| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- ISS Conference Facility Open House
- Don't Forget - Tech Transfer Services Available
- Early Shuttle Design and Organizational Structure - Organizations/Social
- Today! A Glimpse of Asia - AAPI Month Event
- What Would You Do if You Had Google Glass?
- Helping Smokers Quit
- Starport Zumba for Kids - Starts May 30
- Starport Boot Camp - Discount Ends May 30
- Starport Youth Karate Classes Start May 31 - Community
- The Blood Drive Needs You! June 18 and 19 |  |
| Headlines - ISS Conference Facility Open House
The new International Space Station (ISS) Conference Facility (formally known as Regents Park III) is now open for business! The new facility is in the heart of Nassau Bay, located at 1800 Space Park Drive, Suite 100. We would like to invite you to stop by and take a tour of our new facility today during our Open House between 4 and 6 p.m. - Don't Forget - Tech Transfer Services Available
You only have two days left! Stop by the Technology Transfer table in the Building 3 café to pick up a copy of NASA Spinoff and NASA Innovation magazines. You can also meet members of the Technology Transfer Office, who will share details about the importance of new technology reporting and answer your questions about other tech-transfer-related services, including patenting and patent licensing, software release and more. Today and tomorrow, while you grab lunch, the Tech Transfer booth will be manned in Building 3 through Friday, May 30, from11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Come and find out how your work may be even more beneficial to NASA, JSC and society than you imagined. - Early Shuttle Design and Organizational Structure
Straight wing versus delta wing, fully reusable versus partially reusable, lead center management versus matrix management … Get the facts about the decisions that influenced the early design of the space shuttle, its organizational structure and the lessons learned from each. Hear from those who were there: Bob Thompson, George Jeffs, Norm Chaffee, Owen Morris, Tom Moser and others. Check out two new case studies on the JSC Knowledge Management website. - The Genesis of the Shuttle: Early Design Development
- Organizational Structure
Consider what lessons we can take away from this and apply to our own tasks. While you are there, please take the time to give us your feedback. Also, we would like your suggestions for potential topics. Share your ideas! Organizations/Social - Today! A Glimpse of Asia - AAPI Month Event
Don't miss "A Glimpse of Asia" as the ASIA Employee Resource Group (ERG) invites you to our second event for Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It will take place TODAY from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Teague Auditorium lobby. The JSC community will have the opportunity to try delicacies from all over Asia while viewing photos and cultural exhibits, with a martial arts showcase from Bushi Ban. The Hispanic ERG will also be contributing food, and the cultural exhibit will be a joint effort with Boeing's AAPA. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Turner. Event Date: Thursday, May 29, 2014 Event Start Time:11:00 AM Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium Lobby
Add to Calendar
Jennifer Turner x48162
[top] - What Would You Do if You Had Google Glass?
Join CoLabs today for a brainstorming session about how wearable technology like Google Glass could be used not only here at JSC but across the agency. You will also hear more about how the technology works. This lunchtime activity will include lots of interactive brainstorming, so bring your lunch and a friend! Cookies will be provided. - Helping Smokers Quit
It's never too early to quit smoking. Please join Takis Bogdanos, MA, LPC-S, CEAP, CGP, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program, in the Building 30 Auditorium today, May 29, at 12 noon. H will present the reasons why it's so difficult to kick the habit, the reasons people so often go back to it and the steps you can take to be successful in quitting. - Starport Zumba for Kids - Starts May 30
Zumba for Kids is back by popular demand! This program is designed exclusively for kids. Zumba for Kids classes are rockin', high-energy fitness parties packed with specially choreographed, kid-friendly routines. This dance-fitness workout for kids ages 5 to 10 will be set to hip-hop, salsa, reggaeton and more. Five-week session: May 30 to June 28 Fridays: 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. Ages: 5 to 10 Cost: $55 Register online or at the Gilruth Center. - Starport Boot Camp - Discount Ends May 30
Starport's phenomenal boot camp is back, and registration is open and filling fast. Don't miss a chance to be part of Starport's incredibly popular program. The class will fill up, so register now! Early registration (ends May 30) - $90 per person (just $5 per class)
Regular registration (May 31 to June 8): - $110 per person
The workout begins on Wednesday, June 9. Are you ready for 18 hours of intense workouts with an amazing personal trainer to get you to your fitness goal? Don't wait! Sign up today and take advantage of this extreme discount before it's too late. Register now at the Gilruth Center information desk, or call 281-483-0304 for more information. - Starport Youth Karate Classes Start May 31
Let Starport introduce your child to the exciting art of Youth Karate. Youth Karate will teach your child the skills of self-defense, self-discipline and self-confidence. The class will also focus on leadership, healthy competition and sportsmanship. Five-week session: May 31 to June 28 Saturdays: 10 to 10:45 a.m. Ages: 6 to 12 Cost: $75 | $20 drop-in rate Register online or at the Gilruth Center. Community - The Blood Drive Needs You! June 18 and 19
Summertime typically brings a decrease in blood donations as donors become busy with activities and vacations. But the need for blood can increase due to these summer activities and the three major holidays: Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. Please take an hour of your time to donate at our next blood drive, and bring a friend! You can donate at one of the following locations: - Teague Auditorium lobby - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Building 11 Starport Café donor coach - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Gilruth Center donor coach - Noon to 4 p.m. (Thursday only)
T-shirts, snacks and drinks are given to all donors. The criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website. | |
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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. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – May 29, 2014
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Expedition 40 welcomed three new crew members yesterday, as Max Suraev, Reid Wiseman and Alexander Gerst arrived successfully following a launch from Baikonur, Kazakhstan and a 4-orbit, 6-hour rendezvous. The launch coverage was shown on CNN, NBC, Fox, CBS, and about 165 TV broadcasts for a total potential audience of about 50 million.
@NASA_Johnson posted a beautiful image of the launch, below.
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Spaceship With 3-Man Crew Docks at Space Station
AP
A Russian spacecraft carrying a three-man crew docked successfully at the International Space Station on Thursday following a flawless launch.
Russian Soyuz docks with space station
William Harwood – CBS News
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a veteran Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. test pilot-astronaut and a German volcanologist rocketed into orbit Wednesday and chased down the International Space Station, gliding to a picture-perfect docking to boost the lab's crew back to six.
Cockeysville native launches to International Space Station
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman to spend six months orbiting Earth, conducting research
Scott Dance – The Baltimore Sun
A few minutes after 4 p.m. Wednesday, Cockeysville native Reid Wiseman officially left the Earth to cheers at his high school alma mater.
Russian Rocket Launches International Crew to Space Station
A Russian Soyuz rocket launched three new crewmembers on an express trip to the International Space Station Wednesday (May 28), kicking off a months-long voyage in orbit.
U.S., Russian, European Crew Reaches International Space Station
Mark Carreau – Aviation Week
Russia's Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station's Russian segment late Wednesday, restoring the orbiting science laboratory to six person operations for several months of demanding activities that include the anticipated resumption of U.S. maintenance spacewalks that were suspended last July when water leaked into a NASA space suit helmet.
Multinational crew blasts off, arrives at space station
Irene Klotz – Reuters
Leaving politics behind, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a pair of rookie astronauts from the United States and Germany blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
Russian manned spaceship docks with ISS
ITAR-TASS News Agency
Russia's manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-13M has successfully docked with the International Space Station.
Earth Science Managers Briefing NASA Administrator on IceSat-2 Replan
Dan Leone – Space News
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is slated to be briefed today (May 28) on the Earth Science Division's plan to get the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (IceSat)-2 back on track after technical problems with the spacecraft's only instrument caused the project to bust its budget by about $200 million.
White House objects to Commerce, Justice bill
Erik Wasson – The Hill
The White House on Wednesday formally outlined its objections to the cuts and policy riders in a House bill that would fund the Commerce and Justice departments for 2015.
Texas runoffs: Hall loses, Babin wins
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Texas held several primary runoff elections on Tuesday, and two of the results had some space policy implications. In the 4th district, former House Science Committee chairman Ralph Hall lost a Republican party runoff to former US Attorney John Ratcliffe, 53 to 47 percent. Hall was chairman of the committee in 2011–2012, and served as ranking member in 2007–2010 when the Democrats were in the majority; he currently holds the honorary position of "chairman emeritus" on the committee. Hall was first elected to Congress in 1980 as a Democrat, but changed parties in early 2004.
Antares rocket launch delayed
Carol Vaughn - Delmarva (MD) Daily Times
Orbital Sciences Corporation has delayed the upcoming launch of its Antares rocket from Wallops for at least a week, after a rocket engine being tested for use in a future mission failed.
Twin astronauts offer up selves for space science
Marcia Dunn – AP
When astronaut Scott Kelly embarks on a one-year space station stint next spring, his twin brother will be offering more than his usual moral support.
Push. Pull. Run. Lift! How Do We Make These Exercises Work In Zero G?
Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today
Here's the thing about going to the International Space Station: No one can predict what you'll need to do during your six-month stay there. Maybe something breaks and you need to go "outside" to fix it, in a spacesuit. Maybe you're going to spend a day or three in a cramped corner, fixing something behind a panel.
COMPLETE STORIES
Spaceship With 3-Man Crew Docks at Space Station
AP
A Russian spacecraft carrying a three-man crew docked successfully at the International Space Station on Thursday following a flawless launch.
The Soyuz craft, carrying NASA's Reid Wiseman, Russian cosmonaut Max Surayev and German Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency arrived at the station at 5:44 a.m. (0144 GMT). They lifted off just less than six hours earlier from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Mission Control in Moscow congratulated the trio on a successful docking.
They are joining two Russians and an American who have been at the station since March.
The Russian and U.S. space agencies have continued to cooperate despite friction between the two countries over Ukraine. NASA depends on the Russian spacecraft to ferry crews to the space station and pays Russia nearly $71 million per seat.
Until last year, Russian spacecraft used to travel two days to reach the station, and this will be only the fifth time that a crew has taken the six-hour "fast-track" route. After the previous launch, in March, the crew ended up taking the longer route because of a software glitch.
Russian Soyuz docks with space station
William Harwood – CBS News
A Soyuz spacecraft carrying a veteran Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. test pilot-astronaut and a German volcanologist rocketed into orbit Wednesday and chased down the International Space Station, gliding to a picture-perfect docking to boost the lab's crew back to six.
With commander Maxim Suraev at the controls, the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft's forward docking mechanism engaged its counterpart on the station's Earth-facing Rassvet module at 9:44 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), five hours and 47 minutes after liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
"Contact and capture confirmed," reported Dan Huot, NASA's mission control commentator in Houston, as the two spacecraft came together 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean approaching the northwest coast of South America.
"Congratulations," a Russian flight controller radioed a few moments after docking. "We're wishing you good work and wishing you safe operations."
"OK, thank you very much," Suraev replied. "We're going to do our best, we'll do everything we can."
Following extensive leak checks, Suraev and his crewmates -- flight engineer Reid Wiseman and European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst -- opened the capsule's forward hatch at 10:52 p.m. and floated into the space station, greeted by Expedition 40 commander Steven Swanson, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev.
After a traditional video conference with dignitaries and family members gathered at the cosmodrome, Swanson planned to conduct a safety briefing to bring the new crew members up to speed on station systems and emergency procedures before taking a break to close out a long day.
The mission began with a sky-lighting burst of fire as the Soyuz rocket's first-stage engines roared to life at 3:57 p.m., quickly pushing the spacecraft away from the firing stand, the same launch pad used by Yuri Gagarin at the dawn of the space age.
Suraev monitored the automated ascent from the command module's center seat, flanked on his left by Wiseman, a veteran Navy carrier pilot making his first spaceflight, and on the right by fellow rookie Gerst, a European Space Agency astronaut with a doctorate in geophysics.
The climb out through a starry sky went smoothly and all three crew members appeared relaxed and in good spirits as they monitored cockpit displays, flashing smiles and thumbs up gestures on downlinked television.
Four minutes after liftoff, the 150-foot-tall rocket's four liquid-fueled strap-on first-stage boosters shut down and fell away, followed three minutes later by separation of the central second stage core booster. The rocket's third stage then ignited to continue the drive to space.
The third stage shut down as planned eight minutes and 45 seconds after launch. Moments later, the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft was released to fly on its own and the capsule's solar arrays and antennas deployed as planned to complete the initial launch phase of the mission.
Asked what he looked forward to the most in his first spaceflight, Wiseman said "floating, the view, and the chance to do some science that maybe not now, but maybe 10 of 15 years down the road helps save somebody's life."
"If we can something like that, then my time is well spent," he said in a pre-flight interview. "But the first thing I want to do when I get there, I've got to give Swanny a big hug, and then it's time to go look out the window."
The launching came amid increasing tension between the United States and Russia in the wake of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, retaliatory U.S. sanctions and subsequent threats by a senior Russian leader to restrict the use of Russian rocket engines in American Atlas 5 boosters used to launch U.S. military satellites.
Dmitri Rogozin, Russian deputy prime minister for space and defense, has also threatened to pull out of the station project in 2020, well before NASA's goal of operating the outpost at least through 2024.
For their part, Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst said preparations for the Soyuz TMA-13M flight were routine and that the Cold War-era rhetoric in the wake of the Ukraine crisis had no impact on day-to-day space station operations.
"Our team, our crew is not just a team of three different guys from three different nationalities or continents," Gerst said at a pre-launch news conference. "We're actually a group of friends."
Along with two years of intense training "we've spent weekends together, we've spent weekends on Max's dacha, we've spent weekends together in Cologne, our families know each other really well," he said. "Space is without borders. We fly to an International Space Station where we do experiments that come back to Earth, that benefit all of us, all humankind."
The crew answered another question about international relations by standing and embracing, prompting cheers and applause. Suraev then posed with his crewmates for a "selfie" to another round of cheers.
"When it gets right down to it, we're still supporting each other," NASA space station Program Manager Michael Suffredini told CBS News in a recent interview. "We talk at my level, we're talking at (headquarters) level, we regularly have telecons to reaffirm our commitment. Every time we do something together the teams work and support each other the way we always have.
"We're trying really hard to do what both of our government's have essentially told us to do (and) that is to continue working in spaceflight the way we have."
The combined Expedition 40 crew faces a busy summer with two Russian spacewalks on tap, up to three U.S. EVAs, the arrival of a Russian Progress supply ship, a final European ATV cargo carrier and two U.S. spacecraft: an Orbital Sciences Cygnus supply craft and a SpaceX Dragon capsule.
"Our key challenges for this increment will be managing the slew of vehicle traffic that we have in addition to the EVAs that are planned and of course, we also have a very ambitious utilization schedule as well on top of that," said lead Flight Director Greg Whitney. "So it's going to be a challenging time for both the ground and the on-board crew, but we're looking forward to it. It'll be a great mission."
Wiseman said he was particularly interested in medical research using the crew as test subjects.
"We have a ton of human research planned," he said. "They're going to look at my blood, my skin, my bones, my muscle, my eyes especially. And I'm really looking forward to getting into all that science. All that stuff fascinates me. As a Navy pilot, I always had an aversion to medicine. Now I'm being forced into it and I absolutely love it!"
Cockeysville native launches to International Space Station
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman to spend six months orbiting Earth, conducting research
Scott Dance – The Baltimore Sun
A few minutes after 4 p.m. Wednesday, Cockeysville native Reid Wiseman officially left the Earth to cheers at his high school alma mater.
The distinction of "going to space" isn't technically earned until one is 50 miles above the Earth's surface, Donald Thomas, a former astronaut now on the faculty at Towson University, told children, parents and Dulaney High School students and alumni gathered in the school's satellite cafeteria to watch the launch.
But Wiseman and German astronaut Alexander Gerst earned it alongside veteran Russian cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, launching from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:57 a.m. Thursday local time. In Wiseman's hometown, physics students at his alma mater celebrated the occasion at a launch party they organized for the community.
The trio was expected to dock with the International Space Station on Thursday for a six-month stay. Their mission comes at an unusual time in space travel, as the United States lacks the capability to send astronauts into space and faces increased tension with Russia.
For the crowd that included Wiseman's former teachers and classmates, their children, and students who hope to follow in his footsteps, the launch was nonetheless inspirational.
"It's nice to know it can happen," senior Alex Vecchioni said of the possibility of becoming an astronaut. Vecchioni plans to study aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park in the fall.
With their graduation later Wednesday night, students from teacher Stephen Shaw's Advanced Placement physics class set up projector screens to show the launch, laptops equipped with a game that simulates orbital mechanics, as well as coloring and crafts. The students advertised the event at nearby schools, drawing children eager to see a rocket launch.
"He's smiling," 7-year-old Nico DeFelice told his father, Nick, when the NASA TV broadcast showed the astronauts giving a thumbs-up as they hurtled through space.
"Of course he is; he's in space," replied the elder DeFelice, who graduated from Dulaney in 1993 alongside Wiseman and lives in Monkton. "It's not often you see somebody you know going into space."
Among those in attendance was Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, who noted that two other county natives — Kenwood High's Thomas Jones and Woodlawn High's Robert Curbeam — also ventured into space.
"It just shows that our Baltimore County public schools graduate people with great capabilities," Kamenetz said.
Wiseman also relayed a message to attendees.
"You will make the next scientific discoveries, and you will literally change the course of history," said Thomas, reading from Wiseman's message, which ended with, "Enjoy the show tonight, and go O's."
For the next six months, Wiseman, Gerst and Suraev are slated to conduct experiments and maintain the space station, a project of 15 nations overseen by the U.S. and Russia. The first components of the space station were launched and assembled in 1998. The station has experienced hiccups in recent years, including a coolant leak last year that delayed a resupply mission.
Political tensions between the United States and Russia have strained the collaboration amid Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. This month, Russian officials said they would not support a U.S. proposal to keep the station operating beyond 2020.
Russia also imposed a ban on selling Russian rocket motors for U.S. military launches, a more immediate concern since one of two primary rockets now flying U.S. military missions uses Russian-made engines.
But the tensions are not expected to affect Wiseman's mission or his accomplishments.
"It's just so surreal," said Kristin Chottiner, nee Dollenberg, who played on the golf team alongside Wiseman at Dulaney and brought her two children and husband to watch the launch. "He's so normal, but he's not."
Russian Rocket Launches International Crew to Space Station
A Russian Soyuz rocket launched three new crewmembers on an express trip to the International Space Station Wednesday (May 28), kicking off a months-long voyage in orbit.
NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst of Germany and cosmonaut Maxim Suraev soared into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan at 3:57 p.m. EDT (1957 GMT) atop their Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft. The crew is expected to dock to the orbiting outpost at 9:48 p.m. EDT (0148 May 29 GMT), and you can watch the spacecraft's arrival live on Space.com via NASA TV starting at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 May 29 GMT). "All systems reported as nominal, going as expected," a NASA spokesman said during the live broadcast. After the crew made it safely to orbit, he described the lift-off as a "flawless launch."
About five minutes into the flight, the three crewmembers exchanged high fives and gave thumbs-up signals at the onboard camera. A toy giraffe was hanging inside the capsule to help show when the crew entered microgravity. Wiseman's young daughters gave him the giraffe for good luck on the mission.
Wiseman and Gerst are both heading to space for the first time, while veteran cosmonaut Suraev has been to the space station before during a mission in 2009 and 2010. The launch today kicks off the crewmember's 5.5-month stay on the space station.
NASA's Wiseman is looking forward to life in space, and he plans to share it with people on Earth via social media.
"First I've got to learn how to live and work in space, and after that, I have to be a really good worker bee for NASA for our European and international partners because that's my job from 9 to 5 is getting the work done, getting the science done," Wiseman told Space.com in a video interview before launch. "Then free time that comes beyond that, I want to share this experience primarily using Twitter." Russia's Soyuz spacecraft have been flying crewmembers on single-day trips to the space station since 2013. The trips would take two days before express trips began. Unmanned cargo ships have been flying these quick trips since 2012.
The three new crewmembers will join NASA's Steve Swanson and cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev on the orbiting outpost as part of the Expedition 40 crew. Once Swanson, Skvortsov and Artemyev depart the station in September, Wiseman, Gerst and Suraev will be part of the Expedition 41 crew.
Soyuz spacecraft are currently the only spacecraft that can transport humans to and from the International Space Station. NASA is hoping to start using private spaceships to ferry astronauts to and from the orbiting outpost by 2017.
You can follow all three of the crewmembers on social media. Suraev, Wiseman and Gerst all have active accounts on Twitter. U.S., Russian, European Crew Reaches International Space Station
Mark Carreau – Aviation Week
Russia's Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station's Russian segment late Wednesday, restoring the orbiting science laboratory to six person operations for several months of demanding activities that include the anticipated resumption of U.S. maintenance spacewalks that were suspended last July when water leaked into a NASA space suit helmet.
The docking at 9:44 p.m., EDT, delivered Maxim Suraev, a veteran Russian cosmonaut, and two first time space travelers, NASA's Reid Wiseman, a U.S. Navy test pilot, and the European Space Agency's Alexander Gerst, a German geophysicist.
They were greeted by ISS commander Steve Swanson, of NASA, and cosmonauts, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev. The three men had staffed the station on their own since the scheduled May 13 departure of three Japanese, American and Russian crew members.
"You've got help on the way," NASA's Mission Control informed Swanson, the Expedition 40 commander, moments after the Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:57 p.m., EDT, or Thursday at 1:57 a.m., local time.
The TMA-13M's express four orbit, six hour transit unfolded without the difficulties that turned the March 25 Soyuz launching of Swanson, Skvortsov and Armey into a two day transit when the capsule failed to reach the proper attitude for the third of four post-launch rendezvous maneuvers. The difficulty was attributed to an overly restrictive attitude limit in the Soyuz light controls that was subsequently relaxed.
The station's newcomers left behind terrestrial tensions over Russian interference in Ukraine and an exchange of economic sanctions imposed by Washington and Moscow in response. So far, cooperation aboard the U.S.-led 15 nation ISS appears unaffected.
"The team has really come together and is really strong -- even at this time when it's a little shaky overall politically," noted William Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, who was at Baikonur for the launching. "There is a tremendous spirit of how we can achieve the greater purpose of what we are doing in space. We can be a model for how real teams come together despite challenging times."
Swanson offered as much in an assessment from the ISS earlier this week.
"We talk about it, more in the sense of what the politics are doing," he said. "It doesn't affect our working relationship. We are still good friends."
The re-fortified station crew faces a challenging four months. Five spacewalks loom, including a flurry of three choreographed by NASA to resume external maintenance activities suspended last July when water leaked in the helmet of the U.S. spacesuit worn by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano.
An investigation traced the leak to a clogged fan pump separator in the water cooling system of the suit's personal life support system backpack. Filters that shed the silica particles responsible for the clog have been replaced as have the pump separators. Engineers are assessing samples of cooling system water returned to Earth by the latest SpaceX Dragon mission earlier this month to wrap up the probe and clear the way for three U.S. spacewalks in August.
Swanson, Wiseman and Gerst will share the NASA spacewalk assignments, which are likely to address cooling and power system issues as well as the first steps in moving the three-year-old U.S. Permanent Multi-purpose Module to establish docking ports for U. S. commercial crew transport vehicles expected to begin arriving in late 2017.
Skvortsov and Atemyev are to install communications antennas, extend a payload boom and deploy and retrieve external experiments during Russian spacewalks planned for June and August.
Up to five multinational re-supply missions are planned. They include the European Space Agency's fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle in late July and August. Meanwhile, the ISS astronauts are responsible for participating in or overseeing more than 150 science experiments and engineering demonstrations.
Multinational crew blasts off, arrives at space station
Irene Klotz – Reuters
Leaving politics behind, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a pair of rookie astronauts from the United States and Germany blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
The crew's Russian Soyuz rocket lifted off at 3:57 p.m. EDT and headed into orbit, a live broadcast on NASA Television showed.
Perched on top of the rocket was a Russian Soyuz capsule holding cosmonaut Maxim Suraev, a retired Russian Air Force colonel; NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy pilot Reid Wiseman; and German astronaut and geophysicist Alexander Gerst.
"Adrenaline is rising but feel relaxed," Gerst, 38, posted on Twitter as he and his crewmates rode a bus out to the launch pad.
Less than six hours after liftoff, Gerst and his crewmates reached the station, a $100 billion research laboratory as it flew about 260 miles (418 km) above the Pacific Ocean west of Peru.
The Soyuz slipped into a berthing port on the station's Rassvet module at 9:44 p.m. EDT.
The station, a project of 15 nations, is overseen by the United States and Russia.
Tensions between the countries have been strained following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and economic sanctions imposed by the United States as punishment. But until recently, the space partnership was largely exempt from the political rancor and the sanctions' financial impacts.
That ended earlier this month when Russian officials said they would not support a U.S. proposal to keep the station operating beyond 2020. Russia also imposed its own ban on selling Russian rocket motors for U.S. military launches, a more immediate concern since one of two primary rockets currently flying U.S. military missions use Russian-made engines.
At a prelaunch press conference on Tuesday, the new space station crew was asked if the escalating tensions were having any impact on their mission.
In response, Suraev, Reid and Gerst slapped their arms around each other and hugged.
Aboard the space station, currently staffed by NASA astronaut Steven Swanson and two Russian cosmonauts, it's business as usual, Swanson said during an inflight interview broadcast on NASA Television on Tuesday.
"We don't talk about it much, honestly," Swanson said. "It does not affect our working relationship. We get along very well. There are no issues at all up here."
Russian manned spaceship docks with ISS
ITAR-TASS News Agency
Russia's manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-13M has successfully docked with the International Space Station.
"The ship docked with the Rassvet module (MIM-1) in automatic mode at 05:44, Moscow time," a Baikonur space port official told Itar-Tass.
The ship is piloted by Maxim Surayev. He and his colleagues - NASA astronaut Gregory Wiseman, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander Gerst - are to join on Thursday Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev, as well as NASA astronaut Steve Swanson who have been working aboard the ISS since March this year.
Surayev flew to the ISS in 2009, while for Wiseman and Gerst it is the first flight to the orbiter.
The crew docked with the ISS under a truncated six-hour flight plan. One of the advantages of the shortened flight plan is that the crew do not have to get adapted to zero gravity in enclosed space of the Soyuz spaceship where it is rather cold. Weightlessness begins to tell on the human organism in approximately five hours' time, that is, the crew will be adapting to zero gravity aboard the ISS in comfortable conditions.
The first manned flight according to the shortened diagram (when the spaceship makes only four orbital revolutions) was made by the crew of the spaceship Soyuz TMA-08M in March 2013, and by the subsequent manned spaceships 09, 10, and 11. However, during the previous manned space launch in March this year, the Soyuz TMA-12M traveled to the orbital station in accordance with the standard 48-hour routine.
The arriving crew are to carry out an extensive program of applied research and experiments, video filming and photography on board. They will handle the arriving Progress cargo ships and the docking with a U.S. Dragon freighter.
The ISS crew plan three spacewalks: two will be performed by Skvortsov and Artemyev, and one by Surayev and Alexander Samokutyayev who will arrive to the ISS as a member of the next mission.
Earth Science Managers Briefing NASA Administrator on IceSat-2 Replan
Dan Leone – Space News
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is slated to be briefed today (May 28) on the Earth Science Division's plan to get the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (IceSat)-2 back on track after technical problems with the spacecraft's only instrument caused the project to bust its budget by about $200 million.
The good news, at least for the other three divisions in NASA's $5-billion-a-year Science Mission Directorate, is that IceSat-2's overrun will be paid for entirely by the division that incurred it, Michael Freilich, director of the Earth Science Division, said here May 28 at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's Earth science subcommittee.
"It has to," Freilich told SpaceNews after a presentation to the subcommittee, a NASA chartered body that provides nominally independent feedback about the agency's Earth-observing missions.
Some of the overrun — which puts the project's final price tag about 35 percent higher than the $559 million NASA thought IceSat-2 would cost when the project baseline budget was set in 2012 — will be covered by Earth science missions that ended up costing less than expected. The U.S.-Japanese Global Precipitation Measurement satellite that launched in February is one example.
NASA has not yet quantified the savings from that mission, but whatever the amount, it will not be $200 million Freilich told SpaceNews, noting that there will be "some delays" to other Earth science missions.
In April, during a presentation to the full NASA Advisory Council, Freilich's deputy Peg Luce said the Earth Science Division would tap into its Other Missions and Data Analysis Account to pay the IceSat-2 bill. The White House seeks $520 million for this account in 2015 as part of a budget request that did not take the IceSat-2 replan into account.
IceSat-2's photon-counting Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System instrument is being built by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with help from contractor Fibertek Inc. of Herndon, Virginia.
By law, NASA projects that exceed their established baseline costs by 30 percent or more must be formally replanned — a process that requires buy in from the NASA administrator and Congress. Assuming Bolden signs off on the Earth Science Division's IceSat-2 replan, Congress will receive a copy of the report for its perusal.
If NASA leadership does not like Earth Science's plan, "they could tell me to go back to the showers," Freilich said here May 28 just hours before he was due on the ninth floor of NASA headquarters for the IceSat-2 briefing.
Freilich said IceSat-2 will launch in late 2017 or early 2018 aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. When the mission passed its internal confirmation review in 2012, launch was penciled in for 2016.
White House objects to Commerce, Justice bill
Erik Wasson – The Hill
The White House on Wednesday formally outlined its objections to the cuts and policy riders in a House bill that would fund the Commerce and Justice departments for 2015.
Members of the House began debating the $51.2 billion bill on Wednesday evening.
The administration said a host of programs are underfunded in the bill and made a pitch for its discretionary stimulus plan that would provide funds above the $1.014 trillion budget cap agreed to by Republicans and Democrats in December.
"H.R. 4660 inadequately funds areas critical to the Nation's economic growth, security, and competitiveness in the global marketplace, including investments in climate research, assistance to small manufacturers, and support for commercial space flight, census research, and access to justice,' the White House statement of policy said.
It also blasted policy riders in the bill dealing with guns and the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
In particular, the White House lamented what it said are inadequate funds needed by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address climate change.
It said the elimination of funding for the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor would hinder climate data collection.
The White House also wants more funds for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), NASA Commercial Crew program, Office of U.S. Trade Representative, International Trade Administration and COPS local policing program.
On riders, the administration said it is especially opposed to a provision that it would allow the importation of "curio and relic" firearms simply because they are old.
Texas runoffs: Hall loses, Babin wins
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Texas held several primary runoff elections on Tuesday, and two of the results had some space policy implications. In the 4th district, former House Science Committee chairman Ralph Hall lost a Republican party runoff to former US Attorney John Ratcliffe, 53 to 47 percent. Hall was chairman of the committee in 2011–2012, and served as ranking member in 2007–2010 when the Democrats were in the majority; he currently holds the honorary position of "chairman emeritus" on the committee. Hall was first elected to Congress in 1980 as a Democrat, but changed parties in early 2004.
In the 36th Congressional district, which includes near its boundaries the Johnson Space Center, Brian Babin defeated Ben Streusand in the Republican primary by a 58-42 percent margin. The seat is currently held by Rep. Steve Stockman (R), who challenged Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination and lost in the primary earlier this year. Space policy didn't play a major role in the race, although during the runoff campaign Babin's campaign trumpeted an endorsement by retired NASA flight director Gene Kranz. "I firmly believe Dr. Brian Babin is committed to NASA and the space industry and will work hard to maintain the Johnson Space Center as the leader in space operations, engineering and science," Kranz said in the endorsement earlier this month.
Antares rocket launch delayed
Carol Vaughn - Delmarva (MD) Daily Times
Orbital Sciences Corporation has delayed the upcoming launch of its Antares rocket from Wallops for at least a week, after a rocket engine being tested for use in a future mission failed.
Orbital said the mission, which was scheduled for June 10, will take place no earlier than June 17.
It will be Orbital's second of eight planned commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station under a NASA contract. The missions launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA Wallops Flight Facility.
The delay is to allow engineering teams to investigate what went wrong during an acceptance test for an Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ26 engine on May 22. The engine was to be used for a mission early in 2015.
The hot-fire test took place at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.
An anomaly happened about 30 seconds into the 54-second test, resulting in extensive damage to the engine, according to Orbital.
"Over the next several days, engineering teams from Aerojet and Orbital will gather and examine the data collected from the test to determine the cause of the failure," Orbital said.
June 17 is a planning date. The actual date depends on the investigation team's progress and updates on the launch schedule will be forthcoming, Keith Kohler of NASA Wallops Flight Facility's communications office said.
Twin astronauts offer up selves for space science
Marcia Dunn – AP
When astronaut Scott Kelly embarks on a one-year space station stint next spring, his twin brother will be offering more than his usual moral support.
Retired astronaut Mark Kelly will be joining in from Earth, undergoing medical testing before, during and after his brother's American-record-setting flight.
It's part of an unprecedented study of identical twins, courtesy of the Kellys and NASA. Researchers hope to better understand the effects of prolonged weightlessness by comparing the space twin with the ground twin.
The Earthbound Kelly draws the line, though, at mimicking his brother's extreme exercise in orbit or eating "crappy space station food."
"It's not bad when you're in space," Mark said. But he won't be carrying around "a can of Russian lamb and potatoes when I'm out to eat with my friends."
As for matching his brother's 1½ to 2 hours of daily exercise, Mark replied with a mutinous chuckle, "Sure, I'll try. No problem."
This is the genetic double, mind you, of the 50-year-old astronaut who has volunteered to spend an entire year aboard the International Space Station beginning next March, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, 54, a former paratrooper.
No American has come close to a year; seven months is NASA's max for a single human mission. The Russians, on the other hand, are old hands at long-duration spaceflight, claiming title to a record-setting 14½-month mission back in 1994-95.
"No second thoughts — I'm actually getting kind of excited about the whole idea as we get closer," Scott said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Reaction from others has varied from "'Oh, that would be really cool to be in space for a year' to 'What, are you out of your mind?'" he said with a laugh.
Scott knows what he's getting into: He spent five months on the orbiting lab in 2010-2011. He began counting down the days on Twitter in late March.
Eager to explore new medical territory, Scott offered to have a pressure sensor drilled into his skull to study the impaired vision experienced by some long-term space fliers.
He's also volunteered for spinal taps in orbit. He'll share quarters at one point, after all, with an emergency medical doctor-turned-NASA-astronaut. The space station crew typically numbers six.
"As a test pilot, I like to push the envelope on things and, in this case, I feel like I'm maybe trying to push the envelope on data collection as well," explained Scott, a retired Navy captain.
But NASA scientists insist there's no compelling need for implants and spinal taps. They admire his gung-ho attitude, though, and marvel at their good fortune in having a set of identical twins for comparison.
The Kellys represent a scientific gift, said Craig Kundrot, deputy chief scientist for the human research program at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
"Not only are they the same genetically, but one is an astronaut, one's a retired astronaut. So they've followed very similar career paths. After Scott's mission is done, he'll have 540 days of spaceflight (in four missions). Mark will have 54. So exactly a 10-fold difference," Kundrot said.
"That's just an uncanny opportunity that we're taking advantage of."
NASA has selected 10 proposals for the twin study, involving the immune system, gut bacteria, reaction time, fluid shift in space and its potential connection to visual impairment, DNA and RNA molecular science, hardening of the arteries, among others.
The researchers will receive a combined $1.5 million from NASA over three years.
A Stanford University sleep specialist and immunologist, Dr. Emmanuel Mignot, wants to give each brother a standard flu shot before, during and after the one-year mission. Blood draws will highlight any differences between the space twin and ground twin, and help researchers better understand changes to the body's immunity in weightlessness.
Mignot feels lucky the Kellys are "willing to be the guinea pigs for this thing."
"No one really knows what happens to the immune system in space for a long period of time and, sooner or later, people are going to need to confront this issue," Mignot said.
That's the whole point of Kelly and Kornienko's one-year mission: to identify physical challenges that need to be overcome before astronauts venture to Mars and beyond.
The pair will launch from Kazahkstan aboard a Russian rocket and return via a Russian capsule. Midway through their mission, they'll have a real change of pace.
English soprano Sarah Brightman — perhaps best known for her starring role on stage in "The Phantom of the Opera" — intends to fly up as a paying passenger in a private deal with the Russians.
"It would be hard to beat her" for breaking the monotony of space, said Scott, a longtime fan of the singer.
The divorced Scott lives in Houston. For his daughters ages 19 and 10, the trip "still seems kind of far out there," he said. His 74-year-old father "seems OK with it," he added.
Mark, also a retired Navy captain with two daughters, is married to former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who survived a 2011 assassination attempt —while Scott was on the space station. Mark commanded NASA's next-to-last shuttle flight four months after the shooting, then left NASA. They live in Tucson, Arizona.
The twin study will unite the brothers in a new way.
"It's a way for us to participate in a space flight together, which we never have done before," Scott said. And "it keeps him involved in something that he feels very passionate about."
Mark said he'd spend an entire year in space — "absolutely" — if the circumstances were different.
The next best thing is having his twin up there, while he's down here, doing his part for NASA.
Push. Pull. Run. Lift! How Do We Make These Exercises Work In Zero G?
Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today
Here's the thing about going to the International Space Station: No one can predict what you'll need to do during your six-month stay there. Maybe something breaks and you need to go "outside" to fix it, in a spacesuit. Maybe you're going to spend a day or three in a cramped corner, fixing something behind a panel.
Your body needs to be able to handle these challenges. And a big key behind that is regular exercise.
To get ready, you need to change things up frequently on Earth. Weights. Kettleballs. Pull-ups. Squats. Deadlifts. Interval training on cycles and treadmills. And more.
"Preflight, we throw everything but the kitchen sink at [astronauts]," said Mark Guilliams, a NASA astronaut health specialist who gets them ready before orbit. "We try to work as many different movements, using multiple joints and as many different planes of motion as possible ".
Some astronauts hit the gym every single day, such as the enthusiastic Mike Hopkins who did a whole YouTube series on exercising in orbit during Expeditions 37/38 earlier this year. Others prefer a few times a week. The astronauts also receive training on how to use the exercise devices they'll have in orbit. Because time is precious up there, even when it comes to preserving your stamina.
Now imagine yourself in a weightless environment for half a year. Many of the exercises you do on the ground are impossible, unless you make certain modifications — such as strapping yourself down. Nevertheless, to make sure astronauts' physiological systems remain at healthy levels, the space station has a range of gym equipment and the astronauts are allotted 2.5 hours for exercise daily.
That sounds like a lot, until you start factoring in other things. Setting up and taking down equipment takes time, such as when the astronauts harness themselves to the treadmill to avoid floating away. The resistance exercise machine has to be changed around for different exercises. This means that their "active" time is roughly 60 minutes for weightlifting and 40 minutes for aerobic, six days a week.
Compare that to what is recommended by the American Heart Association– 30 minutes, five days a week for light aerobic activity and two days of weightlifting — and you can see the time astronauts spend on exercise is not unreasonable. Also remember that the rest of the day, they have no gravity. Treadmill stats show the astronauts take only roughly 5,000 to 6,000 steps each day they use they use the treadmill, compared to some people's goals of reaching 10,000 steps a day on Earth.
"When you compare the actual time the crew spends on exercise to that recommended by the AHA, it's not a significant portion of their day that we're asking them to participate in order for them to try and maintain their physiological health," said Andrea Hanson, an exercise hardware specialist for the space station.
So what's the equipment the astronauts get to use? The pictures in this article show you a range of things. There's the Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolation and Stabilization System (CEVIS) — a fancy name for the exercise bike. It has remained pretty much the same since it was brought to the space station back in 2001, for Expedition 2. Its major goal is to keep an astronaut's aerobic capacity up for demanding spacewalks, which can take place for up to eight hours at a time. The weight device has changed over time, however. The initial Interim Resistive Exercise Device used rubber to provide the resistive force and ended up being not enough for some astronauts, who found themselves reaching the designed capability limits long before their missions ended. (Here's a picture of it.) Astronauts stopped using it after Expedition 28 in favor of the advanced Resistive Exercise Device, which instead uses piston-driven vacuum cylinders. "The new device actually enables us to go up to 600 pounds of loading," Guillams said. The IRED device could only give 300 pounds of resistance. So now, even the strongest astronaut can get a challenge out of ARED, he said.
The treadmill aboard the station is also a newer one. The second-generation device allows for faster speeds, and to even save programs for each individual crew member so that they can have customized workouts when they arrive on station. (The first one, "Treadmill With Vibration Isolation And Stabilization System", was put on to an unmanned Progress spacecraft in 2013 to burn up in the atmosphere.) By the way, the new treadmill (T2) is called the COLBERT, or Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill. It's named after comedian Stephen Colbert, who in 2009 had his viewers vote to attach his name to a space station module when NASA held an open contest. When "Colbert" won, NASA elected to name the treadmill after him, and called the module Tranquility instead. Whatever the treadmill's name, the goal is to maintain astronaut bone and cardiovascular health while in orbit. A future story will deal with some of the scientific results obtained from more than a decade of ISS science in orbit.
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