just too expensive.   Brightman is the world's best-selling soprano, beloved for performing as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera. In a news conference Wednesday to announce her space flight, she hinted at a musical performance in space. But she won't be first in that department. It turns out Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is a musician on the side and plans some guitar jamming after he docks at the International Space Station on a trip beginning on Dec. 5.   Hadfield has a Juno-winning collaborator Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson, who is working with him to write and perform a song for Music Monday 2013 next March. The song I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing). celebrates music education in schools across Canada and will be performed by Hadfield still on the space station and Robertson on the ground, accompanied by a high school choir. CBC Music is following the collaboration from songwriting through performance.   By then, Brightman will be touring the world in support of her album Dreamchaser and looking forward to six months of cosmonaut training. No doubt, like Guy Laliberté, she will dedicate her trip to some worthy cause. And there's nothing like a trip into space to confirm her star power.   Commercial crew chief bullish on Brevard   Todd Halvorson & Michelle Spitzer – Florida Today   He’s responsible for overseeing NASA’s multimillion-dollar investment in the development of commercial space taxis that will ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station.   Ed Mango is the program manager at NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Office at Kennedy Space Center.   Veteran space reporter Todd Halvorson and reporter Michelle Spitzer interviewed Mango ahead of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launch. They asked him about candidate spacecraft and the challenges that lie ahead.   QUESTION: Ed runs the commercial crew program, and that’s the next step in this transition, away from shuttle and to the next generation of U.S. human space flight. The next step is to procure astronaut transportation from commercial companies. Now Ed, you recently decided to continue funding three different companies for the development of commercial crew transportation services. Could you tell us who you picked, a little bit about their vehicles, and why you selected them?   MANGO: We have three companies that we’re working with today. The first is SpaceX. SpaceX plans to take their Dragon cargo vehicle and convert it into a crew vehicle. In order to do that, obviously flying in space is very hard . . . when you put crew on it you just add a level of risk and you have to mitigate those risks. So you have to have an abort system which can keep the crew alive and be able to work within the crew environment.   The second company we have is Boeing Aerospace. Boeing has their CTS-100 which is also a capsule-type vehicle. It will fly on an Atlas V rocket right here from the Cape as well. And their system is trying to use as many systems that have already been developed . . . repackaging stuff that works very well, and trying to keep the costs down that way.   And our third company is Sierra Nevada Corporation. And Sierra Nevada is a blended-body vehicle. Their company is out of Boulder, Colo. Their idea is you launch a vehicle with wings and it lands on a runway – very similar to shuttle. That vehicle will also launch on an Atlas V.   And so right now, we’re in a competitive mode with all three companies. They’re all designing their systems . . . and by the middle of 2014, we’ll have another competition, really to figure out who we want to take through certification and then we hope to fly by the middle of 2017.   QUESTION: So at the end of this particular phase of the program, where will these three companies be in terms of the development process?   MANGO: All of them have slightly different paths to get to the same end point because there’s always more than one route to get there.   In the case of SpaceX . . . they will also have a couple of launch abort tests right here from the Cape by the middle of 2014, one with just their capsule and one with their entire vehicle and then they’ll abort going halfway up in to the atmosphere to really check out maximum drag and how their abort system works at that point.   Boeing will be going also through an integrative design state . . . and then they’re doing a lot of testing on multiple systems and they’re bringing all their systems together in this integrated design.   Sierra Nevada is continuing to develop their Dream Chaser vehicle and they will basically fly that vehicle on automated landings at first and eventually with crew. They’re going to be flying those vehicles with automated landings throughout the middle of 2014, about 10 or so landings, at Edwards Air Force Base.   QUESTION: What do you say to get (people) excited about the next step?   MANGO: Well, I would tell you for the Space Coast, all three of these vehicles are going to fly right from here. So that is outstanding. Obviously, SpaceX is going be doing work here also. Space X also has a number of missions for the (cargo resupply) contract. Boeing, if they were to continue on through these competition phases and get in the next couple rounds, they’re going to be building their vehicle right here in Florida. And Sierra also will be launching from here and doing landings from here.   QUESTION: How big a deal is it for Brevard to actually make the transition from being more than just the launch operation, but being able to manufacture spacecraft in that period before you go into a launch?   MANGO: I think it’s outstanding for the Brevard area. I think a number of these companies have all figured out that we have great skills and great talent here in Brevard County. Most of them would like to have started a couple years ago to get the shuttle folks as they were coming off the shuttle work, but . . . that skill base is still here and I think all those companies would like to be building on that skill base.   And once you start building manufacturing capability, like here in Brevard County, as they begin to build those vehicles here, that will become the mainstay, probably for a whole generation of building spacecraft here. So all this kind of work being done here says that the nation, and these companies, are looking to the skilled workforce right here on the Space Coast.     QUESTION: We did lose a lot of people after the shuttle stopping flying. The last mission was last July. And I’m wondering with the transition into being both launch and manufacturing operations, do you think that that will enable us to offset the number of job losses we’ve seen in the last several years?   MANGO: I can’t tell you about the number of jobs because I don’t know that. But I think as Brevard County grows, in order to have a manufacturing capability, whether it be airplanes, spacecraft, rockets, whatever it might be, we’re now moving into the high-tech arena in which those are very good jobs, jobs that have longevity. When you’re building a vehicle, type one today and type two tomorrow, it continues, it becomes a generational thing . . . Once you get into the manufacturing mode, that will become a mainstay for the Brevard county area.   QUESTION: What does it feel like to be part of a team that is reclaiming, if you will, an American indigenous capability to get our own astronauts into space?   MANGO: My team is so motivated to make this happen because we do want an American vehicle to be flying again. It embodies everything that we do.   Launch pad operations begin for Orbital contract   Carol Vaughn - Gannett News Service   Orbital Sciences Corp. has begun operations at a new launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport leading up to the first launch of its Antares rocket.   The company announced Monday the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority, which oversees the spaceport, has cleared it to begin on-pad operations at the liquid-fuel launch complex on Wallops Island.   “MARS has completed construction and testing operations on its launch complex at Wallops Island, the first all-new large-scale liquid-fuel launch site to be built in the U.S. in decades,” said Orbital President and Chief Executive Office David W. Thompson.   Thompson said launch pad operations will begin immediately in preparation for a series of ground and flight tests of the Antares rocket in the coming months.   The first stage of an Antares rocket on Monday was transported to the launch pad from the Horizontal Integration Facility about a mile away on the island.   Orbital plans to complete three major milestones in the next several months — an on-pad hot-fire test of the first stage, followed by the first flight of a fully operational Antares rocket and finally a demonstration mission to the International Space Station.   Those will be followed by the commencement of cargo delivery missions to the space station in 2013 under a NASA Commercial Resupply Services agreement. Orbital in 2008 was awarded a $1.9 billion contract for eight flights to take cargo to the space station.   The hot-fire test involves firing Antares’ dual AJ26 rocket engines, generating a combined thrust of 680,000 pounds for 30 seconds while the rocket’s first stage is held down on the pad. It is expected to happen in four to five weeks, according to a news release.   Antares’ first flight will follow about one month later. The rocket for that flight will carry a simulated payload, including instruments to gather data about conditions on board. Four small satellites also will be deployed during that flight, the release said.   The demonstration mission is the last of three milestones related to a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services research and development agreement between the company and NASA.   Lawmaker wants to end politics at NASA   Gannett News Service   Rep. Frank Wolf is a bit of a romantic when it comes to the space program.   He can still recall that the New England town where he worked as a lifeguard in his youth buzzed with excitement when Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard visited one day. After moving to Washington in the 1960s, Wolf impressed his parents by driving them past astronaut John Glenn’s house. This spring, he marveled at the sight of the space shuttle Discovery flying over the nation’s Capitol to retirement at the Smithsonian.   But now that U.S. astronauts ride Russian rockets to the International Space Station, a plan to return to the moon has been scrapped and a manned trip to Mars is at least 20 years away, Wolf, 73, believes NASA has lost its way.   “It’s become very, very political, which it never used to be,” he said. “You really have the White House running this operation, and there are a lot of good people in NASA. And you know, many of them feel the same way that I do, although they can’t really say anything.”   As the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees NASA’s budget, the 16-term congressman from northern Virginia plays a key role determining the space program’s trajectory. And lately, he hasn’t been happy.   Wolf has pushed the Obama administration to move faster in choosing an aerospace firm to build a replacement for the shuttle. He’s sparred with the White House over his demand that the administration limit cooperation with China on joint space ventures.   Last year, he authored legislation creating a panel of independent experts to review NASA’s strategic direction. The panel must report its findings by the end of the year.   In September, Wolf co-sponsored a bill that would restructure NASA’s leadership by creating a 10-year term for the agency’s administrator rather than let the White House decide when to name someone new. The proposal is designed to insulate the space program from administration turnover that critics say drains money and delays progress.   Administration officials say the space-program cupboard isn’t bare, thanks to passage of the bipartisan 2010 NASA Authorization Act. The legislation briefly extended the space shuttle program. It also establishes a “robust” commercial space initiative and calls for a manned mission to Mars.   Mark Kelly Pens Children's Book Still Focused on Wife Gabrielle Giffords's Recovery     Andrea Billups - People Magazine   Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, has written a book – but don't expect it to be about his life.   Instead, Kelly, who flew four shuttle missions and piloted 39 naval combat tours in Operation Desert Storm, has written a children's book with an astronaut mouse as hero, FOX News reports.   Kelly, 48, tells the network he was inspired to write Mousetronaut after taking mice into space for research purposes.   "On my first space flight I carried up some mice and I got the idea from one of them. I didn’t do anything about it for a very long time because I was busy flying the space shuttle," he says.   He also defended his decision to write a children's book rather than a memoir.   "Why a children’s book? Because education is the most important thing I think we do in this country. It touches everything, and to have good books that will interest kids at a young age that they'll read is really important, and kids tend to be interested space and in animals," he says.   Kelly, who retired from NASA in October 2011, added that although he misses space travel, his main focus is caring for Giffords, who is recovering from a January 2011 assassination attempt.   "She's still working hard, still improving. We just moved back to Tucson, so that’s been great for her, very excited about that," he said.   "I do some public speaking and some consulting," Kelly said. "My primary role is to make sure Gabby has everything she needs… Just making sure she’s all taken care of, that’s my no. 1 job."   Endeavour gets set for final journey   Guy Norris - Aviation Week   The people of Los Angeles are expected to turn out in their thousands on Friday and Saturday to watch the space shuttle Endeavour slowly make its way from Los Angeles International Airport to its final display site at the California Science Center.   The shuttle has been at LAX since arriving on the back of NASA Boeing 747 SCA N905NA on Sept 21 and will start its last journey (dubbed Mission 26 by organizers) from there at 2 am on the morning of Oct 12. By 4.15 pm, LA Police Department estimate the Endeavour convoy will be crossing interstate 405 – no doubt providing a bizarre spectacle to those who are, at that time of the day, normally stationary on the Freeway around that area.   LAPD’s Unified Command and the Science Center are providing dedicated viewing public locations along the route. On October 13th, at around 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., the City of Inglewood will have an event and Endeavour will be on display for half an hour, in front of the Forum. Free parking is being set up at the Hollywood Park Race Track.   On October 13th, at around 2 p.m., Endeavour will stop for about a half an hour for a planned event at the intersection of Crenshaw Blvd. and Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Blvd. There is a dedicated area for the public to stand and view the stage, north on Crenshaw Blvd. from MLK. Space is limited so come early say the LAPD.   On October 13th, at around 8:30 p.m., Endeavour will reach its final destination . Large parking lots have been dedicated for public viewing between Bill Robertson Lane and Vermont Ave., north of MLK.   Toyota blasts off hype for space shuttle Endeavour tow   Chris Woodyard - USA Today   Toyota has cranked up the publicity machine when it comes to its planned towing of the space shuttle Endeavour across a Los Angeles freeway overpass with one of its Tundra pickup trucks.   The automaker has created a pretty cool website devoted to its bit part in the move starting Friday. The decommissioned shuttle is on its way from Los Angeles International Airport, where it was dropped off by its Boeing 747 hauler, to its retirement home at the California Science Center near the city's downtown.   While the shuttle is going to be along 12 miles of city streets, the Tundra will only get a chance to show its stuff over a few hundred feet -- on Manchester Avenue across the San Diego (405) Freeway. That be enough for its publicity coup and to capture enough footage for a TV ad. Commercial vehicles will handle the rest of the shuttle's journey. Toyota no longer plans to use the pickup for the last quarter mile to the doorsteps of the museum.   On its new microsite devoted to the move, Toyota is showing a video as the pickup prepares to pull two trailers loaded with concrete blocks. Together, the whole rig weighs 307,000 pounds and Toyota emphasizes that it is making the pull with a stock Tundra full-size pickup with a V-8 engine. The truck doesn't come yet come in a hybrid version -- Toyota's signature powertrain these days -- but if it did, we imagine the crew would have tried that one first.   "We want to make sure this is going to work," an engineer identified as Greg Bryant says in the video. "This is the same Tundra you can buy off the lot." The video shows the loading of the trailers, side-by-side. The video builds into a dramatic space-shuttle-style countdown. It ends there. You never get to see if the pickup can pull the pair of trailers.   The video says it was shot July 7 in Lodi, Calif., proving that Toyota was on to the potential for the shuttle tow job long before others realized its publicity potential.   Lodi’s Patterson Heavy Haul to tow space shuttle across LA freeway   Jennifer Bonnett - Lodi News-Sentinel   On Thursday, Lloyd Patterson will get an up-close look at the Space Shuttle Endeavour, currently housed at Los Angeles International Airport. But he won't be a mere spectator as it is moved this week to its permanent location at the California Science Center museum. Patterson's equipment will be hauling it.   Patterson, who owns Patterson Heavy Haul in Lodi, flew down late Monday to assess the load and discuss its ever-changing route. He will return Thursday driving his specially fabricated trailer dollies, built by Stockton-based Rackley Bilt Custom Trailers.   The shuttle move is being overseen by Rigging International, based in Alameda.   "It's been very exciting. We're just a little-town company," said Samantha Patterson, Lloyd Patterson's daughter. "I'm excited for (my dad) to have this opportunity because he's such a hard worker. He deserves this, and he's good at what he does. That's finally getting recognized."   Late Thursday, the shuttle will be loaded and switched back and forth between two different trailer dollies throughout its 12-mile journey, which is expected to take two days. The other transporter, operated by remote control, is owned by Sarens Global Operation Company, who contracted with Patterson Heavy Haul for its portion.   Sarens will carry Endeavour throughout most of the urban roads because of their transporter's ability to maneuver around the obstacles city streets pose, according to Samantha Patterson.   Patterson Heavy Haul's trailer will move the shuttle across Interstate 405. The California Department of Transportation will not allow Sarens' remote control transporter to do this.   During the route, Lloyd Patterson will also team up with Toyota on two different occasions, including a spot for a Tundra commercial.   It will be part two of a commercial taped over the summer on Patterson Heavy Haul's Victor Road property. Part one of the commercial, which can be viewed on YouTube, asks viewers whether the Tundra pulling Patterson's trailer can haul the weight of the shuttle.   "It was top secret," Samantha Patterson said of the experience. "But you can see 'Lodi' on our trucks in the commercials."   This week won't be the first time Lloyd Patterson has had a brush with the shuttle. In August, he went to Orlando, Fla., where his drivers picked up and moved both of Endeavours' 149-foot-long rocket boosters on a two-week transcontinental road trip from the Kennedy Space Center to Edwards Air Force Base and the trailer hauling the boosters was photographed for the website www.space.com.   The boosters will ultimately be displayed upright alongside the shuttle at the Los Angeles museum, but until the launchpad-like exhibit at the California Science Center is ready in a few years, Endeavour will be placed in a temporary horizontal display while the rockets remain in storage at NASA's facility at Edwards, according to the website.   That was before Endeavour made its final ferried flight over California before landing at LAX last month.   "Witnessed the Endeavour fly over Sacramento a bit ago," Patterson Heavy Haul posted on Facebook Sept. 21. "Very exciting to see, especially knowing it will be sitting on a trailer of ours in just a few short weeks."   END