My good friend Walt pointed out to me yesterday that I am doubling up emails to our retiree friends with the 2 separate emails I send out daily—many of you whom-Like me, don't get much out of the JSC Today (I admit- I seldom read them either).
So I am back to sending out one email to everyone, even the still working troops, with the JSC Today buried at the bottom of this message. So if you are mainly interested in what is happening at the Agency level…you can just read the PAO news at the top and stop reading when the JSC Today starts at the bottom.
Hope this approach is better for you all, which makes for fewer Moongrams in the retirees inboxes daily. As always, when you feel like you no longer wish to get any NASA news, just drop me a note to take you off my list—no hard feelings I promise.
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – Jan. 27, 2015
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Boeing, SpaceX on track for commercial crew flights to station in 2017
William Harwood - CBS News
NASA expects to spend some $5 billion underwriting development of commercial spacecraft built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, officials said Monday, ending sole reliance on the Russians for crew ferry flights and eventually lowering the average cost per seat to around $58 million.
Boeing, SpaceX will beat Russia on price for astronaut rides
Marcia Dunn - Associated Press
NASA expects to save millions of dollars sending astronauts to the International Space Station, once its commercial crew program starts flying in a couple of years.
Commercial space rides for U.S. astronauts to save millions: NASA
Irene Klotz – Reuters
The U.S. space program should save more than $12 million a seat flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station on commercial space taxis rather than aboard Russian capsules, the NASA program manager said on Monday.
Boeing, SpaceX launch 21st century space race
Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle
With triumphant music playing and a couple of dozen blue-suited astronauts looking on, top executives from Boeing and SpaceX walked onto a stage at Johnson Space Center on Monday and launched a 21st century space race.
Boeing, SpaceX aim for manned launches in 2017
James Dean - Florida Today
Boeing and SpaceX said today they expect to fly astronauts from the Space Coast to the International Space Station in 2017, flights that will end U.S. reliance on Russia to get humans into orbit.
Boeing will be first to carry US astronauts to space
Kerry Sheridan - Agence France Presse
Boeing will be the first commercial company to carry a NASA astronaut to space in July 2017 under a contract with the US space agency, followed by its competitor SpaceX, officials said Monday.
Private Space Taxis on Track to Fly in 2017
The private spaceflight companies Boeing and SpaceX are on track to start launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017, representatives of both firms said Monday (Jan. 26).
NASA: Flying Astronauts With Boeing and SpaceX Will Save Us $12 Million Per Seat
Michael Belfiore - Popular Mechanics
NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden left no doubt as to his goal for the space agency's Commercial Crew program. "I don't ever want to have to write another check to Roscosmos after 2017," he told a gathering of reporters and NASA astronauts at a press conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday.
NASA private space flights in 2017 to save rubles and respect
SpaceX and Boeing plan to launch astronauts into space in 2017, as NASA's Commercial Crew program prepares to bring launches back onto US soil and in the process end the reliance on Russia. The two private companies are "the future of astronaut transportation to and from the [International Space Station]" Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Johnson Space Center director, said today, with the first flights expected to begin in just a few years time. However, while the ISS may be the first destination, the orbiting research platform isn't the extent of the Commercial Crew program's ambitions. In fact, it's paving the way for manned missions to Mars.
NASA, Boeing, SpaceX Share More Details on Commercial Crew Plans
Jeff Foust – Space News
With a legal challenge now behind them, two companies that won NASA contracts offered more details Jan. 26 about their plans to develop and test commercial crew vehicles, while the agency expressed optimism those vehicles will be ready for service by 2017.
Mars One, the "Third Quarter Effect", and our human journey into deep space
John Putman – The Space Review
Anecdotal evidence of the individual and interpersonal problems that have occurred during long-duration Russian/Soviet missions, coupled with studies of personnel in other isolated, confined, and extreme environments (ICE), suggest that psychosocial elements of behavior and performance are likely to have a prominent impact on the outcome of long-duration space missions. This impact may range from individual decrements in performance, health, and well being, to the other extreme—catastrophic failure, as pointed out more than a decade ago by Lawrence Palinkas.
New Phase of Space Travel Hopes to Set Sail on Sunlight
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
To sail on winds of sunlight has long been a dream of rocket scientists.
Bringing Pluto into Focus: Q&A with New Horizons PI Alan Stern
NASA's New Horizons probe is about to lift the veil on Pluto.
Flyby Asteroid Has its Own Moon
NASA has released radar observations of the 325 meter-wide asteroid that flew safely past Earth today at 8:19 a.m. PST (11:19 a.m. EST), but in those grainy observations, asteroid 2004 BL86 appears to have company — a small moon.
New discoveries from Rosetta put comet 67P in focus
Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the rest of the year.
Millions Paid by X Prize Foundation for Progress Toward Trip to Moon
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
In 2004, the X Prize Foundation celebrated the culmination of its first prize competition, awarding $10 million for successful flights of SpaceShipOne, the first privately financed reusable spacecraft to take a pilot to space, defined as 62 miles above the Earth's surface.
COMPLETE STORIES
Boeing, SpaceX on track for commercial crew flights to station in 2017
William Harwood - CBS News
NASA expects to spend some $5 billion underwriting development of commercial spacecraft built by Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, officials said Monday, ending sole reliance on the Russians for crew ferry flights and eventually lowering the average cost per seat to around $58 million.
Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, said her company's upgraded Dragon V2 ferry craft should be ready for an initial unpiloted flight to the space station in late 2016 with the first crewed flight, likely carrying a SpaceX test pilot and a NASA astronaut, in early 2017.
John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, said his company's CST-100 spacecraft is expected to be ready for an uncrewed test flight in April 2017, followed by a crewed flight, with a Boeing pilot and a NASA astronaut, in the July 2017 timeframe.
Both companies must complete the crewed and uncrewed test flights before NASA certification, which will pave the way for the start of operational crew rotation and cargo delivery flights to the International Space Station later in 2017. Until then, NASA will continue to rely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to carry U.S. and partner crew members to and from the lab complex.
"Commercial crew is incredibly important to the space station, it's important to reduce the cost of transportation to low-Earth orbit so that NASA has within its budget the capability to develop means to explore beyond low-Earth orbit," Elbon said during a news conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "And importantly, I think, it's beginning a whole new industry. ... We're making great progress on the program."
Said Shotwell: "Our crew Dragon leverages the cargo capability that we've been flying successfully to the International Space Station. However, we understand, and we've been told, that crew is clearly different. So there are a number of upgrades that we've been working for the past few years to assure that this crew version of Dragon is as reliable as it can possibly be. Ultimately, we plan for it to be the most reliable spaceship flying crew ever."
In the wake of the space shuttle's retirement, NASA started a competition to build a commercial crewed spacecraft, with the first in a series of contracts intended to encourage innovative designs for reliable, affordable transportation to and from low-Earth orbit.
Last September, NASA announced that Boeing had won a $4.2 billion Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCAP) contract to continue development of the company's CST-100 capsule while SpaceX would receive $2.6 billion to press ahead with work to perfect its futuristic Dragon crew craft.
A third competitor, Sierra Nevada, was left out, and the company filed a protest with the General Accountability Office, arguing its Dream Chaser spaceplane was unfairly passed over. But the GAO ruled earlier this month that NASA's selection of Boeing and SpaceX was justified, clearing the space agency to proceed with the CCtCAP contracts.
SpaceX and Boeing hold contracts covering two test flights and two operational missions per company with options for additional operational missions between them.
Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft is a state-of-the-art, reusable capsule incorporating weld-less fabrication, flight proven navigation software, powerful "pusher" escape rockets to propel the capsule away from a malfunctioning booster and a parachute-and-airbag landing system.
For NASA flights, the spacecraft will be used to carry four astronauts at a time to the space station, along with critical cargo. It will be launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, one of the most reliable boosters in the U.S. inventory.
Elbon said construction has started on a launch pad crew access tower and work platforms needed to service CST-100s in a former shuttle processing hangar. A simulator will be installed at the Johnson Space Center in the same building that once housed shuttle flight simulators and Boeing is working out procedures to use NASA's mission control center for ascent, rendezvous and re-entry.
"The flight software will be delivered later this summer, we'll have the simulator running with the flight software and flight computers and 26 of the 34 flight displays," Elbon said. "So there will be a real opportunity for the crew to interface with that software and understand how the vehicle's going to operate."
Boeing plans a launch pad abort test in February 2017 "where we'll fully check out the abort system" before staging the first unpiloted test flight to the space station the following April. Elbon said Boeing should be ready for the first crewed test flight in July 2017. Assuming the test flights go well and NASA certifies the CST-100, Boeing expects to be ready for its first operational mission in December 2017.
SpaceX already flies to the space station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for a dozen uncrewed cargo flights using the company's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rockets.
The crewed version of the spacecraft will be able to carry up to seven astronauts -- typically four for station missions -- and features futuristic pull-down flat-screen displays, a powerful escape rocket system and sophisticated computer control. As with the automated cargo ships, the crew capsules will be launched atop Falcon 9 boosters.
Shotwell said SpaceX is gearing up for a pad abort test in the next month or so when a Dragon spacecraft will be shot off the launch pad using its escape rockets to demonstrate the ability to pull a crew away from a catastrophic low-altitude booster malfunction. A second abort test will be carried out later this year to demonstrate escape during the most aerodynamically stressful regions of powered flight.
"The Integrated launch abort system is critically important to us, we think it gives incredible safety features for a full abort all the way through ascent," Shotwell said. SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk hopes to eventually use the abort system for rocket-powered landings at the end of a mission, but initial flights will splash down in the ocean much like Dragon cargo missions.
While SpaceX is a relative newcomer to the rocket industry, Shotwell said the company will have launched more than 50 Falcon 9 rockets by the time astronauts strap into a Dragon V2 for the first piloted test flight. She said SpaceX will install a simulator at the Johnson Space Center for crew training, but likely will monitor ascent, rendezvous and re-entry from the company's Hawthorne, Calif., rocket plant where Dragon supply flights are managed.
"We anticipate doing our uncrewed mission to the International Space Station on this upgraded crew vehicle later in '16, shortly followed thereafter with our crewed flight in early 2017, as shortly as we can make it and still maintain reliability and safety," she said. "We certainly understand the incredible responsibility we've been given to build the systems necessary and capable of flying crew."
Along with ferrying astronauts to and from the space station, the Boeing and SpaceX capsules also will be able to serve as lifeboats for station crew members, remaining attached to the station for more than 200 days at a stretch to give U.S. and partner astronauts a way home in an emergency.
The new spacecraft will be the first American vehicles to carry astronauts on NASA-sanctioned flights since the space shuttle's last mission in 2011 and the first built under more commercially structured contracts intended to lower costs.
The CST-100 and upgraded Dragon also will end America's reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for access to the International Space Station. Under NASA's latest contract with Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, U.S. seats cost around $70 million each. Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's commercial crew program, said the agency eventually will save, on average, more than $10 million a seat using U.S. spacecraft.
"Overall, when we go through the whole development activity ... we'll have invested about $5 billion," she said. "In addition, when you look at pricing for the missions across the five years we have pricing for, we're able to get an average seat cost of about $58 million per seat."
But NASA's use of Soyuz spacecraft will not end with the advent of U.S. space taxis.
Mike Suffredini, manager of the space station program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a Jan. 15 interview with CBS News that NASA still plans to use one seat per Soyuz for the duration of the station program. The Russians, likewise, will be able to launch a cosmonaut on each U.S.-sponsored flight.
Assuming both parties ultimately agree, "the Russians will fly twice a year, or whatever rate they need to do their job, and we will have a crew member on each of their flights," Suffredini said. "We will fly ours at whatever rate we think we need to do our job and they will put a single crew member on it."
During the news conference Monday, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said "I don't ever want to have to write another check to (the Russian federal space agency) Roscosmos after 2017, hopefully. That's why I'm looking to John and Gwynne to deliver. You've heard both of them say they think they'll be flying by 2017. If we can make that date, I'm a happy camper."
But NASA has to be prepared for contingencies and the commercial crew schedule is optimistic. Space station planners do not yet know for sure when a commercial ferry craft will begin operational missions and orders for Soyuz seats must be placed three years in advance.
"So I'm about to tell (Roscosmos) whether I want seats in 2018 right now, and we don't have any more insights (into commercial crew progress) really than the proposals," Suffredini said. "So we've got to go get some seats."
Longer term, he said NASA plans to continue flying on Soyuz after Boeing and SpaceX begin operational missions, but under a barter arrangement of some sort.
"We're assuming two Russian seats a year and we're assuming two Russians will fly in our seats per year," Suffredini said. "And it'll just be a quid pro quo, we won't ask for compensation."
Boeing, SpaceX will beat Russia on price for astronaut rides
Marcia Dunn - Associated Press
NASA expects to save millions of dollars sending astronauts to the International Space Station, once its commercial crew program starts flying in a couple of years.
SpaceX and Boeing said Monday that they are on track to carry out their first manned test flights to the space station in 2017. NASA chose the two private companies last September to transport American astronauts to and from the orbiting lab.
U.S. manned launches ended with the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011. Until SpaceX and Boeing begin flying crews from Cape Canaveral, NASA astronauts must continue to hitch rocket rides with Russia.
NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, said the average price for a seat aboard the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing CST-100 capsules will be $58 million. That compares with $71 million a seat charged by Russia under its latest NASA contract.
"I don't ever want to have to write another check" to the Russian Space Agency after 2017, said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former shuttle commander.
"If we can make that date," he said, referring to 2017, "I'm a happy camper."
Unlike the Russian charge, the $58 million per-person cost estimate includes a fair amount of cargo to be flown aboard the SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft, along with four crew members. That price tag is based on a five-year period, Lueders said.
The Russian Soyuz holds a maximum of three people, with at least one a Russian to pilot the craft.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the future enhanced Dragon capsule could carry five astronauts — one more than NASA's stipulated four — and still meet all the cargo requirements.
The Hawthorne, California, company, led by billionaire Elon Musk, was the space station's first commercial shipper. It's been successfully delivering supplies since 2012 with the Dragon. Virginia's Orbital Sciences Corp., NASA's other contracted supplier, has grounded its rocket fleet following a launch explosion last fall.
Lueders said the plan is to have two "robust providers" for crew transport, in case one of them ends up grounded by technical problems. NASA awarded SpaceX $2.6 billion for crew transport, while Boeing got $4.2 billion. Each is to provide two to six missions.
Boeing's vice president and general manager for Houston-based space exploration, John Elbon, said an unmanned test flight of the CST-100 capsule in 2017 will be followed a few months later by the first crewed test flight. That first manned mission will include one Boeing test pilot and one NASA astronaut, he said.
Shotwell said the SpaceX unmanned test flight could occur as early as 2016, followed by a crewed flight in 2017. She said the company is still working on the number and makeup of the first crew.
It was the first in-depth public description of the commercial crew effort by NASA and winners SpaceX and Boeing; discussion had been stalled because of a protest lodged by losing competitor Sierra Nevada Corp., developer of the mini-shuttle Dream Chaser. The Government Accountability Office dismissed Sierra Nevada's challenge earlier this month.
Some of NASA's 40-something-member astronaut corps turned out for the event at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Bolden urged "they better start smiling."
While the current astronauts will be the ones flying to the space station on Dragons and CST-100s, it will be the younger, future crop that ends up bound for Mars, he noted.
NASA conducted a successful orbital test flight of its new Orion spacecraft last month. That's the capsule that, along with linked habitats, would get crews to and from Mars in the 2030s under NASA's current plan.
Bolden said NASA wouldn't be able to do deep-space exploration if it was still saddled with getting supplies and people to low-Earth orbit.
"We're about going to Mars," he said.
Commercial space rides for U.S. astronauts to save millions: NASA
Irene Klotz – Reuters
The U.S. space program should save more than $12 million a seat flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station on commercial space taxis rather than aboard Russian capsules, the NASA program manager said on Monday.
In September, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration awarded contracts worth up to a combined $6.8 billion to Boeing and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to fly crew to the station, a $100 billion research laboratory about 260 miles above Earth.
Since retiring the space shuttles in 2011, the United States has depended on Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, to ferry astronauts to the orbital outpost. The service costs more than $70 million per person.
NASA expects to pay an average of $58 million a seat when its astronauts begin flying on Boeing's CST-100 and SpaceX's Dragon capsules in 2017, Kathy Lueders, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew program, told reporters during a news conference in Houston and via conference call.
"I don't ever want to have to write another check to Roscosmos after 2017, hopefully," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
Both SpaceX and Boeing plan two test flights to the station, the first without a crew and the second with a combination of company test pilots and NASA astronauts aboard.
SpaceX is targeting its unmanned test flight in 2016 and its piloted flight in early 2017, said company president Gwynne Shotwell. Boeing's test flights are targeted for April and July 2017, vice president and program manager John Elbon said.
For its manned test flight, Boeing plans to fly one as-yet-unnamed company astronaut and one NASA astronaut. SpaceX said it is still deciding on a test flight crew.
Though schedules show SpaceX being ready ahead of Boeing to fly operational missions, NASA currently expects Boeing to begin flight services first in December 2017, Lueders said.
Boeing, SpaceX launch 21st century space race
Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle
With triumphant music playing and a couple of dozen blue-suited astronauts looking on, top executives from Boeing and SpaceX walked onto a stage at Johnson Space Center on Monday and launched a 21st century space race.
Boeing's top space official, John Elbon, and SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell spoke politely about cooperating with each other, and in some respects the companies are working together in space.
But behind the scenes, the aerospace firms are working hard to upstage each other. The prize? Nothing less than becoming the world's first private company to carry astronauts into space and thereby earn a likely place in the Smithsonian.
After more than a year of sealed bids, and a subsequent protest against NASA's $6.8 billion in contract awards, the space agency and the two companies got a chance Monday to talk openly about their plans for restoring America's capability to launch astronauts to the International Space Station.
NASA is banking on one or both of the companies being ready to do that by the end of 2017, when its contract with the Russian space agency to deliver U.S. crews to the station aboard Soyuz spacecraft ends. NASA also hopes to save some money. The estimated price per seat for the U.S. company launch vehicles is $58 million, versus the $70 million NASA pays Russia.
"I don't ever want to have to write another check to Roscosmos; that's why I'm looking to John and Gywnne to deliver," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
The companies, in turn, are bidding to become the first to reach the launch pad with a human crew, thus securing both their place in history and future launch contracts from NASA.
"I absolutely want to be first," said Elbon, vice president of space exploration for Boeing. "I think that vehicle hangs in the Smithsonian."
SpaceX, in turn, wants the same thing.
During the news conference Monday, the companies each laid out broad outlines of when they hope to reach space.
Boeing, building the CST-100 spacecraft, plans to launch aboard the Atlas V rocket, which already has successfully flown more than 50 missions. Boeing plans a crewed test flight in July 2017, then intends to deliver its first NASA astronauts to the station in December 2017.
This flight is already on NASA's launch schedule.
SpaceX is building the Dragon spacecraft, an earlier version of which already is delivering supplies to the station. Dragon will launch on the company's Falcon 9 rocket, which is less tested than the Atlas V.
Based on a timeline Shotwell outlined, the company might be ready for its first crewed station flight in the summer of 2017. That mission, however, is not yet on NASA's launch schedule, and its timing is less certain.
So who will win the race? It's not yet clear. Each company still has a number of design and development milestones to complete before NASA certifies them to fly in space. But if - and it's a big if - SpaceX ticks off all of the boxes, it has the potential to launch before Boeing.
The rivalry sets up something of a 21st century space race, said Michael Lopez-Alegria, a NASA astronaut and veteran of four space missions who now specializes in commercial space issues. He said NASA and the country will benefit from having two companies involved rather than just a single effort to develop a lone vehicle.
"Now, as in the 1960s, competition speeds development," he said.
Boeing has about 500 employees in Houston working on design and development of its spacecraft, but some of that workforce will move to Florida, where the CST-100 will be built. SpaceX tests its rockets in Central Texas but is building the Dragon in California.
During the news conference, there were subtle jabs by Elbon and Shotwell. Elbon, for example, noted that by the time it flies, the Atlas V rocket will have made 80 launches, giving it a sustained track record. Shotwell countered that the Dragon could be reused more than the CST-100.
All throughout, the astronauts watched. For them, the new vehicles mean they no longer will have to spend months on end training in Russia for space station missions, nor will they have to trek halfway around the world to Kazakhstan for a launch. All they'll need to do is jet over to Florida to get into space.
Michael Fincke, who has launched twice from Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz and once from Florida aboard the shuttle, said he and his colleagues are deeply interested in the new U.S. vehicles.
"It's a million percent," he said. "Everybody wants to be part of this program."
Boeing, SpaceX aim for manned launches in 2017
James Dean - Florida Today
Boeing and SpaceX said today they expect to fly astronauts from the Space Coast to the International Space Station in 2017, flights that will end U.S. reliance on Russia to get humans into orbit.
"We're on track, and it's just as exciting as can be to be a part of it," said John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, during a news conference in Houston.
NASA last September awarded Commercial Crew Program contracts worth up to $4.2 billion to Boeing and up to $2.6 billion to SpaceX.
The agency said it could discuss the program's status more openly after the Jan. 5 dismissal of a contract protest by losing bidder Sierra Nevada Corp.
NASA disclosed for the first time that it would spend an average of $58 million per seat on the privately operated capsules, compared to more than $70 million on Russian Soyuz spacecraft now offering the only rides to and from the station.
The cost, not broken out by company, is based on flying four astronauts and cargo in capsules designed to carry up to seven people over a five-year period, said Kathy Lueders, manager of the Commercial Crew Program led from KSC.
"Industry has really stepped up and provided NASA with a cost-effective solution to flying crews to the International Space Station," she said.
Overall, NASA will spend about $5 billion to develop commercial crew vehicles, including money awarded to other companies since 2010.
SpaceX laid out the more aggressive schedule, saying it hoped to fly a crew on a test flight to the ISS by early 2017.
The company is upgrading the Dragon craft that haul cargo to the orbiting laboratory, where one is berthed now.
"We understand, and we've been told, that crew is clearly different," said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer. "Ultimately, we plan for it to be the most reliable spaceship flying crew ever."
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will launch astronauts from KSC's pad 39A, a former Apollo and shuttle pad. Within a month or two the company plans to shoot an unmanned Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral to test systems that would enable astronauts to escape a failing rocket.
Boeing outlined plans to launch a pair of astronauts — one Boeing, one NASA — on a test flight by July 2017, before starting official flights at the the end of that year.
Elbon said renovations of the former shuttle hangar and engine shop at Kennedy Space Center where the company will build CST-100 capsules are "making great progress."
Components will be delivered next month for a test version of the capsule. And work has begun on the tower crews will use to board Boeing capsules sitting on United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets at Launch Complex 41.
"It's beginning a whole new industry," said Elbon.
The projected flight dates assume Congress funds the program at levels NASA requests over the next several years.
The agency last year said it would need about $2.4 billion between 2016 and 2018; an updated budget plan will be unveiled soon.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said he was optimistic Congress would give the program what it needs to stay schedule. Delays would mean more payments to the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, to fly astronauts.
"I don't ever want to have to write another check to Roscosmos after 2017, hopefully," he said. "If we can make that date, I'm a happy camper."
The first crew to reach the station was to win the honor of returning a U.S. flag left there by the last shuttle mission in 2011. But Lueders said another flag would be flown so that both companies could claim victory.
"I know that one day soon we will be flying our crews from Florida to the International Space Station," she said. "I can't wait for that day."
Boeing will be first to carry US astronauts to space
Kerry Sheridan - Agence France Presse
Boeing will be the first commercial company to carry a NASA astronaut to space in July 2017 under a contract with the US space agency, followed by its competitor SpaceX, officials said Monday.
NASA is funneling billions of dollars to both companies so that they can replace American access to the orbiting International Space Station after the US space shuttle program was retired in 2011.
The announcement of $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX was made in September 2014.
However, a legal challenge by Sierra Nevada -- which was developing a space-shuttle-like vehicle called Dream Chaser and was closed out of the competition -- meant that officials could not reveal many details until now.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied the protest by Sierra Nevada earlier this month, allowing NASA and its partners to speak publicly about the contracts and future plans for test flights.
Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders said at a press conference in Houston, Texas that Boeing would be the first to make two contracted missions to carry NASA astronauts, since it has completed two milestones so far, and SpaceX just one.
"Our goal is to have two robust providers," Lueders added.
July 2017
A NASA astronaut and a Boeing test pilot will make the first crewed test flight on the spacecraft called Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100 for short, in July 2017, said John Elbon, Boeing's vice president and general manager of space exploration.
"The first services mission then will begin in December of '17," he told reporters, referring to the first official trip to the International Space Station with crew on board.
SpaceX's upgraded Dragon crew vehicle is on track for an unmanned test flight in 2016, followed by a test flight including crew on board in early 2017, said vice president Gwynne Shotwell, who did not give specific dates.
In 2012, California-based SpaceX became the first commercial company to deliver supplies to the International Space Station with its Dragon cargo ship, which is being modified to become a crew capsule.
Ending dependence
Since the 30-year space shuttle program ended in 2011, the United States has relied on Russia's Soyuz capsules for astronaut transport at a cost of $70 million per seat.
The cost per seat in the new US commercial industry would be approximately $58 million, an average cost teased out over the course of a five-year mission plan, said Lueders.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden said the rise of private industry in reaching low-Earth orbit means that the US space agency will be able to focus on sending humans to Mars by 2024.
"We made the conscious decision that if we are going to go to deep space, we need to turn over things that we are relatively sure we know how to do -- access to low-Earth orbit -- to American industry," Bolden said.
Another key benefit for the United States is ending its costly dependence on the Russian space agency.
"I don't want to ever have to write another check to Roscosmos after 2017, hopefully," Bolden added.
Both Boeing and SpaceX must show they can successfully complete a test flight with one astronaut aboard before moving on to between two and six more flights contracted with NASA to deliver astronauts to and from the space station.
The spacecraft will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Boeing's acorn-shaped space capsule, the CST-100, is designed to be re-used up to 10 times, and SpaceX's sleek white Dragon Version Two, or Dragon V2, is also a reusable space capsule.
Both can carry up to seven people to the space station, which circles the planet in low-Earth orbit.
Private Space Taxis on Track to Fly in 2017
The private spaceflight companies Boeing and SpaceX are on track to start launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017, representatives of both firms said Monday (Jan. 26).
In September 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were awarded contracts under NASA's commercial crew program to help them start flying astronauts on missions to the space station from U.S. soil in the next few years. SpaceX and Boeing are planning to launch a series of tests of their spaceships — capsules called Dragon V2 and the CST-100, respectively — from this year through 2017. The tests will make sure the launch systems are in good shape before the spacecraft make their first official runs to and from the station.
Seats aboard Dragon and the CST-100 should also be cheaper than the current cost to launch people to space. NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the orbiting outpost since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011; at the moment, NASA is paying about $70 million for each Soyuz seat.
The space agency has required that commercial providers like Boeing and SpaceX meet or go below a $58 million average price per seat, according to NASA officials. Both Boeing and SpaceX representatives have said that their per-seat cost is at or below the current price of a Soyuz seat.
"The contracts we've signed with our industry partners Boeing and SpaceX are vivid examples of American innovation at work," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a news conference Monday. "We've seen the return of an American launch industry and the in-sourcing of work and jobs back to U.S. shores. Our reliance on a commercial space enterprise where we hand off low-Earth orbit transportation to the private sector is critical to our journey to Mars."
The private spaceflight companies Boeing and SpaceX are on track to start launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017, representatives of both firms said Monday (Jan. 26).
In September 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were awarded contracts under NASA's commercial crew program to help them start flying astronauts on missions to the space station from U.S. soil in the next few years. SpaceX and Boeing are planning to launch a series of tests of their spaceships — capsules called Dragon V2 and the CST-100, respectively — from this year through 2017. The tests will make sure the launch systems are in good shape before the spacecraft make their first official runs to and from the station.
Seats aboard Dragon and the CST-100 should also be cheaper than the current cost to launch people to space. NASA has relied on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the orbiting outpost since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011; at the moment, NASA is paying about $70 million for each Soyuz seat.
The space agency has required that commercial providers like Boeing and SpaceX meet or go below a $58 million average price per seat, according to NASA officials. Both Boeing and SpaceX representatives have said that their per-seat cost is at or below the current price of a Soyuz seat.
"The contracts we've signed with our industry partners Boeing and SpaceX are vivid examples of American innovation at work," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a news conference Monday. "We've seen the return of an American launch industry and the in-sourcing of work and jobs back to U.S. shores. Our reliance on a commercial space enterprise where we hand off low-Earth orbit transportation to the private sector is critical to our journey to Mars."
Budgets and contracts
SpaceX is receiving $2.6 billion of the $6.8 billion total contract, with Boeing awarded the other $4.2 billion. Since receiving the funding, the two companies have been steadily working toward meeting various new milestones within the program.
Bolden is also optimistic that the forthcoming federal budget proposal from the White House — scheduled to be released next week — will treat the commercial crew program well.
"Congress has started to understand the critical importance of commercial crew and cargo," Bolden said. "They've seen, as a result of the performance of our providers, that this is not a hoax, it's not a myth, it's not a dream. It's something that's really happening. I am optimistic that the Congress will accept the President's proposal for commercial crew for 2016."
SpaceX getting ready to fly
SpaceX's plans under the commercial crew program are expected to heat up this year. The company plans to launch its first abort test for Dragon "in the next month or so," SpaceX COO and president Gwynne Shotwell said during the news conference. The company is then expected to perform a second abort test later in 2015, Shotwell added.
After those two tests — which are designed to show how Dragon V2 would respond in the event of a problem during liftoff— SpaceX representatives are hoping to launch an uncrewed test flight using the company's Falcon 9 rocket in late 2016, with its first crewed mission using the launch system coming shortly after that, in early 2017.
"We certainly understand the incredible … responsibility that we've been given to build the systems necessary and capable of flying crew," Shotwell said.
Boeing getting ready for 2017
Boeing should start launching many of its test flights in 2017, said John Elbon, Vice President and General Manager of Boeing Space Exploration. The CST-100 is designed to fly to space atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Boeing is expected to perform a pad abort test of its CST-100 spacecraft in 2017, with the first uncrewed flight to the space station launching in April 2017. Boeing's first crewed flight to the station should occur in July 2017 with a Boeing pilot and NASA astronaut aboard, according to Elbon.
The company's first official mission to the station should happen before the end of 2017, Elbon added.
"Lots of great progress," Elbon said. "We're on track, and it's just as exciting as can be to be part of it."
NASA: Flying Astronauts With Boeing and SpaceX Will Save Us $12 Million Per Seat
Michael Belfiore - Popular Mechanics
NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden left no doubt as to his goal for the space agency's Commercial Crew program. "I don't ever want to have to write another check to Roscosmos after 2017," he told a gathering of reporters and NASA astronauts at a press conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston on Monday.
American Spacecraft
Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft has been the only means for NASA to send its astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA is currently paying Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, about $70 million per seat for the space taxi service. The goal of NASA's Commercial Crew program is to prepare private American companies—in this case Boeing and SpaceX—to carry astronauts to orbit, and Monday's conference served as a status report on the endeavor. And at least financially, it's going well: NASA Commercial Crew program manager Kathy Lueders said at the press conference that the $5 billion that would be split between Boeing and SpaceX breaks down to about $58 million per seat.
SpaceX and Boeing were awarded commercial crew contracts last September with the goal of beginning to fly astronauts to and from the ISS by 2017. The space station is expected to stay in orbit until at least 2024. After that, Bolden said, he expects NASA to turn all manned operations in low Earth orbit over to private enterprise, with private vehicles continuing to carry crews and cargo to private space stations such as those planned by Bigelow Aerospace.
Handing low Earth orbit operations over to private companies will free up NASA's resources to pursue the goal of landing people on Mars, perhaps by the 2030s. "Although we're talking about commercial crew today," Bolden said, "I don't want anybody to lose sight of the fact that all this we're doing is so that it will enable us to get humans to Mars."
Boeing CST-100
John Elbon, Boeing's general manager for space exploration, said that his company has completed two of the five NASA-mandated milestones on the way toward flying its CST-100 spacecraft. The first is the certification baseline review, which lays out "the activities that we will go through to certify that the system is ready to carry crew," Elbon said. The second is a ground segment critical design review, which defines the ground-based systems, including training facilities, needed to support CST-100 missions.
Elbon also said that Boeing has started building the crew access tower that will be erected on the launch pad beside the Atlas V rockets that will carry the CST-100 to orbit. He said that the Atlas V rocket completed its 52nd successful mission about a week before the press conference. The first unmanned orbital test flight of the CST-100 is already on the Atlas V launch manifest and is planned for the 74th flight of the rocket. The first manned CST-100 mission is planned for the 80th Atlas V flight, which should happen around 2017.
"People didn't necessary appreciate where we were going with commercial airplanes a hundred years ago." he said. "It's maybe not real clear where commercial space is going today, but I believe firmly that we're on a path that will be of the magnitude that the commercial aviation industry started on 100 years ago."
SpaceX Dragon
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said that her company's Dragon spacecraft, a variant of which has already been making unmanned cargo flights to the space station, will start flying crews after its Falcon 9 launch vehicles have made more than 50 successful fights (they've completed 13 so far).
SpaceX completed the first of its NASA milestones on the road to crewed flight, the certification baseline review, in December, said Shotwell. She said that her company has almost completed its pad abort system, which works by firing rocket motors built into the spacecraft's sidewalls to propel it to safety in the event of a launch mishap. The system will eventually be used for propulsive touchdowns on land, but the first flights of the crew vehicle will splashdown in the ocean on parachutes. A flight test of the pad abort system is planned for later this year. The first unmanned flight of the crew Dragon to the International Space Station is planned for late 2016, with the first manned flight to the station to come early in 2017.
The key to commercial viability for these two spaceships—any commercial spacecraft—is reusability. The crew-carrying versions of both the CST-100 and the Dragon are designed to make at least ten flights per vehicle. SpaceX also plans to reuse the first stage of its launch vehicles. On January 10, a Falcon 9 first stage booster attempted to land on a floating platform off the Florida coast following the launch of a Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station. Although the booster reached the platform, it landed hard and exploded on impact. SpaceX will try again to soft-land a first stage booster on the floating platform following the launch of a NOAA satellite on February 8.
NASA private space flights in 2017 to save rubles and respect
SpaceX and Boeing plan to launch astronauts into space in 2017, as NASA's Commercial Crew program prepares to bring launches back onto US soil and in the process end the reliance on Russia. The two private companies are "the future of astronaut transportation to and from the [International Space Station]" Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Johnson Space Center director, said today, with the first flights expected to begin in just a few years time. However, while the ISS may be the first destination, the orbiting research platform isn't the extent of the Commercial Crew program's ambitions. In fact, it's paving the way for manned missions to Mars.
NASA has previously said it intends to take a human crew to the red planet sometime in the 2030s.
Before then, though, it'll be destinations closer at hand. Two independent systems have been selected, with NASA hedging its bets on the technology at stake, and each is expected to be eventually certified and put into operation.
Since the demise of the Space Shuttle, back in 2011, NASA has been reliant on Russia to take its astronauts to the ISS. That wasn't practical for the long-term, both NASA and the US government agreed.
It's not just national pride at stake, NASA insists, but a good financial sense. Right now, the average cost to fly a US astronaut into space on a Russian Soyuz rocket is $70m; in contrast, it'll cost around $58m as part of the Commercial Crew program.
"We've been working overtime to bring space launches back to US soil, and end our reliance on Russian launches," Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator, said today during a webcast about the program. "Although I've already had the privilege to fly in space four times, I can tell you that I would hop in a Dragon or CST-200 capsule in a heartbeat."
Both the Boeing CST-100 and the SpaceX Crew Dragon will carry four crew members on each mission, with the two companies using hangars and launch facilities at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to stage the various parts of their respective systems.
While the two private companies will take on much of the heavy-lifting - literally and metaphorically - of getting astronauts into low-Earth orbit, NASA will continue its own research into the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
NASA, Boeing, SpaceX Share More Details on Commercial Crew Plans
Jeff Foust – Space News
With a legal challenge now behind them, two companies that won NASA contracts offered more details Jan. 26 about their plans to develop and test commercial crew vehicles, while the agency expressed optimism those vehicles will be ready for service by 2017.
At a press conference at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, both NASA and company officials offered new details about Commercial Crew Transportation Capability contracts the agency awarded to Boeing and SpaceX in September. Those details had largely been under wraps while a third company, Sierra Nevada Corp., filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
On Jan. 5, the GAO denied the protest, a decision NASA commercial crew program manager Kathy Lueders described as a "late Christmas present" for the program. "It's great to be able to finally talk openly about what the commercial crew program is doing," she said.
John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration, said the company was working on final details of the design of its CST-100 spacecraft. "The team is working hard to finish the design," he said. Boeing plans to hold a critical design review in March, after which the company will move "full bore" into spacecraft manufacturing.
Most of the company's major CST-100 test milestones are scheduled for 2017. Elbon said a pad abort test is planned for February 2017, followed by an uncrewed flight test to the International Space Station in April. Boeing will then fly the first crew on the CST-100 — one Boeing test pilot and one NASA astronaut — in July 2017. If all those tests are successful, the first operational mission to the ISS, carrying four NASA astronauts, is planned for December 2017.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell offered a slightly more accelerated schedule for completing the crewed version of its Dragon spacecraft. A pad abort test, a milestone under the company's prior commercial crew award from NASA, is now scheduled "in the next month or so" from Cape Canaveral, Florida. That will be followed by an in-flight abort test later this year.
Shotwell said SpaceX plans an uncrewed test flight of the upgraded Dragon to the ISS in late 2016, with a crewed test flight in early 2017. She estimated that SpaceX will have flown more than 50 Falcon 9 missions prior to that crewed test flight. The most recent Falcon 9 launch, on Jan. 10, was the fourteenth by all versions of that vehicle to date.
When SpaceX unveiled its crewed Dragon design in May 2014, one feature it highlighted was the vehicle's ability to perform "propulsive" landings under rocket power. Shotwell said at the press conference that while such landings are an "ultimate goal" of the vehicle, initial crewed missions will return to Earth in much the same way as the current Dragon cargo spacecraft. "We won't be certifying the propulsive landings initially," she said. "We will be certifying the water landings with parachutes."
While Boeing and SpaceX talked about their development plans, NASA emphasized the benefits the commercial crew vehicles will provide. Lueders said that the average "seat price" under NASA's contracts with the companies is $58 million. NASA's latest contract with the Russian space agency Roscosmos for Soyuz flights, completed in April 2014, included six seats at a cost of $457.9 million, or $76.3 million per seat.
Lueders, though, declined to discuss any differences in the prices offered by Boeing and SpaceX, saying the $58-million price was averaged over the life of both contracts. "If anyone's planning on going and mapping that back to individual pricing, that's not our intent," she said.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden was hopeful that the companies would remain on schedule so that NASA did not need another extension of its Soyuz contract with Russia, which currently runs through 2017. "I don't ever want to have write another check to Roscosmos," he said. "If we can make that [2017] date, I'm a happy camper."
Keeping the companies on schedule will require adequate funding for the program in future years. "The Congress has, I think, started to understand the critical importance of commercial crew and cargo," Bolden said. "I am optimistic that Congress will accept the President's proposal for commercial crew for 2016."
However, in prior years Congress has funded the program at less than the administration's request. In fiscal year 2015 the program received $805 million after requesting $848 million, with larger shortfalls in prior years.
Bolden did not disclose what would happen if the program suffered a funding shortfall in 2016, but industry sources say it's likely contracts would be stretched out, possibly requiring Bolden or his successor to write another check to Roscosmos for addition
Mars One, the "Third Quarter Effect", and our human journey into deep space
John Putman – The Space Review
Anecdotal evidence of the individual and interpersonal problems that have occurred during long-duration Russian/Soviet missions, coupled with studies of personnel in other isolated, confined, and extreme environments (ICE), suggest that psychosocial elements of behavior and performance are likely to have a prominent impact on the outcome of long-duration space missions. This impact may range from individual decrements in performance, health, and well being, to the other extreme—catastrophic failure, as pointed out more than a decade ago by Lawrence Palinkas.
According to NASA psychologist Al Holland, past experience in space has demonstrated that the mental health of a crew can have a substantial impact on the overall success of a mission. On at least three occasions Russian missions had to be terminated due to psychological issues that developed among the cosmonauts. Although such extreme occurrences are rare, the mental and emotional well being of the crew (or the lack thereof) has almost certainly impacted mission outcomes to at least some degree.
The Third Quarter effect
In his book Spacefaring: The Human Dimension, Albert Harrison suggests that there are three stages that emerge over time during long-term missions, whether in space or under (or on) the sea. The first stage is characterized by excitement and anxiety, the second by boredom and depression, and the third by increased aggressiveness and emotional outbursts—something Harrison refers to as "third quarter phenomenon" since it seems to occur just past the mid-point in a mission. What is interesting is that these three stages seem to occur regardless of the total length of a given mission or rotation, be it three weeks, three months, or a year.
During the first part of the journey, crewmembers are excited about the new environment and the adventure that lay before them. This initial excitement can then give way to routine and feelings of boredom. During the first half of the mission, members cannot afford the luxury of thinking about the end because there is still too much of the mission in front of them to occupy their minds with anything other than the mission itself. The end point is simply too far away.
However, when the mission passes the midpoint, or shortly thereafter, the end of the mission suddenly takes on a much more tangible reality. When more mission time has passed than remains, the end point is no longer just an abstraction on the calendar but a very real, visceral experience because of its association with reunification with loved ones, being out of danger, re-immersion in the familiar, and a return to normalcy. Arising in tandem along with this anticipation is the fear that it may not come to pass. Longing and fear can create the tension that may be a large part of the third quarter effect.
The third quarter effect isn't necessarily a negative experience. It may actually come and go without notice. My own experience aboard the Mars Analog Desert Research Station (MDRS) in 2002 is a good example. In my case, this effect was characterized by an increase in playfulness and humor among the entire crew. The primary reason it was such a positive experience is that the habitat rotations were not considered life threatening—not to an inordinate degree, anyway. Since the habitat is safely confined to the surface of Earth, no one was overly concerned that we might be killed before the end of our rotation. As such, all that remained was the weary satisfaction of a job nearly complete coupled with a much-anticipated return to wives and girlfriends. Thus, the dynamic tension between those two elements (longing and fear), which can be present to a large degree on an actual spaceflight, was not there in this case. The higher the risk of the mission, the greater the resulting tension and consequently, the more potentially negative its impact.
In addition, the power of humor cannot be underestimated. It plays a vital role in the stability and unity of the crew. Humor is always a strong indicator of optimism. When it goes south, so goes the mission. Being in touch with the ludicrousness of one's predicament is vital and even revitalizing. But this is so only if the humor is all-inclusive and not at the expense of a fellow crewmember—e.g. throwing an M-80 under the commander's bunk. No doubt that's hilarious for some, but probably not for everybody.
Interestingly, the act of scapegoating can help reduce tension, so long as the scapegoated party is outside the primary group. This is why Mission Control ends up picking up the tab on a regular basis. It is easier and safer to dissipate tension towards a target on the outside. This dynamic is well known within the field of social psychology. The stability of any social system can help to be maintained—at least partially—by venting "systemic" frustration and fear onto a (relatively) harmless, external target. Mission Control plays many supportive roles. This is simply one more. However, on deep space missions that luxury will be seriously reduced or eliminated altogether due to the great distances involved and the relative autonomy of the crew.
Mars One
The Mars One mission, by contrast, has no third quarter. There are no quarters at all because there is no end to the mission. What would emerge in lieu of the third quarter effect is difficult to say.
One thing that sustains astronauts through the difficult periods on long-duration missions is the knowledge that they will eventually rejoin loved ones on Earth. This anticipation provides a great deal of psychological stability. Even so, there have been many episodes of depression, sleeplessness, distractibility, and anxiety on long-term missions. Take that source of emotional support away and the resulting experience is probably not unlike how the condemned relate to the future: something akin to a death sentence. My guess is that there are very few persons who could commit to such a venture.
The reason there are so many Mars One applicants at this point is that they can't comprehend the undertaking in any realistic way because of the understandable excitement and enthusiasm that such a far-flung idea generates. Maintaining such enthusiasm when they cross the point of no return and watch the Earth recede into virtual nothingness will be a true test of fire—something that can't be simulated on the ground or even in low Earth orbit. And they'll have plenty of time to think about it. The crew will be without the usual psychological buffers that have been available to every other space flight crew thus far, such as relatively instant access to help from Mission Control, real-time interaction with family, and a mural-sized view of the Earth. For a very thoughtful review of Mars One, read Elmo Keep's "All Dressed up for Mars and Nowhere to Go".
Therefore, the crew must have the option of returning home. There must be a return capability if any trip to Mars is to be successful. The longing to someday return home will galvanize goal-directed behavior. It always has. Social connectedness is the fabric of our humanity. One-way trips to Mars will become feasible only when we have made a home of Mars. Until that happens a return option is vital for the optimal functioning of the crew. Try to imagine submariners on a mission that never ends. The prospect of a reunion with family and loved ones is a prime mover in survival situations. And any trip to Mars will have no shortage of threats to survival.
It is true that eliminating the return leg makes the mission simpler from a technical standpoint. But it handicaps the crew so severely in other fundamental ways that it may not be worth the tradeoff. The mission must include a return capability. The psychological freight of foregoing that part—the return—is so great that it can put the entire movement towards becoming a spacefaring species at great risk. There are three basic legs to a Mars mission: outbound, landing/habitation on the Martian surface, and return. If you must amputate a leg, make it the second, not the third.
That brings us to Dennis Tito's "Inspiration Mars" concept, a human mission to fly past—but not land on—Mars, then return to Earth. If the level of excitement generated around Inspiration Mars is any indication, the project is aptly named. This is a far more feasible (and cheaper) mission than Mars One, as suggested by the fact that it drew far more serious attention from engineers and scientists in the space community than did Mars One. Inspiration Mars is a spectacularly great idea. It tests the outbound and return capability of the hardware (and human software) in a way that is similar to what Apollo 8 did in 1968.
To my friends involved with the Mars One project: Yours is truly a noble and courageous undertaking and it is to your great credit that you have committed yourselves to it. One of the truly positive aspects of Mars One is that it has gotten all of us to start raising and addressing the right questions. This, so that when we do take that bold step out into the great void, we'll be ready.
John Putman (JPutman@eeginstitute.com) is a clinician and researcher in the field of neuro-feedback, neuro-diagnostics and EEG (electroencephalography). He and his colleagues are developing EEG based counter measure strategies to address the negative effects of long and short term spaceflight. His education includes a BA in Mathematics, an MA in Clinical Psychology and an MS in Electromedical Science (electrical engineering and human physiology). Mr. Putman is also a licensed psychotherapist, holds a private pilot license and is a consultant to professionals in healthcare, psychology, aerospace and the military. He is affiliated with three Los Angeles based institutions: The EEG Institute, San Fernando Valley Mental Health Center, and the Reiss Davis Child Study Center. New Phase of Space Travel Hopes to Set Sail on Sunlight
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
To sail on winds of sunlight has long been a dream of rocket scientists.
The Planetary Society, a nonprofit that promotes space exploration, announced Monday that it would send the first of two small spacecraft testing the technology of solar sails into orbit this May, tagging along with other small satellites on an Atlas 5 rocket.
"We strongly believe this could be a big part of the future of interplanetary missions," said William Sanford Nye — better known as Bill Nye the Science Guy — the chief executive of the organization. "It will ultimately eventually take a lot of missions a long, long way."
When photons — particles of light — bounce off a shiny surface, they impart a tiny bit of momentum, an effect that comes directly from the equations of electromagnetism published by the physicist James Clerk Maxwell in the 1860s. In his 1865 novel, "From the Earth to the Moon," Jules Verne appears to have been the first to realize that this force could be harnessed for travel through the solar system. The bombardment of sunlight over a large area can gradually but continuously accelerate a spacecraft.
On launching, the Planetary Society's craft, LightSail, is about the size of a loaf of bread — 4 inches by 4 inches by 1 foot. In orbit, the spacecraft will undergo a month of testing before it extends four 13-foot-long booms and unfurls four triangular pieces of Mylar, less than 1/5,000th of an inch thick, to form a square sail that spans almost 345 square feet.
The May flight is to check that the sail deployment and other systems work as designed. But at the altitude that LightSail will be flying — the Planetary Society cannot say how high, because the Atlas 5's main payload is a military satellite — the drag of air hitting the sail will be greater than the pressure of light, and the spacecraft will drop out of orbit and burn up in a few days.
Next year, a second LightSail is to be lofted higher, to an altitude of 450 miles, by a Falcon Heavy rocket from Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX. That flight is to be the first to demonstrate controlled solar sailing while in orbit around Earth.
"The idea ultimately is to be able to tack like a sailboat on each orbit," said Mr. Nye.
Both LightSails were built for less than $4 million, financed entirely by private citizens, Mr. Nye said.
NASA considered solar sails in the 1970s for a mission to meet up with Halley's comet in 1986. That spacecraft would have been huge.
The initial design called for a square sail roughly half a mile on a side — an area of almost 7 million square feet — to be deployed from NASA's space shuttle. That was swapped for a design the engineers had more confidence in — a dozen rectangular sails, each 25 feet wide and more than four miles long, arrayed like helicopter blades that spun slowly to generate enough centrifugal force to keep the sails stretched out.
Ultimately, the immense sails were regarded as too risky a technological jump. "It was very audacious for its time," said Louis D. Friedman, who was the engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory leading the project.
Because of delays and cost overruns with the space shuttle program, NASA ended up canceling the Halley's comet mission, and sails fell out of favor at the space agency. "There was a visceral negative reaction to solar sailing," Dr. Friedman said.
A decade ago, the Planetary Society collaborated with Russian scientists on a solar sail spacecraft called Cosmos 1, raising $4 million from members. "I said, now we have a chance to realistically do something," said Dr. Friedman, who left NASA in 1980 and helped found the Planetary Society, serving as its executive director.
Cosmos 1 launched in June 2005 from a Russian nuclear submarine. But the rocket failed, and Cosmos 1 was lost before the sail could be tested.
Instead of attempting to build another Cosmos 1, the society turned to something smaller — LightSail — taking advantage of a new generation of cheaper, miniaturized satellites known as CubeSats.
"This is a more accessible, easier-to-build gizmo," Mr. Nye said. "You don't need a whole space agency."
Interest in solar sails also revived at NASA, which successfully tested its own CubeSat, NanoSail-D, in 2011, demonstrating how a sail could be used to nudge decommissioned satellites out of orbit back into the atmosphere instead of adding to the accumulation of space junk circling Earth.
Two other NASA CubeSats with solar sails could head into space with the first launching of NASA's new heavylift rocket, the Space Launch System, expected in 2018.
One, Lunar Flashlight, will use a solar sail not only for propulsion but also to reflect sunlight into shadowed craters near the moon's poles. That will allow a look at ice deposits at the bottom of the craters. The other, NEA Scout, is to visit a near-Earth asteroid. The space probes will cost about $15 million each, far less than most NASA space missions.
Japan has already sent a solar sail on an interplanetary voyage. Its Ikaros spacecraft, short for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun, launched in May 2010 and passed by Venus later that year.
Robert L. Staehle is among those at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory brainstorming additional concepts like sun-watching CubeSats that could give three days' additional warning of a ferocious solar storm that could knock out power grids on Earth.
Solar sails save the weight and expense of lugging fuel, helping reduce the price tag of the sun-watching mission to less than $100 million, Mr. Staehle said, less than a fifth of the cost of a larger, more conventional approach using thrusters.
Another possibility is a small, solar sail-driven spacecraft looping between Earth and Mars, a possible precursor to cargo ships lugging supplies to astronauts living on Mars.
Ultimately, sails could take us to the stars. Sunlight would be too weak for that trip, but a giant laser aimed at a gigantic sail could provide the necessary acceleration. Neither lasers or sails large enough exist today, but in Dr. Friedman's opinion, "it is the only technology that leads to interstellar," he said.
Bringing Pluto into Focus: Q&A with New Horizons PI Alan Stern
NASA's New Horizons probe is about to lift the veil on Pluto.
New Horizons is streaking toward a close flyby on July 14, when it will zoom within just 8,500 miles (13,600 kilometers) of Pluto. The spacecraft will return the first-ever up-close looks at the dwarf planet, which has remained largely mysterious since its 1930 discovery.
Though the closest approach remains more than five months away, New Horizons has already entered the "encounter phase" of operations. Indeed, on Sunday (Jan. 25), the probe began imaging Pluto with its telescopic camera to ensure it stays on the correct trajectory. (The first course-correcting engine burns, if necessary, would likely take place in March.) [Photos from NASA's New Horizons Pluto Probe] Space.com caught up briefly with New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern last month at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco to discuss this new phase of the $700 million mission. Space.com: How does it feel to be on Pluto's doorstep now, nine years after blasting off? [New Horizons launched in January 2006.] Alan Stern: I've worked on this mission for 25 years. So now, it feels incredible. It feels surreal. When you've talked about something in the future tense for as long as you can remember, and now — even though you know intellectually there'll come a time when it's in the present, it feels surreal.
And a little bit scary, only because, no matter how much you practice, you can't practice everything, or practice perfectly. As ready as we are, as talented as this team is, we are flying into the unknown.
Every mission has to deal with that uncertainty, that fear, on some level. But is it more pronounced with New Horizons, because you guys are going so far afield and studying an unexplored world?
Every mission has life-or-death moments. We had a previous one; it's called launch. I knew when we launched that everything I'd worked on for 17 years was riding on that day, and about one hour in that day. Every mission has to deal with that, and missions have other moments, too. A good example is the Curiosity landing — seven minutes of terror, they called it.
The difference is that Pluto is so far away. I have no doubt that if Curiosity had a bad day, there would have been another Mars rover in people's lifetimes. I don't know if we could mount another mission to Pluto.
Even if you don't have to litigate it — even if someone just wrote a check the next day — people would probably say, "Is that how we want to spend our money today? Do we want to start this 20-year adventure all over? Is it really worth it?" and so on. So there's more riding on it for that reason as well.
It's bad enough if you lose your mission; this is probably our only chance to do the [Pluto] program. I don't have two spacecraft, and sending a replacement, you're talking 2030s, best-case.
What do you expect to see at Pluto?
I've been on 26 space missions; they range from suborbital to orbital to shuttle experiments to planetary missions. And I've never done anything like this. And here's the thing: No one in my generation has done anything like this. We haven't done a first reconnaissance of a planet since [NASA's Voyager 2 probe flew by Neptune in] 1989. So I don't quite know what to expect.
I don't make predictions; it'll be here soon enough. And every planetary flyby, every first reconnaissance, has proven us so naïve — our conceptions based on Earth-based data. No one predicted Mercury would be a planetary core with the mantle stripped off. No one predicted volcanoes on the Jovian moons, or oceans on the inside of them. I can tell you, for every single planet, huge "we never guessed that" things.
So, connecting those dots, I have to say it's futile to make these predictions. We're not only going to a new place — we're going to a new class of place.
That's a point that you and others on the mission have stressed: There are probably hundreds of worlds like Pluto in the Kuiper Belt [the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune], and New Horizons is going to give us our first good look at these mysterious objects.
That's right. There's nothing analogous to this.
Flyby Asteroid Has its Own Moon
NASA has released radar observations of the 325 meter-wide asteroid that flew safely past Earth today at 8:19 a.m. PST (11:19 a.m. EST), but in those grainy observations, asteroid 2004 BL86 appears to have company — a small moon.
Today's flyby of 2004 BL86 was over 3 times the Earth-moon distance (745,000 miles or 1.2 million kilometers).
Imaged by NASA's 70-meter Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., some fine detail of the asteroid was also collected. As it rotates through the 20 radar images, the large asteroid appears to show some diversity in its landscape.
Although there was no chance of the asteroid hitting Earth, 2004 BL86 has garnered some attention as it is the closest an asteroid "of this size will come to Earth until asteroid 1999 AN10 flies past our planet in 2027," NASA said in a press release. Observations by ground-based radar are made so scientists can understand asteroids' composition and these extremely precise measurements can refine orbital models. Also, as this example shows, surprises can be hiding, such as little orbiting companions such as moons or binary partners.
NASA estimates that 16 percent of asteroids over 200 meters in diameter are a binary or have orbiting moons, so the data gathered from this encounter will better constrain this estimate and give us an insight to the binary nature of near-Earth asteroids.
New discoveries from Rosetta put comet 67P in focus
Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the rest of the year.
The comet being studied by Rosetta is porous enough to float in an ocean, and it exhibits alien phenomena still being unraveled by scientists on Earth.
The flurry of announcements coincided with the Jan. 23 publication of Rosetta's initial findings in a special issue of Science magazine.
Rosetta arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August, then surveyed candidate landing sites for the mission's piggyback Philae landing craft. Philae dropped to the comet's nucleus Nov. 12 and bounced to rest near the face of a cliff made of rock and ice, beaming back unprecedented measurements from the surface of a comet for two days.
With Philae now in hibernation on the comet — which is about the size of small city — the Rosetta spacecraft began its own science campaign scheduled to last until some time in 2016.
Imagery from Rosetta's main camera has seen 70 percent of the comet's surface, revealing it to be rugged and diverse, ranging from jagged knife-like rock outcrops to dust dunes up to several meters deep that appear to be blown by wind on the airless body.
Scientists believe gases flowing from jets on the nucleus could drive dust particles across the surface, creating features similar to sand dunes on Earth.
The origin of the comet's irregular shape — a subject fascinating to scientists and the public alike — remains a mystery, scientists said in an ESA press release.
Comet 67P has two distinct lobes separated by a narrow neck, resembling the head and body of a duck.
One hypothesis is the comet is a remnant of a once-larger body that eroded through the solar system's 4.6 billion year history. Another way the comet could have ended up with its shape is by the fusing of two objects that formed separately at first.
An initial look at the comet shows its two lobes are made of similar material, supporting the idea that the body formed in one piece and withered away over time, scientists said.
Some steep cliffs on the stark world are marked with unexpected textures scientists have dubbed goosebumps. The features are all about 3 meters — nearly 10 feet — across, suggesting they may be clues on how the comet formed.
Rosetta also found a crack in the neck of comet 67P, a possible symptom of flexing or stress in the region separating the comet's head and body.
Most of the comet's jets have also come from the neck region, shooting columns of volatile materials like water into space as Churyumov-Gerasimenko coasts closer to the sun, exposing the comet to more heat that activates the plumes.
Scientists have designated the smooth region where much of the jet activity originates Hapi — after an Egyptian deity — keeping with the theme of the Rosetta mission, which was named for the Rosetta stone that unlocked the hieroglyphic text used by ancient Egyptians.
Researchers identified eighteen other geologic regions across the comet's nucleus, each typified by a different type of texture or make-up.
The jet activity at Hapi suggests the area may harbor a different type of ice or deeper ice deposits than other parts of the comet, according to a paper published in Science by lead author Holger Sierks, principal investigator for Rosetta's high-resolution German-built OSIRIS camera.
Measurements from a U.S.-made instrument on Rosetta indicated water was pouring out of the comet.
"In observations over a period of three months [June through August 2014], the amount of water in vapor form that the comet was dumping into space grew about tenfold," said Sam Gulkis, principal investigator of the MIRO instrument at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and lead author of a paper appearing in the special Jan. 23 issue of Science.
The cloud of water vapor and dust around the comet is expected to thicken as the comet moves closer to the sun. Churyumov-Gerasimenko will be nearest to the sun — a point known as perihelion — in August, when it will be just outside the distance of Earth's orbit.
"To be up close and personal with a comet for an extended period of time has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to see how comets transform from cold, icy bodies to active objects spewing out gas and dust as they get closer to the sun," Gulkis said.
But the water is not like Earth's, according to another early finding by Rosetta.
The water on comet 67P has a different flavor than the water found in Earth's oceans.
The ROSINA instrument on Rosetta measured the proportion of deuterium — a form of hydrogen with an additional neutron — to normal hydrogen in the comet's water, according to ESA.
It turns out the deuterium to hydrogen ratio on Churyumov-Gerasimenko is more than three times higher than the figure for water on Earth, hinting that Earth's oceans were seeded by many types of objects — not just a certain kind of comet or asteroid.
Scientists are interested in studying comets because they are rich in building blocks and elements essential for life: organic molecules and water.
Rosetta's Italian-led visible and infrared imaging spectrometer, or VIRTIS sensor, detected organic compounds similar to carboxylic acids that make up amino acids, which combine to form proteins.
Experts suspected Rosetta would find such material on comet 67P after discovering amino acids in meteorites that fell to Earth, but Rosetta made the first measurement of the polymer-like compounds on a comet. The signal detected by Rosetta indicates complex organic molecules were abundant in the material that formed the comet's nucleus, according to a press release issued by the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy.
"The formation of such compounds requires the presence of ices of volatile molecules such as methanol, methane or carbon monoxide, which only freeze at very low temperatures," said Fabrizio Capaccioni, principal investigator for the VIRTIS instrument at the Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology in Rome.
"Therefore, these compounds must have formed at large distances from the sun, during the early stages of the build up of the solar system," he said in a translation of a press release posted on ESA's website. "This suggests that we are facing a comet that locks up, in its interior, traces of primordial chemical compounds that date back to the formation of our solar system, or possibly to an even earlier epoch."
The comet is one of the darkest objects in the solar system — the moon is twice as bright — with little ice exposed at its surface, according to a paper authored by Capaccioni and supporting scientists.
Rosetta will fly as close as 6 kilometers (4 miles) from comet 67P on Feb. 14, getting its closest look yet at the craggy world. It will fly through one of the comet's jets of outgassing material, sampling its contents as it hurtles closer to the sun.
"Rosetta is essentially living with the comet as it moves towards the sun along its orbit, learning how its behavior changes on a daily basis and, over longer timescales, how its activity increases, how its surface may evolve, and how it interacts with the solar wind," said Matt Taylor, ESA's Rosetta project scientist.
"We have already learned a lot in the few months we have been alongside the comet, but as more and more data are collected and analyzed from this close study of the comet we hope to answer many key questions about its origin and evolution."
Millions Paid by X Prize Foundation for Progress Toward Trip to Moon
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
In 2004, the X Prize Foundation celebrated the culmination of its first prize competition, awarding $10 million for successful flights of SpaceShipOne, the first privately financed reusable spacecraft to take a pilot to space, defined as 62 miles above the Earth's surface.
Three years later, the foundation announced a more ambitious prize to spur private endeavors farther out. The Google Lunar X Prize would award $20 million to the first team that could land on the moon an unmanned spacecraft that would then move at least 1,640 feet across the lunar surface and send back photographs and videos. The second team to accomplish the tasks would receive $5 million.
The prizes were to have been won more than two years ago, by the end of 2012.
But the technology and financing hurdles proved higher than prize organizers had anticipated. In 2010, the deadline was pushed to the end of this year; last year, it was extended to Dec. 31, 2016.
The foundation also rejiggered how the money would be paid. Instead of waiting for a successful completion of the feat, it decided to offer partial payments to teams for their efforts. On Monday, it announced what it called the Milestone Prizes, accompanied by $5.25 million, to five teams for progress in three categories: landing, moving on the lunar surface and imaging.
"It is to separate some teams from the pack," said Robert K. Weiss, the vice chairman and president of the X Prize Foundation.
The monetary reward varied by category: $1 million for each winning team for work on the lander, $500,000 for lunar mobility, $250,000 for imaging.
One team, Astrobotic of Pittsburgh, won in all three categories. Moon Express of Moffett Field, Calif., won in two categories — landing and imaging. Part-Time Scientists, based in Germany, also picked up two Milestone prizes, for mobility and imaging. The other winning teams were Team Indus, based in India, for its lander, and Hakuto, based in Japan, for mobility.
If any of these teams win the Lunar X Prize, the milestone money will be deducted from the payout. If a dark-horse team reaches the moon first, it will receive the full prize.
END
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Jan. 29: Day of Remembrance & Tree Planting
- Removal and Repair of Bicycles at JSC
- Your Gilruth Membership is Expiring - Renew Now! - Organizations/Social
- Noon Today! O&A ERG: NASA LGBT Survey Results
- Parent's Night Out at Starport - Feb. 20
- Beginners Ballroom Dance: Jan. 27 and 29
- JSC Expected Behaviors - Jobs and Training
- Adult CPR Class, Mar. 17 - Bldg. 20, Rm 205/206
- Lockout/Tagout Feb. 24, B20, Rm 205/206, 8 a.m.
- Apollo A-7L Spacesuit Certification & Mission Ops
- ISS Payload Safety Process & Requirements Apr. 2
- Open EVA Safety Manager Position Closes Jan. 27
- APPEL - Scheduling and Cost Control - Feb. 23-26 - Community
- Passport Fair Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at Building 3 |  |
| Headlines - Jan. 29: Day of Remembrance & Tree Planting
On Thursday, Jan. 29, NASA will commemorate the men and women lost in the agency's space exploration program by celebrating their lives, their bravery and advancements in human spaceflight. All employees are encouraged to observe a moment of silence at their workplace or the commemorative tree grove located behind and adjacent to Building 110 to remember our friends and colleagues. At 10 a.m., we will honor the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia. Following will be a tree-planting ceremony for William R. Pogue, former NASA astronaut. A T-38 flyover is planned for approximately 10:40 a.m. over the center as tribute to the heroes who lost their lives serving our nation's great space program. These astronauts and their families will always be a part of the NASA family, and we will continue to honor their contributions. Our Day of Remembrance commemorates not only the men and women lost in NASA's space exploration program and their courage, but celebrates human space exploration since then. Apollo 1 (Jan. 27, 1967): Astronauts Roger B. Chaffee, Virgil "Gus" Grissom and Edward H. White Jr. Challenger (Jan. 28, 1986): Astronauts Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ronald E. McNair, Ellison S. Onizuka, Gregory B. Jarvis and S. Christa McAuliffe Columbia (Feb. 1, 2003): Astronauts Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark and Ilan Ramon Colonel William Reid Pogue, USAF Retired (Mar. 3, 2014): Pogue, came to JSC from an assignment at Edwards Air Force Base, California, where he had been an instructor at the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School since October 1965. He gained proficiency in more than 50 types and models of American and British aircraft and was qualified as a civilian flight instructor. He logged 7,200 hours flight time - including 4,200 hours in jet aircraft and 2,017 hours in space flight. Colonel Pogue was one of the 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crews for the Apollo 7, 11, and 14 missions. Pogue was pilot of Skylab 4 - the longest manned flight (84 days, 1 hour and 15 minutes) in the history of manned space exploration to date. He also logged 13 hours and 31 minutes in two spacewalks outside the orbital workshop. After his NASA retirement, Pogue worked as a consultant to the aerospace industry, producer of general videos on space flight and authored several nonfiction and fiction books.
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- Removal and Repair of Bicycles at JSC
The first of several changes in the JSC cycling community begins this week with the identification of inoperable bikes. Orange & black tag-out notices reading "DO NOT OPERATE" will be placed on bikes that are unsafe and inoperable. Such bikes are tagged for at least 30 days, giving personal or organizational owners' time to remove the bikes. If not claimed after 30 days, the bikes will be repaired or salvaged by JSC Center Operations. If you or your organization owns such a bike, please complete the top section of the tag, as well as removing the perforated bottom section (which has email registration instructions). This ensures we can properly choose, which are converted to "Free Range Bikes" for everyone on campus to use. If you have questions or wish to learn more about how you can be involved with these new cycling initiatives, please email jsc-cycling@mail.nasa.gov
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- Your Gilruth Membership is Expiring - Renew Now!
Have you renewed your Starport Gilruth Center membership for 2015? If you had a membership in 2014, but have not yet renewed, your membership will be expiring on Saturday, Jan. 31. Don't worry, you can renew right now! Follow the steps below. 3. If you do not yet have a Gilruth Membership, please follow instructions to activate your membership. We cannot wait to see you out at the Gilruth Center. Thank you for being a part of Starport! Organizations/Social - Noon Today! O&A ERG: NASA LGBT Survey Results
Today at noon in Building 1, Room 457A, the Out & Allied ERG is hosting Erin Cech, Ph.D. of Rice University's Dept. of Sociology for a lunchtime brown bag talk. Dr. Cech will be discussing the report, "LGBT Professionals at NASA: Results from a Multi-Center Survey," Her talk covers the findings from a survey distributed at JSC last fall through the Out & Allied ERG. She will be addressing the NASA LGBT workplace experience, touching on the formal policies and informal work climates that LGBT employees encounter at NASA, consequences of the climate for LGBT employees' well-being, as well as workplace differences across centers and across demographics. You're invited to bring your lunch, join the conversation, and find out the next steps planned for this study. Presentation and dial-in information are available through our SharePoint site linked below. - Parent's Night Out at Starport – Feb. 20
Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport! We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, movie, dessert and loads of fun! When: Friday, Feb. 20 from 6-10 p.m. Where: Gilruth Center Ages: 5-12 Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/ first child and $15/ additional sibling. - Beginners Ballroom Dance: Jan. 27 and 29
Do you feel like you have two left feet? Well, Starport has the perfect program for you: Beginners Ballroom Dance! This eight-week class introduces you to the various types of ballroom dance. Students will learn the secrets of a good lead and following, as well as the ability to identify the beat of the music. This class is easy, and we have fun as we learn. JSC friends and family are welcome. Discounted registration: - $90 per couple (ends Jan. 15)
Regular registration: - $110 per couple (Jan. 16 - 26)
Two class sessions available: - Tuesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. - starting Jan. 27
- Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. - starting Jan. 29
All classes are taught in the Gilruth Center's dance studio (Group Ex studio). - JSC Expected Behaviors
The NASA values consist of Safety, Teamwork and Integrity in support of mission success. We commit without compromise to embodying these values in all that we do. To realize these values, we have defined a set of supporting behaviors that contractors and civil servants should demonstrate every day. The first is to: Be respectful - demonstrate consideration and appreciation for others. We respect all employees and appreciate the creativity and broader perspective of a diverse team, which is vital to our success. Ask yourself: - Do I actively solicit contributions from the people I work with?
- Do I treat others as I wish to be treated?
- Do I value all constructive input and use this to make a decision?
- Do I credit others for their work?
Effective communication is a crucial ingredient for practicing these behaviors daily. Communication is a two-way process that requires us to listen and understand at least as much as we speak. We openly share information and knowledge, focusing on quality, not quantity.
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Jobs and Training - Adult CPR Class, Mar. 17 - Bldg. 20, Rm 205/206
This class is designed to help participants learn how to respond to a breathing or cardiac emergency in an adult. Students will become familiar with signals of breathing emergencies, signals of cardiac emergencies and the subsequent care for suffering victims. The participants will be able to demonstrate how to care for a person who is not breathing, who is choking or who is in cardiac arrest. The course also covers general "emergency responder" techniques and how best to help in an emergency situation. Class does not include training on the use of an AED. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Event Date: Tuesday, March 17, 2015 Event Start Time:8:00 AM Event End Time:11:00 AM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206
Add to Calendar
Shirley Robinson x41284
[top] - Lockout/Tagout Feb. 24, B20, Rm 205/206, 8 a.m.
The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for the control of hazardous energy through lockout and tagout of energy-isolating devices. OSHA Standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)," is the basis for this course. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... - Apollo A-7L Spacesuit Certification & Mission Ops
U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture Presents an Event on Wednesday, Jan. 28. Title: Apollo A-7L Spacesuit Certification and Mission Operations Details. As a result of his 50 years of experience and research, Jim McBarron will share his significant knowledge about Apollo A-7L spacesuit certification testing and Apollo 7 through 14 missions' spacesuit details. When: Jan. 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Location: Building 5S, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor), near guard shack at entrance of B4/B4S/B5S parking lot. A ramp leads to a door at corner of Building 5 South. A public access elevator is located past two sets of doors. Exit third floor; lecture room is fourth door on the left (Room 3102). Registration: In SATERN (any issues locating the class in SATERN, search using keyword "spacesuit"). Event Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Event Start Time:11:30 AM Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 5S, Room 3102
Add to Calendar
Vladenka Oliva 281-461-5681
[top] - ISS Payload Safety Process & Requirements Apr. 2
This 8-hour course is intended as an overview of the ISS requirements and will introduce the payload safety/hazard analysis processes. It is intended for those who may be supervising or assisting those with the responsibility for identifying, controlling and documenting ISS payload hazards. It briefly describes ISS payload safety requirements (both technical and procedural) and discusses their application to payload analysis, review, certification and verification. Those with primary payload safety responsibilities should attend SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0011, ISS Payload Safety Review and Analysis. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Event Date: Thursday, April 2, 2015 Event Start Time:8:00 AM Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206
Add to Calendar
Shirley Robinson x41284
[top] - Open EVA Safety Manager Position Closes Jan. 27
The EVA Management Office job posting for the EVA Safety Manager closes on Jan. 27. The EVA Safety Manager serves to provide leadership and judgment for risk assessments; waiver, deviation and exception acceptance; unexplained anomaly planning; use-as-is dispositions; and other examples where high safety, technical or program risk is involved. This is an internal vacancy announced under merit promotion procedures. Only current NASA JSC Federal employees are eligible to apply. The position is a full time - permanent, GS-14 position. For the complete posting, see Job Announcement Number: JS15C0027. - APPEL - Scheduling and Cost Control - Feb. 23-26
This course focuses on managing project constraints including limits on time, human resources, materials, budget and specifications. It also helps participants to develop effective measures for scheduling and controlling projects as they put the tools of project management to work. This course is designed for NASA's technical workforce, including systems engineers and project personnel who seek to develop the competencies required to succeed as a leader of a project team, functional team or small project. This course is available for self-registration in SATERN until Monday, Feb. 2 and is open to civil-servants and contractors. Dates: Monday - Thursday, Feb. 23-26 Location: Building 12, Room 152 Community - Passport Fair Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at Building 3
The JSC International Travel Office will host officials from the U.S. Department of State Houston Passport Office at a special Passport Fair. All persons badged to come onsite at JSC are invited to this special event to either renew or apply for new tourist passport. The Passport Fair will take place on Feb. 9, 10 and 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Building 3 Collaboration Space. See flyer here. Event Date: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Event Start Time:11:00 AM Event End Time:2:00 PM
Event Location: Building 3 Cafeteria Collaboration Space
Add to Calendar
Grace Ferris x34026
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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. |
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