10/4/12

    Hope you can join us today for our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30.     Thursday, October 4, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll 2.            Badging Offices Closed in Observance of Columbus Day 3.            Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System (EWS) 4.            International Space Station Program Library and EDMS WebEx Training 5.            Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) Training 6.            Attention Server Admins: Network Activity Tonight, 6 to 8 p.m. 7.            Latest International Space Station Research 8.            Environmental Brown Bag: Sustainability -- What's All the Fuss About Anyway? 9.            Upcoming Electronic Recycling Event -- Nov. 10 10.          The Inner Space Yoga and Pilates Studio -- Starport's Soothing Sanctuary 11.          Recent JSC Announcement 12.          The October-December 2012 Edition of 'The NSSC News' is Available Now ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Never deprive someone of hope - it may be all they have.”   -- Author Unknown ________________________________________ 1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll The rain and wind didn't help our attendance at last weekend's Open House and Ballunar Festival. Oh well, there's always next year. Next week is Safety and Health Day. Which part of the program are you most looking forward to? Read up on the activities and pick your favorite. It appears we are a center of rock 'n rollers more than we are country bumpkins. I was a little surprised by that. This week good things come in threes. I'm listing some famous trios and want you to pick your favorite from the list. Betty Jo? Curly? Dewey?   Petticoat your Hooterville on over to get this week's poll.   Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 2.            Badging Offices Closed in Observance of Columbus Day All badging offices will be closed Monday, Oct. 8, in observance of Columbus Day. Normal working operations will resume Tuesday, Oct. 9, as listed below.   Building 110 - 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Building 419 - 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Ellington Field - 7 to 11 a.m. Sonny Carter Training Facility - 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Tifanny Sowell x37447   [top] 3.            Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System (EWS) The Emergency Dispatch Center and Office of Emergency Management will conduct the monthly test of the JSC EWS today, Oct. 4, at noon.   The EWS test will consist of a verbal "This is a test" message, followed by a short tone and a second verbal "This is a test" message. The warning tone will be the "wavering tone," which is associated with an "attack warning" message. Please visit the JSC Emergency Awareness website at http://jea.jsc.nasa.gov for EWS tones and definitions. During an actual emergency situation, the particular tone and verbal message will provide you with protective information.   Dennis G. Perrin x34232 http://jea.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 4.            International Space Station Program Library and EDMS WebEx Training On Oct. 10 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. CDT, join the JSC library via WebEx to learn about the International Space Station Program Library resources and services. The Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) training team will be in attendance to discuss how to use EDMS. EDMS is the official document repository for space station documents: https://iss-www.jsc.nasa.gov/nwo/apps/edms/web/index.shtml   This training is open to JSC/White Sands Test Facility contractors and civil servants. To register, click on the "Classroom/WebEx" schedule at the following website: http://library.jsc.nasa.gov/training/default.aspx   The International Space Station Library is provided by the Information Resources Directorate: http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov   Ebony Fondren x32490 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 5.            Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) Training The 40-hour basic COR class is a government-wide requirement before one can be appointed as a COR (formerly Contracting Officer's Technical Representative). It's offered only once or twice a year at JSC. Individuals who believe that an assignment as a COR on a contract within the next year may be in their future are strongly encouraged to take the upcoming class from Oct. 22 to 26. Interested individuals should submit their names to Nancy Liounis/BD no later than next Friday, Oct. 12.   Nancy Liounis x31865   [top] 6.            Attention Server Admins: Network Activity Tonight, 6 to 8 p.m. As part of our ongoing effort to improve the JSC network, we need to make some network infrastructure changes today, Oct. 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. CDT. During this activity, users may experience intermittent connectivity while accessing the center primary NTP server.   We anticipate the activity to last from 6 to 7 p.m. CDT. However, the window is open until 8 p.m. in case we run into an unplanned situation. For questions, call x30122.   JSC IRD Outreach x30122 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 7.            Latest International Space Station Research This week on the space station, Suni Williams set up InSpace-3 (Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions - 3).   InSPACE-3 obtains data on fluids containing ellipsoid-shaped particles that change the physical properties of the fluids in response to magnetic fields.   These Magnetorheological suspensions are classified as smart materials, which transition to a solid-like state by the formation and cross-linking of microstructures in the presence of a magnetic field.   On Earth, these materials are used for vibration damping systems that can be turned on or off.   This technology has promise to improve the ability to design structures, such as bridges and buildings, to better withstand earthquake forces.   Learn more here: https://iss-science.jsc.nasa.gov/investigation_detail.cfm?investigation=InSPA...   Liz Warren x35548   [top] 8.            Environmental Brown Bag: Sustainability -- What's All the Fuss About Anyway? Sustainability is defined as "meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Are we compromising future generations today with our current practices? Is our current economy and civilization sustainable? What lessons have we learned from more than 50 years of observing our planet from space? Mike Lutomski will address some of the challenges of making our lifestyles sustainable and what you can do to help. Join us on Tuesday, Oct. 9, from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 45, Room 751, for an engaging and entertaining conversation with Lutomski.   Michelle Fraser-Page x34237   [top] 9.            Upcoming Electronic Recycling Event -- Nov. 10 Mark your calendars for Nov. 10! The JSC Contractor Environmental Partnership is hosting another electronics recycling event for personal property in honor of Texas Recycles Day. Find out more in JSC's "The Greener Side."   Environmental Office x36207 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm   [top] 10.          The Inner Space Yoga and Pilates Studio -- Starport's Soothing Sanctuary Memberships are still available to our new soothing sanctuary at the Gilruth Center, the Inner Space. Anyone can purchase a membership to the Inner Space, where we offer many Yoga and Pilates classes, morning and evening. Any level is welcome, from beginner to advanced. Whether you purchase a pass to a single class or a four-, six- or 12-week membership, we have the option that's right for you. Attend as many Yoga and Pilates classes as you would like with your membership -- there are no restrictions. Visit http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/MindBody/ for more information.   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 11.          Recent JSC Announcement Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement:   JSCA 12-030: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for Russian Language and Logistics Services   Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page.   Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx   [top] 12.          The October-December 2012 Edition of 'The NSSC News' is Available Now The October-December 2012 edition of "The NSSC News" is now available. "The NSSC News" is a quarterly publication designed to provide succinct and informative updates on NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) activities.   The link to the latest edition is here: https://searchpub.nssc.nasa.gov/servlet/sm.web.Fetch/Final_.pdf?rhid=1000&did...   This newsletter is full of information NASA employees (civil service and contractors) need to know.   JSC External Relations, Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top]   ________________________________________ JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.           NASA TV: 5 am Central FRIDAY (6 EDT) Live interviews with E33’s Kevin Ford from Star City   Human Spaceflight News Thursday – October 4, 2012 55 years ago today this little guy changed the world of spaceflight   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Singer Sarah Brightman Outbids NASA for Space Tourist's Seat   Gina Sunseri - ABC News   What's a rich space tourist to do? If you want to fly in space, seats are harder to find than a flight out of Chicago's O'Hare airport during a blizzard. So your only option is to bump an astronaut from a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft going to the International Space Station. ABC News has learned that singer Sarah Brightman, of "Phantom of the Opera" fame, will be the next tourist in space, sometime in 2014 or 2015. To get her seat she had to pay the Russian space agency more than the $51 million NASA budgets on average to send its astronauts to the station. To maintain its presence in orbit when Soyuz seats are limited, NASA had to agree to commit at least one of its astronauts to spend a year in space, instead of the six months they currently stay. Brightman's trip will be announced in Moscow on Oct. 10.   Space Station Set to Launch Microsatellites   RIA Novosti   Five international microsatellites CubeSat are scheduled to be launched on Thursday from the International Space Station (ISS) following a week-long delay of technical errors, a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control said. “Two microsatellites will be launched at 18:35 Moscow time on Thursday [9:35 am Central/10:35 EDT), the rest three at 19:35 Moscow time [10:35 am Central/11:35 EDT),” the spokesman said.   Orbital’s Antares takes key step toward maiden launch   Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org   Orbital Sciences’ giant Antares booster – destined to launch the company’s Cygnus cargo ships toward the International Space Station as part of a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA – has taken another step toward its inaugural launch. On Monday, the first of its two stages was rolled out to Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia, in anticipation of this maiden flight, currently scheduled for later in 2012. Although Antares will not carry a Cygnus on this occasion, the launch is expected to validate Orbital’s first cryogenically-powered rocket, its largest to date…and a vehicle whose first stage is fed by engines originally manifested for the Soviet Union’s ill-fated N-1 lunar booster. The triumphant arrival of Antares’ first stage at the pad comes a few weeks ahead of a 30-second ‘hot-fire’ static test of those engines and appears to mark the end of construction woes and other technical difficulties at the MARS site.   New NASA contract underway for Dynetics   WAAY TV (Huntsville)   Huntsville based Dynetics is beginning to prepare for their newest NASA contract; an advanced booster system for the Space Launch System. The project is aiming to design a cheaper, more reliable version of the F1 rocket engine. Dynetics says their goal is to make space flight a much more cost effective mission for NASA.   Blood in Zero Gravity: NASA Tries to Prepare for Surgery in Space   Rebecca Rosen - The Atlantic   If humans are to one day explore beyond our moon -- to Mars, for example -- there are some pretty huge logistical hurdles that will need to be overcome. How do you prepare and package food that will last for a two-year mission? What do you do with the waste humans create? And here's another: What happens if one of the humans has a medical emergency and needs surgery? As Carnegie Mellon professor James Antaki told New Scientist, "Based on statistical probability, there is a high likelihood of trauma or a medical emergency on a deep space mission."   State request for land near KSC rekindles environmental worries State Road 3 closure not in plans, officials say   Richard Conn - Daytona Beach News-Journal   The head of Florida's aerospace development agency said plans for a new commercial launch complex at Kennedy Space Center do not include closing State Road 3, Volusia County's only access to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Playalinda Beach. "There is no plan on our part to close down any part of (the former State Road 3)," Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida said during a telephone interview Monday. In a letter dated Sept. 20, sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll requested that 150 acres of undeveloped land near the former citrus community of Shiloh, close to the northern boundary of Kennedy Space Center, be transferred to the state. The land would be developed for a commercial spaceport.   Reusable 'Grasshopper' Rocket Concept Makes 1st Test Flight   Tariq Malik - Space.com   It's one small hop for a rocket, but one giant leap for reusable rocket ships: A private rocket prototype has sailed through a 6-foot hop that, while short, marked a  in a major test for a novel reusable launch system being developed by commercial spaceflight company SpaceX. Called "Grasshopper," the rocket lifted off briefly then set back down on four spidery legs during the recent test at SpaceX's proving ground in McGregor, Texas. "The short hop of approximately 6 feet is the first major milestone for Grasshopper, and a critical step toward a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s proven Falcon 9 rocket," SpaceX officials said of the Sept. 21 test.   China's next manned mission Shenzhou 10 to perform complex maneuvers   David Todd Rome - FlightInternational.com   China's next manned spaceflight is likely to make a "fly around" of the Tiangong 1 space station, says Ming Li of the China Academy of Space Technology. The previous Shenzhou 9 flight, which carried two male and one female Chinese astronauts in June 2012, had shown that China has now mastered direct docking and undocking with the 8 tonne Tiangong-1 small space station from a linear rendezvous approach, according to Li, and that the next mission's objectives would be to make dockings using a non-tangential approach, probably from below.   China's First Woman in Space: Q&A with Astronaut Liu Yang   Rob Coppinger - Space.com   On June 16, 33-year-old Liu Yang became the first Chinese woman to reach space when she and two male crewmates blasted off aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft. Two days later, the three astronauts — or taikonauts, as they're known in China — hooked up with the robotic Tiangong 1 module, pulling off China's first-ever manned space docking. Another manned mission to Tiangong 1 — called Shenzhou 10 — is planned for next year, and Liu may be selected for that flight as well. On Wednesday, Liu spoke at the 63rd annual International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy. She said she was astonished by the beauty of Earth as seen from space, and that she was pleasantly surprised by the toy panda that had been left aboard Tiangong 1 by the ground crew.   Atlantis 'family' forever in awe   John Kelly - Florida Today   David Bakehorn is saying a long goodbye to a dear friend as the space shuttle Atlantis is prepped for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, its last stop on an incredible journey. The shuttle systems technician from Melbourne was there the day a Boeing 747 delivered the brand-new orbiter from the manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif., to its new home port here in 1985. Bakehorn, like so many thousands of local residents, has lived up close and personal with the space shuttle orbiters in the ships’ three decades of service to the nation. To him, Atlantis is family, and he plans to be there when it leaves the hangar for the last time.   A commercial Endeavour for Toyota The carmaker is lending a Tundra pickup to tow the space shuttle over the 405 Freeway en route to the California Science Center   Andrew Blankstein & Kate Linthicum - Los Angeles Times   The space shuttle Endeavour. Brought to you by Toyota? Next week, when NASA's recently retired shuttle makes the last leg of its long journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the California Science Center in Exposition Park, it will be hauled part of the way by a Toyota Tundra truck. It's a scene that seems made for a Toyota commercial. And it may well end up in one.   House hopefuls on space…   Matt Reed - Florida Today   Let’s compare positions of the three candidates for the newly drawn U.S. House District 8, which will cover all of Brevard and Indian River counties. Whoever wins must champion our space industry and vote on bills that will affect your health care. At a forum, I put questions about those issues…   Launching the Next Era in Space Travel and Exploration   Peter Diamandis - Forbes (Commentary)   (Diamandis is Chairman & CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation)   The final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour across the country, and then across California, strapped to the back of a Boeing 747, brought to a bittersweet end a notable era in space exploration in the United States, perhaps what should be thought of as the Third Era of Space Travel and Exploration. I would say the Third Era because the First involved the decades of initial experimentation and unmanned rockets starting with Robert Goddard and then the German V2, continuing with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957 and ending with the Soviets’ 1961 launch of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Singer Sarah Brightman Outbids NASA for Space Tourist's Seat   Gina Sunseri - ABC News   What's a rich space tourist to do? If you want to fly in space, seats are harder to find than a flight out of Chicago's O'Hare airport during a blizzard. So your only option is to bump an astronaut from a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft going to the International Space Station.   ABC News has learned that singer Sarah Brightman, of "Phantom of the Opera" fame, will be the next tourist in space, sometime in 2014 or 2015. To get her seat she had to pay the Russian space agency more than the $51 million NASA budgets on average to send its astronauts to the station.   To maintain its presence in orbit when Soyuz seats are limited, NASA had to agree to commit at least one of its astronauts to spend a year in space, instead of the six months they currently stay. Brightman's trip will be announced in Moscow on Oct. 10.   NASA says a year in space has great medical research benefits. Astronauts spending just six months on the space station in the past have suffered from radiation exposure, muscle mass loss, decreased bone density, and vision problems. The research from a year on the space station will help NASA plan for long flights to Mars or an asteroid. It does mean an astronaut will get booted from a flight to adjust for one less seat.   When the space shuttle quit flying last year, it created a conundrum for companies like Space Adventures, whose business -- sending rich tourists into space -- depended upon the resources of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency. Roscosmos is the only space agency willing to send tourists to space. NASA won't do it, and now they don't have a spacecraft anyway so it's a moot point.   Don't have $50 million to spare? There is a budget option: $200,000 for a suborbital flight on Virgin Galactic' s SpaceshipTwo, which should start commercial flights in a couple of years. SpaceShipTwo is designed to be a six-passenger, two-pilot craft, flying to the edge of space. The flight will be short -- just six minutes of weightlessness, but passengers will be able to unbuckle and float around the cabin. If you have $1 million to spare, you can book one trip for yourself and a few friends.   Boeing would like to get into the space tourism business as well, partnering with Space Adventures at some point to launch from Florida.   Space Adventures offers ten days on the International Space Station, in low Earth orbit, with great views and not-so-great accommodations. But there is zero gravity, which means you get to do somersaults and float as much as you want. For a singer like Sarah Brightman, who thrilled the world when she starred in "Phantom of the Opera," the inspiration should be out of this world.   Rumors flew earlier this week when author J.K. Rowling told an audience in England she had once been offered a seat on a space shuttle for a couple of million dollars. NASA quickly scotched that story.   Space Adventures has flown seven tourists into space since 2000. Clients have paid from $22 million to $35 million in the past, but the limited number of Soyuz seats drove the price to more than $50 million. After all, if NASA is willing to pay $51 million, Russia doesn't need to sell the seat at half price.   Several astronauts reportedly have volunteered for the yearlong mission. The space station, after all, is the only game in town if you are an astronaut. A mission to Mars is still decades away.   When will the U.S. space program get back into flying NASA astronauts into space? Hopefully by 2017. Several companies are working to build and certify human-rated spacecraft to take crew and cargo to the International Space Station.   Space Station Set to Launch Microsatellites   RIA Novosti   Five international microsatellites CubeSat are scheduled to be launched on Thursday from the International Space Station (ISS) following a week-long delay of technical errors, a spokesman for the Russian Mission Control said.   The space station experienced a number of problems recently as European Space Agency’s ATV-3 cargo spacecraft was unable to undock from the ISS in accordance with the schedule last month.   “Two microsatellites will be launched at 18:35 Moscow time on Thursday [9:35 am Central/10:35 EDT), the rest three at 19:35 Moscow time [10:35 am Central/11:35 EDT),” the spokesman said.   The ISS program is a joint project between five participating space agencies: the American NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Japanese JAXA, the European ESA, and the Canadian CSA.   The station has been continuously occupied for more than 11 years, having exceeded the previous record of almost 10 years held by Russia’s Mir, in 2010. The ISS is currently home to six-member multinational crew.   Orbital’s Antares takes key step toward maiden launch   Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org   Orbital Sciences’ giant Antares booster – destined to launch the company’s Cygnus cargo ships toward the International Space Station as part of a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA – has taken another step toward its inaugural launch. On Monday, the first of its two stages was rolled out to Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia, in anticipation of this maiden flight, currently scheduled for later in 2012. Although Antares will not carry a Cygnus on this occasion, the launch is expected to validate Orbital’s first cryogenically-powered rocket, its largest to date…and a vehicle whose first stage is fed by engines originally manifested for the Soviet Union’s ill-fated N-1 lunar booster.   The triumphant arrival of Antares’ first stage at the pad comes a few weeks ahead of a 30-second ‘hot-fire’ static test of those engines and appears to mark the end of construction woes and other technical difficulties at the MARS site. Orbital is contracted to execute eight flights of its Cygnus craft to the space station, with the first slated for early next year, and although Sunday’s anticipated launch of a Falcon 9 with the Dragon cargo ship appears to leave the Dulles, Virginia-based company 2-0 ‘behind’ SpaceX, a successful maiden voyage for Antares is expected to rapidly regain lost ground.   “Today’s rollout of Orbital’s Antares test vehicle and the upcoming SpaceX mission are significant milestones in our effort to return space station resupply activities to the United States and in-source the jobs associated with this important work,” said David Weaver, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Communications. “NASA’s commercial space programme is helping to ensure American companies launch our astronauts and their supplies from US soil.” That soil, however, has been part of the problem for Antares’ lengthy wait. Launch pad modifications for the vehicle at the MARS site included the construction of a Horizontal Integration Facility and a wheeled transporter, capable of rolling out the entire vehicle a mere 24 hours before liftoff. Moreover, Pad 0A itself was completely demolished and rebuilt as a new facility with kerosene and liquid oxygen tankage.   According to David Thompson, Orbital’s chairman and CEO, speaking in February of this year, difficulties with the pad’s propellant handling and pressurisation systems were the root cause. “The net cause of these problems has been to push our schedule for on-pad stage testing and the first launch by some 8-9 months over the past year,” Thompson explained at the time. “To more effectively address these challenges, Orbital took over day-to-day management of work on the spaceport’s launch pad and its related propellant equipment last fall, assigning a 20-person contingent to direct and oversee the remaining activities.” At the time, Thompson noted that Antares’ maiden launch would likely occur within a month of the successful hot-fire test, which makes an end-of-year target realistic. With Monday’s successful rollout of the booster’s first stage, Thompson was considerably more upbeat, proudly declaring in a statement that the new vehicle and pad hardware represents “the first all-new, large-scale liquid-fuel launch site to be built in the US in decades”.   Next up for Antares is the static firing of the twin AJ-26 engines, which have been developed by Aerojet from a batch of Soviet NK-33 powerplants, originally destined to propel the N-1 rocket. Fuelled by rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) and liquid oxygen, these old engines have never been used, although Aerojet added modern electronics and incorporated other performance enhancements. Early plans called for a single AJ-26 on the first stage, supplemented by strap-on boosters. However, it was eventually decided to add a second AJ-26 and eliminate the boosters. The engines – each of which produces a sea-level thrust of approximately 338,000 pounds – were repeatedly test-fired by Orbital and Aerojet for a cumulative 600 seconds in March 2010. Much of this work has gone well, with the exception of a failure on the test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi in June 2011, when an engine caught fire following a kerosene leak. Investigators blamed stress corrosion cracks in the 40-year-old metal and following the implementation of improved inspection protocols two successful hot-firings were performed last September and November.   Meanwhile, Antares’ upper stage was produced by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and utilises a solid-fuelled motor known as the Castor-30A, originally part of the Athena and Taurus I first stages and a descendant of the engine which powered the Peacekeeper missile. This engine was test-fired by ATK in December 2009. The first two Antares flights will employ the Castor-30A, after which an uprated motor (the Castor-3B) will be introduced and later a ‘stretched’ version (the Castor-XL) to enable larger Cygnus cargo vehicles.   The eagerly awaited first voyage of the new vehicle has not received a firm target date, although a static test in the next few weeks and a month-long processing flow thereafter produces an estimate of late November or December, almost exactly a year since Antares received its current name. Orbital Sciences has traditionally used Greek-derived names – Pegasus, Taurus, Minotaur – for its rockets and in December 2011 David Thompson explained that the old name of ‘Taurus II’ was being changed to ‘Antares’ because “a launch vehicle of this scale and significance deserves its own name”.   And Antares certainly is both significant and impressive in scale. Standing 133 feet tall and 12.8 feet in diameter, it has the capacity to insert up to 11,000 pounds of payload into low-Earth orbit. On its first flight, it will ferry a Cygnus ‘mass simulator’, heavily instrumented to gather data on the launch environment, together with four tiny ‘picosatellites’ to be deployed from a pair of dispensers. All this will serve as a tantalising prelude for the first Cygnus test mission to the International Space Station, which seems unlikely to occur before January 2013. When it finally flies, Cygnus will spend five or six days undergoing intensive systems tests before it is captured and berthed at the orbital outpost. In a manner not dissimilar to last May’s arrival of Dragon, the critical phase of the Cygnus approach profile will come when it enters the so-called ‘Keep-Out Sphere’ around the station. Like Dragon, the craft must demonstrate its ability to hold position and retreat, before formal permission is granted for it to proceed with the final stages of the rendezvous.   Having been captured and berthed by the station’s Canadarm2 robotic manipulator, Cygnus will remain docked at the Earth-facing (‘nadir’) port of the Harmony node for around a month. It will bring 1,200 pounds of equipment and supplies to the station’s crew and at the end of its mission will dispose of around 2,200 pounds of unneeded trash during a destructive re-entry into the atmosphere. A January 2013 launch means that Cygnus’ arrival will occur a few weeks after the arrival of the final three members of the six-man Expedition 34 crew – Chris Hadfield, Roman Romanenko and Tom Marshburn – to join teammates Oleg Novitsky, Evgeny Tarelkin and Commander Kevin Ford, who are currently scheduled to launch on 23 October. With the completion of a successful Cygnus test mission, Orbital will be in an excellent position to declare Antares ready for operations and the company presently envisages two cargo delivery flights per year until 2016.   New NASA contract underway for Dynetics   WAAY TV (Huntsville)   Huntsville based Dynetics is beginning to prepare for their newest NASA contract; an advanced booster system for the Space Launch System.   The project is aiming to design a cheaper, more reliable version of the F1 rocket engine.   Dynetics says their goal is to make space flight a much more cost effective mission for NASA.   "What we are really focusing on now is getting it to be cheap enough that we can afford to develop it," says Kim Doering of Dynetics. "We won't be flying more often but it is expensive to go to mars or the moon or an asteroid. So it's really the cost that is the focus of the risk reduction."   Officials say they will be working in conjunction with the folks at Marshall Space Flight Center during the testing phase of the program.   Blood in Zero Gravity: NASA Tries to Prepare for Surgery in Space   Rebecca Rosen - The Atlantic   If humans are to one day explore beyond our moon -- to Mars, for example -- there are some pretty huge logistical hurdles that will need to be overcome. How do you prepare and package food that will last for a two-year mission? What do you do with the waste humans create?   And here's another: What happens if one of the humans has a medical emergency and needs surgery? As Carnegie Mellon professor James Antaki told New Scientist, "Based on statistical probability, there is a high likelihood of trauma or a medical emergency on a deep space mission."   This is not just a matter of whether you'll have the expertise on board to carry out such a task. Surgery in zero gravity presents its own set of potentially deadly complications.   Think about how hard it is to pee in zero gravity: You need a funnel and a tube that siphons your urine to a sewage tank. Without those tools: Urine everywhere. Consider the difficulties of brushing your teeth. It took astronaut Leroy Chiao three paragraphs to explain that process, and it involved bungee cords, drink bags, and velcro.   In zero gravity, blood and bodily fluids will not just stay put, in the body where they belong. Instead, they could contaminate the entire cabin, threatening everybody on board.   This week, NASA is testing a device known as the Aqueous Immersion Surgical System (AISS) that could possibly make space surgery possible. Designed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Louisville, AISS is a domed box that can fit over a wound. When filled with a sterile saline solution, a water-tight seal is created that prevents fluids from escaping. It can also be used to collect blood for possible reuse. "You won't have a blood bank in space, so if there is bleeding you want to save as much blood as you can," one of the researchers, James Burgess, told New Scientist.   If it works well enough, that will be one more thing ticked off the pre-Mars to-do list.   State request for land near KSC rekindles environmental worries State Road 3 closure not in plans, officials say   Richard Conn - Daytona Beach News-Journal   The head of Florida's aerospace development agency said plans for a new commercial launch complex at Kennedy Space Center do not include closing State Road 3, Volusia County's only access to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Playalinda Beach.   "There is no plan on our part to close down any part of (the former State Road 3)," Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida said during a telephone interview Monday.   In a letter dated Sept. 20, sent to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll requested that 150 acres of undeveloped land near the former citrus community of Shiloh, close to the northern boundary of Kennedy Space Center, be transferred to the state.   The land would be developed for a commercial spaceport.   In the same letter, Carroll, who is chairwoman of the Space Florida board, said the state wanted to reacquire "existing highway right-of-way and improvements of the former State Road 3, from its intersection in Volusia County to a point appropriate for the access requirements of the proposed launch complex."   Despite that statement, DiBello said that there is "nothing in any plan or document that we have that even considered closing State Road 3."   "If it turns out years from now, that at a particular launch time, it was necessary to make adjustments to traffic flow or to shut it down for 10 minutes a time, that might be a future consideration," he said. "But that's not even something that's been studied or in our drawing board right now."   DiBello said officials still haven't decided what specific site they want to acquire for the launch complex.   "We want to do engineering and environmental support studies to determine the best way to achieve the development of a commercial spaceport capability at (Cape Canaveral), and in doing that, we will lock in on a particular shape and site for the spaceport property," he said.   Birdwatchers, fishermen and other outdoor enthusiasts in Volusia County have already lost the most direct access to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge when the decision was made earlier this year not to reopen Shiloh Marsh Road.   State officials in 1989 proposed building a commercial launch complex near the former Shiloh community, a plan that was adamantly opposed by environmentalists. In 2008, NASA's announcement that it was exploring the possibility of leasing 200-acre tract at the refuge or Canaveral National Seashore for a private, commercial launch complex was also met with strong opposition.   DiBello said he realized that concerns about the potential closing of State Road 3 has been a "hot button issue up there for a long time," while stressing again Space Florida has no plans to shut off access to the wildlife refuge.   Clay Henderson, an attorney specializing in environmental issues who lives in New Smyrna Beach, said, however, the letter from Carroll seems "deja vu all over again," quoting New York Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra.   "They've done this twice before in 1989 and 2008 and they quickly determined that the environmental issues were insurmountable," Henderson said. "So I'm surprised they've come back again."   Henderson said he planned to meet with Space Florida officials Wednesday about their plans.   Volusia County Councilwoman Pat Northey said she wasn't aware of any conversations state officials have had with representatives from the county about plans for the commercial launch complex as it relates to State Road 3. She said the wildlife refuge is a "big economic engine for nature based tourism" and that state officials need to recognize the large number of visitors who frequent the refuge annually.   "Certainly, there is value to the nature based economy that we need to recognize at that refuge," she said.   Reusable 'Grasshopper' Rocket Concept Makes 1st Test Flight   Tariq Malik - Space.com   It's one small hop for a rocket, but one giant leap for reusable rocket ships: A private rocket prototype has sailed through a 6-foot hop that, while short, marked a  in a major test for a novel reusable launch system being developed by commercial spaceflight company SpaceX.   Called "Grasshopper," the rocket lifted off briefly then set back down on four spidery legs during the recent test at SpaceX's proving ground in McGregor, Texas.   "The short hop of approximately 6 feet is the first major milestone for Grasshopper, and a critical step toward a reusable first stage for SpaceX’s proven Falcon 9 rocket," SpaceX officials said of the Sept. 21 test.   The Grasshopper rocket uses the first stage of SpaceX's successful Falcon 9 rocket, a two-stage booster that stands nearly 227 feet tall (70 meters) and is used to launch the company's Dragon space capsules and other payloads into low-Earth orbit. On Grasshopper, the Falcon 9 first stage is attached to a steel support structure that stands on four landing legs.   The Sept. 21 test hop is just the first in a series of flight demonstrations, SpaceX officials said. The next major milestone — a 100-foot (33-meter) flight — is planned for sometime in the next few months.   SpaceX's Grasshopper project is part of an ambitious effort to develop the world's first completely reusable spaceflight system. SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced the plan in September 2011, stating at the time that it could drastically reduce the cost of both manned and unmanned spaceflight.   "We will see if this works," Musk said when he unveiled the project last year. "And if it does work, it'll be pretty huge."   SpaceX's vision for reusable rockets consists of three major elements: a fly-back rocket first stage, a fly-back second stage and an orbital space capsule capable of landing on land. Unlike NASA's space shuttles, which were the first reusable spacecraft, SpaceX's reusable rockets would not use wings to make their descent. Instead, they would return vertically using their engines to make a pinpoint landing.   While SpaceX's Dragon space capsules currently make water landings in the ocean like NASA's Apollo, Gemini and Mercury capsules, the company plans to upgrade them for surface landings to enhance their reusability.   The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is currently building Falcon 9 rockets to launch Dragon space capsules on unmanned cargo runs to the International Space Station under a $1.6 billion contract for NASA that calls for at least 12 flights. SpaceX also has lined up customers for unmanned satellite launches using its Falcon 9 rocket.   The next Falcon 9 rocket to launch blasts off late Sunday (Oct. 7) carrying a Dragon capsule packed with 1,000 pounds (453 kilograms) of cargo for the International Space Station. The mission, which follows a successful demonstration flight last May, is SpaceX's first official cargo delivery flight for NASA.   SpaceX officials are working on a manned version of the Dragon spacecraft in order to ferry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit for NASA now that the agency's shuttle fleet is retired.   China's next manned mission Shenzhou 10 to perform complex maneuvers   David Todd Rome - FlightInternational.com   China's next manned spaceflight is likely to make a "fly around" of the Tiangong 1 space station, says Ming Li of the China Academy of Space Technology.   The previous Shenzhou 9 flight, which carried two male and one female Chinese astronauts in June 2012, had shown that China has now mastered direct docking and undocking with the 8 tonne Tiangong-1 small space station from a linear rendezvous approach, according to Li, and that the next mission's objectives would be to make dockings using a non-tangential approach, probably from below.   This activity would likely be conducted as part of a fly-around inspection of the space station using similar techniques that the Space Shuttle and Soyuz spacecraft have used flying around the International Space Station.   With respect to China's plans for future space stations, Li says that China has almost completed a new follow-on space station, Tiangong-2, to be launched in the 2013/2014 time period.   Like its forerunner, Tiangong-2 will control all attitude control maneuvers of the Shenzhou spacecraft/Tiangong space station assembly once docking has been achieved using a combination of control moment gyros and thrusters.   Li notes that China eventually plans to build a Mir-class multi-module space station of up to 80 tonnes mass.   China's First Woman in Space: Q&A with Astronaut Liu Yang   Rob Coppinger - Space.com   On June 16, 33-year-old Liu Yang became the first Chinese woman to reach space when she and two male crewmates blasted off aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft.   Two days later, the three astronauts — or taikonauts, as they're known in China — hooked up with the robotic Tiangong 1 module, pulling off China's first-ever manned space docking. Another manned mission to Tiangong 1 — called Shenzhou 10 — is planned for next year, and Liu may be selected for that flight as well.   On Wednesday, Liu spoke at the 63rd annual International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy. She said she was astonished by the beauty of Earth as seen from space, and that she was pleasantly surprised by the toy panda that had been left aboard Tiangong 1 by the ground crew.   During the Shenzou 9 briefing at the Congress and at a press conference shortly afterward, Liu answered journalists’ questions. Here are some of the questions she was asked, and what she said in response.   Was your flight an important achievement for Chinese women?   Liu: I am so honored to be performing this space mission on behalf of all the Chinese spacewomen and earn their trust and support.   When is your next mission?   Liu: My flight schedule is closely connected with the country’s development program. The next mission will come soon, and whether [or not] I am selected for the next mission I am preparing all the time for the country’s selection.   What duties do you have and what training are you undertaking for the next two to three years?   Liu: My duty now is to do more training and preparation work, and my additional duty is to exchange experiences with others and learn through each other because I have the flight experience. I think now more of my duties are to train for future missions.   Were you aware that other people were in orbit along with you, aboard the International Space Station?   Liu: I think we could sense all the others in the universe, and during our mission I think we all sensed being in space with other astronauts in orbit. We also sent our greetings to them [the International Space Station crew] when we were in orbit.   What do you think of this conference?   Liu: We can learn and exchange from each other, and the Congress is a good channel through which people can communicate with common goals. The Congress pushes forward the development of the technologies that will benefit mankind. It’s a very meaningful event.   Cooperation is the theme of this meeting. Why is cooperation important?   Liu: International cooperation is very necessary. The Chinese have the saying, "When all the people collect the wood, you will make a great fire." So international cooperation can help us to join our efforts together to have a better exploration of the universe and accelerate our exploration steps.   How did your training prepare you for the microgravity environment in space?   Liu: Our training schedule is reviewed and certified by a lot of expertise, and we got a lot of useful information. I feel all my training is very practical and meaningful and has helped me have a better mission. Performing tai chi in space — it is comfortable, we got more outer space chi.   Atlantis 'family' forever in awe   John Kelly - Florida Today   David Bakehorn is saying a long goodbye to a dear friend as the space shuttle Atlantis is prepped for the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, its last stop on an incredible journey.   The shuttle systems technician from Melbourne was there the day a Boeing 747 delivered the brand-new orbiter from the manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif., to its new home port here in 1985.   Bakehorn, like so many thousands of local residents, has lived up close and personal with the space shuttle orbiters in the ships’ three decades of service to the nation. To him, Atlantis is family, and he plans to be there when it leaves the hangar for the last time.   “We have a saying out here: ‘Don’t be sad that it’s over. Be glad that you were a part of it.’ ” said Bakehorn on Thursday morning as he walked beneath Atlantis, showing off his pride and joy to journalists being given a peek behind the scenes of the orbiter’s last days at KSC.   Atlantis is still a wonder to gape at up close, even for those who spent their lives laying hands on it. Tens of thousands of complex parts, working together, perfectly, to pull off the feat of flying people and payloads to space and then returning to the Earth to land like an airplane. The workers relished the chance to show off the orbiter, taking one after another visiting reporter on a tour inside the mid-deck and flight deck of a spaceship. The sea of switches in the cockpit. The cramped commander’s seat. The covered windows out of which astronauts witnessed the wonder of Earth, of space, and of their fleeting spot in exploration history.   Atlantis flew 33 military and science missions in space, and the accomplishments made on that flight deck, and made possible by countless people back on Earth are staggering to imagine.   From Atlantis’ payload bay, astronauts deployed two probes to distant planets, Magellan to Venus and Galileo to Jupiter. It flew seven times to the Russian space station Mir, including the first U.S. space shuttle docking there, helping lay the foundation for the International Space Station.   Atlantis also delivered the United States and European science labs to ISS, among several construction missions. In perhaps a crowning achievement, Atlantis carried astronauts to service (and save) Hubble Space Telescope, extending its life and boosting its capability. Then, it gracefully closed out the shuttle program with a flight to space station and back last summer.   “This is family,” Bakehorn said, pointing to the ship itself and motioning to the people around him in Atlantis’ hangar. “We spent as much, if not more, time with them than we spent with our own families all these years. We’ve watched each other get old and fat, and bald and gray. We’ve watched each others’ kids grow up. We’re a big family.”   Luckily, Atlantis gets to retire at home on the Space Coast. Delaware North Companies has designed and is finishing construction of a one-of-a-kind exhibit for the vaunted spacecraft.   A suspended-in-the-air Atlantis, appearing with payload bay doors open as it would in orbit, should awe crowds for decades. That includes workers who’ve seen it all so many times before, like Bakehorn and Debbie Awtonomow, a NASA shuttle worker from Merritt Island. Both said they plan to visit. Others said they look forward to being able to take friends and family members for a closer look at what they worked on all these years. All repeatedly noted how happy they were at the plan by the visitor complex operators to display Atlantis in as natural a state as possible.   Nicks, dings and scrapes from the violent flight to space, in orbit and back to Earth remain on the heat-shielding tiles and thermal blankets. Almost none of it was repaired as was done between space flights. Up close, you can see the dark brown or black blotches across its white airframe, barely noticeable in the distant shots most of us see on television before launch and after landing.   “They wanted it to look exactly like it did when it came back,” Awtonomow said as she led a tour through the network of scaffolding and catwalks to see all the work being done.   And, it is, Bakehorn said. He was out there on the runway at KSC when Atlantis touched down. Being on the runway after a shuttle landing was one of those moments he always loved, the answer he always gave to the question from friends and neighbors, “What’s the coolest thing about your job?”   “You start walking under the shuttle, and you think, ‘This just came back from outer space, and I’m standing next to it. How cool is that?’ ”   A commercial Endeavour for Toyota The carmaker is lending a Tundra pickup to tow the space shuttle over the 405 Freeway en route to the California Science Center   Andrew Blankstein & Kate Linthicum - Los Angeles Times   The space shuttle Endeavour. Brought to you by Toyota?   Next week, when NASA's recently retired shuttle makes the last leg of its long journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the California Science Center in Exposition Park, it will be hauled part of the way by a Toyota Tundra truck.   It's a scene that seems made for a Toyota commercial. And it may well end up in one.   The carmaker plans to film the truck as it tows the massive shuttle across the 405 Freeway on West Manchester Boulevard.   One Toyota official said the event is "a great opportunity for Tundra and the Toyota brand." Jaymie Robinson, a public relations strategist for Toyota, said the company is looking at all of its marketing options, "a commercial being one of them."   Ads touting the hauling capacity of trucks have long been a staple of the pickup market, where ruggedness and power are glorified.   "In the pickup truck segment, the towing wars are never over," said Eric Noble, president of an automobile consulting firm in Orange. He commended Toyota "for pulling something like this off."   The shuttle, which went to space 25 times over two decades, has been at LAX since it arrived 12 days ago on the back of a modified Boeing 747. It will be hauled for most of its two-day trek to the Science Center by a state-of-the-art robotic transporter used to carry very heavy things.   But the transporter is not on the Caltrans list of vehicles approved for towing over bridges, according to William Harris, senior vice president of development and marketing at the Science Center.   Harris said Toyota, which has a long history of philanthropy at the Science Center, volunteered a Tundra for the overpass portion of the route. A special dolly will be used to help the  truck haul the roughly 170,000-pound shuttle.   Officials with the city of Los Angeles, which is helping coordinate the trip, said they were only recently made aware of the possible filming of a commercial. An official with FilmLA, which issues film permits, said it was contacted by the production company that will be filming the event and expects to receive a permit application in the coming days.   Toyota is not paying the Science Center to shoot a commercial, according to Michael Rouse, Toyota's vice president of diversity, philanthropy and community affairs.   But he said the car company has donated $8 million to $10 million to the Science Center since the early 1990s and has contributed "seven figures" to the museum's current expansion efforts, which include building an exhibit space for the Endeavour.   In sales, Tundras lag far behind competitors like Ford's F-series trucks and Chevrolet's Silverados.   Seeking to correct that, Toyota has made next week's affair a major marketing event, with a special Tundra Endeavour website devoted to the truck as it "tows its way into history."   When it has been relieved of its load, the Tundra used to haul the space shuttle will be displayed inside the museum.   House hopefuls on space…   Matt Reed - Florida Today   Let’s compare positions of the three candidates for the newly drawn U.S. House District 8, which will cover all of Brevard and Indian River counties.   Whoever wins must champion our space industry and vote on bills that will affect your health care. At a forum, I put questions about those issues to:   ·         U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, who has represented Central and South Brevard, including Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, for two terms. ·         Democrat Shannon Roberts, a retired NASA manager and former Cape Canaveral City Council member. ·         Independent Richard Gillmor, a city councilman and former mayor of Sebastian. Gillmor is a retired insurance executive.   Question: What would you do in the House to help the stability and strength of the U.S. Space program?   Roberts: I have an extensive background with NASA, having worked at headquarters and Kennedy Space Center. We’ve got a major role here: the lead for deep-space exploration, commercialization of space and also research, development and testing. I would be a strong advocate on behalf of that.   Gillmor: My team and I went through Kennedy Space Center, taking a look at the next big thing. We got to see the Orion capsule, and we spent about 15 minutes with Director Bob Cabana. The problem right now is, we need something in the interim to jump-start the economy until commercial space and heavy-lift vehicles take over.   Posey: I would continue doing the same things I’m already doing as congressman. I had a bill, co-sponsored by Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a pretty liberal Democrat, to make the transition from shuttle to Orion seamless, until the president canceled Orion. I’m paired with Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, that would have us return to the moon by 2022. I passed a bill called the Race For Space Act that would allow the Department of Defense to cooperate on commercial space. They’re not allowed to do that now.   Roberts: I would correct Mr. Posey that the president did not cancel Orion (crew capsule). It’s part of the deep-space initiative. And Orion is scheduled to have its first test flight in 2017.   Posey: My mistake — I meant Constellation.   Gillmor: With implementation of my national energy policy, part of Kennedy Space Center would become home to the National Energy Resources Development Center. That will put thousands of engineers back to work, making our country energy independent with clean, new fuel sources. Posey: I’d like to continue … We recently filed the Space Leadership Act, which would take the politics out of NASA funding. It would allow NASA to do long-term procurement — set a goal and actually be able to achieve it without a change in presidential administration changing its mission.   Launching the Next Era in Space Travel and Exploration   Peter Diamandis - Forbes (Commentary)   (Diamandis is Chairman & CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation)   The final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour across the country, and then across California, strapped to the back of a Boeing 747, brought to a bittersweet end a notable era in space exploration in the United States, perhaps what should be thought of as the Third Era of Space Travel and Exploration.   I would say the Third Era because the First involved the decades of initial experimentation and unmanned rockets starting with Robert Goddard and then the German V2, continuing with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957 and ending with the Soviets’ 1961 launch of Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space.   The Second Era, which saw Soviet cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts almost routinely venturing into space, was punctuated in 1969 when Neil Armstrong (who, in a sad irony, just passed at the age of 82) and Dr. Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon. That era continued through several successive moon landings, ending with Apollo 17 in 1972.   The Third Era began in earnest in 1981, with the launch of the first Space Shuttle, Columbia, a mostly reusable workhorse designed to ferry astronauts, research experiments, satellites and equipment into Earth orbit.   This era was notable also for greater international cooperation between the major space powers, the United States, Russia, the European Space Agency and Japan.  We also saw a significant increase in the diversity of our astronauts, in gender and from a variety of countries and professional backgrounds.   Now, even as the most notable creation of this Third Era of spaceflight becomes a museum attraction, we’re already well into a Fourth Era of Spaceflight, marked by the first space tourists, the first private space companies and even, earlier this year, the first privately developed and operated capsule to travel to the International Space Station.   In fact, this new era will be known for democratizing space travel, moving it into the private sector, and making it available to the general public, rather than just a few highly trained and government-employed specialists. Sometimes, these private initiatives will work in cooperation with the government organizations that funded and conducted space travel in the first three eras, and sometimes they will operate independently of government involvement and support.   Indeed, this era got its start in 2001, when a Santa Monica investor named Dennis Tito purchased a $20 million ticket through Space Adventures (www.SpaceAdventures.com), rocketing aboard a Soyuz mission to spend more than a week on the International Space Station. Since then, Space Adventures has sent seven more clients to the ISS.   The ensuing 11 years, have seen many other private space efforts:   ·         The launch of Zero-G (www.GoZeroG.com), which allows the public to experience weightlessness on a special airplane that also trains NASA astronauts; ·         The creation of SpaceX (www.SpaceX.com), which developed the Falcon-9 launch vehicle and Dragon capsule that made that equipment delivery to the ISS. ·         And, of course, the historic 2004 flight of SpaceShipOne, which won the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE from our foundation for its achievement.   Our first incentivized competition, the Ansari X PRIZE, went to Scaled Composites, which beat out 26 teams from seven countries to become the first to build and launch a private space vessel that could carry three people 100 kilometers into space twice within two weeks.   Pursuit of the prize spurred a flurry of investment and technological developments by private companies trying to create reusable space vehicles. In the process, they helped create a private space industry that is an increasingly viable partner with public space agencies.   So where’s it all going?   Well, recently, Space X founder (and X PRIZE Trustee) Elon Musk told ABC’s Nightline that his company expects to be able to send humans to Mars in “roughly 12 to 15 years.”   And one of our latest competitions, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, has attracted 25 teams from 16 countries that are building spacecrafts that can land and rove/hop 500 meters on the Moon’s surface.  If they can meet the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline, they will help open the Moon for private and commercial exploration and exploitation.   The X PRIZE Foundation (www.xprize.org) can be proud of its role in helping midwife this Fourth Era of Spaceflight and Exploration. The opportunities before us are remarkable, and we intend to continue our special role in encouraging private investment and research to open the skies for us all.   So, while we bid a very fond goodbye and thank you to Endeavour and her sister shuttles, I for one am more excited about the future of space than I’ve ever been.  For me, humanity’s exploration of space is only just beginning!   END