Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: November 27, 2012 7:15:02 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - November 27, 2012 and JSC Today

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            JSC Phone System Infrastructure Changes -- 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. CST Nov. 27 and 28
2.            Tune in to NASA Technology Days Nov. 28 to 29 via UStream
3.            Site-wide Archaeological Survey Begins This Week
4.            Support is Available for Innovative Dual-use Ideas/Projects -- FY13 ICA Fall Call is Open
5.            This Week at Starport
6.            Better Than One-on-One With Obi Wan
7.            2013 Black History Month Committee Volunteers Needed
8.            Russian Phase One Language Course -- For Beginners
9.            Call for JSC Exceptional Software Awards -- Deadline Dec. 14
10.          Today at 11:30 a.m. -- Human Systems Integration ERG Meeting
11.          Today: Psychology, Sleep, Space and YOU
12.          JSC Systems Engineering Forum: Bio-Inspired Design in the Systems Engineer
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
" Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls. "

-- David Thomas
________________________________________
1.            JSC Phone System Infrastructure Changes -- 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. CST Nov. 27 and 28
The Information Resources Directorate (IRD) will perform changes to the JSC phone system infrastructure today, Nov. 27, and tomorrow, Nov. 28, from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. CST each night. During this window, incoming and outgoing long-distance and local (Houston-area) calls may get disconnected. Employees could potentially lose a call in progress, particularly if this is a call with a long duration (longer than 30 minutes). Should a call be lost, the user will be able to re-dial and complete the call. This activity will not impact calls made between phones on-site at JSC, Ellington Field and Sonny Carter Training Facility, or the emergency x33333 number.
We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
JSC IRD Outreach x41334 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx

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2.            Tune in to NASA Technology Days Nov. 28 to 29 via UStream
NASA's Technology Days Showcase will take place in Cleveland from Nov. 28 to 30. Participants from NASA, industry and academia will discuss strategy development, partnerships and methods to foster technology transfer and innovation during the three-day event. NASA officials will discuss the agency's upcoming technology initiatives, technology transfer and strategic partnerships.
On Wednesday, Nov. 28, and Thursday, Nov. 29, employees will be able to watch the showcase via UStream at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-hq
JSC team members can tune in Wednesday, Nov. 28, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CST; and on Thursday, Nov. 29, from 7:30 to 11 a.m. CST.
For details and the complete showcase agenda, click here.
David Steitz 202-358-1730

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3.            Site-wide Archaeological Survey Begins This Week
The site-wide archaeological survey begins this week in accordance with Section 110 (36 CFR 800) of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The survey will encompass all land owned by JSC, including Ellington Field and the Sonny Carter Training Facility. The Armand Bayou Archaeological National Register District dips into the northeastern portion of the site and offers the greatest potential for an artifact find. Areas of the center that have been disturbed by buildings and pavements will be observed and photographed, while portions of the center that have been undisturbed and are considered moderate- to high-probability areas will be subject to systematic pedestrian survey and shovel testing. The survey should take about a week, and results will be returned after the first of the year. The results of the survey will help determine the level of awareness and protection for future excavation and construction work on the center.
Sandra Tetley x38113

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4.            Support is Available for Innovative Dual-use Ideas/Projects -- FY13 ICA Fall Call is Open
The Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) Innovation Charge Account (ICA) Fall Call is open for only two more weeks! The focus of the call is on dual-use technologies that have the potential to result in economic and/or societal benefits. Also, projects must map to one or more JSC-specific human spaceflight needs/performance criteria. At least 20 projects will be awarded support this year.
Detail guidance and other documents are available on the ICA website. (Click on the "Idea" button, then follow directions.)
Project durations are 16 weeks with reports per schedule.
You should review the entire site carefully to gain a complete understanding of the ICA Fall Call process.
Note: Submissions are due no later than 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 6 via the ICA website.
Good luck!
Steve Prejean x48022

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5.            This Week at Starport
Starport holiday gift certificates make great stocking stuffers. Purchase massage sessions, personal training sessions and memberships to the Inner Space Yoga and Pilates Studio for a friend, family member or loved one. Anyone can redeem these gift certificates -- you don't have to be a Starport member or work at JSC. Purchase gift certificates at the Gilruth Center information desk.
The last day to purchase Breakfast with Santa tickets is this Friday. Get your tickets now at the Gilruth Center or in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops. Don't miss out on this special family event!
Want to work out but don't have a sitter? Short-term child care is now offered on Saturday mornings at the Gilruth Center. Let the Starport staff watch your children while you get some exercise!
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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6.            Better Than One-on-One With Obi Wan
Registration is now open for the Joint Leadership Team (JLT) Early Career Informal Mentoring Workshop!
Attend this amazing workshop for a unique chance to have a one-on-one conversation with mentors from around JSC and the contractor community. The freestyle mentoring sessions offered during the workshop will give you a chance to ask division-level managers advice on how to excel in the NASA environment. Also offered during the workshop are sessions on:
o             Project Management
o             Understanding Communication Styles
o             Career Express - Accelerating to the Top!
o             Branding Yourself
o             Women in Leadership
Attendance is limited, so register today here.
Event Details:
o             Thursday, Dec. 13, from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
o             Building 12
o             Refreshments will be provided
More information on this exciting informal mentoring workshop can be found here.
Andrea Hanson x48693 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov

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7.            2013 Black History Month Committee Volunteers Needed
The African-American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) is making preparations in recognition of the 2013 Black History Month Observance. We are seeking civil servant and contractor volunteers to serve either as a committee chairperson or committee member for upcoming special-emphasis events. The volunteer committee meeting will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 5, from 11 a.m. to noon in Building 1, Room 220.
Carla Burnett x41044

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8.            Russian Phase One Language Course -- For Beginners
Russian Phase One is an introductory course designed to acquaint the novice student with certain elementary aspects of the Russian language and provide a brief outline of Russian history and culture. Our goal is to introduce students to skills and strategies necessary for successful foreign language study that they can apply immediately in the classroom. The linguistic component of this class consists of learning the Cyrillic alphabet and a very limited number of simple words and phrases, which will serve as a foundation for further language study.
Who: All JSC-badged civil servants and contractors with a work-related justification
Dates: Jan. 7 to Feb. 1
When: Monday through Friday, 9:15 to 10:15 a.m. or 4 to 5 p.m.
Where: Building 12, Room 158A.
Please register through SATERN. The registration deadline is Dec. 18.
Natalia Rostova 281-851-3745

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9.            Call for JSC Exceptional Software Awards -- Deadline Dec. 14
This is the 2013 call for software award nominations at JSC. Nominees will be considered for the following awards:
o             JSC Exceptional Software Award: $8,000 total award
o             JSC nominee for NASA Software of the Year Award: Up to $100,000 total award possible
o             JSC software nominees for Space Act Awards: Variable amount up to $100,000
o             NASA Exceptional Technology Achievement Medals
The JSC Exceptional Software Award is designed to recognize software that has demonstrated outstanding value to accomplishing the JSC mission.
Apply online using the Web nomination form and to find out other information.
Directorates and individuals must provide their nominations by close of business Dec. 14 via the form link listed. Questions can be sent to Lynn Vernon or Tondra Allen.
Lynn R. Vernon x36917 http://jscexceptionalsoftware.jsc.nasa.gov/SOY_nominate/

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10.          Today at 11:30 a.m. -- Human Systems Integration ERG Meeting
The Human Systems Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) will hold its monthly meeting today, Nov. 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 1, Room 220. The agenda will include discussion about the new NASA@Work Innocentive Challenge on HSI metrics, along with a review of recent HSI activities and opportunities for JSC employees. Bring your lunch and join us!
Deb Neubek 281-222-3687 http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx

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11.          Today: Psychology, Sleep, Space and YOU
The Human Systems Academy is pleased to offer a lecture that introduces participants to the Behavioral Health and Performance Operations and Support services. This course will provide a summary of the Behavioral Health and Performance Operations group's work, including an overview of astronaut selection, behavioral health services provided to astronauts, the psychological aspects of long-duration spaceflight and behavioral health support services provided to International Space Station crews and families. This course will be held today, Nov. 27, from 1 to 2 p.m. in Building 15, Conference Room 267.
For registration, please go to: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

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12.          JSC Systems Engineering Forum: Bio-Inspired Design in the Systems Engineer
The next JSC Systems Engineering Forum will be Thursday, Nov. 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 1, Room 966. It's also available via telecom/WebEx (see link). George Studor, a member of the JSC Engineering Structures Division, will hold an interactive discussion on how bio-inspired design can be used in the systems engineering process.
Randall Adams x35593 https://oasis.jsc.nasa.gov/infra/syseng/default.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:
·         7:20 am Central (8:20 EST) – E34's Kevin Ford with WNDU-TV & Notre Dame Observer

Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – November 27, 2012

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Kelly, Kornienko named to yearlong station flight

William Harwood - CBS News

Astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, both veterans of long-duration space flights, will spend a full year aboard the International Space Station in 2015-16 to help scientists learn more about how the body reacts and adapts to weightlessness and other aspects of the space environment. The research is aimed at helping scientists and engineers develop possible countermeasures for future manned missions to deep space destinations including the moon, nearby asteroids and, eventually, Mars.

US twin astronaut, Russian to spend year in orbit

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

A former space shuttle commander whose twin brother is married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attempt the longest spaceflight ever by an American. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015. Both countries' space agencies announced the names of the two veteran spacefliers on Monday. The extended mission was approved almost two months ago to provide a medical foundation for future missions around the moon, as well as far-flung trips to asteroids and Mars.

U.S. astronaut, Russian cosmonaut to spend a year in space

Irene Klotz - Reuters

Two veterans of the International Space Station will return for an experimental year-long stay aboard the orbital outpost, a test run for future missions to the moon, asteroids and Mars, NASA said on Monday. Former U.S. space shuttle pilot and station commander Scott Kelly, 48, who last flew in 2011, will be paired with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, 52, for a 12-month space station assignment beginning in early 2015. Kornienko served as a flight engineer aboard the station in 2010.

Astronauts chosen for groundbreaking yearlong mission in space

Amy Hubbard - Los Angeles Times

NASA and Russia's space agency are pushing ahead with plans for a yearlong stay in space, choosing the two men who will undertake the mission. Scott Kelly, a NASA veteran with more than 180 days in space, and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko are scheduled to launch in spring 2015 to spend a year aboard the International Space Station, according to a NASA news release. A main goal of the expedition is to determine the effects of such a long stay on the human body.

NASA: Longest space mission for U.S. astronaut set for 2015

Elizabeth Landau - CNN

Capt. Scott Kelly, a veteran astronaut, will set the record for the longest single space mission for an American, NASA announced Monday. Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will embark on a one-year mission to the International Space Station in 2015. The duo will help scientists explore the effects of living in space on the human body, NASA said. They will provide information regarding health and crew performance and help with determining and validating risk-reduction measures. All of this can help contribute to planning for missions to other celestial worlds, such as an asteroid or Mars.

US, Russia pick pair for year's stay on ISS

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

The brother-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be launched on what promises to be the longest spaceflight ever by an American. Veteran shuttle pilot and mission commander Scott Kelly will spend a year aboard the International Space Station with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. The extended mission is being undertaken to gather medical data and engineering experience for lengthy flights beyond Earth orbit – to the moon, asteroids and Mars. NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, selected the two veteran spacefliers on Monday.

Crew selected for one-year space station expedition

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

NASA and Russia have selected Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, two veteran space fliers, for a yearlong mission on the International Space Station beginning in 2015, officials announced Monday. The 12-month expedition will help scientists understand how the human body reacts to prolonged exposure to weightlessness and other hazards of spaceflight. It is a critical precursor to long human exploration missions around the moon, an asteroid and Mars, according to NASA.

US-Russian Crew Picked for One-Year Space Station Flight

Tariq Malik - Space.com

A veteran NASA space commander and Russian cosmonaut have signed on for the ultimate space voyage: a yearlong trip on the International Space Station. American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will launch on the one-year space station flight in spring 2015 and return to Earth in spring 2016, NASA officials announced Monday. They will begin their mission training in early 2013. The mission will help NASA understand how the human body adapts to extremely long space missions, such as voyages around the moon, to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars, NASA officials said.

Astronaut, Cosmonaut to Spend Year in Space

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

Scott Kelly, a former shuttle pilot and space station commander, is heading back to the orbital outpost, this time for an experimental, year-long stint. The 48-year-old Navy pilot and identical twin brother of former astronaut Mark Kelly, will be joined by veteran cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, for a planned 12-month mission beginning Spring 2015, NASA announced Monday.

Russia, NASA Pick Astronauts for Yearlong Orbital Mission

RIA Novosti

Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos and NASA have chosen two participants of an experimental yearlong endurance mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, Roscosmos said on Monday. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly have been picked to carry out the mission, which will be twice as long as typical six-month trips to ISS. "It was a tough choice among many excellent candidates, but we have chosen the best and we are absolutely confident about their dedication and abilities," Roscosmos head, Vladimir Popovkin, said.

Kelly and Kornienko Tapped for Year-Long ISS Expedition

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org

After months of speculation, veteran spacefarers Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency were today announced as prime candidates for the long-awaited year-long expedition to the International Space Station in 2015-16. The two men – who have both undertaken previous long-duration missions to the ISS – will commence formal training in Star City early next year, with an anticipated launch in the spring of 2015. Current schedule projections indicate that Kelly and Kornienko will be joined for a portion of their stay by Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and perhaps also by English soprano Sarah Brightman if she flies as a paying 'space tourist'. Whilst it was always obvious that a number of candidates existed for both the US and Russian posts on the year-long expedition, particular emphasis was given to Peggy Whitson, who stepped down as Chief of the Astronaut Office in July, amid great speculation that she was the most likely contender. In recent weeks, unverified rumours noted that a "medical issue", perhaps related to cumulative radiation exposure across her two previous long-duration missions, may have ruled Whitson out of the flight.

With Elections Over, Commercial Space Funding Decisions Due

Dan Leone - Space News

After U.S. elections Nov. 6 left the balance of federal power essentially unchanged, NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program were spared the scrutiny of a new presidential administration only to return to a status quo defined mostly by long-standing funding uncertainties. "An election like this one puts many things in Washington on hold," said former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation here. "There remain many unanswered questions, including how sequestration and budget conversations will affect NASA."

Russia's Space Industry to Merge into Holdings

RIA Novosti

A structural reform of Russia's space industry will see its numerous enterprises united into five or six large holdings, Federal Space Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said on Monday. The reform should make the troubled industry more manageable, Popovkin said after a governmental meeting in Moscow. The draft list of industries to get separate holdings includes orbital spacecraft development, in-orbit operation, guidance systems, scientific research, testing and strategic rocketry, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said, also on Monday. The centralization may be taken a step further, with the Federal Space Agency, Russia's analogue of NASA, transformed into a state corporation that would replace the prospective holdings, Popovkin said.

No more interest in further work on ISS?

Andrei Kislyakov - Russia Beyond the Headlines

The International Space Station (ISS) was launched 14 years ago, on November 20, 1998. This week can be a good opportunity to contemplate all that has been achieved and discuss the future of this unparalleled manned program in space. Yet its two principal operators - the U.S. and Russia - seem to drag their feet over further collaboration.

Who will challenge Dragon? Dragon spaceship postponed until March

Olga Zakutnyaya - Voice of Russia

The head of the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Elon Musk has foretold a grim future for the European Ariane 5 rocket launcher, but SpaceX's own project, the Dragon spaceship, bound for the International Space Station, has now been postponed until March, 2013. It's thought that could be due to malfunctions in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and in Dragon's onboard systems that were discovered during the latest flight from 7th to 28th of October, 2012. Next year will hopefully see Cygnus, another private spacecraft, supplying the ISS after the shuttle program was closed.

Space Buff: Lifting Weights in Weightlessness

Sarah Rose - Wall Street Journal

For an astronaut about to lift off, having the right stuff means going easy on the daily workout. Chris Hadfield, 53 years old, will take off in December for the International Space Station and he has altered his Earthbound gym routine to prep for the six-month space adventure. "The closer you get to launch, the less you do," says the astronaut, who was born in Sarnia, Ontario, and will be the first Canadian to command the station. "This is not a time for pickup basketball or church volleyball. I don't need to dislocate or break something."

NASA's Space Shuttle-Carrying Jet Lands in Houston for Good

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

Houston, you have a space shuttle ... carrier aircraft. NASA's original jumbo jet, which was used to ferry the space shuttles around the country, has landed at Ellington Field in Houston, where it is to stay. The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), often referred to using its tail number, NASA 905, was most recently used to fly space shuttle Endeavour to Los Angeles in September. The 747 jetliner was seen by millions of people as it made its way from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to California, where it performed a scenic flyover of the state with Endeavour riding piggyback.

Spacecraft tracking facility on horizon for Brownsville

Steve Clark - Brownsville Herald

Brownsville might be destined for the aerospace business whether SpaceX builds a rocket launch site here or not. STARGATE, which stands for "South Texas Spacecraft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Giga-hertz Astrophysical Transient Emission," has a 90 percent chance of becoming a reality, according to Fredrick Jenet, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas at Brownsville and director of UTB's Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy.
__________

COMPLETE STORIES

Kelly, Kornienko named to yearlong station flight

William Harwood - CBS News

Astronaut Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, both veterans of long-duration space flights, will spend a full year aboard the International Space Station in 2015-16 to help scientists learn more about how the body reacts and adapts to weightlessness and other aspects of the space environment.

The research is aimed at helping scientists and engineers develop possible countermeasures for future manned missions to deep space destinations including the moon, nearby asteroids and, eventually, Mars.

"Congratulations to Scott and Mikhail on their selection for this important mission," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space flight, said in a statement. "The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit."

The mission also could free up two seats aboard Russian Soyuz ferry craft for station visits by wealthy space tourists, providing needed cash to the Russian space program.

The Russians launched eight "spaceflight participants" to the station between 2001 and 2008, including one who flew twice. Seven of those were considered space tourists, paying between $20 million and $50 million per flight. The flights were arranged by Space Adventures of Vienna, VA.

Tourist flights have been on hold in recent years with all available Soyuz seats booked for professional astronauts and cosmonauts making up the station's six-member crew.

In early October, however, NASA and the Russians announced plans for an American astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut to spend a full year aboard the space station, freeing up two Soyuz seats in the normal crew rotation matrix.

Soprano Sarah Brightman announced on Oct. 10 that she was booking a flight to the station through Space Adventures and Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency. Russian space officials said late last week that a final decision is expected next year. If the flight is approved, Brightman likely would fly in the mid to late 2015 timeframe.

"I have met her, she is all set to fly, but Roscosmos has not yet decided on it," Vladimir Popovkin, director of the Russian space agency, said in published accounts. "We have a range of possibilities, including sending young cosmonauts to fly. A final decision will be made in the first half of 2013."

NASA did not announce when Kelly and Kornienko would begin their mission, but sources said earlier they likely will take off in March 2015 aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft, accompanied by a Russian spacecraft commander who would stay aboard the lab for a normal six-month tour.

Under that scenario, the next Soyuz in the rotation, TMA-17M, would launch with a three-person station crew the following May. The Soyuz after that, TMA-18M, would take off that September or October 2015 with a Russian commander and, perhaps, one or two space tourists.

The spaceflight participants would spend about 10 days aboard the lab complex and return to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft with the same commander that ferried the long-duration crew to orbit the previous March. The long-duration crew members would return to Earth in March 2016 aboard the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft with the commander who ferried the commercial fliers to orbit.

Other scenarios are possible. NASA and Roscosmos have not yet specified how Kelly and Kornienko will fit into the crew rotation matrix.

Kelly has spent 180 days in space during three earlier flights. He served as pilot of shuttle mission STS-103 in 1999 and as commander of STS-118 in 2007. He then served as a flight engineer aboard the space station during Expedition 25 in 2010 and as commander of Expedition 26 in 2011. His twin brother Mark, married to former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, also is a veteran shuttle commander. He retired from NASA last year.

Kornienko served as a space station flight engineer during Expeditions 23 and 24 in 2010, logging more than 176 days in orbit.

"Selection of the candidate for the one-year mission was thorough and difficult due to the number of suitable candidates from the cosmonaut corps," Popovkin said in the NASA statement. "We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them."

While Kelly and Kornienko will set a new record for International Space Station crews, they will fall well short of the world record held by cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent 438 days aboard the Russian Mir space station in 1994 and 1995.

The U.S. record for the longest single spaceflight is held by astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, who spent 215 days in space aboard the International Space Station in 2006-07.

"We have gained new knowledge about the effects of spaceflight on the human body from the scientific research conducted on the space station, and it is the perfect time to test a one-year expedition aboard the orbital laboratory," Julie Robinson, space station program scientist, said when the yearlong flight was announced earlier this year. "What we will gain from this expedition will influence the way we structure our human research plans in the future."

US twin astronaut, Russian to spend year in orbit

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

A former space shuttle commander whose twin brother is married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will attempt the longest spaceflight ever by an American.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning in 2015.

Both countries' space agencies announced the names of the two veteran spacefliers on Monday. The extended mission was approved almost two months ago to provide a medical foundation for future missions around the moon, as well as far-flung trips to asteroids and Mars.

Both men already have lived aboard the space station for six months. NASA wanted experienced space station astronauts to streamline the amount of training necessary for a one-year stint. Officials had said the list of candidates was very short. They will begin training next year.

"Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements," Bill Gerstenmaier, head of human exploration for NASA, said in a statement. "The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit."

Kelly's identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, retired from the astronaut corps last year and moved to Tucson, Ariz., his wife's hometown. The former congresswoman was critically wounded in an assassination attempt in January 2011, while Scott Kelly was living aboard the space station.

Astronauts normally spend about four to six months aboard the space station. The longest an American lived there was seven months, several years back.

Russia, though, will continue to hold the world space endurance record.

Three cosmonauts spent at least a year aboard the old Mir space station. A Russian physician, Valery Polyakov, logged nearly 15 continuous months there in the mid-1990s.

Boris Morukov, head of the Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems, Russia's main space medicine research center, told the Interfax news agency that communications and food rations for Kelly and Kornienko may be limited during their yearlong mission to better simulate interplanetary travel.

Kelly and Kornienko will launch aboard a Russian rocket from Kazakhstan. Americans must buy seats on Russian spacecraft now that NASA's shuttles have retired to museums, until private U.S. companies have vessels capable of carrying human passengers. That's still four or five years off.

Kelly is a 48-year-old, divorced Navy captain with two daughters. Kornienko, 52, a rocket engineer, is married with a daughter.

"We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them," Russian Space Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said in the announcement.

U.S. astronaut, Russian cosmonaut to spend a year in space

Irene Klotz - Reuters

Two veterans of the International Space Station will return for an experimental year-long stay aboard the orbital outpost, a test run for future missions to the moon, asteroids and Mars, NASA said on Monday.

Former U.S. space shuttle pilot and station commander Scott Kelly, 48, who last flew in 2011, will be paired with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, 52, for a 12-month space station assignment beginning in early 2015. Kornienko served as a flight engineer aboard the station in 2010.

"The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge ... as we prepare for future missions," NASA associate administrator William Gerstenmaier said in a statement.

Only four people have lived off-planet for a year or longer, all Russians who served aboard the now-defunct Mir space station. The single longest stay in space was a 438-day mission in 1994-1995 by cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, a physician.

The current U.S. record for a long-duration flight is held by former International Space Station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, who spent 215 days in orbit between September 2006 and April 2007.

"You don't really notice it until you come back and begin recovery," Lopez-Alegria told Reuters. "When you come back, you decide whether you've pushed it too far or not."

With the retirement of the space shuttles last year and the completion of the U.S. construction of the $100 billion station, NASA is working on a new space transportation system that can fly astronauts to the moon, asteroids and other destinations in deep space. The goal is to send a crew to Mars in the mid-2030s.

The year-long station missions are intended to collect medical data and to test protocols for countering some of the adverse impacts of long-duration spaceflight, including bone and muscle loss, risks to eyesight and reproductive systems and changes in the immune and cardiovascular systems.

Kelly and Kornienko are scheduled to begin a two-year training program early next year.

Astronauts chosen for groundbreaking yearlong mission in space

Amy Hubbard - Los Angeles Times

NASA and Russia's space agency are pushing ahead with plans for a yearlong stay in space, choosing the two men who will undertake the mission.

Scott Kelly, a NASA veteran with more than 180 days in space, and Russia's Mikhail Kornienko are scheduled to launch in spring 2015 to spend a year aboard the International Space Station, according to a NASA news release. A main goal of the expedition is to determine the effects of such a long stay on the human body.

"The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space," William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA headquarters in Washington, said in the release.

Scientists have been monitoring how shorter stays aboard the ISS -- which has been occupied for 12 years -- have affected physical aspects including muscle mass, strength and bone density. But horizons for manned missions have widened, and researchers are looking to move beyond low-Earth orbit and want to know how microgravity will affect humans in the longer term.

Documented effects of spaceflight include a host of sometimes nauseating problems -- among them loss of bone and muscle mass, vision problems and redistribution of fluid in the body. Motion sickness can be severe -- notably Jake Garn, the first member of Congress to fly in space, was retching and wretchedly ill during his April 1985 mission. Astronauts began jokingly to use the "Garn Scale" to rate their own space sickness.

A 1999 interview from a Johnson Space Center oral history project reveals this nugget: "Totally sick and totally incompetent" equals one Garn, with most astronauts attaining about one-tenth of a Garn.

A NASA source told the Los Angeles Times on Monday morning that the space agency will have details in about a week on the specific tests and experiments that will be performed during the yearlong mission.

Kelly, 48, has been with NASA since 1996. He became commander of Expedition 26 on the International Space Station in November 2010 and remained aboard for five months.

The plan is for Kelly and Kornienko to launch aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and to make their return trip to Kazakhstan in spring 2016.

NASA: Longest space mission for U.S. astronaut set for 2015

Elizabeth Landau - CNN

Capt. Scott Kelly, a veteran astronaut, will set the record for the longest single space mission for an American, NASA announced Monday. Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will embark on a one-year mission to the International Space Station in 2015.

The duo will help scientists explore the effects of living in space on the human body, NASA said. They will provide information regarding health and crew performance and help with determining and validating risk-reduction measures. All of this can help contribute to planning for missions to other celestial worlds, such as an asteroid or Mars.

Kelly is the brother of former space shuttle Cmdr. Mark Kelly, who is married to former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords survived a shooting near Tuscon in 2011 and stepped down from public office in January 2012.

Only four humans have logged a continuous year or more in space on a single mission, and all of those missions involved the Russian Mir space station, said NASA spokesman Joshua Buck. The current record is held by Valery Polyakov, who spent 438 days in space between January 1994 and March 1995.

Kelly and Kornienko will depart in spring 2015 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, traveling aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

A native of Orange, New Jersey, Kelly has already experienced more than 180 days in space. On a 1999 space shuttle mission, he was a pilot; in 2007, he was a commander on STS-118. Kelly was a flight engineer in 2010 on International Space Station Expedition 25 and commander of Expedition 26 in 2011.

Kelly is a U.S. Navy captain with degrees from the State University of New York Maritime College and the University of Tennessee.

Kornienko hails from Russia's Syzran, Kuibyshev, region and has worked in the space industry since 1986. On the International Space Station, Kornienko was a flight engineer on the Expedition 23/24 crews in 2010. He has spent a cumulative 176 days in space.

"The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit," William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

Jim Ribble interviewed Kelly for CNN Radio while the astronaut was aboard the International Space Station in 2010. Check out their conversation here:

http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/26/nasa-longest-space-flight-for-u-s-astronaut-set-for-2015/?hpt=hp_t4

US, Russia pick pair for year's stay on ISS

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

The brother-in-law of former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be launched on what promises to be the longest spaceflight ever by an American.

Veteran shuttle pilot and mission commander Scott Kelly will spend a year aboard the International Space Station with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.

The extended mission is being undertaken to gather medical data and engineering experience for lengthy flights beyond Earth orbit – to the moon, asteroids and Mars.

NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, selected the two veteran spacefliers on Monday.

"Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations.

"The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond Earth orbit."

Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Roscosmos, said the selection process for the mission "was thorough and difficult due to the number of suitable candidates."

"We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them."

The flight is scheduled to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the spring of 2015.

The world record for the longest spaceflight is 437 days, 18 hours – a benchmark set by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov aboard the former Mir space station in 1994 and 1995.

The longest spaceflight by an American astronaut is 215 days. Michael Lopez-Alegria set that record in 2006 and 2007.

More typically, missions to the space station last around six months.

Kelly's twin brother, Mark, a retired U.S. astronaut, is married to Giffords, the Arizona Democrat critically wounded in a January 2011 shooting rampage in Tucson.

Scott Kelly, 48, was commanding a mission aboard the International Space Station at the time of the shooting, which killed six and injured a dozen other people.

He flew on two shuttle missions and also has served as both a flight engineer and commander aboard the International Space Station.

Kornienko, 52, served as a flight engineer aboard the station in 2010.

The two will begin training for the yearlong flight in early 2013.

Crew selected for one-year space station expedition

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

NASA and Russia have selected Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko, two veteran space fliers, for a yearlong mission on the International Space Station beginning in 2015, officials announced Monday.

The 12-month expedition will help scientists understand how the human body reacts to prolonged exposure to weightlessness and other hazards of spaceflight. It is a critical precursor to long human exploration missions around the moon, an asteroid and Mars, according to NASA.

"Congratulations to Scott and Mikhail on their selection for this important mission," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements. The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low Earth orbit."

Kelly and Kornienko will launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in spring 2015 and return to Earth in a Soyuz spaceship in spring 2016. Other astronauts will arrive and depart on regular six-month increments during the yearlong mission.

Since astronauts began occupying the space station in 2000, most crews have spent less than six months aboard the outpost. The record for an International Space Station flight is Expedition 14, a 215-day flight by NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and Mikhail Tyurin in 2006 and 2007.

Lopez-Alegria holds the mark for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut to date.

The yearlong expedition will allow for greater study of the effects of long-duration spaceflight on bone density, muscle mass, strength, vision and other aspects of human physiology, according to NASA.

"Selection of the candidate for the one year mission was thorough and difficult due to the number of suitable candidates from the Cosmonaut corps," said Vladimir Popovkin, head of Roscosmos - the Russian space agency. "We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them."

Valery Polyakov, a Russian physician, spent 437 days in orbit aboard the Mir space station in 1994 and 1995, setting the record for the longest single spaceflight.

NASA and Roscosmos announced in October they would fly an astronaut and cosmonaut for a 12-month expedition. The agencies unveiled their assignments Monday.

Kelly, 48, is a three-time flier and has logged 180 days in space, including a five-month residency on the International Space Station in 2010 and 2011. His space station mission included stint as Expedition 26 commander.

He also served as pilot of space shuttle Discovery on a repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in 1999, and as commander of space shuttle Endeavour on a space station assembly flight in 2007.

The U.S. Navy captain is from Orange, N.J., and has degrees in electrical engineering and aviation systems from the State University of New York Maritime College and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. His twin brother, Mark Kelly, is a four-time space shuttle pilot and commander.

Kornienko, 52, is from Syzran in southern Russia's Samara region. After serving as a Russian paratrooper, he obtained an engineering degree from the Moscow Aviation Institute and was selected as a cosmonaut in 1998.

He flew on the International Space Station for 176 days in 2010 as part of the Expedition 23 and Expedition 24 crews.

NASA said Kelly and Kornienko will begin a two-year training program in early 2013.

US-Russian Crew Picked for One-Year Space Station Flight

Tariq Malik - Space.com

A veteran NASA space commander and Russian cosmonaut have signed on for the ultimate space voyage: a yearlong trip on the International Space Station.

American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will launch on the one-year space station flight in spring 2015 and return to Earth in spring 2016, NASA officials announced Monday. They will begin their mission training in early 2013.

The mission will help NASA understand how the human body adapts to extremely long space missions, such as voyages around the moon, to an asteroid and ultimately to Mars, NASA officials said.

"Congratulations to Scott and Mikhail on their selection for this important mission," William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations in Washington, said in a statement. "Their skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements. The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit."

NASA is developing spacecraft and mission plans to send astronauts to visit a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, a goal set by President Barack Obama. The space agency is also reportedly studying potential manned missions back to the moon.

Kelly, 48, is a U.S. Navy captain who has flown on two space shuttle missions and one long-duration expedition on the International Space Station. He commanded the space station's Expedition 26 mission in 2010 during his third spaceflight.

Kelly hails from West Orange, N.J., and joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1996. His identical twin brother Mark Kelly also served as a Navy captain and NASA astronaut before retiring from the military and spaceflight in 2011.

Kornienko, 52, is also a veteran spaceflyer. The native of Syzran in Russia's Kuibyshev region is a former paratrooper officer who joined Russia's cosmonaut corps in 1998. Kornienko spent more than 176 days in space as a flight engineer on the station's Expedition 23 and 24 crews.

NASA and Russia announced plans for the one-year space station voyage earlier this year. Rumors of the flight were circling prior to the announcement, with the Russian news agency Interfax suggesting that veteran NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson —a veteran station commander —as a potential choice for the American crewmember. Whitson stepped down from her position as NASA's Chief Astronaut earlier this year to rejoin the agency's active spaceflying ranks.

Today's announcement, however, puts that theory to rest.

"Selection of the candidate for the one year mission was thorough and difficult due to the number of suitable candidates from the Cosmonaut corps," Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Russian Federal Space Agency, said in a statement. "We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them."

The 2015 space station flight by Kelly and Kornienko will be the longest mission to the International Space Station, but not the longest continuous spaceflight. That record is held by cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who lived aboard Russia's Mir space station from January 1994 until March 1995, ultimately spending 438 consecutive days in orbit.

The International Space Station is the product of cooperation by NASA, Russia and the space agencies of Europe, Japan and Canada. Construction of the $100 billion space station began in 1998 with the first crew taking up residence in 2000. Astronauts and cosmonauts have lived on the space station in rotating crews ever since.

Astronaut, Cosmonaut to Spend Year in Space

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

Scott Kelly, a former shuttle pilot and space station commander, is heading back to the orbital outpost, this time for an experimental, year-long stint.

The 48-year-old Navy pilot and identical twin brother of former astronaut Mark Kelly, will be joined by veteran cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, for a planned 12-month mission beginning Spring 2015, NASA announced Monday.

NASA and its partners in the International Space Station are interested in learning more about how the human body fares during long-duration stays in space. Typically, crews spend four- to six months living aboard the station, which orbits about 250 miles above Earth.

The U.S. space agency is beginning to work on a spaceship and rocket to carry astronauts farther into space, eventually working up to a human mission to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA wants the data from a 12-month station mission to assess crew performance and health and to test what countermeasures best cut the risks for future long-duration stays in space. Currently, a mission to Mars would take about 18 months of travel time, plus whatever time the astronauts spend orbiting the planet or on its surface.

The current U.S. record-holder for the longest stay in space is former astronaut and space station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, who spent 215 days in orbit between September 2006 and April 2007.

The Russians, who previously operated their own space station called Mir, are the world champs when it comes to long-duration spaceflight. The endurance record is held by Valery Polyakov, a doctor, who lived off-planet for 438 days.

Kelly and Kornienko, 52, have already met. Kelly served as a backup crew member for the station's Expedition 23 and 24 crews, which included Kornienko, a flight engineer.

"We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration, and we have full confidence in them," Vladimir Popovkin, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a statement.

The men are scheduled to begin a two-year training program in early 2013.

Russia, NASA Pick Astronauts for Yearlong Orbital Mission

RIA Novosti

Russia's Federal Space Agency Roscosmos and NASA have chosen two participants of an experimental yearlong endurance mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015, Roscosmos said on Monday.

Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly have been picked to carry out the mission, which will be twice as long as typical six-month trips to ISS.

"It was a tough choice among many excellent candidates, but we have chosen the best and we are absolutely confident about their dedication and abilities," Roscosmos head, Vladimir Popovkin, said.

Korniyenko, 52, has spent a total of 176 days in space as part of Expedition 23/24 crew in 2010. He carried out a spacewalk that lasted almost seven hours.

Kelly, 48, has logged over 180 days in space serving as a pilot on space shuttle mission STS-103 in 1999, commander on STS-118 in 2007, flight engineer on the ISS Expedition 25 in 2010 and commander of Expedition 26 in 2011.

The two already have a connection since Kelly was a backup crew member on the mission where Korniyenko was a flight engineer.

"The one-year increment will expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and will increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit," said NASA's William Gerstenmaier.

Scientists and researchers will also analyze the impact extended time in space has on the human body including bone density, muscle mass, and vision, officials with Roscosmos said.

Both NASA and Roscosmos have announced plans for future long term space exploration projects including manned missions to near-Earth asteroids and Mars.

Attempts to study the long-term physiological and physiological effects of human spaceflight have been made before.

Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov spent nearly 438 consecutive days in space during an endurance mission aboard the Mir Space Station. The mission began in January 1994 and ended in March 1995.

Last year, six volunteers from Russia, Europe and China completed the unique Mars 500 experiment simulating a manned flight to the Red Planet. They spent 520 days confined in a capsule set up at a research institute in Moscow.

Kelly and Kornienko Tapped for Year-Long ISS Expedition

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org

After months of speculation, veteran spacefarers Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency were today announced as prime candidates for the long-awaited year-long expedition to the International Space Station in 2015-16. The two men – who have both undertaken previous long-duration missions to the ISS – will commence formal training in Star City early next year, with an anticipated launch in the spring of 2015. Current schedule projections indicate that Kelly and Kornienko will be joined for a portion of their stay by Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and perhaps also by English soprano Sarah Brightman if she flies as a paying 'space tourist'.

Whilst it was always obvious that a number of candidates existed for both the US and Russian posts on the year-long expedition, particular emphasis was given to Peggy Whitson, who stepped down as Chief of the Astronaut Office in July, amid great speculation that she was the most likely contender. In recent weeks, unverified rumours noted that a "medical issue", perhaps related to cumulative radiation exposure across her two previous long-duration missions, may have ruled Whitson out of the flight.

Scott Kelly currently serves as Chief of the ISS Operations Branch of the Astronaut Office. He has been with NASA since April 1996 and was selected alongside his twin brother, Mark, as a Shuttle pilot. Three years later, in December 1999, Kelly became the first pilot in his class to fly into space on the STS-103 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. His involvement in long-duration ISS operations commenced in March 2001, when he was assigned as Whitson's backup on the Expedition 5 mission. Six weeks before the loss of Columbia, in December 2002, he was named to command STS-118, an ISS construction mission, which eventually flew in August 2007. Shortly after his second flight, Kelly re-entered expedition training and launched aboard Soyuz TMA-01M in October 2010 for a five-month tour of duty. He initially served as an Expedition 25 flight engineer and, in November, upon the return to Earth of the previous crew, he assumed command of the station and kicked off Expedition 26. During the course of his stay, his sister-in-law, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in Tucson, during an attempted assassination. Kelly returned to Earth as intended in mid-March 2011. At the end of his mission, he had accumulated a total of 180 days in space.

The year-long expedition in 2015-16 will thus be Kelly's fourth space flight and will earn him a new credential as the undisputed US space endurance record-holder, with around 540 days in orbit. This will greatly exceed the achievement of current US record-holder Mike Fincke, who has spent 381 days in space, spread across three missions. It will also mark a quantum leap forward for Americans in space. The present longest single mission by a US astronaut was by Mike Lopez-Alegria in 2006-7, who spent 215 days off the planet during Expedition 14. The quantum leap is perhaps best illustrated by a glance at the worldwide space endurance record table: Mike Fincke currently occupies 20th place, behind 19 Russians, but when Kelly returns from his year-long voyage he should jump into somewhere around 11th place. This is a remarkable achievement, when one considers that for more than two decades the American endurance record stood at just 84 days from the Skylab era and not until Norm Thagard's four-month flight to Mir in March-July 1995 was it broken. Since then, America has moved forward in leaps and bounds: Shannon Lucid spent six months in orbit in 1996, Mike Foale accrued more than a year in 2004 at the end of his second long-duration mission and more recently Peggy Whitson became the first woman in history to spend a cumulative year of her life off the Home Planet. In 2015-16, Scott Kelly will leap yet further.

So too will Mikhail Kornienko, who made his first flight to the ISS in April-September 2010, spending 176 days in orbit as a member of Expeditions 23-24. A former paratrooper in the Soviet Army and accomplished mechanical engineer, Kornienko was awe-struck by his experience of living away from Earth. However, he missed the sights and scents of home. "I missed trees," he told an audience upon his return home. "I even dreamt of them; I even hallucinated. I thought I smelled a real fire and something being barbecued on it! I ended up putting pictures of trees on the walls to cheer up. You do miss the Earth there." Accompanying Kelly for the long expedition, Kornienko will become only the fifth Russian in history – after Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov, Valeri Poliakov and Sergei Avdeyev – to spend a full year aloft on a single mission.

At present, the year-long ISS flight – which will span at least Expeditions 43 and 44 and probably even 45 and 46 – is described by NASA as a crucial next step toward President Obama's directive of a voyage beyond Earth orbit in the early 2020s. Its medical importance is already clear and it is expected to yield significant baseline data on the physical and physiological changes inherent in the human organism during long missions. "We have gained new knowledge about the effects of spaceflight on the human body from the scientific research conducted on the space station and it is the perfect time to test a one-year expedition aboard the orbital laboratory," said NASA ISS Program Scientist Julie Robinson. "What we will gain from this expedition will influence the way we structure our human research plans in the future."

The assignment of Kelly and Kornienko is exceptionally exciting, as the ISS moves from the doldrums of the post-Shuttle era and into one which can at last be termed the 'pre-BEO era', for much of NASA's research seems to be heading firmly in the direction of preparing for our first exploratory mission beyond Earth orbit in almost five decades. Cynics have argued that Russia's support for the year-long expedition has little to do with exploration, or even human life science, but is purely engineered to rake in profit from jumpstarting its Soyuz tourism programme. Only last month, Sarah Brightman – famed for her roles in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats and Phantom of the Opera – announced her intention to train for a mission to the ISS in 2015.

Extending his congratulations to Kelly and Kornienko, NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier noted that the men's "skills and previous experience aboard the space station align with the mission's requirements" and added that a year-long flight would "expand the bounds of how we live and work in space and increase our knowledge regarding the effects of microgravity on humans as we prepare for future missions beyond low-Earth orbit". Vladimir Popovkin, head of Roscosmos, pointed out the difficulty that was faced selecting Kornienko from a wide pool of experienced cosmonauts. "We have chosen the most responsible, skilled and enthusiastic crew members to expand space exploration," he said, "and we have full confidence in them."

With Elections Over, Commercial Space Funding Decisions Due

Dan Leone - Space News

After U.S. elections Nov. 6 left the balance of federal power essentially unchanged, NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program were spared the scrutiny of a new presidential administration only to return to a status quo defined mostly by long-standing funding uncertainties.

"An election like this one puts many things in Washington on hold," said former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation here. "There remain many unanswered questions, including how sequestration and budget conversations will affect NASA."

Lopez-Alegria is a self-described "card-carrying, Kool-Aid pouring believer" in the companies NASA is banking on to restore the manned spaceflight capability lost when the space shuttle program ended in July 2011. The organization he leads counts among its members all but one of the U.S. companies involved in NASA's efforts to turn space station crew and cargo logistics over to operators of privately owned space transportation systems.

During President Barack Obama's first four-year term, NASA leadership pushed hard to sell Congress on the agency's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program. That sales push is expected to begin anew when a still-divided Congress convenes in January.

Since 2010, when Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives from Democrats, lawmakers from both parties have often agreed on one thing when it comes to NASA's commercial human spaceflight programs: They do not need as much funding as the White House has sought.

Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA headquarters here, said that is likely to happen again in 2013.

If it does, the Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to get at least one privately operated astronaut taxi flying by 2017, will feel the pinch most acutely, having just started a 21-month development phase into which NASA plans to pour $1.1 billion in funding through May 2014.

"I think every year on this program we've had to replan because we didn't get the requested amount, so I anticipate next year not being any different," McAlister said Nov. 15 at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's Human Exploration and Operations Committee.

The $1.1 billion in Commercial Crew Integrated Capability awards NASA made in August to Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Sierra Nevada Corp. dwarfs the approximately $365 million NASA put into the first two rounds of the Commercial Crew Program from 2010 to 2011. In the third round, companies are expected to produce end-to-end transportation systems, including integrated crew and launch vehicles. The White House now says the program will need more than $800 million in annual funding from 2014 to 2017. Congress appropriated $406 million for commercial crew activities in 2012, less than half of the $830 million NASA requested for 2013.

Earlier this year, House and Senate appropriations panels signaled a willingness to increase commercial crew funding to $525 million in 2013, but the appropriations process stalled during the summer as lawmakers turned their attention to the election. Before heading home to campaign, Congress passed a stopgap spending measure, called a continuing resolution, that funds federal agencies at current levels through March. Congressional sources have said in recent weeks that odds are good that Congress — either in the lame duck session that wraps up Dec. 31 or early in the new Congress' first session — would pass a full-year continuing resolution that would keep funding flat through Sept. 30, 2013. In such an environment, NASA would be hard pressed to ramp up commercial crew funding.

In the meantime, sequestration — the deep across-the-board spending cuts that would take effect in January unless the president and Congress can reach a deficit reduction deal — threatens to suck $1.5 billion out of NASA's $17.8 billion budget next year alone.

"Certainly if we get sequestration that's going to be really a huge problem," McAlister told the NASA Advisory Council. "Even a full-year [continuing resolution] is going to be a challenge for the Commercial Crew Program."

To keep the program on track, NASA plans to award two or more Certification Products Contracts in February designed to allow the agency to ensure that the vehicles industry is developing to carry astronauts to the international space station meet NASA's human safety standards.

McAlister said he could not comment on who might bid for these contracts, but he did say it was a "logical assumption" that the same companies funded under Commercial Crew Integrated Capability awards would seek certification-phase awards.

Because the Certification Products Contracts are not bound by the same restrictions as Space Act Agreements used for Commercial Crew Integrated Capability and earlier rounds of the program, NASA will be able to approve or reject the safety certification plans its contractors will produce under this program.

McAlister said NASA expects to award two to four Certification Products Contracts, and that each of these firm, fixed-price agreements will be worth $10 million and run through May 31, 2014. NASA expects to issue a solicitation for phase two Certification Products Contracts in September 2013. Only bidders who make it through phase one will be eligible for a phase two award, McAlister said. He said NASA has not decided exactly what the deliverables for phase two Certification Products Contract might be.

Cargo route

While the Commercial Crew Program is just beginning its primary development phase, NASA's Commercial Cargo Program has moved into the operations phase.

SpaceX, one of two commercial cargo contractors, completed the first of its 12 contracted space station resupply runs Oct. 28, when its Dragon space capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. Despite problems with the Falcon 9 rocket that launched the mission — a premature engine shutdown 79 seconds into the launch forced the rocket to release a secondary commercial payload in a lower-than-intended orbit — NASA considered the mission a success and SpaceX will continue to fly delivery missions under the $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract it got in 2008.

SpaceX completed a demonstration cargo run to the space station in May. Since then, McAlister told NASA Advisory Council members, the Hawthorne, Calif., company has collected the final payout of a $394 million flight demonstration effort NASA required the company to complete before beginning routine deliveries.

Still waiting to collect on its own $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA is Orbital Sciences Corp. The Dulles, Va.-based company will deliver cargo in its Cygnus space tug, which will be launched from the Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., aboard the medium-lift Antares rocket Orbital is developing.

As of Nov. 15, Orbital had completed 25 out of 29 milestones in its flight demonstration contract with NASA, netting the company $276 million of a possible $288 million award. To collect on the rest of the demonstration contract, Orbital will have to complete a demonstration space station cargo run of its own. Such a mission is not likely to launch until early 2013, McAlister said in mid-November.

Before Orbital's first supply run, the company has to test-fly Antares with a ballast payload. The rocket's maiden flight had been scheduled for December, but cascading delays at the pad, including cleanup efforts after Hurricane Sandy blew through the area Oct. 29, likely mean no Antares flights this year, McAlister said.

Russia's Space Industry to Merge into Holdings

RIA Novosti

A structural reform of Russia's space industry will see its numerous enterprises united into five or six large holdings, Federal Space Agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said on Monday.

The reform should make the troubled industry more manageable, Popovkin said after a governmental meeting in Moscow.

The draft list of industries to get separate holdings includes orbital spacecraft development, in-orbit operation, guidance systems, scientific research, testing and strategic rocketry, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said, also on Monday.

The centralization may be taken a step further, with the Federal Space Agency, Russia's analogue of NASA, transformed into a state corporation that would replace the prospective holdings, Popovkin said.

The government considered creating a single "space corporation" for three years before deeming the idea ineffective, said Rogozin, who oversees defense and space industries.

But Popovkin said the idea may be revitalized depending on the performance of the upcoming holdings. Rogozin is to report to the government on the results of the reform after the first quarter of 2013, Popovkin said.

The government also ordered a 50-percent salary increase for all employees in the space industry, Popovkin said. Salaries currently average 37,500 rubles ($1,200) a month, he said.

Russia's space industry has seen a steady rate of botched launches in recent years, the most recent being the loss of two telecom satellites in August, blamed on a malfunction of the launch vehicle, the Proton M rocket.

Another Proton M, set to bring into orbit the Mexican telecom satellite Satmex-8 on Dec. 27, was damaged during transportation to Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan last week, though a replacement rocket will make it possible to send the Satmex-8 into space on schedule, the rocket's manufacturer, state-owned Khrunichev company, said on its website on Monday.

"The reform of Russia's space industry is long overdue because the industry is barely manageable now," Igor Marinin, editor-in-chief of the respected industry publication Novosti Kosmonavtiki, told RIA Novosti.

During the 1990s, when the industry all but lost funding, it grew fractured, with its 130-plus enterprises developing vastly different ownership structures and with many becoming de-facto independent of the Federal Space Agency, Marinin said.

However, grouping the enterprises into holdings will be a trying task because many of the companies service several sub-industries at the same time, he said.

Marinin was skeptical about a prospective state-owned space corporation, noting that "then there would be no competition in the industry at all."

No more interest in further work on ISS?

Andrei Kislyakov - Russia Beyond the Headlines

The International Space Station (ISS) was launched 14 years ago, on November 20, 1998. This week can be a good opportunity to contemplate all that has been achieved and discuss the future of this unparalleled manned program in space. Yet its two principal operators - the U.S. and Russia - seem to drag their feet over further collaboration.

The ISS has been on the orbit for just over 5,000 days. More than 200 individuals from 15 countries have been to the station since 1998, when the station's first module was launched into space.

"The space station program has been in progress for 40 years," said Sergei Krikalyov, head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. "The first Salyut station was launched in 1971. And the experience we had obtained with the Salyut station was utilized when the Mir station was built. This core module has become the prototype of what would eventually become the International Space Station."

"We learned so much when we worked at Mir. I cannot fathom how we would have built the International Space Station without all the knowledge we acquired. When that project started, both the Russians and the Americans knew how to cooperate, how our equipment worked together, and even how all of us would have a rest together," said American astronaut Michael Barratt.

"I believe that space research in the global prospect of outer space exploration must be an international effort," NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson said. "We are doing something for the benefit of the whole world, as one global community; but, in reality, the most complex thing we have done together is the space station. That is the indisputable proof that together we are stronger."

Today, despite some minor, routine technical problems and one serious problem caused by the accident of the Russian freighter spacecraft Progress, the manned program is still running. Unfortunately, absence of hardware problems is not enough to consider the International Space Station program a success.

It is difficult to tell who will board the ISS of tomorrow, but this is what will determine the future of the unique international orbital complex.

At the same time, there is little chance that the current lineup of the station's operation team will continue taking part in the program. The two principal operators of the ISS – Russia and the U.S. – both, for their own reasons, have no interest in further work within their common orbital home.

Furthermore, both Russia and the U.S. are gradually developing new projects for manned flight programs. What is going to replace the ISS?

According to the NASA operations program published on July 5, 2011, the low Earth orbit where the ISS is currently operating will be reserved for private companies that will be bringing tourists, carrying out their research, etc.

The first private spacecraft Dragon has already successfully docked at the ISS. The public funds thus saved will be used to finance outer space research â?? i.e., the Moon and Mars exploration projects.

Will the U.S. have any motivation to continue its cooperation with Russia within the ISS program? The joint research program is negligible, but what about independent scientific experiments?

Even today their number is insignificant. And now the U.S. is commencing preparation for the Lunar-Mars exploration, which our American partners seem to consider their private business. At this rate, having access to the ISS is not among American priorities, to put it mildly.

On the other hand, the ISS remains an important factor for Russia in the development of its manned space exploration. Loss of the station is literally a critical blow to development of the entire industry.

Nonetheless, in May 2011, the head of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building, Gennady Raikunov, said that the ISS is a closed chapter for Russian science, and that the future of science lies with exploration of the Moon.

"We have hit the limit of the capacity of the ISS and now we need to start thinking about something bigger, something more significant," he said. "We are thinking, theoretically for now, about using our natural satellite – the Moon – as a satellite, where we could set up many more experiments and make use of far more opportunities. These opportunities are absolutely immense."

It seems that the head of the main Russian space enterprise and member of the ISS program has discarded the station already.

So what awaits the ISS in the end? It seems that this question remains open for now. What is known is that, according to Krikalyov, the International Space Station will continue its orbital work until 2020, at the least.

Who will challenge Dragon? Dragon spaceship postponed until March

Olga Zakutnyaya - Voice of Russia

The head of the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Elon Musk has foretold a grim future for the European Ariane 5 rocket launcher, but SpaceX's own project, the Dragon spaceship, bound for the International Space Station, has now been postponed until March, 2013.

It's thought that could be due to malfunctions in the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and in Dragon's onboard systems that were discovered during the latest flight from 7th to 28th of October, 2012. Next year will hopefully see Cygnus, another private spacecraft, supplying the ISS after the shuttle program was closed.

The Dragon's third flight to the ISS in October was also its first operational mission under a Commercial Resupply Services contract made with NASA under the new Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Program. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the most 'glitchy' flight so far, starting with a malfunction in one of the Falcon 9 engines and ending with water penetrating the capsule after splashdown along with a temperature increase inside the GLACIER freezer, possibly due to power loss. Anomalies were also observed in Flight Computers when the capsule detached from the ISS while using two computers instead of three as well as problems with several other components, possibly due to radiation hits. Then there have also been some technical issues with the Dragon's onboard 'Draco' thrusters.

All the failings are currently being looked into by experts from NASA and SpaceX, but no findings from the investigation have yet been published. Twelve Dragon launches are due under the contract with NASA, and the next has been rescheduled from January 18, to March 1, 2013.

The launcher malfunction also led to the loss of an Orbcomm communication satellite, which could not be delivered to the planned orbit because of a lack of fuel; the Falcon 9 was unable to use a first stage engine making the others work harder.

Despite the failings, the company's CEO, Elon Musk, remains optimistic, bravely declaring that ESA's Ariane 5 is no match for Falcon 9 and even less so for the upgraded Falcon 9 v.1.1. The next ISS resupply mission will use the current spacecraft, while three more SpaceX launches planned for 2013 are to use the new version.

Among the forthcoming payloads are the Canadian Space Agency's Cassiope satellite to monitor space weather, eight Orbcomm telecommunication satellites (the company has stuck with SpaceX despite the recent failure), and the SES 8 telecommunications satellite (SES is a satellite operator). The latter will present something of a challenge to SpaceX as the satellite needs to be delivered to a geostationary orbit, which will be a first for the Falcon 9. The client is also demanding at least one successful launch before the SES 8 lifts off. The backup plan for SES is, again, Europe's Ariane 5.

The next year might also bring another challenge for SpaceX, as the Cygnus spacecraft, developed by the Orbital Sciences Corporation, is scheduled to launch in April, 2013, which will be the first (and so far the only) demonstration flight needed to evaluate the two systems' performances. Then, two more Cygnus flights are planned for the rest of 2013 and early 2014. Even though the real schedule may turn out to be a little more relaxed, the pace is spectacular.

Cygnus will lift off with the help of an Antares rocket launcher, also developed by Orbital, but using existing components. Orbital is also famous for its Pegasus rocket, which is currently used to carry small satellites into orbit. Pegasus starts its flight on an aircraft, one of very few to use the 'air launch' method.

But SpaceX does not need to worry, with twelve launches to the ISS already secured. However, over the coming year the company will be under intense pressure to prove its vehicle's reliability. Even though the Falcon 9 costs less than its competitors, price is not the only consideration, the number of successful launches will, to a large extent, also drive the customer's decision and, for SpaceX, that count has yet to begin.

Space Buff: Lifting Weights in Weightlessness

Sarah Rose - Wall Street Journal

For an astronaut about to lift off, having the right stuff means going easy on the daily workout.

Chris Hadfield, 53 years old, will take off in December for the International Space Station and he has altered his Earthbound gym routine to prep for the six-month space adventure.

"The closer you get to launch, the less you do," says the astronaut, who was born in Sarnia, Ontario, and will be the first Canadian to command the station. "This is not a time for pickup basketball or church volleyball. I don't need to dislocate or break something."

The International Space Station, launched in 1998, is a $100 billion, permanently staffed research laboratory orbiting some 250 miles above the Earth. The long time spent in weightlessness will take a toll on Cmdr. Hadfield's body over his six-month mission. Life in microgravity can lead to bone loss, as well as changes to the cardiovascular system and even in the shape of the eyes.

Over the 50 years of the space program, scientists have discovered that two hours a day of exercise could prevent some muscle and bone loss when normal gravity isn't giving astronauts a passive workout. But the challenge remains: How do you lift weights in weightlessness?

The Workout on Earth…

A competitive water skier, beach-volleyball player and a former downhill ski instructor, Cmdr. Hadfield has trained for the past three years at the Johnson Space Center facilities in Houston, the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal, and with the European, Japanese and Russian space agencies.

This is his first mission to the ISS and by far his longest stay in space, although he has been on two shuttle missions, including one that made him the first Canadian to do a spacewalk. He will be on the ISS for about three months before he takes over as commander.

"We have some people in the office who are real gym rats, some ultramarathoners, but I just work out two or three times a week," he says.

His routine includes running about four miles outdoors a few days a week. Inside the gym, he stretches to maintain flexibility and then does 30 minutes of cardio on the stationary bike, treadmill or the elliptical machine.

Next, he lifts weights. He starts with the large muscle groups by doing squats, torso raises, dead lifts and pull-downs. He then works smaller muscles with leg curls, calf raises, bench presses, and butterfly and wrist curls.

He likes to keep moving during the entire workout to keep his heart rate up, and watches sports or movies to keep his mind occupied while on the machines. He finishes with abs and more stretching.

He has personal trainers—one from NASA, the other from the Canadian Space Agency—who monitor him before launch, during his mission, and after his return so they can keep tabs on how his body works and how it changes in orbit. They also will help him return to his preflight condition when he gets back.

In Houston, he learns to exercise on special equipment identical to that used on the space station.

And in Space…

To model the resistance of free weights, NASA developed a machine—the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, or ARED—that requires an astronaut to pull levers against the suction of a vacuum chamber.

Astronauts are strapped with elastic cords onto a treadmill or a stationary bicycle so they won't float away. The treadmill and cycle have stabilizing gyroscopes and are suspended on wires in the station so vibrations from Cmdr. Hadfield's workout don't cause the space station to rock and shake, potentially upsetting the science experiments on board.

The treadmill, called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill, or Colbert—named for the television personality, Stephen Colbert, following a write-in contest—juts from a wall. There is no "up" in a weightless environment.

Staying fit in space isn't just necessary so he can walk when he lands back on Earth, Cmdr. Hadfield says. Astronauts have to keep fit to perform spacewalks, which amount to grueling, hourslong cardio workouts. The spacewalking suit leaves him bloody, with knuckles, fingernails and collarbone taking the worst punishment from scraping, he says.

Even turning a wrench to make repairs on the ISS is demanding without the help of gravity. "It's like trying to change a tire when you're on ice skates," the astronaut says, "After 6½ hours, you're a wreck."

The Diet

There isn't a lot of fresh food on the space station—only some occasional fresh fruit during resupply—so astronauts eat canned and bagged items, such as Clif Bars, Power Bars, peanut butter and Cheez Whiz. Salt speeds up calcium loss and an astronaut's skeleton already suffers in a nonweight-bearing environment. So nutritionists seek other ways to make a space diet healthy and tasty.

"We miss the nice crunch of vegetables and salad," he said. Most astronauts lose weight during space flight.

The Sacrifice

Cmdr. Hadfield says he loves a cold beer on a warm day after working out, or an Islay malt whiskey—neat—when he sings with his astronaut band, Bandella. But he won't drink alcohol during his six months aboard the space station. "At any given moment, if we have a leak or fire, we have to jump in a space ship and fly home," he says. "There's no drunk-dialing for a taxi. We are it. So we live a fairly monastic life."

NASA's Space Shuttle-Carrying Jet Lands in Houston for Good

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

Houston, you have a space shuttle ... carrier aircraft.

NASA's original jumbo jet, which was used to ferry the space shuttles around the country, has landed at Ellington Field in Houston, where it is to stay.

The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), often referred to using its tail number, NASA 905, was most recently used to fly space shuttle Endeavour to Los Angeles in September. The 747 jetliner was seen by millions of people as it made its way from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to California, where it performed a scenic flyover of the state with Endeavour riding piggyback.

After Endeavour was offloaded, the SCA took off from Los Angeles International Airport, without fanfare, on what was reported to be its final flight: a 20 minute trip to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California. There, it was to join its sister SCA, NASA 911, as a parts donor for another of NASA's 747 jetliner-based programs, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).

Then a flight plan was filed for Ellington Field. NASA 905 was flown to Houston on Oct. 24, just in time for it be on hand for the Wings Over Houston Air Show. The rumor on the flight line was that the public display was a preview of things to come.

Static display

The rumors were right.

"SCA pilots Jeff Moultrie and Bill Rieke and long-time SCA flight engineer Henry Taylor from NASA's Johnson Space Center flew the modified Boeing 747 jetliner from Dryden to Ellington Airport in southeast Houston Oct. 24, where the big Boeing jet will be retired and eventually placed on public display," a statement on NASA's website confirmed this month.

How, when and where NASA 905 will be exhibited is still to be announced — if not also still to be decided. Houston was not awarded one of the retired flown shuttle orbiters that the SCA carried, but Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for Johnson Space Center, exhibits a full size, high-fidelity orbiter mockup.

Regardless of the details, the decision to display the aircraft ensures its history will be preserved.

An early-model 747-123 version, NASA 905 was the 86th 747 built, rolling out in 1970 and making its first flight on Oct. 15 of that year. After serving as a flagship jetliner for American Airlines for several years, the jumbo jet was acquired by Johnson Space Center in 1974 for use by the coming space shuttle program.

Prior to its conversion into a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, the jetliner was the focus of several aeronautical research experiments conducted at Dryden (then known as NASA's Flight Research Center) including wake vortex turbulence studies that aided the Federal Aviation Administration in modifying airport approach-and-departure procedures for airplanes flying behind large commercial aircraft.

NASA 905 then underwent significant structural changes and upgrades by Boeing in 1976, to prepare it for the role it would serve for the next 35 years.

Modifications to the 747 included beefing up the aircraft structure, adding attach points for mounting the shuttle orbiter and installing a flight crew escape system. The latter consisted of an exit tunnel extending from the flight deck to the bottom of the fuselage and pyrotechnics to activate the hatch and cabin window release mechanisms.

The additions also included vertical fins mounted at the ends of the horizontal stabilizer (tail) to aid stability when carrying a shuttle, upgraded engines, removal of most of the interior furnishings, and installation of shuttle-specific instrumentation.

The converted jetliner then returned to Dryden to serve as a launch aircraft for the prototype shuttle orbiter Enterprise during NASA's Approach and Landing Test (ALT) program in 1977. The crew escape system was removed following the successful completion of the ALT program. [Final Voyage of Space Shuttle Enterprise (Photos)]

Shuttle carrier

NASA 905 was then modified again from ALT launch to ferry flight configuration, and flew four test flights before being placed into service to carry the shuttle orbiters.

Although the primary function of the SCA was to transport the orbiters back to Kennedy Space Center from Dryden or other contingency landing sites, the aircraft also carried shuttles to and from Palmdale, Calif. for modifications and maintenance.

NASA 905 also ferried the Enterprise for display at special events such as the Paris Air Show in France and the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans, La.

NASA 905 flew 70 of the 87 ferry flights during the shuttle program's operational phase, including 46 of the 54 post-mission ferry flights from Dryden to Kennedy. After the orbiters were retired, NASA 905 flew three ferry missions in 2012 to deliver the shuttles Discovery, Enterprise, and Endeavour to the museums where they are currently on display.

After delivering Endeavour to Los Angeles on Sept. 21, where the space shuttle was turned over to the California Science Center, NASA 905 returned to Dryden to end its service to the shuttle program.

Flight-worthy

During its 42-year flight career, both as a commercial jet and as a space shuttle carrier, SCA 905 amassed 11,017 flight hours and made 6,334 takeoffs and landings. Currently, the SCA remains in flyable condition. A decision on its future use or retirement is still pending.

NASA's second Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, 911, was acquired from Japan Air Lines in 1989 and, after being modified for its new role, was delivered to NASA in late 1990. It was retired in early 2012 after 386 flights as a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, 66 of which were ferry flights with a space shuttle mounted on top its fuselage.

NASA 911 is now parked at Dryden's Aircraft Operations Facility adjacent to Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. It is now available as a source of potential spare parts to support NASA's SOFIA, a highly modified Boeing 747 that carries a 100-inch infrared telescope on science missions around the globe.

Both SCAs were owned by Johnson Space Center, though they were based at Dryden during much of their service to NASA.

Spacecraft tracking facility on horizon for Brownsville

Steve Clark - Brownsville Herald

Brownsville might be destined for the aerospace business whether SpaceX builds a rocket launch site here or not.

STARGATE, which stands for "South Texas Spacecraft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Giga-hertz Astrophysical Transient Emission," has a 90 percent chance of becoming a reality, according to Fredrick Jenet, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Texas at Brownsville and director of UTB's Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy.

STARGATE is Jenet's concept for a radio frequency technology facility that would give students and faculty access to cutting-edge equipment with commercial as well as academic applications, including satellite and spacecraft tracking.

It would be located at Boca Chica in the same general area SpaceX is considering for a launch site. While the facility clearly would improve Brownsville's odds of attracting SpaceX, STARGATE could go forward without it. At the same time, Jenet is negotiating with SpaceX — and other high-tech firms — about getting STARGATE built, he said.

The Greater Brownsville Incentives Corp. at its Oct. 18 board meeting approved $500,000 in seed money for the STARGATE project. According to minutes from the meeting, the board stipulated that the approved funds be released "once a Memorandum of Understanding was executed between (UTB) and Space-X and once invoices were provided for the various development stages (including purchase of land) of the project."

"This type of radio frequency technology research center is the type of thing that would make Brownsville very attractive to any high-tech company, including SpaceX," Jenet said. "A facility like this is going to be extremely attractive to high-tech companies — to be able to see that this work is going on down here: Yes, we do have high-tech workers that we are training and, yes, they are working with cutting-edge equipment. And we're also going to be making scientific discoveries."

The main purpose of STARGATE is to build the local technology base by creating a tech-savvy workforce. UTB's radio astronomy center works with students from high school through college, Jenet said. STARGATE is a logical extension of the center's existing programs, he noted, including the Arecibo Remote Command Center, which gives students and faculty in Brownsville access to and control of Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory, the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world.

Jenet said UTB's radio astronomy program is an effective magnet for attracting students into STEM fields — science, technology, engineering and math — and that the skills they learn are highly transferable to other areas of academia and industry. STARGATE would also be run through the radio astronomy center.

He praised board members with GBIC and the Brownsville Economic Development Council, which advises GBIC, for "insight and forethought" in their support of funds to help build STARGATE, the first phase of which likely would cost between $4 million and $6 million.

"Getting the initial seed money was really great," Jenet said. "We still have more fundraising that needs to happen. I'm positive we will be able to pull all this together in the near future."

Gil Salinas, BEDC executive vice president, said STARGATE would be one of just a handful of such facilities in the United States and would enhance his organization's ability to lure high-tech companies to the Brownsville region.

"It'll just make our place more attractive, and it will strengthen our position," he said. "It's perfectly in line with the types of companies we're trying to recruit. If you start connecting the dots, you can see we're trying to lay a foundation and develop an aerospace cluster from scratch. Not many have done that. This is a project that would be beneficial to multiple companies in the aerospace industry."

Jenet said that, if built, STARGATE would send a powerful message that things are changing in the Rio Grande Valley.

"That's also one of the strong pluses, is that it's a high profile thing that sort of redefines what it means to be coming from the Valley," he said. "I think you can probably tell it's going to play a key role in effecting a lot of changes here in South Texas."

Jenet described UTB's efforts to develop STARGATE and the drive to land a SpaceX launch site as "parallel but coordinated." Final word on STARGATE should come down soon, he added, expressing confidence that it indeed will come to pass.

"We'll definitely know by early next year if this is really going to happen," Jenet said. "I think it will. I would start betting now."

END

Keep the shuttle flying

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - November 27, 2012 and JSC Today

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