Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: March 4, 2013 7:07:31 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - March 4, 2013 and JSC Today

Hope you can join us this Thursday, March 7^th, at the Hibachi Grill on Bay Area Blvd. at 11:30 for our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon.

As usual, we have the back left party room reserved for our luncheon.

Monday, March 4, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Shorter is Better -- Please Help
2.            NASA Tech Briefs Included JSC Technologies in February Issue
3.            Wellness Seminar: 'Well-Aged Wellness' -- Tonight
4.            National Invasive Species Awareness Week -- March 3 to 8
5.            How to Access Online Journal Articles, Conference Papers or E-Books
6.            Informal Info Session for New Employees Tomorrow -- Now in Building 30 Auditorium
7.            Escape Your Silo! Come See the Space Food Systems Lab
8.            Nutrition Class Tomorrow
9.            Did You Miss the Jerry Ross Book Signing? Autographed Books Available
10.          HAS Program Needs Mentors for the Summer
11.          Community College Aerospace Scholars (CAS) Mentors Needed
12.          The Reduced Gravity Office and MUREP
13.          The JSC Safety Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
14.          JSC CSF Safety and Health Excellence Awards Ceremony
15.          Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v4.0
16.          Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society (JSCAS) Meeting
17.          Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) Training
18.          Registration Deadline -- APPEL Scheduling and Cost Control
19.          Confined Space Entry - 8:30 a.m.; and Lockout/Tagout - 1 p.m. -- March 22, Building 20, Room 205/206
20.          Crane Operations and Rigging Safety Refresher - March 27 - Building 20, Room 205/206
21.          Scaffold Users Seminar: March 28 -- Building 20, Room 205/206
22.          Personal Protective & Life Saving Equipment ViTS: April 12
23.          Job Opportunities
________________________________________     NASA FACT
" In Fiscal Year 2012, nearly $23 million was obligated to contracts performed by veteran-owned businesses in Texas."
________________________________________
1.            Shorter is Better -- Please Help
While JSC Today is growing in popularity (and that's a good thing), it can become a bad thing when there are so many submissions that the communications tool becomes "exhausting" to read. If you open up JSC Today and get heart palpitations from all the words swimming in front of your eyes, we have good news for you. We are making a concerted effort to enforce the JSC Today guidelines so that people don't post the same thing more than once per week, as is stated in the guidelines.
For the frequent offenders, if you are alarmed that your submissions may not receive attention, the opposite is, in fact, true. Less behemoth JSC Todays mean that readers may actually open it and read the announcements, rather than open it--get alarmed--and close it back up. Also, there are other avenues you can use to get the message out: Add your events to the calendar on Inside JSC for maximum visibility, and perhaps utilize the Senior Secretaries distribution or other organizational distribution lists.
We're not trying to limit your access -- we're just trying be sure you don't miss an important announcement by enforcing the guidelines. Thanks in advance for your understanding.
JSC Today

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2.            NASA Tech Briefs Included JSC Technologies in February Issue
In the February 2013 issue of NASA Tech Briefs, five new innovative technologies from JSC have been recognized.
NASA Tech Briefs magazine introduces details about new innovations and technologies that stem from advanced research and technology programs conducted by NASA and its industry partners/contractors.
The JSC briefs from February include: Gaseous Nitrogen Orifice Mass Flow Calculator; Measuring and Estimating Normalized Contrast in Infrared Flash Thermography; Advanced Magnetic Materials Methods and Numerical Models for Fluidization in Microgravity and Hypogravity; Using Combustion Synthesis to Reinforce Berms and Other Regolith Structures; and Automated 3-D Damaged Cavity Model Builder for Lower Surface Acreage Tile on Orbiter.
You can read and learn more about these JSC innovations and the inventors. Just visit the Strategic Opportunities & Partnership Development website.
To review all of the current NASA Tech Briefs, click here.
Holly Kurth x32951

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3.            Wellness Seminar: 'Well-Aged Wellness' -- Tonight
Please be our guests for "Well-aged Wellness" at the Gilruth Center today at 5:30 p.m. in Room 206 (the Coronado Room). This installment of the Aging Gracefully Series will focus on an in-depth look at both the physiological and psychological benefits of regular exercise in both adults and children. Join therapists Stacey M. Dunn, MA, LPC intern, CART, and Rhonda K. Velders, MA, LPC intern, as they explain the process of maximizing our quality of life through components of wellness.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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4.            National Invasive Species Awareness Week -- March 3 to 8
Annually, invasive species cost the U.S. economy more than $137 billion, claim about 3 million acres of habitat and significantly impact nearly half of the country's endangered species. Non-native, invasive species are brought to the United States from all over the world, often with the best intentions, but now these invaders compete with and displace the native plants and animals upon which humans depend. The fight to protect our environment and economy against invasive species takes place across the country, including here at JSC. Join us in Building 45, Room 751, from noon to 1 p.m. for brown bag lunches this week to find out more. Tomorrow, our JSC wildlife biologist and master naturalist will talk about their efforts to reduce the impact of invasive species here at JSC. On Thursday, learn more about regional efforts to curb invasive species and restore native prairie habitat through the Coastal Prairie Partnership.
JSC Environmental Office x40878 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm

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5.            How to Access Online Journal Articles, Conference Papers or E-Books
Do you need access to an important online journal article, conference papers or e-books, but keep getting those annoying user login messages? Your JSC Library, also known as the Scientific and Technical Information Center, can get it for you via the Interlibrary Loan Services. Contact us, or call 281-483-4245, fax 291-244-6624, or come by Building 30A, Room 1077, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
We're here to help you with all your information research needs. Please visit the website for the complete policy and procedures.
Access to this information is provided by JSC's Information Resources Directorate.
Scientific & Technical Information Center x34245 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov

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6.            Informal Info Session for New Employees Tomorrow -- Now in Building 30 Auditorium
Are you a full-time employee in the early stage of your employment and want more out of your career?
Please join us for an informal information session and see what our group has to offer. We will provide an overview of the group and our goal to onboard, engage, educate and empower new employees through a strong network, career-development opportunities, as well as social events and activities. Feel free to bring your lunch and a co-worker to the Building 30 Auditorium tomorrow, March 5, from noon to 12:30 p.m. to learn more about joining the group! Contractors and civil servants are welcome.
Event Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Elena Buhay 281-792-7976

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7.            Escape Your Silo! Come See the Space Food Systems Lab
Get Human Systems Academy credit for familiarizing yourself with the Space Food Systems Laboratory. Learn how food is prepared for spaceflight, how it is chosen and who gets to taste it. There are morning and afternoon tours offered, but space is limited, so sign up today! For details, please click here.
Event Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2013   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:2:30 PM
Event Location: B17

Add to Calendar

Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

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8.            Nutrition Class Tomorrow
Avoiding Kitchen Nightmares -- Guidelines for Organizing and Stocking Your Kitchen
Is your kitchen in trouble? Do you find yourself dining out frequently because you find that you are missing ingredients for your recipe? Research shows that people with better organized and well-stocked kitchens tend to cook at home more! This class will focus on kitchen basics, like improving efficiency in the meal-preparation flow, how to organize the kitchen to streamline meal planning and preparation, and basic items to keep in stock. This class might not make you a great chef, but it will improve your efficiency in the kitchen! Class will be held tomorrow, March 5, at 5 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Discovery Room.
Email Glenda Blaskey to sign up for this class today.
Glenda Blaskey x41503

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9.            Did You Miss the Jerry Ross Book Signing? Autographed Books Available
Starport is offering autographed copies of astronaut Jerry Ross' new book, "Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer," as a presale. Order your copy at the Starport Gift Shops, Buildings 3 or 11, by March 15 for April delivery - just $29.95. Or, order online.
Cyndi Kibby x35352 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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10.          HAS Program Needs Mentors for the Summer
High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) is in full swing and looking for mentors for this summer.
Being a mentor includes:
o             Working with outstanding high school students from across Texas
o             The opportunity to represent your division in education outreach without leaving JSC
o             Inspiring the next generation as only NASA can
o             Using your leadership skills to help students build a realistic human mission to Mars
Mentors are needed the following weeks:
June 9 to 14
June 16 to 21
July 14 to 19
July 21 to 26
July 28 to Aug. 2
The mentor application can be found here.
Stacey Welch 281-792-8100 http://has.aerospacescholars.org/

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11.          Community College Aerospace Scholars (CAS) Mentors Needed
Are you looking for a great way to mold young minds and inspire? Texas Community College Aerospace Scholars (CAS) has a unique opportunity for community college students to interact with NASA engineers and scientists. Students complete online lessons to qualify for attending the on-site experience. Being a CAS mentor involves working with outstanding community college students from across the state, gaining opportunities to represent your division in education outreach without leaving JSC, and using your leadership skills to help students guide a fictitious aerospace company through a project design challenge. We need full-time hire mentors and/or co-op and intern mentors. CAS needs mentors for two two-day sessions from March 21 to 22 and April 25 to 26, and one two-and-a-half-day session from April 17 to 19. If you are interested in applying to be a mentor or if you have any questions, please email Maria Chambers.
Event Date: Thursday, March 21, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Center

Add to Calendar

Maria Chambers x41496 http://cas.aerospacescholars.org/

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12.          The Reduced Gravity Office and MUREP
The Reduced Gravity Office and the Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP) at JSC is looking for mentors at ALL NASA centers to submit projects. This is a fantastic opportunity for mentors to develop an experiment for reduced-gravity flight, and then fly with the experiment and the minority-serving institution team. Various university teams will apply to each of the projects collected from you, the mentor, and 14 teams will be selected. We plan to spread the selected projects out across all of the mission directorates.
Project submissions are due: March 13
For more information, contact Suzanne Foxworth.
Visit our website.
Event Date: Friday, November 1, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:5:00 PM
Event Location: Ellington Field

Add to Calendar

Suzanne Foxworth x37185 https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/murep/index.cfm

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13.          The JSC Safety Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
"Safety is a full-time job; don't make it a part-time practice."
Congratulations to March 2013 "JSAT Says ..." winner Becky Bailey, REDE Critique NSS JV. Any JSAT member (all JSC contractor and civil servant employees) may submit a slogan for consideration to JSAT Secretary Reese Squires. Submissions for April are due by Friday, March 8. Keep those great submissions coming -- you may be the next "JSAT Says ..." winner!
Reese Squires x37776 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/apps/news/newsfiles/3245.pptx

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14.          JSC CSF Safety and Health Excellence Awards Ceremony
The JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum (CSF) will meet on Tuesday, March 19, from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. At this meeting will be the presentation of the JSC CSF Safety and Health Excellence Awards and the Innovation Awards for 2012. Refreshments, sponsored by Jacobs Technology, will be provided after the award presentations.
For more information on this special event, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012, or go to the JSC CSF website.
Event Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM
Event Location: Gilrith Alamo Ballroom

Add to Calendar

Patricia Farrell 281-335-2012

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15.          Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v4.0
The JSC Chief Knowledge Officer and the Engineering Directorate are pleased to announce the fourth release of SKC. Changes since last release:
o             Added Process Control, Case Studies and Element Hazard Reports page
o             Changed image rotator to use a standard aspect ratio
o             Added 26,000 files to Shuttle Records section and to the search index
o             Updated the SSPWeb content from the production SSPWeb site
o             Modified the SSPWeb Loads Panel page to provide a better historical reference
o             Fixed the SSPWeb MO page to utilize the original custom site navigation
SSPWEB will be taken completely offline on March 29 AND WILL NO LONGER BE AVAILABLE. To date, 1.05TB of Space Shuttle Program knowledge has been captured. If you are aware of data that still needs to be captured, contact Howard Wagner or Brent Fontenot. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation and give us your comments and thoughts.
Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx

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16.          Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society (JSCAS) Meeting
Ever wondered how scientists study the sun and the moon from afar? NASA has a suite of solar and lunar missions that most people do not know about. You'll get a chance to learn about them at our meeting.
We'll also discuss our trip to our dark site in west Texas next month, and our highly sought-after star parties. We are constantly sharing the night sky with the public! Other topics we'll cover include: "The March Sky," with ideas for beginner observing; "Astro Oddities;" the novice question-and-answer session; and our two loaner programs.
Our meetings are held on the second Friday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the USRA building (3600 Bay Area Blvd. at Middlebrook Drive).
Membership to the JSCAS is open to anyone who wants to learn about astronomy. There are no dues, no bylaws -- you just show up to our meeting.
Jim Wessel x41128 http://www.jscas.net/

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17.          Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) Training
The 40-hour basic COR class is a government-wide requirement before one can be appointed as a COR (formerly Contracting Officer's Technical Representative). It's offered only once or twice a year at JSC. Individuals who believe that an assignment as a COR on a contract within the next year may be in their future are strongly encouraged to take the upcoming class from April 1 to 5. Interested individuals should submit their names to Nancy Liounis/BD no later than March 22.
Nancy Liounis x31865

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18.          Registration Deadline -- APPEL Scheduling and Cost Control
This four-day course focuses on managing project constraints, including limits on time, human resources, materials, budget and specifications. It also helps participants develop effective measures for scheduling and controlling projects as they put the tools of project management to work.
Participants will get hands-on experiences practicing skills in building project requirements and the work breakdown structure. Individual and small-group exercises feature scenarios that hone competencies and skills, and a comprehensive toolkit provides practical field guidance.
This course is designed for NASA's technical workforce, including systems engineers and project personnel who seek to develop the competencies required to succeed as a leader of a project team, functional team or small project.
This course is open for self-registration in SATERN until tomorrow and is available to civil servants and contractors on a space-available basis.
Dates: Tuesday to Friday, April 16 to 19
Location: Building 12, Room 146
Zeeaa Quadri x39723 https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHED...

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19.          Confined Space Entry - 8:30 a.m.; and Lockout/Tagout - 1 p.m. -- March 22, Building 20, Room 205/206
Confined Space Entry: The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for safe entry to and operations in confined spaces. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard 29 CFR 1910.146, "Confined Space," is the basis for this course. The course covers the hazards of working in or around a confined space and the precautions one should take to control these hazards. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Lockout/Tagout: The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for the control of hazardous energy through lockout and tagout of energy-isolating devices. OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)," is the basis for this course. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Shirley Robinson x41284

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20.          Crane Operations and Rigging Safety Refresher - March 27 - Building 20, Room 205/206
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0028: This course serves as a refresher in overhead crane safety and awareness for operators, riggers, signalmen, supervisors and safety personnel, and updates their understanding of existing federal and NASA standards and regulations related to such cranes. Areas of concentration include: general safety in crane operations, testing, inspections, pre-lift plans, and safe rigging. This course is intended to provide the classroom training for re-certification of already qualified crane operators, or for those who have only a limited need for overhead crane safety knowledge. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206

Add to Calendar

Shirley Robinson x41284

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21.          Scaffold Users Seminar: March 28 -- Building 20, Room 205/206
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0316: This four-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) CFR 1910.28 and 1926.451, requirements for scaffolding safety in the general and construction industries. During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely on scaffolds, including standards, terminology and inspection of scaffold components; uses of scaffolds; fall protection requirements; signs and barricades; and more. Those individuals desiring to become "competent persons" for scaffolds should take the three-day Scaffold Safety Course, SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0312. This course will be primarily presented via the NASA target audience: Safety, Reliability, Quality, and Maintainability professionals; or anyone working on operations requiring the use of scaffolds. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Thursday, March 28, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206

Add to Calendar

Shirley Robinson x41284

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22.          Personal Protective & Life Saving Equipment ViTS: April 12
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0067, Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment:
This three-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) CFR 1926.95 through 1926.107 of the construction industry regulations, Subpart E, Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment. During the course, the student will become familiar with the 1926.95 through 1926.107 regulations criteria for personal protective requirements in construction, and will receive an overview of those topics needed to apply the proper personal protection equipment. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. Use this direct link for registration.
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Shirley Robinson x41284

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23.          Job Opportunities
Where do I find job opportunities?
Both internal Competitive Placement Plan (CPPs) and external JSC job announcements are posted on the Human Resources (HR) Portal and USAJOBS website. Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open: https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...
To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select "JSC HR." The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your HR representative.
Lisa Pesak x30476

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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.

Human Spaceflight News
Monday, March 4, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

JSC Associate Director Milt Heflin Retires After 46 Years at NASA

Lana Hughes - News 92 FM (Houston)

After 46 years with NASA, veteran Apollo recovery team member, flight director and Johnson Space Center Associate Director Milt Heflin is retiring, effective March 1st, 2013. News 92 FM's Lana Hughes talked with Heflin on the 10 year anniversary of the 2003 shuttle Columbia tragedy. He reflects on the program through the years, and what's needed to keep space exploration alive. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

Dragon capsule captured by station arm; Supply ship berthing complete

William Harwood - CBS News

After recovering from thruster problems and flying a near-perfect rendezvous, a SpaceX cargo ship pulled up to the International Space Station early Sunday and stood by while commander Kevin Ford, wielding the lab's robot arm, locked onto a grapple fixture to secure the spacecraft for berthing. Operating the Canadian-built arm from a robotics work station in the multi-window Cupola compartment, Ford grappled the Dragon cargo ship at 5:31 a.m. EST (GMT-5), an hour earlier than expected, as the two spacecraft passed 253 miles above northern Ukraine. Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston congratulated the crew for "a brilliant capture."

Supply ship meets space station after shaky start

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

A private Earth-to-orbit delivery service made good on its latest shipment to the International Space Station on Sunday, overcoming mechanical difficulty and delivering a ton of supplies with high-flying finesse. To NASA's relief, the SpaceX company's Dragon capsule pulled up to the orbiting lab with all of its systems in perfect order. Station astronauts used a hefty robot arm to snare the unmanned Dragon, and three hours later, it was bolted into place.

SpaceX cargo capsule reaches International Space Station

Irene Klotz - Reuters

A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule overcame a potentially mission-ending technical problem to make a belated but welcome arrival at the International Space Station on Sunday. Astronauts aboard the outpost used the station's robotic arm to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:31 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 250 miles over northern Ukraine. Flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston then stepped in to drive the capsule to its berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node. Docking occurred at 8:44 a.m. EST.

SpaceX Capsule Anchors Safely

Andy Pasztor - Wall Street Journal

A privately owned cargo capsule on Sunday linked up smoothly with the international space station, two days after propulsion problems temporarily crippled Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s unmanned Dragon spacecraft. It was the fifth consecutive successful mission for the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket developed by SpaceX, as the closely held Southern California company founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk is called.

SpaceX Dragon attached to International Space Station

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

A SpaceX Dragon unmanned freighter is moored at the International Space Station on Sunday after a two-day trip initially marred by steering thruster trouble. A day late because of the problems, the spacecraft's high-flying arrival took place Sunday 253 miles above northern Ukraine, much to the delight of the six astronauts and cosmonauts onboard the complex. "The Dragon is ours!" tweeted Chris Hadfield, who next week will become the first Canadian to command the space station. "Look forward to new smells. Great!"

Space station crew brings SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft in for a hookup

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

Astronauts used the International Space Station's robotic arm to grab SpaceX's Dragon capsule on Sunday after the unmanned spacecraft made a dramatic recovery in orbit. The grapple operation reached its successful climax an hour ahead of schedule, proving that the unmanned capsule had fully recovered from a post-launch glitch that affected its propulsion system. NASA and California-based SpaceX decided to go ahead with Sunday's rendezvous after the Dragon made a series of orbital maneuvers that demonstrated the craft's thrusters were operating normally. When the Dragon closed in to a distance of 33 feet (10 meters), the Canadian-built robotic arm reached out and latched onto an attachment on the cargo ship.

SpaceX Dragon Docks With Space Station After Engine Woes

Jesse Hamilton - Bloomberg News

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s spacecraft docked with the International Space Station a day late after recovering from engine malfunctions, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The unmanned craft operated by the Hawthorne, California- based company known as SpaceX was in place at 8:56 a.m. today, NASA said in a statement, and it will stay for 22 days before returning for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. This is the company's second of at least a dozen planned supply missions to the station, a $1.6 billion contract.

After Stumble, SpaceX's Dragon Reaches the ISS

Dan Leone – Space News

Overcoming a propulsion glitch that delayed its arrival by a day, a Dragon cargo capsule operated by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) arrived at the international space station (ISS) March 3. After several hours of maneuvering that began when Dragon got within 10 kilometers of ISS, astronauts used the station's robotic arm to grapple the capsule at 5:31 a.m. EST, an hour earlier than SpaceX had announced the evening before. At 8:56 a.m., NASA Mission Control and the ISS crew confirmed that Dragon was successfully berthed with the station. Dragon was installed on the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module. Ground controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston controlled the arm during berthing.

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Ship Docks at Space Station

Tariq Malik - Space.com

An unmanned commercial space capsule packed with precious cargo successfully linked up with the International Space Station early Sunday (March 3), making a flawless orbital delivery after overcoming a thruster glitch that delayed its arrival by a day. The SpaceX-built Dragon cargo capsule docked with the space station at 8:56 a.m. EST (1356) as the two spacecraft soared 253 miles (407 kilometers) over the Arabian Sea. NASA flight controllers performed the orbital link-up remotely by commanding the space station's Canadian-built robotic arm, which had latched onto Dragon three hours earlier, to attach the capsule to an available docking port.

Space Station Berths a Dragon, Again

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

At 5:31 am EST Sunday morning, International Space Station astronauts guided the Canadarm2 robotic arm to an earlier-than-scheduled grappling maneuver with the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The grapple was scheduled for 6:31 am ET. At 8:56 am EST, the robotic arm guided the capsule for installation onto the Earth-facing port of the space station's Harmony module. The approach and berthing of the unmanned Dragon — carrying over 2,300 lb (1,000 kilograms) of supplies as part of a NASA resupply contract to the space station — came after the private spaceflight company successfully overcame problems with three of four thruster pods that cast the mission into doubt shortly after launch on Friday.

'Sling-Sat' Could Remove Space Junk on the Cheap

Leonard David - Space.com

A proposed space-junk removal system would hop from one piece of debris to the next without burning much fuel, potentially making a de-clutter mission economically feasible with current technology. The TAMU Space Sweeper with Sling-Sat, or 4S for short, would harness the momentum imparted by capturing and ejecting one object to slingshot on to the next chunk of space junk, its developers say. "The goal of this mission is to remove as many pieces of debris with the minimum amount of fuel," said Daniele Mortari of Texas A&M University.

China's space station will be energy-efficient: lead designer

Xinhua News Service

China's space station, which is expected to be completed around 2020, will set an example of green technology, a Chinese space scientist said. The space station will use a slew of cutting-edge technologies in flight control, power supply and waste recycling, Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, told Xinhua. The green technologies to be applied in the station will raise its recycling rate and reduce its reliance on input from the ground.

SpaceX must keep answers coming

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

While you often hear what SpaceX is doing with Falcon 9 and Dragon as "commercial" space, it's really a taxpayer-funded operation and the people footing the bill deserve answers when things go wrong. For a couple years now, journalists and other taxpayer watchdogs wondered what would happen if there were a problem on one of the SpaceX or Orbital Sciences "privatized" cargo flights to the International Space Station. SpaceX is learning on the job something NASA's public affairs team has been perfecting since the 1960s: the release of real-time, detailed technical information in a crisis. In the end, they did pretty well getting information out and not sugar-coating the severity of the problems that developed not long after liftoff Friday morning.

NASA needs steady, long-term planning

Houston Chronicle (Editorial)

While NASA's future plans may be aimed at the far reaches of our solar system, its present-day concerns are firmly footed here on Earth. Specifically in Washington, D.C., where budget changes and political whims ensure that voyages to explore that eternal frontier are often shut down before they reach their final stages. Space science is inherently complex, expensive and long-term - three qualities not well-handled by the federal government these days. So we're glad to see that key figures in Houston's congressional delegation, particularly Republican Rep. John Culberson and Democratic Rep. Gene Green, have wisely recognized their own institutional weaknesses and are lined up behind a bill to detach NASA's leadership and budget from the usual political cycles.
__________

COMPLETE STORIES

Dragon capsule captured by station arm; Supply ship berthing complete

William Harwood - CBS News

After recovering from thruster problems and flying a near-perfect rendezvous, a SpaceX cargo ship pulled up to the International Space Station early Sunday and stood by while commander Kevin Ford, wielding the lab's robot arm, locked onto a grapple fixture to secure the spacecraft for berthing.

Operating the Canadian-built arm from a robotics work station in the multi-window Cupola compartment, Ford grappled the Dragon cargo ship at 5:31 a.m. EST (GMT-5), an hour earlier than expected, as the two spacecraft passed 253 miles above northern Ukraine.

Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston congratulated the crew for "a brilliant capture."

"Let me just say congratulations to the SpaceX and Dragon team in Houston and in California," Ford replied. "As they say, it's not where you start but where you finish that counts, and you guys really finished this one on the mark. You're aboard, and we've got a lot of science to bring aboard and get done."

Capture came a day later than originally planned because of problems pressurizing rocket thruster propellant tanks shortly after the ship reached orbit Friday.

But SpaceX flight controllers at company headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., were able to coax the system into normal operation. While the root cause of the problem is not yet known, the thrusters worked normally throughout the replanned rendezvous and the approach and capture went off without a hitch.

"Great job this morning, guys," spacecraft communicator Kathy Bolt radioed from Houston. "Always nice to see something that plays back exactly the way you trained."

"I remember exactly where I was the very first time I ever heard of this scheme ... when I was a young astronaut," Ford recalled. "And I said, 'We're going to do what?' That was when it was an idea, and now it's starting to become routine. So great job to everybody who dreamed it up and who made it all work. It's really something to see."

Making the company's third space station visit -- the second fully operational flight under a $1.6 billion commercial contract with NASA -- the Dragon capsule is loaded with some 2,300 pounds of supplies, spare parts and science gear.

The manifest includes 178 pounds of crew provisions, including food and clothing; 300 pounds of space station hardware, including replacement components for the lab's carbon dioxide removal system; and more than 700 pounds of science gear, including a pair of Glacier freezers and experiment components.

During the first two dockings of Dragon capsules last May and October, the station crew attached the cargo ship to the station, manually operating the arm to maneuver the spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.

But this time around, ground controllers at the Johnson Space Center took over, sending commands to remotely operate the arm through berthing to demonstrate their ability to carry out complex arm procedures and to give the astronauts a bit of a break during a busy day.

The process was executed slowly but surely and Ford reported the Dragon was safely locked to its docking port at 8:56 a.m.

The same procedures will be used later in the week when ground controllers use the arm to pull a spacewalk equipment handling fixture from the Dragon's unpressurized trunk section. The fixture will be mounted on the station's exterior for use during a future spacewalk.

The Dragon is the only space station cargo craft now in operation that can bring equipment and experiment samples back to Earth, a critical capability that was lost when NASA's space shuttle fleet was retired in 2011.

As the crew unpacks the capsule's pressurized compartment, they will re-load the spacecraft with about 1.5 tons of no-longer needed gear, components that need refurbishment or failure analysis and experiment samples that are needed by scientists back on Earth.

If all goes well, the astronauts will use the robot arm to detach the capsule March 25, setting the stage for a fiery re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles.

Supply ship meets space station after shaky start

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

A private Earth-to-orbit delivery service made good on its latest shipment to the International Space Station on Sunday, overcoming mechanical difficulty and delivering a ton of supplies with high-flying finesse.

To NASA's relief, the SpaceX company's Dragon capsule pulled up to the orbiting lab with all of its systems in perfect order. Station astronauts used a hefty robot arm to snare the unmanned Dragon, and three hours later, it was bolted into place.

The Dragon's arrival couldn't have been sweeter - and not because of the fresh fruit on board for the six-man station crew. Coming a full day late, the 250-mile-high linkup above Ukraine culminated a two-day chase that got off to a shaky, almost dead-ending start.

Moments after the Dragon reached orbit Friday, a clogged pressure line or stuck valve prevented the timely release of the solar panels and the crucial firing of small maneuvering rockets. SpaceX flight controllers struggled for several hours before gaining control of the capsule and salvaging the mission.

"As they say, it's not where you start, but where you finish that counts," space station commander Kevin Ford said after capturing the Dragon, "and you guys really finished this one on the mark."

He added: "We've got lots of science on there to bring aboard and get done. So congratulations to all of you."

Among the items on board: 640 seeds of a flowering weed used for research, mouse stem cells, food and clothes for the six men on board the space station, trash bags, computer equipment, air purifiers, spacewalking tools and batteries. The company also tucked away apples and other fresh treats from an employee's family orchard.

The Dragon will remain at the space station for most of March before returning to Earth with science samples, empty food containers and old equipment.

The California-based SpaceX run by billionaire Elon Musk has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to keep the station well stocked. The contract calls for 12 supply runs; this was the second in that series.

This is the third time, however, that a Dragon has visited the space station. The previous capsules had no trouble reaching their destination. Company officials promise a thorough investigation into what went wrong this time; if the maneuvering thrusters had not been activated, the capsule would have been lost.

Ford said everything about Sunday's rendezvous ended up being "fantastic."

"There sure were some big smiles all around here," NASA's Mission Control replied from Houston.

Proclaimed SpaceX on its web site: "Happy Berth Day."

In a tweet following Friday's nerve-racking drama, Musk said, "Just want to say thanks to (at)NASA for being the world's coolest customer. Looking forward to delivering the goods!"

Musk, who helped create PayPal, acknowledged Friday that the problem - the first ever for an orbiting Dragon - was "frightening." But he believed it was a one-time glitch and nothing so serious as to imperil future missions. The 41-year-old entrepreneur, who also runs the electric car maker Tesla, oversaw the entire operation from Hawthorne, Calif., home to SpaceX and the company's Mission Control.

The Dragon's splashdown in the Pacific, off the Southern California coast, remains on schedule for March 25.

NASA is counting on the commercial sector to supply the space station for the rest of this decade; it's supposed to keep running until at least 2020. Russia, Europe and Japan are doing their part, periodically launching their own cargo ships. But none of those craft can return items like the Dragon can; they burn up on re-entry.

Russia also is providing rides for astronauts - the only game in town since the retirement of NASA's space shuttles in 2011.

SpaceX, or more formally Space Exploration Technologies Corp., leads the commercial pack that is working toward launching astronauts in another few years. Musk said he can have people flying on a modified Dragon by 2015.

NASA's shuttles used to be the main haulers for the space station. At the White House direction, the space agency opted out of the Earth-to-orbit transportation business in order to focus on deep space exploration. Mars is the ultimate destination.

SpaceX cargo capsule reaches International Space Station

Irene Klotz - Reuters

A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule overcame a potentially mission-ending technical problem to make a belated but welcome arrival at the International Space Station on Sunday.

Astronauts aboard the outpost used the station's robotic arm to pluck the capsule from orbit at 5:31 a.m. EST as the ships sailed 250 miles over northern Ukraine.

Flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control in Houston then stepped in to drive the capsule to its berthing port on the station's Harmony connecting node. Docking occurred at 8:44 a.m. EST.

The Dragon capsule, loaded with more than 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of science equipment, spare parts, food and supplies, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for the second of 12 planned supply runs for NASA.

SpaceX is the first private company to fly to the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations.

Dragon was to have arrived at the station on Saturday but a problem with its thruster rocket pods developed soon after reaching orbit. Engineers sent commands for Dragon to flip valves and clear any blockage in a pressurization line in an attempt to salvage the mission.

By Friday evening, Dragon had fired its thruster rockets to raise its altitude and begin steering itself to rendezvous with the station.

The orbital ballet ended when station commander Kevin Ford, working from a robotics station inside the outpost, grabbed the capsule with the station's robot arm.

"As they say, it's not where you start but where you finish that counts. You guys really finished this one on the mark," Ford radioed to Dragon's flight control team in Hawthorne, California, and NASA's Mission Control in Houston.

"What a fantastic day," Ford said.

Once Dragon's hatch is open, the station crew will spend the next several days unpacking the food, clothing, supplies and science experiments from the capsule. The research includes studies on plant seedlings, mouse stem cells and combustion in microgravity.

SpaceX also sent the crew a gift of fresh fruit from an employee's father's orchard, company president Gwynne Shotwell said.

Ground controllers will use the station's robot arm again on Wednesday to unpack equipment for a future spacewalk that is stowed in Dragon's unpressurized trunk.

Once the capsule is unloaded, the crew will begin refilling it with 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of unneeded and broken equipment and science samples for analysis on Earth.

Dragon is the only station freighter that makes return trips, a critical service that was lost after the U.S. shuttle program ended in 2011. Cargo ships flown by Russia, Europe and Japan incinerate in the atmosphere after leaving the station

Dragon's departure and parachute splashdown in the Pacific Ocean is scheduled for March 25.

Dragon's flight is the second of 12 missions for privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, known as SpaceX, under a $1.6 billion NASA contract. Following a successful test flight to the space station in May 2012, SpaceX conducted its first supply run to the orbital outpost in October.

A second firm, Orbital Sciences Corp is due to debut its freighter this year.

NASA turned to private companies for delivering supplies to the station following the retirement of its shuttle fleet. The agency hopes to buy rides commercially for its astronauts as well beginning in 2017.

SpaceX Capsule Anchors Safely

Andy Pasztor - Wall Street Journal

A privately owned cargo capsule on Sunday linked up smoothly with the international space station, two days after propulsion problems temporarily crippled Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s unmanned Dragon spacecraft.

It was the fifth consecutive successful mission for the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket developed by SpaceX, as the closely held Southern California company founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk is called.

While the booster's engines experienced technical problems on two of those earlier flights, the thrusters that malfunctioned on Dragon for much of Friday—threatening for at least several hours to end the mission—posed a more serious hazard.

But troubleshooting by engineers got the capsule under control and the thrusters back to normal operation by Friday evening, clearing the way for Dragon and its more than one-ton cargo of food, scientific equipment and other materials to arrive safely at the space station just one day late.

"You guys really finished this one on the mark," said station commander Kevin Ford.

NASA demonstrated its confidence in SpaceX by allowing the linkup to proceed so quickly after Friday's nerve-wracking events. Company president Gwynne Shotwell said the weekend berthing—Dragon's third visit to the orbiting laboratory 250 miles above Earth—"continues SpaceX's long-term partnership with NASA to provide reliable, safe transport of cargo to and from the station."

Items on board include clothes, various replacement hardware for the station and material for research projects. Slated to remain at the space station for most of March, the capsule will fire its thrusters to get away from the station and zoom back into the atmosphere carrying more than 2,000 pounds of scientific samples, old equipment and garbage.

SpaceX, which has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to shuttle cargo back and forth from the station, is working on a larger, more-powerful version of the Falcon 9.

SpaceX Dragon attached to International Space Station

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

A SpaceX Dragon unmanned freighter is moored at the International Space Station on Sunday after a two-day trip initially marred by steering thruster trouble.

A day late because of the problems, the spacecraft's high-flying arrival took place Sunday 253 miles above northern Ukraine, much to the delight of the six astronauts and cosmonauts onboard the complex.

"The Dragon is ours!" tweeted Chris Hadfield, who next week will become the first Canadian to command the space station. "Look forward to new smells. Great!"

Among the supplies: something fresh and nutritious from a California orchard run by the father of a SpaceX employee, said company President Gwynne Shotwell.

Station astronauts treasure fresh fruit. They primarily subsist on meals-ready-to-eat. Hadfield clearly was anxious to see what was inside the SpaceX cargo ship. In a good-morning tweet Sunday, the former Royal Canadian Air Force fighter pilot said he was looking forward to going into Dragon's "belly & see what it brought us."

Later Sunday, Hadfield tweeted: "Opened the hatch to find fresh fruit, notes from friends and peanut butter."

Launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Dragon is carrying more than a ton of supplies and scientific research equipment.

Three of its four steering thruster pods failed to activate properly after it reached orbit, threatening to scuttle the cargo delivery mission. However, SpaceX engineers fixed the trouble, and the Dragon flew off toward the space station.

A planned arrival Saturday was pushed back a day. The recovery enabled the spacecraft to ignite thrusters in a series of firings to raise its orbit.

Hadfield spotted the carrier well before it reached the vicinity of the outpost.

"Just caught sight of the Dragon spaceship, crisply white against the horizon, sneaking up on us from behind," he tweeted. "We're readying to grapple."

Operating the outpost's 57.5-foot robotic arm, U.S. astronaut Kevin Ford latched onto the commercial spacecraft at 5:31 a.m. EST, about an hour ahead of schedule.

"That was a brilliant capture," NASA astronaut Kate Rubins said from Mission Control in Houston. "We'd like to congratulate you on a job well done."

Alluding to the thruster trouble, Ford offered his congratulations to SpaceX and NASA: "As they say, it's not where you start it's where you finish that counts, and you guys really finished this one on the mark."

Ford was assisted by U.S. astronaut Tom Marshburn and Hadfield. Flight controllers at NASA's Mission Control Center berthed the Dragon to the Earth-facing port of the U.S. Harmony module at 8:56 a.m.

Ford will turn the station over to Hadfield during a change-of-command ceremony March 13. The next day, Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin will return to Earth. The crew remaining also includes cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

The Dragon will return to Earth on March 25 with about 2,600 pounds of experiment samples and other gear, a capability deemed critical now that U.S. space shuttles no longer are flying. The Dragon now is the only vehicle that can bring back significant amounts of cargo. It will make a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.

The ongoing cargo delivery mission is the second of 12 SpaceX will fly under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.

Another private company, Orbital Sciences Corp., will begin flying commercial supply runs to the station in early 2014. The Virginia-based firm holds a $1.9 billion NASA contract to fly eight cargo resupply missions to the outpost. A mission to demonstrate the company's ability to safely and reliably delivery cargo to the outpost is scheduled later this year.

Space station crew brings SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft in for a hookup

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

Astronauts used the International Space Station's robotic arm to grab SpaceX's Dragon capsule on Sunday after the unmanned spacecraft made a dramatic recovery in orbit. The grapple operation reached its successful climax an hour ahead of schedule, proving that the unmanned capsule had fully recovered from a post-launch glitch that affected its propulsion system.

NASA and California-based SpaceX decided to go ahead with Sunday's rendezvous after the Dragon made a series of orbital maneuvers that demonstrated the craft's thrusters were operating normally. When the Dragon closed in to a distance of 33 feet (10 meters), the Canadian-built robotic arm reached out and latched onto an attachment on the cargo ship.

The robotic-arm grapple was originally scheduled to take place at 6:31 a.m. ET, but it occurred instead at 5:31 a.m., as the station was flying 253 miles (407 kilometers) over Ukraine.

NASA's Mission Control and the space station's astronauts exchanged congratulations. "That was a brilliant capture," NASA astronaut Kate Rubins told space station commander Kevin Ford from Mission Control.

Ford passed along his thanks to NASA's controllers in Houston as well as to SpaceX's mission control at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. "It's not where you start, but where you finish that counts, and you guys really finished this one on the mark," Ford said. "You're aboard, and we've got lots of science on there to bring aboard and get done. So congratulations to all of you."

As the crew watched, the robotic arm's remote operators in Houston issued commands to pull the Dragon in for a hookup with the station's Harmony module. "The Dragon is ours!" Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield wrote in a Twitter update. "Maneuvering it now on Canadarm2 to docking port, will open hatches. Look forward to new smells."

The capsule was berthed at 8:56 a.m. ET, and within a few hours, the station's astronauts hooked up the electrical connections, opened up the hatch from the Harmony module and took their first look inside the Dragon.

"Happy Berth Day," SpaceX exulted on Twitter.

How a glitch was fixed

The cargo craft was launched on Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, atop SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The ascent to outer space was trouble-free, but minutes after the Dragon reached orbit, SpaceX's controllers noticed that only one of the craft's four thruster pods was working. The thrusters control the Dragon's position in space, and at least three of the pods had to be operational to get NASA's clearance for the berthing.

It took several hours to resolve the glitch and get full thruster functionality. That caused SpaceX to miss its opportunity for a Saturday rendezvous. SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, said it looked as if there was a stuck valve or a blockage in the thruster's oxidizer lines. Recycling the valves and sending a blast of pressurized helium through the line cleared the system, he said.

The maneuvers that followed gave NASA and SpaceX the confidence to go ahead with the hookup on Sunday. "The station's Mission Management Team unanimously agreed that Dragon's propulsion system is operating normally along with its other systems and ready to support the rendezvous," NASA said in a statement Saturday.

NASA said SpaceX voiced "high confidence there will be no repeat of the thruster problem during rendezvous, including its capability to perform an abort, should that be required." Fortunately, not a single hitch arose during the Dragon's approach.

What's in the Dragon?

The Dragon is carrying more than 2,300 pounds (1,050 kilograms) of cargo, including experiments to study the growth of plants and mouse stem cells in zero-G. There are also spare parts for the station's air-recycling system, grapple bars for the space station's exterior, and a research freezer for preserving biological samples. The crew is getting clothing, personal items and food, including fresh fruit from an orchard owned by the father of one of SpaceX's employees.

The Dragon also is bringing the first copy of "Up in the Air," a single recorded by the band Thirty Seconds to Mars. That song will figure in a public-relations push later this month.

Once the space station's astronauts have finished unloading the cargo, they'll fill the Dragon back up with more than 3,000 pounds (1,370 kilograms) of stuff destined for return to Earth. The cargo craft is due to be set loose on March 25 for its splashdown in the Pacific.

This is the second of 12 resupply flights to be conducted under NASA's $1.6 billion contract with SpaceX. The first flight took place last October. SpaceX and another company, Orbital Sciences Corp., were granted the contracts to help fill the gap left by the space shuttle fleet's retirement in 2011. Orbital's cargo delivery service is expected to start later this year.

SpaceX is one of three companies receiving support from NASA under a separate program to develop crew-capable spacecraft for the space agency's use beginning in 2017 or so. SpaceX is working to upgrade its robotic Dragon capsule with extra safety equipment for crewed flight. The other two companies — the Boeing Co. and Sierra Nevada Corp. — are developing completely new spaceships. In the meantime, NASA is paying the Russians about $60 million per seat for rides to and from the space station.

SpaceX Dragon Docks With Space Station After Engine Woes

Jesse Hamilton - Bloomberg News

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s spacecraft docked with the International Space Station a day late after recovering from engine malfunctions, according to the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The unmanned craft operated by the Hawthorne, California- based company known as SpaceX was in place at 8:56 a.m. today, NASA said in a statement, and it will stay for 22 days before returning for a Pacific Ocean splashdown. This is the company's second of at least a dozen planned supply missions to the station, a $1.6 billion contract.

Just after Dragon's March 1 launch, three of the craft's four thruster pods didn't initially work and had to be remotely coaxed back online. Elon Musk, head of SpaceX, had said a preliminary review suggested the malfunction may have stemmed from a blocked or stuck fuel valve.

"Spaceflight will never be risk-free, but it's a critical achievement that we once again have a U.S. capability to transport science to and from the International Space Station," said William Gerstenmaier, an associate administrator at NASA, in a statement.

The cargo vessel is delivering 1,268 pounds of supplies to support the space station's operations and experiments, according to NASA. It will return with 2,668 pounds of research samples that scientists hope will help them study spaceflight's effects on humans, plant samples that may aid in producing food for longer space missions and crystals meant to help improve solar cells and electronics.

After Stumble, SpaceX's Dragon Reaches the ISS

Dan Leone – Space News

Overcoming a propulsion glitch that delayed its arrival by a day, a Dragon cargo capsule operated by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) arrived at the international space station (ISS) March 3.

After several hours of maneuvering that began when Dragon got within 10 kilometers of ISS, astronauts used the station's robotic arm to grapple the capsule at 5:31 a.m. EST, an hour earlier than SpaceX had announced the evening before. At 8:56 a.m., NASA Mission Control and the ISS crew confirmed that Dragon was successfully berthed with the station.

Dragon was installed on the Earth-facing port of the station's Harmony module. Ground controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston controlled the arm during berthing.

When Dragon reached orbit the morning of March 1, three of the capsule's four thruster pods failed to activate as expected, delaying solar array deployment and severely limiting Dragon's maneuverability. Later that day, SpaceX brought all four thruster pods back online, but not in time to make its scheduled rendezvous with ISS the morning of March 2.

The culprit may have been blockage or a stuck check valve somewhere in the system that pressurizes the oxidizer tanks that feed Dragon's thrusters, Elon Musk, founder and chief executive officer of SpaceX, said in a post-launch press briefing March 2.

After launch, "only one of the oxidizer tanks was at the right pressure," Musk said. "We think there may have been a blockage of some kind, or stuck check valves going from the helium pressure tank to the oxidizer pressure tank. Whatever that blockage is seems to be alleviated."

Dragon will deliver more than 1,000 kilograms of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to ISS and return 1,210 kilograms of cargo to Earth. The capsule is scheduled to splashdown March 25 in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

This is the second contracted cargo delivery mission SpaceX is flying for NASA under a 12-flight, $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract it got from the agency in 2008. NASA also awarded an eight-flight, $1.9 billion contract to Orbital Sciences Corp. The Dulles, Va.-based company is expected to send send its first Cygnus cargo freighter to ISS later this year aboard an Antares rocket launched from Wallops Island, Va.

SpaceX's latest cargo mission launched March 1 aboard the company's Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch, Falcon 9's fifth to orbit, went exactly according to plan, SpaceX said March 1 on its website.

That marks an improvement over Falcon 9's Oct. 7 launch — SpaceX's first Commercial Resupply Services launch for NASA — in which the rocket lost one of its nine engines 79 seconds after liftoff, forcing SpaceX to drop off a piggyback commercial payload into a lower-than-intended orbit. That satellite fell out of the sky four days later, prompting owner Orbcomm, a Fort Lee, N.J.-based provider of machine-to-machine communication service, to file an insurance claim.

Despite Falcon 9 engine failure on SpaceX's first contracted cargo delivery, the mission was considered a success from a NASA point of view, as Dragon delivered its cargo to ISS on schedule.

SpaceX Dragon Cargo Ship Docks at Space Station

Tariq Malik - Space.com

An unmanned commercial space capsule packed with precious cargo successfully linked up with the International Space Station early Sunday (March 3), making a flawless orbital delivery after overcoming a thruster glitch that delayed its arrival by a day.

The SpaceX-built Dragon cargo capsule docked with the space station at 8:56 a.m. EST (1356) as the two spacecraft soared 253 miles (407 kilometers) over the Arabian Sea. NASA flight controllers performed the orbital link-up remotely by commanding the space station's Canadian-built robotic arm, which had latched onto Dragon three hours earlier, to attach the capsule to an available docking port.

"The Dragon is ours! Maneuvering it now on Canadarm2 to a docking port, will open hatches once secure," station astronaut Chris Hadfield of Canada wrote in a Twitter post. "Look forward to new smells. Great!"

Dragon reached the space station at 5:31 a.m. EST (1031 GMT), a full hour ahead of schedule. Two NASA astronauts, station commander Kevin Ford and flight engineer Thomas Marshburn, used the station's arm to grapple the capsule as it approached close to the orbiting lab.

SpaceX (short for Space Exploration Technologies) launched the Dragon capsule toward the space station on Friday (March 1), with the spacecraft riding the company's Falcon 9 rocket into orbit. While the launch was smooth, the Dragon capsule ran into trouble after it separated from the Falcon 9 rocket when three of four thruster pods did not activate as planned.

After several hours of troubleshooting, SpaceX engineers isolated the glitch to a pressurization problem in the thruster system and devised a fix that solved the problem. Because of the time needed for the fix, the Dragon capsule missed its initial rendezvous slated for Saturday (March 2).

The spacecraft's arrival on Sunday, however, went extremely smoothly. About four hours after the capsule was berthed to space station, astronauts opened the hatches between the two spacecraft to enter the Dragon, NASA officials said.

"Happy Berth Day, Dragon," SpaceX officials wrote in a Twitter post. The same message was emblazoned on the company's website.

"In solving the issues facing Dragon post-insertion, the team at SpaceX exhibited the ingenious engineering tenacity that has become a NASA hallmark, and further demonstrated the industry's readiness to perform the critical task of cargo delivery to low Earth orbit," Michael Lopez-Alegria, a former NASA astronaut and station commander who is now president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said in a statement. "Congratulations to SpaceX and NASA for the successful berthing of Dragon this morning; I look forward to seeing Dragon back on Earth."

Precious cargo for space station

The Dragon space capsule is packed with 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) for the International Space Station, a haul that includes fresh food, science experiments and other vital equipment. The capsule is also carrying two grapple bars for the station's exterior inside an unpressurized "trunk" — a storage compartment in a cylindrical section of the spacecraft below its re-entry capsule.

This is SpaceX's third flight to the space station and second official cargo delivery under a $1.6 billion deal with NASA for resupply flights. Under that contract, the company has agreed to provide at least 12 Dragon supply flights to the space station. The Hawthorne, Calif.-based firm was founded in 2002 by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to develop commerical rockets and spacecraft.

"I remember exactly where I was the very first time I ever heard of this scheme …when I was a young astronaut, and I said, 'We're going to do what?'" Ford told Mission Control during the docking operation. "That was when it was an idea and now it is starting to become routine. "

SpaceX launched its first Dragon to the space station last May during a demonstration flight, and followed that success with an official cargo delivery in October.

Cargo missions for NASA

NASA has a similar cargo delivery deal with the Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp., which will use its new Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket to launch eight cargo missions under a $1.9 billion contract. The first Antares and Cygnus test flights are expected later this year.

With the space shuttle fleet retired, NASA is relying on private spacecraft like SpaceX's Dragon capsules to fly cargo — and ultimately astronauts — to the International Space Station. Currently, NASA is dependent on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to launch American astronauts into space.

SpaceX is one of four companies developing manned spacecraft under NASA's commercial crew program. Its manned spacecraft is an enhanced version of the Dragon spacecraft designed to fly seven people to the station and return them to Earth at mission's end.

The Dragon space capsule that arrived at the space station Sunday will stay linked to the space station until March 25, when it will be plucked free using the robotic arm and released back into space.

Unlike the unmanned Russian, European and Japanese cargo spacecraft that serve the space station, SpaceX's Dragon capsules have a heat shield that allows them to re-enter Earth's atmosphere to return science experiments and other gear. This Dragon is expected to return about 2,700 pounds (1,210 kg) of gear to Earth for NASA when it splashes down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.

"What a fantastic day," Ford radioed Mission Control of the smooth Dragon rendezvous Sunday. "Obviously the vehicle is beautiful, the station is beautiful, the Canadarm2 is beautiful … the prettiest thing of all was the dance."

Space Station Berths a Dragon, Again

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

At 5:31 am EST Sunday morning, International Space Station astronauts guided the Canadarm2 robotic arm to an earlier-than-scheduled grappling maneuver with the SpaceX Dragon capsule. The grapple was scheduled for 6:31 am ET. At 8:56 am EST, the robotic arm guided the capsule for installation onto the Earth-facing port of the space station's Harmony module.

The approach and berthing of the unmanned Dragon — carrying over 2,300 lb (1,000 kilograms) of supplies as part of a NASA resupply contract to the space station — came after the private spaceflight company successfully overcame problems with three of four thruster pods that cast the mission into doubt shortly after launch on Friday.

When a spacecraft berths with the International Space Station, it does so under the guidance of the station's robotic arm. This differs from a docking maneuver that is carried out solely under the spacecraft's guidance. The planned manned Dragon missions will dock (not berth) with the orbiting outpost.

"SpaceX is proud to execute this important work for NASA, and we're thrilled to bring this capability back to the United States," Gwynne Shotwell, President of SpaceX, said shortly after Dragon berthing. "Today's launch continues SpaceX's long-term partnership with NASA to provide reliable, safe transport of cargo to and from the station, enabling beneficial research and advancements in technology and research."

This is the second of 12 SpaceX resupply missions to the space station under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.

'Sling-Sat' Could Remove Space Junk on the Cheap

Leonard David - Space.com

A proposed space-junk removal system would hop from one piece of debris to the next without burning much fuel, potentially making a de-clutter mission economically feasible with current technology.

The TAMU Space Sweeper with Sling-Sat, or 4S for short, would harness the momentum imparted by capturing and ejecting one object to slingshot on to the next chunk of space junk, its developers say.

"The goal of this mission is to remove as many pieces of debris with the minimum amount of fuel," said Daniele Mortari of Texas A&M University.

A growing problem

Earth is surrounded by a huge and ever-growing cloud of orbital debris — stuff like spent rocket bodies, dead spacecraft and the fragments generated when these objects collide.

NASA estimates that about 500,000 pieces bigger than a marble and 22,000 as large as a softball whiz around Earth at fantastic speeds. And there are probably hundreds of millions of flecks at least 1 millimeter in diameter.

This cloud of junk poses a threat to the satellites and spacecraft circling our planet, including the International Space Station, and many researchers say humanity must act soon to prevent the problem from really getting out of hand.

"It is well understood that we are past the point of no return. Relying solely on improved tracking and avoidance is not enough … it is simply a technical form of sticking your head in the sand and crossing your fingers," Texas A&M PhD student Jonathan Missel told SPACE.com. "We are at a point where the problem needs to be solved, with active removal, not just avoided."

A new idea

Many ideas have been put forward over the years to combat the space-junk threat, including schemes that would blast debris with lasers or snare it in a giant net.

"While they are interesting to think about, they are often threatening to operating satellites, or need technological advances that are decades out," Missel said of some of the more ambitious offerings.

The most technically and politically sound idea is a simple rendezvous mission, during which a clean-up craft would travel to and de-orbit debris objects one at a time, Missel said. But such a mission would burn loads of fuel to get between widely spaced targets, making it "fatally plagued by inefficiency," he added.

The 4S system, which Missel and Mortari are developing, aims to correct this fatal flaw. It would snare debris at the end of a spinning satellite, then fling the object down to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

The spacecraft would harness the momentum exchanged during both of these actions to cruise over to the next piece of space junk on its list, minimizing fuel use and extending its operational life to the point that such a mission might be practical.

Work on 4S this year includes looks at hardware options, Mortari said, and further optimization of the idea.

China's space station will be energy-efficient: lead designer

Xinhua News Service

China's space station, which is expected to be completed around 2020, will set an example of green technology, a Chinese space scientist said.

The space station will use a slew of cutting-edge technologies in flight control, power supply and waste recycling, Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, told Xinhua.

The green technologies to be applied in the station will raise its recycling rate and reduce its reliance on input from the ground.

For example, waste water and urine will be used to extract oxygen, and carbon dioxide and other human waste will also be recycled, Zhou said.

To meet the power demand of the space station, power generation from solar cell will be made more efficient and the life-span, reliability and safety of energy storage batteries will also be improved, he said.

"All these technologies can be applied on the earth in the future," Zhou said.

Platform for Int'l scientists

Zhou said the space station will offer scientists from around the world opportunities for research and experimentation.

He said the space station, which is aimed at engaging in space exploration and research on space resources, consists of three capsules, including a core module and two laboratory units. It is capable of docking one freight spacecraft and two manned spacecraft, and the entire system will weigh over 90 tonnes.

The space station has been designed to accommodate three Chinese astronauts who will work in half-year shifts during its operation period, but new capsules can be added as needed for scientific research, Zhou said.

"In light of the current demand and cost factors, we are not going to build an international space station, but one of moderate size that meets the demands of scientific experimentation and technological testing, and its flexibility in adding capsules will enable us to adapt to the demands of the most state-of-the-art technological research," Zhou said.

Zhou is to attend the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory body, scheduled to open on March 3 in Beijing.

SpaceX must keep answers coming

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

While you often hear what SpaceX is doing with Falcon 9 and Dragon as "commercial" space, it's really a taxpayer-funded operation and the people footing the bill deserve answers when things go wrong.

For a couple years now, journalists and other taxpayer watchdogs wondered what would happen if there were a problem on one of the SpaceX or Orbital Sciences "privatized" cargo flights to the International Space Station. SpaceX is learning on the job something NASA's public affairs team has been perfecting since the 1960s: the release of real-time, detailed technical information in a crisis.

In the end, they did pretty well getting information out and not sugar-coating the severity of the problems that developed not long after liftoff Friday morning. In short, the Dragon spacecraft, which flew a couple of near-flawless missions to the space station before this one, temporarily lost the ability to fire its thrusters. Clogged pressurization lines were the culprit. Engineers figured out a fix and are working during this weekend to reset the spacecraft's mission to deliver cargo to the space station. Whether all goes well as for a planned docking this morning, SpaceX earned high marks by day's end for its immediate handling of the anomaly.

The incident offered a first glimpse into how a private company, operating a taxpayer-bankrolled mission with big implications for a major government agency, will handle sharing information with us. They were a bit slow getting initial details out, but in the end, SpaceX appeared forthcoming with details and its leaders were straightforward about the chances of mission success or failure.

At first, information was in short supply. The video feed disappeared (not good) and SpaceX's top man Elon Musk was tweeting bits and pieces of information that almost seemed as though the company was about to head into a bunker and cut off communication. Turns out, they did the opposite. The technical team was working the problem. They were sharing information with the NASA engineers as we ought to expect. And in due time, they came forward with an increasing amount of detail about what had happened, why and what was being done to correct it.

To be fair, as people following NASA launches and missions, we in the press and the viewing public got spoiled by the almost instant flow of information from the government's team about all that was on our screens. A NASA commentator often was describing what was going on. A team of additional public affairs agents was on hand most of the time to further explain anything we didn't understand right away. It's changing a bit with the leaner — and a little less obligated to talk — private operators.

But overall, the public got answers to important questions about what is going on with a rocket (it flew flawlessly again) and a spacecraft (it had a hiccup that needs serious attention) that is carrying cargo to the space station now. Those answers need to keep coming. And the press and politicians need to ask hard questions. NASA's safety team needs to inquire, and review, as well. Because, while the Dragon is carrying little more than bags of water and other supplies today, SpaceX purports to want to fly people on it someday.

That means every flight deserves scrutiny, and not just NASA scrutiny. Those examinations need to be out in the open, even though part of the program is private. If we're going to someday put U.S. crew aboard the Dragon, then it needs to be operated with the same level of transparency as the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, space shuttle and space station operated. Here's hoping the blinds stay open.

NASA needs steady, long-term planning

Houston Chronicle (Editorial)

While NASA's future plans may be aimed at the far reaches of our solar system, its present-day concerns are firmly footed here on Earth. Specifically in Washington, D.C., where budget changes and political whims ensure that voyages to explore that eternal frontier are often shut down before they reach their final stages. Space science is inherently complex, expensive and long-term - three qualities not well-handled by the federal government these days.

So we're glad to see that key figures in Houston's congressional delegation, particularly Republican Rep. John Culberson and Democratic Rep. Gene Green, have wisely recognized their own institutional weaknesses and are lined up behind a bill to detach NASA's leadership and budget from the usual political cycles.

The Space Leadership Preservation Act of 2013, an updated version of last year's failed bill, would create a 6-year term for the NASA administrator, allow for easier long-term contracting and create a board of directors to prepare budgets, recommend candidates and write reviews.

Short-term political maneuvers have left NASA without a clearly defined mission. Are we going to the moon? Mars? An asteroid? A Lagrangian point? And without a shuttle, how will we get there? It is difficult to have a clear vision when the target seems to change every election cycle. NASA's past job of providing access to low Earth orbit is increasingly within the realm of the private sector - as SpaceX proved Friday with its mission to the International Space Station. NASA must blaze a path into a new wilderness.

Telescopic observation and robotic exploration have been scientific boons, investigating our planetary neighbors and discovering hundreds of others orbiting their own suns.

But that search for life beyond Earth is just one side to humanity's mission in space. The other is expanding life, sending people to new homes among the stars. By granting NASA some stability, Congress will take a small step to keep us on path to that giant leap for mankind.

END

Keep the shuttle flying

Monday, March 4, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - March 4, 2013 and JSC Today

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