10/24/12 news

  Tuesday, October 23, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Ramp Up Your IT Knowledge at the IRD Expo and Forum This Thursday 2.            Where's Your Oppurtunity to Develop Another? 3.            Human System Integration ERG Meeting Today at Lunchtime 4.            JSC Children's Safety and Health Calendar Contest Now Underway 5.            Spooky Spin at the Gilruth Center -- Register Now 6.            Fire Warden Orientation Course (Four Hours) 7.            Houston Technology Center Presents Tech Link ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”   -- Oliver Wendell Holmes ________________________________________ 1.            Ramp Up Your IT Knowledge at the IRD Expo and Forum This Thursday Mark your calendars for a day of discovery! Find out about new Information Technology (IT) tools, services and resources at this year's Information Resources Directorate (IRD) Expo and Forum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25. Not sure who to talk to about what IT resources are available to you and your organization or how to get those resources? This is your chance to come out and meet your IRD customer service agent and the rest of your organization's IT support team. You also will find a variety of information-filled exhibits showcasing items like computer hardware, video conferencing capabilities and printing demos, all to be displayed in the Teague lobby and Building 3's Collaboration Center. Take the opportunity to help shape the future of IT at JSC by providing feedback through various channels that day. As part of IRD's commitment to continuous improvement, IRD will use the feedback to enhance processes, products and/or services. You can also submit your additional IT ideas for possible future adoption. We will present the outcomes at a follow-up event in February. For more info, click here. JSC IRD Outreach x41334   [top] 2.            Where's Your Oppurtunity to Develop Another? It's here in the JSC Formal Mentoring Program! Applications are open for the Formal Mentoring Program until Nov. 16. All civil servants of various GS and supervisory levels are encouraged to apply and participate as mentors and protégés. For further details, please visit the Formal Mentoring website. Joseff White x27831 http://mentoring.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 3.            Human System Integration ERG Meeting Today at Lunchtime Do you work to develop or manage a system that interfaces to a human? Are you interested in learning more about including human considerations into the lifecycle of a design and networking with other like-minded employees at JSC? Then come to the JSC Human System Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) meeting. We will meet today from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 1, Room 220. Bring your lunch and hear about the HSI ERG's latest recruiting and professional development activities, including progress on developing an HSI certificate program. Deb Neubek 281-222-3687 http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx   [top] 4.            JSC Children's Safety and Health Calendar Contest Now Underway Don't miss this great opportunity to teach your kids about safety and health in a creative way. They could be one of 36 winners who will receive their very own T-shirt imprinted with their drawing. And, the most fun of all is the annual award party held in January, to which each winner and his or her family members are invited. Pick up an entry form today at any of the following buildings: 1, 3, 4S, 11, 30, 45, 419, the JSC Child Care Center or Gilruth Center. You can also call x45078 to obtain an entry form. All JSC civil service and contractor employees are eligible to sponsor a child -- their own or an acquaintance's. The deadline for entries is Friday, Nov. 16. Rindy Carmichael x45078   [top] 5.            Spooky Spin at the Gilruth Center -- Register Now Join in on the Halloween fun at the Gilruth Center on Oct. 26 with our Spooky Spin specialty spin ride! Come dressed in costume for this fun and frightful workout on Oct. 26 from 6 to 7 p.m. The fee is $15/person. Register at the Gilruth Center front desk. Plus, there is still time to get your kids tickets to the Fright Fest Bash, which is this Friday. Tickets sold are selling in the Buildings 3 and 11 gift shops, as well as the Gilruth Center. And don't forget to take a tour of our Haunted House -- if you dare! Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 6.            Fire Warden Orientation Course (Four Hours) This four-hour course is to satisfy the JSC training requirement for newly assigned Fire Wardens from JSC, the Sonny Carter Training Facility and Ellington Field. This course must be completed before assuming these duties. Topics covered include: duties and responsibilities of a Fire Warden; building evacuation techniques; recognizing and correcting fire hazards; and types and uses of portable fire extinguishers. Fire Wardens who have previously attended this four-hour orientation course and need to satisfy the three-year training requirements may attend the two-hour Fire Warden Refresher Course now available in SATERN for registration. Date/Time: Nov. 28 from 8 a.m. to noon Where: Safety Learning Center, Building 226N, Room 174 Registration via SATERN required: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Aundrail Hill x36369   [top] 7.            Houston Technology Center Presents Tech Link Learn about Houston Technology Center's incubation and acceleration clients focused in the energy, life sciences, Information Technology and NASA/aerospace sectors. Open to the community, these meetings allow professionals to be involved with and influence the evolution of emerging technology. When: Friday, Nov. 9 Light breakfast and networking - 7:30 to 8 a.m. Presentations - 8 to 9 a.m. Where: Aerospace Transition Center 16921 El Camino Real To register, click here. Pat Kidwell x37156 http://www.houstontech.org/events/1041/   [top]  ________________________________________ JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.         Human Spaceflight News Wednesday – October 24, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Rocket explosion raises worries over space debris   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   A Russian Breeze M rocket stage, left with loaded fuel tanks after an August launch failure, exploded in orbit Oct. 16, raising concerns of the U.S. military, NASA and global satellite operators on the lookout for collision threats from hundreds of new space debris fragments. The Breeze M stage violently disintegrated some time Oct. 16, dispersing debris in an arc around Earth encompassing orbital zones populated by the International Space Station and numerous communications, scientific, and military satellites. The upper stage launched Aug. 6 on a Proton rocket, and its job was to place Indonesia's Telkom 3 and Russia's Express MD2 communications satellites into geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above Earth's equator.   Boeing’s Latest Mission: Space   Brian Shactman & Jessica Golden - CNBC News   Boeing makes planes. But to grow in the 21st century, the company knows it needs to do more than that. For that reason, Boeing has been aggressively diversifying. Take space, for example. The company was recently awarded a $460 million contract by NASA to pursue human spaceflight for government and commercial purposes. That's small change for a $55 billion company, but Boeing clearly sees space travel as a key component of its future. So what makes Boeing think they are so likely to succeed? "The reason it’s going to work is the experience we have operating in this environment and the experience we have to open the market up to other people that are interested in human space exploration” said John Mulholland, VP of and Program Manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.   NASA Deep-Space Program Gaining Focus   Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week   In an election year, with a “fiscal cliff” looming that could whack NASA's budget by $1.7 billion, U.S. space officials are not eager to declare a new destination in space for human crews just yet. But once the post-election dust clears, and Congress decides how to handle the funding-sequestration box it created in lieu of making difficult deficit-reduction choices publicly, work underway here and in other space communities around the nation is likely to give some focus to NASA's next steps into the Solar System. Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center are using a medium-fidelity mockup cobbled together from scrap space hardware to run human-factors tests and equipment fit checks on one of the missing pieces in NASA's human-exploration planning—somewhere for deep-space crews to live. They are working with experts at Johnson Space Center in Houston, under the leadership of astronaut Alvin Drew.   NASA Engineers Build Mockup of Deep Space Station   Mark Whittington - Yahoo News   According to Aviation Week, NASA engineers at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are building a mockup of what appears to be a deep space habitat, though it could also be part of an interplanetary spacecraft.   ATK to develop advanced solar array for NASA   Warren Ferster - Space News   ATK’s Space Components Division of Goleta, Calif., will develop a large, low-mass solar array prototype under an 18-month contract from NASA’s Space Technology Program valued at $6.4 million, the company announced Oct. 23. MegaFlex builds upon ATK’s smaller UltraFlex arrays that have flown on or are slated for several NASA missions, including a 2-meter-diameter version that powered the agency’s Phoenix Mars lander. ATK is building 10 UltraFlex arrays for the Cygnus space station cargo capsule being developed by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and a 20-meter version will power for the Orion deep-space crew capsule being built by Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems, ATK said.   ATK's Lighter, Stronger Solar Arrays to Power Orion   Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org   NASA has selected ATK’s MegaFlex™ solar array design under the space agency’s Space Technology Program thru a competition held to develop lightweight, compact, solar array structures. Under this program, ATK received a little over $6 million to develop the MegaFlex™ design. These solar arrays will be developed at ATK’s Space Components Division located in Goleta, Calif., it is hope that they can meet the anticipated power demands of 350kW and higher that is required under the this program.   Robotic Servicing Seen As Beneficial For Human Exploration   Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily   Work underway at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on ways to service satellites in Earth orbit can help keep exploration crews alive much deeper into the Solar System, according to a manager of the effort. Addressing the Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium, sponsored by the National Astronautical Society, Deputy Project Manager Ben Reed of Goddard’s Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office said the same kind of work pioneered on the Hubble Space Telescope can give deep-space human-exploration vehicles the level of reliability needed for missions to near-Earth objects and eventually Mars.   Satellite servicing capabilities being developed   Bob Granath - Phys.org   With satellites playing increasingly important roles in everyday life, NASA is developing the technology to build Earth-orbiting, roving "service stations" capable of extending the life of these spacecraft. Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are assisting the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in developing the concept for bringing a high-technology gas pump, robotic mechanic and tow truck to satellites in space. There are 149 government-owned spacecraft and 275 commercial satellites currently in geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO, around the Earth. Placed 22,300 miles above the Earth, these satellites play key roles in communications, science, defense and weather monitoring. GEO permits these spacecraft essentially to stay over the same point, allowing for constant coverage of a designated position. This is crucial for satellites relaying meteorology and television signals covering specific portions of the globe.   NASA wants one new 'brain' for two rocket engines   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   How do you get a new heavy-lift rocket program off the ground with a "flat-line" development budget? One key for NASA is using a cache of 16 unused RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) to help power the first few flights. But the space agency says they'll need new "brains" to do the job, and developing that upgrade is one of the jobs being handled by engineers and contractors at Marshall Space Flight Center, where the new rocket is being developed. NASA calls its new rocket the Space Launch System (SLS), a name that encompasses not only the booster but also the upper stage with the Orion crew capsule.   Students get chance to blast their science experiments to Space Station   Jonathan Garris - Montgomery County Courier (Houston)   Children from several schools in the Willis Independent School District may soon see their very own science experiment carried out on the International Space Station, thanks to a Science Symposium held at Hardy Elementary School on Saturday afternoon. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. inside of the cafeteria at the school, located at 701 Gerald St. in Willis, students from Hardy, Parmley and Turner Elementary Schools were treated to a day of scientific experimentation and exposure. Approximately 100 students filed into Hardy Elementary to listen to keynote speaker Dr. Lisa Brown, a former NASA employee and coordinator of secondary education at Sam Houston State University. Brown had a short discussion with students on the history of space exploration and posed various questions to students. She also explained the science behind numerous Lunar rocks and soil samples on display at the event.   NASA astronaut pays visit to employees of South El Monte manufacturer   Maritza Velazquez - San Gabriel Valley Tribune   The employees of a local manufacturing company got a reminder of what they do it all for, during a special visit from NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli on Tuesday. The Detroit-born space explorer toured the Vacco Industries facility and met with some of the workers who engineer parts and components for NASA's space shuttle program.   Kennedy Space Center: How to see Atlantis’ last move   Orlando Sentinel   On Nov. 2, the Atlantis space shuttle will roll to its new permanent home at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, which is offering two ticket packages for the event. The Explorer Package is $90 ($80 ages 3-11), and the Rollover Package costs $50 ($40 ages 3-11). Both packages, which must be purchased in advance, include admission to the visitor complex.   Canadian Space Agency unveils prototype fleet of rovers   Canadian Press   Move over Canadarm: the rovers are coming! the rovers are coming!   At its headquarters in Longueuil, Que. Friday, the Canadian Space Agency rolled out a fleet of about a half-dozen prototype rovers that are the forerunners of vehicles that may one day explore the moon or Mars. The agency said the terrestrial rovers bring it one step closer to developing the next generation for space exploration. Some are knee-high mini-rovers that can work side-by-side, helping astronauts to dig or scout out small spaces like caves.   Book Review Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space (by John Young with James Hansen)   Jeff Foust - The Space Review   “‘Unique’ has become such a trite word that I can no longer use it to describe John Young. But ‘unusual’ certainly fits, even in a group that, if not unique, was at least close to it.” So writes former astronaut Michael Collins in the foreword to Forever Young, a memoir by fellow astronaut John Young. And, arguably, either “unique” or “unusual” is a fitting description of the man who flew six space missions, including the first flights of both Gemini and the Space Shuttle, and is one of only 12 people to date to have set foot on the Moon. That experience alone should make for a fascinating life story. Yet Forever Young, written with Neil Armstrong biographer James Hansen, falls a bit short of those lofty expectations. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Rocket explosion raises worries over space debris   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   A Russian Breeze M rocket stage, left with loaded fuel tanks after an August launch failure, exploded in orbit Oct. 16, raising concerns of the U.S. military, NASA and global satellite operators on the lookout for collision threats from hundreds of new space debris fragments.   The Breeze M stage violently disintegrated some time Oct. 16, dispersing debris in an arc around Earth encompassing orbital zones populated by the International Space Station and numerous communications, scientific, and military satellites.   The upper stage launched Aug. 6 on a Proton rocket, and its job was to place Indonesia's Telkom 3 and Russia's Express MD2 communications satellites into geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above Earth's equator.   But the Breeze M failed at the start of the third of four planned engine burns, leaving the vehicle and its payloads well short of their targeted altitude. At the time of the mishap, the Breeze M still had more than half of its hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants in its primary and auxiliary fuel tanks.   The substances are hypergolic, meaning they combust when coming in contact with each other. With much of the propellants left on-board the Breeze M, any contact would have generated an explosion.   Air Force Lt. Col. Monica Matoush, a Pentagon spokesperson, said the U.S. military was tracking debris from the Breeze M breakup.   The Defense Department's joint functional component command for space, known by the acronym JFCC-Space, monitors objects in orbit and issues collision alerts to U.S. government, international and commercial satellite owners.   "The resulting debris field and impact to space objects on orbit are being assessed at this time, however JFCC-Space is currently tracking over 500 pieces of debris," Matoush said in an email Tuesday. "We expect that number to fluctuate as work to characterize the debris field continues."   Before the explosion, the Breeze M was in an elliptical orbit with a low point of about 165 miles, a high point of about 3,100 miles, and an inclination of 49.9 degrees to the equator.   Experts believe the Breeze M stage's breakup likely released a much larger number of debris fragments than are being tracked by the U.S. military.   The Joint Space Operations Center, based at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., uses an array of ground-based radars, optical telescopes, and a satellite equipped with a gimbaled visible camera to detect space debris at least down to the size of a tennis ball.   Many more smaller objects from old satellites or the disintegration of rockets like the Breeze M are untraceable.   The breakup was mentioned in a daily International Space Station status report posted Tuesday on a NASA website. The debris cloud is "believed not to be insignificant," officials wrote in the daily update.   As of Tuesday evening, there were no orbital debris threats to the space station requiring any action, according to Josh Byerly, a NASA spokesperson.   The 450-ton complex can change its orbit, when necessary, to avoid individual pieces of space debris. The maneuvers have become more common since 2008 after a Chinese anti-satellite test and the high-speed crash of two satellites collectively sent approximately 5,000 chunks of space junk into the paths of spacecraft in low Earth orbit.   The Oct. 16 breakup marked the third explosion since 2007 of a Breeze M stage left with partially-full propellant tanks after a launch failure.   Each of the previous Breeze M breakups in 2007 and 2010 produced about 100 pieces of debris, according to NASA's orbital debris program office.   Another Breeze M upper stage from a launch failure in August 2011 is still intact in orbit and has not ruptured yet.   A Breeze M stage's tanks hold 19.8 metric tons, or about 43,600 pounds, of propellant when filled. The Breeze M's propellant tanks are normally depressurized after a successful mission to passivate the stage, according to International Launch Services, the U.S.-based, Russian-owned firm overseeing commercial Proton launch services.   The Aug. 6 failure occurred on a mission managed by Khrunichev, the Russian builder of the Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage. Investigators found fault with a component of the Breeze M's pressurization system.   "The passivation of the tank pressures coupled with the depletion of nearly all the fuel makes the stage effectively inert," said Karen Monaghan, spokesperson for International Launch Services. "This is a standard procedure for all Proton missions."   But after an anomaly which leaves the Breeze M with volatile leftover hypergolic fuel, there is no procedure for passivating and safing the stage or dumping the propellant overboard.   "Recognize that passivating a vehicle after a malfunction can be more challenging than passivating one after a normal mission," said Nicholas Johnson, chief orbital debris scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.   Boeing’s Latest Mission: Space   Brian Shactman & Jessica Golden - CNBC News   Boeing makes planes.   But to grow in the 21st century, the company knows it needs to do more than that.   For that reason, Boeing has been aggressively diversifying. Take space, for example.   The company was recently awarded a $460 million contract by NASA to pursue human spaceflight for government and commercial purposes. That's small change for a $55 billion company, but Boeing clearly sees space travel as a key component of its future.   So what makes Boeing think they are so likely to succeed?   "The reason it’s going to work is the experience we have operating in this environment and the experience we have to open the market up to other people that are interested in human space exploration” said John Mulholland, VP of and Program Manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.   Sierra Nevada Corporation and Elon Musk’s SpaceX were also part of the overall $1.1 billion contract NASA awarded in August. Each company will work on creating a vehicle that will be able to transport astronauts into space for the first time since the shuttle program ended a little over a year ago.   NASA Program Manager for the Commercial Crew Program Ed Mango told CNBC that all three companies have very different approaches and hopes the diversity will push the companies to create the best design to get NASA back to the international space station.   Boeing's space vehicle is called the CST-100, and it will fit up to 7 crew members or a combination of cargo and crew. The vehicle is being built at the old shuttle processing facility at Kennedy Space Center, which is in the process of being renovated and equipped for the new needs of the CST-100.   This also is a job creator for the Space Coast; 250 people have been hired to support this project. The plan is to double that once the project is at full capacity.   The CST-100 is expected to be operational by the end of 2016.   Mulholland says it was a logical choice to build the CST-100 at Kennedy Space Center.   “The combination of the outstanding facilities and resources in the local community who have been trained over decades to work on space vehicles adds up to the perfect combination to support this business," Mulholland said.   Frank DiBello, CEO of Space Florida, says the resurgence of companies like Boeing to the area is a win-win.   "It’s good for NASA because it helps lower costs." he said. "It’s good for the commercial industry because they gain access to facilities that are unique, and the state gets jobs and the economic kick of them being here.   “These companies are the best of what the nation has to offer in trying to get safe, affordable and cost effective ways to get into the lower earth orbit.”   For investors, the hope is that the space project will eventually profits into orbit as well.   NASA Deep-Space Program Gaining Focus   Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week   In an election year, with a “fiscal cliff” looming that could whack NASA's budget by $1.7 billion, U.S. space officials are not eager to declare a new destination in space for human crews just yet.   But once the post-election dust clears, and Congress decides how to handle the funding-sequestration box it created in lieu of making difficult deficit-reduction choices publicly, work underway here and in other space communities around the nation is likely to give some focus to NASA's next steps into the Solar System.   Engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center are using a medium-fidelity mockup cobbled together from scrap space hardware to run human-factors tests and equipment fit checks on one of the missing pieces in NASA's human-exploration planning—somewhere for deep-space crews to live. They are working with experts at Johnson Space Center in Houston, under the leadership of astronaut Alvin Drew.   At the Fifth Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium here Oct. 15-18, industry and NASA field-center engineers outlined other projects that are beginning to flesh out a notional architecture that would use cislunar space to practice for travel deeper into the Solar System.   “We're looking at volume studies—are the crew quarters going to be the right size, the waste and hygiene compartment, the wardroom, the exercise area—we're looking at all those for this extended stay,” says Paul Bookout, who manages the Marshall portion of the Habitat Systems Project.   Using engineering articles from the International Space Station, museum mockups and a 5-ft. aluminum-lithium cylinder left over from Marshall's shell-buckling knockdown factor recalculations (AW&ST Jan. 3, 2011, p. 53) Bookout and his colleagues have built a notional ISS-derived deep- space habitat in the building where the Apollo Moon buggy was developed. Inside the full-size mockup experts can move walls and structural elements around to figure out the best internal configuration for a habitat that would support a crew of four from an Orion multipurpose crew vehicle for as long as 500 days (see illustration).   The medium-fidelity mockup includes crew quarters twice as large as those available on the ISS, shielded from galactic cosmic rays and solar flares by a “water wall” that doubles as the reservoir of recycled water; a science bay that could also be used to grow plants, and an additive-manufacturing glovebox where astronauts would use 3-D printing to make tools and parts they need, and recycle old tools, food containers and other unneeded material.   The operational concept that is evolving would position the habitat in space, send an Orion crew to dock at one end, and use a propulsion system at the other end, and gravity assists, to move on to more interesting destinations. The second Earth-Moon Lagrangian point (EML2) above the Moon's far side is a particularly attractive location as a starting point for human exploration with an Orion and a deep-space habitat (AW&ST Oct. 8, p. 26).   “This concept was focusing on near-Earth asteroids or Mars,” Bookout says. “Recently it's been more focused on the L2.”   The additive-manufacturing, radiation-protection, environmental control and life-support, and propulsion systems in the mockup are all notional. However, separate work on all of them is ongoing through NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program and a variety of efforts funded by the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT), which was set up to advance the readiness level of technology that will enable future exploration. OCT has drafted “roadmaps” to guide its work, and soon will publish a highly detailed “Strategic Space Technology Investment Plan” (SSTIP), according to Chief Technologist Mason Peck.   “That document will be the culmination of the whole roadmapping activity, and will articulate that strategy down to the point that it's clear what resources will be put toward what projects,” Peck says, adding that he hopes to release SSTIP before the end of the year.   In addition to Orion, which was started under the defunct Constellation program, NASA is developing a heavy-lift space launch system (SLS) to move exploration hardware beyond low Earth orbit. The initial version of the SLS, set to fly humans on a quick sortie into cislunar space in 2021 (AW&ST Oct. 1, p. 44), could deliver about 25 tons to EML2, according to Steve Creech, the SLS strategic development manager at Marshall. That would be enough for an Orion vehicle, but the agency is under orders from Congress to enhance the big rocket's 70-ton capability to low Earth orbit to 130 tons.   To do that, the agency plans a new upper stage powered by the J-2X engine already in development, and advanced strap-on boosters. On Oct. 2 NASA awarded a total of $137.3 million for engineering demonstrations that may feed an eventual contract for advanced-booster development, and William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said the agency was negotiating with other companies for similar work.   Among them is Aerojet, which is developing a 1-million-lb. thrust, lox-rich staged combustion kerosene-fueled engine designated the AJ-1E6, according to Julie Van Kleeck, the company's vice president of space and launch systems. Also in the mix is Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), which is working under a subcontract to Huntsville-based Dynetics to use up-to-date manufacturing techniques to build the gas-generator-cycle F-1 kerosene engine that powered the Saturn V as a powerplant for the SLS boosters. Among F-1 components to be built and tested is an integrated powerpack. The company will also demonstrate new techniques for fabricating metallic cryogenic tanks under its $73.3 million contract.   Aerojet is in the process of acquiring PWR, but until the deal goes through “we're still competitors,” says Jim Maser, PWR's president.   In addition to the liquid-fueled rocket-engine work, NASA awarded ATK $51.3 million to conduct risk-reduction demonstrations of composite casing, new nozzle design, and propellant, avionics and control-system development for solid-fuel boosters based on the units it built for the space shuttle.   The work also will examine affordability enhancements, growing out of a value stream mapping exercise at the company's Promontory, Utah, manufacturing facility that ATK and NASA say will cut the cost of the early SLS boosters the company is building by 46% from what they would have cost using shuttle-era manufacturing processes.   While the initial solids will have five segments—a design ATK developed for the terminated Ares I crew launch system—the company's advanced design will revert to the four-segment configuration used on the shuttle.   “We took advantage of the maximum transportable size available to us, and the other elements of the system—the composite cases, which allow for higher internal pressures, and that yields higher performance,” says Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of ATK's space launch division. “Fundamentally we wanted to minimize the processing time at the Cape, so you have one less assembly function. Intuitively you can see that you minimize to some extent a failure mode by removing one joint, and then you take advantage of other means to manufacture that and processing that in a more efficient way.”   NASA Engineers Build Mockup of Deep Space Station   Mark Whittington - Yahoo News   According to Aviation Week, NASA engineers at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are building a mockup of what appears to be a deep space habitat, though it could also be part of an interplanetary spacecraft.   Mockup made from leftover parts   The Aviation Week article notes that the mockup was made from engineering modules left over from the International Space Station project, some museum pieces, and even a 5-foot aluminum-lithium cylinder left over from Marshall's shell-buckling knockdown factor recalculations. The whole thing, which can be rearranged with walls moved about, has been put together in the same building where the Apollo moon buggy was developed and tested.   Human factors studies conducted using the mockup   Aviation Week goes on to state that the mockup has been created to gain a further understanding of what it will take to sustain a crew of four on deep space missions. The crew volume, for example, is twice as large as that on the International Space Station. There are waste disposal facilities, an outer shell filled with water that would protect the crew against cosmic rays, a greenhouse, and even a 3-D printer to custom make spare parts and tools out of recycled materials. NASA suggests that researching the science of human factors, how to make space travel as comfortable as possible for human beings, is important to assure the safety and productivity of astronauts on deep space missions.   Where people will go in deep space   The question arises, where will people actually go when they venture beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since the mission of Apollo 17 in December 1972? According to the Orlando Sentinel, NASA officials made a presentation to the White House to create a deep space station at L2, the Lagrange point where the gravity of the Earth and moon cancel one another out 38,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon and 277,000 away from Earth. Such a space station would constitute a practice run for actual deep space missions to Earth approaching asteroids and, ultimately, Mars. Gizmodo suggests that the mockup could also be the basis of future interplanetary craft.   Return to the moon   The L2 deep space station could also serve as a jumping off point for a return to the moon, either by teleoperated robots controlled from the deep space station or by human beings. If humans return to the moon and start to use lunar ice to create rocket fuel, the deep space station could be used as a refueling depot, using fuel shipped from the moon, to allow interplanetary ships to top off before proceeding deeper into the Solar System. Paul Spudis, a planetary geologist who writes frequently on space policy, suggests that an L2 station should serve this purpose.   ATK to develop advanced solar array for NASA   Warren Ferster - Space News   ATK’s Space Components Division of Goleta, Calif., will develop a large, low-mass solar array prototype under an 18-month contract from NASA’s Space Technology Program valued at $6.4 million, the company announced Oct. 23.   The MegaFlex array is designed ultimately for missions utilizing solar-electric propulsion requiring 350 or more kilowatts of power, the company said. The array will measure roughly 10 meters across when fully deployed but in addition to being lightweight features a low stowage volume, ATK said.   MegaFlex builds upon ATK’s smaller UltraFlex arrays that have flown on or are slated for several NASA missions, including a 2-meter-diameter version that powered the agency’s Phoenix Mars lander. ATK is building 10 UltraFlex arrays for the Cygnus space station cargo capsule being developed by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and a 20-meter version will power for the Orion deep-space crew capsule being built by Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems, ATK said.   Under the Phase 1 Space Technology Program contract, ATK will build and test MegaFlex hardware to raise the technical readiness of the design, ATK said. The company hopes to develop a flight demonstration version under a future Phase 2 contract.   NASA’s Space Technology Program is designed to pursue technologies and concepts that could make it easier and cheaper to carry out the most challenging space exploration missions.   ATK's Lighter, Stronger Solar Arrays to Power Orion   Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org   NASA has selected ATK’s MegaFlex™ solar array design under the space agency’s Space Technology Program thru a competition held to develop lightweight, compact, solar array structures. Under this program, ATK received a little over $6 million to develop the MegaFlex™ design. These solar arrays will be developed at ATK’s Space Components Division located in Goleta, Calif., it is hope that they can meet the anticipated power demands of 350kW and higher that is required under the this program.   These arrays need to have a very low mass and to be capable of being stowed in a manner that takes up as little volume as possible. If everything works out they will provide solar electric propulsion for future deep space crewed missions.   “We are honored to win this program to develop the future space exploration power platform for NASA,” said David Shanahan, vice president and general manager of ATK Aerospace Group’s Space Components Division. “This win is a result of the outstanding innovation and capabilities of our Goleta team.”   Under the space agency’s Phase 1 technology development program, the MegaFlex™ solar arrays will double in size to about twice that of the MPCV UltraFlex™ (bringing them to around 40 feet in diameter). These should raise the technical readiness of the MegaFlex™, which will be verified through the development process and testing. The Utah-based company is working to produce flight-ready versions of the MegaFlex™ design in order to have them used on a future demonstration flight which will occur during the second phase of the technology development contract.   MegaFlex™ is based off of the spaceflight-proven UltraFlex™ solar arrays that were used on NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander which touched down on the Red Planet’s South Pole in May of 2008. As NASA’s recently-announced InSight mission is based off of the Mars Phoenix Lander design, it too will utilize these arrays.   These smaller (each array is about 6 feet in diameter) arrays still allowed the Phoenix mission to have three extensions. The UltraFlex™ arrays are designed to be lightweight, durable and compact while still providing 15KW of power.   These arrays will measure almost 20 feet in diameter and were also selected for use on NASA’s crewed Orion spacecraft (the vehicle that NASA plans to send astronauts beyond low-Earth-orbit for the first time in over 40 years). The first test flight of Orion, Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) is slated to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket in 2014.   “ATK-Goleta has been in the business of manufacturing solar arrays since the early 90s,” said Dave Messner, general manager of ATK Solar Arrays and Deployables. “What is especially remarkable about the MegaFlex solar array is that its compact stowage and extremely low mass will enable NASA to explore deep space much more efficiently and effectively than ever before using high power Solar Electric Propulsion.”   Robotic Servicing Seen As Beneficial For Human Exploration   Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily   Work underway at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center on ways to service satellites in Earth orbit can help keep exploration crews alive much deeper into the Solar System, according to a manager of the effort.   Addressing the Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium, sponsored by the National Astronautical Society, Deputy Project Manager Ben Reed of Goddard’s Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office said the same kind of work pioneered on the Hubble Space Telescope can give deep-space human-exploration vehicles the level of reliability needed for missions to near-Earth objects and eventually Mars.   “I think that paradigm is going to serve us well as we expand into the Solar System, using servicing as a technique for that high system reliability,” he told the gathering in Huntsville, Ala., last week.   Goddard’s Robotic Refueling Mission, an external testbed delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) by the final space shuttle mission last year, and extensive ground testing of related satellite-servicing systems, is advancing the technology readiness level in all of the areas that would be needed for underway inspection, maintenance and repair of a spacecraft that has moved past the second Earth-Moon Lagrangian point (EML2).   Beyond EML2, Earth-based teleoperation is impractical because of the time lag in command signals, Reed says. But robots teleoperated from inside a deep-space vehicle, or operating autonomously, could conduct inspections, servicing and repairs to stretch vehicle reliability without complex multiple redundancy.   Goddard’s goal is to mature the technologies needed for on-orbit satellite refueling in the geostationary orbit where valuable telecommunications satellites reside. But while NASA wants to turn that technology over to the private sector for commercial operations, it also can use it on human exploration missions.   Specific technologies under development are dexterous robotic manipulators; high-speed, radiation-hard, onboard processors; propellant storage and transfer; autonomous rendezvous; robotic arms, and advanced tools to manipulate the subject spacecraft and its components. Also in the mix are free-flying “inspectors,” like the “Spheres” software testbeds already at work inside the ISS that can image the outside of deep-space vehicles for damage.   “Forget the location; they’re all going to require the same common set of tasks,” Reed says.   One possible use for the technology would be the robotic assembly of a 30-meter telescope at the Sun-Earth L2 (SEL2) point, where the James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to be deployed after a 2018 launch. The basic elements could be sent to SEL2 first, and autonomously assemble themselves into the basic telescope structure. The final assembly work could be conducted by a human crew arriving later with a deep-space habitat, with subsequent Hubble-like servicing missions possible.   Satellite servicing capabilities being developed   Bob Granath - Phys.org   With satellites playing increasingly important roles in everyday life, NASA is developing the technology to build Earth-orbiting, roving "service stations" capable of extending the life of these spacecraft. Engineers at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are assisting the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in developing the concept for bringing a high-technology gas pump, robotic mechanic and tow truck to satellites in space.   There are 149 government-owned spacecraft and 275 commercial satellites currently in geosynchronous Earth orbit, or GEO, around the Earth. Placed 22,300 miles above the Earth, these satellites play key roles in communications, science, defense and weather monitoring. GEO permits these spacecraft essentially to stay over the same point, allowing for constant coverage of a designated position. This is crucial for satellites relaying meteorology and television signals covering specific portions of the globe.   According to Tom Aranyos, technical integration manager in NASA's Fluids and Propulsion Division at Kennedy, engineers at the Florida spaceport are supporting the hypergolic propellant refueling portion of the Goddard-led study examining how free-flying servicing spacecraft could expand options in orbit for government and commercial satellite owners.   "America depends on satellites in geosynchronous orbit," said Aranyos. "These expensive spacecraft eventually develop systems failures or run out of propellant. Servicing and refueling these satellites can keep them operating longer and in the correct orbit, giving the nation and their owners more value for their investment."   Preliminary work with a technology demonstrator is underway on the International Space Station. The crew of space shuttle Atlantis' STS-135 flight delivered the Robotic Refueling Mission, or RRM, hardware to the station in July 2011.   During a spacewalk, astronauts Mike Fossum and Ron Garan transferred the RRM onto a temporary platform on the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, also known as Dextre, a two-armed robot developed by the Canadian Space Agency that serves as part of the station's Mobile Servicing System. RRM now resides on the Express Logistics Carrier 4 platform outside the station.   NASA wants one new 'brain' for two rocket engines   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   How do you get a new heavy-lift rocket program off the ground with a "flat-line" development budget? One key for NASA is using a cache of 16 unused RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) to help power the first few flights. But the space agency says they'll need new "brains" to do the job, and developing that upgrade is one of the jobs being handled by engineers and contractors at Marshall Space Flight Center, where the new rocket is being developed.   NASA calls its new rocket the Space Launch System (SLS), a name that encompasses not only the booster but also the upper stage with the Orion crew capsule. The first version will be capable of lifting 70 metric tons of cargo to deep space, and the final version will lift as much as 130 tons. By comparison, the space shuttle could lift 24 metric tons into space, and the Apollo-era Saturn V, capable of supporting deep space flight, could lift 130 metric tons. Marshall engineers gave other SLS managers a tour of the developments in Huntsville so far on Oct. 17.   "The computer controlling the SSME was manufactured in the early '80s and many parts are now obsolete," Jeremy Richard, SLS Liquid Engines Office Subsystem manager, said in on Marshall's website. "While working on updating the technology, we discovered we could adapt the same controller being used by the new J-2X engine to the RS-25 engine, effectively streamlining the controller and resulting in a cost savings."   An engine's controller regulates thrust and fuel mixture, and it passes commands and information back and forth between the engine and the rocket. It will take SLS engineers a year to tweak their design and test the controller at Marshall. After that lab approval, the controller will go to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for "hot-fire testing" in 2014. Engineers with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the company that built both the RS-25 and the J-2X engine that will power the upper stage of SLS, are working with Marshall on the new controller design.   "Our long-term objective is to use the same basic hardware design to control multiple engines," Richard said. "With a common physical design and just a few card change outs, we could control the RS-25, J-2X, and future engine designs at less than half the cost of a space shuttle main engine controller."   Students get chance to blast their science experiments to Space Station   Jonathan Garris - Montgomery County Courier (Houston)   Children from several schools in the Willis Independent School District may soon see their very own science experiment carried out on the International Space Station, thanks to a Science Symposium held at Hardy Elementary School on Saturday afternoon.   From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. inside of the cafeteria at the school, located at 701 Gerald St. in Willis, students from Hardy, Parmley and Turner Elementary Schools were treated to a day of scientific experimentation and exposure.   Approximately 100 students filed into Hardy Elementary to listen to keynote speaker Dr. Lisa Brown, a former NASA employee and coordinator of secondary education at Sam Houston State University. Brown had a short discussion with students on the history of space exploration and posed various questions to students. She also explained the science behind numerous Lunar rocks and soil samples on display at the event.   “I think it’s important that we make math less intimidating to children and make science more real for them,” Brown said.   Students participating in the symposium have been working in teams for several weeks now to design real microgravity experiments for the International Space Station, according to a WISD press release.   The project was originally started after Leslie Holtkamp, chief of school choice initiatives at WISD, wrote a proposal through the Student Space Flight Experiments Programs, which is working in a partnership with NASA.   “These experiments deal with what reaction certain substances and organisms have in a microgravity environment,” Holtkamp said. “While this is not a NASA-sanctioned symposium, the students are all following NASA protocol for dealing with their experiments.”   Students can make use of numerous substances for their experiments, like salt solutions and grass seed, as well as organisms such as ants and fleas.   This is the only school in the state of Texas that is participating in this symposium for SSEP, Holtkamp said. The focus has been to not only broaden children’s exposure to math and science, but to also allow them to become more comfortable with experimentation and scientific method with a hands-on approach.   “This project helps promote critical thinking, as well as communication and leadership skills,” Holtkamp said.   Both Holtkamp and Brown said they were pleased with the student turnout and their excitement.   “The support from the teachers in our administration and from Sam Houston State University has been phenomenal,” Holtkamp said.   NASA astronaut pays visit to employees of South El Monte manufacturer   Maritza Velazquez - San Gabriel Valley Tribune   The employees of a local manufacturing company got a reminder of what they do it all for, during a special visit from NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli on Tuesday.   The Detroit-born space explorer toured the Vacco Industries facility and met with some of the workers who engineer parts and components for NASA's space shuttle program.   "He reminded (the employees) that in any job... sometimes day after day, week after week plugging away, there's a temptation to lose focus," said Jim Cumbie, senior human resources director for Vacco. "He was there to remind us that our work is critical to space programs and to the lives of astronauts in the space vehicles."   Antonelli was selected as a NASA pilot in 2000 and flew his first mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in March 2009 and took flight aboard the Atlantis space shuttle in 2010, according to NASA. A veteran of two space flights, Antonelli has logged a total of 24 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes and 35 seconds in space.   On Tuesday, he toured the 50-year-old Vacco facility, where employees are producing parts for NASA's new Space Launch System (SLS), which is designed for both human passengers and cargo, according to Cumbie and NASA. Vacco-produced filters, fill and drain valves, latch valves and regulators were also a part of NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, which landed on the Red Planet in August.   The company, which was founded 60 years ago and has approximately 400 employees, also engineers parts for defense and commercial markets.   Antonelli's visit was aimed at honoring and thanking Vacco employees for their hard work and to remind the community what kind of work is happening in their own backyard, NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean said.   Kennedy Space Center: How to see Atlantis’ last move   Orlando Sentinel   On Nov. 2, the Atlantis space shuttle will roll to its new permanent home at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, which is offering two ticket packages for the event.   The Explorer Package includes a trip to Exploration Park, where Atlantis will be seen “in the round.” It will be a festival setting there with additional space-exploration exhibits and astronauts on hand. There will be activities there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the shuttle is expected to arrive there from the Vehicle Assembly Building around noon.   The shuttle will travel up State Road 405 to its KSC home, where buyers of the Rollover Package can watch the final leg of the trip and the grand finale fireworks.  Atlantis is set to arrive at the visitor complex at 6 p.m., with fireworks scheduled at 7 p.m. The $100 million Atlantis exhibit is under construction and set to open to the public in July.   The Explorer Package is $90 ($80 ages 3-11), and the Rollover Package costs $50 ($40 ages 3-11). Both packages, which must be purchased in advance, include admission to the visitor complex.   For reservations or more information: call 877-313-2610 or go to www.KennedySpaceCenter.com   Canadian Space Agency unveils prototype fleet of rovers   Canadian Press   Move over Canadarm: the rovers are coming! the rovers are coming!   At its headquarters in Longueuil, Que. Friday, the Canadian Space Agency rolled out a fleet of about a half-dozen prototype rovers that are the forerunners of vehicles that may one day explore the moon or Mars.   The agency said the terrestrial rovers bring it one step closer to developing the next generation for space exploration.   Some are knee-high mini-rovers that can work side-by-side, helping astronauts to dig or scout out small spaces like caves.   Then there are larger rovers, like a six-wheeled lunar exploration version, which can be upgraded to transport astronauts around the moon.   Gilles Leclerc, the agency's director-general of space exploration, said it could be at least eight years before the final versions of the robotic workhorses head for distant destinations.   "The horizon we're looking at in terms of taking the technologies on these terrestrial prototypes and transferring them into a real space mission to the moon or Mars is about 2020," he said.   Leclerc said the lunar and Martian space rovers now in development put Canada in a good position and he pointed out that NASA is already knocking at the door.   "In fact, we have an invitation right now from NASA to start working on advancing these technologies and taking them to flight for eventually a mission," he said.   Leclerc said Canada has a long legacy of developing technologies for the mining industry and that those technologies would be useful in space exploration.   "A large chunk of the activities we are going to do on the moon and Mars are related to geology and mining," he noted.   Leclerc said "Artemis," a lightweight four-wheeled rover, and the larger six-wheeled "Lunar Exploration Light Rover" are good candidates for the moon.   Iain Christie, president of Neptec, the prime contractor for Artemis, said Canada is "as far advanced as anybody certainly for the next round of lunar exploration."   "NASA has an experiment that they have been considering...that involves digging up lunar soil and making hydrogen and oxygen out of the soil," he said in an interview.   Industry Minister Christian Paradis, who attended the news conference along with space agency president Steve MacLean, said the technology being developed creates economic spinoffs.   One example is an electric all-terrain vehicle developed by Bombardier Recreational Products.   "We were able to transfer that technology and create a new vehicle completely electric and we are now distributing and manufacturing it in Sherbrooke," spokesman Pierre Pichette said.   MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) and Neptec Design Group are the prime contractors on several of the rovers.   Book Review Forever Young: A Life of Adventure in Air and Space (by John Young with James Hansen)   Jeff Foust - The Space Review   “‘Unique’ has become such a trite word that I can no longer use it to describe John Young. But ‘unusual’ certainly fits, even in a group that, if not unique, was at least close to it.” So writes former astronaut Michael Collins in the foreword to Forever Young, a memoir by fellow astronaut John Young. And, arguably, either “unique” or “unusual” is a fitting description of the man who flew six space missions, including the first flights of both Gemini and the Space Shuttle, and is one of only 12 people to date to have set foot on the Moon. That experience alone should make for a fascinating life story. Yet Forever Young, written with Neil Armstrong biographer James Hansen, falls a bit short of those lofty expectations.   Young was born in San Francisco (his father, working in the construction business, helped build Hangar One at Moffett Field, now part of NASA’s Ames Research Center) but spent most of his formative years split between Florida and Georgia. Attending Georgia Tech on a Navy ROTC scholarship, he graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering and, after a brief detour serving on a destroyer, went on to become a naval aviator and test pilot. In 1962, NASA selected him as part of its second class of nine astronauts, “The New Nine.”   The bulk of Forever Young covers Young’s career as an astronaut. Young got his first flight, on Gemini 3, when medical issues grounded Alan Shepard, who had been slated to fly it along with Tom Stafford. Gus Grissom was the backup, along with Frank Borman, but Young ended up flying with Grissom after Borman told chief astronaut Deke Slayton “he did not think he could work with Gus,” as Young recalls. That flight successfully demonstrated the Gemini spacecraft, although it is commonly remembered for Young sneaking a corned beef sandwich onto the flight. “In my view, the hubbub was completely unnecessary and blown totally out of proportion,” he says of the reaction—which included a Congressional hearing—to the stunt. “[I]n fact, the corned beef was the third sandwich that had been carried on a spacecraft,” he states, without mentioning the previous two occurrences.   That incident, though, didn’t adversely affect his career in the astronaut corps, as he went on to command Gemini 10 (with Collins as his crewmate) and then serve as the command module pilot for Apollo 10. In the book, he says that he was among a small handful of astronauts who were “absolutely being groomed” for the key Apollo missions. While he didn’t get selected for the historic Apollo 11 mission, he notes in the book he was “very glad” that was the case, as he was spared the frenzy of attention that the crew got upon its return from this historic flight. He did get his shot at the Moon on Apollo 16, commanding that mission and spending over 20 hours walking (and driving the lunar rover) on the surface of the Moon.   Most of the other astronauts of Young’s era left NASA after Apollo, seeking new careers in the private sector or, in a few cases, politics. Young, though, elected to stay at NASA and do “whatever I could to keep flying in space.” That meant working on the development of the Space Shuttle as chief of the astronaut corps, making sure the astronauts’ perspective was taken into account in the design of the vehicle. That led to commanding STS-1 with Bob Crippen, a mission that was, in retrospect, extraordinarily risky given the lack of uncrewed test flights prior to the launch and the limited information about how a vehicle like the shuttle would perform, particularly during launch and reentry. Former NASA administrator Mike Griffin called STS-1 “the boldest test flight in history,” a description that Young says “might have been just that.”   Young flew the shuttle again in 1983, commanding the STS-9 mission. That was his final space mission, “though I never wanted it to be.” A sense of foreboding envelops his description of the shuttle missions leading up to the Challenger accident, as the pace of missions builds for the “operational” shuttle program (a designation, Young argues, should never have been applied to the Space Shuttle, and especially not after just four test flights) and the astronaut corps is kept largely unaware of the O-ring issues with the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters that would ultimately doom Challenger and its seven-person crew.   Young long had a reputation for flagging what he saw as safety issues with spacecraft, writing them up in memos (a characteristic that dated back to his time as a pilot working test flight programs for aircraft) that often, he said, went unheeded. In May 1987, Young was reassigned from the position of chief astronaut to a new position as a special assistant to the director of Johnson Space Center. “My criticisms had been found to be too newsworthy for NASA to continue to tolerate,” he explained. (His replacement as head of the astronaut office was Dan Brandenstein, “who would not have been my choice,” he says, without elaboration.) That did not diminish his zeal for writing up safety or other issues in a “mountain of memos,” as that chapter of his book is titled, until he retired in late 2004.   Forever Young might best be described as a “technical memoir.” Young devotes considerable technical detail to the preparations for and flights of the missions he was on or otherwise was involved with. He doesn’t shy away from delving into detailed, acronym-laden engineering discussions or mission statistics; at one point, recounting some of the pre-Columbia shuttle missions, he even specifies the descent rate and touchdown speed of several of them. That technical information is likely appreciated by space enthusiasts, but a more casual reader may feel a bit overwhelmed.   However, in sharp contrast to the detailed technical content in the book, Young offers few insights into his personal life. Meeting and marrying his first wife, Barbara, while in the Navy, gets just one brief paragraph. His later divorce from her and remarriage also gets one paragraph, oddly wedged into a larger discussion of preparations for Apollo 16. Young doesn’t go into much detail about his interactions with fellow astronauts, beyond his insights into the crew of Apollo 11. Collins, his Gemini 10 crewmate, was “bright, capable, classy, and incredibly funny,” while Neil Armstrong was “a neat bundle of some unique personality traits.” Buzz Aldrin, on the other hand, “got on people’s nerves” and “thought he was smarter than he really was.”   Forever Young could also have benefited from another round of editing and fact-checking. There are a number of errors in the book, from Collins’s foreword that refers to Young as the commander of Apollo 15 (instead of 16) to a reference to “the LM’s entire three-legged landing gear” (the lunar module had four legs) to incorrect dates. Other sections may simply be dated: at the end of the chapter about the approach and landing tests performed by the orbiter Enterprise, he says that, once the Smithsonian gets the retired shuttle Discovery, Enterprise might be loaned out to other museums. In fact, Enterprise has already been delivered to its new home, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York, a decision made a year and a half ago.   In the epilogue to Forever Young, Young offers a spirited defense of the Bush Administration’s Vision for Space Exploration and how NASA implemented it under Griffin—although he was concerned that the Orion spacecraft was too heavy to be launched by Ares 1—and a criticism of the plan’s abandonment by the Obama Administration in 2010. Young clearly believes that the US should return to the Moon, for purposes ranging from planetary defense to development of lunar-based solar power, but like much of the advice and recommendations in his past memos, he seems resigned to the conclusion that his recommendations won’t be heeded, at least any time soon (elsewhere in the book, he says he believes the next people to walk on the Moon will be Chinese.) Despite the book’s flaws, one will likely agree after reading it that Young was indeed an unusual and unique individual who played a key role in NASA’s human spaceflight program over several decades.   END