Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - November 28, 2012 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: November 28, 2012 6:47:15 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - November 28, 2012 and JSC Today

 

 

 

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            Latest International Space Station Research

2.            JSC SharePoint and IRD SQL Database Intermittent Outage - Nov. 28

3.            Breakfast with Santa -- Get Your Tickets by Friday

4.            Blood Drive: Dec. 11, 12 and 13

5.            JSC Case Study Development

6.            Situational Awareness Class: Dec. 4 to 6 - Building 226N, Room 174

7.            Mobile Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Elevators and Conveyors in Construction ViTS - Dec. 7

8.            Control Team/Crew Resource Management: Jan. 29 to 31

9.            Basic First Aid Class: Feb. 12, May 16 and Aug. 1

________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY

" How beautiful a day can be When kindness touches it! "

 

-- George Elliston

________________________________________

1.            Latest International Space Station Research

Did you know that there are opportunities for students to design experiments and then have them performed on our International Space Station?

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) was launched in June 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in strategic partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. It is a remarkable U.S. national science, technology, engineering and mathematics education initiative.

Read more about the next inquiry-based opportunity here.

Liz Warren x35548

 

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2.            JSC SharePoint and IRD SQL Database Intermittent Outage - Nov. 28

The Information Resources Directorate (IRD) has scheduled an outage to conduct monthly maintenance patching on the JSC SharePoint Service and IRD Consolidated SQL Database servers on Wednesday, Nov. 28, from 6 to 10 p.m. CST. During this timeframe, the JSC SharePoint service and IRD Consolidated SQL database service will be offline. Therefore, some internal JSC websites, like organization pages or the internal JSC homepage, may lose some functionally during this maintenance period. 

 

IRD will minimize the downtime as much as possible, but users may experience intermittent outages as the servers undergo maintenance  throughout the evening. For assistance related to this outage, please contact the IRD Customer Support Center at x46367, option 5, or e-mail: jsc-irdcspt@mail.nasa.gov

JSC IRD Outreach x46367 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/IRDHelp/sharepoint/default.aspx

 

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3.            Breakfast with Santa -- Get Your Tickets by Friday

Santa Claus is coming to town and making a stop at the Gilruth Center! Enjoy breakfast with Santa in the Alamo Ballroom from 9 to 11 a.m. on Dec. 8. Your child will have the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap to give him their wish list and have their picture taken. Each child will receive one free 5x7 (additional photos may be purchased). Join in on the food, fun, music, crafts and more. Tickets are $10/child and $15/adult. Purchase your tickets at the Gilruth Center or in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops. Tickets must be purchased by Friday. Hurry, space is limited. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Don't miss out on this special event!

Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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4.            Blood Drive: Dec. 11, 12 and 13

Give the "Gift of Life" by donating at our final blood drive for 2012 on Dec. 11, 12 and 13. Your blood donation can help up to three patients.

You can donate at Ellington Field on Dec. 11. A donor coach will be located between Hangars 276 and 135 for donations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

You can donate at JSC from Dec. 12 to 13 in the Teague Auditorium lobby or at the donor coach located next to the Building 11 Starport Café from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

You can donate in the Gilruth Center Coronado Room on Dec. 13 from 7:30 a.m. to noon.

Criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website. T-shirts, snacks and drinks are available for all donors.

Teresa Gomez x39588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm

 

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5.            JSC Case Study Development

Organizational learning takes place when knowledge is shared in usable ways among organizational members. Knowledge is most usable when it is contextual. Case study teaching is a method for sharing contextual project management knowledge that can help make the reapplication of lessons learned meaningful. The JSC Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) will embark on developing our own case studies. Case studies will be written by interviewing the key players on a project, in addition to collecting historical documents and reports. A professional writer will produce a written case story incorporating human elements, technical aspects and lessons learned. The CKO would like to solicit you for potential topics. Potential topics can be technical, administrative, management, science, operations problems and more. Please send your ideas to Brent J. Fontenot.

Brent J. Fontenot x36456

 

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6.            Situational Awareness Class: Dec. 4 to 6 - Building 226N, Room 174

Last chance! NASA is involved in operations where there is always a potential for human error and undesirable outcomes. As part of a team, how we communicate, process information and react in various situations determines our level of success. In our efforts, we often run into glitches and the potential for human error. Situational Awareness is a course that addresses these issues. It involves combining our awareness of what's going on in the operations environment, a knowledge of system-failure design criteria and an understanding of expected outcomes from system failures to avoid hazardous situations and develop safe responses to unsafe conditions that may realistically be expected to arise. This course instructs students in the basic tenets and practices of situational awareness and how they apply to hazardous operations in NASA to promote the best, proactive safety techniques in practice. Two-and-a-half days. SATERN Registration Required. (Contractors: Update profile.) https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Polly Caison x41279

 

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7.            Mobile Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Elevators and Conveyors in Construction ViTS - Dec. 7

The purpose of this three-hour course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary to meet CFR 1926.550 Subpart N, Mobile Crane and Derricks. The course goal is to increase safety awareness for operators, riggers, signalmen, supervisors and safety personnel involved in construction operations, and to further their understanding of safety standards and regulations related to lifting devices. This course introduces the student to the pertinent requirements in OSHA 1926.550, ANSI standards and NASA requirements. Students are provided with basic information concerning crane safety, operations and maintenance; pre-lift plans; wire rope; and rigging components and safety. The course is intended to provide the basics for those operating in and around mobile cranes. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit.

Registration in SATERN required.

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

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8.            Control Team/Crew Resource Management: Jan. 29 to 31

Two-and-a-half days. This training directly addresses human factors issues that most often cause problems in team and crew interaction. No one working on a team or a crew, especially in high-stress activities, is immune to these effects. The Control Team/Crew Resource Management course deals with interpersonal relations, but doesn't advocate democratic rule or hugging fellow team members to improve personal relations. Rather, this course provides awareness of human factors problems that too often result in mishaps and offers recommendations and procedures for eliminating these problems. It emphasizes safety risk assessment, crew/team coordination and decision-making in crisis situations. This course is applicable both to those in aircrew-type operations and also to personnel operating consoles for hazardous testing or on-orbit mission operations, or any operation involving teamwork and critical communication. It is preferable that "teams" experience course as a group, if possible. SATERN Registration Required.  https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Polly Caison x41279

 

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9.            Basic First Aid Class: Feb. 12, May 16 and Aug. 1

This three-hour class is designed to help participants become familiar with how to recognize and care for victims of illness and sudden injuries. Students will be able to recognize an injury or sudden illness. They will learn how to care for muscle, bone and joint injuries; control bleeding; and learn general-care steps for burns. The course also includes some emergency-response techniques to help people feel more confident in their ability to help during an emergency. Limited seating. Registration in SATERN required.

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

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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: 11 am Central (Noon EST) – File of E34/35 Qualification Training Simulation Runs at Star City

 

Human Spaceflight News

Wednesday – November 28, 2012

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Smith to chair the House Science Committee in the next Congress

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

It must have been the tie. The House Republican Steering Committee, a group of 34 GOP members of the House that includes the party's leadership there, selected Tuesday a slate of candidates for committee chairmanships in the next Congress, starting in January. Included in that list is Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) as chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. Smith beat out Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and former committee chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) for the chairmanship. The full House Republican membership is expected to approve the slate of committee chairmanships today. The selection of Smith was not a surprise, as earlier this month he appeared to be the frontrunner in the three-way race. Smith apparently dressed for the occasion: The Hill notes that Smith was "clad in a tie decorated with planets and spaceships for his presentation" to the steering committee. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Cracks in NASA's Orion model spur Lockheed Martin to revisit design

 

Kristen Leigh Painter - Denver Post

 

Lockheed Martin Space Systems is revisiting the crew-capsule design of NASA's Orion spacecraft after three structural cracks were found during proof pressure testing of the first flight model at Kennedy Space Center. "It shouldn't have cracked," said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager at NASA. "We predicted that it was going to be high stress, but we didn't think it would crack." Geyer and Cleon Lacefield, Orion program manager at Lockheed Martin, were at the company's Jefferson County facility Tuesday for progress reports and to discuss how the cracks happened and what they are doing to fix the problem.

 

Tests leave cracks in Orion shell

Damage unlikely to delay 2014 test flight

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

NASA is evaluating options for repairing the first Orion crew capsule slated to fly in space after it sustained cracks during recent pressure testing at Kennedy Space Center. The damage is not expected to delay a planned 2014 test flight of the uncrewed spacecraft, a prototype of one the agency is developing to fly astronauts on deep space exploration missions to the moon, an asteroid or beyond. "The intent is to diagnose root cause and repair the cracks in time to support a second scheduled window for loads testing early next year," NASA spokeswoman Rachel Kraft said in an e-mail.

 

NASA administrator Charles Bolden Jr. tours Decatur rocket plant Wednesday

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. will tour the Decatur plant where United Launch Alliance assembles Delta and Atlas rockets Wednesday morning. ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, hopes one of those rockets will eventually power a commercial space taxi for astronauts to the International Space Station, and NASA under Bolden is strongly encouraging commercial space development. Bolden will tour the plant on the Tennessee River west of Huntsville with Michael Gass, ULA president and CEO, and Bolden will speak to the media afterward. The tour of the facility, some of which is classified, is not open to reporters.

 

Time for the U.S. to Partner with China in Space?

 

George Abbey & Leroy Chiao - Discovery News (Opinion)

 

(Abbey is the Baker Botts Senior Fellow in Space Policy at Rice University's Baker Institute and a former JSC director. Chiao is a former astronaut and now is the special adviser for human spaceflight to the Space Foundation.)

 

The future of America's space program is at a critical point in time; decisions are being made that will affect our ability to successfully maintain our leadership in human space flight, our national security and our capability to successfully compete with the international community in the commercial use of space. What does the future hold for U.S. human spaceflight (HSF)? The United States had been the undisputed leader in space exploration for several decades, until recently. With the completion of its last flight in July of 2011, the Space Shuttle has been arbitrarily retired. And today, Russia is the only partner in the International Space Station (ISS) program that is able to transport astronauts and cosmonauts to and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

 

Stratolaunch and SpaceX part ways

 

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

 

Space launch company Stratolaunch has parted ways with manufacturer SpaceX, dissolving a partnership dating from the project's inception. "Stratolaunch and SpaceX have amicably agreed to end our contractual relationship because the current launch vehicle design has departed significantly from the Falcon derivative vehicle envisioned by SpaceX and does not fit well with their long-term strategic business model," says Gary Wentz, Stratolaunch CEO, in a 27 November email.

 

Balloon Test Shows Space Tourism on the Horizon

 

Jeremy Hsu - TechNewsDaily

 

Not all space tourism is rocket science. A newly successful test of a balloon could allow paying human customers to enjoy stunning Earth views and the weightless astronaut experience by 2014. The test balloon carried a humanoid robot up to an altitude of almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) on Nov. 12 — just a few miles shy of where skydiver Felix Baumgartner leaped from during his "space dive" in October. Startup Zero 2 Infinity wants to eventually offer hours of flight time for space tourists to do whatever they want in a near-space environment.

 

Moon rocks from Apollo 11 moon landing found by National Guard in Minnesota state building

 

Associated Press

 

Houston, we have moon rocks. The Minnesota National Guard said Monday it found a few small fragments of the moon's surface in storage in a state building in St. Paul. They'll be turned over to the state Historical Society on Wednesday. The moon rocks came from the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. Some of the rocks, pebbles and dirt they collected have gone missing after U.S. states and territories and 135 countries each got tiny samples encased in plastic. Authentic moon rocks are considered national treasures and can't legally be sold in the U.S.

 

Misplaced moon rocks: Minnesota's found, but more are missing

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Five small fragments of the moon, which were collected at Tranquility Base 40 years ago and gifted to the people of Minnesota, have been found by the National Guard. The small lunar stones, which are better described as dust and pebbles rather than moon rocks, were discovered as they were originally presented: embedded inside an acrylic button and mounted to a wooden podium with a Minnesota state flag that also flew to the moon in 1969. "The Apollo 11 moon rocks were found amongst military artifacts in a storage area at the Veterans Service Building in St. Paul," said Army Maj. Blane Iffert, the former state historian for the Minnesota National Guard.

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COMPLETE STORIES

 

Cracks in NASA's Orion model spur Lockheed Martin to revisit design

 

Kristen Leigh Painter - Denver Post

 

Lockheed Martin Space Systems is revisiting the crew-capsule design of NASA's Orion spacecraft after three structural cracks were found during proof pressure testing of the first flight model at Kennedy Space Center.

 

"It shouldn't have cracked," said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager at NASA. "We predicted that it was going to be high stress, but we didn't think it would crack."

 

Geyer and Cleon Lacefield, Orion program manager at Lockheed Martin, were at the company's Jefferson County facility Tuesday for progress reports and to discuss how the cracks happened and what they are doing to fix the problem.

 

The capsule was designed in Colorado, although much of it was manufactured elsewhere.

 

"The team has a repair in place," Geyer said. "It'll basically distribute the stress across that location. It's a simple repair."

 

With a history of human life being lost because of spacecraft malfunctions, including the losses of the Challenger and Columbia crews, the rigorous qualification testing that all spacecraft must pass is that much more critical for Orion — the next mission to carry humans into space following the now-retired shuttle program. But project leaders noted that the testing system seems to be working since the flaws were found long before flight.

 

Lockheed and NASA have decided to repair instead of rebuild the existing capsule because this particular structure will not carry humans.

 

"For this flight, since it is unmanned, we can fix it and fly it," Geyer said. "When we build the one that we're actually going to put people on, we'll make sure we fix this design."

 

The three cracks are less than 2 inches long and are on the bottom of the capsule where the bulkhead and the heat shield meet.

 

While the team explores other possibilities, Geyer and Lacefield suspect they can fix the problem using a doubler — two pieces of metal with bolts through them — to redistribute the pressure across the stressed area.

 

The doubler fix is expected to be implemented by January and retested at the same time the capsule is scheduled for its next test.

 

"The design will have more gradual slopes. We are checking some other locations, even though there were no cracks," Geyer said. "But the team needs to go look at everything."

 

The team has cut out the sections of cracked metal and will analyze them with a high-powered microscope. Once the team determines the design flaw, a permanent change will be incorporated into the new, human-carrying, design.

 

The qualification testing is meant to put the spacecraft through the most extreme conditions, beyond the stresses it is expected to encounter in space and atmospheric re-entry.

 

"So that's difficult testing — that's usually when you break things, because you're pushing it to the edge," Geyer said.

 

Lockheed Martin was granted the primary contract for Orion in 2006, which is budgeted through 2021 at an estimated value of $6.7 billion. The team doesn't expect this to delay its first scheduled orbital launch in September 2014.

 

"For Lockheed Martin, a lot of the spacecraft-design expertise is here in Denver," said Lacefield. "This is what Colorado does for exploration — they are the design guys."

 

A total of 1,300 Lockheed Martin employees are supported by the Orion mission, with 550 of those jobs in Colorado — not counting local subcontractors and suppliers.

 

Next year is a big year for Orion. The entire system for the first launch will be fully integrated, tested and space-ready by the end of 2013. Meanwhile, Lockheed will begin working on the updated design, which will be altered based on the initial test flight.

 

This is not the first patch of turbulence that Orion has hit in its pathway to launch. The program was nearly canceled in 2010 after President Barack Obama's administration called for the termination of NASA's Constellation program for budgetary reasons.

 

Orion was repurposed and saved, with modifications, under a new plan put forth by Obama.

 

"Given the budget challenges that the government is going through, we changed our approach of how we get to flight with this incremental test program," Geyer said. "It allows us to distribute the work to fit the budget, and it also lets us test and fly more."

 

After NASA launches its cracked-and-repaired capsule into orbit in 2014, it will send another unmanned mission, with the new capsule design, around the moon and back in 2017. This second mission is unique, for it will be aboard a brand-new rocket — the Space Launch System — that will provide enough power to propel Orion deeper into space.

 

The first manned Orion mission is slated for 2021, with the destination still undetermined.

 

Lockheed Martin and NASA have worked together to streamline processes and trim the fat from the mission's overhead costs.

 

"Affordability is part of our work scope now," Lacefield said.

 

Tests leave cracks in Orion shell

Damage unlikely to delay 2014 test flight

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

NASA is evaluating options for repairing the first Orion crew capsule slated to fly in space after it sustained cracks during recent pressure testing at Kennedy Space Center.

 

The damage is not expected to delay a planned 2014 test flight of the uncrewed spacecraft, a prototype of one the agency is developing to fly astronauts on deep space exploration missions to the moon, an asteroid or beyond.

 

"The intent is to diagnose root cause and repair the cracks in time to support a second scheduled window for loads testing early next year," NASA spokeswoman Rachel Kraft said in an e-mail.

 

The cracks appeared during a "proof pressure" test performed Nov. 6 in KSC's Operations and Checkout building.

 

The test incrementally pressurized the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built capsule to demonstrate weld strength and structural performance at maximum flight operation pressures, NASA said.

 

Three cracks formed in the lower half of the capsule's pressure vessel, one each on three adjacent ribs of its aluminum aft bulkhead.

 

The pressure vessel's skin was not penetrated and it continued to hold pressure.

 

"Cracks caused by such tests are not unusual — the International Space Station experienced similar circumstances," said Kraft.

 

The test vehicle is building up to Exploration Flight Test-1, a two-orbit trip scheduled to be launched from Cape Canaveral in 2014 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket.

 

The test flight will send the Orion about 3,600 miles above Earth, more than 15 times higher than the International Space Station's orbit, exposing its heat shield to temperatures up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit as it reenters the atmosphere at more than 20,000 mph.

 

NASA plans another test flight without a crew from KSC in 2017 on the maiden voyage of its Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.

 

The system's first crewed flight is targeted for 2021.

 

The Orion "multi-purpose crew vehicle" is a holdover from the canceled Constellation program.

 

NASA spent $5.7 billion on its development between the 2006 and 2011 fiscal years, and expects to spend another $8.8 billion between 2012 and 2021.

 

Separately, the agency is working with several companies to develop private spacecraft that can taxi crews to the space station, a service provided exclusively by Russian vehicles since the shuttle's retirement last year.

 

NASA administrator Charles Bolden Jr. tours Decatur rocket plant Wednesday

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. will tour the Decatur plant where United Launch Alliance assembles Delta and Atlas rockets Wednesday morning. ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, hopes one of those rockets will eventually power a commercial space taxi for astronauts to the International Space Station, and NASA under Bolden is strongly encouraging commercial space development.

 

Bolden will tour the plant on the Tennessee River west of Huntsville with Michael Gass, ULA president and CEO, and Bolden will speak to the media afterward. The tour of the facility, some of which is classified, is not open to reporters.

 

Bolden and Gass have a lot to talk about. ULA rockets assembled in Decatur are the choice of two commercial companies now competing to be NASA's space taxi. Both Boeing and Sierra Nevada say they will use ULA Atlas V rockets to lift their crewed spacecraft into orbit, and Boeing is getting that rocket ready for NASA official OK to carry crews.

 

This summer, ULA used another tour to ask North Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, to help it fight off a perceived threat to ULA's government launch business. The challenge came in August when leaders of the U.S. House intelligence committee wrote Defense Secretary Leon Panetta opposing a new five-year "no compete" government launch contract with ULA.

 

The Air Force is trying to drive down satellite launch costs, but assure a reliable launch source for national security reasons while new competitors like SpaceX emerge. To do that, the Air Force was planning to award ULA a contract this summer for 40 rockets to meet military needs to 2017. Now, that five-year deal is on hold, but there are reports the Air Force wants to revive it in FY 2013.

 

Whether ULA will raise the contract with Bolden isn't known, but it wouldn't be a surprise if Gass did. NASA isn't the Air Force,  but NASA uses ULA rockets to launch some of its missions and would presumably like the company to remain financially healthy. A ULA rocket lifted the Mars Curiosity rover into space. NASA is also helping to fund SpaceX with contracts to supply the space station, and SpaceX is a potential ULA competitor.

 

ULA has launched 62 military satellites and NASA payloads on rockets assembled at the sprawling Decatur plant and floated downriver and around the Gulf of Mexico to NASA's Cape Canaveral launch site.

 

ULA Chief Operating Officer Dan Collins said during Brooks' August tour that the plant is ramping up production from eight rockets a year to 12 or 13. "We had hiring associated with that where we've added a couple of hundred jobs here at the plant," Collins said.

 

Time for the U.S. to Partner with China in Space?

 

George Abbey & Leroy Chiao - Discovery News (Opinion)

 

(Abbey is the Baker Botts Senior Fellow in Space Policy at Rice University's Baker Institute and a former JSC director. Chiao is a former astronaut and now is the special adviser for human spaceflight to the Space Foundation.)

 

The future of America's space program is at a critical point in time; decisions are being made that will affect our ability to successfully maintain our leadership in human space flight, our national security and our capability to successfully compete with the international community in the commercial use of space.

 

What does the future hold for U.S. human spaceflight (HSF)? The United States had been the undisputed leader in space exploration for several decades, until recently.

 

With the completion of its last flight in July of 2011, the Space Shuttle has been arbitrarily retired. And today, Russia is the only partner in the International Space Station (ISS) program that is able to transport astronauts and cosmonauts to and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

 

The Space Shuttle amassed an impressive record of achievement during its lifetime, culminating in the very successful assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). It was a very versatile spacecraft that allowed the crews to perform Extra-Vehicular Activities (EVAs), assemble structures in space, repair satellites, and perform spacecraft retrieval missions.

 

In addition, the Shuttle was also a superb research platform, especially when equipped with a Spacelab or Spacehab module. It could carry a cargo of 60,000 pounds (27,000 kilograms) to orbit or return a cargo of equal weight to Earth.

 

In its place the U.S. is developing Orion, referred to as a Multipurpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV). Orion returns the nation to flying capsules that return to Earth via parachutes using technology from the 1960s. It has no capability to carry cargo, support EVAs, do structural assembly in space, accomplish satellite repair or retrieval missions. It returns to Earth by parachute, landing in the water, as Orion is too heavy to be recovered on land.

 

The MPCV is supposedly being developed for exploration missions beyond Earth orbit but it provides no protection from space radiation for the crew. The first planned human flight is currently scheduled for 2021. That date is dependent upon the availability of a new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that is yet to be developed.

 

Currently, only funds for research, development, and risk mitigation have been awarded for SLS which, raises the question of whether or not the launch system will ever be developed at all.

 

NASA is also providing funding to three commercial space endeavors. Some impressive achievements have been made. Most notably SpaceX having succeeded in its first operational cargo delivery mission in October 2012. These commercial enterprises, with one exception, also employ 60s technology capsules returning by parachute to water landings. These programs at best are several years away from Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for manned flights. And they are all currently dependent on being funded by the government.

 

Thus, we can expect that "The Gap" in U.S. HSF capability that started with the end of the last Space Shuttle mission in July 2011 will likely last another five years or longer. In the meantime, fortunately, Russia continues to fly and support the flights of American astronauts to space.

 

When considering the future direction of NASA one point is quite clear. The construction of the ISS is now complete and the United States should maximize the utilization of the Station. Research aboard ISS will help answer the questions and provide solutions that will enable future long duration flights out of Earth orbit.

 

One of the primary reasons for bringing the Russians into the Station program was the desire to have dual access to the Station. The dual access provided by the Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz is the only reason we have a Space Station flying today. The Space Shuttle was able to fulfill a need when Russia experienced launch vehicle problems, and the Soyuz in a similar fashion, fulfilled a need when the Space Shuttle was unable to fly.

 

Dual access is critical to ensure the maximum utilization of the Space Station.

 

This year China demonstrated manned rendezvous and docking, flying a crew of three (which included China's first female astronaut) to their crew-tended Tiangong-1 orbital vehicle. China plans to launch the larger Tiangong-2 in 2013 and Tiangong-3, a Zvezda-class core module in 2020.

 

The U.S. is at a decision point. On its present course, the United States will lose at least the perceived leadership role in human space exploration. But there is an alternate path and one that would again provide for dual access to the Space Station.

 

The U.S. could lead the way to bring China into the ISS program, and lead the work to adapt the Shenzhou spacecraft to be compatible with the ISS. The U.S. would continue funding the three commercial space endeavors to supplement and support the logistic needs of the Station.

 

This path would allow the U.S. to retain its leadership position in the current HSF program (ISS) while it re-evaluates the real needs of an optimized exploration program. A program that would transition the ISS partnership, with all its capabilities, to a beyond-LEO program with the United States remaining as the lead partner.

 

Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency (ESA) has already stated that ESA plans to hold a series of meetings with the China National Space Administration, and explore closer cooperation in the areas of astronaut training, spacecraft docking and developing life support systems. ESA would also like China to become a member of the ISS program if U.S. objections can be overcome.

 

When Canada hosted the ISS Heads of Agencies Meeting on March 1, 2012, in Quebec City, Canada, Jean-Jacques Dordain, director-general of the ESA, told reporters, "I am in favor of seeing how we can work together with China. It will take some steps, but it will come, I am sure."

 

Vladimir Popovkin, the head of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, also said the day will come when China and India will work together with the five current partners -- the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the ESA. "We are not a closed club," he said. "Our doors are wide open."

 

A partnership with China could be developed along the same lines as was done with integrating the Russian space program into the ISS partnership. Using this model, no military-sensitive technology would be transferred. China's economy would allow for it to fully fund its own efforts. Thus there would be little increased expense to the United States for developing this advantageous relationship.

 

As Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College and author of numerous books on space, including "Heavenly Ambitions: America's Quest to Dominate Space" (University of Pennsylvania Press), told CNN on June 20, 2012, prohibiting NASA by law from working with China makes no sense:

 

"If one believes that China and the United States are not inherently enemies, then working together on space projects -- with technology transfer controls -- will benefit both countries. If one believes that China is inherently a threat to the United States, then the adage "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" comes to mind. The script for U.S.-China relations -- and space relations in particular -- is constantly evolving. The United States can influence the direction, but only if we engage and persuade the Chinese to engage with us. It's one way of preventing a scenario of a galactic Wild West in which China has become the world's leader in space."

 

It is clear the United State's International Partners see the benefits of working with the Chinese on the Space Station; it is time for the United States to provide the leadership to make it a reality.

 

Stratolaunch and SpaceX part ways

 

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

 

Space launch company Stratolaunch has parted ways with manufacturer SpaceX, dissolving a partnership dating from the project's inception.

 

"Stratolaunch and SpaceX have amicably agreed to end our contractual relationship because the current launch vehicle design has departed significantly from the Falcon derivative vehicle envisioned by SpaceX and does not fit well with their long-term strategic business model," says Gary Wentz, Stratolaunch CEO, in a 27 November email.

 

"Moving forward, Stratolaunch has engaged Orbital Sciences Corporation to evaluate and develop alternative solutions with the objective of arriving at a design decision in the early spring timeframe. The other segment contractors will continue to proceed forward in accordance with existing plans since their interfaces have been defined," he adds.

 

Despite the close relations, Stratolaunch's updated designs required "significant structural mods to incorporate a fin/chine configuration," according to Wentz. Initial concepts did not include a chine, which is a structural extension of the wing root along the sides of the vehicle, useful for providing lift at high speeds.

 

According to a source familiar with the matter, the design changes necessary would have forced SpaceX to make substantial modifications of their manufacturing process, which would effectively negate crucial commonalities with the company's signature Falcon 9 launch vehicle.

 

Orbital Sciences is tasked with "evaluating multiple concepts that utilize both new and existing components," says Wentz. Orbital confirmed the study contract but deferred further questions to Stratolaunch. Orbital Sciences is among the most experienced air-launch companies in the world, having built and launched the much smaller Pegasus launch vehicle from a modified Lockheed L-1011.

 

Stratolaunch is planning to build the largest aircraft ever built, a twin-fuselage aircraft capable of launching a large rocket. The SpaceX-designed rocket, a winged, five-engine modification of the Falcon 9, was designed to lift 6,200kg (13,500) into low Earth orbit. Should the project reach fruition, it will be by far the largest air-launched spacecraft ever built.

 

SpaceX did not immediately respond to questions.

 

Balloon Test Shows Space Tourism on the Horizon

 

Jeremy Hsu - TechNewsDaily

 

Not all space tourism is rocket science. A newly successful test of a balloon could allow paying human customers to enjoy stunning Earth views and the weightless astronaut experience by 2014.

 

The test balloon carried a humanoid robot up to an altitude of almost 20 miles (32 kilometers) on Nov. 12 — just a few miles shy of where skydiver Felix Baumgartner leaped from during his "space dive" in October. Startup Zero 2 Infinity wants to eventually offer hours of flight time for space tourists to do whatever they want in a near-space environment.

 

"Some people will want to tweet," said Jose Mariano Lopez-Urdiales, founder and CEO of Zero 2 Infinity. "Some will want to put down a carpet and pray to mecca. Some people will want to eat their favorite buffalo wings while they're up there."

 

The Spanish company already has waitlist customers who paid an early deposit of almost $13,000 (10,000 euros) as the first installment out of a total ticket price of $143,000 (110,000 euros). It has also attracted funding from the world's second-largest balloon manufacturer, Spain's third-largest bank, and several angel investors by proving its concept step-by-step and by relying on proven helium balloon technologies.

 

Flight testing took place at an Air Force base near Virgen del Camino in Spain. But Lopez-Urdiales envisions future flights launching from many other locations in the country.

 

The balloon experience

 

A typical predawn flight would take several hours to reach maximum altitude, so that passengers could enjoy seeing the sun rise against the blackness of space and see the curvature of the planet Earth. Luckily, the balloon would not need to get anywhere near the 62-mile (100 km) altitude that marks the official edge of space for its riders to enjoy stellar views.

 

"You would spend two hours at the floating altitude of 36 kilometers (22 miles)," Lopez-Urdiales told TechNewsDaily. "We could do it higher, but it would not make any difference, because you already see the same visual cues at 39 kilometers or even 100 kilometers."

 

Getting back down would mean cutting the cord between the balloon and the enclosed passenger capsule. Passengers could experience about 40 to 60 seconds of weightlessness during free fall, before parachutes and a parafoil carried them safely down to Earth.

 

The recent test flight gave Zero 2 Infinity its first successful test of a balloon capsule large enough to carry humans, but only if the two people spent the entire trip lying down. An earlier flight test scheduled in May was canceled after wind gusts damaged the test balloon.

 

Robot test pilots

 

Future versions of the balloons, called "bloons" by the company, would have donut- or bagel-shaped capsules with plenty of standing room for two pilots and four passengers. But the test capsule proved just right for the humanoid robot named Nao — made by Aldebaran Robotics — that stands at knee-height compared to adult humans.

 

The robot rode as a passive passenger, but could someday become an active pilot that tests the controls and life-support technologies meant for humans.

 

"Little by little, we're teaching it how to pilot, but that's at a very early stage," Lopez-Urdiales explained. "The idea in the future is to have humanoid robots testing future complex aerospace vehicles."

 

The company has almost finished building a bigger test balloon that could comfortably carry two people standing up. That larger balloon could make an attempt at breaking the manned high-altitude balloon record set in the 1960s — a record that requires the pilot to take off and land in the balloon. (Space diver Baumgartner intentionally disqualified himself by leaping out of his high-flying balloon.)

 

The inner journey

 

But Zero 2 Infinity doesn't just want to make money. Lopez-Urdiales envisions his balloons carrying scientific experiments or scientists high into Earth's atmosphere. His inspiration for creating the startup company came from his dad, an astrophysicist who worked on an experiment that went with the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn's moon Titan.

 

"I was growing up around balloons, rockets and telescopes," Lopez-Urdiales said. "My dad tested a Huygens scientific instrument on a high-altitude balloon."

 

The balloon space tourism's relatively more affordable price tag could also open the eyes of many more people through the "overview effect," Lopez-Urdiales said. Frank White, a communications director at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, coined the term to describe how astronauts gained a better appreciation of global and environmental issues after seeing the Earth surrounded by the darkness of space.

 

"That's probably the biggest benefit private spaceflight will offer to civilians and members of the public," Lopez-Urdiales said. "The overview effect is personal experience, but then you share it. I think it goes a much longer way than bragging rights."

 

Moon rocks from Apollo 11 moon landing found by National Guard in Minnesota state building

 

Associated Press

 

Houston, we have moon rocks.

 

The Minnesota National Guard said Monday it found a few small fragments of the moon's surface in storage in a state building in St. Paul. They'll be turned over to the state Historical Society on Wednesday.

 

The moon rocks came from the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon. Some of the rocks, pebbles and dirt they collected have gone missing after U.S. states and territories and 135 countries each got tiny samples encased in plastic. Authentic moon rocks are considered national treasures and can't legally be sold in the U.S.

 

Minnesota's moon rocks disappeared sometime after then-President Richard Nixon gave them to the state, along with a state flag that was carried on the mission.

 

Joseph Gutheinz, a University of Phoenix instructor and former NASA investigator who leads an effort to find missing moon rocks, said Minnesota's discovery leaves 11 states, including Massachusetts, Texas and Wisconsin, missing their Apollo 11 moon rocks.

 

He said the lunar samples from the first moon landing command high sums on the black market, and some have been stolen or otherwise migrated away from the public domain.

 

"To a collector, it's invaluable," said Gutheinz, whose students have been looking for Minnesota's moon rocks since 2002.

 

He added, "Somebody in the National Guard there decided to do the right thing and rather than walk off with something that had a great value on the black market, said, 'Hey, this doesn't belong to me.'

 

The handoff to the Minnesota Historical Society will take place at an event with students at STARBASE Minnesota, a math and science program.

 

Misplaced moon rocks: Minnesota's found, but more are missing

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Five small fragments of the moon, which were collected at Tranquility Base 40 years ago and gifted to the people of Minnesota, have been found by the National Guard.

 

The small lunar stones, which are better described as dust and pebbles rather than moon rocks, were discovered as they were originally presented: embedded inside an acrylic button and mounted to a wooden podium with a Minnesota state flag that also flew to the moon in 1969.

 

"The Apollo 11 moon rocks were found amongst military artifacts in a storage area at the Veterans Service Building in St. Paul," said Army Maj. Blane Iffert, the former state historian for the Minnesota National Guard.

 

The Minnesota moon rocks are one of approximately 185 such lunar sample displays that were presented to each of the states, United States' territories and to foreign nations as a goodwill gesture following the return of the the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

 

Similar "goodwill moon rocks" from the final lunar landing, Apollo 17 in December 1972, were also gifted.

 

Minnesota's Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock is displayed by the state's Historical Society in St. Paul, where the Apollo 11 display will be transferred on Wednesday (Nov. 28).

 

"We are honored to have this in our collection to preserve for future generations," Pat Gaarder, Minnesota Historical Society deputy director, said in a statement announcing the pending delivery of the Apollo 11 moon rocks. "Space exploration is an important part of our shared history. It is also exciting to think that our collection includes artifacts from across the globe and now with these moon rocks, the galaxy."

 

The six Apollo missions that landed on the moon returned a total of 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar material to Earth. The goodwill gifts, which weigh between 0.05 grams (Apollo 11) and 1.142 grams (Apollo 17) represent in total less than half of one pound (220 grams) of the moon rock brought back by the astronauts.

 

Lowered by one

 

The recovery of Minnesota's Apollo 11 display is the latest chapter in a decade-long search for missing goodwill moon rocks.

 

"When I searched the internet to find additional information about the moon rocks, I knew we had to find a better means to display this artifact," Iffert said. "It is stated on some websites that approximately 180 [sample displays] are currently unaccounted for of the 270 moon rocks from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions. We've just lowered that number by one."

 

The effort to catalog the present whereabouts of each of the gifted moon rocks — the only astronaut-returned lunar samples ever given away by the U.S. government — has been led by collectSPACE.com since 2002. NASA closely tracks its own lunar material holdings but as the goodwill rocks are no longer federal property, it has fallen to private efforts to find the state and foreign nation-owned samples.

 

Working with the public, museum staff, and in particular, graduate students at the University of Phoenix led by their professor Joseph Gutheinz, a former NASA special agent, the collectSPACE "field guide" to the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 moon rocks has successfully located more than 170 of the displays.

 

Of the Apollo 11 samples that were gifted to the 50 states, 11 remain missing, including the lunar pebbles presented to Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Virginia. Eight of the states' Apollo 17 goodwill moon rocks have not been located, including those in Kansas, New Jersey and Ohio.

 

No rock unturned

 

That Minnesota's moon rocks turned up in storage is not too surprising given how many of the gifts that have been found to date have surfaced.

 

The lunar sample displays were originally intended to be placed on public display, and in many cases they were. But others were held in state officials' offices, or were only part of temporary exhibits. As the years passed, the rocks migrated into former governors' archives and homes, put into boxes and forgotten or otherwise disregarded.

 

In Nebraska, the state's Apollo 11 moon rocks were lost in the governor's mansion for several years, only to turn up during renovations. In Hawaii, they were locked inside a cabinet until a routine inventory revealed them.

 

In Delaware, the moon rocks' button-shaped acrylic was stolen in 1976 "right off its display plaque," which remains in state property. And in Alaska, a fire reportedly offered the opportunity for a then-teenage future reality TV star to take the rock from the debris. A court order has returned the lunar sample to NASA pending its authentication and a judge's ruling.

 

The search has been even more difficult outside the U.S., where language barriers, geography hurdles, and differing laws have further complicated finding them. A few of the foreign-gifted moon rocks, like Malta's Apollo 17 sample, have been reported as stolen, while others may be exactly where they are supposed to be but cannot be labeled as "found" until someone sets eyes on them and reports their location.

 

END