Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: March 29, 2013 6:56:51 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>, "Taylor, William H. (JSC-IS4)[DB Consulting Group, Inc.]" <william.h.taylor@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - March 29, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Good Friday to everyone.   Have a very Happy Easter with family and friends and a great and safe weekend.

I want to thank y'all for helping Bill Taylor with identifying all of the remaining Guidance and Control Division folks in his 1966 awards photo.

Yesterday, I got confirmation of Jim Blucker's input that #2 in the photo was indeed John Rudy Henson from the G& C Division by Floyd Bennett.   I finally found my e-version of the 1966 Manned Spacecraft phonebook and found Rudy Henson listed in one of the G&C Division Branches identified as a Systems Analyst.    Paul Horsman suggested that #2 might be Rudy Saldana but I don't think it is Rudy and Rudy is on my distribution list and has not chimed in that it is him. I am willing to, at this point, go with Jim and Floyd's input that it is indeed Rudy Henson.

Additionally, yesterday afternoon Jon Brown identified #7 as Cliff Duncan (Guidance and Control Division Chief) and then later in the day Paul Horsman confirmed that #7 was Cliff Duncan.

Thanks for all your collective help to Bill Taylor on the old photo. You all have remarkable memories.

Hope you can join us next Thursday for our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill on Bay Area Blvd. at 11:30

Friday, March 29, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Meet Team Everest: Film Producers and Crew Visit JSC
2.            Come Be a NERD
3.            NASA College Scholarship Application Deadline Extended
4.            The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) Says ... .
5.            AIAA Houston Executive Council Elections: Call for Nominations
6.            Space Available - APPEL - Design for Manufacturability and Assembly
________________________________________     NASA FACT
" On March 16, the Soyuz TMA-06M spacecraft brought home Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Novitskiy and Flight Engineer Evgeny Tarelkin to a landing northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, following a one-day delay due to inclement weather in the area."
________________________________________
1.            Meet Team Everest: Film Producers and Crew Visit JSC
The "Team Everest: A Himalayan Journey" film chronicles the 21-day trek of five men in wheelchairs and their teammates--representing a range of disabilities--on a journey to reach Mount Everest Base Camp at an altitude of 17,500 feet. As their 10-year anniversary nears, the Team Everest crew and producer will visit JSC to share film highlights and reflections--an exclusive you don't want to miss!
Date: Friday, April 5
Location: Teague Auditorium
Time: 11 a.m. to noon
Hosted by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity and JSC's disABILITY Advisory Group.
Accommodations for a specific disability are available upon request by contacting Janelle Holt at x37504 no later than Friday, March 29.
Event Date: Friday, April 5, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Janelle Holt x37504 http://www.teameverestthemovie.com/

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2.            Come Be a NERD
NERD (New Employee Resources and Development) is going to be holding its first general body meeting! Join us to learn what this group is all about, sign up for one of our first committees and hear about other opportunities to get involved.
Telecon number: 888-606-8302
Participant pass code: 2299548
Event Date: Monday, April 1, 2013   Event Start Time:3:30 PM   Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30A Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Elena Buhay 281-792-7976

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3.            NASA College Scholarship Application Deadline Extended
The NASA College Scholarship Fund is extending the application deadline to April 5.
Applications are available online.
Amanda Gaspard x31387

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4.            The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) Says ...
"Keep those poisons locked away, and save a child's life today!"
Congratulations to April 2013 "JSAT Says ..." winner Rodney Hughes, Lockheed Martin. Any JSAT member (all JSC contractor and civil servant employees) may submit a slogan for consideration to JSAT Secretary Reese Squires. Submissions for May are due by Friday, April 12. Keep those great submissions coming -- you may be the next "JSAT Says ..." winner!
Reese Squires x37776 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/apps/news/newsfiles/3261.pptx

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5.            AIAA Houston Executive Council Elections: Call for Nominations
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston section is soliciting nominations for executive council positions for this year's election. The following positions are up for election for the term July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014.
o             Chair
o             Chair-Elect
o             Vice Chair - Operations
o             Vice Chair - Technical
o             Secretary
o             Treasurer
o             Councilor (five positions open - councilors serve a two-year term from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2015)
Position descriptions can be found here or by contacting the elections chair.
All council members must be an AIAA member in good standing and are asked to attend council meetings once per month.
Eryn Beisner x40212

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6.            Space Available - APPEL - Design for Manufacturability and Assembly
This course was developed with the input of engineers and craftsmen throughout the agency to introduce participants to the skills and insight necessary to design mechanisms, devices and structural components, and produce them quickly, cost effectively and of high quality. Participants will learn how to create products that function correctly and robustly and about the importance of early involvement of key stakeholders.
This course is for the NASA technical workforce and program managers involved in the design, manufacture and assembly of space program hardware who wish to become familiar with key technological information on manufacturing processes of strategic interest to NASA.
This course is available for self-registration in SATERN until Tuesday, April 2. Attendance is open to civil servants and contractors.
Dates: Tuesday to Thursday, May 14 to 16
Location: Building 12, Room 152
Zeeaa Quadri x39723 https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHED...

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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.

Human Spaceflight News
Friday, March 29, 2013

All in a day's work: Soyuz lifts off Thursday afternoon (pictured above from ground & ISS) & docks 5 hrs, 45 min later

HEADLINES AND LEADS

NASA wants $100 million to catch an asteroid

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

NASA's fiscal 2014 budget request will include $100 million for a new mission to find a small asteroid, capture it with a robotic spacecraft and bring it into range of human explorers somewhere in the vicinity of the Moon. Suggested last year by the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology, the idea has attracted favor at NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. President Obama's goal of sending astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 can't be done with foreseeable civil-space spending, the thinking goes. But by moving an asteroid to cislunar space — a high lunar orbit or the second Earth-Moon Lagrangian Point (EML2), above the Moon's far side — it is conceivable that technically the deadline could be met.

Budget cuts could slow commercial space progress

Associated Press

The head of NASA says federal spending cuts could eventually slow progress on commercial efforts to fly to space. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden sounded the warning Thursday two days after SpaceX's Dragon capsule returned from a supply run to the International Space Station with a splashdown in the Pacific. Bolden says there's no significant impact to the commercial space program this fiscal year, but automatic budget cuts could affect how much the space agency can dole out to private companies down the road. With the shuttles retired, NASA is relying on private enterprise to fly cargo and eventually astronauts to the orbiting lab. The latest SpaceX trip started off with a mechanical problem. CEO Elon Musk says engineers have found the root cause and says it won't happen again. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

Soyuz docks with station after abbreviated four-orbit rendezvous

William Harwood - CBS News

A veteran Russian commander, a rookie cosmonaut and a Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut rocketed into space Thursday and glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station less than six hours later, a record-setting rendezvous being tested to reduce the time crew members have to spend cooped up inside the cramped Soyuz ferry craft. Soyuz TMA-08M commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and shuttle veteran Christopher Cassidy blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:43:20 p.m. EDT Thursday (GMT-4; 2:43 a.m. Friday local time).

U. S., Russian Soyuz Crew Achieves Expedited Space Station Transit

Mark Carreau – Aviation Week

Russia's Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft docked with the International Space Station late Thursday, delivering a three man U. S. and Russian crew, the first astronauts to carry out a six hour expedited launch to docking with the International Space Station. The Soyuz transport carried out the automated docking with the Russian segment Poisk module at 10:28 p.m., EDT, four orbits, or just under six hours after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The standard journey typically unfolds over two days, or 34 orbits.

Russian spaceship docks with orbiting station

Associated Press

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts successfully docked Friday with the International Space Station, bringing the size of the crew at the orbiting lab to six. Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin traveled six hours in the capsule before linking up with the space station's Russian Rassvet research module over the Pacific Ocean, just off Peru, at 02:28 GMT. "It's such a beautiful sight, hard to believe my eyes," the 59-year-old Vinogradov, who had been in space in 1997 and 2006, was heard saying on NASA TV.

Russian-American crew taking short cut to space station

Steve Gutterman & Irene Klotz - Reuters

Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut took a short cut to the International Space Station on Thursday, arriving at the orbital outpost less than six hours after their Soyuz capsule blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The express route, used for the first time to fly a crew to the station, shaved about 45 hours off the usual ride, allowing NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin to get a jumpstart on their planned 5.5-month mission. The crew's Soyuz capsule parked itself at the station's Poisk module at 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 GMT Friday), just five hours and 45 minutes after launch.

New crew takes express ride to space station

Agence France Presse

A new Russian-American crew arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) Friday after a fast-track trip from Earth of under six hours, the swiftest ever manned journey to the orbiting laboratory. A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts opened the hatches of their Soyuz-TMA spaceship and floated into the ISS to a warm welcome from the three incumbent crew, live pictures broadcast on Russian television showed.

ISS crew takes express ride to orbit
Soyuz lifts off, docks on same day

Todd Halvorson – Florida Today

A three-man crew blasted off for the International Space Station on Thursday and made the trip in six hours — rather than two days — a stellar first at the global outpost. It was a relatively quick ride for U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy and his two Russian colleagues: Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin. Flying in a cramped Soyuz capsule, the trio docked at the multinational lab complex at 10:32 p.m. EDT – almost six hours after their 4:43 p.m. EDT launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

'Hey, is anyone home?'
Russian shuttle carrying former Navy Seal honoured for bravery in Afghanistan docks with International Space Station

Anthony Bond - London Daily Mail

A Russian shuttle carrying a former Navy Seal who has been honoured for his bravery in Afghanistan has successfully docked with the International Space Station this morning. The Soyuz capsule carrying astronauts Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin linked up with the space station at 2.28 am. It brings the size of the crew at the Russian Rassvet research module, which was located over the Pacific Ocean, just off Peru, when the team docked, to six. Vinogradov, 59, who had been in space in 1997 and 2006, was heard saying on NASA TV: 'It's such a beautiful sight, hard to believe my eyes.' The incoming crew will spend five months in space before returning to Earth.

Lift Off: Soyuz Takes the Space Station Express Lane

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

Two Russian cosmonauts and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on Thursday and headed toward the International Space Station, a trip that is expected to take less than six hours, compared to the usual two-day voyage. Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 4:43 p.m. EDT. Docking is slated for 10:32 p.m. The trip in the express lane was three years in the making.

New US-Russian crew docks at Space Station after super-fast flight

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

A Soyuz rocket successfully delivered a trio of new residents to the International Space Station on the first-ever "express" flight to the orbiting laboratory. The Russian rocket carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov docked with the station on time at 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 March 29 GMT) while both spacecraft flew high over the Pacific Ocean after a history-making six-hour flight.

Crew takes first fast-track flight to International Space Station

Greg Botelho - CNN

In six hours, a person might walk 18 or so miles. By car, it could be 350-plus miles. A commercial airplane might get as far as 3,400 miles. A spaceship? In that much time, you could get from Earth to the International Space Station. That's what happened with a Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft, which launched from Kazakhstan at 4:43 p.m. ET Thursday or 2:43 a.m. Friday local time, with three soon-to-be space station crew members on board. NASA mission control declared "contact and capture confirmed" at 10:28 p.m. ET -- four minutes earlier than planned -- indicating the spacecraft had successfully docked.

Orbital's private launch may show whether NASA made right call

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

On the face of it, the planned mid-April launch of a new commercial rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia won't be one for the record books. A number of barriers for commercial space companies already have been broken — for instance, SpaceX has flown to the International Space Station — and the maiden flight of Antares, a two-stage rocket built by Orbital Sciences of Virginia, is expected to do little more than prove it can put a dummy payload into orbit. But the outcome of the test flight, and the rocket's performance going forward, could act as an important indicator of the strength of the emerging space economy — and whether NASA made the right call in relying on commercial companies to do supply runs to the space station.

Coming soon: SpaceX capsule, booster that land on solid ground

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

SpaceX aims to launch Falcon 9 rockets with fly-back first stages from Cape Canaveral by the end of 2014 and Dragon spacecraft that land rather than splash down, the company's chief designer said Thursday. The second-generation Falcon 9 will be 60 percent to 70 percent more powerful than the current rocket, said Elon Musk, who also is the company's founder and chief executive officer. SpaceX plans to debut the new Falcon 9 in late November, attempting to make first stage ocean recoveries before making powered landings to Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. "But I really want to emphasize that we don't expect success on the first several attempts," Musk said. "And hopefully next year, with a lot more experience and data, we should be able to return the first stage to the launch site, deploy the landing legs and do a propulsive landing on land back at the launch site."

SpaceX's Dragon capsule 2.0 looks like 'alien spaceship,' Elon Musk says

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

The next version of the Dragon spacecraft built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX will look like something truly out of this world, according to Elon Musk, the company's billionaire founder and CEO. Musk detailed some of the high points of the firm's much-anticipated Dragon Version 2 to reporters Thursday during a briefing with NASA to celebrate the firm's second successful cargo mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule returned to Earth Tuesday with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Future Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures

Sasha Horne - RIA Novosti

From wealthy American technology executives to British billionaires, entrepreneurs are betting big on the emerging US private spaceflight industry. While some ventures claim to forge the path to US dominance, others aim to level the playing field for countries that lack space exploration programs. "The private sector is more efficient than the government and can do the same thing at a lower cost," said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. Historically, Logsdon said, the US space agency NASA partnered with private companies for semi-routine cargo transport to space, but it was the decommissioning of NASA's shuttle program in 2011 that really offered a platform for independent companies.

MDA signs $81M space station-related deal

Canadian Press

MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. said Thursday it has signed an $81-million contract with the Canadian Space Agency. The deal, which runs until December 2015, covers engineering and operational support for the robotic elements on the International Space Station. The company is the prime contractor to the Canadian Space Agency for the mobile servicing system on the space station including Canadarm2, Dextre, and the mobile base system. MDA, best-known as the maker of the robotic arms used on the space station and the now-retired U.S. space shuttles, supplies technology to a variety of businesses that use satellites to collect information from space. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

ATK layoff slashes Utah staff by 140 employees
Rocket maker blames program funding and changing business climate

Steven Oberbeck - Salt Lake Tribune

Alliant Techsystems Inc. said it reduced its Utah labor force by 140 employees on Thursday with 90 of those workers voluntarily leaving the company. Another 10 workers were laid off in Ohio and Mississippi, said Trina Helquist, a spokeswoman for ATK in Utah. In early October of last year ATK told its approximately 2,600 employees in Utah that there was going to be another wave of layoffs in early 2013. At that time, Charlie Precourt, ATK's vice president and general manager for Space Launch Systems, said he anticipated that the reduction in force would involve only a small number of employees.

More Utah employees laid off by ATK

Charlie Trentelman - Ogden Standard-Examiner

ATK Space Systems said Thursday it is laying off another 150 people because of the continuing cutbacks in its programs servicing NASA and other government contractors. ATK spokeswoman Trina Helquist said 140 of those laid off are from Utah, including 90 who volunteered to be laid off. Helquist said the layoffs are across ATK's entire corporate structure, including its facilities in Utah, Mississippi and Ohio. In a prepared statement ATK said, "These reductions are a result of cutbacks in funding on multiple programs, ongoing consolidation and reorganization, and changes in the business climate and production rates at manufacturing facilities.

Georgia bids to land SpaceX base in Camden County

Dan Chapman - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia is making a late-to-the-game push to land SpaceX — a rocketship company that delivers cargo to the International Space Station — as the first tenant of a proposed "spaceport" in coastal Camden County. The site is one of three under consideration, according to company and economic development officials, for a project that could almost overnight create a commercial space industry in Georgia. SpaceX would launch rockets from the complex and could build them there as well.

Petitions, full of sound and fury, signifying…

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

Back in December I noted the space advocacy community's continued, if perhaps misguided, fascination with White House petitions. Petitions have been the tool of first resort—and sometimes the tool of only resort—to demand funding increases for NASA or other policy changes. The problem is that they often fail to reach the necessarily threshold (recently increased to 100,000 signatures) for an administration response, and even when they have, the response has been more a reiteration of current policy than a willingness to change. That hasn't stopped people from continuing to use this tool. In response to NASA's decision last Friday to temporarily suspend most educational and public outreach efforts because of sequestration, advocates started a petition demanding that the suspension be overturned. "The Sequester's recent cuts on NASA's spending in public outreach and its STEM programs must not be allowed," it states.

Downey confirms interest in second shuttle
30-ft. shuttle model in Canada expected to become available soon

Eric Pierce - Downey Patriot

A quarter-scale replica of the space shuttle Columbia hanging at Calgary International Airport could make its way to Downey, where it was constructed during the height of our nation's space shuttle program. Measuring nearly 30 feet long, 14 feet high and 19 feet wide, the model was constructed in the mid-1970s for engineers testing ground vibration's effect on the space shuttle. Built inside the hangar of Building 288 in Downey, the shuttle underwent nearly a dozen vibration tests before it was shipped to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where twin rocket boosters were attached for additional tests, according to an article written by retired Boeing engineer Stan Barauskas.

And in honor of Easter Sunday…
Peeps: Pick your favorite space diorama

Who doesn't love Peeps? The Washington Post held a 2013 Peeps Diorama Contest. Here are the space-related entries. Check out all the entries here.

Luke vs Vader

Peeps celebrate the landing of Curiosipeep in the Jet Peepulsion Laboratory

On the Martian surface.... aliens peep at the strange rover from a desolate, dusty landscape
__________

COMPLETE STORIES

NASA wants $100 million to catch an asteroid

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

NASA's fiscal 2014 budget request will include $100 million for a new mission to find a small asteroid, capture it with a robotic spacecraft and bring it into range of human explorers somewhere in the vicinity of the Moon.

Suggested last year by the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology, the idea has attracted favor at NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. President Obama's goal of sending astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025 can't be done with foreseeable civil-space spending, the thinking goes. But by moving an asteroid to cislunar space — a high lunar orbit or the second Earth-Moon Lagrangian Point (EML2), above the Moon's far side — it is conceivable that technically the deadline could be met.

The Keck study estimated it would cost about $2.65 billion to bring in a 500,000-kg (1.1 million-lb.) asteroid, using solar-electric propulsion to reach it and a deployable capture bag to enfold a carbonaceous asteroid measuring 7 meters across. Positioned at EML2, the small space rock would be close enough to reach with an Orion crew vehicle launched by a heavy-lift Space Launch System, and would give a crew a real objective for scientific study.

Members of the Keck team that drafted the proposal briefed it to a National Research Council human-spaceflight technical feasibility panel on March 28, noting that the mission would not pose a threat to Earth because the asteroid would have the density of "a dried mudball," and would come in much more slowly than the slightly larger asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February.

The hardest part, says Paul Dimotakis of Caltech, would be finding a suitable target, since it would be much smaller than the threatening near-Earth objects already being sought. One or more targets may already have been spotted and dismissed as noise by sky-scanning telescope algorithms, he says, and could be pulled out of existing databases with a software rewrite. In addition to size, makeup and spin, prospective targets would need to be on a heliocentric orbit that will return to Earth's vicinity in the 2020s, to allow time to develop the mission.

The initial NASA request will be divided among the agency's human exploration, science and space technology directorates to begin advancing technology already in the works.

That hardware and know-how would also be useful in developing a way to push a threatening asteroid off a collision course with Earth if that ever becomes necessary, says former Planetary Society chief Louis Friedman, another member of the Keck team. And it would be useful to private companies that are already developing long-term plans to exploit asteroids with robotic mining for water and metals.

"I certainly do see a role," says Chris Lewicki, president and chief engineer of Planetary Resources, Inc. Lewicki says a captured asteroid could serve as a "test mine" that would "allow human operators to bridge the gap between current robotic capability and autonomy" and give expert researchers an opportunity to gain field experience.

Soyuz docks with station after abbreviated four-orbit rendezvous

William Harwood - CBS News

A veteran Russian commander, a rookie cosmonaut and a Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut rocketed into space Thursday and glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station less than six hours later, a record-setting rendezvous being tested to reduce the time crew members have to spend cooped up inside the cramped Soyuz ferry craft.

Soyuz TMA-08M commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and shuttle veteran Christopher Cassidy blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:43:20 p.m. EDT Thursday (GMT-4; 2:43 a.m. Friday local time).

Launching almost directly into the plane of the space station's orbit, the Soyuz rocket quickly accelerated away atop a churning jet of fiery exhaust, trailing the space station by about 1,056 miles at the moment of liftoff.

Live television views from inside the command module showed Vinogradov in the cockpit's center seat, flanked by Misurkin to his left and Cassidy to his right. All three crew members appeared relaxed as they monitored the computer-orchestrated ascent.

"Everything's completely nominal up here on the spacecraft," Vinogradov reported at one point. "We feel great."

Just under nine minutes after launch, the Soyuz TMA-08 spacecraft was released into its planned orbit, followed a few moments later by deployment of the craft's solar panels and antennas.

Vladimir Popovkin, director general of the Russian federal space agency, radioed his compliments.

"Congratulations on having successfully completed stage one," he called. "We're standing by to have you guys come close to the station in about six hours from now."

"Thank you, Mr. Popovkin," Vinogradov replied.

Vinogradov and his crewmates flew an abbreviated approach to the International Space Station, docking at the upper Poisk module at 10:28 p.m., just five hours and 45 minutes after launch, as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean west of Peru.

"Contact and capture," a flight controller radioed as the docking mechanisms engaged. "Congratulations."

"Welcome to the station," someone said.

Amid laughter, a translator relayed someone commenting on the short rendezvous, describing it as "record breaking."

"Well not really, because it's all been planned," someone else said.

Standing by to welcome Vinogradov and his crewmates aboard were Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield, NASA physician-astronaut Thomas Marshburn and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

The flight plans for all previous Soyuz flights to the space station were built around a two-day rendezvous procedure that included a fair amount of down time for the crew. While the crew members could doff their pressure suits and enjoy the view, there was little privacy or room to move around in the cramped Russian spacecraft.

After testing four-orbit single-day procedures with three unmanned Progress supply ships, Russian and U.S. space managers approved the shortened rendezvous for the Soyuz TMA-08M crew. While the four-orbit rendezvous translated into a long workday for the crew, Vinogradov said he welcomed the shorter transit time.

"This is a very good thing that we are decreasing the time that it takes for crews to reach the ISS," he said during a pre-launch briefing. "I don't anticipate any technical issues associated with this activity and I'm confident both in Russia and in the United states we have excellent teams that are supporting us."

Cassidy, veteran of a 2009 shuttle visit to the station, said he, too, welcomed a chance to reach the lab complex in one long day.

"When you lay out the timeline of those four orbits, there are certain key activities that need to happen, basically burns, that need to occur on time to get you to the rendezvous," he said. "The way it works out, there's about 30 to 40 minutes between each of those major activities. That's enough time for one guy or two to float up and basically use the restroom (in the spacecraft's upper compartment), that's what it boils down to, kind of stretch your legs and pee."

No small challenge, he said, given the crew can't fully remove their spacesuits.

"To use the restroom, you've got to undo the front part (of the suit) and then pull it off over your shoulders," Cassidy said. "So we'll have opportunities to semi get it off, we won't take it off all the way, but just enough to kind of shake it out, use the restroom, get it zipped back up and get back down. Realistically, I think one guy will do that in each 30 minute chunk."

Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko have had the space station to themselves since mid March when outgoing Expedition 34 commander Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin returned to Earth after 144 days in space.

Cassidy and his crewmates will enjoy an initially light schedule as they get acclimated to the station and briefed on the health and operation of its various systems.

"You know when you move into a new house and you don't know where the forks and the silverware go, and you open the glass door all the time when you want to get a plate and you don't know where the cereal goes? All that is how I felt on the shuttle when I was up there on the space station," Cassidy said.

"I never really knew where stuff was, how to put things away, because there was always a space station crew member there to kind of get my back and say don't worry about it. You're so busy on the shuttle, you never really settle in and make it feel like a home.

"That's what I'm really looking forward to, knowing that place inside and out, feeling like if you came up and visited us I could go in a hurry and get whatever you needed to make you feel comfortable, just knowing how the whole place works intimately," he said. "And having more time to look out the window and see the Earth go by. Both of those two things are what I'm anxious to get back into."

But the crew's primary focus will be science, with more than 137 active investigations underway in the U.S. Destiny laboratory module, the Japanese Kibo lab module and the European Space Agency's Columbus science lab.

Julie Robinson, the space station program scientist, said more than 400 investigators from around the world are participating in the station research, representing 80 nations.

"We have biology and biotechnology, Earth and space sciences, education and cultural activities, human research focused on human physiology and future exploration, physical sciences and technology development and demonstration," Robinson said.

"We look forward to a really dynamic and active research expedition," she added.

U. S., Russian Soyuz Crew Achieves Expedited Space Station Transit

Mark Carreau – Aviation Week

Russia's Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft docked with the International Space Station late Thursday, delivering a three man U. S. and Russian crew, the first astronauts to carry out a six hour expedited launch to docking with the International Space Station.

The Soyuz transport carried out the automated docking with the Russian segment Poisk module at 10:28 p.m., EDT, four orbits, or just under six hours after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The standard journey typically unfolds over two days, or 34 orbits.

Newcomers Pavel Vinogradov, Aleksandr Misurkin and NASA's Chris Cassidy were greeted by ISS Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield, of the Canadian Space Agency, NASA's Tom Marshburn and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

The latest Soyuz spacecraft climbed through a moonlit sky Thursday as it departed the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:43 p.m., EDT, or 2:43 a.m. local time, to begin the expedited Earth to station transit.

The ISS Mission Management Team approved the sprint after three unpiloted Russian Progress cargo flights paved the way in February, October and August. For future station crews, the one day journey from launch pad to space station eliminates some of the discomfort that comes from the venerable Soyuz spacecraft's close quarters, including the space motion sickness that many experience during the first hours of weightlessness.

The expedited journey was pioneered by cosmonauts launched to the former Soviet Union's Salyut space stations in the 1970s and 1980s. NASA's two man Gemini VII and V1 crews followed a similar strategy to rendezvous in Earth orbit in December 1965.

The faster trips carry a heavier work load for ISS flight control teams, who must closely calculate the position of the space station before launching Soyuz crews on the faster rendezvous trajectory. Each orbit raising or orbital debris avoidance maneuver of the station must be scrutinized with added precision. The influence of atmospheric drag on the 360 foot long space station must be tracked closely as well.

Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy have trained for a five to six month stay aboard the six person orbiting science lab. They will join future colleagues for up to seven spacewalks in the coming weeks. High priority tasks include the installation of external power and data cables for the arrival of Russia's Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module, possibly late this year. Spacewalkers will also lubricate the big rotating mechanisms that allow outstretched U. S. solar arrays to track the sun and generate electricity. Difficulties with the U. S. segment's Ku band communications antenna system is likely to receive some troubleshooting as well.

Vinogradov, who is slated to transition to space station commander as Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko depart in late May, and his Soyuz colleagues can also expect to receive Japanese, European and U. S. commercial resupply craft as well as Russian Progress cargo capsules.

Hadfield and his colleagues will be quickly replaced by new U.S., Russian and European astronauts who will join Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy for Expedition 36.

Meanwhile, the newest additions to Expedition 35 are prepared to participate in and oversee more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations underway on the orbiting science laboratory.

Russian spaceship docks with orbiting station

Associated Press

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts successfully docked Friday with the International Space Station, bringing the size of the crew at the orbiting lab to six.

Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin traveled six hours in the capsule before linking up with the space station's Russian Rassvet research module over the Pacific Ocean, just off Peru, at 02:28 GMT.

"It's such a beautiful sight, hard to believe my eyes," the 59-year-old Vinogradov, who had been in space in 1997 and 2006, was heard saying on NASA TV.

The incoming crew will spend five months in space before returning to Earth.

About two hours passed before pressure equalized between the capsule and the station, allowing safe entrance.

"Hey, is anyone home?" joked Vinogradov as he floated into the station.

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin were greeted with cheers and hugs by American Tom Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko and Canadian Chris Hadfield, who have been at the station since December.

The astronauts then had a brief session with Mission Control outside Moscow, talking with friends and relatives.

"You're such a star! I'm really proud of you!" Misurkin's tearful mother said. The 35-year-old Russian is on his first flight into space.

Their mission began with a late-night launch from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.

It was the first time a space crew has taken such a direct route to the orbiting lab. Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin are the first crew to reach the station after only four orbits instead of the standard 50-hour flight to reach the station.

The new maneuver was tested successfully by three Russian Progress cargo ships, unmanned versions of the Soyuz used to ferry supplies to the space station. Russian cosmonauts have described the two-day approach maneuver in the cramped Soyuz as one of the most grueling parts of missions.

Vinogradov said at a pre-launch news conference that the shorter flight path would reduce the crew's fatigue and allow the astronauts to be in top shape for the docking.

Russian-American crew taking short cut to space station

Steve Gutterman & Irene Klotz - Reuters

Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut took a short cut to the International Space Station on Thursday, arriving at the orbital outpost less than six hours after their Soyuz capsule blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The express route, used for the first time to fly a crew to the station, shaved about 45 hours off the usual ride, allowing NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin to get a jumpstart on their planned 5.5-month mission.

The crew's Soyuz capsule parked itself at the station's Poisk module at 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 GMT Friday), just five hours and 45 minutes after launch.

All previous station crews, whether flying aboard NASA's now-retired space shuttles or on Russian Soyuz capsules, took at least two days to reach the station, a $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles above Earth.

"The closer the station, the better we feel. Everything is going good," the cosmonauts radioed to flight controllers outside of Moscow as the Soyuz capsule approached the orbital outpost, a project of 15 nations.

On hand to greet the new crew were Expedition 35 commander Chris Hadfield, with the Canadian Space Agency, NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

Russia tested the expedited route, which required very precise steering maneuvers, during three unmanned station cargo flights before allowing a crew to attempt it.

"Ballistics is a difficult thing. If for some reason you are not able to correct the orbit of the station or they have to avoid space debris ... that can disrupt this method," said Igor Lisov, an expert at the Russian publication Novosti Kosmonavtiki.

The advantage, however, is that the crew doesn't have to stay for two days inside the cramped Soyuz capsule. It also means they can arrive before any disabling effects of adapting to microgravity, which can include nausea, dizziness and vomiting, and that medical experiments and samples can arrive at the station sooner, enhancing science results.

Russian engineers began looking at new flight paths to reach the station about three years ago, Vinogradov said at a prelaunch press conference.

"At first everybody was really apprehensive about it, but later on our ballistic specialists calculated the possibility, looked at the rocket and verified the capabilities of the Soyuz vehicle, which now has a digital command-and-control system and an onboard computer that can do pretty much anything," he said.

Russian engineers already are looking into cutting the trip time to two orbits, Vinogradov added.

New crew takes express ride to space station

Agence France Presse

A new Russian-American crew arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) Friday after a fast-track trip from Earth of under six hours, the swiftest ever manned journey to the orbiting laboratory.

A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts opened the hatches of their Soyuz-TMA spaceship and floated into the ISS to a warm welcome from the three incumbent crew, live pictures broadcast on Russian television showed.

Russia's Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and American Chris Cassidy are now expected to spend the next five months aboard the station after their hitch-free launch and docking.

Their record-breaking trip from blast-off at Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to docking with the ISS lasted less than six hours, slashing the usual travel time by some 45 hours.

Previously, trips to the ISS had taken over two full days as spaceships orbited the Earth 30 times before docking with the space station.

However, under a new technique now employed by the Russian space agency with the help of new technology, the Soyuz capsule this time only orbited Earth four times before docking.

After blast-off at 2043 GMT Thursday, the Soyuz capsule docked with the ISS at 0228 GMT with the hatches opening just over two hours later.

The quick journey -- dubbed by NASA's official television commentator as a "chase into space" -- has been made possible by launching the Soyuz just after the ISS passes overhead in orbit.

After reaching orbit, the Soyuz capsule then had just over 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) to make up to catch up with the ISS, which the Soyuz achieved with newly-improved thrusters and manoeuvring.

The manned "express" flight comes after Russia successfully sent three unmanned Progress supply capsules in August, October and February to the station via the short six hour route rather than two days.

The successful fast-track voyage is a huge boost for the embattled Russian space programme, whose reputation has been battered by several failed satellite launches in the last year.

However, there have been no problems to date with the manned spaceflight programme.

After the retirement of the US space shuttle, Russia is now the sole nation capable of transporting humans to the ISS.

Ahead of the launch, the crew expressed satisfaction with the new fast-track schedule, including Vinogradov who at 59 is one of Russia's most experienced cosmonauts.

Vinogradov, who spent 197 days on board Russia's now defunct Mir space station in 1997-1998 and also flew to the ISS in 2006, said the shortened flight time has several advantages for the crew.

Firstly, as the crew only start to experience the tough effects of weightlessness after 4-5 hours of flight they will be in better shape when they arrive at the station for the docking procedure.

"During the initial time the crew feels completely normal and works normally," he said at the pre-flight news conference at Baikonur in televised remarks.

Also, the reduced time means that the Soyuz capsule will be able to deliver biological materials for experiments aboard the ISS in time before they spoil, something that would not have been possible with a two-day trip.

"With such a short time the crew could even take an ice cream -- it would not be able to melt," said Vinogradov.

On board the three spacemen are joining incumbent crew of station commander Chris Hadfield of Canada, Tom Marshburn of NASA and Russia's Roman Romanenko.

Hadfield has over the last months built up a huge following online with spectacular photographs on Twitter and managed to photograph from space the fiery moment of ignition of the Soyuz-FG rocket at the nighttime launch in Kazakhstan.

"Good morning, Earth! We've been up all night, getting the Soyuz safed and crew settled in. A long, great day. Six of us now here, together," he said on Twitter.

Cassidy is a veteran of US special forces who has served in Afghanistan and recorded a 15-day mission to the ISS aboard the shuttle in 2009. Misurkin is making his first space flight.

ISS crew takes express ride to orbit
Soyuz lifts off, docks on same day

Todd Halvorson – Florida Today

A three-man crew blasted off for the International Space Station on Thursday and made the trip in six hours — rather than two days — a stellar first at the global outpost.

It was a relatively quick ride for U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy and his two Russian colleagues: Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin.

Flying in a cramped Soyuz capsule, the trio docked at the multinational lab complex at 10:32 p.m. EDT – almost six hours after their 4:43 p.m. EDT launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Awaiting their arrival: Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko.

The docking came more than 14 hours after the crew woke up for launch day activities.

Still to do late Thursday and early today: leak checks between the Soyuz and the station; a hatch-opening-and-welcome ceremony; a mandatory safety briefing; and procedures to prep the Soyuz for a six-month stay at the outpost.

"It'll be busy for the crew. Launch day will be about a 24-hour day for them," NASA astronaut Mike Fossum said before liftoff. "But it'll be worth it."

Soyuz capsules are cramped, making two-day trips less than desirable. The quicker flight to the station also is expected to help the crew adapt to microgravity.

Same-day rendezvous are not new. U.S. Gemini astronauts and Russian cosmonauts in the 1960s and 1970s made single-day trips to dock with other spacecraft. But this was a first at the ISS.

Vinogradov, Cassidy and Misurkin are slated to live and work there for six months, returning to Earth on Sept. 11.

'Hey, is anyone home?'
Russian shuttle carrying former Navy Seal honoured for bravery in Afghanistan docks with International Space Station

Anthony Bond - London Daily Mail

A Russian shuttle carrying a former Navy Seal who has been honoured for his bravery in Afghanistan has successfully docked with the International Space Station this morning.

The Soyuz capsule carrying astronauts Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin linked up with the space station at 2.28 am.

It brings the size of the crew at the Russian Rassvet research module, which was located over the Pacific Ocean, just off Peru, when the team docked, to six.

Vinogradov, 59, who had been in space in 1997 and 2006, was heard saying on NASA TV: 'It's such a beautiful sight, hard to believe my eyes.'

The incoming crew will spend five months in space before returning to Earth.

The trio who arrived at the space station this morning includes former navy seal Lieutenant Commander Chris Cassidy - on his second mission into space.

The 43-year-old served four six-month deployments to Afghanistan and two to the Mediterranean as a Navy SEAL. His dedicated service earned him two Bronze Stars for leading a nine-day operation at the Zharwar Kili cave complex in Afghanistan.

Once the capsule reached the station, the trio had to wait two hours for the pressure to equalize before they were allowed to enter.

'Hey, is anyone home?' joked Vinogradov as he floated into the station.
Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin were greeted with cheers and hugs by American Tom Mashburn, Russian Roman Romanenko and Canadian Chris Hadfield, who have been at the station since December.

The astronauts then had a brief session with Mission Control outside Moscow, talking with friends and relatives.

'You're such a star! I'm really proud of you!' Misurkin's tearful mother said. The 35-year-old Russian is on his first flight into space.

Their mission began with a late-night launch from the Russian-leased Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.

It was the first time a space crew has taken such a direct route to the orbiting lab. Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin are the first crew to reach the station after only four orbits instead of the standard 50-hour flight to reach the station.

The new maneuver was tested successfully by three Russian Progress cargo ships, unmanned versions of the Soyuz used to ferry supplies to the space station. Russian cosmonauts have described the two-day approach maneuver in the cramped Soyuz as one of the most grueling parts of missions.

Vinogradov said at a pre-launch news conference that the shorter flight path would reduce the crew's fatigue and allow the astronauts to be in top shape for the docking.

Cassidy, who lives in York, Maine with his wife and their three children, was selected for the space program by NASA in 2004.

Astronaut training is among the toughest in the world, but Cassidy was more than prepared for it, having already gone through Navy SEAL training.

As a seal he underwent the infamous 'hell week,' in which candidates only sleep four hours over 5 1/2 days while running up to 200 miles and physically training for 20 hours per day.

Cassidy told Universe Today that all training that astronauts - and Navy SEALs - go through is for a very good reason.

'I think just the training that I got in the field, training in the early part of my Navy career, and during my time being an astronaut will all combine together.

'What I know from combat in the Navy, there's a sort of calmness that comes over people who are well-trained and know what to do. Muscle memory kicks in, and it's not until after the thing is over that you realize what you went through,' he said.

On the International Space Station, Cassidy will be doing experiments measuring bone mass, which will have applications for people facing osteoporosis.

This is his second mission. In 2009 he was part of a mission to help install and complete components of the Japanese Experiment Module and got to perform three spacewalks.

He follows on the heels of other former SEALs to make it to space, including International Space Station Expedition 1 commander William Shepherd.

The U.S. Navy has shown its support for Cassidy on social media platforms by posting a meme of an astronaut with the wording: 'Nothing beats an astronaut… except a Navy Seal astronaut.'

The wording is a play on the popular T.V. commercial that Unilever is currently running featuring astronauts, a lifeguard and a fireman, to promote the Axe Apollo body spray for men by Lynx.

The Soyuz TMA-08M lifted off from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome at 2:43 a.m. Friday local time.

The new maneuver has been tested successfully by three Russian Progress cargo ships, an unmanned version of the Soyuz used to ferry supplies to the space station.

Vinogradov joked at a pre-launch news conference at Baikonur that the journey to the station would be so quick that it could allow the crew to even carry ice cream as a present to the three men currently manning the orbiting outpost.

'It wouldn't melt in such a short time,' he said.

The shorter flight path also reduces the crew's fatigue and allow astronauts to be in top shape for the docking.

Vinogradov said that it takes about five hours for the human body to start feeling the impact of zero gravity, so the quicker flight would allow the crew to more easily adapt to weightlessness in much roomier space station interiors.

The downside of the accelerated rendezvous is that the crew will have to stay in their spacesuits, which they don hours before the launch, through the entire approach maneuver.

Other Russian cosmonauts in the past have described the two-day approach maneuver in the cramped Soyuz as one of the most grueling parts of missions to the orbiting station.

The spheroid orbiting capsule allows the crew to take off their bulky spacesuits, change into more comfortable clothes and use a toilet, but its interior is extremely confined.

The ship's spartan layout lacks adequate heating and fails to provide an opportunity for the crew to get hot food. It contrasts sharply with the spacious U.S. space shuttle, whose retirement has left Soyuz as the only means to deliver crews to the space outpost.

Russian space officials said the longer approach was necessary at a time when the station was in a lower orbit required for the shuttle flights. After they ended, it was raised from 350 kilometers to 400 kilometers, making a quicker rendezvous possible.

NASA is working on the development of its new generation Orion spacecraft. Orion's first trip is an unmanned mission in 2017, and the first manned mission is set for 2021.

Lift Off: Soyuz Takes the Space Station Express Lane

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

Two Russian cosmonauts and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy blasted off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on Thursday and headed toward the International Space Station, a trip that is expected to take less than six hours, compared to the usual two-day voyage.

Launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 4:43 p.m. EDT. Docking is slated for 10:32 p.m.

The trip in the express lane was three years in the making.

"At first everybody was really apprehensive about it, but later on our ballistic specialists calculated the possibility, looked at the rocket and verified the capabilities of the Soyuz (capsule) which now has a digital command and control system and an onboard computer that can do pretty much anything," incoming station commander Pavel Vinogradov, speaking through a translator, told reporters at a pre-launch press conference broadcast on NASA Television.

Russia conducted three test flights with Progress cargo ships before clearing the Soyuz capsule carrying people to attempt the short-cut.

The route requires not only precision timing for launch, but a very exacting series of maneuvering burns to catch up to the space station in just four orbits. The usual trip to the station, which flies about 250 miles above Earth, unfolds over 34 orbits.

"In reality, it's not very far to the space station, although with the velocities we're talking about, it's quite an achievement," deputy station program manager Kirk Shireman said during a NASA interview.

If any problems develop, flight controllers can waive off the expedited schedule and retarget docking at the station for Saturday.

"We'll try it … with this crew. There are lots of things to learn and understand and then make a decision with subsequent flights whether we'll do the four-orbit rendezvous," Shireman said.

Meanwhile, Russian engineers already are looking into cutting the trip time to two orbits, Vinogradov said.

Aside from less time spent in the Soyuz's extremely cramped quarters, the crew should be able to reach the station before any disquieting impacts of microgravity — nausea, dizziness, vomiting — set in, Vinogradov added.

"For the first four or five hours we are going to be fully operational, without any of the negative side-effects," he said.

The shorter trip also means biomedical experiments and equipment can reach the station sooner, improving science results.

And then, there's the ice cream the cosmonauts are bringing as a gift for the three crewmembers already aboard the station.

"Within such a very short period of time, probably the ice cream will not melt," Vinogradov quipped.

New US-Russian crew docks at Space Station after super-fast flight

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

A Soyuz rocket successfully delivered a trio of new residents to the International Space Station on the first-ever "express" flight to the orbiting laboratory.

The Russian rocket carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov docked with the station on time at 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 March 29 GMT) while both spacecraft flew high over the Pacific Ocean after a history-making six-hour flight.

"Expedition 35 now has a six member crew on board the space station," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said during the space agency's live commentary of the docking.

It has been a long day for the crew. Because of the launch's accelerated timescale, Misurkin, Vinogradov and Cassidy will not have had the chance to rest for 20 hours by the time they settle in for the first night in their new home.

The Soyuz TMA-08M's launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome went smoothly with liftoff occurring at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT). The three spaceflyers will stay on board the orbiting outpost until they return to Earth in September.

Before now, manned trips to the space station have taken at least two days, but with the docking of this ship just six hours after liftoff, marks the beginning of a new kind of mission that saves time and money, NASA officials have said.

"In my opinion, our mission is just next little step on the way, on the way to the moon, Mars, and I am very happy to do this step," Misurkin said in a preflight interview with NASA.

Russia's unmanned Progress cargo ships have made these express dockings before, but using the method for a crewed flight prevents the spaceflyers from spending extra time in a crowded capsule. Officials with the NASA also explained that these trips save money because a quicker flight means that Mission Control personnel will be on duty for a shorter amount of time.

The three newest residents of the International Space Station have a jam-packed stay ahead of them. A Russian Progress cargo spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the station at the end of May, and the crewmembers will perform spacewalks as well as help run the more than 100 science experiments while on board.

"We as human beings, we like to explore; there's frontiers of knowledge, there's frontiers of physical space that I think we all just feel compelled to go to and each one of those different types of environments, be it space or high mountains or the water, all bring different aspects to what we can learn, what can we can bring back to better life in either a small spectrum of our lives or in the broader sense of it," Cassidy said during an interview with NASA. "That's how I think the space program is."

The three other residents of the station — Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Tom Marshburn of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko — will fly back to Earth in May. Vinogradov is set to take command upon their departure.

Cassidy was a crewmember on board the STS-127 space shuttle mission in 2009. Vinogradov flew to the Russian Mir space station in 1997 and the International Space Station in 2006. This is Misurkin's first time in orbit.

Crew takes first fast-track flight to International Space Station

Greg Botelho - CNN

In six hours, a person might walk 18 or so miles. By car, it could be 350-plus miles. A commercial airplane might get as far as 3,400 miles.

A spaceship? In that much time, you could get from Earth to the International Space Station.

That's what happened with a Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft, which launched from Kazakhstan at 4:43 p.m. ET Thursday, or 2:43 a.m. Friday local time, with three soon-to-be space station crew members on board. NASA mission control declared "contact and capture confirmed" at 10:28 p.m. ET -- four minutes earlier than planned -- indicating the spacecraft had successfully docked.

This six-hour jaunt was exponentially faster than the normal two-day adventure that astronauts and cosmonauts typically take to get to the ISS. That's because, while the live-in orbiter is a mere 250 miles from Earth, it's always moving -- so it's not a simple matter of going from Point A to Point B.

That's why it has traditionally taken so long to get there, with the spacecraft going round the Earth every 90 or so minutes, which works out to about 16 total before docking.

But this go around, the Soyuz only orbited four times before hooking up with the space station.

"We're trying to cut that amount of time that they had to be in those close quarters," NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said, noting the spacecraft has a basic bathroom but little living space. "... They may be sharper now, if they'd have to take over the docking."

The NASA spokesman explained that equipment and computer software upgrades, among other factors, helped to make Thursday's historically fast flight possible. And it's possible space officials might decide that the longer, old-fashioned way -- allowing the crew to get its space legs over two days, however cramped they might be -- is preferable, depending on how this mission goes, Humphries said.

This pioneering, fast-track crew was made up Pavel Vinogradov and Aleksandr Misurkin from Russia's space agency, as well as NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy.

With their voyage complete -- and once the space station's hatches open for them, scheduled for soon after midnight -- they'll have plenty of time to get comfy: They are scheduled to remain on the orbiter for about six months before heading home.

Orbital's private launch may show whether NASA made right call

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

On the face of it, the planned mid-April launch of a new commercial rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia won't be one for the record books.

A number of barriers for commercial space companies already have been broken — for instance, SpaceX has flown to the International Space Station — and the maiden flight of Antares, a two-stage rocket built by Orbital Sciences of Virginia, is expected to do little more than prove it can put a dummy payload into orbit.

But the outcome of the test flight, and the rocket's performance going forward, could act as an important indicator of the strength of the emerging space economy — and whether NASA made the right call in relying on commercial companies to do supply runs to the space station.

The Wallops launch also will be closely watched by Florida officials, as success there would bring more proof that the number of rivals to Cape Canaveral in the launch business is growing.

As planned, Antares is expected to launch from Wallops from April 17-19 and carry an 8,400-pound weight that mimics the Cygnus spacecraft that Orbital is building to ferry cargo to the station, possibly as soon as this summer. The spacecraft will be ready by summer, the company says.

NASA also is flying three small satellites — each the size of a coffee mug and costing less than $7,000 apiece — to test whether engineers can convert components commonly found in "smartphones" into a working satellite.

Each will orbit for about two weeks — sending back pictures of Earth and status updates about its battery life and temperature — in what NASA officials hope will teach them how to build cheap satellites that could monitor space weather or radiation.

"The hope is to demonstrate that small, inexpensive satellites are becoming a reality," said NASA spokesman David Steitz.

In a way, the satellites are a fitting metaphor for the Antares mission itself, as NASA's use of new "space taxis" to carry supplies — and possibly astronauts — to the station was driven by a desire to lower the costs.

In 2008, Orbital Sciences made a $170 million deal with NASA to build a rocket and capsule for station resupply. Though the contract later jumped to $288 million, it's still far below the billions NASA has spent developing and operating its own space vehicles, even with the $1.9 billion that Orbital is slated to get for eight supply missions during the next several years.

But using the private sector to cut costs hasn't stopped a problem endemic to spaceflight: delays.

As late as May 2011, top Orbital officials were predicting a first test flight that year. SpaceX, another space-taxi company with a NASA contract, also was at least two years late in launching its historic 2012 mission to the station — the first time a commercial-rocket company had berthed with the orbiting observatory.

Still, Orbital's delays underscored the feeling it was playing second fiddle to the California-based company, though SpaceX signed its NASA deal in 2006 and had a two-year head start.

David Thompson, head of Orbital, acknowledged the setbacks in a Feb. 14 call with investors.

"On the negative side, the company experienced frustrating delays in completing the Antares launch [pad] and in conducting main-rocket-engine testing, which combined to push back the first flights of our new launcher into 2013," he said.

The problems with the Wallops pad, which cost an estimated $150 million in federal and state funds, dealt largely with its "plumbing" —- ensuring its valves and gauges worked properly to get the rocket fueled and ready to go.

The engine problems were more dramatic — a side effect of using decades-old equipment left over from the Soviet Union's efforts to build a moon rocket in the 1960s.

Though the engines since have been upgraded in the U.S., one caught fire because of a ruptured manifold during a 2011 test. Subsequent testing revealed cracks and corrosion on other manifolds, forcing repairs and retesting. .

NASA needs the Orbital flights, along with 12 planned from SpaceX, to keep the station supplied in the aftermath of the space shuttle's 2011 retirement.

And though NASA likely could find another way to meet its supply needs — SpaceX is one possibility, which could mean more launches from Florida — the success of Antares is critical for Orbital, said one space analyst.

In the past four years, a different Orbital rocket failed on two separate NASA missions. Jeff Foust, editor of The Space Review, said Orbital needs a success to stake a bigger claim on the space-launch market.

"If they have problems with [these Antares test flights] … it starts to raise the question on whether they can make this whole thing work," Foust said, adding that it's a test of whether a midsized company such as Orbital can survive in an evolving space economy that features both upstart tourism ventures and heavyweight defense companies such as Lockheed Martin.

"The challenge for them [Orbital] is that now there is a new generation of companies that are getting a lot of attention … and they are caught between them and the aerospace giants," Foust said. "They have to find their place in this evolving market."

Coming soon: SpaceX capsule, booster that land on solid ground

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

SpaceX aims to launch Falcon 9 rockets with fly-back first stages from Cape Canaveral by the end of 2014 and Dragon spacecraft that land rather than splash down, the company's chief designer said Thursday.

The second-generation Falcon 9 will be 60 percent to 70 percent more powerful than the current rocket, said Elon Musk, who also is the company's founder and chief executive officer.

SpaceX plans to debut the new Falcon 9 in late November, attempting to make first stage ocean recoveries before making powered landings to Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

"But I really want to emphasize that we don't expect success on the first several attempts," Musk said. "And hopefully next year, with a lot more experience and data, we should be able to return the first stage to the launch site, deploy the landing legs and do a propulsive landing on land back at the launch site."

The new Dragon 2 will haul more supplies to the International Space Station and return more cargo to Earth, a considerable plus for scientific research, officials said.

What's more, Musk said, it's going to be flat-out cool.

Side-mounted thruster pods, big windows and "there are also landing legs that just sort of pop out of the bottom," Musk said. "So it looks like, you know, kind of a real alien spaceship, if you will."

A Dragon spacecraft that could make an atmospheric re-entry and land — rather than make an ocean splashdown — would be an evolutionary step for SpaceX. It would cut costs involved with deploying a fleet of recovery ships and personnel at the end of every mission.

A first stage that can fly back to its launch site would be revolutionary – a significant step toward fielding a fully reusable launch system, one of the holy grails of space exploration.

The co-founder of PayPal and CEO of Tesla Motors and Solar City outlined his plans in a teleconference with reporters.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, took part, congratulating SpaceX for a successful supply run to the International Space Station and return to Earth this week of 3,256 pounds of science samples and experiment equipment.

Dragon capsules are the only current spacecraft capable of returning significant amounts of cargo from the station. Robotic Russian, European and Japanese resupply ships are stuffed with trash and deliberately incinerated during atmospheric re-entries.

"The SpaceX flights are so important to our use of the International Space Station," said NASA ISS Program Scientist Julie Robinson. "So we're really excited to have all those samples safely on the ground, already being distributed to the researchers that are going to be using them. And then we're excited for those researchers to roll up their sleeves and get the rest of the lab work done."

A national laboratory with the same status as Los Alamos, the International Space Station is expected to operate through at least 2020.

SpaceX aims to have a piloted version of the Dragon spacecraft ready to fly in 2015. NASA is sticking to a more conservative date: 2017.

SpaceX's Dragon capsule 2.0 looks like 'alien spaceship,' Elon Musk says

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

The next version of the Dragon spacecraft built by the private spaceflight company SpaceX will look like something truly out of this world, according to Elon Musk, the company's billionaire founder and CEO.

Musk detailed some of the high points of the firm's much-anticipated Dragon Version 2 to reporters Thursday during a briefing with NASA to celebrate the firm's second successful cargo mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule returned to Earth Tuesday with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

But according to Musk, Dragon Version 2 landings won't be so … wet. But it may look weird.

"There are side-mounted thruster pods and quite big windows for astronauts to see out," Musk told SPACE.com. "There are also legs to pop out at the bottom. It looks like a real alien spaceship."

Those pop out legs, Musk added, will be for land touchdowns.

Musk is designing the capsule in the hopes that it will make its landings back on Earth, not at sea. The current Dragon space capsule design can only land in water, but Musk said he wants to "push the envelope" with the spacecraft's next incarnation, be it for manned or unmanned flights.

Musk is expected to unveil the design sometime later this year.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is already experimenting with land landings using its Grasshopper rocket, a prototype for a completely reusable launch system that has made several test flights — each higher than the last — none of which were aimed at reaching space.

Dragon isn't the only member of the SpaceX fleet getting an upgrade. The company's Falcon 9 rocket is also going to be retooled for more efficiency with 60 or 70 percent greater capacity and 60 percent more powerful thrusters, Musk added.

Private cargo ship success

SpaceX's most recent Dragon mission ended after three weeks attached to the orbiting laboratory. The capsule splashed downin the Pacific Ocean about 214 miles (344 kilometers) off the coast of Baja California to return about 2,670 pounds (1,210 kg) science gear and back to Earth.

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX has a $1.6 billion deal with NASA to fly a dozen cargo missions like the one that just ended. The company's fourth launch is scheduled for the end of September.

During its mission, Dragon returned time-sensitive science experiments that were successfully delivered to NASA on time once it arrived on dry land, according to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. Among the experiments were plants grown on station and new alloy mixtures that could help improve metal strength on the ground, International Space Station program scientist Julie Robinson said.

NASA also has a commercial resupply contract with Orbital Sciences Corp., a $1.9 billion deal for at least eight unmanned cargo missions with the Virginia-based company's Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule.

Orbital Sciences Corp. is on schedule to launch a test flight of its rocket in mid-April.

Astronaut space taxis ahead

The retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011 leaves the space agency dependent on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronaut crews to and from the space station. Once private space taxis become available, NASA hopes to use them to launch American astronauts on trips to the station.

SpaceX is one of four companies currently competing for the NASA crew launch contract. The manned version of SpaceX's capsule should carry seven astronauts into low-Earth orbit, and the company is scheduled to make another step towards the development of a crewed capsule later this year.

NASA and SpaceX are planning to stage a "pad abort test" to gauge the functionality of the company's "launch abort system" that would need to be in place before a crewed mission can take place, Musk said.

Future Looks Bright for Private US Space Ventures

Sasha Horne - RIA Novosti

From wealthy American technology executives to British billionaires, entrepreneurs are betting big on the emerging US private spaceflight industry. While some ventures claim to forge the path to US dominance, others aim to level the playing field for countries that lack space exploration programs.

"The private sector is more efficient than the government and can do the same thing at a lower cost," said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

Historically, Logsdon said, the US space agency NASA partnered with private companies for semi-routine cargo transport to space, but it was the decommissioning of NASA's shuttle program in 2011 that really offered a platform for independent companies.

"As the shuttles retired, the decision was made by NASA to contract private companies to not just transport cargo, but also to carry crew," Logsdon told RIA Novosti.

With NASA's space shuttles grounded, it now relies solely on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). The price tag for each roundtrip is $62 million, the US space agency said.

SpaceX, the California-based private spaceflight company, on Tuesday successfully completed the second of at least 12 NASA-funded roundtrip cargo missions to the ISS with its unmanned Dragon capsule.

The company, which was founded by South African-born American entrepreneur Elon Musk, said it currently has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for at least 12 roundtrip resupply missions.

NASA's decision to enter into private partnerships with American companies is partly based on wanting to cut its dependence on Russia to get its astronauts back and forth to the ISS.

"The purpose of NASA entering into these partnerships is to create an American system to carry Americans and its allies to the ISS," Logsdon said.

And in just a matter of years, space industry experts said privatized manned missions will position themselves to cut Russia out of the equation.

"SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was designed from the outset to carry astronauts," Christina Ra, SpaceX director of communications, told RIA Novosti.

"Now, under a $440 million agreement with NASA, SpaceX is making modifications to make Dragon crew-ready," Ra said.

At a news conference Thursday, Musk told reporters the SpaceX manned Dragon spacecraft is making progress, and is still on track to fly crew trials by 2015.

We are hoping to unveil what the Dragon version two will look like later this year," Musk said.

Sierra Nevada, Boeing, and Blue Origin—set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos—are among the nearly dozen American companies which received hundreds of millions of dollars from NASA to develop spacecraft capable of shuttling astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit where the ISS is located.

But one company NASA has partnered with, Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace, has different goals that includes developing an expandable habitat that can link up to the ISS.

"The technology was conceived by NASA and brought to fruition by Bigelow," said Michael Gold, Director of Washington Operations and Business Growth for Bigelow.

Because the floating habitats are made out of flexible fabrics like Kevlar, Gold said Bigelow's design offers better protection against radiation.

"Our systems are also lighter which saves money compared to producing a traditional NASA habitat," Gold told RIA Novosti.

Since 2006, Gold said Bigelow has completed two successful tests of its expandable habitats launched from the Dombarovsky missile base near Yasny, Russia.

"The BA 330 habitat can function as an independent space station or several habitats can be connected together in a modular fashion to create an even larger and more capable orbital space complex," Gold said, adding the tests indicated the modules could stay operational for 100 years or longer.

Under a contract with NASA, Bigelow is planning to send its first expandable habitat to dock onto the ISS in the summer of 2015.

Currently the ISS has only six seats, but since the Bigelow habitat can support up to six additional people, Gold said it could potentially double the size of the ISS crew and even create private space stations for countries that currently lack a presence in the international space community.

To transport astronauts to these planned habitats, Bigelow said it will partner with transportation companies including SpaceX and Boeing.

Other emerging privatized projects include space tourism, with companies like Virgin Galactic, owned by British business tycoon Richard Branson, setting up shop in the United States with seats for a roundtrip suborbital flight reportedly going for $200,000.

"The private sector is a tricky business that is subject to continuing negotiations. Who assumes what risks, well, that's not yet been decided," said Logsdon, who is widely known as an authority on space policy.

"If all of this works, it's creating a new industry that translates into profits for the companies and jobs for the employees," Logsdon told RIA Novosti.

While NASA has projected its first sponsored manned private flight to the ISS will be in 2017, mandatory US federal budget cuts known as sequestration could slow down the timeline.

"Sequestration is a 10-year plan that was not supposed to be executed and it could have a downstream adverse impact on everything we planned to do, but we are continuing our goal towards a 2017 launch," NASA spokesman Dwayne Brown said Thursday.

ATK layoff slashes Utah staff by 140 employees
Rocket maker blames program funding and changing business climate

Steven Oberbeck - Salt Lake Tribune

Alliant Techsystems Inc. said it reduced its Utah labor force by 140 employees on Thursday with 90 of those workers voluntarily leaving the company.

Another 10 workers were laid off in Ohio and Mississippi, said Trina Helquist, a spokeswoman for ATK in Utah.

In early October of last year ATK told its approximately 2,600 employees in Utah that there was going to be another wave of layoffs in early 2013. At that time, Charlie Precourt, ATK's vice president and general manager for Space Launch Systems, said he anticipated that the reduction in force would involve only a small number of employees.

"We don't know the exact number," Precourt said at the time. "We're striving every day to not make it be any, but we're anticipating a small number."

Precourt emphasized at the time that the looming cuts in early 2013 would not be part of the earlier stream of layoffs that occurred in the previous 3-1/2 years, which were largely related to the end of the space shuttle program and resulted in more than 2,000 employees being let go.

On Thursday, Helquist said the latest reduction was the result of cutbacks in funding for some ATK programs, on-going consolidation throughout the company and changes in business climate and production rates at its manufacturing facilities.

"While this layoff is smaller than those we have conducted in the past, reductions are never easy,'' she said. "We have lost some very talented individuals."

The layoff impacted the workforces at all three of ATK's Utah plants — in Promontory near Brigham City, in Magna and Clearfield.

"For those who were laid off, we have offered severance benefits and out-placement services," Helquist said.

On Thursday, ATK also reported that a day earlier it has successfully tested its newly developed CASTOR 30XL upper stage solid-fuel rocket motor at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex in Tennessee.

More Utah employees laid off by ATK

Charlie Trentelman - Ogden Standard-Examiner

ATK Space Systems said Thursday it is laying off another 150 people because of the continuing cutbacks in its programs servicing NASA and other government contractors.

ATK spokeswoman Trina Helquist said 140 of those laid off are from Utah, including 90 who volunteered to be laid off. Helquist said the layoffs are across ATK's entire corporate structure, including its facilities in Utah, Mississippi and Ohio.

In a prepared statement ATK said, "These reductions are a result of cutbacks in funding on multiple programs, ongoing consolidation and reorganization, and changes in the business climate and production rates at manufacturing facilities.

"Although this layoff is smaller than those we have conducted in the past, reductions are never easy; we have lost some very talented individuals. For those individuals who are laid off, we have offered severance benefits and outplacement services."

In the release the company said, "We took actions to minimize the impact to our workforce through a volunteer program and redeploying as many employees as possible while retaining the critical skills necessary to meet our obligations to our customers and to perform on our contracted programs.

"Our Utah delegation continues to be instrumental in ensuring the United States retains its human space exploration program and continues to support NASA's heavy lift vehicle, the Space Launch System, and our strategic programs within the Department of Defense."

ATK Space Systems in Utah has been hit hard since 2009 because of the demise of the space shuttle program. ATK in Utah was the prime contractor for booster motors to launch the space shuttle, and by early 2012 had laid off more than 2,100 employees, nearly half its shuttle-era workforce of 4,500.

ATK was dealt another setback late in 2012 when the company was bypassed for part of $1.2 billion NASA was awarding to develop new vehicles for future manned space operations. The money all went to ATK competitors for the program.

Ironically, ATK also announced Thursday that it has successfully built and tested a smaller version of its shuttle booster motors.

On Wednesday ATK successfully ground-tested its new CASTOR® 30XL upper stage solid rocket motor at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) in Tennessee.

ATK said it developed the motor in 20 months. It is designed to ignite above 100,000 feet and will be used on rockets designed to resupply the International Space Station.

Georgia bids to land SpaceX base in Camden County

Dan Chapman - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia is making a late-to-the-game push to land SpaceX — a rocketship company that delivers cargo to the International Space Station — as the first tenant of a proposed "spaceport" in coastal Camden County.

The site is one of three under consideration, according to company and economic development officials, for a project that could almost overnight create a commercial space industry in Georgia. SpaceX would launch rockets from the complex and could build them there as well.

Texas, already home to a SpaceX test facility and offering a more developed incentives package, is the frontrunner, according to company executives. Florida, home to Cape Canaveral, where SpaceX currently launches payloads, is also a candidate for the minimum 200-job project.

Last Friday, Gov. Nathan Deal pitched Georgia and its 4,000-acre site to SpaceX founder and noted entrepreneur Elon Musk. State and local economic development officials are considering possible inducements — free land, job-creation incentives, equipment and machinery tax breaks, workforce training — to persuade Musk.

Musk said recently a decision will come by year's end.

"There's still a window for Georgia to make its case, but I don't think the window will be open forever," said Robert Braun, a professor of space technology at Georgia Tech and a former chief technologist for NASA. "With the retirement of the Space Shuttle there's now a growing market for commercial space transportation. (And) a spaceport isn't just about launchings. It's about bringing other industries into Georgia too."

Even if SpaceX locates elsewhere, the development of an airport for rocket ships along the coast is the ultimate objective of Braun and other members of the Georgia Space Working Group. The public-private group, established two years ago, seeks to attract space industry companies to Georgia.

Space exploration is a $290 billion a year global business and seven other states, including Texas, Florida and Virginia, are home to space ports.

Dreams of a private space industry — Musk wants to put a man on Mars — have long gripped the American psyche and now seem tantalyzingly close to reality.

NASA shut down its space shuttle program two years ago and turned over resupply of the Space Station to SpaceX, which won a $1.6 billion contract to deliver a dozen payloads to the orbiting science project. The company's Dragon cargo capsule splashed down Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean, its third successful round-trip mission.

Commercial satellite companies are also searching for launch sites. And suborbital space tourism will need launch pads and passenger centers as well.

"We've got commercial space company people telling us we've got the best launch location on the East Coast and, if you develop it right, it could be the best site in the country and world," said Bob Scaringe, chairman of the space working group. "There's a tremendous opportunity for the state to attract employers in the space industry."

The Camden County site is near the Intracoastal Waterway and the north end of Cumberland Island. Swamp, marsh and thousands of largely undeveloped acres surround the site owned by the Union Carbide Corp. The ability to launch directly over the ocean appeals to companies sending highly combustible rockets into orbit.

The property, previously owned by a chemical and aeronautical company, comes with a 12,000-foot runway and a onetime rocket-engine testing facility. Barges carried rockets along the waterway and could again ferry rockets to Cape Canaveral or other launch sites. A rail line and Interstate 95 run nearby.

The location is better positioned than Texas for quick access to orbital and sub-orbital trajectories, Braun said. A purely commercial site, unlike federally controlled Cape Canaveral, would give SpaceX more control over launch schedules.

David Keating, executive director of the Camden County Joint Development Authority, which is shepherding the project, said officials are exploring liability issues, lining up Federal Aviation Administration permits and readying for an environmental impact study.

Site preparation and construction could run in the tens of millions of dollars. Spaceport America in New Mexico, a commercial launch site geared toward space tourism and payloads, cost $209 million.

SpaceX, also based in California, runs a rocket-testing facility near Waco, Texas which "led us to think we should probably have a launch site in Texas," Musk told members of the Texas Appropriations Committee three weeks ago.

"We're optimistic about making this work in Texas, in the Boca Chica area. It's looking quite good," he added. "I'm not sure it would occur, but Texas is probably our leading candidate right now."

Even if SpaceX lands in Texas, several other companies have visited or expressed interest in the Camden site, according to economic development officials. They include XCOR Aerospace, a California-based rocket engine and space vehicle manufacturer.

"There is interest from aerospace companies and we're exploring how this is doable and how to structure a deal," Keating said Wednesday, adding that it could take two years before any final permit approval. "This would not be a speculative, build-it-and-they-will-come venture. There needs to be a company committed."

Petitions, full of sound and fury, signifying…

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

Back in December I noted the space advocacy community's continued, if perhaps misguided, fascination with White House petitions. Petitions have been the tool of first resort—and sometimes the tool of only resort—to demand funding increases for NASA or other policy changes.

The problem is that they often fail to reach the necessarily threshold (recently increased to 100,000 signatures) for an administration response, and even when they have, the response has been more a reiteration of current policy than a willingness to change.

That hasn't stopped people from continuing to use this tool. In response to NASA's decision last Friday to temporarily suspend most educational and public outreach efforts because of sequestration, advocates started a petition demanding that the suspension be overturned. "The Sequester's recent cuts on NASA's spending in public outreach and its STEM programs must not be allowed," it states.

As of early Thursday morning, the petition had garnered almost 6,000 signatures, with three and a half weeks to go. Although that's a sizable amount, unless the petition becomes more popular it will fall well short of the 100,000-signature threshold.

The danger posed by near Earth objects is the subject of another petition. "Find the asteroids, before they find us," demands this petition, without going into more details. (Find all the asteroids, or just those above a certain size threshold? And by when?) The petition started Sunday and, as of Thursday morning, had received 11 signatures.

Petitions like these don't hurt, but they don't alone help much, either, based on past experience. If you feel strongly enough about these issues to sign one of these petitions, make sure it's not the only advocacy activity you undertake.

Downey confirms interest in second shuttle
30-ft. shuttle model in Canada expected to become available soon

Eric Pierce - Downey Patriot

A quarter-scale replica of the space shuttle Columbia hanging at Calgary International Airport could make its way to Downey, where it was constructed during the height of our nation's space shuttle program.

Measuring nearly 30 feet long, 14 feet high and 19 feet wide, the model was constructed in the mid-1970s for engineers testing ground vibration's effect on the space shuttle. Built inside the hangar of Building 288 in Downey, the shuttle underwent nearly a dozen vibration tests before it was shipped to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., where twin rocket boosters were attached for additional tests, according to an article written by retired Boeing engineer Stan Barauskas.

After testing was completed in 1979, the model was categorized as a museum display artifact and in 2000 loaned to the SpacePort Museum inside Calgary International Airport, where it is currently suspended from the airport's ceiling.

The airport plans to remove the shuttle sometime this year as part of renovations. It will be returned to the Johnson Space Center, which has to decide whether to showcase it itself or loan it elsewhere. The Downey City Council on Tuesday instructed city staffers to study the feasibility of taking possession of the shuttle model.

Before committing itself one way or another, Councilman Roger Brossmer said the council needed more information "so we can make educated decisions."

"I think it's worth exploring," added Councilman Luis Marquez.

It's unclear where the shuttle would be stored but in January the city applied for a $3 million federal loan to house its current 128-ft. space shuttle mock-up, named Inspiration, which sits inside a tent outside the Columbia Memorial Space Center.

Dr. Valerie Neal, curator of the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), previously told the Aerospace Legacy Foundation that Downey "might be the eventual home for this incredible model if certain conditions are met.""[Please] be assured that future display of the model at Downey may be possible when (a) the artifact is transferred to NASM custody and (b) you have a museum-like facility open to the public," Neal is quoted as saying in 2007, before the Columbia Memorial Space Center was built. "As the original home of the orbiters, Downey is certainly an appropriate location for Shuttle artifacts."

And in honor of Easter Sunday…
Peeps: Pick your favorite space diorama

Who doesn't love Peeps? The Washington Post held a 2013 Peeps Diorama Contest. Here are the space-related entries. Check out all the entries here.

Luke vs Vader

Peeps celebrate the landing of Curiosipeep in the Jet Peepulsion Laboratory

On the Martian surface.... aliens peep at the strange rover from a desolate, dusty landscape

END

More detailed space news can be found at:

http://spacetoday.net/
http://www.bulletinnews.com/nasa/

Keep the shuttle flying

Friday, March 29, 2013

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

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