Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - January 29, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: January 29, 2013 7:03:27 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - January 29, 2013 and JSC Today

 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            The JSC NMA Presents 'The 10 Commandments of Networking a Mixer'

2.            Orion Milestone All Hands Replay

3.            Sweetheart Spin -- Thursday, Feb. 14

4.            JSC: See the Space Station

5.            This Week at Starport

6.            Join Technology Transfer Strategies Today

7.            Funding IT-related Innovations: Q&A Session TODAY

8.            Human Systems Integration ERG Meeting Featuring Cost Estimation -- Today

9.            RLLS Translation Module WebEx Training: Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m.

________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY

" It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else. "

 

-- Erma Bombeck

________________________________________

1.            The JSC NMA Presents 'The 10 Commandments of Networking a Mixer'

Please join us for a JSC National Management Association (NMA) chapter luncheon presentation on "The 10 Commandments  of Networking a Mixer" with guest speaker Bertrand N. McHenry. Don't miss McHenry, a self-described "ninja referral strategist," as he teaches us to take the unstructured event, called a "mixer," and create structure for maximum effectiveness.

When: Tuesday, Feb. 5

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

o             Cost for members: $0

o             Cost for non-members: $20

There are three great menu options to choose from:

o             Tortellini and Roasted Portobello in a Blush Sauce

o             Pastrami-style Salmon

o             Turkey Scaloppine and Bruschetta Topping

Desserts: Italian cream cake or double chocolate mousse cake

 

Please RSVP here by NOON on Friday, Feb. 1, with your menu selection. For RSVP technical assistance, please contact Amy Kitchen via email or at x35569.

Catherine E. Williams x33317 http://www.jscnma.com/Events/

 

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2.            Orion Milestone All Hands Replay

If you missed the Orion All Hands on Jan. 16, you can catch replays of the meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 29, and Thursday, Jan. 31, at 9 a.m.

Tune in to watch NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) managers discuss the agreement to provide a service module for the Orion spacecraft's Exploration Mission-1 in 2017.

Employees can view the playback on RF Channel 2 or by using onsite IPTV on channels 202 and 402. If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.

Brandi Dean x41403

 

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3.            Sweetheart Spin -- Thursday, Feb. 14

Registration is now open for Starport's Third Annual SWEETHEART SPIN! Grab your sweetheart and sign up for this fun workout. This year we are making it extra special with some amazing prizes and giveaways.

Sweetheart Spin

o             Thursday, Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day)

o             6 to 7 p.m.

o             Gilruth Studio 2

Registration OPEN:

o             Jan. 29 to Feb. 13

o             $25 per couple

o             $15 per individual

All participants will receive Valentine's Day goodies and refreshments. One lucky participant will win a phenomenal HEART-rate monitor!

Don't delay --- sign up you and your sweetheart today.

Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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4.            JSC: See the Space Station

Viewers in the JSC area will be able to see the International Space Station this week.

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 6:26 a.m. (Duration: 4 minutes)

Path: 11 degrees above NW to 38 degrees above ESE

Maximum elevation: 58 degrees

Thursday, Jan. 31, 5:37 a.m. (Duration: 2 minutes)

Path: 23 degrees above N to 23 degrees above ENE

Maximum elevation: 27 degrees

Friday, Feb. 1, 6:23 a.m. (Duration: 5 minutes)

Path: 17 degrees above WNW to 10 degrees above SSE

Maximum elevation: 35 degrees

Saturday, Feb. 2, 5:35 a.m. (Duration: 3 minutes)

Path: 61 degrees above SE to 10 degrees above SE

Maximum elevation: 61 degrees

The International Space Station Trajectory Operations Group provides updates via JSC Today for visible station passes at least two minutes in duration and 25 degrees in elevation. Other opportunities, including those with shorter durations and lower elevations or from other ground locations, are available at the website below.

Joe Pascucci x31695 http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=U...

 

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5.            This Week at Starport

Astronaut and Author Jerry Ross' new book, "Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer," has arrived at Starport. Supplies are limited, so pick yours up today and join us for the book signing in the Starport Cafés from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 in Building 3 and Feb. 14 in Building 11.

Shop Starport on Valentine's Day and get a 10 percent discount on anything red. And, if you are wearing red, you will receive an extra 5 percent off. Some exclusions apply (tickets, stamps, flowers, Hallmark, etc.).

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo concert tickets are still available in the Building 11 Starport Gift Shop for many performances.

Sam's Club will be in the Buildings 3 and 11 cafés on Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to discuss membership options for the JSC workforce. Receive up to a $25 gift card on new memberships or renewals. Cash or check for membership purchases.

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

 

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6.            Join Technology Transfer Strategies Today

The Human Systems Academy is pleased to announce a panel discussion entitled "Technology Transfer Strategies: Increasing the Impact of YOUR R&D Efforts." Through this campfire-style discussion, the panelists will convey their experiences with the technology transfer process, important technology transfer considerations, application to research and development at the agency, application of collaborations and commercialization while safeguarding intellectual property, and real-world examples including potential benefits to society. Space is limited, so register today!

For registration, please go to https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Event Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013   Event Start Time:1:00 PM   Event End Time:3:00 PM

Event Location: B30 Auditorium

 

Add to Calendar

 

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

 

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7.            Funding IT-related Innovations: Q&A Session TODAY

IT Labs is the Technology and Innovation Program for the NASA Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Information Technology (IT) and wants to fund your innovative ideas for IT-related solutions for use across all NASA centers. Proposals will be accepted during the IT Labs Fiscal Year 2013 Project Call slated for Feb. 4 through March 21. This is your chance to help solve challenging IT problems and introduce new technologies across the agency.

If you have an idea, coordinate with James McClellan, JSC CTO-IT, and submit a proposal on the IT Labs website between Feb. 4 and March 21. Project leads must be civil servants, but project teams can include contractors. IT Labs' review panel will evaluate all submissions and fund a select number of projects. The first question-and-answer session is scheduled for TODAY at 10 a.m. CST. More information is available here.

Add this event to your calendar.

Event Date: Tuesday, January 29, 2013   Event Start Time:10:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM

Event Location: WebEx

 

Add to Calendar

 

Allison Wolff x39589 https://nasa.webex.com/nasa/j.php?ED=1662638&UID=0&ICS=MI&LD=1&RD=2&ST=1...

 

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8.            Human Systems Integration ERG Meeting Featuring Cost Estimation -- Today

The JSC Human System Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) meeting will feature Sarah Walsh from the Performance Management & 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 today 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: B1/220

 

Add to Calendar

 

Deb Neubek 281-222-3687 https://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx

 

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9.            RLLS Translation Module WebEx Training: Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m.

TechTrans International (TTI) will provide a 30-minute Translation WebEx training on Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 10 a.m. for the RLLS portal Translation support request module. This training will include the following elements:

o             Locating Translation support request module

o             Quick view of Translation support request

o             Create a new Translation support request

o             Translation submittal requirements

o             Adding an attachment and reference documents

o             Selecting document restrictions (export control, PII, confidential)

o             Adding additional email addresses distribution notices

o             Submitting Translation request

o             Status of Translation request records

o             View a Translation request record

o             Searching for documents in the archive

o             Contact RLLS support for additional help

Please send an email to James.E.Welty@nasa.gov or call 281-335-8565 to sign up for this RLLS Translation Support WebEx Training course. Class will be limited to the first 20 individuals registered.

James Welty 281-335-8565 https://www.tti-portal.com

 

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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: 9 am Central (10 EST) – TDRS-K NASA Social

 

Human Spaceflight News

Tuesday – January 29, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Las Vegas UFO Aficionado Bets $500 Million on Space Hotel

 

Brendan McGarry - Bloomberg News

 

Robert Bigelow got rich off budget hotel suites that start at $189 a week. Now they are funding his dream of building inflatable space habitats with rates topping $400,000 a day. For the Las Vegas businessman, his desire to build low orbital dwellings is the ultimate gamble. He has bet $500 million of his own money on his closely held venture, Bigelow Aerospace LLC -- five times what billionaire Elon Musk invested in his own space company. "If you don't have bucks, there's no Buck Rogers," said Bigelow, 68, echoing a phrase from the film, "The Right Stuff," about the early days of the U.S. spaceflight program.

 

UND Camera on Space Station Wraps 1 Mission, May Get Another

 

Fargo Valley News

 

The International Space Station continues to orbit 240-miles above earth and UND's Agricam has just wrapped up its first mission aboard the Space Station. It was a project enabled by retired astronaut, Mario Runco, who lectured at UND this past week.

 

How Much Will It Cost to Live on Mars?

 

Jason Major - Discovery News

 

As more and more private companies announce plans for space exploration ventures, the more it looks like the first humans to set foot on the moon (again) or Mars (for the first time) in the near future won't be wearing suits emblazoned with a blue NASA meatball, but rather the logo of a privately owned and operated company. Many of these tech-savvy startups, running lean and mean without the burden of decades of red tape, are promising efficient and safe space travel at cut-rate prices. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, for example, has already shared his vision of a Mars colony 80,000 strong, initiated with reusable rockets and $500,000 seat prices.

 

Iran Reports Lofting Monkey Into Space, Calling It Prelude to Human Flight

 

William Broad - New York Times

 

Iranian state television said Monday that the nation had put a monkey into space "as a prelude to sending humans." The successful flight involved a relatively small rocket that went straight up and down, according to the state-sponsored news report, and the monkey survived the flight. Western experts said the brief experiment appeared to have few if any immediate military implications, as it might have if Iran had launched a much larger vehicle that could fly high and fast enough to put a major payload into orbit.

 

Iran on track to sending humans to space: Defense minister

 

Press TV (Iran)

 

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the successful mission of Pishgam (Pioneer) spacecraft, which successfully carried a monkey into space, is the first step for Iran towards sending humans into space. "Sending a spacecraft and returning it is the first step towards sending humans to space in later stages," Vahidi said on Monday.

 

Time and space

A decade after fatal mission, film covers Israeli astronaut's legacy

 

Maxine Dovere - JNS.org

 

Dan Cohen describes Ilan Ramon, the first and only Israeli astronaut, as "a man used to rising to the occasion." On Jan. 31 at 9 p.m., Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope — a documentary directed by Cohen — will air on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Ramon's death. http://www.missionofhopemovie.com/

 

Space Shuttle Columbia: From Shoah to the stars

 

Pat Sierchio - Jewish Journal

 

On Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, tragically taking the lives of all seven astronauts on board. Among those who never returned home were Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon — Israel's first and only astronaut — and a miniature Torah dating back to the Holocaust. Ramon, the son of Holocaust survivors, had taken the scroll that was given to him by Joachim "Yoya" Joseph, an Israeli scientist and survivor of the Holocaust. Joseph had received the scroll as a boy in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from the rabbi who performed his secret bar mitzvah. To Ramon, the cherished item represented "the ability of the Jewish people to survive anything." Now, thanks to journalist-turned-film director Daniel Cohen, this extraordinary story is told in the television documentary "Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope," premiering at 9 p.m., Jan. 31, on PBS in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the disaster and NASA's annual Day of Remembrance.

 

Columbia documentary tells tale of mission within a mission

Israeli astronaut brought sacred scroll to salute fellow Jews

 

Jennifer Sangalang - Florida Today

 

Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon was pursuing a "mission within a mission" when he and the rest of the STS-107 crew blasted off into space on board shuttle Columbia 10 years ago this month. The colonel carried with him a small Torah scroll spirited out of the Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen by its owner, a young boy at the time who went on to become one of Israel's top physicists. Ramon's decision to bring the Torah became a powerful symbol not only for himself but for fellow Israelis and Jews. As the 10th anniversary of the shuttle tragedy approaches, filmmaker Daniel Cohen hopes to inspire with his story of Ramon's memento in the documentary "Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope." It airs at 9 p.m. Thursday on PBS.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Las Vegas UFO Aficionado Bets $500 Million on Space Hotel

 

Brendan McGarry - Bloomberg News

 

Robert Bigelow got rich off budget hotel suites that start at $189 a week. Now they are funding his dream of building inflatable space habitats with rates topping $400,000 a day.

 

For the Las Vegas businessman, his desire to build low orbital dwellings is the ultimate gamble. He has bet $500 million of his own money on his closely held venture, Bigelow Aerospace LLC -- five times what billionaire Elon Musk invested in his own space company.

 

"If you don't have bucks, there's no Buck Rogers," said Bigelow, 68, echoing a phrase from the film, "The Right Stuff," about the early days of the U.S. spaceflight program.

 

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration this month announced a $17.8 million contract to Bigelow Aerospace for an inflatable room that will be attached to a port on the International Space Station sometime in 2015. Astronauts will use the prototype for two years, allowing NASA to test the technology for "pennies on the dollar," said Lori Garver, the agency's deputy administrator.

 

Bigelow has spent about half of his stake. He may never recoup the investment, according to Jeff Foust, an analyst at Futron Corp., a Bethesda, Maryland-based technology consulting firm.

 

"Are there enough customers out there to make this a worthwhile venture?" Foust said. "It's yet to be seen."

 

Spare Room

 

NASA's award to Bigelow Aerospace means that the 3,000- pound inflatable spare room that uses a Kevlar-like fabric called Vectran will be tested to see how it withstands space debris and radiation.

 

The technology is based on an idea conceived in the 1990s by NASA, which let Bigelow license the patents, according to Mike Gold, director of Washington operations for Bigelow Aerospace. The company has taken the blueprints to fruition by building actual test structures, Gold said.

 

"He's a capitalist in every sense of the word," said Jay Ingham, a Bigelow vice president who previously worked for Raytheon Co. (RTN) "The guys who work hard and are big contributors do really well here."

 

NASA retired its shuttle fleet in 2011 and relies on Russia for rides to space at a cost of about $63 million per astronaut. It has turned to the private industry to ferry cargo and eventually humans to the station.

 

Boeing, SpaceX

 

Bigelow needs U.S. companies such as Boeing Co. (BA) and Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, to develop lower-cost alternatives, Foust said. Otherwise, his private stations "literally won't get off the ground," he said.

 

SpaceX's first flight last year of an unmanned cargo ship to the International Space Station signaled the start of a new era in commercial spaceflight, Bigelow said.

 

Eventually, Bigelow intends to build stand-alone stations launched by privately operated rockets that can be used as research laboratories orbiting Earth or be part of an effort to establish a permanent presence on the moon or Mars. Although a permanent habitat won't be ready before 2016, his company is promoting a round-trip flight and 60-day stay aboard the "Alpha Station" for $26.3 million per customer.

 

Bigelow is a lesser known figure in the privately funded space race that has drawn high-risk adventurers such as Musk and British entrepreneur Richard Branson, whose Virgin Galactic is taking bookings online for $200,000 "Pioneer Astronaut" sub- orbital flights.

 

'Following A Dream'

 

"I guess it seems strange or unique to other people," he said. "To me, it's just following a dream that I have had all of my life of doing something important that was space- related."

 

The hotelier grew up in Las Vegas. During his first semester in college, his father died in a plane crash. He later graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in business. He and his wife, Diane, raised two sons.

 

Bigelow has nursed a lifelong obsession with unidentified flying objects after his mother regaled him with the tale of his grandparents seeing a glowing flying object while driving through the desert in 1947.

 

He has amassed a library of about 3,500 books about UFOs, cosmology and related subjects. He gave financial backing to the National Institute for Discovery Science, which hunted UFOs and studied paranormal activities before disbanding in 2004. He has personally recorded interviews with almost 250 people who claim to have had a sighting or encounter with a UFO, and said he believes alien wreckage was discovered in Roswell, New Mexico, in the 1940s.

 

UFO Believer

"I'm in the camp that has zero doubt" that UFOs exist and have visited the Earth, Bigelow said in a phone interview.

 

Bigelow, who declines to discuss his net worth, made his fortune through a chain of residential hotels in the Southwest. He caught the real-estate bug from his maternal grandfather who leased several apartments on his property.

 

"I kind of, by osmosis, got the notion that you could make a good living off of that and have regular income, if you did the right things," he said. He said he sold about one-third of his Budget Suites of America properties before the recent recession. "People were just throwing money at you and begging you to sell," he said. "It became ridiculous."

 

James Oberg, a former mission control specialist for NASA and space consultant in Dickinson, Texas, who accompanied Bigelow to Russia in 2007 for the launch of a prototype habitat, said the hotelier has the passion to help shape the next generation of space travel.

 

'Own Style'

 

"Bigelow has his own style and his own passions," Oberg said in a telephone interview. "He struck me as a builder of things rather than a master and user of wealth and privilege."

 

On the ground, Bigelow is distinctly low-tech: he shuns e- mail. Visitors to his space venture's headquarters in North Las Vegas will notice that security guards refer to him as "Mr. Big."

 

Even if he completes his dreams on schedule, Bigelow will then be in his 70s, making it unlikely that the entrepreneur will ever make the trip out to his low-earth orbit habitat.

 

"This isn't about benefiting one human," Gold said. "This is about opening up space for all of humanity."

 

UND Camera on Space Station Wraps 1 Mission, May Get Another

 

Fargo Valley News

 

The International Space Station continues to orbit 240-miles above earth and UND's Agricam has just wrapped up its first mission aboard the Space Station.

 

It was a project enabled by retired astronaut, Mario Runco, who lectured at UND this past week.

 

Mario Runco, Astronaut: "You can have an asset to help monitor the crops in the field as they develop and get data, images to the user, the farmer, so that if there's a problem they can detect…. It's like early cancer detection. You detect it early you can do something about it."

 

Images from the agricam aboard the Space Station were relayed to this UND control room. It's thermal pictures can be used to point out disease in crops and the need for different types of fertilizers.

 

Now, disaster workers around the globe are interested in refitting the UND camera already aboard the Space Station, so it can zoom in on disasters, like floods.

 

Doug Olson, UND Aerospace: "If you're trying to determine in a mud slide whether you have something like a buried car or a rock, you need something with a higher resolution."

 

Olson says they're still waiting to see if their agricam that's already aboard the Space Station, will now be refitted to become a disaster cam.

 

How Much Will It Cost to Live on Mars?

 

Jason Major - Discovery News

 

As more and more private companies announce plans for space exploration ventures, the more it looks like the first humans to set foot on the moon (again) or Mars (for the first time) in the near future won't be wearing suits emblazoned with a blue NASA meatball, but rather the logo of a privately owned and operated company.

 

Many of these tech-savvy startups, running lean and mean without the burden of decades of red tape, are promising efficient and safe space travel at cut-rate prices.

 

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, for example, has already shared his vision of a Mars colony 80,000 strong, initiated with reusable rockets and $500,000 seat prices. But what would it actually cost to set up a long-term home on the Red Planet, taking into consideration not just your boarding pass but also what you would need to survive and thrive on an alien world?

 

So the bottom line is this: getting to Mars from Earth won't likely ever be cheap. But if we make it a priority to colonize beyond our own planet — truly stepping "out of the cradle" — it's a doable feat, even with the resources currently available. And only by making that first step will we learn the skills and develop the know-how needed to survive outside our finite world.

 

Plus, who wouldn't want to get a text message from Mars?

 

Iran Reports Lofting Monkey Into Space, Calling It Prelude to Human Flight

 

William Broad - New York Times

 

Iranian state television said Monday that the nation had put a monkey into space "as a prelude to sending humans." The successful flight involved a relatively small rocket that went straight up and down, according to the state-sponsored news report, and the monkey survived the flight.

 

Western experts said the brief experiment appeared to have few if any immediate military implications, as it might have if Iran had launched a much larger vehicle that could fly high and fast enough to put a major payload into orbit.

 

"It doesn't demonstrate any militarily significant technology," said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launchings and space activity. "This is a tiny old rocket, and what's on top is useful only for doing astronaut stuff."

 

Rather, he and other experts said, the exercise seemed to represent a small but significant step in Iran's stated goal of developing rockets big and advanced enough to send human astronauts into space — a goal Tehran has repeated publicly for more than a year.

 

Charles P. Vick, an expert on Iranian rockets at a private research group, GlobalSecurity.org, in Alexandria, Va., said that the flight, if truly successful, showed that Iran was slowly mastering the technology of life support.

 

"It's significant in that it shows progress toward manned spaceflight," he said in an interview. But Mr. Vick urged caution about the Iranian claims, noting that news media reports suggested that Iran in 2011 had tried and failed to put a monkey into space.

 

"I think they messed up," he said of the reported failure, conceding that other Western experts disagreed on whether Iran had in fact tried to launch a monkey earlier.

 

James E. Oberg, a former NASA engineer and author of a dozen books on human spaceflight, said Iran's civil space advances also had propaganda value, since the peaceful flights could take global attention off the nation's military feats and ambitions.

 

"To a large degree, it's a fig leaf," he said in an interview. "Like the North Koreans, they get to present their program as peaceful when lots of it has to do with weapons development."

 

For decades, space powers have lofted ants, spiders, mice, rats, frogs, snails, fish, turtles, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, monkeys and chimpanzees as cover stories for military programs and as high-flying experiments meant to pave the way for sending humans into orbit. Iran in recent years has said it has launched a mouse, a turtle and a number of worms.

 

"It's a question of testing life-support reliability for people," Mr. Oberg said. "Things in zero gravity don't always behave like they do in test chambers on earth. It's prudent to look for things you might have overlooked."

 

On the military side, Iran has tested and fielded a growing arsenal of powerful missiles that now threaten Israel and limited parts of Europe. In 2009 and 2011, it successfully put satellites into orbit. Aerospace experts say the orbital steps can help Iran develop long-range missiles that one day might target the United States.

 

Iran is also pursuing a program to enrich uranium, which can fuel reactors or nuclear warheads atop missiles. For many years, Western powers have failed to persuade Iran to abandon the sprawling effort, which they see as aimed at making nuclear arms. Iran has denied that charge and insists its goals are entirely peaceful.

 

On Monday, Iran's Press TV, a state-run broadcaster, said the monkey had been launched in a space capsule code named Pishgam, or Pioneer. It quoted the director of the Iran Space Agency, Hamid Fazeli, as saying this month that "because of biological similarities between humans and monkeys, the latter were selected for the space mission." He also predicted that Iran would send a human into space within the "next five to eight years."

 

Western space experts could give no confirmation of the report, which Press TV called evidence of "yet another" Iranian achievement in launching animals into space.

 

The state news agency, IRNA, said the monkey rode on a Kavoshgar rocket that reached an altitude of 75 miles and "returned its shipment intact," Reuters reported. The monkey survived, Press TV said. The timing of the reported launching was unclear — either on Monday or within the past few days.

 

The report emerged as Western officials in Brussels said they had offered Iran new dates in February to resume the long-running and inconclusive nuclear talks, Reuters reported. Iranian officials reportedly turned down a request for a meeting in Istanbul at the end of January.

 

Mr. Vick of GlobalSecurity.org said Iran's program for human spaceflight was apparently making progress not only in launching animals into space but in developing large new rockets and launching facilities.

 

This month, he said, Iran unveiled information about a space capsule meant to hold human astronauts. "It's based on Chinese technology," Mr. Vick said, adding that Iran had nearly completed a large new launching pad big enough for powerful rockets that could loft warheads, satellites or people into space.

 

"It's nearly done," Mr. Vick said of the launching facility. "It's for the big new launcher they're building."

 

Iran on track to sending humans to space: Defense minister

 

Press TV (Iran)

 

Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says the successful mission of Pishgam (Pioneer) spacecraft, which successfully carried a monkey into space, is the first step for Iran towards sending humans into space.

 

"Sending a spacecraft and returning it is the first step towards sending humans to space in later stages," Vahidi said on Monday.

 

On Monday, Iran launched Pishgam (Pioneer) spacecraft, which took a primate to the altitude of 120 kilometers, and returned it safely to Earth.

 

Iran sent its first bio-capsule of living creatures into space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar 3 (Discoverer 3) carrier.

 

The country successfully launched its first indigenous data-processing satellite, Omid (Hope), into orbit in 2009.

 

As part of a plan to develop its space program, Iran successfully launched its second satellite, dubbed Rassad (Observation), into the earth's orbit in June 2011. Rassad's mission was to take images of the Earth and transmit them along with telemetry information to ground stations.

 

Iran also sent its indigenously-built Navid-e Elm-o Sanat (Harbinger of Science and Industry) satellite into orbit in February 2012. The records made by the telecom, measurement and scientific satellite could be used in a wide range of fields.

 

Iran is one of the 24 founding members of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, which was set up in 1959.

 

The Iranian defense minister said Iran would also inaugurate the country's space observatory, named after Shia's sixth Imam, Imam Sadeq (PBUH), in February.

 

Time and space

A decade after fatal mission, film covers Israeli astronaut's legacy

 

Maxine Dovere - JNS.org

 

Dan Cohen describes Ilan Ramon, the first and only Israeli astronaut, as "a man used to rising to the occasion."

 

On Jan. 31 at 9 p.m., Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope — a documentary directed by Cohen — will air on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Ramon's death.

 

http://www.missionofhopemovie.com/

 

Israel sent one of its best on NASA's fatal Columbia mission: Israel Air Force (IAF) Colonel Ramon was 46, an engineer (electronics and computers), a pilot, married and the father of four. As a combat pilot, he was an integral part of the 1981 raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak. He trained for Columbia at Houston's Johnson Space Center. Officially designated as a payload specialist, Ramon was described by Commander Mike Anderson as "fully integrated with the crew."

 

Ramon, one of the mission's seven casualties, is the only non-American to receive the United States Congressional Space Medal of Honor (awarded posthumously). He was chosen to be a NASA astronaut in 1997. By 1998, he had begun a rigorous, five-year training program.

 

"From the moment he arrived in Houston until he lifted off, Ramon went through a transformational change. He came to understand who he was and what he represented," Cohen told JNS.org.

 

Ramon considered himself a representative of all Jews and all Israelis. Although a secular Jew, as the first Israeli astronaut he recognized the importance of maintaining Jewish identity and unity.

 

"I am the son of a Holocaust survivor," he once told Israel Radio. "I carry on the suffering of the Holocaust generation, proof that despite all the horror they went through, we're going forward." Ramon asked Mission Commander Rick Husband to provide kosher meals on board Columbia and received rabbinical guidance for Shabbat observance in space.

 

Among the topics explored in Cohen's film is what astronauts carry into space. Some carry significant personal items; others bring items with a larger message. Poems and photographs, letters and legacy accompanied Ilan Ramon to space. His wife and children sent personal mementos and letters. Moshe Katsav, then Israel's president, provided a Tanach (Bible) on microfiche. History traveled, too: a pencil drawing called "Moon Landscape" drawn by 14-year-old Peter Ginz, killed at Auschwitz; a kiddush cup; and the flag of the IAF also flew. These things, said then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at Ramon's memorial service, "touched and excited all Jews" and were "a source of pride and united our hearts."

 

The Israeli astronaut also carried a miniature Torah scroll saved from the Holocaust. The scroll had been given to a boy who celebrated his bar mitzvah trapped in the horrors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The rabbi who had smuggled the Torah into the camp did not survive; the boy, the scroll—the rabbi's admonition to tell the world what happened in that place and the boy's promise—did.

 

Dr. Joachim "Yoya" Joseph, that bar mitzvah boy, became a physicist and was Israel's lead scientist supporting Ramon on the ground. During their work together, Ramon learned the story of the scroll. Went he returned to Houston, he asked permission to take the tiny Torah saved "from the depths of Hell to the heights of space."

 

"Ilan felt Yoya's promise deep within his heart and carried it with him deep into space," Cohen said. "Keeping the promise is an important part of the mission of this film."

 

Mission of Hope is the story of the most diverse shuttle crew ever to explore space. "Moving tributes like this film remind us all that spaceflight always carries great risk," NASA Administrator and four-time space shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden said. "But fallen heroes like Ilan were willing to risk the ultimate sacrifice to make important science discoveries and push the envelope of human achievement."

 

For Cohen, Mission of Hope became a personal mission. He sought to tell the story not as tragic, but rather as uplifting. "When Yoya asked, 'What can I do to help you tell this story?' I did not realize that conversation would lead me down a seven-year path," he said. Meetings with General Rani Falk at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, with Ramon's widow, Rona, and the other astronauts' families followed.

 

Overall, making the film took the full 10 years since the Columbia tragedy.

 

"We had to wait for Rona (Ramon's widow) to be ready," Cohen said. "Raising money was also difficult."

 

Dr. Alex Grobman, historical consultant for the documentary and executive director of the America Israel Friendship League, has great admiration for Cohen. Grobman, who also appears in the production, was called upon to verify the historical correctness of the story of the bar mitzvah in Bergen-Belson, including confirmation that there was actually a Torah at the ceremony.

 

"Filmmakers rarely care about historical accuracy," Grobman told JNS.org. "Cohen's approach was different—he was meticulous in his research. For him, this was a labor of love."

 

"Ilan Ramon was an exceptional man, a charismatic personality who recognized that being part of the Columbia shuttle crew was a transformational experience," Grobman said. "Ramon embodied the best of Israel. One cannot view this film without understanding the depth of his humanity, love of Israel, and responsibility to the Jewish people. Being involved with this production, as an historian, as a Jew, was a great honor."

 

Space Shuttle Columbia, Mission STS-107, launched Jan. 16, 2003. For 16 days, every aspect of the flight and its scheduled experiments was considered fully successful. But as the crew prepared for landing, Columbia exploded and disintegrated. Little was left, either human or material.  Among the objects that did survive was the in-flight diary of Ramon, virtually intact, still legible.

 

"I felt that I am truly living in space," he wrote. "I have become a man who lives and works in space.

 

Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope, produced by Christopher G. Cowen with Executive Producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, directed by Daniel Cohen for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), tells the story of the Columbia Space Shuttle and of astronaut Ilan Ramon. It incorporates NASA archival footage and video shot by fellow crewmember Dave Brown. Mission of Hope was shot on location in Jerusalem, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and Washington, D.C.

 

Space Shuttle Columbia: From Shoah to the stars

 

Pat Sierchio - Jewish Journal

 

On Feb. 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, tragically taking the lives of all seven astronauts on board. Among those who never returned home were Israeli Air Force Col. Ilan Ramon — Israel's first and only astronaut — and a miniature Torah dating back to the Holocaust.

 

Ramon, the son of Holocaust survivors, had taken the scroll that was given to him by Joachim "Yoya" Joseph, an Israeli scientist and survivor of the Holocaust. Joseph had received the scroll as a boy in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp from the rabbi who performed his secret bar mitzvah. To Ramon, the cherished item represented "the ability of the Jewish people to survive anything."

 

Now, thanks to journalist-turned-film director Daniel Cohen, this extraordinary story is told in the television documentary "Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope," premiering at 9 p.m., Jan. 31, on PBS in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the disaster and NASA's annual Day of Remembrance.

 

"The thread of the film is a Holocaust story and the story of Ilan Ramon, but ultimately it's a universal story," Cohen said during a phone interview. "The challenge of the story, the entire time I was making the film, was to make it a universal story. And that became the story of the Columbia crew, who they were and how diverse they were in their backgrounds. And ultimately, one of the key messages in the film is that magnificence of diversity and what it brings to all of us."

 

Cohen, a self-admitted "space nut," was raised by his Conservative mother and Reform Jewish father. As a boy, he spent many hours playing out his space fantasies in the family living room pretending that a big blue chair was his Mercury space capsule.

 

"I must've launched off into space hundreds of times in that chair," Cohen said.

 

As an adult, Cohen landed in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 30 years. During that time he earned multiple Emmys for outstanding broadcast journalism and six Telly Awards for his first responder and safety advocate work. Additionally, he received honors from the Associated Press and other organizations for his medical and science reporting and investigative work.

 

Wanting to expand his career to include directing documentaries, Cohen found a story in 2003 that seemed perfect.

 

"I was looking for a documentary to make, and when the Columbia disaster happened I was very tuned into the accident because of my fascination with space exploration," Cohen said. "And about two weeks after the accident, I read an article about this little Torah scroll that Ilan Ramon carried with him into space, and I thought, 'What an interesting new way to tell a Holocaust story to a new generation.'

 

"I had a friend at the time who was very high up at NASA, and I asked him if he was aware of this scroll that Ramon carried into space," Cohen continued. "He said, 'Yes, what about it?' I told him that I would like to meet this scientist, Dr. Joseph, who had the Torah scroll and was working with Ramon."

 

Within minutes Cohen was on the line with Joseph in Tel Aviv.

 

"I told him I was interested in making a documentary about Ramon and the scroll, and he said to me the one line that I would hear over and over again during the 10 years that it took to bring this film to television — and that was: 'Anything for my dear friend, Ilan Ramon. You tell me what to do.' And that's how it started." 

 

Cohen and Joseph worked closely for years on the story. The scientist did not live to see the project completed — he died in 2008 — but he is seen throughout the film.

 

Cohen was determined that his film not be one that simply circulated through the usual film-festival route. With his background in broadcast journalism, he wanted to have it shown on television so that it would reach a wide audience.

 

With no track record as a documentary filmmaker, Cohen knew that he would need a big name attached to his project in order to get it financed and produced. He eventually brought the project to Christopher Cowen, who at the time was working at actor/producer Tom Hanks' production company, Playtone. Cohen said Cowen loved the project and remembers the latter telling him, "This has Tom [Hanks] written all over it. It's about two of Hanks' passions — space travel and World War II."

 

Hanks and Cowen signed on to the project, and when Cowen moved over to Herzog & Co., taking the project with him, Hanks remained attached. Still, even with a team in place that included executive producers Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, along with Cowen as producer, the director still faced the challenge of how to tell a story about the Holocaust and the space shuttle tragedy in an uplifting way. 

 

The answer came when Cohen received a phone call from another Holocaust survivor from Bergen-Belsen who also had a Torah scroll. He told Cohen that his scroll was going to be carried into space by Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean as a tribute to Ramon. Cohen responded, "Thank you. You just ended my film for me!"

 

Although Cohen laments that he never had the opportunity to meet Ramon, he feels, in a way, that he has through all of the people he interviewed for the film, including the astronaut's widow, Rona.

 

"Here is a guy who, no matter what happened to him, always rose to the moment," Cohen said. "Whether it was the Iraqi mission, where he was a young fighter pilot, or whatever happened to him during his air force career, that's the kind of guy he was. That's one of the reasons he carried the scroll with him. Because he wanted to demonstrate to the world who he was and where he came from." 

 

Perhaps Ramon's mission within the mission is best summed up in the film by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who concludes, "There's something deeper than what we think in being what we are and him being what he was and what he represented. It's not only that a human being can carry a scroll — but the scroll can carry the human being."

 

Columbia documentary tells tale of mission within a mission

Israeli astronaut brought sacred scroll to salute fellow Jews

 

Jennifer Sangalang - Florida Today

 

Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon was pursuing a "mission within a mission" when he and the rest of the STS-107 crew blasted off into space on board shuttle Columbia 10 years ago this month.

 

The colonel carried with him a small Torah scroll spirited out of the Nazi concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen by its owner, a young boy at the time who went on to become one of Israel's top physicists.

 

Ramon's decision to bring the Torah became a powerful symbol not only for himself but for fellow Israelis and Jews.

 

The Torah never made it home. Ramon and his six crewmates — Commander Rick Husband, pilot William McCool, payload commander Michael Anderson, and mission specialists David Brown, Laurel Clark and Kalpana Chawla — were killed Feb. 1, 2003, when Columbia broke apart during atmospheric re-entry.

 

As the 10th anniversary of the shuttle tragedy approaches, filmmaker Daniel Cohen hopes to inspire with his story of Ramon's memento in the documentary "Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope." It airs at 9 p.m. Thursday on PBS.

 

"We'll all be taken by the moment that it's the anniversary of such a horrible tragedy," Cohen said. "Hopefully our memories will be directed into a warmer feeling of who the Columbia crew was and what they brought to the world."

 

The documentary, produced by Christopher Cowen with executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, won five best film honors in festivals around the U.S. and Hong Kong. In the film festival world, it's known as "An Article of Hope." The name was changed to "Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope" for PBS.

 

The documentary begins with the story of Joachim "Yoya" Joseph, who went on to become one of Israel's top scientists.

 

When he was 13, Joseph was in Bergen-Belsen along with a rabbi who had smuggled in a Torah scroll the size of a soda can. Because Joseph was of age, they threw him a secret bar mitzvah in the camp, draping blankets over the windows and speeding through the ceremony in fear that the Nazis would come bursting in, Cohen explained.

 

"At the end of the ceremony, the rabbi said (to Joseph), 'I am not going to survive this, but I think you will, so I'm going to give this to you as a bar mitzvah gift,' " Cohen said. Ultimately, the rabbi died and Joseph survived.

 

He befriended Ramon, whom he worked with during the shuttle mission.

 

The two shared something in common — Joseph was a Holocaust survivor, and Ramon's mother and grandmother were survivors of Auschwitz, Cohen said.

 

The astronaut asked the physicist if he could take the scroll into space.

 

"One of the themes of the film is objects that astronauts carry to space and why," Cohen said. "Some carry items for their loved ones or of significance to themselves. Ilan carried items not only for himself, but he carried items to show the world who he was as Israel's first astronaut."

 

Ramon's friend, Rabbi Zvi Konikov of Chabad Jewish Community Center of the Space and Treasure Coasts in Satellite Beach, said Ramon's gesture was typical.

 

"While Ilan could've been 100 percent focused solely, exclusively on his scientific physical experiments, he took out the time to display Jewish pride and to be a great example of Judaism for his fellow Israelis," Konikov said, noting how Ramon celebrated the Sabbath in orbit.

 

"No matter how fast you're going in life, everyone is racing, everybody has to make it to the top, no matter how important your work. Ilan Ramon taught us we must pause and think about why we're here on Earth."

 

"And I think that Ilan Ramon, in his short life, unfortunately, has impacted more people than it would take for many lifetimes because he lived up to these ideals and values," Konikov added. "And with that, I believe he leaves a great legacy for us to reflect and incorporate into our lives."

 

Joseph died shortly before the filmmakers went into post-production. The film took seven years to make and a few more years to get it screened on TV.

 

For Cohen, one of the most nerve-wracking moments was the film's screening at NASA headquarters.

 

"The reaction was unbelievable," he said. "The first couple moments of the film are difficult to watch. You have to relive the accident in order to keep in with the story."

 

What happened next surprised and pleased him. "When we screened it with audiences, everybody stayed through the credits. Nobody left. The story," he said proudly, "was so powerful it leaves you in your seat."

 

END