Can you believe in the total membership of House & Senate, we only have a few who understand the need for a Preeminent Space Program! We are in serious trouble both in space & military capabilities since present potus is anti a strong AMERICA!

Last manned flight 2011. Estimated first manned flight of commercial is 2018 or 2019. Failure delays not factored in. This delay in USA manned operations is not compatible with USA space preeminence!

Farewell, the New Frontier - The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/farewell-the-new-frontier/2012/04/19/gIQA49o8TT_story.html


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Requesting some columns by Krauthammer on fallacy of killing shuttle

Bobby Martin Re Lost in Space by G. Abbey--- how about a few columns on the danger to this country in not maintaining a viable shuttle like capability. Re The Case to Save the Shuttle by Al Richardson. 

Posted on his fb page.

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Need shuttle like capability-- Abbey

Money spent on human exploration should be used to develop capabilities needed for a meaningful program. Research into long space flights can be done at the International Space Station, which should therefore be vigorously supported. Abundant launch vehicles are already on the commercial market, and yet a new and very expensive launch vehicle, with undefined payload and mission, is being developed. Three spacecraft are being developed to carry astronauts to space. Does the nation need three space capsules with limited capabilities? The capability that is lacking is the one that saved Hubble and built the largest structure ever assembled and flown in space. A redesigned X-37 that can carry astronauts could provide such a capability.

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Lost in space | Washington Examiner

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lost-in-space/article/2568052


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Disgusted with this attitude--- all progress involves risk!

For the risk averse, shuttle must be retired immediately----I am disgusted with this attitude!

But as Krantz points out there are risks & we can't always have all the answers.  Does that mean we should be so risk averse that we cease making progress?  

Krantz stated the following & it is on target----

TO read and listen to the coverage about the space shuttle, you would think NASA's mission team has taken careless risks with the lives of the seven astronauts who went into space on the Discovery last Tuesday. During the launching, foam fell off the external tank. For the risk-averse, the only acceptable thing to do now is retire the shuttle program immediately and wait for the divine arrival of the next generation of spacecraft. I am disgusted at the lack of courage and common sense this attitude shows.

Forum: Op-Ed Contributors

All progress involves risk. Risk is essential to fuel the economic engine of our nation. And risk is essential to renew American's fundamental spirit of discovery so we remain competitive with the rest of the world.

My take on the current mission is very straightforward. The shuttle is in orbit. To a great extent mission managers have given the spacecraft a clean bill of health. Let us remember that this is a test flight. I consider it a remarkably successful test so far.

The technical response to the Columbia accident led to a significant reduction in the amount of debris striking this shuttle during launching. Mission managers have said that the external tank shed 80 percent less foam this time than on previous launchings. Only in the news media, apparently, is an 80 percent improvement considered a failure. Rather than quit, we must now try to reduce even more the amount of foam that comes off the tank.

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As summarized by a former Chief Engineer at Kennedy Space Center, “The Orbiter is the most fantastic flying machine built by man. Its retirement in 2010 is premature and shortsighted. What a waste of unique hardware and all the associated infrastructure and people skills that have been developed at Kennedy Space Center. (This applies as well to the other NASA Centers and to the Corporate Suppliers.)

NASA's Webb Space Telescope Receives First Mirror Installation -- WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasas-webb-space-telescope-receives-first-mirror-installation-300184486.html


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Neil deGrasse Tyson: 'The delusion is thinking that SpaceX is going to lead the space frontier' | The Verge

Moon bases , Mars & operational ssto vehicle will require gov support!

http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/24/9792854/neil-degrasse-tyson-interview-delusions-of-space-enthusiasts


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Fwd: Blue Origin Successfully Flies New Shepard Suborbital Vehicle

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 24, 2015 at 2:28:11 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Blue Origin Successfully Flies New Shepard Suborbital Vehicle

 

 

 

Nov 24, 2015

Blue Origin Makes Historic Rocket Landing

Van Horn, Texas - November 24, 2015 - Blue Origin today announced that its New Shepard space vehicle successfully flew to space, reaching its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a historic landing back at the launch site in West Texas. To receive updates on Blue Origin's continuing progress and early access to ticketing information, sign up at www.blueorigin.com/interested.

"Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts—a used rocket," said Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin. "Blue Origin's reusable New Shepard space vehicle flew a flawless mission—soaring to 329,839 feet and then returning through 119-mph high-altitude crosswinds to make a gentle, controlled landing just four and a half feet from the center of the pad. Full reuse is a game changer, and we can't wait to fuel up and fly again."

High resolution video and images capturing the historic mission are available for viewing and embedding in stories at www.blueorigin.com/gallery.

Named in honor of the first American in space, Alan Shepard, the New Shepard vertical takeoff and vertical landing vehicle will carry six astronauts to altitudes beyond 100 kilometers, the internationally-recognized boundary of space. Blue Origin astronauts will experience the thrill of launch atop a rocket, the freedom of weightlessness, and views through the largest windows to ever fly in space. An animation of the Blue Origin astronaut experience can be found at www.blueorigin.com/astronaut-experience. Astronaut flights will begin following completion of a methodical flight test program.

Details on the Reusable New Shepard Space Vehicle

The New Shepard space vehicle is fully reusable and operated from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site. The vehicle is comprised of two elements—a crew capsule in which the astronauts ride and a rocket booster powered by a single American-made BE-3 liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen engine. At liftoff, the BE-3 delivers 110,000 pounds of thrust. During ascent, astronauts experience 3x the force of gravity as the spacecraft accelerates through the atmosphere.

Following powered flight, the crew capsule separates from the booster and coasts into space, providing several minutes of weightlessness. As the crew capsule descends, it reenters the atmosphere with astronauts experiencing about 5x the force of gravity before deploying three main parachutes for landing. Meanwhile, the booster descends under guided flight to the landing pad. Just prior to landing, the booster re-ignites its BE-3 engine which slows the vehicle to 4.4 mph for a gentle, powered vertical landing, enabling vehicle reuse.

Flight Details

• Launched at 11:21 a.m. Central Time, November 23, 2015
• Apogee of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) for the crew capsule
• Mach 3.72
• Re-ignition of rocket booster at 4,896 feet above ground level
• Controlled vertical landing of the booster at 4.4 mph
• Deployment of crew capsule drogue parachutes at 20,045 feet above ground level
• Landing of the crew capsule under parachutes at 11:32 a.m. Central Time
• Additional remarks from Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos are available on the Blue Origin blog at www.blueorigin.com/news/blog/historic-rocket-landing

About Blue Origin

Blue Origin, LLC (Blue Origin) is a private company developing vehicles and technologies to enable commercial human space transportation. Blue Origin has a long-term vision of greatly increasing the number of people that fly into space so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system. For more information and a list of job openings, please visit us at www.blueorigin.com.

View more mission images here

© 2015 Blue Origin All rights reserved.

 

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Blue Origin Successfully Flies New Shepard Suborbital Vehicle

by Jeff Foust — November 24, 2015

New Shepard's propulsion module stands on the pad after landing at the end of a Nov. 23 suborbital test flight. Credit: Blue Origin

WASHINGTON — Blue Origin announced Nov. 24 that it launched its New Shepard suborbital vehicle on a second test flight, flying to the edge of space and successfully landing both sections of the vehicle.

New Shepard launched from the company's West Texas test site at 12:21 p.m. Eastern time Nov. 23, reaching a peak altitude of 100.5 kilometers and top speed of Mach 3.72. The vehicle's unoccupied crew capsule separated and parachuted to a landing, while its propulsion module made a powered vertical landing.

The test was similar to one flown in April, where the vehicle reached a peak altitude of more than 93 kilometers. On that earlier test, however, a hydraulic problem with the propulsion module prevented it from making a controlled landing.

"This flight validates our vehicle architecture and design," Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said in a statement accompanying the announcement of the flight. That includes fins and drag brakes that steer and slow down the propulsion module before its main engine reignites for the final landing sequence.

Both modules of New Shepard are designed to be reused. "Full reuse is a game changer, and we can't wait to fuel up and fly again," Bezos said in the statement. The company did not states when they next plan to fly the vehicle.

The company did not announce the test flight in advance, and did not issue a statement about it until 18 hours after it took place. However, in recent weeks company officials have stated that they planned to conduct a test flight of New Shepard before the end of the year.

The successful flight keeps Blue Origin on track to begin commercial flights of research payloads by the middle of 2016. The vehicle is also designed to carry people, but the company has not disclosed a timetable for crewed flights.

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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Fwd: New Crew to Stay Aboard ISS for 7 Months Instead of 6

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 24, 2015 at 2:34:54 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: New Crew to Stay Aboard ISS for 7 Months Instead of 6

 

 

New Crew to Stay Aboard ISS for 7 Months Instead of 6

Tech

17:55 23.11.2015

012300

The launch of the new crew including Malenchenko (Roscosmos), Timothy Kopra (NASA) and Timothy Peake (European Space Agency) is scheduled for December 15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on board the Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft.

 

ZVYOZDNY GORODOK (Sputnik) — The period of service of a new International Space Station (ISS) crew in orbit has been increased from six to seven months due to update of the flight program, the new space expedition commander said Monday.

"Our flight will last more than six months. It has indeed been extended for one month due to the program update. We will have a lot of work. We are expecting a very difficult, intense but interesting expedition," Yuri Malenchenko told journalists at a press conference at the Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center.

The ISS crew will work with new cargo ships Progress M-M and Progress M-C. In addition, the crew are expected to carry out a spacewalk and receive the American cargo ships Dragon and Cygnus and perform works on equipping the Russian and American ISS segments.

 

© 2015 Sputnik All rights reserved. 

 

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Fwd: Pretty cool shots - of the WB-57 over JSC and Houston

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Robert Hooi" <rwlh21@sbcglobal.net>
Date: November 23, 2015 at 8:48:02 PM CST
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;>
Subject: Pretty cool shots - of the WB-57 over JSC and Houston
Reply-To: "Robert Hooi" <rwlh21@sbcglobal.net>

Loves the shots over JSC  and the Clear Lake area .....

ICYMI: On Thursday November 19, NASA's WB-57s took a historic formation flight over the Houston area. This was the first time that all three WB-57s have been aloft simultaneously since the early 1970s, when the U.S. Air Force had an operational squadron of WB-57s.

See any of your favorite Houston spots? Check out more photos from the flyover on Flickr:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/sets/72157660882028929/with/22630109923/

Fwd: Obama Is Helping ISIS

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kent Castle <kent.d.castle@hotmail.com>
Date: November 23, 2015 at 4:32:00 PM CST
To: Patterson James <w8ljz@aol.com>, Bogan Carole <bcbogan@earthlink.net>, Reason Marilou <loganlou55@yahoo.com>, Astrology Valkyrie <astrogoddess@valkyrieastrology.com>, Chamberlain Sharon <sharon.m.chamberlain@saic.com>, Martin Bobby <bobbygmartin1938@gmail.com>
Subject: FW: Obama Is Helping ISIS

 

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From:
To: ;
Subject: Obama Is Helping ISIS
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 2015 22:09:04 -0600

U.S. Military Pilots Provide Solid Proof That Obama Is Helping ISIS… Here's What They're Saying

Wilmot Proviso November 21, 2015 at 2:39pm

 

Providing yet another piece of evidence that President Barack Obama is shielding the Islamic State group from destruction by American forces, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee told the Washington Free Beacon that U.S. military pilots have confirmed 75 percent of missions against the group have returned with their ordnance because they couldn't get clearance to fire.
Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., said that an Obama administration policy not to strike if there's any risk of collateral damage had led to the 75 percent no-fire rate, which has led to the growth of the Islamic State group across Syria and Iraq.
"You went 12 full months while ISIS was on the march without the U.S. using that air power and now as the pilots come back to talk to us they say three-quarters of our ordnance we can't drop, we can't get clearance even when we have a clear target in front of us," Royce said.
"I don't understand this strategy at all because this is what has allowed ISIS the advantage and ability to recruit."
Retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane agreed with Royce's assessment.
"This has been an absurdity from the beginning," Gen. Keane said. "The president personally made a statement that has driven air power from the inception."
"When we agreed we were going to do air power and the military said, this is how it would work, he (Obama) said, 'No, I do not want any civilian casualties,'" Keane said. "And the response was, 'But there's always some civilian casualties. We have the best capability in the world to protect from civilians casualties.'"
"No, you don't understand. I want no civilian casualties. Zero," Obama allegedly demanded.
Of course, Obama now has over 130 civilian casualties on his hands in one French city alone, along with countless civilian casualties from an Islamic State group that's been thriving in the absence of any serious military challenge from the United States military.
However, unlike Obama, the French seem to get it.
"Believe me," Keane said, "the French are in there not using the restrictions we have imposed on our pilots."
It almost makes one think that Barack Obama wants the Islamic State group to win.
H/T BizPac Review
Do you think President Obama is intentionally letting the Islamic State group problem grow

Read more: http://conservativetribune.com/pilots-provide-solid-proof/#ixzz3s91yvm4r

AGW hoax

Joyce McCarty
5 mins ·
The timing couldn't be better for the realists or worse for the alarmists. Just as Hussein Obama and John Kerry are picking out their socks, ties and hip waders for the upcoming Climate ConJob21 Summit in Paris, a panel of respected experts on the subject is calling out their hoax. They're drawing attention to the fraud and dismissing the wild claims of the two "Meteorologists of Marxism," Obama and Kerry, for the fairy tales that they are.

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Real Expert Climate Panel Denounces Fraud Of Obama Kerry In Advance Of UN ConJob21 Summit In Paris | ConstitutionRising.com

http://rickwells.us/archives/22580


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Fwd: 30 Years Since the Spectacular EVA of Mission 61B

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 22, 2015 at 5:11:28 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: 30 Years Since the Spectacular EVA of Mission 61B

 

AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
November 21st, 2015

'Your Big Chance': 30 Years Since the Spacewalking Spectacular of Mission 61B (Part 1)

By Ben Evans

 

In the earliest EVA demonstration of building a space station, Jerry Ross and Woody Spring assemble the EASE tetrahedron in Atlantis' payload bay. Their flight, Mission 61B, began 30 years ago, next week. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

Thirty years ago, next week, something unprecedented in the entire history of the shuttle program unfolded when Atlantis turned night into day across the Space Coast, rising into orbit on her second mission, a mere 50 days after returning from her maiden voyage. Roaring into the night from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 7:29 p.m. EST on 26 November 1985, Mission 61B thus secured a landing-to-launch record for a single orbiter which would never again be broken throughout the shuttle's 30-year career. During their seven days aloft, the crew—astronauts Bryan O'Connor, Jerry Ross, Mary Cleave, Sherwood "Woody" Spring, Charlie Walker, and Mexico's first man in space, Rudolfo Neri Vela, commanded by Atlantis' youngest-ever skipper, Brewster Shaw—released three communications satellites and staged a pair of spectacular EVAs to rehearse assembly techniques for Space Station Freedom, the forerunner of today's International Space Station (ISS). Little could the 61B crew have known that spacewalker Jerry Ross would go on to lead the EVAs which began building the ISS for real, in December 1998.

Beginning with the impressive turnaround of Atlantis between Missions 51J and 61B—which was, in a sense, reflective of the operational and managerial mindset prevalent within NASA during the pre-Challenger era—a mere seven weeks between launches of the same vehicle remains remarkable. When placed into context across the entire shuttle program, the next-fastest landing-to-launch turnaround for a single orbiter was 55 days, achieved by Challenger during the run-up to Mission 41C in early 1984, whilst in the post-51L era the closest parallel was the exceptional case of STS-94, in which Columbia was rapidly recycled to refly the Microgravity Science Laboratory (MSL) mission in just 84 days in mid-1997. As outlined in a previous AmericaSpace article, after Mission 51J Atlantis was returned from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to the Cape, on 12 October 1985, where she spent a mere 27 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), then four days in the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for stacking onto her bulbous External Tank (ET) and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), before rolling out to the pad. And plugging that into the context of the entire shuttle program, the next-fastest pre-51L single-flow OPF turnaround was 30 days, achieved by Discovery ahead of Mission 51I, whilst the fastest post-51L single flow was 55 days, accomplished by Atlantis before STS-45 in the spring of 1992.

By peculiar coincidence, Mission 61B spacewalker Jerry Ross would also lead the EVAs to begin the on-orbit construction of the International Space Station (ISS) in December 1998. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

In spite of deploying three communications satellites, including the first use of McDonnell Douglas' uprated Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D2 booster, and seeing the first citizen of Mexico reach space, Mission 61B will always be chiefly remembered for its EVAs—only the 10th and 11th ever performed in the shuttle program. When President Ronald Reagan announced plans to build a permanent, U.S.-led space station in early 1984, it was quickly recognized that the endeavor would require multiple EVA hours. NASA already had plans to assemble a pair of structures—an inverted tetrahedron, known as the Experimental Assembly of Structures in EVA (EASE), and a 43-foot-tall (13-meter) tower, the Assembly Concept for Construction of Erectable Space Structures (ACCESS)—in the shuttle's payload bay.

Mounted atop a Mission-Peculiar Equipment Support Structure (MPESS) for launch, the EASE-ACCESS assembly tasks required no specialized tools and called for spacewalkers to snap together their prefabricated segments, linking them in place with nodes, socket-clusters and lockable "sleeves." The downside was that there were a lot of parts: ACCESS had 93 tubular aluminum struts, measuring anywhere from 4.5 feet (1.35 meters) to six feet (1.8 meters) long, whilst EASE possessed six beams, each extending to 11.8 feet (3.6 meters). Due to shuttle manifest changes, numerous astronauts trained for the assembly EVAs—including James "Ox" van Hoften and Steve Hawley and, for a time, even the crew of the ill-fated Mission 51L—before settling on Mission 61B. In fact, the precise objectives of Brewster Shaw's flight had changed several times since his crew had been announced by NASA in February 1984: at first, they were tasked with the retrieval of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) in February 1985, then a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) and eventually a trio of payloads, including satellites for Australia, Mexico, and Radio Corporation of America (RCA). By the spring of 1985, their launch had slipped until the end of the year and they picked up a Mexican crewman and were later joined by McDonnell Douglas engineer Charlie Walker.

Yet it was Jerry Ross and Woody Spring who pushed for the inclusion of the EASE-ACCESS task onto their mission and the two men worked with program managers over the course of several months to choreograph a pair of six-hour EVAs. ACCESS was fairly straightforward. "Both crew members were in fixed foot restraints," Ross told the NASA oral historian, years later. "It was basically just a matter of bringing a part out, putting it onto this assembly fixture, hooking the components together, rotating to the three faces, then sliding the completed segment of truss up and repeating the process for a total of ten 'bays'. We knew that technique would be a very satisfactory way of doing business, because when a crew member's feet are anchored properly, that gives you both hands free to do work." EASE, ironically, in view of its name, proved more difficult, since it required one spacewalker to "free-float," without foot restraints, holding onto the structure with one hand and torqueing the beams with the other. It was clear that EASE might turn into their Achilles heel. "We learned to do it," said Woody Spring in a NASA oral history interview, "but also learned that free-floating is not the way to put things together."

By mid-1985, Ross—designated "EV1," with red stripes on the legs of his Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) for identification—and Spring ("EV2," clad in a pure-white suit) were performing at least one long-duration simulation, per week, in the Weightless Environment Training Facility (WET-F) at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, deliberately spending up to six hours continuously underwater at a time. For some of the "tall" work, recalled Woody Spring, they also utilized the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator (NBS) at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala. "We knew … it's absolutely essential to work with the masses and the volumes and do the choreography exactly as it will happen in orbit, so you know what to expect," Spring explained. "If you don't, you'll regret it!"

Atlantis roars into the night at 7:29 p.m. EST on 26 November 1985. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

On the eve of Mission 61B's launch, the two spacewalks had been refined into a pair of intricate dance-routines. EVA-1 would feature the assembly and disassembly of the ACCESS tower, with one astronaut in foot restraints on the MPESS and the other at the end of Atlantis' Remote Manipulator System (RMS) mechanical arm, as well as up to six assemblies and disassemblies of the EASE tetrahedron. Two days later, EVA-2 would repeat the work, but would also attach flexible cables to simulate electrical wiring and evaluate their ability to physically move the structures around the payload bay.

Three days after leaving Earth, on 29 November 1985, Ross and Spring pushed open the airlock's outer hatch and entered the payload bay for EVA-1. "What's going through your mind is: Oh, I hope I don't screw up!" recalled Spring. "It's your big chance … and they've got all the video cameras in the world on you! If you screw up, your friends will have photos and video ready for you at the pin party, too." For his part, Ross was so excited that he had to muster the strength not to let out a "war whoop of glee" when he ventured outside. ACCESS was built in less than an hour—half as long as expected—and they disassembled and reassembled it a second time. Pleasantly surprising was the "ease" of EASE, which proved far more straightforward in microgravity and the spacewalkers completed eight assemblies and disassemblies, rather than the planned six.

At one point, perched at the top of EASE, Spring was hit by the suddenness of orbital sunset and the most ethereal darkness that he had ever encountered. "All of a sudden, night fell," he told the NASA oral historian. "I just wasn't used to all of a sudden going dark, so you've got to get your visor up and get your [helmet] headlights on and then everything was cool. But I remember that little bit of anxiety, because you're up on this kind of tippy structure and you're thrashing around just a little bit." Tiredness quickly set in, as did numbness in fingers, with mental fatigue far overlapping physical exhaustion, as the men's minds raced at what Ross later described as "a million miles an hour." Ross earned the nickname "Captain Cardboard" from Cleave, owing to her having to move him around repeatedly at the end of the RMS. Logging 5.5 hours outside on their first spacewalk, the two men were back in the payload bay on 1 December, this time for more than 6.5 hours, which ran so smoothly that the jubilant Ross and Spring returned inside Atlantis … and volunteered to prepare dinner for their crewmates.

In spite of the visually spectacular nature of the EVAs, they were but one facet of Mission 61B, which also marked the first occasion that shuttle fliers had celebrated Thanksgiving away from the Home Planet, saw an unusually padlocked crew access hatch and fell victim to a touch of good-natured banter among the military astronauts. As will be explored in tomorrow's article, the shuttle manifest was so busy in the fall of 1985 and early 1986—with Columbia due to fly Mission 61C and Challenger expected to follow on Mission 51L—that Brewster Shaw's crew opted to wait until the next two crews had returned to Earth, before holding a "big" homecoming party.

Tragically, it was not to be.

 

Copyright © 2015 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

 

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AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
November 22nd, 2015

'Barn Burner': 30 Years Since the Spacewalking Spectacular of Mission 61B (Part 2)

By Ben Evans

In addition to a pair of spectacular EVAs by Jerry Ross and Woody Spring, Mission 61B deployed three satellites and carried Mexico's first national astronaut into space. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

Thirty years ago, next week, Atlantis rocketed into orbit on her second mission, just 50 days after wrapping up her maiden voyage. In so doing, she secured a new landing-to-launch record for a single orbiter which would never again be broken for the remainder of the shuttle's career. Rising into the night on 26 November 1985—becoming only the third U.S. piloted space mission, after Apollo 17 and STS-8, to launch in the hours of darkness—Mission 61B will forever be remembered for its two spectacular EVAs, during which spacewalkers Jerry Ross and Sherwood "Woody" Spring assembled and disassembled a framework of tubular structures in the shuttle's payload bay. Intended as part of the effort to prepare for Space Station Freedom, few could have foreseen that, 13 years later, Ross would also lead the vanguard to build the International Space Station (ISS). Yet Mission 61B involved more than EVAs: Its crew placed three satellites into orbit, featured Mexico's first man in space, and was commanded by Atlantis' youngest-ever skipper.

The astronauts of Mission 61B were a very close-knit team, drawn together by almost two years of flight-specific training, following the initial assignment of the NASA "core" crew—Commander Brewster Shaw, Pilot Bryan O'Connor, and Mission Specialists Ross, Spring, and Mary Cleave—in February 1984. At that time, only Shaw had flown before, and more than one of his crewmates described him as a "mentor" and likened him to a "mother-hen." By the fall of 1985, they had been joined by McDonnell Douglas engineer Charlie Walker, who had already flown two shuttle missions, and Mexico's first citizen in space, Rudolfo Neri Vela. He was aboard Atlantis to observe the deployment of his country's Morelos-B communications satellite. However, in September 1985, an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale hit Mexico City, killing more than 10,000 people, and for a time the effect upon ground infrastructure almost forced Morelos-B to be deleted from the 61B payload. "If Morelos … does fly," noted Flight International on 9 November, "it will be placed in parking orbit until Mexico's telecommunications are rehabilitated." As circumstances transpired, Morelos-B remained on the mission, as did Neri Vela.

Unofficial portrait of the 61B crew. From left to right are Charlie Walker, Jerry Ross, Mary Cleave, "Boss" Brewster Shaw, Rudolfo Neri Vela, Woody Spring, and Bryan O'Connor. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

An interesting story surrounds his place on the crew. Neri Vela and his backup, Ricardo Peralta y Fabi, were selected in July 1985, and having less than six months to train with an unknown crew member worried Brewster Shaw. "I'm probably a paranoid kind of guy, but I didn't know what he was going to do on-orbit," Shaw told the NASA oral historian, "so I remember I got this padlock and … went down to the hatch on the side of the orbiter and I padlocked the hatch control, so that you could not open the hatch." Charlie Walker—who had flown two previous shuttle missions, in August 1984 and April 1985—was a "known" quantity, but Shaw was concerned that Neri Vela might "flip out" during launch or in space. Fellow astronaut Mike Mullane made reference to the padlock episode in his 2006 memoir, Riding Rockets, noting that future missions benefited from a similar arrangement, with only the shuttle's commander having access to the key. "I don't know if I was supposed to do that or not," added Shaw, "but that's a decision I made as being responsible for my crew. I don't think Rodolfo noticed it, but some of the other crew noticed it."

Late in their training, the 61B crew posed for an unofficial portrait, featuring engineers Cleave and Walker in white lab coats, Shaw wearing a "Boss" badge, O'Connor dressed in leather cap and goggles as the barnstorming fighter ace, Ross and Spring in space suits and construction helmets … and Neri Vela in a traditional serape and sombrero. "That photo could not be the official one," admitted Spring in his NASA oral history, "because the Mexican government took a little bit of umbrage at Rodolfo being dressed up in a serape and a sombrero, but then post-flight we went down to Mexico City … and the first thing they did was take us to the folk ballet, where everybody is dressed up exactly like that!" In the photograph, Spring also posed with a stuffed kangaroo toy in his lap, honoring one of 61B's other communications satellites: Australia's Aussat-2. Their third satellite was Radio Corporation of America's (RCA) payload, Satcom K-2, which was, at the time, the highest-powered domestic communications satellite in service. Its size and weight also required it to be boosted into geostationary orbit using McDonnell Douglas' uprated Payload Assist Module (PAM)-D2 booster, which was embarking on its first flight.

If Woody Spring considered the moments before his first EVA as being more anxious than the launch itself, that did nothing to detract from the excitement of Atlantis' second climb into orbit. "It was a perfect night," he recalled. "We had a full Moon, the day before Thanksgiving, severe, clear, not a cloud in the sky; it was a gorgeous night." Spring was seated on the shuttle's middeck, together with the payload specialists, whilst Ross sat upstairs, directly behind the pilot, and Cleave occupied the flight engineer's position. With five minutes to go, O'Connor—the first shuttle pilot from NASA's 1980 astronaut class to draw a flight assignment—activated the three Auxiliary Power Units (APUs).

Not until relatively close to the flight did the crew realize that they would be launching at night. As the final seconds ticked away to launch, O'Connor glanced across the cabin toward Shaw and noticed that the commander had momentarily removed his gloves to wipe sweat from his hands. "Oh, my God," O'Connor thought. "My commander, who's been through this before … his hands are sweating! Why aren't mine sweating? I need to be nervous now, if he's nervous." The sound of Atlantis' main engines igniting, said Spring, was like a roomful of lions, roaring, directly behind him. "And you can feel it," he remembered. "This vehicle's alive. Then the main engines gimbal, getting ready. From the moment of main engine start, you get one and a half seconds where the vehicle actually swings about three degrees of arc and then comes back again, then the Solid Rocket Boosters ignite." With a force akin to a sledgehammer blast, they were propeled away from the launch pad in what Spring could only describe as "a barn-burner." The launch, Shaw recalled later, could be seen from as far away as the Carolinas and the south end of Florida. Eight minutes later, in a preliminary orbit, Spring released a pencil and watched it float freely. He let out a whoop of delight as Cleave giggled with excitement over the intercom. They were in space.

The high-powered Satcom K-2 satellite, atop the first PAM-D2 booster, is deployed from Atlantis' payload bay. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

A busy mission got underway almost immediately, with Spring supervising the deployments of the Mexican and Australian communications satellites and Ross overseeing the release of Satcom K-2. Morelos was sent spinning out of the payload bay ("with a resounding thump," according to Spring), early on 27 November and, after the crew had slept, was followed by Aussat later that night. Finally, the cube-shaped Satcom was released on the afternoon of the 28th.

To say that the 61B crew had a good time together, on the ground and in orbit, is something of an understatement. Years later, Ross recounted that O'Connor and Spring were the comedians, with the latter producing the idle jokes and the former mastering the dry wit. "He will sucker you in on some really serious discussion," Ross said of O'Connor, "and then hit you over the head with a two-by-four with some joke or comment!" Before launch, O'Connor had recorded the Naval Academy song, Anchors Aweigh, and hidden it somewhere in the middle of Army's aviator Spring's Walkman music cassette. A couple of days into the mission, with the lights turned off and the crew ready for sleep, Spring suddenly screamed, "O'Connor, you son of a b***h!" The prankster had completely forgotten about it, but was quickly reminded. "It was his Peter, Paul and Mary album," O'Connor recalled with glee, "and it was right in the middle of I've Got a Hammer … and suddenly up comes this really loud Navy fight song!"

Thanksgiving on the second day of the mission offered the chance for the crew to eat irradiated turkey, pumpkin bread, mashed potatoes, beans, and a somewhat tasteless concoction which was labelled "gravy." In fact, many foods which tasted fine on Earth were quite different in orbit: shrimp cocktails resembled battery acid, laced in sawdust, and Spring found the grapefruit juices appalling. Neri Vela also brought along some Mexican foodstuffs, including flour tortillas.

"The landing," said O'Connor, "isn't nearly as exciting as the launch." Re-entry was over the darkened Pacific Ocean, and cloud cover restricted their view of the runway at Edwards until Atlantis was a couple of kilometres above the ground. Shaw brought her in to a perfect landing at 1:33:49 p.m. PST (4:33:49 p.m. EST) on 3 December 1985, an orbit earlier than planned. There was a slight tail wind, and both Shaw and O'Connor were concerned about the integrity of the brakes and tires, but the vehicle slowed to a stop, right on the centerline. Thus ended the ninth shuttle mission of 1985, which enabled Mission 61B to contribute to another record, which to this day remains unbroken: the greatest number of piloted spaceflights in a single calendar year.

 

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Having this capability in a museum is unbelievable, we need bold leadership to regain WHAT WE HAD!!! As Krantz & Abbey have said, DON'T GO BACK TO CAPSULES---- which is what we are funding with the Commercial approach!

Cruz says NASA should refocus on 'core' mission, end dependence on Russians - Houston Chronicle

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Project Apollo Archive’s albums | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

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Astronauts Plant Flowers in Space

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Fwd: Buran - ahead of its time

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: November 15, 2015 at 8:11:12 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Buran - ahead of its time

 

                                               

 

STORY. "Buran" - FLIGHT, ahead of its time

11/15/2015 10:00

November 15, 1988 at 06:00 at the launch pad Baikonur Cosmodrome №110 first time in history of Russian cosmonautics was launched reusable space transportation system "Energy-Buran". In 2015, this significant event celebrates 27 years.

Having made two turns around the Earth, the orbital ship "Buran" after 205 minutes, at 09:25, landing at the runway airfield "Jubilee." For the first time in the world was carried out landing orbiter in the automatic mode. Rejection of the program in time to stop a ship at the time the band was one second, and the deviation of the vehicle from the axis of the band - only 1.5 meters.

Created during the "Star Wars", "Buran" was a creation of the great Soviet designers. His only mission in November 1988 and the descent to Earth automatically running onboard computer entered the "Guinness Book of Records."

The structure of space-rocket complex "Energiya-Buran" is a universal super-heavy carrier rocket "Energy", orbital ship "Buran", as well as a means of space infrastructure booster and orbiter.

Orbiter "Buran" - a reusable spacecraft that can make long flights, orbital maneuvering, controlled descent and landing on aircraft specially equipped airfield. Use the "Buran" could deliver astronauts and space payloads weighing up to 30 tons, as well as the repair and maintenance of spacecraft directly in orbit.

In the creation of reusable space system "Energy-Buran" was attended by more than 1,200 enterprises and organizations, nearly 70 ministries. During the 18 years of the program were more than a million people, the total expenditure amounted to over 16 billion rubles (more than $ 10 billion at the rate of the early 1980's).

The second launch of the carrier rocket "Energy" was the last. In 1993, the program "Energy-Buran" due to lack of funding has been closed.

 

Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности "РОСКОСМОС"

107996, ГСП-6, г. Москва, ул. Щепкина, д.42 
Тел.: +7 (495) 631-97-61 
Факс: +7 (495) 688-90-63

 

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