Fwd: NASA and Human Spaceflight News - Monday – June 16, 2014 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: June 16, 2014 10:35:57 AM CDT
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA and Human Spaceflight News - Monday – June 16, 2014 and JSC Today

Happy Monday everyone.   Hot and humid    hurry up winter!

 

 

Monday, June 16, 2014

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  NASA TV to Air ISS Russian Spacewalk -  ISS Expedition 38 Welcome Home Ceremony -  Save the Date! Bring Our Children to Work Day 2014 -  POWER of One Winners Announced -  Short Free-Range Bike Survey -  Recent JSC Announcements Organizations/Social -  Out & Allied Person of the Week -  JSC Joint Leadership Team Action Teams -  JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum -  JSC Systems Engineering Forum Jobs and Training -  Introduction to CMMI Class - June 17 to 19 -  Searching for NASA Images and Videos? -  Job Opportunities Community -  NASA College Scholarship Fund Awards Five Scholars

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Headlines NASA TV to Air ISS Russian Spacewalk NASA TV will air live coverage of a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk by two Russian International Space Station crew members beginning at 8:15 a.m. CDT Thursday, June 19. Expedition 40 Flight Engineers Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev of the Russian Federal Space Agency will don their Orlan spacesuits and exit the Pirs airlock at 8:50 a.m. to install new communications equipment on the Zvezda service module. They also will reposition hardware. The spacewalk will be the 180th in support of space station assembly and maintenance and the first for both Skvortsov and Artemyev. Another spacewalk for the pair is planned for late August. Skvortsov will be designated as extravehicular crew member 1 (EV1) and will wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes. Artemyev will be designated as extravehicular crew member 2 (EV2) and will wear a suit with blue stripes. JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility employees with hard-wired computer network connections can view the event using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 404 (standard definition) or channel 4541 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC or Safari on a Mac. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi, VPN or connections from other centers are currently not supported by EZTV. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP) If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367 or visit the FAQ site. Event Date: Thursday, June 19, 2014   Event Start Time:8:15 AM   Event End Time:3:30 PM Event Location: NASA TV Add to Calendar JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 http://www.nasa.gov/station [top] ISS Expedition 38 Welcome Home Ceremony All NASA civil servants, contractors and International Partners are invited Thursday, June 19, to welcome home our International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 38 crew members: Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazansky, Michael Hopkins, Koichi Wakata, Rick Mastracchio and Mikhail Tyurin. The event will be held in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom. The doors will open at 3 p.m., and the event will run until 5 p.m. There will not be an opportunity for autographs at this event. Come share in the welcome, highlights and stories with the crew and Expedition 38 support teams. For more information, contact Jennifer McCarter at x47885. Event Date: Thursday, June 19, 2014   Event Start Time:3:00 PM   Event End Time:5:00 PM Event Location: Alamo Ballroom, Gilruth Center Add to Calendar Jennifer McCarter x47885 [top] Save the Date! Bring Our Children to Work Day 2014 The JSC External Relations Office is pleased to present JSC's Bring Our Children to Work (BOCTW) Day on Thursday, Aug. 14, at Space Center Houston. Guest speakers, breakout sessions, demonstration booths and hands-on activities will be scheduled throughout the day to further enhance your child(ren)'s experience! More information about the day's activities are to come, so keep your eyes out for the registration and scheduled activities announcement to come in the next couple of weeks. Off-site contractor employees should contact their company representative for information regarding their company's participation in BOCTW Day. Ashlé Harris/Glenda Johnson x27457/x30377 [top] POWER of One Winners Announced Congratulations to JSC's newest POWER of One winners! GOLD: Jennifer L. Brown - White Sands Test Facility - BH111 SILVER: T. Eric Chan - EC111 SILVER: Diane M. Dailey - DI541 SILVER: Louis D. Huerta - DO751 SILVER: Ryan J. Schaefer - LB111 SILVER: James Wisenbaler - DO753 BRONZE: Karen R. Armstrong - EA2 BRONZE: Michelle D. Moorehead - DX411 BRONZE: Gary A. Seloff - IC111 The POWER of One award was established to award and recognize JSC employees for their exemplary performance and direct contributions to either their organization, JSC or NASA at the agency level. Congratulations and thank you for all of your hard work! If you would like to nominate someone, visit the POWER of One award Web page. Jessica Ocampo 281-792-8474 http://powerofone.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Short Free-Range Bike Survey Do you use free-range bikes on-site? If you don't, would you like to? Please take this brief survey and provide your input on the free-range bike program. With your help, we can pinpoint the problems you're experiencing and use your suggestions to make on-site travel easier. Kim Reppa x28322 [top] Recent JSC Announcements Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcements: JSCA 14-010: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for the Human Health and Performance Contract JSCA 14-010: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for the Mail and Duplication Support Services Contract Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx [top]    Organizations/Social Out & Allied Person of the Week The Out & Allied Employee Resource Group is proud to recognize the accomplishments of Michael Barber, the CIA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Outreach and Liaison program manager, who self-identifies as a "straight ally." For many years, the CIA and other federal agencies routinely denied security clearances to gay men and women until President Clinton signed an executive order ending the practice in 1995. Barber has been instrumental in the past year to get the word out that the CIA has changed by instituting LGBT-friendly policies, including a program for gay couples, as well as specifically recruiting for LGBT employees. For more about this person's contributions to the LGBT and scientific communities, click this link. Robert F. Blake x42525 [top] JSC Joint Leadership Team Action Teams Please join us for this month's JSC National Management Association (NMA) chapter luncheon with our own JSC Joint Leadership Team action teams. You're invited to hear David Cazes discussing JSC Expected Behaviors, Mike Kincaid presenting on Communications and Jose Garcia speaking about the Importance of the Civil Servant/Contractor Relationship. Date: June 25 Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Lunch) Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom Speakers: David Cazes, Mike Kincaid and Jose Garcia Topic: JSC Joint Leadership Team Action Teams Members: FREE Cost for non-members: $20 Attendees can select from three great menu options: Herb chicken with asparagus Turkey scaloppini and bruschetta topping Vegetable lasagna Dessert: Key lime pie RSVPs are required by 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 18. RSVP today! Event Date: Wednesday, June 25, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Alamo Ballroom at the Gilruth Add to Calendar Samantha Nehls x27804 http://jscnma.com/index.cfm [top] JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum Our next JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum will tomorrow, June 17, from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. Our guest speaker for this event is Jonathan Puleio, director of Consulting at Humanscale Consulting. Puleio is a board-certified professional ergonomist, and his presentation will be on "Designing Healthy Work Environments." Our second guest speaker from the Houston/Galveston National Weather Service Office will present the 2014 Hurricane Season Forecast. Our third presenter, David Loyd, chief of the Safety & Test Operations Division, will discuss "Results of the Contractor Safety Program Affirmation." This will be a very informative meeting that you will not want to miss. Hope to see everyone there! If you have any questions, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012 or via email. Event Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2014   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom Add to Calendar Patricia Farrell 281-335-2012 [top] JSC Systems Engineering Forum NASA Systems Engineering (SE) Handbook Update Discussion The next JSC SE Forum meeting will be an overview and discussion of the changes being proposed to the NASA SE Handbook. The meeting will be Thursday, June 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in Building 1, Room 966. Synopsis: A draft of the next version of the SE Handbook has been posted under the Shared Documents/SE Forum site on EASE (Oasis). Britt Walters will provide an overview and solicit comments or feedback to take to the agency working group. For more information, please contact Britt Walters at x37334. Event Date: Thursday, June 26, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 1 Room 966 Add to Calendar Robert Bayt x40055 [top]    Jobs and Training Introduction to CMMI Class - June 17 to 19 Are you working in a world-class engineering or support organization? How would you know if you are? What can you change about your organization to make it work better? This three-day course can help you answer these questions as part of an organizational process improvement. See more details and sign up in SATERN today. Event Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2014   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:5:00 PM Event Location: JSC B20:R304 Add to Calendar Ken Jenks x34368 [top] Searching for NASA Images and Videos? Don't forget to register for tomorrow's training via WebEx from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. Learn how to use JSC's Imagery Online (IO) and the Digital Imagery Management System (DIMS), which house and manage JSC's still imagery and downlink videos from the human spaceflight programs. This training is open to the JSC and White Sands Test Facility community. Click here to register. For more information, go to: IO and DIMS This training is provided by JSC's Information Resources Directorate. Event Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2014   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:10:45 AM Event Location: Online Add to Calendar Scientific and Technical Information Center x32490 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov [top] Job Opportunities Where do I find job opportunities? Both internal Competitive Placement Plan 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 at: 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. Lateral reassignment and rotation opportunities are posted in the Workforce Transition Tool. To access: HR Portal > Employees > Workforce Transition > Workforce Transition Tool. These opportunities do not possess known promotion potential; therefore, employees can only see positions at or below their current grade level. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies or reassignment opportunities, please call your HR representative. Brandy Braunsdorf x30476 [top]    Community NASA College Scholarship Fund Awards Five Scholars The NASA College Scholarship Fund Board of Directors met in June and selected the following recipients for the 2014-2015 scholarships: Michael Dunn, son of Kennedy Space Center's Michael Dunn; Matthew DiMarcantonio, son of Langley Research Center's Albert DiMarcantonio; Andreas Seas, daughter of Godard Space Flight Center's Antonios Seas; Sarah Grunsfeld, daughter of Goddard Space Flight Center's Carol Grunsfeld; and Sarah Hanif, daughter of Johnson Space Center's Abdulaziz Hanif. This year's selection brings the total number of scholarship recipients to 166 and 122 program graduates. Applications were restricted to dependents of NASA employees who are planning to major in science or engineering. The NASA centers were well represented with 115 applications received. Mandy Gaspard x31387 http://nasapeople.nasa.gov/nasascholarship/index.htm [top]

 

JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

NASA and Human Spaceflight News

Monday – June 16, 2014

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Astronaut training scheduled at Keys undersea lab

Associated Press

 

KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) - Astronauts will become aquanauts twice this summer at an underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys. NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations training activities are scheduled for July and September at Aquarius Reef Base, a pressurized lab that sits on the ocean floor a few miles off Key Largo.

 

NASA gets in on the World Cup action

Annika Darling – The Space Reporter

 

NASA has put their stamp of approval on this year's World cup soccer ball after testing it in their wind and water tunnels at the Ames Research Center — known as a world leader in aerodynamics. NASA engineers have jumped in on the World Cup action by using the lead-up to the tournament as a perfect opportunity to explain the concepts of aerodynamics to students and individuals less familiar with the fundamentals of aerodynamics.

 

Delayed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fires up engines

James Dean – Florida Today

 

SpaceX briefly test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket's engines Friday, but it's unknown when a full-duration firing will occur to launch a group of six commercial satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A planned launch Sunday evening was delayed to allow time for more tests on one of Orbcomm Inc. satellites, which had experienced an issue described as minor earlier in the week.

 

At Commencement, Obama Mocks Lawmakers Who Deny Climate Change

Mark Landler – New York Times

 

ANAHEIM, Calif. — President Obama, appearing emboldened after his recent move to cut carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, on Saturday ridiculed members of Congress who deny climate change or plead scientific ignorance as an alibi for avoiding an uncomfortable truth.

 

NASA is changing the way it does business, new GC says
Catherine Ho – The Washington Post

 

NASA is changing the way it is doing business, spending less on traditional contracts and partnering more with the private sector and local governments to further the growth of the commercial space industry.

 

Now, we eat? Not so fast, NASA space farmers say

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Tending a garden with gloves and scissors last week, International Space Station commander Steve Swanson snipped three bushy red romaine lettuce plants from a growth chamber designed at Kennedy Space Center. "Harvesting the first space-grown lettuce," tweeted German astronaut Alexander Gerst, one of five station crewmates gathered around to watch. "I wish they let us eat it... ;)" That isn't supposed to happen until later, after scientists on the ground receive the reddish-green lettuce leaves now wrapped in foil and stored in a freezer, and determine if their microbe levels are safe.

 

Real hurdle to Mars mission is politics, not technology

Ledyard King – Florida Today

 

WASHINGTON -- Tackling in-space propulsion, oxygen recycling and radiation protection is daunting enough. But the most formidable challenge in sending astronauts to Mars just might be the politics playing out on Earth.

 

NASA Clears 3D Printer for Space Launch

Jack Linshi – TIME

 

NASA cleared a 3D printer for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, a step towards greater self-sustainability and safety on the station.

 

Developed by Made in Space, a tech startup that partnered with NASA for the venture, the 3D printer is designed to function in zero gravity to produce spare parts, crew tools and components of cubesats, a mini satellite for research, according to a press release.

 

Letter: Posey praised for work on NASA funding bill

Lester Block – Florida Today

 

I would like to thank Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, for his recent work on NASA legislation.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a NASA reauthorization bill. Talks with the Senate could mean this bill could guide NASA for several years to come.

 

The International Space Station Is Getting an Espresso Machine

Nolan Feeney – TIME

 

The lattes will be out of this world

The International Space Station is 240 miles above earth, but that doesn't mean astronauts don't have a hard time getting up in the morning — after all, they can make a run to the stars, but not a run to the Starbucks.

COMPLETE STORIES

Astronaut training scheduled at Keys undersea lab

Associated Press

 

KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) - Astronauts will become aquanauts twice this summer at an underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys.

 

NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations training activities are scheduled for July and September at Aquarius Reef Base, a pressurized lab that sits on the ocean floor a few miles off Key Largo.

 

A nine-day mission starting July 21 will focus on human health and behavior. A seven-day mission starting Sept. 7 will evaluate communications operations for the European Space Agency. Both missions also will experiment with technology that could be used for exploring in varying levels of gravity, from asteroids to Mars and its moons.

 

Astronauts from NASA, Europe and Japan will participate in the missions.

 

The grandson of ocean exploration pioneer Jacques Cousteau is currently living in Aquarius for a 31-day underwater living experiment.

 

NASA gets in on the World Cup action

Annika Darling – The Space Reporter

 

NASA has put their stamp of approval on this year's World cup soccer ball after testing it in their wind and water tunnels at the Ames Research Center — known as a world leader in aerodynamics.

 

NASA engineers have jumped in on the World Cup action by using the lead-up to the tournament as a perfect opportunity to explain the concepts of aerodynamics to students and individuals less familiar with the fundamentals of aerodynamics.

 

Any futbol fans out there will remember the "disaster" of the ball — the Jabulani — in the 2010 games. Now, with NASA's stamp of approval, excitement surrounds this year's new design: the Brazuca.

 

Both balls were designed by Adidas. After the negative feedback regarding the Jabulani, Adidas really stepped up their game this year, and performed in-depth research in order to deliver one of the best soccer balls ever created…and NASA agrees.

 

Adidas worked with hundreds of players to develop the Brazuca football. A traditional football has 32 panels, the Jabulani has eight panels and the Brazuca has only six. The finger-like panels on the Brazuca increase the seam length, compared to previous World Cup balls. The seams are also deeper than those of the Jabulani and the panels are covered with tiny bumps; all of these factors influence the ball's aerodynamics.

 

NASA tested the aerodynamics of the Brazuca in their wind and water tunnels at their Ames Research Center — known as a world leader in fundamental aerodynamics research. Aerodynamics is the study of how air and liquids, referred to collectively as "fluids" in aerodynamics research, flow around objects. Engineers at Ames possess an in-depth understanding of how fluids flow around simple three-dimensional shapes such as cylinders and spheres. With this knowledge, engineers can predict how even the minor alterations in these basic shapes change flow patterns.

 

"Sports provide a great opportunity to introduce the next generation of researchers to our field of aerodynamics by showing them something they can relate to," said Rabi Mehta, chief of the Experimental Aero-Physics Branch in Moffett Field, California. "The players should be happier with the new ball," predicted Mehta. "It is more stable in flight and will handle more like a traditional 32-panel ball."

 

Tests in the wind tunnel and a 17-inch water channel, which uses florescent dye dispensed into the fluid flow under black lights, shows that the speed of greatest knuckling for a traditional ball is around 30 miles per hour (mph). This is well below the typical kicking speed of a World Cup-caliber player, which is about 50 to 55 mph. Interestingly, the Jabulani, a much smoother ball, produced its greatest knuckling effect in that same speed range (about 50 mph), which is why the players in the 2010 World Cup noticed the effect more frequently.

 

The smoother a ball is, the higher the speed at which the knuckling effect occurs. However, with the increased roughness of the Brazuca, this critical speed for maximum knuckling is reduced to about 30 mph. So it is expected that the 2014 World Cup ball will have a more predictable flight path at typical striking speeds.

"The players should be happier with the new ball," predicted Mehta. "It is more stable in flight and will handle more like a traditional 32-panel ball."

 

The new more predictable ball won't make the game less exciting, players will always find ways to manipulate the ball in amazing ways. However, with a new understanding of the aerodynamics of the Brazuca football, the audience, especially kids, can better appreciate the feats of skill on the field.

 

Delayed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fires up engines

James Dean – Florida Today

 

SpaceX briefly test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket's engines Friday, but it's unknown when a full-duration firing will occur to launch a group of six commercial satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

 

A planned launch Sunday evening was delayed to allow time for more tests on one of Orbcomm Inc. satellites, which had experienced an issue described as minor earlier in the week.

 

"In an effort to be as cautious as possible, it was decided to perform further analysis to verify that the issue observed on one satellite during final integration has been fully addressed," Orbcomm said in a statement Friday. "We are working with SpaceX to identify the next available launch opportunity, and we will update the schedule shortly."

 

The mission won't be ready by Monday, which was the backup launch date.

 

After that, the Air Force's Eastern Range was scheduled to begin a two-week maintenance period, and it was not immediately clear if a launch could be attempted during that time.

 

The Air Force's 45th Space Wing did not respond to a question Friday about the range's availability.

 

The Orbcomm mission has been delayed multiple times.

 

The Air Force's loss of a tracking radar earlier in the year, which shut the range down for two weeks, had a ripple effect that pushed the launch from April into May.

 

Then, a Falcon 9 rocket problem postponed an attempt a month ago. This week, the satellite issue moved the launch from Thursday to Sunday, and now to a date to be determined.

 

The mission is the first of two SpaceX plans this year to deploy a new constellation of 17 small satellites in low Earth orbit for Orbcomm, a provider of machine-to-machine communications.

 

At Commencement, Obama Mocks Lawmakers Who Deny Climate Change

Mark Landler – New York Times

 

ANAHEIM, Calif. — President Obama, appearing emboldened after his recent move to cut carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, on Saturday ridiculed members of Congress who deny climate change or plead scientific ignorance as an alibi for avoiding an uncomfortable truth.

 

Speaking in gleefully sarcastic terms to a commencement ceremony at the University of California, Irvine, Mr. Obama likened those who deny climate change to people who would have told John F. Kennedy, at the dawn of the space program, that the moon "was made of cheese."

 

He saved his most scathing words for lawmakers who say they are not qualified to judge the issue because they are not scientists. These people, the president said, recognize the truth but will not utter it for fear of being "run out of town by a radical fringe that thinks climate science is a liberal plot."

 

Clockwise from top left, the actor Dan Futterman at Columbia University; Ruth Simmons, former president of Smith College and Brown University, at Smith College; John Lewis, congressman and civil rights leader, at Emory University; and the singer Aretha Franklin and Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor, at Harvard.

 

"I'm not a scientist either," Mr. Obama told this young audience, "but we've got some good ones at NASA. I do know the overwhelming majority of scientists who work on climate change, including some who once disputed the data, have put the debate to rest."

 

The president also said he had hit upon a novel way to speed up and improve the nation's response to hurricanes, floods, droughts, tornadoes, wildfires, mudslides and other natural disasters: Make states and cities compete for grants from a $1 billion fund.

 

Mr. Obama announced the competition, saying it would award funds to state and local authorities with the most innovative plans for rebuilding in a way that protects against future disasters. The money would come from existing federal recovery funds, with $180 million of the total reserved for states devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

 

"We also have to realize, as hundreds of scientists declared last month, that climate change is no longer a distant threat, but 'has moved firmly into the present,' " the president said. "In some parts of the country, weather-related disasters like droughts, fires, storms and floods are going to get harsher, and they're going to get costlier."

 

Mr. Obama's remarks came during a four-day visit to the West Coast that has been shadowed by the crisis in Iraq. The White House said the president spoke by phone with his national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, on Friday evening and Saturday morning. Ms. Rice and other aides were meeting in Washington to develop military options for Mr. Obama.

 

Determined not to let the crisis paralyze his trip, Mr. Obama kept the focus firmly on climate change Saturday. This month he announced regulations that would cut carbon-dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

 

Mr. Obama can push through this measure without legislation, though lawmakers might try to block it. So in speeches to friendly crowds like this one, he has reveled in portraying his Republican opponents as a sort of flat-Earth society.

 

"Today's Congress," he declared, "is full of folks who stubbornly and automatically reject the scientific evidence. They will tell you climate change is a hoax or a fad. One member of Congress actually says the world might be cooling."

 

Lest his message veer too much into partisan sniping, Mr. Obama added, "I want to tell you this to light a fire under you. As the generation getting shortchanged by inaction on this issue, I want to tell you that you cannot accept that this is the way it has to be."

 

The ceremony was held under bright sunshine before a crowd of about 30,000 at Angel Stadium, and came 50 years after President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at the dedication of this campus.

 

Earlier, Mr. Obama attended a Democratic Party fund-raiser in Laguna Beach. He spoke to 25 donors at a home on a manicured hillside overlooking the Pacific that belongs to Anne Earhart, an environmental activist who is a granddaughter of the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty.

 

Reporters were kept out of the meeting, which a Democratic Party spokeswoman described as a round-table discussion, with each guest contributing up to $32,400.

 

Mr. Obama squeezed these events into what is otherwise a getaway with his wife, Michelle, and daughter Malia in Rancho Mirage. The president has become enamored of the desert oasis there since he began holding meetings at Sunnylands, the estate built by Walter H. Annenberg. On Saturday, with the temperature 102 degrees, he played golf on the Sunnylands course.

 

This time, with no foreign leaders to meet, the Obamas are staying at a vacation house that belongs to Michael S. Smith, an interior designer known for remodeling the Oval Office. Mr. Smith's partner, James Costos, an HBO executive, was appointed by Mr. Obama as ambassador to Spain.

 

NASA is changing the way it does business, new GC says
Catherine Ho – The Washington Post

 

NASA is changing the way it is doing business, spending less on traditional contracts and partnering more with the private sector and local governments to further the growth of the commercial space industry.

 

That transition promises to be a prime preoccupation for the agency's new top lawyer, Sumara Thompson-King.

 

Thompson-King became NASA's general counsel on June 1, replacing Michael Wholley, who held the post since 2004. She is the first woman and the first African American to lead the agency's legal department, which has about 175 attorneys. She joined NASA's legal team in 1986 at Goddard Space Flight Center and moved to the agency's headquarters in 1991 as a senior attorney, litigating disputes over contracts. She rose to associate general counsel of contracts procurement, and later, deputy general counsel.

 

Thompson-King — her first name is pronounced "sue-MARE-ah, a combination of the names of her great-great grandmother, Sudy, and her great-grandmother, Mary — talked about the agency's transition last week at the American Bar Association's Space Law Forum at Jones Day in the District, her first speaking engagement since assuming the general counsel role.

 

In 1993, she said, NASA spent about 90 percent of its funding on contracts — buying goods and services from contractors to carry out NASA programs — but by 2006 that portion had fallen to 87 percent, and in 2012, it was down to about 80 percent, according to government reports. Today, the agency spends an increasing portion of its resources on collaborating with the commercial space industry and other government agencies, and Thompson-King says those relationships will grow.

 

"While most of our funding is used for carrying out NASA programs, you see that is going down," Thompson-King told those gathered at the forum. "We're spending that money on different types of things, not just contracts."

 

Those other avenues include partnering with companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to spur development in the private sector. The agency's funding efforts to support the commercial space industry began in 2006, when it entered into commercial orbital transportation agreements with those two companies to send cargo to the International Space Station. NASA is seeking a partner in the private sector to help transport crew members to the space station.

 

NASA is also working with Space Florida, the aerospace economic and development agency that was created by the Florida state legislature to explore ways the private sector could use Kennedy Space Center now that NASA no longer uses the shuttle landing facility there. (The last flight was the Atlantis, in 2011). SpaceX and Boeing have both won approval to use equipment and space at the center.

 

Space Florida "has been working and talking with us to manage the shuttle landing facility because they want to create a multi-user spaceport facility in that area," she said. "There is a commercial industry, we all know it's growing, so the state of Florida wants to encourage that industry. We are now engaged in more conversations and agreements with state and local governments to further commercial space activities."

 

NASA's budget is about 0.5 percent of the U.S. budget, with the president's fiscal year 2015 budget proposal asking for $17.5 billion for the agency.

 

Thompson-King said the agency is excited about its goal to send humans to Mars, an undertaking that will require developing new technology including solar electric propulsion, which the agency has commissioned contractors to study.

 

"These are really interesting times for us," she said. "We're doing a lot, and we're doing things differently."

 

The agency is not permitted to formally lobby Congress, but it does regularly meet with members of Congress and their staff to educate them on how the agency works, Thompson-King said.

 

"We recognize we have 435 [House] members who may not really understand what exactly NASA does," she said. "We're spending a lot of time within the agency to educate Congress, to provide technical assistance and give them information about our program so they better understand what we're doing and why we're doing it, so when they vote for funding on the programs, they have a better understanding of what we do."

 

Now, we eat? Not so fast, NASA space farmers say

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Tending a garden with gloves and scissors last week, International Space Station commander Steve Swanson snipped three bushy red romaine lettuce plants from a growth chamber designed at Kennedy Space Center.

 

"Harvesting the first space-grown lettuce," tweeted German astronaut Alexander Gerst, one of five station crewmates gathered around to watch. "I wish they let us eat it... ;)"

 

That isn't supposed to happen until later, after scientists on the ground receive the reddish-green lettuce leaves now wrapped in foil and stored in a freezer, and determine if their microbe levels are safe.

 

But it's possible the small harvest — only half as big as hoped — won't produce data conclusive enough to give astronauts approval to munch a future crop.

 

The goal was to grow six plants, but inadequate water flow from the growth chamber's reservoir resulted in one seed "pillow" failing to germinate and two plants dying.

 

When the drought-like conditions became apparent on the ground, Swanson was enlisted to inject water directly into the pillows, but those measures came too late to save two ailing plants.

 

"Those two just didn't recover," reported KSC's Gioia Massa, the project's leader at KSC. "They got kind of water-stressed and died."

 

The lettuce letdown illustrated some of the challenges of growing fresh produce in space, something astronauts will need to do if they ever venture much farther from Earth. Their diet now depends on prepared packages of dehydrated and irradiated food.

 

In this case, microgravity was not to blame but the design of the device called Veggie.

 

Massa's control group produced five healthy plants but experienced a similar problem that required extra watering.

 

The Veggie platform had been tested before launching aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule in April, and seemed to work fine then. Once in space, reaction time was limited because the ground team only received photographs showing the lettuce's health once a week.

 

Though the harvest could have been bigger, it offered lessons from which the project can grow.

 

"All in all, a really good experience," said Massa. "We verified that some things need improvement, and some things worked really well."

 

It will now be up to the station's six-person crew whether to nurture another crop that could increase the lettuce sample size, or a batch of multi-colored zinnias just to liven up the living space, based on their free time and interest.

 

The Veggie project did appear to capture the crew's interest, along with international attention.

 

Gerst enjoyed the pink glow that the Veggie's LED lights cast through Europe's Columbus module.

 

Swanson reported a positive gardening experience, and the entire crew gathered around for the harvest, when a cosmonaut also showed off an onion plant he was growing in a bag.

 

"It was a hoot," said Massa.

 

Flight controllers reminded the crew they were performing a sampling harvest, not a taste-test. The crew collected two good plants on camera, but the signal was lost for the third.

 

"Nobody ate any while I was watching," Massa confirmed.

 

Real hurdle to Mars mission is politics, not technology

Ledyard King – Florida Today

 

WASHINGTON -- Tackling in-space propulsion, oxygen recycling and radiation protection is daunting enough. But the most formidable challenge in sending astronauts to Mars just might be the politics playing out on Earth.

 

There's near-unanimous support on Capitol Hill for making the Red Planet the next grand destination for America's space program. Paying for it, enlisting international partners, and deciding exactly how to get there? Not so much.

 

"The problem for this all along has been political will," said former NASA historian Roger Launius, senior curator for space history at the National Air and Space Museum. "And the political will has not been present for a Mars mission. Ever."

 

Launius was a member of the National Research Council committee that delivered a blunt message last week to the nation: Reaching Mars by the 2030s, as NASA planners envision, will require unifying behind a single strategy, involving other countries and making a serious financial commitment.

 

The panel, mostly made up of scientists, political analysts and aerospace consultants, concluded that "human spaceflight -- among the longest of long-term endeavors -- cannot be successful if held hostage to traditional short-term decision-making and budgetary processes."

 

Political will essentially means money.

 

It's true that Congress and the administration differ on how to get to Mars. Many lawmakers want to use the moon as a staging point, while NASA wants to redirect an asteroid into the moon's orbit and use it as a stepping-stone on the way to Mars.

 

It's also true that key players in Congress are loathe to share sensitive information with the one country -- China -- that's the most logical partner in a Mars mission. And turf wars between traditional Old Space aerospace firms and New Space upstarts threaten to hinder progress.

 

Money could go a long way toward solving those problems.

 

But lawmakers appear reluctant to spend hundreds of billions over the next few decades to make the mission a reality. That largely reflects a lack of interest among their constituents, experts say. President Barack Obama scuttled a return to the moon mainly because of the expense.

 

"The deficit is a more important issue than space," said Cliff Zukin, a Rutgers University political science professor and member of the National Research Council committee. "Unless there are some major changes, it ain't gonna happen."

 

As if to prove the point, lawmakers recently proposed barring NASA from spending money to develop a safe and nutritious system for feeding astronauts during the months it would take to travel to Mars.

 

"I want to ensure that taxpayer funding is not wasted on projects that are not going to happen," GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said in presenting the amendment on the House floor. It passed by voice vote without dissent.

 

Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, arguably the space program's biggest champion in Congress, said the GOP's strict adherence to budget austerity opened a first-ever partisan divide over last year's NASA authorization bill. Republicans argued they were simply following sequestration budget restrictions.

 

Things were very different in the 1960s, when lawmakers enthusiastically embraced a lunar mission. At its peak in the mid-sixties, spending on NASA consumed 4.6 percent of the federal budget. Today, it's less than one-half of 1 percent.

 

But public backing for a moon landing was hardly universal 50 years ago. Launius said the only time polls showed support above 50 percent was at the time of the moon landing itself. The Apollo Program won support from key policy makers because it was viewed as strategically important in trying to stay ahead of the Soviet Union.

 

"We did this as a Cold-War initiative and we did it because we viewed the Cold War and the moon race as war by another means," Launius said. "We demonstrated over and over again in our nation's history that when we view something as a national security issue, we're willing to spend whatever it takes."

 

That imperative doesn't exist with Mars, experts say.

 

Even if money weren't an issue, a Mars mission presents formidable logistical hurdles. The National Research Council listed 10 "high-priority capabilities" that would be required, with special emphasis on radiation safety, in-space propulsion, entry, descent, and landing.

 

Significant advances in technology would aid the mission's cause, ostensibly by making it faster and almost certainly cheaper.

 

"If NASA figures out a way to do it within their budget profile, I think there's a whole lot of people, including most political leaders, who would cheer," Launius said. "Part of this ultimately is the fact that we don't have a strong rationale for space flight. Period. Whether it's the moon or Mars or anything else, we can't find a good reason to do it, other than to do it."

 

Nelson is confident astronauts will eventually reach Mars because it's in our nature.

 

"If we continue to be a first-rate nation, we will continue to explore," he said. "That is our destiny."

 

NASA Clears 3D Printer for Space Launch

Jack Linshi – TIME

 

NASA cleared a 3D printer for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) Thursday, a step towards greater self-sustainability and safety on the station.

 

Developed by Made in Space, a tech startup that partnered with NASA for the venture, the 3D printer is designed to function in zero gravity to produce spare parts, crew tools and components of cubesats, a mini satellite for research, according to a press release.

 

The printer will make the ISS less dependent on resupply ships for materials, which could cut transportation costs and improve safety.

 

NASA announced its intentions to launch a 3D printer into space in September. It said it wanted the printer to undergo a series of tests to ensure its suitability in space, such as withstanding the forces of takeoff and electrical checks. Though Made in Space's testing took over 20,000 hours, the printer's launch is actually ahead of its original schedule: it will launch in August, instead of November, on SpaceX CRS-4 this fall.

 

Once the printer arrives at the ISS, it will print a series of demonstration objects while researchers at NASA and Made in Space assess the output. Upon satisfactory in-space testing, the ISS will establish a permanent 3D printing station called the Additive Manufacturing Facility.

 

The end goal is to advance space travel and research.

 

"We can welcome a great change," Made in Space's lead engineer Michael Snyder said in the press release. "The ability to manufacture on-demand in space is going to be a paradigm shift for the way development, research, and exploration happen in space."

 

Letter: Posey praised for work on NASA funding bill

Lester Block – Florida Today

 

I would like to thank Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, for his recent work on NASA legislation.

 

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a NASA reauthorization bill. Talks with the Senate could mean this bill could guide NASA for several years to come.

 

Despite the budget challenges in Washington, Congressman Posey has worked to secure record levels of funding for our commercial crew program, which is based at Kennedy Space Center and holds promise for our return to human spaceflight from the Space Coast. That means jobs in our community and gets us a step closer to ending our dependence on Russia to take our astronauts to the space station.

 

Also, Posey has been effective in safeguarding funds for KSC's ground systems for the Space Launch System (SLS), the vehicle to take us beyond Earth orbit to the moon and Mars. This funding could have been siphoned off, but Posey led the efforts to protect this important funding.

 

Finally, this latest NASA bill includes provisions Posey fought for to force NASA to take greater steps to protect our nation's NASA space technology from international espionage. We must stop the Chinese and others from stealing our advanced space technology.

 

The International Space Station Is Getting an Espresso Machine

Nolan Feeney – TIME

 

The lattes will be out of this world

 

The International Space Station is 240 miles above earth, but that doesn't mean astronauts don't have a hard time getting up in the morning — after all, they can make a run to the stars, but not a run to the Starbucks.

 

But the ISS is about to get a little caffeinated pep in its one-small-step-for-man, in the form of ISSpresso, its very own, customized espresso machine. Italian coffee brand Lavazza teamed up with aerospace engineering company Argotec to design the device, which will be the first machine designed to withstand travel when it arrives at the space station later this year as a part of the Italian Space Agency's Futura Mission.

 

When it connects, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti won't just become the first Italian woman in space — she'll likely be the first person in space to sip an Italian espresso.

 

 

 

END

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