Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: January 17, 2013 8:35:49 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - January 17, 2013 and JSC Today

Thursday, January 17, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
2.            Save the Date -- Day of Remembrance Thursday, Jan. 24
3.            Time to Renew Your Gilruth Center Fitness Membership
4.            Physical Access Management (PAM) Replaces JSC CAA in IdMax
5.            New JSC Operator Hours Starting Feb. 4
6.            Spring Festival March 23 -- Flea Market & Craft Fair -- Register Now
7.            TODAY: Visual Impairment and Intracranial Pressure Lecture
8.            Wellness ViTS TODAY -- Nutrition Habits That Work
9.            HSI ERG Meeting Jan. 29 Featuring Cost Estimating and Analysis
10.          Aging Gracefully Part II: Later Life
11.          Summer Interns
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
" Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. "

-- William Butler Yeats
________________________________________
1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
It appears that your family is fairly well versed in what you do at NASA. My family is fairly confused, and maybe that's for the best. Your favorite holiday gift was a Red Ryder BB gun that you played with in your new sweater. How sweet.
This week it's about space station and what happens there each day. Do you follow the day-to-day activities onboard? Check on it once a week? No clue as to what they are doing each day? Our Texans stumbled a little at the end of the season, making me sad. Upon reflection, how would you rate this season overall? Awesome? Horrible? So-so?
Pro your Bowl on over to get this week's poll.
Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

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2.            Save the Date -- Day of Remembrance Thursday, Jan. 24
On Thursday, Jan. 24, 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 9 a.m., we will honor our NASA families and conclude by honoring the Columbia crew on the 10-year anniversary. A T-38 flyover is planned during the remembrance in the grove as tribute to the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.
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
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

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3.            Time to Renew Your Gilruth Center Fitness Membership
With the new year comes renewals for fitness memberships at the Gilruth Center. If you received a free membership as a NASA civil servant or contract employee working for a company that is a Starport Partner, you must renew your membership each January. Current memberships will expire at the end of January, so don't be left with an expired badge or try to renew at the last minute.
If you do not have a fitness membership at the Gilruth Center, now is a great time to join! NASA civil servants and Starport Partner contractors are eligible to receive access to our state-of-the-art strength-and-cardio center, basketball gym and group fitness classes at no cost. We also offer sports leagues, personal training, recreation classes and much more at nominal fees. Visit our website for information on renewing or joining for the first time.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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4.            Physical Access Management (PAM) Replaces JSC CAA in IdMax
JSC is transitioning its current electronic JSC Controlled Area Access (CAA) application in IdMax to the agencywide Physical Access Management (PAM) tool. PAM will be listed in IdMax on the "Access Management" tab face page, with instructions at each tab addressing how to add, modify or close access areas for users. Request status will be available to the user/requester through a "View Request Status" link in IdMax. Individual records will have a different look, and current access will be listed in the user's "Assigned Access Level (s)" list. All current access will be grandfathered into the PAM system records, including access expiration dates.
Please note: No requests will be accepted for any CAA after close of business Thursday, Jan. 24. New requests will be submitted via PAM beginning Monday, Jan. 28. Questions regarding the agency PAM system may be submitted to: Marganette.m.williams@nasa.gov
Marganette Williams x46496

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5.            New JSC Operator Hours Starting Feb. 4
As part of the center's efforts to reduce cost, effective Monday, Feb. 4, JSC's Information Resources Directorate (IRD) will reduce the hours for the JSC Switchboard Operator Console (x30123).
The JSC Switchboard Operator will now be available from 8 to 11 a.m. and from noon to 5 p.m. Previously, operator hours were from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Any calls from the general public, external NASA centers or on-site personnel outside of these hours will receive the automated message alerting callers that the switchboard is closed.
Please remember that there are various ways to get contact information for JSC/NASA personnel:
- http://phone.jsc.nasa.gov/cgi-isis/phone/phone.cgi
- https://people.nasa.gov
- The Apple/Android Mobile NASA Contacts App on the NASA App Store: https://apps.nasa.gov/applist
Should you need Security, they can be reached at x33333 for a JSC emergency, or x34658 for a JSC non-emergency.
JSC IRD Outreach x32704 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx

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6.            Spring Festival March 23 -- Flea Market & Craft Fair -- Register Now
On Saturday, March 23, Starport will have one big spring event at the Gilruth Center. Not only will there be a crawfish boil and children's Spring Fling complete with Easter bunny and egg hunt, but we will also host a Flea Market and Craft Fair. If you are interested in selling your unwanted items in the Flea Market or selling your homemade crafts, baked goods or new products at the Craft Fair, we are now accepting registrations. Click here for more information and the registration form.
Event Date: Saturday, March 23, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:2:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Center

Add to Calendar

Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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7.            TODAY: Visual Impairment and Intracranial Pressure Lecture
Please join the Human Systems Academy in a lecture introducing participants to the concepts of Intracranial Pressure. This lecture will provide insight into documented changes in visual acuity and eye anatomy that have been experienced by several astronauts after long-duration missions. Specifically, we will analyze the relationship to intracranial pressure and discuss how this translates into a human long-duration spaceflight risk.
For registration, please go to: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Topic: HSA VIIP Course
Date: Thursday, Jan. 17
Time: 2 p.m. CST
Meeting number: 997 130 637
Meeting password: *VIIPHSAjan2013
Telecom info: 1-877-929-1070
pw- 7834898
To join the online meeting (now from iPhones and other smartphones, too!)
1. Go to: https://nasa.webex.com/nasa/j.php?ED=191870817&UID=0&PW=NYTliMjIxZTY2&RT=MiM3
2. Enter your name and email address
3. Enter the meeting password: *VIIPHSAjan2013
4. Click "Join Now"
Event Date: Thursday, January 17, 2013   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: B15/267

Add to Calendar

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

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8.            Wellness ViTS TODAY -- Nutrition Habits That Work
Join us for the first installment of JSC's 2013 fitness/nutrition/Employee Assistance Program series! Glenda Blaskey will be presenting information on how to jumpstart your health, nutrition and fitness goals with her presentation of "New Year, New You -- Nutrition Habits that Work."
Location: Building 17, Room 2026
Time: 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Dial-in: 1-888-370-7263, pass code: 8811760#
To join the online meeting (now from iPhones and other smartphones, too!):
1. Go to: https://nasa.webex.com/nasa/j.php?ED=191961377&UID=0&PW=NMWMwNTY4NzM0&RT=MiMx...
2. Enter your name and email address
3. Enter the meeting password: Jan17-13
4. Click "Join Now"
Each monthly module in this 2013 series will be 90 minutes to facilitate more audience questions. We hope that you will attend each module as often as your schedule permits. Please check the agency's Occupational Health website for information about the series, copies of the slides used and the schedule for the rest of 2013.
Glenda Blaskey x41503

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9.            HSI ERG Meeting Jan. 29 Featuring Cost Estimating and Analysis
The JSC Human System Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) meeting will feature Sarah Walsh from the Performance Management and Integration Office. She will present an overview of project lifecycle cost estimating, including a review of common estimating techniques and the importance of a product-oriented WBS. We will meet Jan. 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 1, Room 220. Bring your lunch and join us!
Event Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: JSC Bldg1, room 220

Add to Calendar

Deborah Neubek x39416 http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx

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10.          Aging Gracefully Part II: Later Life
Please join the JSC Employee Assistance Program as we proudly host Angela Sarafin, M.A., LMFT, LPC, and Stacey Dunn, M.A., LPC, who will present "Aging Gracefully Part II: Later Life" on Thursday, Jan. 24, in the Building 30 Auditorium at 12 noon. Among the topics covered will be what are called "end-of-life issues" such as role reversal due to illness/disability, communicating about your final plans and coping with losing friends and family.
Event Date: Thursday, January 24, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Lorrie Bennett x36130

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11.          Summer Interns
The Office of Education is now accepting intern project requests for summer 2013.
Session: Summer 2013 (college students)
Session Dates: May 20 to July 26
Submission Deadline: Feb. 1
All projects should be entered in NASA OSSI. As a mentor, you are now able to submit a description of your internship opportunity for summer 2013. All projects should be entered by the submission deadline of Feb. 1.
To upload your project and make student selections, click on this link and follow the instructions below:
1. Complete a mentor profile
o             Provide or update contact information, primary area of expertise and job title
2. Submit your opportunities
o             Create a new internship or fellowship opportunity, or modify an existing opportunity
o             Submit the opportunity for approval by your organization
For system questions, contact:
Diego Rodriguez at 281-792-7827 or via email.
Thank you for your support and dedication to the Office of Education at JSC.
Diego Rodriguez 281-792-7827 https://intern.nasa.gov

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________________________________________
JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.

NASA TV:
·         UNDERWAY – Live Interviews on Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) - GSFC
·         9:20 am Central (10:20 EST) – E34's Chris Hadfield w/Chris Hadfield Public School in Sarnia
·         11 am Central (Noon EST) – ISS Program and Science Overview Briefing
·         12:30 pm Central (1:30 EST) – ISS Expedition 35/36 Video B-Roll Footage of Training
·         1 pm Central (2 EST) – Expedition 35/36 Crew News Conference
ü Pavel Vinogradov, Alexander Misurkin & Chris Cassidy

Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – January 17, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Glitch Stalls Robotic Refueling Experiment in Space

Mike Wall - Space.com

A software glitch has stalled an International Space Station experiment to test the ability of robots to refuel and repair satellites in orbit, NASA officials announced Wednesday. The issue arose during NASA's latest round of field tests for the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), which began Monday (Jan. 14) and was expected to last about 10 days. The demonstration calls for using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm and its attached Dextre robot to simulate refueling a satellite in space.

ASAP report focuses on commercial crew funding and contracting risk

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

Late last week NASA released the annual report by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), highlighting the key safety-related issues the independent panel sees with the space agency's programs. This year's report highlights in particular NASA's commercial crew efforts, worrying that a lack of funding and non-traditional contracting mechanisms could increase risks to crews that will fly on these vehicles. "Of all of the topics reviewed by the ASAP this year, the one receiving the most time and attention was unquestionably the Commercial Crew Program (CCP)," ASAP noted in its report. ASAP expressed concern about the use of Space Act Agreements, as it has in the past, although the panel agreed with NASA's use of fixed-price contracts for the first phase of the certification process.

Bigelow inflatable module bound for space station

William Harwood - CBS News

An innovative inflatable module developed by a Las Vegas hotel entrepreneur will be attached to the International Space Station in 2015 for a two-year test run to evaluate the technology's performance in the harsh environment of space, NASA and company officials announced Wednesday. Bigelow Aerospace will receive $17.8 million from NASA to supply a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, for the space station. The module will be launched, uninflated, aboard a commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in 2015.

International space station to receive inflatable module

Brian Vastag - Washington Post

The international space station is getting a new, inflatable room that resembles a giant spare tire, NASA announced Wednesday. Slated to launch in mid-2015, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, will fly to space deflated before being puffed into a 13-by-10-foot cylinder. Rather than providing new living space for astronauts, the module will test whether inflatable habitats have a future as orbiting laboratories, lunar outposts or living quarters for deep-space missions.

For Space Station, a Pod That Folds Like a Shirt and Inflates Like a Balloon

Kenneth Chang - New York Times

An inflatable space pod to be attached to the International Space Station in a couple of years will be like no other piece of the station. Instead of metal, its walls will be made of floppy cloth, making it easier to launch (and then inflate). NASA said Wednesday that it had signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace to build the module, which could reach the space station as soon as 2015. That is a bargain-basement price compared with most equipment the United States and other countries send into space, and the Bigelow agreement could serve as a model for how NASA puts together missions at lower costs by using a Kmart strategy: buying off-the-shelf pieces instead of developing its own designs.

Space station to get $18 million balloon-like room

Hannah Dreier - Associated Press

NASA is partnering with a commercial space company in a bid to replace the cumbersome "metal cans" that now serve as astronauts' homes in space with inflatable bounce-house-like habitats that can be deployed on the cheap. A $17.8 million test project will send to the International Space Station an inflatable room that can be compressed into a 7-foot tube for delivery, officials said Wednesday in a news conference at North Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace. If the module proves durable during two years at the space station, it could open the door to habitats on the moon and missions to Mars, NASA engineer Glen Miller said.

Balloon-like dwelling to be tested on Int'l Space Station

Irene Klotz - Reuters

A low-cost space dwelling that inflates like a balloon in orbit will be tested aboard the International Space Station, opening the door for commercial leases of future free-flying outposts and deep-space astronaut habitats for NASA. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, nicknamed BEAM, will be the third orbital prototype developed and flown by privately owned Bigelow Aerospace. The Las Vegas-based company, founded in 1999 by Budget Suites of America hotel chain owner Robert Bigelow, currently operates two small unmanned experimental habitats called Genesis 1, launched in 2006, and Genesis 2, which followed a year later.

Inside NASA's Deal for an Inflatable Space Station Room

Leonard David - Space.com

A new deal between NASA and a commercial spaceflight company to add a privately built module to the International Space Station could lead to future uses of the novel space technology beyond low-Earth orbit, space agency and company officials say. NASA will pay $17.8 million to Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas to build an inflatable module, test it and prep it for flight. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is to be launched around the summer of 2015. The space agency and Bigelow officials provided details of the contract in a Las Vegas briefing Wednesday.

Space station to add inflatable module in 2015

James Dean - Florida Today

NASA plans to add a privately developed inflatable module to the International Space Station in 2015, launching it from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a SpaceX cargo mission. Designed by Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, the module would stay attached to the station for a two-year demonstration of its capabilities before being jettisoned. Similar technology could eventually be deployed as private space stations, or possibly fit into NASA's exploration plans.

NASA's Original Inflatable Space Station

Amy Shira Teitel - Discovery News

This week, NASA announced that crews aboard the International Space Station will soon test an inflatable space module in orbit. The "balloon-like" module prototype will be manufactured by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace and it's scheduled for a 2015 launch aboard a SpaceX cargo run to the station. The technology certainly has exciting implications – imagine being able to launch a full habitat to the moon on a single rocket! — but it's not a novel idea. The Bigelow Aerospace design has its roots in the inflatable NASA concept TransHab developed (and ultimately canceled) for living on the space station, but designs for inflatable space habitats go even further back than that. NASA's Langley research center originally considered an inflatable space station as a jumping off point for lunar missions in 1959.

NASA to BEAM Up Inflatable Space Station Module

Nancy Atkinson - Universe Today

More details have emerged on NASA's plan to add the first commercial module to the International Space Station, an inflatable room built by Bigelow Aerospace. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration. It will be delivered by another commercial company, SpaceX, on what is planned to be the eighth cargo resupply mission too the ISS for Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket. Astronauts will use the station's robotic arm to install the module on the aft port of the Tranquility node. NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced Wednesday NASA has awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace for BEAM.

ESA service module to power NASA's Orion deep space capsule

William Harwood - CBS News

The European Space Agency will supply the service module that will power an initial unmanned test flight of NASA's Orion deep space exploration capsule in 2017 and provide components for a second, manned mission in 2021 under an agreement discussed Wednesday at the Johnson Space Center. The service module, which will provide propulsion, electrical power, thermal control and life support system components and supplies, will be based on the design of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned supply ship that has completed three flights to the International Space Station.

NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit. Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's new Orion crew capsule, officials said Wednesday. This so-called service module will be based on Europe's supply ship used for the International Space Station. Orion's first trip is an unmanned mission in 2017. Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021. NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon. The exact details are being worked out; lunar fly-bys, rather than landings, are planned.

Europe will provide service module for Orion

James Dean - Florida Today

Plans for Europe to provide a key component for NASA's 2017 test flight of a new spacecraft represent the start of the international collaboration needed to send humans on deep space destinations, officials said Wednesday. "As we push humans out into the solar system, we're doing it internationally, and this is that first step," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human spaceflight programs. Under a deal signed last month, the European Space Agency will contribute the service module supporting an unmanned Orion capsule during its first launch from Kennedy Space Center atop the heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket.

Europeans sign pact to build a key piece of NASA's Orion spaceship

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

NASA and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement calling for the Europeans to provide the service module for the Orion space capsule, the U.S. space agency's crew vehicle for exploration beyond Earth orbit. The hardware would provide the Orion with propulsion, power, thermal control and basic supplies such as water and breathable air. ESA said the design will be based on that of the ATV supply ships that are currently being sent to the International Space Station.

NASA-European Partnership on Deep-Space Capsule a First

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

For the first time, NASA is reaching out to a foreign space agency for help building a vehicle to launch astronauts into deep space. NASA has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) on its Orion spacecraft, a new capsule to carry people beyond Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, and to Mars. While NASA and its contractor Lockheed Martin will continue building the crew capsule of Orion, the spacecraft's service module will be taken over by Europe. The service module is a vital component that provides the power, thermal and propulsion systems for the Orion capsule.

Europe and US agree details for Orion astronaut spacecraft

Jonathan Amos - BBC News

The US and Europe have cemented their plan to work together on the Americans' next-generation capsule system to take humans beyond Earth. The Orion vehicle is being built to carry astronauts to the Moon, asteroids and Mars, but it will need a means to propel itself through space. Europe has now formally agreed to provide this technology.

U. S. Commercial Space Looks for a Few Well Groomed Men

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

Can the drama of a group stroll along the Fiscal Cliff compare with the passion for space travel that reverberated through the 1960s? Unilever, a U. K. based global retailer of consumer goods ranging from Hellman's mayonnaise to Popsicles, is testing the waters with a space themed promotional campaign for its AXE men's personal care line of soap, deodorant, gels and cologne.
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COMPLETE STORIES

Glitch Stalls Robotic Refueling Experiment in Space

Mike Wall - Space.com

A software glitch has stalled an International Space Station experiment to test the ability of robots to refuel and repair satellites in orbit, NASA officials announced Wednesday.

The issue arose during NASA's latest round of field tests for the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM), which began Monday (Jan. 14) and was expected to last about 10 days. The demonstration calls for using the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm and its attached Dextre robot to simulate refueling a satellite in space.

On Tuesday evening (Jan. 15), the Canadian Space Agency — which provided the space station's Dextre robot and the Canadarm2 — requested a temporary halt in RRM operations, according to a status update.

"An intermittent difference in the software that controls Canadarm2, the International Space Station's Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System, requires further analysis to ensure safe operations," NASA officials wrote in Wednesday's mission update.

"Canadarm2 and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, has temporarily been placed in a safe configuration while engineering teams on the ground assess the data," they added. "CSA will provide a status shortly to determine when work can safely resume."

The RRM experiment hardware was delivered to the space station in July 2011 by the shuttle Atlantis during the last-ever flight of NASA's storied space shuttle program. The experiment's goal is to demonstrate technologies that could fix and refuel orbiting satellites robotically, thereby extending spacecraft lifetimes and potentially saving satellite operators billions of dollars.

Other applications may also develop from such capabilities, NASA officials have said.

"The technologies we're building to help rescue satellites in five years could be the very same ones used to clean up space 10 years in the future or save a spacecraft on the way to Mars 30 years from now," Benjamin Reed, deputy project manager of NASA's Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office, which built RRM, said in a statement. "RRM is just the beginning."

RRM is a washing-machine-size module affixed to the space station's exterior that contains activity boards and tools necessary to practice on-orbit refueling. The first RRM experiments took place last year, when controllers on the ground used Dextre to snip two razor-thin wires with just a few millimeters of clearance.

The latest round of operations will ratchet up the difficulty level, with Dextre snipping more wires, unscrewing caps and pumping simulated fuel, NASA officials said.

ASAP report focuses on commercial crew funding and contracting risk

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

Late last week NASA released the annual report by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), highlighting the key safety-related issues the independent panel sees with the space agency's programs. This year's report highlights in particular NASA's commercial crew efforts, worrying that a lack of funding and non-traditional contracting mechanisms could increase risks to crews that will fly on these vehicles.

"Of all of the topics reviewed by the ASAP this year, the one receiving the most time and attention was unquestionably the Commercial Crew Program (CCP)," ASAP noted in its report, calling attention to it also in cover letters that accompanied the report to the NASA Administrator, the Speaker of the House, and the President of the Senate. ASAP expressed concern about the use of Space Act Agreements, as it has in the past, although the panel agreed with NASA's use of fixed-price contracts for the first phase of the certification process.

However, ASAP argued that the second, and much larger, phase of the certification process should be done with more conventional cost-plus contracts than fixed-price ones, as "we believe both schedule and safety would be at risk in a fixed-price environment because of the relative inability to defer or apply resources to problem areas that will inevitably develop."

A larger issue than contracting vehicles, though, was funding uncertainty for the commercial crew effort. The ASAP report noted that funding levels for the program in fiscal years 2011 and 2012 were approximately half of the administration's original request, with an anticipation of a similar shortfall from the requested $850 million in FY2013.

"Given NASA's budget history, it is unlikely there will be additional funding," the report stated. Instead, ASAP believes that the program will "make tradeoffs and changes to performance measures that would include accepting additional safety risk" with limited NASA insight that "could lead to unknowingly accepting substantial increases in risk to the safety of crews." (The report acknowledged another option, simply stretching out schedules, but apparently didn't consider it likely and didn't explain why.)

ASAP seemed more sanguine about the larger Exploration Systems Development (ESD) effort, which includes the Space Launch System (SLS) launcher and Orion spacecraft. "ESD is a program with wide support," the report stated. "Unlike CCP, ESD funding levels have remained relatively constant," although acknowledging that flat budgets create challenges for development programs that typically have a "classic skewed bell curve" spending profile.

The report doesn't note, though, that Orion and SLS funding are considerably below levels authorized in the agency's 2010 authorization act: in FY2012, for example, NASA received approximately $1.2 billion for Orion and $1.5 billion for SLS, but was authorized to spend $1.4 billion for Orion and $2.65 billion for SLS. Unless one believes the authorization bill figures overestimate the costs of these systems, there's potential schedule or other risks with their development, particularly with the SLS.

Bigelow inflatable module bound for space station

William Harwood - CBS News

An innovative inflatable module developed by a Las Vegas hotel entrepreneur will be attached to the International Space Station in 2015 for a two-year test run to evaluate the technology's performance in the harsh environment of space, NASA and company officials announced Wednesday.

Bigelow Aerospace will receive $17.8 million from NASA to supply a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, for the space station. The module will be launched, uninflated, aboard a commercial SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in 2015.

Once the Dragon is attached to the forward Harmony module, the station's robot arm will be used to pull the BEAM pallet from the cargo craft's unpressurized payload bay and attach it to the aft hatch of the port-side Tranquility module, 90 degrees up from the familiar multi-window Earth-facing cupola compartment. The space station crew then will activate the BEAM's pressurization system to inflate it.

Over the course of its two-year test run, instruments will measure its structural integrity and leak rate, along with temperature and radiation levels. The hatch leading into the module will remain mostly closed except for periodic visits by space station crew members for inspections and data collection. Following the test run, the module will be detached and jettisoned from the station.

"The International Space Station is a uniquely suited test bed to demonstrate innovative exploration technologies like the BEAM," William Gerstenmaier, NASA director of space operations said in a statement.

"As we venture deeper into space on the path to Mars, habitats that allow for long-duration stays in space will be a critical capability. Using the station's resources, we'll learn how humans can work effectively with this technology as we continue to advance our understanding in all aspects for long-duration spaceflight aboard the orbiting laboratory."

The BEAM test is being sponsored by NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program, which is focused on developing "prototype systems for future human exploration missions," according to the NASA statement. "The BEAM demonstration supports an AES objective to develop a deep space habitat for human missions beyond Earth orbit."

Bigelow Aerospace is owned by Robert Bigelow, an entrepreneur who made a fortune in real estate and the Budget Suites chain of hotels. Bigelow wants to build a commercial space station using larger BAE 330 inflatable modules, providing a relatively low-cost foothold in orbit for wealthy space tourists, university researchers and representatives from other nations who do not have ready access to space.

International space station to receive inflatable module

Brian Vastag - Washington Post

The international space station is getting a new, inflatable room that resembles a giant spare tire, NASA announced Wednesday.

Slated to launch in mid-2015, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, will fly to space deflated before being puffed into a 13-by-10-foot cylinder.

Rather than providing new living space for astronauts, the module will test whether inflatable habitats have a future as orbiting laboratories, lunar outposts or living quarters for deep-space missions.

And it's arriving at a bargain price for space hardware. NASA is paying Bigelow Aerospace of Nevada $17.8 million for the module.

"This is a great way for NASA to utilize private-sector investment, and for pennies on the dollar to expand our understanding of this technology," said Lori Garver, the agency's deputy administrator.

Station astronauts will periodically enter the BEAM to check whether its thick yet flexible walls, which include layers of Kevlar, adequately block the twin hazards of space travel: radiation and micrometeoroids traveling faster than bullets.

"The plan is to have the hatch closed most of the time, with the crew going in and out a few times a year to collect data," Garver said. The module will stay attached to the station for two years.

"We have ambitions to go to the moon someday, have a base there," said Robert Bigelow, the real estate and hotel magnate who founded Bigelow Aerospace.

Inflatables offer two advantages over traditional aluminum-can-like modules. They weigh less per cubic foot of living space, making them cheaper to launch, and they can balloon to diameters far too wide to fit on current rockets.

Bigelow licensed the concept from NASA in 1999 after the agency abandoned plans to use inflatable living quarters for a mission to Mars.

NASA is Bigelow's first customer. On Wednesday, Bigelow said he and his wife have invested $250 million into developing inflatable space habitats. They hope to attract wealthy tourists, pharmaceutical companies and governments that want affordable space programs to an orbital outpost that Bigelow says will be ready to fly in 2016.

Called Alpha, the private space station will offer living space for 12, twice the occupancy of the international space station. Renting one-sixth of Alpha for two months will cost $25 million, Bigelow said, transportation not included.

It's unclear if a market exists for a private space station, said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

Still, Bigelow has already tasted success. In 2006 and 2007, the company launched two small inflatable satellites atop Russian ballistic missiles. Both operated as planned.

Wednesday's announcement marks a deepening of NASA's partnerships with commercial companies. The agency is also funding three companies developing craft to transport astronauts to and from orbit — vehicles also needed to bring customers to Bigelow's outposts. One of those companies, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, will fly the BEAM module to the space station in the "trunk" of one of its uncrewed Dragon capsules.

"It sounds like a good deal for both NASA and Bigelow," said Pace. "Nothing can replace flight-test experience."

The project may also stymie criticism that the 16-nation international space station, which took 13 years to construct, has been underutilized by NASA, said former station commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. "It's a real step in the right direction."

For Space Station, a Pod That Folds Like a Shirt and Inflates Like a Balloon

Kenneth Chang - New York Times

An inflatable space pod to be attached to the International Space Station in a couple of years will be like no other piece of the station.

Instead of metal, its walls will be made of floppy cloth, making it easier to launch (and then inflate).

NASA said Wednesday that it had signed a $17.8 million contract with Bigelow Aerospace to build the module, which could reach the space station as soon as 2015. That is a bargain-basement price compared with most equipment the United States and other countries send into space, and the Bigelow agreement could serve as a model for how NASA puts together missions at lower costs by using a Kmart strategy: buying off-the-shelf pieces instead of developing its own designs.

"This program starts a relationship that we think, and we hope, is going to be meaningful between NASA and ourselves," Robert T. Bigelow, the chief executive of Bigelow Aerospace, said at a news conference here at the company's headquarters.

Low-Earth orbit, he said, is the "first target," but larger modules could be used for stations in deep space or for habitats on the Moon. "We have ambitions to get to the Moon someday, to have a base there," Mr. Bigelow said.

The fold-up, blow-up approach solves the conundrum of how to build something voluminous that can be packed into the narrow payload confines of a rocket. The soft sides of the module, called the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or Beam, will allow it to be scrunched like a T-shirt in a suitcase.

At the space station, it will be attached to an air lock and then inflated like a balloon and expanded by a factor of 10 to its full size — about 13 feet long and 10 feet in diameter, with about 560 cubic feet of space inside. At least initially, it will remain empty as NASA gathers data about its characteristics, including temperature and protection against micrometeorites.

The balloonlike structure is carefully designed not to pop. The fabric walls will consist of several layers including Vectran, a bullet-resistant material. Even if punctured by a high-speed meteorite, the fabric does not tear. A hole in a metal structure in space, by comparison, can cause explosive decompression as air rushes out.

When the Beam module reaches the space station, astronauts might go to it to seek solitude: engineers expect it will be the quietest spot there. The fabric walls absorb sound vibrations instead of transmitting them.

Beam revives a concept that NASA developed more than a decade ago for an inflatable four-story crew quarters on the space station. Congress halted the work as the station's construction costs grew sharply.

Mr. Bigelow, who made a fortune in construction and hotels, licensed the technology from NASA and set up his factory here in North Las Vegas, investing more than $250 million of his own money. The company has already launched two unmanned prototypes into orbit, showing that they can remain inflated for years.

If Beam is successful, NASA will probably incorporate the technology into any manned mission to an asteroid or elsewhere in the solar system, or to build a base on the Moon or Mars. Inflatables could also overturn notions of what a spacecraft ought to look like: Instead of the sleek, shiny machines imagined in science fiction, the practical ones of the future may be blobby, soft-sided contraptions.

Mr. Bigelow holds space ambitions of his own. His company is building two much larger inflatable modules, each with 11,600 cubic feet of space, to launch as the world's first private space station, docked together as station Alpha. The plan is to lease space on Alpha to countries that want to set up low-cost space programs and companies that want to conduct zero-gravity research. Tourists might be invited, too.

At the news conference, Mr. Bigelow announced prices for travelers to his space station: $26.25 million for a 60-day stay, including the ride to orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX. If the traveler wished to book the rocket ride in a more expensive capsule under development by Boeing, the cost would be about $10 million more.

Mr. Bigelow said the pieces of his private space station would be ready for business as soon as other companies were able to provide the rocket transportation for the people going up and down. The Beam module is a variation of earlier designs, allowing Bigelow to set a fixed price for NASA. With most of its development programs, NASA pays the contractor for time and effort — and overruns. With the fixed-price contract, if Bigelow runs into obstacles, the company, not NASA, will absorb the additional costs.

"For pennies on the dollar, NASA will be able to test a technology that could have implications for future exploration," said Lori Garver, NASA's deputy administrator. "It represents a new way of doing business."

If Bigelow succeeds not only at building inflatable structures, but also at juggling the logistics of operating and supplying a space station, its private stations could soon overshadow the International Space Station.

The first Bigelow station, which could be in orbit by late 2016, would be large enough to house a dozen people, twice as many as the International Space Station.

The company intends to build additional ones to meet demand, and it has already begun designing an enormous module with 74,000 cubic feet of space.

Space station to get $18 million balloon-like room

Hannah Dreier - Associated Press

NASA is partnering with a commercial space company in a bid to replace the cumbersome "metal cans" that now serve as astronauts' homes in space with inflatable bounce-house-like habitats that can be deployed on the cheap.

A $17.8 million test project will send to the International Space Station an inflatable room that can be compressed into a 7-foot tube for delivery, officials said Wednesday in a news conference at North Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace.

If the module proves durable during two years at the space station, it could open the door to habitats on the moon and missions to Mars, NASA engineer Glen Miller said.

The agency chose Bigelow for the contract because it was the only company working on inflatable technology, said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver.

Founder and President Robert Bigelow, who made his fortune in the hotel industry before getting into the space business in 1999, framed the gambit as an out-of-this-world real estate venture. He hopes to sell his spare tire habitats to scientific companies and wealthy adventurers looking for space hotels.

NASA is expected to install the 13-foot, blimp-like module in a space station port by 2015. Bigelow plans to begin selling stand-alone space homes the next year.

The new technology provides three times as much room as the existing aluminum models, and is also easier and less costly to build, Miller said.

Artist renderings of the module resemble a tinfoil clown nose grafted onto the main station. It is hardly big enough to be called a room. Miller described it as a large closet with padded white walls and gear and gizmos strung from two central beams.

Garver said Wednesday that sending a small inflatable tube into space will be dramatically cheaper than launching a full-sized module.

"Let's face it; the most expensive aspect of taking things in space is the launch," she said. "So the magnitude of importance of this for NASA really can't be overstated."

The partnership is another step toward outsourcing for NASA, which no longer enjoys the budget and public profile of its heyday. The agency has handed off rocket-building to private companies, retired it space shuttles in 2011 and now relies on Russian spaceships to transport American astronauts to and from the space station.

Astronauts will test the ability of the bladder, known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, to withstand heat, radiation, debris and other assaults. Some adventurous scientists might also try sleeping in the spare room, which is the first piece of private real estate to be blasted into space, Garver said.

Bigelow said the NASA brand will enable him to begin selling Kevlar habitats several times the size of the test module.

"This year is probably going to be our kickoff year for talking to customers," he said. "We have to show that we can execute what we're talking about."

Bigelow, who launched a small prototype of the module in 2006 after licensing the patent from NASA, will rely on Boeing Co. and Southern California rocket developer Space Exploration Technologies to provide transportation.

A 60-day stay will cost $25 million, which doesn't include the $27.5 million it costs to get there and back.

Bigelow predicted that the primary customers will be upwardly mobile countries including Brazil, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates that "have a difficult time getting their astronauts into orbit" and could use a private space station to barter and build up prestige.

The biggest technological challenge will be transporting the collapsed module through the sub-zero temperatures of space without tearing or cracking any part of it, Miller said.

When it arrives at the space station in 2015, scientists will blow it up and let it sit for a few days to test for leaks. If it does not hold as promised, NASA will take back a portion of the already bargain basement price it paid Bigelow.

Standing beside scale models of research stations on Mars and the moon, Miller said the project will encourage commercial ventures to follow the path NASA blazes into space.

He added that it could also help achieve the holy grail of space exploration: missions that send astronauts out of orbit for more than a year.

"The only way to do that is to expand it out and voila you have living space for three people to go to Mars," he said. "You can get three times the volume of a metallic can, and you can go up in the same ferry."

Balloon-like dwelling to be tested on Int'l Space Station

Irene Klotz - Reuters

A low-cost space dwelling that inflates like a balloon in orbit will be tested aboard the International Space Station, opening the door for commercial leases of future free-flying outposts and deep-space astronaut habitats for NASA.

The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, nicknamed BEAM, will be the third orbital prototype developed and flown by privately owned Bigelow Aerospace.

The Las Vegas-based company, founded in 1999 by Budget Suites of America hotel chain owner Robert Bigelow, currently operates two small unmanned experimental habitats called Genesis 1, launched in 2006, and Genesis 2, which followed a year later.

BEAM, about 13 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter when inflated, is scheduled for launch in mid-2015 aboard a Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon cargo ship, said Mike Gold, director of operations for Bigelow Aerospace.

"It will be the first expandable habitat module ever constructed for human occupancy," Gold said.

A successful test flight on the space station would be a stepping stone for planned Bigelow-staffed orbiting outposts that the company plans to lease to research organizations, businesses and wealthy individuals wishing to vacation in orbit.

Bigelow has invested about $250 million in inflatable habitation modules so far. It has preliminary agreements with seven non-U.S. space and research agencies in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, Japan, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.

"The value to me personally and to our company is doing a project with NASA," Robert Bigelow said. "This is our first opportunity to do that. We do have other ambitions."

NASA, which will pay Bigelow Aerospace $17.8 million for the BEAM habitat, also is interested in the technology to house crew during future expeditions beyond the space station, a $100 billion research complex that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

"Whether you're going to the surface of the moon or even Mars, the benefits of expandable habitats are critical for any exploration mission," Gold said.

The lightweight, soft-skinned inflatable, made of materials similar to Kevlar, has several advantages over traditional metallic space dwellings. BEAM, for example, weighs about 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg), less than a third of traditional, similarly sized space modules, so it can be launched for a fraction of the cost.

Radiation events

It also offers a potentially safer radiation environment than metal structures, which can produce body-piercing secondary heavy particles during solar storms and other cosmic radiation events.

The U.S. space agency studied inflatable space habitats for humans in the 1990s under a NASA program called TransHab. The tests included blasting a model structure with bullet-like projectiles to see how well it would withstand micro meteoroid and orbital debris hits. The material proved space-worthy, though budget and political issues prompted the project's cancellation in 2000.

Bigelow later licensed the technology from NASA and spent millions of dollars more to develop it.

"It's one of our classical roles to advance technology so the private sector can utilize it. In this case, we're going to be able to benefit from it again," said NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver.

BEAM will be attached to the station's Tranquility connecting node and inflated with pressurized air to form a rigid, cylinder-shaped, balloon-like dwelling.

Garver said there are no firm plans for what the station's six live-aboard crew members will do with their spare room.

Initially, NASA and Bigelow are interested in getting information about how the structure withstands radiation and maintains a stable temperature in orbit, and also whether the fabric mildews or becomes a place where contaminants in the station's air collects.

Beyond the test flight, Bigelow's commercial business is dependent on the development of space taxis to fly company personnel and guests into orbit. NASA likewise is looking to the private sector to fly its astronauts to and from the space station, a service now solely provided by Russia at a cost of more than $60 million per person.

NASA is investing in three companies - Boeing Co, Space Exploration Technologies, also known as SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corp - in hopes of having at least one space transportation system ready to fly before the end of 2017. The space station, a project of 15 nations, currently is funded through 2020.

Bigelow has agreements with Boeing and SpaceX for launch services, if and when they become available. SpaceX plans a test launch with company astronauts before the end of 2015, and Boeing's first piloted flight is pegged for 2016.

Inside NASA's Deal for an Inflatable Space Station Room

Leonard David - Space.com

A new deal between NASA and a commercial spaceflight company to add a privately built module to the International Space Station could lead to future uses of the novel space technology beyond low-Earth orbit, space agency and company officials say.

NASA will pay $17.8 million to Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas to build an inflatable module, test it and prep it for flight. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is to be launched around the summer of 2015.

The space agency and Bigelow officials provided details of the contract in a Las Vegas briefing Wednesday.

The new inflatable BEAM will be launched to the International Space Station by a Falcon 9 rocket built by another private spaceflight company, California-based SpaceX. The module will be cocooned inside the unpressurized cargo hold of SpaceX's Dragon capsule atop the Falcon 9. NASA has already purchased the launch of the SpaceX Falcon under a separate Commercial Resupply Services contract.

The module will be installed on an open berth of the station's Node 3 connecting module using a robotic arm. Once it is attached, the inflatable room will be activated by station astronauts, adding to the volume of orbiting laboratory.

An inflatable space room

The module is cylindrical, weighs roughly 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) and is about 13 feet (4 meters) long and 10.5 feet (3.2 m) wide.

Bigelow Aerospace's founder and president is Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas-based general contractor, real estate tycoon, hotel businessman and developer. Since 1999, his company has been focused on creating affordable inflatable space habitats for national space agencies and corporate clients.

In 2006 and 2007 the firm launched orbiting prototypes of its expandable habitat technology, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Work is ongoing within Bigelow Aerospace on BA 330 modules, structures that offer 12,000 cubic feet (330 cubic meters) of internal space.

Michael Gold, director of Washington, D.C., operations and business growth for Bigelow Aerospace LLC, based in Chevy Chase, Md., said: "With Genesis 1 and 2, Bigelow Aerospace showed the world that it can achieve escape velocity from high costs. We're going to do this again with the BEAM, bringing both innovation and a vital demonstration of affordability to the crown jewel of NASA's human spaceflight program, the International Space Station."

A technology test

At this time, NASA's planned use of the BEAM is for technology demonstration, to validate experimental expandable habitat technology and let the space agency become more familiar with it, Gold told SPACE.com in an exclusive interview.

"I'm told the BEAM will be acoustically the quietest location aboard the station, due to the non-metallic nature of the structure," he said.

NASA's interest in the module for the International Space Station was first reported on SPACE.com by this reporter in January 2011 — so why the long glide path, some two years, for the project to become a reality?

In actuality, the program "moved forward with relative alacrity," Gold responded.

"The ISS is the pinnacle of the human spaceflight program. NASA went through a thorough amount of analysis prior to agreeing about BEAM … Analysis and study does take time," Gold said. "It demonstrates the attention and commitment to safety and quality that both NASA and Bigelow Aerospace have."

BEAM bonus in space

For Bigelow, there is another bonus from having BEAM attached to the space station: the chance to generate more business.

"Many in the foreign community perceive NASA as the gold star. I can think of no stronger statement relative to NASA's confidence both in Bigelow Aerospace and expandable habitat technology than their desire to place BEAM aboard the ISS," Gold said. "That speaks volumes not just domestically, but possibly more importantly, overseas as well. I think that any sovereign client or potential clientele should be paying attention to this."

Gold said the private entrepreneurial firm is pleased to be working with NASA to further validate the promise and benefits of expandable habitat technology – and not only in low-Earth orbit, but beyond.

Beyond BEAM, Bigelow Aerospace is "moving aggressively" on the larger BA 330 module, "dedicating a great deal of resources" to expeditiously push forward an expandable habitat of that size.

Beyond LEO habitats

According to the Bigelow Aerospace website, the BA 330 can function as an independent space station, and several BA 330 habitats can be connected together in a modular fashion to create an even larger and more capable orbital space complex.

Robert Bigelow and his team have extensively blueprinted concepts for their expandable habitats to be used at other destinations.

"Expandable habitats are an enabling technology that will make the dream of robust beyond-LEO human space exploration a reality," Gold said. "Regardless of the ultimate destination, be it L2 [Lagrange Point 2], the surface of the moon or even a historic mission to Mars, the large volumes provided by Bigelow Aerospace systems, combined with enhanced protection from radiation and physical debris, make habitats such as the BA 330 an essential part of any realistic beyond-LEO architecture."

Gold said he knows Capitol Hill wants to see a robust beyond-LEO human space exploration strategy, but that new funding will be hard to come by.

"The BA 330 and expandable habitats will not just offer enhanced protection from radiation and micrometeorites, but protect future astronauts from a much more dangerous threat …lack of funding," Gold concluded.

Space station to add inflatable module in 2015

James Dean - Florida Today

NASA plans to add a privately developed inflatable module to the International Space Station in 2015, launching it from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a SpaceX cargo mission.

Designed by Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, the module would stay attached to the station for a two-year demonstration of its capabilities before being jettisoned.

Similar technology could eventually be deployed as private space stations, or possibly fit into NASA's exploration plans.

"As we venture deeper into space on the path to Mars, habitats that allow for long-duration stays in space will be a critical capability," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in a statement.

Called a Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, the $17.8-million module measures about 13 feet long and 10.5 feet in diameter when fully deployed.

It is slated to fly on SpaceX's eighth station resupply mission, packed in a Dragon capsule's unpressurized "trunk."

The space station's robotic arm will attach the module to the Tranquility node, and a pressurization system will inflate it.

Astronauts will enter the module periodically to gather data and perform inspections, NASA said.

The technology demonstration should provide valuable information about the structural integrity, leak rates, and radiation and temperature changes experienced by inflatable habitats compared with traditional aluminum modules.

Bigelow has already deployed two prototypes in orbit, Genesis I and Genesis II, but the BEAM would be the first expandable habitat occupied by humans.

"It's a historic program for the technology," said Mike Gold, Bigelow's director of D.C. operations and business growth. "There is substantial value to demonstrating the technology in a crewed environment for the first time."

Gold said expandable habitats offer larger volumes and improved protection from radiation and space debris.

And because they are more affordable, he said, they "can protect ambitious human exploration programs from a threat even more pernicious than radiation or micrometeorites, such as budget cuts."

Bigelow has long said its technology could expand the space station's usable volume at a fraction of the cost.

The company's proposed BA 330 habitat, about three times the size of the planned space station addition, is designed to support up to six crew members, the same number living on the space station.

Bigelow is marketing the private stations to foreign space agencies, companies and wealthy individuals as an alternative destination to the International Space Station, perhaps accessible by commercial crew spacecraft that are now in development.

The company expects NASA's endorsement and the experience on the space station to increase confidence among potential customers, and says NASA will benefit, too.

"Working with us is an example of how NASA can continue with aggressive technology development even in today's fiscally constrained environment," said Gold.

Lori Garver, NASA deputy administrator, was at the news conference about the partnership Wednesday at Bigelow's headquarters in North Las Vegas.

"Today we're demonstrating progress on a technology that will advance important long-duration human spaceflight goals," she said in a news release. "NASA's partnership with Bigelow opens a new chapter in our continuing work to bring the innovation of industry to space, heralding cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably."

NASA's Original Inflatable Space Station

Amy Shira Teitel - Discovery News

This week, NASA announced that crews aboard the International Space Station will soon test an inflatable space module in orbit. The "balloon-like" module prototype will be manufactured by Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace and it's scheduled for a 2015 launch aboard a SpaceX cargo run to the station.

The technology certainly has exciting implications – imagine being able to launch a full habitat to the moon on a single rocket! — but it's not a novel idea. The Bigelow Aerospace design has its roots in the inflatable NASA concept TransHab developed (and ultimately canceled) for living on the space station, but designs for inflatable space habitats go even further back than that. NASA's Langley research center originally considered an inflatable space station as a jumping off point for lunar missions in 1959.

In the late 1950s, most proponents of space exploration was an Earth orbiting station as a necessary step on the way to deep space missions. Engineers at the Langley research center were no exception, formally entering the space station game in the spring of 1959. On April 1, NASA created a Research Steering Committee for Manned Space Flight led by Harry Goett. The Goett Committee as it became known included representatives from all NASA centers who met to discuss the agency's future on May 25. Representatives from Langley wasted no time, jumping into a presentation on the merits of a space station.

Called the Advanced Man in Space – AMIS – program, Langley's vision proposed a station with a type of shuttle vehicle that could take astronauts to distant points in the solar system. The station itself would help NASA study the psychological and physiological effects of extended spaceflight on astronauts and at the same time train crews for future demanding missions. It would also be a test bed for the new technology the space agency would no doubt have to develop to explore the Cosmos.

After a series of concept studies, Langley engineers settled on a self-deploying inflatable design for its space station. Noninflatable configurations had been systematically passed over: a cylindrical module attached to a booster's upper stage was dynamically unstable; a modular concept would need too many launches; and hub-and-spoke designs, basically big orbiting Ferris wheels, were expected to have disorientating and nauseating effects on a crew.

Langley's winning design was an inflatable torus — astronauts would basically live inside a giant orbiting doughnut – designed with the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation. Properly called the Erectable Torus Manned Space Laboratory, Langley's ideal torus was a flat design 24 feet in diameter that could be packed snugly inside a rocket for protected on its ride through the atmosphere to orbit. Once inflated, the inner habitable volume could provide astronauts with varying strengths of artificial gravity anywhere between O and 1 G, and ports on the outside of the torus could accept incoming and launch outgoing shuttles.

But there was one major problem with the inflatable aspect – it was extremely vulnerable. Meteorites and micrometeorites posed the greatest and most immediate danger, but it wasn't the only worry. Some engineers worried that astronauts moving vigorously inside the torus could somehow rip through the structure and shoot themselves out into space. Goodyear built a research model out of a lightweight three-ply nylon cord held together by butyl elastome, a sticky, rubber-like material. This strengthened the torus, but it wasn't enough. It would still be vulnerable during a meteoroid shower.

Stability issues cropped up, too, again from the crews' expected vigorous movements. Some engineers thought it was possible for astronauts to move around with enough force that the torus would start wobbling. A wobble, even a slight one, could make the station an unstable (and nauseating) place to be.

To address these strength and stability problems head on, Langley built a 10-foot-diameter elastically scaled model of the torus. The model was finished and ready for testing in the summer of 1961. But by then the torus was out of fashion, passed over in favor of a more rigid hexagonal design, also lightweight and foldable, and also from Langley.

But the bigger problem facing the space stations was NASA's new commitment to the moon. Benefits of spending the time in orbit to prepare men for the two-week trip from to the moon couldn't outweigh the need to get there first. Space stations, both inflatable models and their more rigid offshoots, were shelved.

NASA to BEAM Up Inflatable Space Station Module

Nancy Atkinson - Universe Today

More details have emerged on NASA's plan to add the first commercial module to the International Space Station, an inflatable room built by Bigelow Aerospace. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which is scheduled to arrive at the space station in 2015 for a two-year technology demonstration.

It will be delivered by another commercial company, SpaceX, on what is planned to be the eighth cargo resupply mission too the ISS for Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket. Astronauts will use the station's robotic arm to install the module on the aft port of the Tranquility node. NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver announced Wednesday NASA has awarded a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace for BEAM.

"Today we're demonstrating progress on a technology that will advance important long-duration human spaceflight goals," Garver said. "NASA's partnership with Bigelow opens a new chapter in our continuing work to bring the innovation of industry to space, heralding cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably."

BEAM is a cylindrical module, like all other ISS modules, and is about somewhat similar in size to the US Harmony module, as BEAM is about 4 meters (13 feet) long and 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) wide; Harmony 7.2 meters (24 ft) in length, and it has a diameter of 4.4 meters (14 ft). But weight is where the two vastly differ: Harmony weighs in 14,288 kilograms (31,500 lb), while BEAM weighs roughly 1,360 kg (3,000 pounds). And that is the big advantage of inflatable structures for use in space: their mass and volume are relatively small when launched, reducing launch costs.

Leonard David reports on Space.com that the BEAM module should be much quieter than the other modules due to the non-metallic nature of the structure.

After the module is berthed to the Tranquility node, the station crew will activate a pressurization system to expand the structure to its full size using air stored within the packed module.

During the two-year test period, station crew members and ground-based engineers will gather performance data on the module, including its structural integrity and leak rate. An assortment of instruments embedded within module also will provide important insights on its response to the space environment. This includes radiation and temperature changes compared with traditional aluminum modules.

BEAM will also be assessed for future habitats for long-duration space missions, said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA.

Astronauts periodically will enter the module to gather performance data and perform inspections. Following the test period, the module will be jettisoned from the station, and will burn up on re-entry.

Bigelow Aerospace says the BEAM 330 module can function as an independent space station, or several of the inflatable habitats can be connected together in a modular fashion to create an even larger and more capable orbital space complex.

Bigelow also lists their radiation shielding as equivalent to or better than the other modules on the International Space Station and substantially reduces the dangerous impact of secondary radiation, while their innovative Micrometeorite and Orbital Debris Shield "provides protection superior to that of the traditional 'aluminum can' designs, according to the Bigelow Aerospace website.

ESA service module to power NASA's Orion deep space capsule

William Harwood - CBS News

The European Space Agency will supply the service module that will power an initial unmanned test flight of NASA's Orion deep space exploration capsule in 2017 and provide components for a second, manned mission in 2021 under an agreement discussed Wednesday at the Johnson Space Center.

The service module, which will provide propulsion, electrical power, thermal control and life support system components and supplies, will be based on the design of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle, an unmanned supply ship that has completed three flights to the International Space Station.

The solar-powered service module will be located just behind the Orion crew capsule, between the spacecraft heat shield and the launch vehicle. NASA will supply the critical load-bearing interfaces and will contribute space shuttle orbital maneuvering system engines for the propulsion system.

"We put them in the critical path," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's director of spaceflight operations at agency headquarters. "We probably wouldn't have done that without the experience we've had in space station."

Depending on how the cooperative venture goes from a technical perspective -- and assuming continued political support and funding -- NASA and ESA could agree to additional joint flights or pursue modified objectives.

But in the near term, officials say, the agreement will help both parties transition from work in low-Earth orbit to deep space operations ranging from flights back to the moon, to nearby asteroids and, eventually, to Mars.

"To me, the essential part of this is not whether we've accelerated something or not, it's actually initiating international partnership beyond low-Earth orbit, that's really the key," said Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager.

Gerstenmaier agreed, saying the agreement "allows us to work smarter within the contracts we have to make sure we're going to get to those dates of 2017 and 2021 with more robustness."

"We shouldn't try to go look at what ESA's contributing and then try to subtract that out of our budget. We're actually getting a better, more robust design by cooperating together."

Thomas Reiter, a veteran ESA astronaut who serves as that agency's director of human spaceflight and operations, declined to provide funding details other than to say the overall cost to ESA is expected to be in the range of $600 million ($450 million euros).

"This is a remarkable moment for ESA," he said. "We are opening a new page in trans-Atlantic cooperation for ESA, being involved in the building of a space transportation system (that) will give a perspective for humans to go beyond low-Earth orbit.

"Certainly, low-Earth orbit will remain a destination for us, we have a fantastic infrastructure in orbit. ... But another aspect is, of course, to bring humans beyond low-Earth orbit to new destinations. And this cooperation brings us into this endeavor."

Under the direction of the Obama administration, NASA is implementing a two-tiered approach to post-shuttle manned space operations.

The agency is funding a competition to develop private-sector spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station on a commercial basis. At the same time, NASA is developing the Orion capsule and a new heavy-lift Space Launch System booster for government operated flights to a variety of deep space destinations.

Using a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket, an unmanned Orion is scheduled for the program's maiden launch in 2014. Known as Exploration Flight Test 1, the objectives of the initial mission are to propel the Orion capsule to an altitude of 3,600 miles, setting up a high-speed re-entry and heat shield test.

Exploration Mission 1, also unmanned, is targeted for launch in late 2017 using an initial version of the planned Space Launch System booster. Preliminary plans call for a weeklong mission to the vicinity of the moon and back.

If all goes well, the first manned mission, EM-2, would follow in 2021 with another round-trip flight to the moon.

"EM-1 and EM-2, at this point we conceptually talk about them going to the vicinity of the moon," Gerstenmaier said. "We're still looking at what the details are and what we want to go really do with those missions."

NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit.

Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's new Orion crew capsule, officials said Wednesday. This so-called service module will be based on Europe's supply ship used for the International Space Station.

Orion's first trip is an unmanned mission in 2017. Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021.

NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon. The exact details are being worked out; lunar fly-bys, rather than landings, are planned.

NASA wants to ultimately use the bell-shaped Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars. International cooperation will be crucial for such endeavors, Gerstenmaier told reporters.

The United States has yet to establish a clear path forward for astronauts, 1 1/2 years after NASA's space shuttles stopped flying. The basic requirements for Orion spacecraft are well understood regardless of the destination, allowing work to proceed, Gerstenmaier said.

"You don't design a car to just go to the grocery store," he told reporters.

Getting to 2017 will be challenging, officials for both space programs acknowledged. Gerstenmaier said he's not "100 percent comfortable" putting Europe in such a crucial role. "But I'm never 100 percent comfortable" with spaceflight, he noted. "We'll see how it goes, but we've done it smartly."

The space station helped build the foundation for this new effort, he said.

Former astronaut Thomas Reiter, Europe's director of human spaceflight, said it makes sense for the initial Orion crew to include Europeans. For now, though, the focus is on the technical aspects, he said. NASA will supply no-longer-used space shuttle engines for use on the service modules.

Reiter put the total European contribution at nearly $600 million.

Orion originally was part of NASA's Constellation program that envisioned moon bases in the post-shuttle era. President Barack Obama canceled Constellation, but Orion was repurposed and survived.

A test flight of the capsule is planned for next year; it will fly 3,600 miles away and then return.

Europe will provide service module for Orion

James Dean - Florida Today

Plans for Europe to provide a key component for NASA's 2017 test flight of a new spacecraft represent the start of the international collaboration needed to send humans on deep space destinations, officials said Wednesday.

"As we push humans out into the solar system, we're doing it internationally, and this is that first step," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human spaceflight programs.

Under a deal signed last month, the European Space Agency will contribute the service module supporting an unmanned Orion capsule during its first launch from Kennedy Space Center atop the heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket.

The service module provides power, propulsion and life support for Orion, which is being designed to carry up to four astronauts on trips to the moon, an asteroid or Mars.

The entire spacecraft, including the crew and service modules, a heat shield and a launch abort system, will be assembled at KSC, where the Orion contractor team remains on track to grow to 350 or 400 within a year.

Europe's service module will be based on its ATV cargo resupply vehicle, which is scheduled to make a fourth flight to the International Space Station in April.

Officials said their space station partnership had provided the experience and framework to work together on exploration missions.

"Exploration in the future I think will become more and more an international endeavor," said Thomas Reiter, ESA's director of human spaceflight and operations. "This is a good choice to make in order to exploit synergies developed in the past and that can be beneficial for reaching common objectives."

Europe's contribution to the late 2017 mission will be worth about $200 million, Reiter said, but that won't translate directly into savings for NASA.

The deal won't change the value of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Orion prime contract, which is projected to reach $14.5 billion through the capsule's first crewed flight in 2021.

Rather, Gerstenmaier said, the deal would improve the overall system and allow some work to be shifted to help reach the launch targets.

"It allows us to kind of work smarter within the contracts we have to make sure we're going to get to those dates, the 2017 and 2021 date, with more robustness," he said.

The early cooperation with Europe, and potential deals with other nations, could ultimately influence the missions NASA chooses to fly, Gerstenmaier said.

For now, the 2017 and 2021 missions are expected to fly "in the vicinity of the moon."

The agreement with Europe only covers the earlier flight, known as Exploration Mission 1, but if spare parts aren't needed they could be applied to the second mission.

Meanwhile, Kennedy crews are preparing for a first launch of an unmanned Orion in 2014 atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Called Exploration Flight Test-1, the mission aims to loft Orion 3,600 miles above Earth to test how its heat shield handles re-entry at near the speed of a lunar return.

Lockheed will provide the service module for that flight.

Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion program manager, said the agency had a plan to fix cracks in several structural ribs that occurred during November pressure tests of the first space-bound Orion.

"We're actually flying in 20 months," he said. "We're down at the Cape installing hardware as we speak, and doing software testing in Denver. So it's an exciting time for us."

Geyer said the service module deal with Europe wouldn't accelerate the 2017 mission, but that is not what mattered most.

"It's actually initiating international partnership beyond low Earth orbit," he said. "That's really the key."

Europeans sign pact to build a key piece of NASA's Orion spaceship

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

NASA and the European Space Agency have signed an agreement calling for the Europeans to provide the service module for the Orion space capsule, the U.S. space agency's crew vehicle for exploration beyond Earth orbit.

The hardware would provide the Orion with propulsion, power, thermal control and basic supplies such as water and breathable air. ESA said the design will be based on that of the ATV supply ships that are currently being sent to the International Space Station.

"ATV has proven itself on three flawless missions to the space station, and this agreement is further confirmation that Europe is building advanced, dependable spacecraft," Nico Dettmann, head of the ATV's production program, said in an ESA statement.

The Orion's first test flight is scheduled for 2014, using a test service module built by Lockheed Martin. That unmanned launch would send the Orion to an altitude of 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers). The European-built service module would get its first in-space tryout along with the Orion capsule and heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket in 2017, during an unmanned test flight that would go around the moon and back.

"This is not a simple system," Orion program manager Mark Geyer said in a NASA statement. "ESA's contribution is going to be critical to the success of Orion's 2017 mission."

The first flight with astronauts aboard would follow a round-the-moon route in 2021, and ESA will provide components for that flight as well.

NASA's current exploration plan calls for the Orion-SLS system to send humans to a near-Earth asteroid in the mid-2020s, and to Mars and its moons in the 2030s. Meanwhile, the task of sending cargo and crew to the International Space Station would be left to commercial spaceship providers.

When the Orion-SLS program was unveiled in 2011, the development cost was estimated at $18 billion through 2017, and roughly that much more for the 2017-2022 time frame.

Under the NASA-ESA agreement, which was signed in December and announced on Wednesday, ESA will provide the design and the hardware for the Orion service module as part of its contribution to the International Space Station project. The BBC reported that without such a contribution, ESA would owe NASA $600 million for the 2017-2020 period.

"Space has long been a frontier for international cooperation as we explore," Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration system development, said in the space agency's statement. "This latest chapter builds on NASA's excellent relationship with ESA as a partner in the International Space Station, and helps us move forward in our plans to send humans farther into space than we've ever been before."

Even though ESA will provide the service module, its propulsion system will make use of engines left over from NASA's space shuttle program.

Bill Gerstenmaier, director of spaceflight operations at NASA Headquarters, said the European contribution would help keep the Orion project on track for the 2017 and 2021 flights. "We shouldn't try to go look at what ESA's contributing and then try to subtract that out of our budget," he told reporters. "We're actually getting a better, more robust design by cooperating together."

He acknowledged that the agreement put the Europeans in the "critical path" for future U.S. space exploration.

"I'm a realist, and I know that this won't be easy," he said. "It's not 100 percent comfortable — but I'm never 100 percent comfortable."

NASA-European Partnership on Deep-Space Capsule a First

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

For the first time, NASA is reaching out to a foreign space agency for help building a vehicle to launch astronauts into deep space.

NASA has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) on its Orion spacecraft, a new capsule to carry people beyond Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, and to Mars. While NASA and its contractor Lockheed Martin will continue building the crew capsule of Orion, the spacecraft's service module will be taken over by Europe. The service module is a vital component that provides the power, thermal and propulsion systems for the Orion capsule.

The spacecraft is designed to be launched by a NASA heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System, which is also under development now.

"We are opening a new page in transatlantic cooperation, [with] ESA being involved in the building of a U.S. space transportation system," Thomas Reiter, a former ESA astronaut and director of the agency's human spaceflight office, said today (Jan. 16) in a NASA briefing. "We are very much aware that a lot of difficult and complicated work is still ahead of us, but that is very inspiring and I think all of us are looking forward to this fantastic endeavor."

Won't be easy

NASA and ESA already have a long history of cooperation on the International Space Station. The $100 billion orbiting laboratory is a joint project of 15 different countries represented by the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.

"With space station we've learned the real meaning of cooperation," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "It's actually giving up a piece of the work you're going to do, and actually counting on your partner to deliver."

Gerstenmaier admitted that the novel situation will likely prove challenging.

"I'm a realist and I know that this won't be easy," he said. "It's not 100-percent comfortable, but I'm never 100-percent comfortable, so it's okay, and we're doing it smartly."

One of the chief sources of difficulty will be managing the integration of the two spacecraft elements into one working vehicle. Gerstenmaier said the two space agencies had devoted significant thought to choosing the best meeting points and interfaces between the Orion crew capsule and service module to enable the elements to work together seamlessly.

While the partnership is a first for NASA, private U.S. companies such as United Launch Alliance, Orbital Sciences and SpaceX have used international components, such as elements built in Russia, on their rockets, said NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean.

The new agreement means the preliminary design for Orion will change slightly, notable from a vehicle with two protruding solar arrays spaced 180 degrees from each other, to a system of four solar arrays in a cross pattern resembling the X-wing starfighters from the "Star Wars" films. That design mimics the array formation on Europe's unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft, which deliver supplies to the space station.

"Orion will look different — the arrays look a lot like an ATV," said Orion program manager Mark Geyer. "I think that's a visual representation of this agreement and the changes that we're making."

Future partnerships

Europe plans to spend about U.S. $200 million (150 million Euros) to develop the service module for Orion's first test flight in 2017, as well as portions of the second service module for a later flight.

The deal does not specify whether any European astronauts will fly on Orion missions, but both partners said that is still a possibility.

"This cooperation opens new perspectives for bringing humans beyond low-Earth orbit and certainly this is one of the areas where I will start discussing with Bill [Gerstenmaier] what possibilities there are," Reiter said. "But at the moment we are focusing on the technical work that needs to be done. I think it would be a fantastic opportunity."

Gerstenmaier said the new ESA deal is only the first of what's likely to be numerous international partnerships on future deep space exploration.

"We're also looking at partners even beyond the [space station partners] to see if there are other contributions that folks might be interested in making," he said. "I truly believe it won't be bilateral. I think you'll see us reaching out to other partners."

Europe and US agree details for Orion astronaut spacecraft

Jonathan Amos - BBC News

The US and Europe have cemented their plan to work together on the Americans' next-generation capsule system to take humans beyond Earth.

The Orion vehicle is being built to carry astronauts to the Moon, asteroids and Mars, but it will need a means to propel itself through space.

Europe has now formally agreed to provide this technology.

Space agency executives have just signed an "implementing agreement" to cover the legal aspects of the work.

The first flight of Orion with its European-built "service module" will take place in 2017.

This demonstration will be unmanned and will see Orion go around the back of the Moon before returning to Earth for an ocean splashdown.

If all goes well, a crew is expected to repeat the feat in about 2021. The venture would echo the famous Apollo 8 mission of 1968.

The service module is the unit that sits directly behind the capsule and provides the propulsion, power, temperature control, as well as holding the astronauts' supplies of water and air.

"This is a new page in the transatlantic co-operation," said Thomas Reiter, the director of human spaceflight and operations at the European Space Agency (Esa).

"This is the first time that Esa is involved in the critical path for a human transportation system. It is a fantastic perspective for the future, taking humans beyond low-Earth orbit to new destinations for exploration," he told BBC News.

The current plan calls for Europe to build the prototype module for 2017 and a number of components that would be needed for the second vehicle in 2021, although a formal go-ahead to complete this additional model is some years off.

A clear subtext, of course, is that Europe hopes this initial deal will develop into a long-term relationship, and that this will increase the chances of its astronauts joining their American colleagues on missions into deep space.

Europe and the US will be using a barter arrangement to fund the module's production.

This means the Americans will pay no cash for the unit. Rather, they will view the free receipt of the hardware as compensation for the costs they themselves have incurred through Europe's use of the International Space Station (ISS).

To date, these costs have been covered by Europe's deliveries of cargo to the platform using its big robotic freighter known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).

But the production of these ATVs is nearing its end, and without the Orion option Europe would be in debt to the US to the cash-equivalent of 450m euros (£375m; $600m) for the period 2017-2020.

"More importantly than that financial piece is just the experience gained through the International Space Station," said Bill Gerstenmaier, Nasa's associate administrator for human exploration and operations.

"To build that wonderful facility on orbit, we needed to work a lot of technical issues, a lot of technical problems. And that experienced gained and that trust that grew between our European partners and our Nasa teams allowed us to go ahead and put together this service module agreement you see today."

European industry will now take key elements from the design of its ATV to make the Orion service module.

This work is quite advanced because feasibility studies in recent years have already considered how the ATV itself could be adapted into a crew vehicle.

"We are not starting from scratch," Mr Reiter explained. "Were that the case, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to meet the scheduling constraints."

One small, but nonetheless intriguing, aspect of the service module's production is the role, if any, that might be given to UK industry.

It was Britain's offer during discussions at the recent Esa Ministerial Council in November to put 20m euros (£16m; $27m) into the cost of the vehicle that helped ease the project towards approval. Under Esa rules, the UK could expect some return on this investment.

Mr Reiter said it was too early to talk specifics. However, he did add that at least some of the return could take the form of equipment procured for use on the space station's European science laboratory, Columbus.

Esa is expected to sign a formal contract with Astrium (Bremen, Germany) in the coming days to lead the production of the service module.

U. S. Commercial Space Looks for a Few Well Groomed Men

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

Can the drama of a group stroll along the Fiscal Cliff compare with the passion for space travel that reverberated through the 1960s?

Unilever, a U. K. based global retailer of consumer goods ranging from Hellman's mayonnaise to Popsicles, is testing the waters with a space themed promotional campaign for its AXE men's personal care line of soap, deodorant, gels and cologne.

Through a competition, the company's promotional AXE Apollo Space Academy will select 22 men and women for a seat aboard an XCOR Aerospace Lynx suborbital spacecraft operated by the Space Expedition Corp (SEC).

An inaugural winner will be selected from a drawing that follows the Feb. 3 Super Bowl, which will feature a 30 second advertisement for the Lynx flight. The remainder will come from a pool of 100 or so others selected from a year-long, 60-nation campaign and invited to the AXE Apollo Space Academy in Orlando, Fla., in December, for a final round of evaluation.

"Think you got the stomach for it?" taunts an early advertisement. "Join the AXE space academy now. Leave a man. Come home a hero."

Another promotion features a fireman risking flames in a collapsing high rise to rescue a beautiful young woman. Escorted to safety, she's quickly distracted by a space suited astronaut and runs to his arms.

"Nothing beats an astronaut," the fast paced advertisement concludes. "Ever."

Getting to the two seat cockpit of the shuttle-like Lynx will be a bit like a NASA astronaut selection process -- lots of applicants for a coveted opportunity for a few to experience an out of this world thrill.

Prospective flyers must go online, www.AXEApollo.com, to create a profile that explains their passion and hopefully impress those who read it and vote. Applicants must be at least 18 to apply.

SEC is looking toward 2014 to begin passenger flights.

The website deadline for the post Super Bowl drawing and the chance for one of the 22 to skip the rest of the competition and the Orlando space camp is Feb. 3 at 11:59:59, PST.

"Are you ready to make history," asks Buzz Aldrin, the soon to be 83-year-old former NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Module pilot who signed on with AXE Apollo to launch the promotion. "Now you, too, can become a member of the privileged group and experience everything I have."

At the Orlando academy, top applicants will board an L-39 Albatross jet trainer for a flight that reaches Mach 2. After breaking the sound barrier, contestants will participate in a Zero Gravity training flight and strap into a 6G centrifuge for a taste of the re-entry experience.

The prevailing 22 applicants can look forward to a kick in the pants runway take off and ascent to 103 kilometers in the XCOR Lynx, or just to the fringes of space. Just below the flight summit, the Lynx will begin to maneuver through a parabolic arc that will provide several seconds of weightless, and an enviable view.

Applicants and winners are required to provide their names, likeness and photographs for promotional purposes without further compensation. Then, there are the liability waivers to serve as a notice of the risk.

That's part of commercial space.

END

Keep the shuttle flying

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

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