Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - March 22, 2013 and JSC Today

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: March 22, 2013 6:13:18 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - March 22, 2013 and JSC Today

 

Happy Friday everyone.   Have a good and safe weekend.

 

 

 

Friday, March 22, 2013

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            Innovation Day 2013 C3 Graphic Design Contest Winner

2.            Diva Design Series

3.            Reminder: Interviewing Tips -- Presented by ASIA ERG -- Today

4.            Voicemail Outage Scheduled

5.            National Self-Injury Awareness

6.            Starport Summer Camp -- Registering Now

7.            Starport Volleyball -- Late Spring Reverse 4s League

8.            JSC Knowledge Online New Release

9.            HAS Program Needs Mentors for the Summer

10.          Crane Operations and Rigging Safety Refresher: March 27 -- Building 20, Room 205/206

11.          Scaffold Users Seminar: March 28 -- Building 20, Room 205/206

________________________________________     NASA FACT

" Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet."

________________________________________

1.            Innovation Day 2013 C3 Graphic Design Contest Winner

We have a winner! Congratulations to Cindy Bush, a senior graphic design specialist from IS and the designer of the official C3 graphic design! To view the winning design, visit the Innovation Day website.

Thank you to all of the designers who submitted unique and creative ideas: Louis Cioletti/SA, Toni Clark/SF, Sean Collins/IS, Perry Jackson/IS, Faris Mondey/IS, Jeffrey Royer/IS, Toni Townsend/BV, and Jorge Trevino/ES.

Keep an eye out for this C3 graphic design on posters, communications and outreach leading up to Innovation Day 2013 on May 2!

Suzan Thomas/MaGee Johnson x48772/281-204-1500 https://innovation2013.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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2.            Diva Design Series

Help inspire middle school girls to use innovative applications of science concepts and pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers! We are looking for volunteers on Wednesday, March 27, to volunteer at Space Center Houston's Diva Design Series: Haute Couture Meets Wearable Technology. Students will examine what was considered "clothing of the future" from various time periods throughout history. They will then take an in-depth look at the technical components of electrical engineering. Activities are centered on LEDs, vibrating motors and switches. Creativity will then take over as the girls design and produce a fashionable and techno-savvy garment. Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. to lead small group activities, show these middle school girls why we love our STEM careers and, most importantly, have lots of fun! Volunteer orientation will begin at 9 a.m. sharp.

Event Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:2:00 PM

Event Location: Space Center Houston

 

Add to Calendar

 

Annie Schanock x27885

 

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3.            Reminder: Interviewing Tips -- Presented by ASIA ERG -- Today

The rodeo might be over, but we have some straight shooters lined up to talk about interviewing from the interviewer's perspective. Join us on for a lunch-and-learn session presented by the Asians Succeeding in Innovation and Aerospace (ASIA) Employee Resource Group (ERG). Panel members Nancy Miyamoto, Deborah Urbanski, Brad Mudgett and Steve Labbe will share their thoughts on interviewing perceptions and expectations from the other side of the table.

Event Date: Friday, March 22, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM

Event Location: B.1, R.602C

 

Add to Calendar

 

Krystine Bui x34186

 

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4.            Voicemail Outage Scheduled

An outage of the JSC telephone voicemail system is scheduled for today, March 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. The outage has been scheduled to perform routine preventative maintenance and will affect users of the white Siemens desk phones at JSC, Ellington and Sonny Carter. The grey Cisco phones are NOT going to be affected by this outage. During this activity, users will not be able to access their voicemail, nor will  the system be able to accept any voicemail messages. All messages and greetings existing prior to the outage will be preserved and fully available to users following the outage. No user action is required for this outage. We apologize for any inconvenience.

JSC IRD Outreach x41334 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx

 

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5.            National Self-Injury Awareness

Did you know 3 million Americans engage in self-harming behaviors yearly, and that 40 percent of those who self-injure are males? Discover more about what self-injury is and isn't in recognition of National Self-Injury Awareness. Please join Anika Isaac, MS, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, CEAP, NCC, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program, on Tuesday, March 26, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium learn more about Self-Injury Awareness. She will discuss facts about self-injury, identifying signs of self-harm and offer tools to supporting persons impacted by self-injury.

Event Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM

Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

 

Add to Calendar

 

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130

 

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6.            Starport Summer Camp -- Registering Now

Summer is fast approaching, and Starport will again be offering summer camp for youth at the Gilruth Center all summer long. We have tons of fun planned, and we expect each session to fill up, so get your registrations in early! Weekly themes are listed on our website, as well as information regarding registration and all the necessary forms.

Ages: 6 to 12

Times: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Dates: June 10 to Aug. 16 in one-week sessions

Registration: March 18 for NASA dependents | May 6 for non-dependents

Fee per session: $140 per child for dependents | $160 per child for non-dependents

Ask about out sibling discounts and discounts for registering for all sessions.

Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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7.            Starport Volleyball -- Late Spring Reverse 4s League

Starport is thrilled to offer a Late Spring Reverse 4s Volleyball League! Registration is now open online, so sign your team up today.

Late Spring Reverse 4s Volleyball

o             Monday evenings at the Gilruth

o             Eight games per team

o             League starts on April 8

o             $175 per team

Registration:

o             March 20 to April 3

o             Must register online here

For detailed league and registration information, please visit our website or call the Gilruth information desk at 281-483-0304.

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

 

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8.            JSC Knowledge Online New Release

Features of the JSC Knowledge Online (JKO) site are constantly being improved as the experiences of engineers, leaders and entire programs are captured and reported for JSC users. The "Leadership and Inspiration," "Storytelling" and "Operational Excellence Program" are all focuses for improved searching and ease of use.

New to JKO is a collection of "Leadership and Inspiration" videos. Pete Hasbrook, Jim McIngvale and Walter Ugalde are among the many presenters sharing their experiences on human sustainability, multi-physics simulations, nuclear safety and systems engineering for Morpheus.

Let us know what you think! We'd love to hear your suggestions. Just select one of the user feedback links available from the "Shuttle Knowledge Console," "Taxonomy" or "Case Studies" tabs to let us know. Feedback can be anonymous, or you are welcome to leave your information for a prompt response.

Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://knowledge.jsc.nasa.gov/index.cfm

 

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9.            HAS Program Needs Mentors for the Summer

High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) is in full swing and looking for mentors for this summer.

Being a mentor includes:

o             Working with outstanding high school students from across Texas

o             The opportunity to represent your division in education outreach without leaving JSC

o             Inspiring the next generation as only NASA can

o             Using your leadership skills to help students build a realistic human mission to Mars

Mentors are needed the following weeks:

June 9 to 14

June 16 to 21

July 14 to 19

July 21 to 26

July 28 to Aug. 2

The mentor application can be found here.

Stacey Welch 281-792-8100 http://has.aerospacescholars.org/

 

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10.          Crane Operations and Rigging Safety Refresher: March 27 -- Building 20, Room 205/206

SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0028: This course serves as a refresher in overhead crane safety and awareness for operators, riggers, signalmen, supervisors and safety personnel, as well as updates their understanding of existing federal and NASA standards and regulations related to such cranes. Areas of concentration include: general safety in crane operations, testing, inspections, pre-lift plans and safe rigging. This course is intended to provide the classroom training for re-certification of already qualified crane operators, or for those who have only a limited need for overhead crane safety knowledge. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Event Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM

Event Location: Bldg. 20/Room 205/206

 

Add to Calendar

 

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

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11.          Scaffold Users Seminar: March 28 -- Building 20, Room 205/206

SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0316: This four-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) CFR 1910.28 and 1926.451, requirements for scaffolding safety in the general and construction industries. During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely on scaffolds, including standards, terminology and inspection of scaffold components; uses of scaffolds; fall protection requirements; signs and barricades; and more. Those individuals desiring to become "competent persons" for scaffolds should take the three-day Scaffold Safety course, SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0312. This course will be primarily presented via the NASA target audience: Safety, Reliability, Quality and Maintainability professionals; or anyone working on operations requiring the use of scaffolds. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Event Date: Thursday, March 28, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM

Event Location: Bldg. 20/Room 205/206

 

Add to Calendar

 

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

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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:

·         4 am Central MONDAY (5 EDT) – SpaceX's Dragon departure coverage

·         ~5 am Central MONDAY (6 EDT) – Dragon unberthing begins

·         6:49 am Central MONDAY (7:49 EDT) – Dragon release from station robot arm

 

Human Spaceflight News

Friday, March 22, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Sequester, spending bill chop NASA funding

 

Ledyard King - Florida Today

 

Congress sent a fiscal 2013 spending bill to President Barack Obama on Thursday that will leave NASA with about $1.2 billion less this year than it received last year. Thanks to sequestration budget cuts already in effect, NASA was bracing for a cut of about $900 million from the roughly $17.8 billion it received in fiscal 2012. But the space agency is facing about $300 million in additional cuts as part of the broad spending bill the House passed Thursday. The bill finances government operations through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The House vote sends the bill to the president, who is expected to sign it, averting a threatened government shutdown.

 

Reports: Robert Lightfoot will lead foreign security probe

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot will lead a new in-house probe of foreign access to NASA field centers in the wake of the arrest of a Chinese national allegedly attempting to smuggle data out of the U.S. to China. Lightfoot was director of the Marshall Space Flight Center before being promoted in 2012 to the top civil service position in the agency.

 

SpaceX's Dragon capsule gets 'go' for return to Earth on Monday

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

International Space Station managers gave the OK Thursday for SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule to head back to Earth early Monday. Station managers and SpaceX officials met Thursday to discuss preparations for the flight home, including a review of thruster problems the spacecraft experienced shortly after its March 1 launch from here atop a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX engineers overcame the problems, and the Dragon arrived at the station March 3, a day later than planned.

 

New Private Rocket Launching 1st Test Flight in April

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

The maiden launch of a new private rocket that eventually aims to loft cargo toward the International Space Station is slated for the middle of April. The Antares rocket, which is being developed by aerospace firm Orbital Sciences Corp., will blast off for the first time April 16-18 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, NASA officials said. Antares will launch a simulated payload to a target altitude of 155 miles to 185 miles (250 to 300 kilometers). If all goes well with the test flight, which Orbital is calling A-One, the next step will be a demonstration mission to the space station using Antares and the company's robotic Cygnus capsule, company officials said.

 

Antares scheduled to launch in April. Want to go?

 

Diane Tennant - Hampton Roads Daily-Press

 

The launch of the Antares rocket has been scheduled for mid-April from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island. I've had my eye on the launch schedule since last fall, waiting for this, and now I have my media credentials all lined up. Antares could launch April 16, 17 or 18, according to NASA, and mid-afternoon is the likely time. If you're interested in watching, NASA has a visitor center at Wallops, and the launch should also be visible from just about anywhere on Chincoteague. The tricky part is that launches can be scrubbed or re-scheduled, and this rocket has a three-day launch window.

 

Soyuz TMA-08M Crew Ready for Rapid Trek to Space Station

 

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org

 

The multi-month increments by International Space Station crews seem to be coming quick and fast these days, with none more quickly than the upcoming Soyuz TMA-08M crew of Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Aleksandr Misurkin and NASA's Chris Cassidy. When they launch from the desolate steppe of Baikonur, in north-central Kazakhstan, on 28 March, they will spend a mere six hours—as opposed to the standard two days—in "solo" flight, before docking at the sprawling orbital research facility. In doing so, Vinogradov, Misurkin, and Cassidy will form the second half of Expedition 35, under the leadership of Canada's first ISS Commander, Chris Hadfield, and will later constitute the core of the Expedition 36 crew, returning to Earth in September.

 

NASA Tells ISS Astronauts to Listen For Leaky Tires

 

Jim Donahue - The Guardian

 

Nasa is trying teaching the Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) a thing or two about leaky tires, so to speak. The hiss of air escaping from a leaky car tire is no one's favorite sound. Even less pleasant? Hearing that hiss of escaping air 250 miles above Earth's surface while inside the pressurized confines of the International Space Station. According to Eric Madaras, an aerospace technologist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., if an air leak were to occur aboard the station, alarms would sound, and the astronauts would locate and correct the problem according to procedures. But with only the crew's eyes and ears to go on, pinpointing the source of a leak could be tricky. Madaras is trying to fix that problem. As the principal investigator for the Ultrasonic Background Noise Test (UBNT) he's leading a study that potentially could help prevent a catastrophic loss of air pressure on a crewed spacecraft.

 

Combating the perception of a lack of consensus

 

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

 

In December, the National Research Council issued a report on NASA's strategic direction that concluded that there was "no national consensus" on NASA's strategic goals, including a lack of widespread acceptance of plans for a human asteroid mission by 2025. After his keynote speech at the Goddard Memorial Symposium in Greenbelt, Maryland, yesterday, I asked NASA administrator Charles Bolden if he agreed with that conclusion. Before I could complete the question, though, he offered a one-word answer: "No." What, then, can NASA do to combat the perception of that lack of consensus identified in the report? "All we can do is to present to people over and over and over again what the President and Congress have told us to do, and that establishes the national consensus," he said.

 

FCC issues new regs for commercial spaceflight communications

 

Space News

 

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 15 issued new guidance for commercial spaceflight companies wishing to use radio frequencies allocated exclusively for use by NASA and other federal agencies. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a Washington trade organization representing Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and other companies vying to send people and payloads into space on behalf of NASA and other customers, applauded the FCC's announcement.

 

SpaceX's New Rocket Engine Cleared for Private Launches

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

SpaceX's next-generation rocket engine is ready to fly and will likely power a commercial space launch for the first time this summer, company officials announced Wednesday. The Merlin 1D engine was judged flight-ready after firing for a total of nearly 33 minutes over the course of 28 different tests at SpaceX's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas. The new engine will soon be incorporated into the company's Falcon 9 rocket, officials said. The Falcon 9 has flown five times to date, most recently on March 1, when it blasted the robotic Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station on California-based SpaceX's second contracted supply run for NASA. According to the company's launch manifest, flight number six will launch a Canadian communications satellite, likely in mid-June. "The Merlin 1D has a vacuum thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 150, the best of any liquid rocket engine in history," SpaceX officials wrote in a press release Wednesday. "This enhanced design makes the Merlin 1D the most efficient booster engine ever built, while still maintaining the structural and thermal safety margins needed to carry astronauts."

 

SpaceX Merlin 1D qualified for flight

 

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

 

SpaceX's new engine, the Merlin 1D, has been qualified for spaceflight in advance of its first launch. The engine, a heavily modified version of the Merlin 1C that powers SpaceX's standard Falcon 9, will be utilised on what SpaceX dubs the "Falcon 9 version 1.1", scheduled for its first launch in June. The Merlin series uses rocket propellant (RP-1) and liquid oxygen.

 

Hadfield's social media blitz could be space program's saving grace

 

Elton Hobson - Global News (Canada)

 

One week ago, thousands of Canadians watched as Colonel Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian to ever take command of the International Space Station (ISS). Yet Hadfield's popularity goes beyond his country of birth, or even his nifty day job. "I've been dealing with astronauts for 20 years, and until they're deactivated most of them are disinclined to spend a lot of time talking to the media," Rob Godwin, curator of the Canadian Air and Space Museum in Toronto, told Global News. "Colonel Hadfield is obviously different in this regard." Hadfield has been called "the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth" by Forbes magazine. He makes frequent use of his Twitter account to post everything from spectacular pictures of our planet as seen from space, to simple insights on daily life in the ISS, to posts about his favorite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

Huntsville, Madison students talk education, fun with astronaut on International Space Station

 

Crystal Bonvillian - Huntsville Times

 

Students from three North Alabama middle schools got the experience of a lifetime Thursday morning when they quizzed an astronaut flying more than 200 miles above the Earth. A handful of eighth-grade students from Discovery, Ed White and Liberty middle schools talked to Tom Marshburn, an astronaut and medical doctor aboard the International Space Station, as the station orbited over Huntsville. More than 100 of the children's classmates listened in from a hallway outside the Space Communications Lab in the University of Alabama in Huntsville's College of Engineering.

 

Cosmonauts faced cold, snow after dicey landing

 

Amy Shira Teitel - Discovery News

 

For the Soviet crew of Voshod 2, their landing back on Earth in an isolated, very snowy forest marked a harrowing start to a new mission: survival. Getting through the ordeal would end up requiring a gun to ward off wild bears, some tricks to staying warm in below zero temperatures and cross country skiing. Long before they had returned Earth, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev had secured spots for themselves in history. While in orbit in their Voskhod 2 spacecraft on March 18, 1965, Leonov became the first man to perform an Extravehicular Activity or EVA.

 

Way, Way, Way Over the Rainbow: Space Travel

 

Dane Steele Green - Huffington Post

 

(Green is President and CEO of Steele Luxury Travel)

 

It's not the most colorful place on the planet, but that's only because it isn't on the planet. Space tourism is going to happen. In fact, it's happening as we speak -- and far be it from me not to jump on this bandwagon. But contrary to popular grumblings, it is not the providence of NASA to get private citizens into orbit (it'd be nice, of course, but NASA is ultimately a science-driven organization). No sort of legal prohibition exists to keep astro-tourists on the ground; rather it is the cost and the lack of necessary infrastructure -- the launch/landing sites, and most importantly, the vehicles themselves -- that snarls up the plans of many a Starfleet wannabe. In somewhat-belated honor of Sally Ride, quite possibly the first lesbian in space, here are what really are the very first steps into the Final Frontier.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Sequester, spending bill chop NASA funding

 

Ledyard King - Florida Today

 

Congress sent a fiscal 2013 spending bill to President Barack Obama on Thursday that will leave NASA with about $1.2 billion less this year than it received last year.

 

Thanks to sequestration budget cuts already in effect, NASA was bracing for a cut of about $900 million from the roughly $17.8 billion it received in fiscal 2012.

 

But the space agency is facing about $300 million in additional cuts as part of the broad spending bill the House passed Thursday. The bill finances government operations through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

 

The House vote sends the bill to the president, who is expected to sign it, averting a threatened government shutdown.

 

Six months into fiscal 2013, NASA now knows what it will receive for the entire year: $16.65 billion.

 

New York Rep. Nita Lowey, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said she's disappointed that the bill headed to the president keeps sequestration intact. But she voted for it because it will keep the government running.

 

"Like any compromise, this measure is far from perfect," Lowey said. "Nevertheless, a government shutdown could wreak havoc on our already fragile economic recovery and must be prevented."

 

Bolden was already fretting about sequestration, even before the additional cuts. He told lawmakers in February that sequestration will "significantly" slow development of a commercial rocket to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, prolonging the need to buy seats -- at about $60 million each -- on Russian Soyuz rockets.

 

Bolden also warned lawmakers last month that sequestration will:

 

·         Cancel six technology development projects, including work on deep-space optical communications, advanced radiation protection and nuclear systems.

·         Cancel several flight demonstration projects in development, including one involving the Deep Space Atomic Clock.

·         Push back modernization of key facilities integral to development of NASA's deep-space manned mission to Mars. The cuts will affect some of NASA's most important installations teaming up on the program, including Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Johnson Space Center in Texas and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

 

NASA spokesman David Weaver said the agency was not planning to comment about the additional cuts that passed the House Thursday.

 

As part of that spending bill, lawmakers retained a provision barring NASA from engaging in bilateral work with China, language designed to prevent potential breaches of cybersecurity.

 

NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. told members of a House Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday that funding to bolster cybersecurity and safety compliance would be protected from the sequestration cuts.

 

Reports: Robert Lightfoot will lead foreign security probe

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot will lead a new in-house probe of foreign access to NASA field centers in the wake of the arrest of a Chinese national allegedly attempting to smuggle data out of the U.S. to China.

 

Lightfoot was director of the Marshall Space Flight Center before being promoted in 2012 to the top civil service position in the agency.

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. announced the new investigation in testimony March 20 before the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee that funds NASA. The chair of that panel, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va), has been criticizing NASA center security publicly for some time.

 

Wolf raised the issue of a possible security breach at the Langley Research Center in Virginia earlier this month. It was a Chinese national associated with a Langley contractor who was taken into custody March 16 while aboard a China-bound jet waiting for takeoff at Dulles International Airport in Washington.

 

Responding further to the perceived threat, Bolden said he is suspending access by foreign nationals to NASA centers and shutting down a NASA technical reports database, among other steps. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will also conduct an investigation, and Bolden may order an outside probe as well.

 

SpaceX's Dragon capsule gets 'go' for return to Earth on Monday

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

International Space Station managers gave the OK Thursday for SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsule to head back to Earth early Monday.

 

Station managers and SpaceX officials met Thursday to discuss preparations for the flight home, including a review of thruster problems the spacecraft experienced shortly after its March 1 launch from here atop a Falcon 9 rocket. SpaceX engineers overcame the problems, and the Dragon arrived at the station March 3, a day later than planned.

 

"All agreed that all systems are 'go' for a Monday unberthing and departure of Dragon and for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean," NASA TV commentator Kelly Humphries said of the review.

 

Station astronauts Tom Marshburn and Chris Hadfield plan to pull the privately owned, unmanned, reusable capsule from its docking port with a robotic arm at 5:05 a.m. EDT Monday and release it into space at 7:49 a.m.

 

Packed with 2,668 pounds of equipment and science experiments, the Dragon is expected to re-enter the atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California at 1:19 p.m. EDT.

 

Recovery ships will return the spacecraft to Los Angeles, and it will then be transported to SpaceX's facility in Texas.

 

Since the shuttle's retirement in 2011, the Dragon capsule is the only vehicle able to return significant amounts of space station cargo to Earth. The mission is SpaceX's second of 12 planned under a $1.6 billion NASA resupply contract.

 

New Private Rocket Launching 1st Test Flight in April

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

The maiden launch of a new private rocket that eventually aims to loft cargo toward the International Space Station is slated for the middle of April.

 

The Antares rocket, which is being developed by aerospace firm Orbital Sciences Corp., will blast off for the first time April 16-18 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, NASA officials said.

 

Antares will launch a simulated payload to a target altitude of 155 miles to 185 miles (250 to 300 kilometers). If all goes well with the test flight, which Orbital is calling A-One, the next step will be a demonstration mission to the space station using Antares and the company's robotic Cygnus capsule, company officials said.

 

That test run to the orbiting lab should take place later this year, Orbital has said.

 

Virginia-based Orbital Sciences holds a $1.9 billion NASA contract to make eight unmanned supply runs to the station with Antares and Cygnus. The space agency has also signed a $1.6 billion cargo deal with SpaceX for 12 flights with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule.

 

SpaceX completed the first of these bona fide supply runs last October, and Dragon is docked to the station now on contracted mission number two. The capsule is slated to return to Earth on March 25 with about 2,670 pounds (1,210 kilograms) of scientific experiments and other gear.

 

The deals with Orbital and California-based SpaceX are part of NASA's effort to encourage American private spaceflight firms to fill the void left by the retirement of the agency's space shuttle fleet in 2011.

 

While commercial cargo deliveries are already underway, NASA also wants private spaceships to start carrying its astronauts to and from the orbiting lab by 2017. Until that happens, the agency will be dependent on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to provide this taxi service, at about $60 million per seat.

 

Cygnus is a cargo-only vehicle, but SpaceX is working on a manned version of Dragon. Other major contenders for a NASA crew contract are Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp., which are developing a capsule called the CST-100 and a space plane called Dream Chaser, respectively.

 

Antares scheduled to launch in April. Want to go?

 

Diane Tennant - Hampton Roads Daily-Press

 

The launch of the Antares rocket has been scheduled for mid-April from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island. I've had my eye on the launch schedule since last fall, waiting for this, and now I have my media credentials all lined up.

 

Antares could launch April 16, 17 or 18, according to NASA, and mid-afternoon is the likely time. If you're interested in watching, NASA has a visitor center at Wallops, and the launch should also be visible from just about anywhere on Chincoteague. The tricky part is that launches can be scrubbed or re-scheduled, and this rocket has a three-day launch window.

 

This will be just a launch of the rocket -- a test flight of Antares carrying the Cygnus cargo spacecraft will come later this year. Both are built by Orbital Sciences Corp., based in Dulles, which has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to carry supplies to the International Space Station.

 

If you're an avid user of social media, you could get credentials for the launch, too. NASA will accept 25 applicants, allowing them the access usually reserved for journalists. Apply by 5 p.m. on March 29 at http://www.nasa.gov/social

 

Soyuz TMA-08M Crew Ready for Rapid Trek to Space Station

 

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.org

 

The multi-month increments by International Space Station crews seem to be coming quick and fast these days, with none more quickly than the upcoming Soyuz TMA-08M crew of Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Aleksandr Misurkin and NASA's Chris Cassidy.

 

When they launch from the desolate steppe of Baikonur, in north-central Kazakhstan, on 28 March, they will spend a mere six hours—as opposed to the standard two days—in "solo" flight, before docking at the sprawling orbital research facility.

 

In doing so, Vinogradov, Misurkin, and Cassidy will form the second half of Expedition 35, under the leadership of Canada's first ISS Commander, Chris Hadfield, and will later constitute the core of the Expedition 36 crew, returning to Earth in September.

 

Although same-day rendezvous and dockings are nothing new, and America's Skylab crews typically arrived at the orbital workshop just eight or nine hours after liftoff, it has been typical in the ISS era for astronauts and cosmonauts to follow the longer profile, which is more economical in terms of propellant expenditure and the demands of orbital mechanics.

 

At the same time, however, the confines of Russia's tiny Soyuz vehicle are cramped and highly stressful and often serve to exacerbate sensations of nausea and space motion sickness. Getting crews to the station sooner, though enormously complicated, was highly desirable, and, writing last year, analyst James Oberg noted that a fast-rendezvous plan had been developed, involving a ballet of between four and six thruster firings to create the right conditions for an early docking.

 

"The destination in space," wrote Oberg, "must be lined up much more precisely in a narrow 'slot' in the sky. With the two-day profile, that destination could be anywhere halfway along the ISS' round-the-world orbital track … but with the fast-track rendezvous, the target must be maneuvered in advance into a segment of the target's orbit that is only 20 degrees wide at the time of the spacecraft's launch."

 

In August 2012, Russia's Progress M-16M—or "48P" in ISS Program-speak—was launched and successfully completed a docking with the space station just six hours after liftoff. It was noted at the time that at least one of the crewed Soyuz missions for 2013 might follow a similar profile, and the TMA-08M crew will do just that.

 

"It's a really exciting and interesting concept to do," explained Chris Cassidy in his pre-flight NASA interview. "Typically, we'll launch on one day, go to bed, be up that whole second day with a few tasks and activities, but not much significant activity, and then go to sleep again and wake up and rendezvous on that third day. We'll scrunch that whole timeline down into about a six-hour period. The interesting thing from a human point of view is we don't have time to take off our space suits, so we'll be strapped into our seats for the whole duration of that six-hour period, plus the pre-launch activities. It'll be a long day and a lot of time in the suits."

 

Having said this, the crew will have the opportunity to move around the cabin, which is rendered somewhat more spacious in the absence of gravity. However, for Cassidy, a U.S. Navy officer and former SEAL, the lack of comfort in the Soyuz is notable. "The toilet is right next to where you sleep, which are right next to your buddy," he said, "and eating and all; it's like living for a day in a smart car or a Volkswagen Beetle."

 

From an operational perspective, the only difference for Cassidy and his crewmates are that the six-hour timeline is much shorter, naturally, than it would ordinarily be, with fewer gaps between discrete activities. The decision to adopt the fast-rendezvous approach for Soyuz TMA-08M was formally agreed by the International Partners last month, but, according to ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini, has not yet been approved for all future flights. A decision on whether to adopt it for Soyuz TMA-09M on 28 May—whose crew includes NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg—is expected to be made in April.

 

"All the systems of the vehicle are the same, but the work is more intense," said Pavel Vinogradov, a veteran of two previous long-duration missions, who will be commanding the Soyuz TMA-08M flight to the station. Recently quoted by SpaceflightNow.com, he added that "there are no new systems or modes in the vehicle, but the co-ordination work of the crew should be better."

 

Overall, Vinogradov feels that although it will be hard on the crew in the first few hours of pre-launch activities and orbital flight, it offers the benefits of greater efficiency in the long term. Another tangible benefit for the Russians is that a full complement of Soyuz controllers will be needed for only a day, as opposed for three days in the previous rendezvous profile.

 

NASA remains cautious, however, and has expressed concerns over the technical difficulty of the orbital maneuvers, in such rapid-fire succession and so soon after launch, plus the crew's comfort and workload. In his NASA interview, Cassidy acquiesced that the ultimate decision "probably will be made by Roscosmos … but certainly what we learn will be passed on to the other crews."

 

Soyuz TMA-08 arrived at the Baikonur site in January and has steadily progressed through its final weeks of testing, ahead of mating to its booster, a descendent of the R-7 "Semyorka" ("Little Seven"), originally conceived by Sergei Korolev in the 1950s.

 

Approximately a day before launch, it will be transported out to the launch pad in a horizontal fashion, atop a railcar, and there erected into a vertical position. Liftoff is currently planned for 4:43:22 p.m. EDT (8:43:22 p.m. GMT) on 28 March, with docking at the space station's zenith-facing Poisk mini-research module at 10:32 p.m. EDT (2:32 a.m. GMT on the 29th).

 

Russia will achieve a new national record on this mission, for Vinogradov will become the oldest cosmonaut ever launched into space. He will turn 60 on 31 August, a few days before his scheduled return to Earth; this slightly eclipses the previous Russian record-holder, Valeri Ryumin, who was 58 years old when he flew to Mir aboard shuttle mission STS-91 in June 1998.

 

Vinogradov flew long-duration expeditions to Mir and the ISS, most recently in 2006, and the chance to return to the strange microgravity environment is something he particularly wants to savor. "People who were on-board the station," he explained in a NASA interview, "feel that it's their second home, and it will be like coming home for me. And, of course, it's larger. The station has expanded; it's now beautiful and big."

 

The arrival of Vinogradov, Misurkin, and Cassidy will kick off a busy few months for the ISS Program, highlighted by numerous spacewalks from both the Russian Operating Segment (ROS) and the U.S. Operating Segment (USOS). The first excursion is tentatively planned for 19 April and will involve Vinogradov and fellow Expedition 35 cosmonaut Roman Romanenko. When he floats outside the Pirs airlock, Vinogradov will become the world's oldest spacewalker, soundly beating the previous record-holder, Story Musgrave, who was 58 years old when he supported three EVAs to service the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1993.

 

In his NASA interview, Vinogradov spoke briefly about the tasks he and Romanenko will perform. "It's going to be for the installation of special sensors and antennas that show the state of the electromagnetic field around the station," he explained. The cosmonauts will also install material-exposure sample trays and equipment to support the docking, in early June, of Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4, named in honor of physicist Albert Einstein).

 

The EVA will be the first of as many as seven throughout the summer months, with three other ROS spacewalks currently planned for 26 June, 15 August, and 19 August. These three will be performed by Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin—the latter of whom is scheduled to arrive at the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-09M in late May—and according to Vinogradov will be conducted in support of the anticipated (and long-delayed) Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module, scheduled for launch in late 2013 or 2014.

 

"We will have to provide power lines and to transition the power lines from the USOS to the ROS," he said, "and it's not a short route to attach them, to lay the cables for data transfer as well, and to install data trusses, data buses and … scientific equipment on the outer shell of the station." This equipment is expected to include a pair of Canadian-built telescopes. "How they decide who performs the EVAs is very hard," Vinogradov concluded. "It's very hard to prepare a person to perform the EVA; it's very hard to measure and spread out the tasks between the crew members and the load between the crew members."

 

For the first six weeks of their mission, Vinogradov, Misurkin, and Cassidy will work as part of Expedition 35, alongside Roman Romanenko, NASA's Tom Marshburn, and Commander Chris Hadfield. That will change when Hadfield and his team return to Earth aboard their Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft on 14 May, after 146 days in orbit. Vinogradov will take command of the ISS and the first half of the Expedition 36 increment will begin.

 

Three new crew members—Soyuz TMA-09M's Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg, and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency—will arrive to restore the station's six-person capability at the end of May. Parmitano will become the second Italian long-duration resident of the ISS; in ESA mission-naming tradition, his voyage is called "Volare" ("To Fly" in Italian.) With the exception of Nyberg, this new crew will participate heavily in the EVA schedule over the summer period.

 

In addition to Yurchikin and Misurkin's spacewalks in June and August, astronauts Cassidy and Parmitano will make at least two EVAs—and perhaps three—in early July. When he ventures outside, Parmitano will become the first Italian in history to perform a spacewalk. Current projections indicate 2 July and 5 July as the preferred dates, with a third tentatively slated for the 9th.

 

"The number of EVAs," explained Vinogradov, "will depend on how successful they are … but we don't want to put too much pressure on the crew and give them time to work at a measured pace." One of Cassidy and Parmitano's first tasks will be the relocation of a pair of Heat Rejection Subsystem Grapple Fixtures (HRSGFs) from their current home on the station's Mobile Base System to the outboard S-1 and P-1 trusses. The HRSGFs, nicknamed "grapple bars," arrived at the ISS aboard SpaceX's CRS-2 Dragon cargo craft and were robotically removed from the unpressurized Trunk on 6 March by the 57-foot-long Canadarm2 manipulator arm.

 

The purpose of the grapple bars is to provide a capability for Canadarm2 to interface with ISS radiator elements, should the need arise to repair or replace them. The astronauts will remove the bars from their Payload Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) Accommodation (POA) on the Mobile Base System, and Cassidy expects the work to transfer them to their final S-1 and P-1 locations to require the majority of the six-hour EVA. Elsewhere, the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ)—a 10-foot-diameter, 2,500-pound bearing, situated between the S-3 and S-4 truss segments—which enables the solar arrays to properly track the Sun has experienced intermittent difficulties for several years and requires further attention.

 

According to Cassidy, the starboard SARJ has recently shown indications "that it's taking more current to drive the motor to make them spin, which indicates that maybe there's some binding or it's not smoothly spinning around the ring." The two astronauts will clean and lubricate the SARJ rings, on both sides of the space station, and tend to a Ku-band antenna malfunction and the need to repair a Sequential Shunting Unit.

 

With the drama of the EVAs keeping the entire Expedition 36 crew busy throughout the summer, Vinogradov and his team will welcome a steady train of visitors, including Russia's workhorse Progress, Europe's ATV-4 Albert Einstein in June, and Japan's Kounotori-4 ("White Stork") in July-August. Although a precise launch date has yet to be announced, the maiden demo flight of Orbital Sciences' Cygnus cargo craft should also occur during this timeframe. For Vinogradov, Misurkin, and Cassidy, their return to Earth is tentatively scheduled for 11 September.

 

NASA Tells ISS Astronauts to Listen For Leaky Tires

 

Jim Donahue - The Guardian

 

Nasa is trying teaching the Astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) a thing or two about leaky tires, so to speak.

 

The hiss of air escaping from a leaky car tire is no one's favorite sound. Even less pleasant? Hearing that hiss of escaping air 250 miles above Earth's surface while inside the pressurized confines of the International Space Station.

 

According to Eric Madaras, an aerospace technologist at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., if an air leak were to occur aboard the station, alarms would sound, and the astronauts would locate and correct the problem according to procedures. But with only the crew's eyes and ears to go on, pinpointing the source of a leak could be tricky.

 

Madaras is trying to fix that problem. As the principal investigator for the Ultrasonic Background Noise Test (UBNT) he's leading a study that potentially could help prevent a catastrophic loss of air pressure on a crewed spacecraft.

 

By observing the high-frequency noise levels generated by hardware and equipment operating in the Destiny laboratory and Tranquility module aboard the space station, Madaras and his team are helping to develop an automated system that would locate air leaks in a space structure's pressure wall — the outside part of the orbiting laboratory that keeps in oxygen.

 

"If a leak does occur, it's one of those things where you may not have a lot of time," Madaras said. "These guys can always go sit in the Soyuz capsule and close the door and go home. They've got that capability. But no one wants to just abandon ship, so there's always this desire to deal with it."

 

But dealing with a leak means identifying the source. Right now, that would require someone to listen for the signature hiss of escaping air — not an easy or quick task, especially on a noisy space station that has structures covering the wall where the leak might originate.

 

That's why, as part of UBNT, astronauts are in the process of installing several distributed impact detection system (DIDS) units on the pressure walls of the space station. DIDS units are high-speed, four-channel digitizers that record ultrasonic noises. Instead of listening for the hiss of air, these units detect the high-frequency sounds moving through the metal itself. Each unit has four pressure-sensitive transducers, which Madaras compares to the pickup coils on an electric guitar.

 

"That's where the rubber meets the road," Madaras said. "[The transducer] would essentially be stuck on the surface and anything that moves the surface up or down would be picked up."

 

Fourteen DIDS units will be installed aboard the space station: seven in Destiny and seven in Tranquility.

 

If all goes according to plan, and Madaras and his UBNT team are able to identify and characterize the day-to-day background noises on the orbiting outpost, they then will be able to develop a system that can pick out leak-generated noises from the clutter.

 

"One way to look at that is to think about a cocktail party," Madaras said. "It's sometimes very hard to hear people, even near you, because of all the background noises. That's the same phenomenon that this has got to deal with. How do you get that cleaned up so that you can hear specifically the type of noise — the signal — that you're looking for?"

 

The ability to locate pressure leaks in this way may have applications on Earth. According to Madaras, systems like the one he's working on could be useful when dealing with large pressure vessels containing critical material, like radioactive water at a nuclear plant.

 

Right now, though, the focus of the research is on providing the crew aboard the space station with a useful tool, one that may give an astronaut just enough advanced warning to patch a leak and save a module from being permanently closed off.

 

"The idea of giving them more time, trying to help them out and get that part done so they can get to the leak, and now they have the tools to fix the leak," Madaras said. "That, to me, would be a good deal."

 

For more about the International Space Station or information on past, ongoing, and future ISS research activities, including research results and publications, follow this link

 

Combating the perception of a lack of consensus

 

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

 

In December, the National Research Council issued a report on NASA's strategic direction that concluded that there was "no national consensus" on NASA's strategic goals, including a lack of widespread acceptance of plans for a human asteroid mission by 2025. After his keynote speech at the Goddard Memorial Symposium in Greenbelt, Maryland, yesterday, I asked NASA administrator Charles Bolden if he agreed with that conclusion. Before I could complete the question, though, he offered a one-word answer: "No."

 

What, then, can NASA do to combat the perception of that lack of consensus identified in the report? "All we can do is to present to people over and over and over again what the President and Congress have told us to do, and that establishes the national consensus," he said.

 

One challenge, Bolden acknowledged, is funding, which is nothing new to the space agency. "NASA has been under this kind of budget pressure from the time of [former administrator] Mike Griffin and even before Mike Griffin," he said. "It is never going to be different. Anybody who thinks that better times are coming and NASA is going to get all this money so that they can do everything that the nation is asking us to do, that is not going to happen, and we fully realize that." Those budget pressures force the agency to be much smarter, he said.

 

Bolden said he wasn't bothered that some even at NASA weren't fond of a human asteroid mission. "Show me an organization where 100 percent of the people agree on anything," he said. "We are all smart people. We all have an idea of where we ought to be going."

 

"That's what the President told us to do, and that's what the Congress told us to do," he said of the 2025 asteroid mission. "And it's also something that I think is important, and I'm the NASA administrator. It is the right thing to do."

 

FCC issues new regs for commercial spaceflight communications

 

Space News

 

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 15 issued new guidance for commercial spaceflight companies wishing to use radio frequencies allocated exclusively for use by NASA and other federal agencies.

 

The Commercial Spaceflight Federation, a Washington trade organization representing Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and other companies vying to send people and payloads into space on behalf of NASA and other customers, applauded the FCC's announcement.

 

"The FCC has recognized the potential of the U.S. commercial spaceflight industry by streamlining the process of obtaining authorization to use radio frequencies during commercial launches," Commercial Spaceflight Federation President Michael Lopez-Alegria said in a March 18 statement. "In so doing, they have expressed their support for the commercial space sector. I commend the FCC for taking this step and I look forward to working with the Commission to continue to create a welcoming regulatory environment for this new and promising high-tech industry."

 

The FCC's new guidance outlines the steps commercial operators such as SpaceX, which launched its second paid cargo run to the international space station March 1, must take to obtain permission to use government-only spectrum for operational communications during launch, cargo delivery and spacecraft re-entry.

 

The March 15 public notice the FCC posted on its website outlines the steps SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corp. and others must follow to apply for Experimental Authorization to use the government-only spectrum on a temporary, noninterference basis.

 

SpaceX's New Rocket Engine Cleared for Private Launches

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

SpaceX's next-generation rocket engine is ready to fly and will likely power a commercial space launch for the first time this summer, company officials announced Wednesday.

 

The Merlin 1D engine was judged flight-ready after firing for a total of nearly 33 minutes over the course of 28 different tests at SpaceX's rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas. The new engine will soon be incorporated into the company's Falcon 9 rocket, officials said.

 

"The Merlin 1D successfully performed every test throughout this extremely rigorous qualification program," SpaceX CEO and chief designer Elon Musk said in a statement. "With flight qualification now complete, we look forward to flying the first Merlin 1D engines on Falcon 9's Flight 6 this year."

 

The Falcon 9 has flown five times to date, most recently on March 1, when it blasted the robotic Dragon capsule toward the International Space Station on California-based SpaceX's second contracted supply run for NASA. According to the company's launch manifest, flight number six will launch a Canadian communications satellite, likely in mid-June. [SpaceX's Amazing Rockets & Spaceships (Photos)]

 

Company officials say the Merlin 1D will provide a big boost for the Falcon 9, which until now has been powered by Merlin 1C engines in its first stage (nine of them, hence the name).

 

"The Merlin 1D has a vacuum thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 150, the best of any liquid rocket engine in history," SpaceX officials wrote in a press release Wednesday. "This enhanced design makes the Merlin 1D the most efficient booster engine ever built, while still maintaining the structural and thermal safety margins needed to carry astronauts."

 

SpaceX indeed plans to launch astronauts using the Merlin 1D. The company is working on a manned version of its Falcon 9/Dragon transportation system, in the hopes of scoring a NASA contract to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.

 

SpaceX will also incorporate the 1D into its Falcon Heavy booster, a huge rocket still in development that will use 27 engines in its first stage. The Falcon Heavy will be capable of carrying payloads weighing 53 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, company officials say, and it is also being designed to meet NASA human-rating standards.

 

The Merlin 1D already powers SpaceX's Grasshopper rocket, an experimental booster that the company hopes will pave the way for a fully reusable launch system. Earlier this month, the Grasshopper lifted off on its fourth test flight, rising 263 feet (80 meters) into the Texas skies before returning to Earth and making a soft landing.

 

SpaceX Merlin 1D qualified for flight

 

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

 

SpaceX's new engine, the Merlin 1D, has been qualified for spaceflight in advance of its first launch.

 

The engine, a heavily modified version of the Merlin 1C that powers SpaceX's standard Falcon 9, will be utilised on what SpaceX dubs the "Falcon 9 version 1.1", scheduled for its first launch in June. The Merlin series uses rocket propellant (RP-1) and liquid oxygen.

 

The Merlin 1D puts out 147,000lb (654kN) of thrust to the 1C's 110,000lb. Nine of the engines power the first stage, and a single vacuum-capable engine powers the upper stage.

 

"The Merlin 1D successfully performed every test throughout this extremely rigorous qualification program," says Elon Musk, SpaceX chief executive and chief designer. "With flight qualification now complete, we look forward to flying the first Merlin 1D engines on Falcon 9's flight six this year."

 

The tests saw the engine fire for a total of nearly 2,000s at its McGregor, Texas test stand, these including four trials at full flight power and duration lasting 185s.

 

Though it has not powered a space-ready vehicle, a modified Merlin 1D is used on the Grasshopper, a reusable technology test bed.

 

Hadfield's social media blitz could be space program's saving grace

 

Elton Hobson - Global News (Canada)

 

One week ago, thousands of Canadians watched as Colonel Chris Hadfield became the first Canadian to ever take command of the International Space Station (ISS).

 

Yet Hadfield's popularity goes beyond his country of birth, or even his nifty day job.

 

"I've been dealing with astronauts for 20 years, and until they're deactivated most of them are disinclined to spend a lot of time talking to the media," Rob Godwin, curator of the Canadian Air and Space Museum in Toronto, told Global News. "Colonel Hadfield is obviously different in this regard."

 

Hadfield has been called "the most social media savvy astronaut ever to leave Earth" by Forbes magazine. He makes frequent use of his Twitter account to post everything from spectacular pictures of our planet as seen from space, to simple insights on daily life in the ISS, to posts about his favorite hockey team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

That openness has netted Hadfield over 500,000 followers on Twitter. It's also made the 53-year old former Royal Canadian Air Force pilot a true celebrity – something the Canadian and even American space programs have lacked for some time.

 

Indeed, Hadfield's social media storm may be an indication of the future of manned space missions.

 

"Lots of astronauts in the past have used social media, but not to the extent he has," Godwin said. "Yet as the tools come into play, it becomes easier and easier to do."

 

"There's no doubt that Chris Hadfield is having an effect with young people in Canada," Mark Boucher, Director of the Canadian Space Commerce Association, told Global News. "He seems to really be resonating with people."

 

A decline in interest

 

Hadfield's unexpected celebrity is a bright spot for a Canadian space program that is currently facing an uncertain future.

 

Just last month, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) president Steve MacLean surprised many when he announced he was leaving the space agency earlier than expected. This on the heels of a broad review of the Canadian aerospace industry issued last November by the federal government, which claimed the Canadian space program had "floundered" over the last decade.

 

"There's been some lack of clarity around priorities and uneven performance in the implementation of projects," David Emerson, head of the review, said at the time.

 

The CSA is also grappling with deep cuts to their operating budget. Last year, they saw their budget slashed by almost 17 per cent, from $424.6 million to $363.2 million.

 

And with the federal government set to release its latest budget Thursday, there's little optimism from those in the industry that this trend is going to change.

 

"We're in a period of austerity. I don't expect too much to change in the next few years," Boucher said. "I'm looking for anything in the budget today that might help the space sector, but I'm not holding my breath."

 

The right stuff

 

One of the reasons Hadfield's approach is so unique is that traditionally, space agencies like the CSA and NASA have been very controlling when it comes to their astronauts, and their interactions with the public.

 

"When [NASA] hired the first seven astronauts [in 1959], there was huge argument over what type of person was best suited for job," Godwin said. "Eventually, of course, they decided to use fighter pilots."

 

"Now by and large, fighter pilots are strong willed alpha males who don't keep their opinions to themselves. NASA learned very quickly they had to reign in the first astronauts when dealing with the press."

 

According to Godwin, that control has persisted ever since.

 

The "rock star" astronaut

 

During the 1960's and 70's, astronauts were bona fide celebrities, and their names and exploits were the stuff of casual conversation around the world. Yet the space program, both in Canada and in the United States, has suffered from a fall in public interest since the end of the "space race."

 

"If you actually stopped a Canadian on the street today and said name four Canadian astronauts, I bet it would be extremely difficult," Godwin said.

 

Yet the problem of declining interest in space missions may just be a problem of changing objectives.

 

Indeed, it might not be a "problem" at all.

 

"The media and the public actually do pay a lot of attention whenever NASA discovers something 'out there,' such as a rover finding signs of life on Mars," Godwin said. "What's been diminished in recent years is interest in manned space flight, because it's about risk and goals."

 

Since the end of the "space race", there hasn't been a mission with the same scope and power to captivate as the famous Apollo lunar missions. Space shuttles flew over 500 missions during their service life, but these were all low-orbit flights to places like the ISS or the old Russian Mir station.

 

"Manned space flight had the allure that it did because they were going where no one had gone before," Godwin said. "When you're going where we've already gone plenty of times before, the public starts to wonder 'what's the point?'"

 

Hadfield's social media success has helped put a human face on space travel, showing average Canadians both the magnificent and the mundane sides of space exploration.

 

"Do I think his notoriety will have an immediate effect on the space program going forward? I don't think so," Boucher said. "But his ability to influence and inspire young people could be very significant. We could see more people going into science, becoming astronauts, as a result."

 

In the end, perhaps no one is more qualified to speak on the future of the space program than Hadfield himself. With his usual poet's touch, the ISS commander offered this thought on his recent AMA ("Ask me Anything") feature on social media site Reddit.

 

"We've endured accidents, budget cycles, and many naysayers," Hadfield wrote. "But meanwhile we have accomplished countless acts of magnificence, from walking on the Moon to Hubble teaching us about the universe, to international cooperation, to Curiosity drilling on Mars, to permanently leaving Earth on ISS. I'm working as hard as I can to help that all happen, and have been for 20 years. It's hard to leave home, but we're managing to do it as a species, regardless. Pretty amazing."

 

Pretty amazing, indeed.

 

Huntsville, Madison students talk education, fun with astronaut on International Space Station

 

Crystal Bonvillian - Huntsville Times

 

Students from three North Alabama middle schools got the experience of a lifetime Thursday morning when they quizzed an astronaut flying more than 200 miles above the Earth.

 

A handful of eighth-grade students from Discovery, Ed White and Liberty middle schools talked to Tom Marshburn, an astronaut and medical doctor aboard the International Space Station, as the station orbited over Huntsville. More than 100 of the children's classmates listened in from a hallway outside the Space Communications Lab in the University of Alabama in Huntsville's College of Engineering.

 

The students' chat was part of the UAH Space Hardware Club's Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program, which gives engineering students an opportunity to teach middle school students about amateur, or ham, radio. The students' training, given one day a week over about six weeks, culminates in making contact with the Space Station.

 

"I was nervous, but it was kind of amazing," said Debreiona Harris, 14, of Ed White Middle.

 

Harris had the task of making first contact with Marshburn. The students in the lab and out in the hallway grew hushed as they watched a digital image of Earth on large screens and counted down the final minutes until contact. A green arc showed the southeastern path the Space Station would take over the United States.

 

According to NASA, the Space Station travels 17,500 miles an hour, making one full orbit of the Earth every hour and a half.

 

 

The children became completely silent when a green dot representing the Space Station appeared on the arc. As it moved slowly across the country, Harris began.

 

"This is K4UAH, Station, can you hear us?"

 

It took several tries before an answer came back over the crackle of static.

 

Taking turns, the participating children sat before the microphone and, for about 10 minutes, asked Marshburn questions about living in space. He told them about the extensive training it took to get where he is in his career.

 

Discovery Middle student Ada Vanderzijp-Tan asked how the astronauts and cosmonauts entertain themselves in space. Marshburn said they read, send emails home and even play the guitar.

 

"Looking out the window is the No. 1 entertainment," Marshburn said.

 

Malya Byers, also of Discovery Middle, asked if the stars look bigger from space. Marshburn explained to the girl that they do not.

 

"They're still so far away that they look like little points of light in space," he said.

 

Liberty Middle student Patrick Clardy asked about living in zero gravity. Some things that are hard to do on Earth are easy to do in space, Marshburn said, while easy things like finding a place to put your pen or your toothbrush can be difficult.

 

Amelia Goldston of Discovery Middle asked what Marshburn missed most about Earth.

 

"I miss my family, that is the No. 1 thing," he said. "I also miss the wind in my hair."

 

Marshburn told the children what he believes it takes to succeed.

 

"The main thing is to find what you love and get very good at it," Marshburn said. "People who are doing what they love and are successful at it - that's what astronauts are."

 

To learn more about NASA's ARISS program, click here.

 

Cosmonauts faced cold, snow after dicey landing

 

Amy Shira Teitel - Discovery News

 

For the Soviet crew of Voshod 2, their landing back on Earth in an isolated, very snowy forest marked a harrowing start to a new mission: survival. Getting through the ordeal would end up requiring a gun to ward off wild bears, some tricks to staying warm in below zero temperatures and cross country skiing.

 

Long before they had returned Earth, Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyayev had secured spots for themselves in history. While in orbit in their Voskhod 2 spacecraft on March 18, 1965, Leonov became the first man to perform an Extravehicular Activity or EVA.

 

It hadn't been easy. In a vacuum his suit had become rigid and unwieldy, making his reentry into the spacecraft a slightly harrowing experience. But the drama of the mission was only just beginning.

 

The crew was coming up on the end of their 26-hour mission when things started going wrong. Just five minutes before their scheduled reentry, the cosmonauts noticed a problem with their automatic guidance system. It wasn't working. The computer couldn't orient the spacecraft.

 

They hastily shut off the Vostok's landing program and began an additional orbit when they should have been reentering the atmosphere. They needed the extra time to deal with the emergency.

 

As the mission's navigator, it fell to Leonov to pick a landing spot; he chose a sparsely populated area near to the city of Perm just west of the Ural Mountains where they were certain to land on Soviet soil. As the pilot, Belyayev had to stretch across both seats to look through the spacecraft's porthole to visually orient the spacecraft before the retrofire burn then scramble back into his seat for reentry.

 

The timing was tight but everything worked. The crew felt the engine behind them roar to life and felt the beginnings of gravity pulling them down as they started falling to Earth. But something was wrong. The cosmonauts felt conflicting gravitational forces, first pulling them one way then the other. Hard. Their instruments told them they were pulling up 10gs in alternating directions, enough force to burst blood vessels in their eyes.

 

It was a familiar problem, one that had affected a number of Vostok missions. The spacecraft's landing module was designed to separate from their orbital module 10 seconds after retro-fire, but it hadn't. A single communication cable connected the two, and they started spinning.

 

Not until the landing module was 62 miles from the Earth surface did the cord finally give, burned away by the heat of reentry. The spinning stopped abruptly and the cosmonauts felt a sharp jolt. The small stabilizing drogue chute deployed. The capsule started swaying gently underneath the parachute.

 

The calm inside the cabin was at odds with the ominous darkness outside. The cosmonauts were falling through heavy cloud cover. The landing rockets fired and they hit the ground with a jolt.

 

According to the spacecraft's orientation system they landed deep in the Siberian forest almost 1,250 miles from their target. The crew needed to assess their situation to figure out how long it might take recovery crews to find them. The full seriousness of the situation hit them when they wrestled the hatch opened to find themselves nearly chin deep in snow.

 

Snowbanks six and a half feet tall surrounded them as did thick birch trees. The sun was hidden behind the clouds. It started to snow, forcing the men back into their spacecraft.

 

Neither man was too concerned. Belyayev's childhood dream had been to become a hunter while Leonov had sought the beautiful isolation of the forest as an artistic outlet. It was the wildlife that worried them. The forest, they knew, was home to bears and wolves, unusually aggressive in the spring mating season. Between themselves the cosmonauts had one pistol but ample ammunition.

 

It was lucky they had the gun. Around the time they returned to the safety of their capsule Moscow had no idea that they had even landed. Only men working at a listening post near Bonn, Germany and a nearby cargo plane did; by chance they'd both picked up a transmission from the crew and called for a search party.

 

Recovery crews did arrive in late afternoon, signaled by the unmistakable sound of helicopter. Leonov and Belyayev plowed through chest-deep snow into a clearing where they waved their arms frantically. Luckily the pilot spotted them, but unfortunately it was a civilian helicopter whose crew lacked the knowledge and equipment to effect a rescue. A rope ladder appeared in the clearing, but the cosmonauts had no hope of climbing it in their bulky pressure suits and boots.

 

Other aircraft arrived and dropped what they hoped would be helpful items: a bottle of cognac that broke when it hit the ground, a blunt axe, and wolfskin boots and warm winter clothes that snagged on branches as they fell.

 

Civilian rescue efforts continued in vain as daylight faded. By then the cosmonauts were facing a different threat. They'd sweat so much climbing around in the snow that now, soaked, they were at risk of frost bite. Leonov and Belyayev clambered back into the capsule, stripped naked, and wrung as much moisture out of their underwear as possible.

 

They poured the liquid out of their rigid spacesuits and put the softer, less rigid lining back on for warmth. With their boots and gloves back on they were relatively comfortable and mobile. As the night cooled to 22 degrees below zero Fahrenheit they tried to stay warm in their capsule in spite of the gaping hole where the hatch had been.

 

They woke the next morning to the sound of an airplane circling overhead and voices just barely audible above the engines' roar. Leonov fired a flare gun to guide the small rescue team — a group of men on skis followed by a fellow cosmonaut and an eager videographer — to their landing site.

 

With supplies on site the second night in the forest was much more pleasant. The men chopped trees to build a fire and make a makeshift log cabin, clearing a spot for a helicopter at the same time. They also brought a generous supper of cheese, sausage and bread.

 

The crew and their rescue team skied five and a half miles to the helicopter landing site the next morning. The crew was moved to Perm then flown back to their launch site at Baikonur where they were greeted by a smiling Yuri Gagarin and Sergei Korolev.

 

The next day Leonov and Belyayev stood before a government committee in Leninsk to answer questions about their flight. Leonov's only comment on the flight was about his historic space walk: "Provided with a special suit, man can survive and work in open space."

 

After their harrowing night in the forest, it was back to business for the cosmonauts.

 

Way, Way, Way Over the Rainbow: Space Travel

 

Dane Steele Green - Huffington Post

 

(Green is President and CEO of Steele Luxury Travel)

 

It's not the most colorful place on the planet, but that's only because it isn't on the planet.

 

Space tourism is going to happen. In fact, it's happening as we speak -- and far be it from me not to jump on this bandwagon. But contrary to popular grumblings, it is not the providence of NASA to get private citizens into orbit (it'd be nice, of course, but NASA is ultimately a science-driven organization). No sort of legal prohibition exists to keep astro-tourists on the ground; rather it is the cost and the lack of necessary infrastructure -- the launch/landing sites, and most importantly, the vehicles themselves -- that snarls up the plans of many a Starfleet wannabe. In somewhat-belated honor of Sally Ride, quite possibly the first lesbian in space, here are what really are the very first steps into the Final Frontier.

 

Virgin Galactic

 

Don't let the name fool you; Virgin has a lot more experience than you think, particularly when it comes to space travel. Richard Branson registered Virgin Galactic all the way back in 1990, and has been making serious strides since, namely in the form of two working space plane prototypes, dubbed SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo, that, instead of launching straight up like the Space Shuttle, will ascend like a jet to a sub-orbital cruising altitude of around 68 miles up for a two-and-a-half hour experience. For five of those minutes, micro-gravity kicks in.

 

Structural testing is still underway, but virgingalactic.com proudly states 450 reservations already are registered. At a whopping $200,000 a pop (which includes a three-day pre-flight training session for G-forces that will be three times great than Earth's gravity, etc.), it's safe to say that in the short run, there will not be much in the way of crowds waiting at the local spaceport. Still, it's a steal compared to the over $51 million Phantom of the Opera singer Sarah Brightman paid the cash-strapped Russian Space Agency last year for a 2014-15 jaunt to the International Space Station via Space Adventures, currently the go-to guys for infinity and beyond.

 

And we all may be hearing a lot more about Branson and Virgin Galactic: In 2012, Engadget.com reported that the first passenger flight of the 60-foot-long SpaceShipTwo will take to the skies this year. Branson himself, and two of his starry-eyed children, will be on board.

 

So what will one see? At 68 miles, one is just beyond the Kármán line, where most experts agree the atmosphere "ends." The curvature of the Earth will clearly be seen, as will the thin blue envelope of the atmosphere. Passengers will see weather systems on a grand scale, and a view of North America usually seen only on classroom globes.

 

Spaceport America

 

Although the word "spaceport" is still novel, the concept is nothing new -- humanity has been launching things into space since Russia sent up Sputnik back in 1957, along with the facilities to do the launching. But a compound devoted exclusively to commercial space flight? That is new. And it is 45 miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

 

No, really.

 

It is right out of The Jetsons, but for good reason. While it may look like a regional airport in the middle of nowhere, Spaceport America is the up-and-running nerve center of commercial spaceflight. This is no pie-in-the-sky folly project; with the official blessings of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (yes, it exists) and the Federal Aviation Authority's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (yes, it exists, too), if you are a private citizen gunning for the stars, this is the place to be.

 

To walk around the grounds, one would not immediately pick up on the starry aspirations of the facility. The 15,000-foot runway, passenger terminal, and command center are all familiar sights, but the vertical launch pads are not.

 

When I say that commercial space flight is taking its first steps, I mean it. Spaceport America has yet to see its inaugural flight, but it is ground zero for every test designers can think of. Before any person goes up, dozens of test flights must be done, and never all at once. This test may be of a wing design; that test registers the thrust of an engine that is itself experimental. As thrilling as astrotravel is, this is uncharted territory: Space Shuttles and rockets are huge and heavy, a commercial spacecraft is light and lilliputian by comparison -- Virgin Galactic, which will use Spaceport America as its hub, plans on a modest six-person passenger load with each flight. Combined, this creates a whole new set of stresses to compensate for and safety criteria to meet.

 

But if it means getting that much closer to the stars and the playground of the gods beyond? Count me in.

 

END