Thursday, October 25, 2012
10/25/12 news
Thursday, October 25, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
2. Watch Expedition 33/34 Docking, Hatch Opening and Welcoming Ceremony
3. Don't Miss the Informative Panel Discussions at the IRD Expo and Forum Today
4. Memorial Tree-Planting Ceremony for Dr. Mike Duncan -- Oct. 26, 9:30 a.m.
5. Seasonal Entertaining Class
6. JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar
7. Starport Fall Break Camp
8. Shuttle Knowledge Console v2.0
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ To create more positive results in your life, replace 'if only' with 'next time'.”
-- Celestine Chua
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1. Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
The exhibits and displays were once again your favorite part of Safety and Health Day. I have to agree that they were pretty good. Larry, Moe and Curly came out on top as your favorite trio. I can still watch a "Three Stooges" marathon all day.
This week I'm getting back in the groove by posing an oddball, random NASA fact. Lots of stuff is going on, so can you pick out the answer that is not happening? This past week also saw the temporary demise of Big Tex, the giant cowboy at the State Fair of Texas. He will be patched up in time for next year's fair. How well do you know your Big Tex trivia? Hat size? Shoe size? Dating habits? Pick out the false answer in question two.
Cotton your Bowl on over to get this week's poll.
Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/
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2. Watch Expedition 33/34 Docking, Hatch Opening and Welcoming Ceremony
Expedition 33/34 NASA Flight Engineer Kevin Ford, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin are scheduled to dock to the station's Poisk module at approximately 7:35 a.m. CDT today, Oct. 25.
The trio will by greeted by Expedition 33 Commander Sunita Williams of NASA and Flight Engineers Aki Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Russia's Yuri Malenchenko, who have been aboard the station since mid-July.
This can be seen on NASA TV or on the Web.
NASA TV coverage of events begins at the following times (all times CDT):
Thursday, Oct. 25
7 a.m. -- Expedition 33/34 Soyuz docking coverage (docking at 7:35 a.m., followed by post-docking news conference from Mission Control in Korolev, Russia)
9:45 a.m. -- Expedition 33/34 Soyuz hatch opening and welcoming ceremony (hatch opening at 10:15 a.m.)
Noon -- Video file of Expedition 33/34 Soyuz docking, hatch opening and welcoming ceremony
JSC employees with wired computer network connections can view NASA TV using onsite IPTV on channels 404 (standard definition) or 4541 (HD).
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 http://www.nasa.gov/station
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3. Don't Miss the Informative Panel Discussions at the IRD Expo and Forum Today
Find out about new IT tools, services and resources at this year's Information Resources Directorate (IRD) Expo and Forum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today! Along with a variety of information-filled exhibits displayed in the Teague Lobby and Building 3's Collaboration Center, don't miss the forum discussions with the subject matter experts.
By attending, you'll receive an IRD business card, which you can show to the Building 3 Starbucks kiosk to receive 10 percent off Grande- and Venti-sized drinks for today only.
The JSC Telework Working Group panel members will be sharing a wealth of information about the ins and outs of working securely from home, tips on how to be a cyber-secure parent and much more!
Forums in the Teague Auditorium include:
- 10 to 11 a.m. - JSC Telework Working Group Panel: Jeff Phillips, Deputy Chief of Staff and Chair of the JSC Telework/Energy Savings Team; Lynn Vernon, Associate Director IRD and Technical
- Integration Manager; Rene' Hasson, JSC Human Resources Policy Lead and Telework Coordinator; Steve Campbell: Deputy Director, Center Operations Directorate
- 12:30 p.m. - Being a Cyber Secure Parent: How to Turn Kids into Vigilant Web Users: Paul Wilson: JSC Deputy Chief Information Security Officer
- 1 to 2 p.m. - Working Securely from Home, or Anywhere: Chuck Layton, JSC Team Lead, IT Security Team; Chuck Heffington, JSC IT Security Team
Note: For those who would like to participate in the presentations via Webex, on your computer, go to the site: https://nasa.webex.com, WebEx Number: 991 161 594, WebExpass code: ird_2012!. For the Meet-Me-Line (for audio): 888-455-7936, pass code: 6948936
Brown Bag Sessions and Demos in Building 3
It's National Cyber Security Month, so additional IT security brown bag sessions will be conducted in Building 3's Collaboration Center along with other demonstrations and exhibits:
- Konica Minolta/printing
- Noon - Operations capabilities
- 12:30 p.m. - Assessment and Assurance (A&A) Showcase
- 1 p.m. - Organizational Computer Security Representative Showcase
So, come out and take advantage of this day of discovery! For the full program, go to http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/
JSC IRD Outreach x41334
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4. Memorial Tree-Planting Ceremony for Dr. Mike Duncan -- Oct. 26, 9:30 a.m.
A tree-planting ceremony in honor of Dr. Mike Duncan will be held tomorrow, Oct. 26, at 9:30 a.m. at the memorial tree grove. You are invited to join family and friends to remember him.
Lisa Navy x32466
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5. Seasonal Entertaining Class
Learn how to host an elegant party for 12 for under $100! Join us for a fun, interactive evening of cooking demonstrations, and learn the basics of party planning - stress-free and on a budget. From decorations and menus to guest lists, we will show you how to plan the perfect party.
Class takes place Thursday, Nov. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Discovery Room. The cost is $32 per person and includes sample meal, cookbook, tips and a gift. Reservation required by Nov. 1 -- seating is limited. Register in the Building 3 café or contact Marquis Edwards at x30240. Click here for the menu and more information.
Y. Marquis Edwards x30240 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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6. 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. For more information and a list of vendors, click here.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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7. Starport Fall Break Camp
Starport Fall Break Camp is just around the corner! If you're looking for a fun, convenient and familiar place for your children to go for the school break, look no further. NASA Starport Camps at the Gilruth Center are the perfect place. We plan to keep your children active and entertained with games, crafts, sports and all types of fun activities.
The camp runs from Nov. 19 to 21 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for ages 6 to 12. The cost is $90 for all three days, or $40 per day. Registration is now open at the Gilruth Center. Click here for more information.
Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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8. Shuttle Knowledge Console v2.0
As part of JSC's ongoing space shuttle knowledge capture process, the JSC Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) and the JSC Engineering Directorate are pleased to announce the second release of the Shuttle Knowledge Console. New content added includes: Orbital Maneuvering System/Reaction Control System added to the Subsystem Manager page; Integrated Hazard Analysis added to the Shuttle Information System Archive page; and additional shuttle records content added to the Shuttle Records page. Also added was an export control warning on all pages. Questions about the new website can be directed to Howard Wagner in the JSC Engineering Directorate or Brent Fontenot in the CKO office. We would love your feedback on this new site. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation and give us your comments.
Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx
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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.
NASA TV:
· 7 am Central (8 EDT) – Soyuz TMA-06M docking coverage
· 7:35 am Central (8:35 EDT) – DOCKING (followed by news conference from MCC-M)
· 9:45 am Central (10:45 EDT) – Soyuz hatch opening/welcome ceremony coverage
· ~10:15 am Central (11:15 EDT) – Hatch opening / Expedition 33/34 welcome ceremony
· Noon Central (1 EDT) – Video File of Soyuz TMA-06M docking, hatch opening/welcome
Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – October 25, 2012
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Soyuz Capsule Chasing Space Station for Thursday Rendezvous
Tariq Malik - Space.com
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is closing in on the International Space Station and on track for a Thursday arrival that will ferry three new residents to the orbiting laboratory. The Soyuz TMA-06 space capsule is slated to link up with the space station at 8:35 a.m. EDT (1235 GMT) to deliver American astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin to their new home in orbit for the next five months. The trio will join three other crewmembers already living aboard the station, doubling its population to its full six-person crew size.
SpaceX Dragon OK'd to come home
Splashdown set for Sunday off California coast
James Dean - Florida Today
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on Sunday is set to end an 18-day stay at the International Space Station and return to Earth, NASA confirmed Wednesday. Station mission managers unanimously gave a “go” for the departure to proceed despite a glitch that may make one of Dragon’s three flight computers unavailable. The computer was knocked out of sync with the other two when it automatically reset itself without commands from the ground, but officials said the problem would not limit the spacecraft’s ability to fly home safely.
Blood, urine among 'priceless' cargo in Dragon
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
Space station managers on Wednesday approved plans for Sunday's scheduled departure of SpaceX's Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft filled with nearly one ton of failed parts, experiments, and precious blood and urine samples for return to Earth. Astronauts are loading approximately 1,673 pounds of cargo into the privately-owned spacecraft, which arrived at the complex Oct. 10 following launch from Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket. The return trip will allow researchers to begin analyzing biological samples left aboard the space station following the last flight of the space shuttle in July 2011.
Tracking Deadly Space Radiation Could Protect Future Astronauts
Nola Taylor Redd - Space.com
Massive waves of energetic particles pose a serious hazard to astronauts in space. To help understand the radiation around Earth, the moon, and Mars, a team of scientists have developed a program to characterize the dangerous particles in near-real time. Known as PREDICCS, the program relies on measurements taken by a wide variety of space-based telescopes to characterize radiation at regions in the solar system likely to be frequented by astronauts in the not-too-distant future.
NASA's Michoud facility to add hundreds of jobs as work on heavy-lift rocket gears up
Richard Thompson - Times-Picayune
A month after the space shuttle Endeavour passed over the Michoud Assembly Facility on its final journey to California, NASA officials on Wednesday looked to the future as they gave business owners from across the country an update on the Space Launch System, a new mega-rocket designed to transport astronauts to deep space. The seminar in eastern New Orleans drew more than 150 people from dozens of businesses, including some already partnering on the project and others interested in working alongside one of its major contractors, like Boeing, said Todd May, the manager of the program.
Road to Mars begins in New Orleans
Bill Capo - WWL TV (New Orleans)
Industry Day drew a standing-room only crowd to NASA's huge Michoud Assembly Facility, or MAF. Ninety companies from as far away as Alaska came here hoping to help build the next generation of rockets, and came away impressed with Michoud. "It's incredibly exciting,” said Chris Jackson of Huntsville, Alabama. “The next generation of space flight, and just to be a part of it. In Huntsville, sometimes we're not exposed to all the capabilities. Here at MAF, it's just an amazing facility."
Japan Wants Space Plane or Capsule by 2022
Rob Coppinger - Space.com
Japan hopes to be launching astronauts aboard a manned capsule or space plane by 2022, and the nation is also eyeing point-to-point suborbital transportation over the longer haul. The capsule or mini-shuttle — which may resemble Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane — would each accommodate a crew of three and carry up to 880 pounds (400 kilograms) of cargo, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said this month. The mini-shuttle would weigh 26,400 pounds (11,975 kg) and land at one of five suitable runways worldwide. Because a launch abort from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center would mean a Pacific Ocean landing, the space plane would also have to be able to cope with the sea.
Japan mulls manned space capsule by 2017
United Press International
Japan intends to be launching astronauts into space aboard a manned capsule by 2017, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency say. The proposed capsule or mini-shuttle would carry a crew of three and deliver up to 880 pounds of cargo into orbit to destinations such as the International Space Station. The capsule, which would be similar in capacity to the U.S. SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, is being proposed in two versions: a 15,400-pound design that would use parachutes for return to Earth, and a 19,800-pound version equipped with a maneuverable parafoil to provide greater control with resultant landing accuracy to within 1.9 miles.
Branson: Virgin space project keeps being delayed
Associated Press
British billionaire Richard Branson says his space tourism project keeps being pushed back and isn't sure of an exact date for the first launch. He says it will be at least another 12 or 18 months before the Virgin Galactic venture can offer paid space travel to adventurers.
Reaching for the Stars in Mojave
Guy Norris - Aviation Week
Two space access projects are making significant progress at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Stratolaunch Systems, a Paul Allen project, has officially opened its production facility -- an 88,000 square foot site that will be used to build the enormous composite wing and fuselage sections of its proposed carrier aircraft. Not far away another large hangar building that will house the 385-ft span launcher aircraft is also nearing completion. Just down the flight line Scaled Composites is also moving closer to the start of powered flight tests of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo with the installation of major elements of the rocket system, including the main oxidizer tank.
Strap in! What it's like to ride into space on SpaceShipTwo
Rocket plane's lead pilot describes Virgin Galactic's suborbital trip, coming in 2013
Irene Klotz - Discovery News
While SpaceShipTwo builder Scaled Composites prepares the commercial spaceship for its first rocket-powered test flight, owner Virgin Galactic has been thinking about all the armchair astronauts lining up to finally test their space legs. Virgin's spacefliers won't go far — just 65 miles or so above the southern New Mexico launch site — and they won't be gone long. The supersonic sprint beyond the atmosphere will last only a few minutes. But Virgin Galactic is betting that the ride, albeit short, will be sweet enough to warrant its $200,000 fare. As of last week, 545 people had put down deposits or paid the full fee to find out for themselves.
Dueling op-eds from the candidates
SpacePolitics.com
This week’s issue of Space News features a pair of commentaries from the campaigns of the two major presidential candidates, largely reiterating points previously made during the campaign. Representing the Obama campaign, former science and technology advisor Jim Kohlenberger first lays out the various accomplishments of the Obama Administration during its first term. (That includes trumpeting the successful landing of the Mars rover Curiosity, a program that predates the administration, without mentioning the proposed planetary science budget cuts that have put the future of NASA’s Mars exploration program into disarray.) “The president’s plan, passed with bipartisan support in Congress, builds on America’s unrivaled space leadership to take us farther, faster and deeper into space than humans have ever gone before,” he states.
California Science Center has only half the money it needs to display Space Shuttle Endeavour
Tessa Stuart - LA Weekly
When Mayor Villaraigosa told Angelenos, "Moving the Endeavour will be a marvel of wonder and ingenuity," he wasn't kidding. And all that ingenuity -- and jet fuel, and tree trimming, and overtime paid to police and engineers -- didn't come cheap. Back in 2011, the California Science Center began a $200 million campaign to offset the cost of transporting and housing its new spaceship. So far, it has raised only...half that. Hold on. So, it flew the shuttle here, dragged it all over town, but the Science Center doesn't have the money to actually display it -- AND IS JUST TELLING US NOW?
Endeavour Is Homeless Until Its New Owners Raise $100 Million
Dina Spector - Business Insider
After one cross-country plane ride, four weeks in a temporary hangar, and a nightmarish 12-mile, 3-day journey through the city streets of Los Angeles, the Space Shuttle Endeavour finally made it to the California Science Center — it's final resting place after NASA's shuttle program was retired last year. That's great news! Except the Science Center isn't fully prepared to house the 170,000-pound orbiter. It's still missing half of the $200 million needed to cover the cost of transporting the space shuttle and to finish construction on its permanent display site, called the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
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COMPLETE STORIES
Soyuz Capsule Chasing Space Station for Thursday Rendezvous
Tariq Malik - Space.com
A Russian Soyuz spacecraft is closing in on the International Space Station and on track for a Thursday arrival that will ferry three new residents to the orbiting laboratory.
The Soyuz TMA-06 space capsule is slated to link up with the space station at 8:35 a.m. EDT (1235 GMT) to deliver American astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin to their new home in orbit for the next five months. The trio will join three other crewmembers already living aboard the station, doubling its population to its full six-person crew size.
Ford, Novitskiy and Tarelkin launched into orbit on Tuesday (Oct. 23) atop a Soyuz rocket that lifted off from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They form half of the Expedition 33 crew on the International Space Station, which is commanded by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko round out the crew.
"Launch success!" Williams wrote Tuesday on Twitter, where she chronicles her mission as Astro_Suni. "Getting 3 new crew members soon!"
There are more than three human explorers arriving at the space station, too. A group of 32 small medaka fish hitched a ride into space on the Soyuz and are bound for a fish tank on the station as part of an experiment to understand how fish adapt to microgravity.
Williams said she also planned to save some ice cream for the new station crewmembers. The ice cream, a rare treat for space crews, was delivered to the space station earlier this month aboard a private Dragon space capsule built by the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company SpaceX. The Dragon capsule is flying the first of 12 commercial cargo missions to the station under a $1.6 billion contract between NASA and SpaceX.
Thursday's Soyuz docking will come during a busy period for the space station crew. On Sunday, the unmanned Dragon space capsule will depart the space station to ferry a load of experiment results and other gear back to Earth. It is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California on Sunday afternoon, NASA officials said.
On Wednesday, an unmanned Russian cargo ship will delivery another load of cargo, fresh food and other treats to the space station just in time for Halloween. One day later, on Nov. 1, Williams and Hoshide will venture outside the space station in a spacewalk to fix a slight ammonia cooling system leak on a radiator.
Williams, Hoshide and Malenchenko are nearing the end of their months-long mission in space. The three spaceflyers launched in July and are due to return home on Nov. 12. Once they return home, Ford will take charge of the space station as the commander of its Expedition 34 mission.
NASA currently relies on Russian Soyuz vehicles to launch American astronauts into space and returning them to Earth. The U.S. space agency retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011 after 30 years of service, and plans to launch Americans to the station on new privately built U.S. spacecraft once they become available.
SpaceX Dragon OK'd to come home
Splashdown set for Sunday off California coast
James Dean - Florida Today
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on Sunday is set to end an 18-day stay at the International Space Station and return to Earth, NASA confirmed Wednesday.
Station mission managers unanimously gave a “go” for the departure to proceed despite a glitch that may make one of Dragon’s three flight computers unavailable.
The computer was knocked out of sync with the other two when it automatically reset itself without commands from the ground, but officials said the problem would not limit the spacecraft’s ability to fly home safely.
“By the flight rules, departure, unberth, splashdown and all of the deorbit activities can occur on two flight computers,” said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring.
SpaceX and NASA engineers were discussing whether to attempt to re-sync the third computer, which was reportedly working fine otherwise, or to leave the system the way it is.
Current schedules call for the station crew to pull the Dragon from its docking port with a robotic arm around 7 a.m., and release it into space before 9:30 a.m.
The Dragon would fire its thrusters to drop from orbit about five hours later, putting it on course for a 3:20 p.m. splashdown about 250 miles off the coast of Los Angeles.
Unlike with SpaceX’s demonstration flight back in May, there will be no live video of the splashdown.
SpaceX is expected to confirm the outcome as it happens. The Dragon delivered 882 pounds of crew supplies, equipment and science experiments, and is expected to return with about twice as much cargo.
As of Wednesday morning, the crew was nearly 90 percent complete with its unpacking and packing of the Dragon, with about five more crew hours needed to finish the job. The Dragon launched Oct. 7 from Cape Canaveral atop a Falcon 9 rocket and berthed at the station Oct. 10.
The mission is NASA’s first official commercial station resupply mission, and the first of at least 12 planned by Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.
Blood, urine among 'priceless' cargo in Dragon
Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com
Space station managers on Wednesday approved plans for Sunday's scheduled departure of SpaceX's Dragon commercial cargo spacecraft filled with nearly one ton of failed parts, experiments, and precious blood and urine samples for return to Earth.
Astronauts are loading approximately 1,673 pounds of cargo into the privately-owned spacecraft, which arrived at the complex Oct. 10 following launch from Florida on a Falcon 9 rocket.
The return trip will allow researchers to begin analyzing biological samples left aboard the space station following the last flight of the space shuttle in July 2011.
Without the shuttle, NASA and its space station partners had no way to return significant cargo to Earth, putting a hold on many major scientific investigations.
When the space shuttle was making regular visits to the outpost, researchers routinely received fresh blood and urine samples, and engineers could refurbish old equipment instead of building and launching new hardware to replace broken parts.
"The SpaceX Dragon is a really important vehicle for us because it supports the laboratory use of the ISS both in bringing cargo up to the space station and in bringing research samples home," said Julie Robinson, NASA's space station program scientist.
The Dragon is slated to carry 384 syringes of urine and 112 tubes of blood collected since July 2011 from astronauts flying on the space station, according to Scott Smith, a nutritionist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The samples will be packed inside powered freezers or refrigerated bags stuffed with bricks of ice. Researchers will analyze the blood and urine to study how the human body responds to exercise and nutrition in space.
Components from the space station's crew health, life support and electrical power systems are also on the Dragon's return manifest.
"We bring back almost 2,000 pounds of cargo, much of that related to research, although we will use it to bring back some failed [parts] we would like to get repaired," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager. "It's good to have that capability back."
Engineers can learn from hardware failures and NASA saves money by repairing broken parts instead of building fresh units.
"Not only do you save some money, generally speaking, when you're able to repair [parts] and return them to orbit, but also you get to do the failure analysis," Suffredini said. "Sometimes failures will elude you if you're not able to get hardware back on the ground to check it out."
After the shuttle's retirement, NASA is turning to commercial operators to fulfill the space station's logistics needs. Russia, Europe and Japan continue flying their own supply vehicles, but they only deliver cargo and burn up in Earth's atmosphere on their way down.
SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract for 12 resupply missions with the Dragon spacecraft. NASA also signed a $1.9 billion deal with Orbital Sciences Corp. to fly eight delivery missions, but like the international cargo spacecraft, Orbital's Cygnus vehicle is designed to burn up at the end of its missions.
"[Dragon] essentially replaces the capacity that we lost when the shuttle retired, so that now we can bring home a wide variety of biological samples, physical sciences samples, and we'll be able to bring home research equipment that we need to refurbish and then relaunch for the next set of experiments," Robinson said.
On Sunday, the space station crew will remove the Dragon capsule from a berthing port and set free the craft to fly away from the outpost. Release is set for 9:07 a.m. EDT (1307 GMT).
The spacecraft will fly a safe distance from the space station, and controllers at SpaceX's mission control center in Hawthorne, Calif., will command the capsule to fire thrusters for nearly 10 minutes around 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT).
The burn will slow Dragon's velocity and allow the ship to drop from orbit, heading for a fiery re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.
Shielded by a capable carbon material called PICA-X, Dragon's blunt end will be protected from temperatures of up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit as the spacecraft plunges back to Earth at 25 times the speed of sound.
Three 116-foot-diameter parachutes will deploy to slow the craft's descent to a gentle velocity of about 11 mph.
Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about 500 miles west of Baja California should occur at 3:20 p.m. EDT (1920 GMT).
Tracking Deadly Space Radiation Could Protect Future Astronauts
Nola Taylor Redd - Space.com
Massive waves of energetic particles pose a serious hazard to astronauts in space. To help understand the radiation around Earth, the moon, and Mars, a team of scientists have developed a program to characterize the dangerous particles in near-real time.
Known as PREDICCS, the program relies on measurements taken by a wide variety of space-based telescopes to characterize radiation at regions in the solar system likely to be frequented by astronauts in the not-too-distant future.
"This is the first capability of its kind to determine the radiation environment and to specify it more or less in real time," Nathan Schwadron, PREDICCS lead developer at the University of New Hampshire's Space Science Center, told SPACE.com.
Radiation levels in space are constantly shifting, creating potentially hazardous environments for astronauts. During particularly high periods, astronauts may need to hunker down behind strong radiation shields, limiting their activities until levels are once again safe.
PREDICCS relies on data from a variety of spacecraft such as NASA's SOHO, ACE, STEREO, Wind, SAMPEX, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES satellite to determine time-dependent radiation exposure in space.
"We end up utilizing the best available observations at any given time," Schwadron said.
After collecting measurements from different locations, it simulates the levels of energetic particles at regions where astronauts are now or could visit in the future.
The team can then compare PREDICCS data with measurements taken by instruments such as NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the moon or NOAA's GOES satellite orbiting just above Earth. The program typically predicts radiation doses within 20 to 30 percent of observed levels.
Invisible danger
Space radiation comes in two different forms, and both can be harmful to astronauts.
The sun provides the most widely varying source of energetic particles, which are carried by the solar wind. Though such particles constantly stream from the active star, occasionally radiation levels spike during solar flares, or when huge bubbles of gas and plasma known as coronal mass ejections are expelled.
"The fluxes of solar energetic particles rise very quickly in less than an hour," Schwadron said. "There's very, very little warning."
At the same time, sources throughout the Milky Way shoot high-energy particles known as galactic cosmic rays across the galaxy. The energy from galactic comic rays, or GCRs, is more constant, but it does slowly change over time. The sun's magnetic field serves as a shield, blocking most GCRs, but when the field weakens during the minimum portion of the sun's eleven-year cycle, more particles can make it through.
Like X-rays at the doctor's office, the high-energy particles can pierce delicate biological systems. Short-term dangers include radiation sickness; long-term exposure could result in cancer.
Earth's atmosphere blocks most of these hazardous particles, but astronauts in space have to bring their own shielding.
A more detailed future
PREDICCS is still in the early stages, as Schwadron and his team continue to get a sense of the best ways to optimize the program.
"Right now, we're doing one-hour updates," he said. "In the future, depending on demand, we'll probably get it down to minutes."
PREDICCS will be able to integrate data as it comes in from other sources. For instance, the Mars rover Curiosity carries a Radiation Assessment Detector, a tool which, among other things, measures how much radiation penetrates the atmosphere of the Red Planet. The developers intend to fold the measurements taken by the rover into their computer program.
"If we had men going to the moon tomorrow, we could certainly use something like PREDICCS to provide day-to-day, hour-to-hour updates as to the hazardous environment," Schwadron said.
At present, the program simulates the radiation a region currently experiences but does not forecast future events. But according to Schwadron, such predictions aren't completely out of the realm of possibility.
"In principle, if we had the right tools available, we could in fact provide several-hour forecasts," he said. "But at this time, we're sticking to characterization after the fact."
NASA's Michoud facility to add hundreds of jobs as work on heavy-lift rocket gears up
Richard Thompson - Times-Picayune
A month after the space shuttle Endeavour passed over the Michoud Assembly Facility on its final journey to California, NASA officials on Wednesday looked to the future as they gave business owners from across the country an update on the Space Launch System, a new mega-rocket designed to transport astronauts to deep space.
The seminar in eastern New Orleans drew more than 150 people from dozens of businesses, including some already partnering on the project and others interested in working alongside one of its major contractors, like Boeing, said Todd May, the manager of the program.
Hundreds of high-paying jobs are expected to be added when construction on the program reaches its peak, starting next year and leveling off in 2015, said May. He would not, however, give an exact number of jobs that could be created.
The space agency selected Michoud to construct the major components of the rocket last year. The heavy-lift rocket's massive stage core will be built there, and the engines that will power the vehicle beyond low-Earth orbit and into deep space will be test-fired at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
Thousands of people worked at Michoud from the early-1970s until the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, peaking at about 7,500 in the 1990s. After the Constellation program ended, much of the facility went unused. That's changed as work returns to the site, which now employs about 2,500 full-time workers.
That number is expected to grow. Boeing spokeswoman Patricia Soloveichik said her company expects more than double its workforce on the project, from 120 employees to more than 300 by 2014.
The Space Launch System is designed to transport astronauts to destinations such as asteroids and Mars over the next decade-and-a-half, an Obama administration goal. An unmanned test mission for the mega-rocket is slated for 2017.
To put it into perspective: If the heat energy from the Space Launch System could be converted to electric power, its two boosters could produce enough juice over two minutes to power more than 92,000 homes for a full day, according to NASA.
"This is one of the most incredible NASA facilities in the country," said Roy Malone, director of the facility. "There are so many communities that would absolutely die for something like this."
Road to Mars begins in New Orleans
Bill Capo - WWL TV (New Orleans)
Industry Day drew a standing-room only crowd to NASA's huge Michoud Assembly Facility, or MAF. Ninety companies from as far away as Alaska came here hoping to help build the next generation of rockets, and came away impressed with Michoud.
"It's incredibly exciting,” said Chris Jackson of Huntsville, Alabama. “The next generation of space flight, and just to be a part of it. In Huntsville, sometimes we're not exposed to all the capabilities. Here at MAF, it's just an amazing facility."
Already major parts of a new space capsule called Orion are being built at Michoud. Now NASA wants to build the core of a huge new rocket called the Space Launch System at Michoud.
"We could go to an asteroid, we could go to the Moon, we can go to Mars. We like to say after the first couple of test flights, 'Ladies and gentlemen, you're now free to move about the Solar System,” said Todd May of the Space Launch System.
But for workers like welder Barry Erminger, this means jobs.
"Hope to have 10,000 people back at Michoud Assembly Facility like it was in the younger days,” he said.
Michoud has been part of the space race since the Apollo Moon missions. But now the huge machines used to build the external tanks for the Space Shuttle sit wrapped in plastic. Yet they're getting ready to ramp things up out here for the Space Launch System rocket, putting New Orleans back in space exploration.
"We're excited that the core stage for the largest vehicle ever built by mankind is going to be built right here in New Orleans,” said Roy Malone of the Michoud Assembly Facility.
May said it’s going to be “hundreds of jobs by the end of next year."
Japan Wants Space Plane or Capsule by 2022
Rob Coppinger - Space.com
Japan hopes to be launching astronauts aboard a manned capsule or space plane by 2022, and the nation is also eyeing point-to-point suborbital transportation over the longer haul.
The capsule or mini-shuttle — which may resemble Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane — would each accommodate a crew of three and carry up to 880 pounds (400 kilograms) of cargo, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said this month.
The mini-shuttle would weigh 26,400 pounds (11,975 kg) and land at one of five suitable runways worldwide. Because a launch abort from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center would mean a Pacific Ocean landing, the space plane would also have to be able to cope with the sea.
JAXA is considering two different versions of the capsule, which would have a similar internal volume to SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. The 15,400-pound (6,985 kg) variant employs parachutes, while the 19,800-pound (8,981 kg) model uses a more maneuverable parafoil for greater landing accuracy to within a 1.9-mile (3 kilometers) radius.
The heavier capsule would be able to land on solid ground, while the lighter model would only touch down at sea. JAXA also foresees further development of the capsule for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit, officials said. JAXA officials presented the human spaceflight concepts at the at the International Astronautical Federation’s meeting in Naples, Italy, earlier this month.
Building new capsules
Development of the crewed capsule will follow an unmanned reusable cargo capsule, called the HTV-R (R for "recovery"), which JAXA is planning as an evolution of its expendable H-IIB Transfer Vehicle (HTV). The HTV has delivered cargo to the International Space Station three times, with the most recent trip coming in July.
The current HTV spacecraft's pressurized cargo section would be replaced by the recoverable capsule, which is made of an aluminium alloy. Development of the HTV-R begins next year, and the first flight is targeted for 2017, JAXA officials said.
"For HTV-R we are asking for funding for this coming year, and we are expecting next year to start development phase for HTV-R, and for the crewed capsule we are conducting some key technology research," Kuniaki Shiraki, JAXA’s executive director of human space systems and utilization mission directorate, told SPACE.com. "This year on these [manned] technologies we are spending $600,000."
Shiraki was among those who spoke at the 63rd annual International Astronautical Congress.
The recoverable capsule will use some of the same technologies as the current HTV, including its systems for rendezvous and docking, power, communications, and guidance, navigation and control. But the HTV-R will require development of some new gear, such as thermal protection, accurate re-entry guidance and parachute systems.
Both the HTV-R and the manned capsule would have an internal volume of 529 cubic feet (15 cubic meters), JAXA officials say. The cargo capsule would be 13.8 feet (4.2 m) wide and 10.8 feet (3.3 m) tall, with a dry mass of 9,680 pounds (4,390 kg), and it would re-enter the atmosphere ballistically.
The recoverable cargo capsule's propulsion systems will use green propellant, and its heat shield will be made of a low density, lightweight material. The capsule would not be fully reusable; its interior would be refurbished and the thermal protection panels on the exterior would be replaced, assuming a sea landing.
A new rocket
While the HTV, and eventually the HTV-R, are launched on the H-IIB rocket, all three of the proposed manned vehicles — the two capsule variants and the mini-shuttle — would be launched by a newly proposed rocket called the H-X.
The H-X will be a new design with higher reliability for human-rated launches, and it's slated to become operational in the 2020s. Its prime contractor is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI).
Concept studies and research for key technologies have been carried out to decide the H-X baseline configuration and to assess its feasibility. As a result, a fully liquid propellant vehicle with a single two-stage core that uses a solid or liquid booster stage for heavy and geostationary orbit payloads is MHI’s baseline design.
The H-X’s engines will cluster together a higher-thrust evolution of JAXA’s LE-7A engines called the LE-X, which is now in the research phase to verify its feasibility, safety, reliability and cost-effectiveness, officials say.
Suborbital point-to-point
Japan's spaceflight plans don't stop with the HTV-R evolutions and hopes for a mini-shuttle. JAXA also has a long-term reusable space plane feasibility study underway that includes a road map.
This road map envisions a rocket-powered suborbital point-to-point (PtoP) vehicle with a 1,242-mile (2,000 km) range, as well as another PtoP vehicle with a 6,213-mile (10,000 km) range and a fully reusable two-stage-to-orbit manned space plane.
The shorter-range PtoP vehicle is a rocket glider weighing 118,800 pounds (53,520 kg). It coasts toward its destinations after achieving a speed more than 14 times the speed of sound using staged combustion aerospace engines.
The longer-range PtoP craft has a waverider design and a total weight of 660,000 pounds (299,370 kg). It would also glide to its target after accelerating to hypersonic speeds — in this case, about five times the speed of sound — but it would be capable of longer hypersonic cruises. This hypersonic aircraft’s design has a forebody that compresses the incoming air for the propulsion system, which combines a rocket with a ramjet.
Plans for the reusable two-stage-to-orbit manned space plane currently call for a vertical launch, though a horizontal takeoff may also be considered. In either case, both its booster stage and the 60-foot-long (18 m) orbiter it carries would land on a runway.
The vehicle exists only on paper at the moment. Howerver, JAXA is working toward ground-based engine tests and plans flight tests in five years or so.
Japan mulls manned space capsule by 2017
United Press International
Japan intends to be launching astronauts into space aboard a manned capsule by 2017, officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency say.
The proposed capsule or mini-shuttle would carry a crew of three and deliver up to 880 pounds of cargo into orbit to destinations such as the International Space Station.
The capsule, which would be similar in capacity to the U.S. SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, is being proposed in two versions: a 15,400-pound design that would use parachutes for return to Earth, and a 19,800-pound version equipped with a maneuverable parafoil to provide greater control with resultant landing accuracy to within 1.9 miles.
While the lighter capsule would need to make ocean landing, the heavier parafoil version could land on solid ground, JAXA officials said.
Development of the recoverable capsules would begin in 2013 with first flights envisioned for 2017, they said.
"This year on these [manned] technologies we are spending $600,000," and requests have been submitted for additional funding, Kuniaki Shiraki, JAXA's executive director of human space systems told SPACE.com.
Branson: Virgin space project keeps being delayed
Associated Press
British billionaire Richard Branson says his space tourism project keeps being pushed back and isn't sure of an exact date for the first launch.
He says it will be at least another 12 or 18 months before the Virgin Galactic venture can offer paid space travel to adventurers.
The founder of the Virgin Group met with students on his first visit to Poland on Wednesday, where he came to launch Virgin Academy, which will help young people kick start their own businesses.
Asked about Virgin Galactic, Branson said he has "stopped counting" days to the launch because it gets delayed "to the next year, to the next year."
More than 100 would-be space tourists have signed up for the $200,000 two-hour trips that go 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth.
Reaching for the Stars in Mojave
Guy Norris - Aviation Week
Two space access projects are making significant progress at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Stratolaunch Systems, a Paul Allen project, has officially opened its production facility -- an 88,000 square foot site that will be used to build the enormous composite wing and fuselage sections of its proposed carrier aircraft. Not far away another large hangar building that will house the 385-ft span launcher aircraft is also nearing completion.
Construction of the carrier aircraft is due to begin “within the calendar year” says Stratolaunch which plans to launch a modified SpaceX booster into low earth orbit from a release altitude of around 30,000 ft. The aircraft, powered by six engines donated by two ex-United Airlines Boeing 747-400s, is being designed and built by locally-based Scaled Composites. Weighing in at around 1.2 million lbs, the twin-boom vehicle will use many of the systems from the two donor 747s and will be the largest aircraft ever built. The SpaceX booster will be connected to the launcher with a mating and integration system developed by Dynetics.
Just down the flight line Scaled Composites is also moving closer to the start of powered flight tests of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo with the installation of major elements of the rocket system, including the main oxidizer tank. Photographs released by Virgin Galactic on Oct 19, show the large nitrous oxide tank being lowered into position in the center of the SS2.
The tank will feed the Sierra Nevada-developed RM2 hybrid rocket motor that will power the vehicle to sub-orbital altitudes at speeds in excess of Mach 3. Virgin Founder Richard Branson also tweeted on Oct 19 that “space doesn’t look too far away,” and in his blog referred to the extended build-up approach to the start of flight tests which are widely expected to begin later this quarter. “The greatest successful adventures are always built on meticulous preparation, which is why we’re leaving no stone unturned as we approach the first supersonic, rocket-powered flights of SpaceShipTwo.”
Installation of the tank, with the RM2 presumably not far behind, follows a 17th full-scale hot fire test of the RM2 on Sept 20. Scaled Composites says the test “continued evaluation of all systems and components, including pressurization, valve/injector, furl formulation and geometry, nozzle, structure and performance." The start of RM2 installation follows the completion of aerodynamic tests of the unpowered SS2 earlier this summer. That milestone, which was achieved by late August, effectively kept the sub-orbital spacecraft on track for the start of rocket-powered flights by the November to December timeframe. Virgin Galactic hopes that, pending a successful powered test campaign, it will be able to start passenger flights by the end of 2013.
Strap in! What it's like to ride into space on SpaceShipTwo
Rocket plane's lead pilot describes Virgin Galactic's suborbital trip, coming in 2013
Irene Klotz - Discovery News
While SpaceShipTwo builder Scaled Composites prepares the commercial spaceship for its first rocket-powered test flight, owner Virgin Galactic has been thinking about all the armchair astronauts lining up to finally test their space legs.
Virgin's spacefliers won't go far — just 65 miles or so above the southern New Mexico launch site — and they won't be gone long. The supersonic sprint beyond the atmosphere will last only a few minutes.
But Virgin Galactic is betting that the ride, albeit short, will be sweet enough to warrant its $200,000 fare. As of last week, 545 people had put down deposits or paid the full fee to find out for themselves.
So what will the experience be like? Here's a perspective from SpaceShipTwo lead pilot David Mackay.
After a three-day training program, passengers will leave Virgin's terminal at the newly built Spaceport America, located near Las Cruces, N.M., and climb aboard SpaceShipTwo, which they'll find hanging beneath the twin-boomed White Knight carrier aircraft. The six-passenger, two-pilot vehicle is based on the prize-winning SpaceShipOne prototype, which now hangs in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
Unlike the rocket ride to space, which will come after SpaceShipTwo is released, White Knight's flight up to about 50,000 feet will be long and slow.
"It's a low-key part of the experience, but I think it will be quite interesting," Mackay said at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight last week.
"It's probably a little bit like a roller coaster ride, where you're all excited just to strap in and then you have this long, steep climb, up to that initial drop. Some people love that sort of thing. Others perhaps get a little bit nervous. We have to think about that — how to make everyone relaxed and keep them calm during that part of the flight," he said.
Upon reaching the launch altitude, there will be short countdown while the pilots and flight controllers run through a checklist before SpaceShipTwo is released.
"When you're dropped from underneath White Knight, you do feel briefly like you're falling. That's quite a nice feeling," Mackay said. "Very soon after, we light the rocket motor, and it all starts to get really damn exciting."
Passengers will feel about 3.5 times the force of Earth's gravity for just over a minute, and another push to between 3 and 3.5 G's when the pilots turn the spaceship from horizontal to vertical.
"It's quite an abrupt turn," Mackay said.
The rocket engine will be shut down at about 150,000 feet, close to the edge of the atmosphere. SpaceShipTwo will keep climbing until it reaches about 350,000 feet or so.
"By the time we're passing 200,000 feet, there's virtually no measurable aerodynamic loads on the vehicle. At that point we're going to allow the passengers to unstrap and experience this fantastic sensation of zero-G and float to the windows," Mackay said.
Pilots will probably flip the ship over so passengers have a view of the Earth from the roof-top windows. "The best view is probably of the Earth rushing away from you, which is quite exciting," Mackay said.
The apex of the ride will be between 62 miles and 68 miles above the planet, and then it's all downhill.
"Before we meet the atmosphere, we orient the vehicle back around to the entry position. It's got this very clever, unique ‘feather' system, which will ensure that we always enter the atmosphere in the optimal attitude. It's a very, very stable attitude, a hands-free task for the pilots," Mackay said.
Gravity forces will build back slowly at first and then accelerate, peaking at about 5.5 to 6 G's and then drop off. For the ride home, passengers' seats will recline, which should make the forces easier to handle.
Surprisingly, the flight back to Earth is expected to be just as noisy as the rocket ride up, as air blasts the bottom of the vehicle during its supersonic descent through the atmosphere.
SpaceShipTwo will decrease in speed and go subsonsonic (slower than the speed of sound) by about 70,000 feet. The spaceship's tail section, positioned forward for re-entry, will be moved back for the glide back to the runway.
For now, Virgin Galactic isn't planning to put its passengers in pressurized flight suits.
"It's a complication to the experience," Mackay said. "A lot of people actually find them quite claustrophobic, and they tend to get very warm. We think our system is both sufficient in redundancy and safety."
That's not to say passengers will fly in shorts and T-shirts.
"Our customers will probably wear some from of coverall — no doubt it'll be very trendy and very Virgin — and possibly some type of protective headgear," Mackay said.
"They'll look the part," he added. "I think a lot of people actually do want to look like an astronaut when they go into space."
SpaceShipTwo's powered test flights are expected to begin before the end of the year. Spaceport America is preparing for the spaceship's first commercial flight in December 2013.
Dueling op-eds from the candidates
SpacePolitics.com
This week’s issue of Space News features a pair of commentaries from the campaigns of the two major presidential candidates, largely reiterating points previously made during the campaign. Representing the Obama campaign, former science and technology advisor Jim Kohlenberger first lays out the various accomplishments of the Obama Administration during its first term. (That includes trumpeting the successful landing of the Mars rover Curiosity, a program that predates the administration, without mentioning the proposed planetary science budget cuts that have put the future of NASA’s Mars exploration program into disarray.) “The president’s plan, passed with bipartisan support in Congress, builds on America’s unrivaled space leadership to take us farther, faster and deeper into space than humans have ever gone before,” he states.
Kohlenberger then criticizes the rhetoric and plans (or, he argues, lack thereof) from the Romney campaign. “Romney’s central point seems to be an echo of the erroneous claim that NASA and America’s space program are adrift with no clear strategy or goals,” he writes. The Romney campaign’s “rather petite space plan”, he notes, claims the US doesn’t have any plans for putting astronauts into orbit “but then goes on to embrace the president’s own plans for partnering with U.S. industry to do just that,” a reference to the language in support of commercialization in the Romney space white paper.
Not so fast, counter Scott Pace and Eric Anderson in their own op-ed. The two, members of Romney’s space policy advisory group, repeat many of the points made in last month’s white paper. “President Barack Obama has put us on a path that cedes our global position as the unequivocal leader in space,” they claim. After reviewing the key points of the Romney white paper, they conclude, “Mitt Romney will ensure that we have a space program worthy of a great nation.”
One change in the op-ed versus the white paper is the latter’s claim, highlighted by Kohlenberger, that “For the first time since the dawn of the Space Age, the United States has no clear plan for putting its own astronauts into space.” Instead, Pace and Anderson write, “For the first time since the dawn of the Space Age, America has chosen to forgo its own capabilities for putting astronauts into space and instead relies on the Russians.” They argue that while shuttle’s impending retirement was known when Obama took office, “the earliest that Americans will again ride American rockets into space is 2016 — a stretch longer than the one between President John F. Kennedy’s famous speech and the first steps on the Moon.”
If, in fact, commercial providers start crewed launches in 2016 (which may be a stretch goal, as NASA is planning on having such vehicles available in 2017), the time between Obama’s 2009 inauguration and that first flight would be less than eight years, compared to slightly more than eight years between JFK’s May 1961 speech Apollo 11's July 1969 landing. However, the actual gap in US human spaceflight access, measured from the final shuttle mission in July 2011, would be on the order of five years, less than the gap between Apollo-Soyuz and STS-1.
California Science Center has only half the money it needs to display Space Shuttle Endeavour
Tessa Stuart - LA Weekly
When Mayor Villaraigosa told Angelenos, "Moving the Endeavour will be a marvel of wonder and ingenuity," he wasn't kidding. And all that ingenuity -- and jet fuel, and tree trimming, and overtime paid to police and engineers -- didn't come cheap.
Back in 2011, the California Science Center began a $200 million campaign to offset the cost of transporting and housing its new spaceship.
So far, it has raised only...
...half that.
Hold on. So, it flew the shuttle here, dragged it all over town, but the Science Center doesn't have the money to actually display it -- AND IS JUST TELLING US NOW?
It turns out, even counting the $15 million raised with the help of several foundations, and about $1 million apiece donated by companies including AEG, Time Warner Cable and Toyota, the Science Center has raised only about $100 million -- half of what it needs -- since the fundraising campaign was announced last year.
Yesterday, AEG president Tim Leiweke made an appeal to Los Angeles business leaders to support the center.
The reality is that without the private sector stepping up to contribute both financially and in other ways, there is no way that Endeavour, a true national treasure, could come to Los Angeles and the California Science Center. The Science Center prevailed in securing this national treasure for our community. Now it is the responsibility of local organizations to invest in our city, invest in our children, invest in important institutions and be accountable for bringing these opportunities to our community. The true payoff for all of our investment is the educational opportunities Endeavour will create and the economic impact these programs will bring to so many sectors in our city.
Endeavour will go on display starting Oct. 30, but only in a temporary shelter until CSC is able to finish construction on the shuttle's permanent home. (California Science Center members can catch a sneak peek of the shuttle Oct. 26-28.)
Endeavour fans with money to burn can sponsor one of the shuttle's thermal tiles for a cool $1,000.
On its website, the Science Center is asking poorer supporters to raise money by turning their Twitter feeds into an advertisement for Toyota -- for which the car company will give the Science Center $50 per tweet.
Better get tweeting, people! You've got $100 million to raise.
Endeavour Is Homeless Until Its New Owners Raise $100 Million
Dina Spector - Business Insider
After one cross-country plane ride, four weeks in a temporary hangar, and a nightmarish 12-mile, 3-day journey through the city streets of Los Angeles, the Space Shuttle Endeavour finally made it to the California Science Center — it's final resting place after NASA's shuttle program was retired last year.
That's great news!
Except the Science Center isn't fully prepared to the house the 170,000-pound orbiter. It's still missing half of the $200 million needed to cover the cost of transporting the space shuttle and to finish construction on its permanent display site, called the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center.
LA Weekly's Tessa Stuart explains:
It turns out, even counting the $15 million raised with the help of several foundations, and about $1 million a piece donated by companies like AEG, Time Warner Cable and Toyota, the Science Center has only raised about $100 million — half of what it needs — since the fundraising campaign was announced last year.
While Endeavour waits for its permanent home to be completed, the space vehicle will hang out in a temporary pavilion, which opens to the public on Oct. 30.
In the meantime, the museum is giving space enthusiasts a chance to raise money for the Endeavour's new home by sending out a special Tweet. Toyota will donate $50 to the Science Center for each tweet.
Or, you can sponsor a thermal tile for $25,000. Just sayin'.
END
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