Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - March 6, 2013

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: March 6, 2013 6:50:10 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - March 6, 2013

Hope you can join us tomorrow at our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30.

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

 

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            It's Time For You, Your Colleagues and NASA to Be a Star

2.            Safety Message on Bicycles and Pedestrians

3.            IT Labs Project Call: Agencywide Q&A Today

4.            Extra! Extra! Read All About it

5.            Stuck in a Rut? Need Some New Perspective?

6.            JSC Annual Picnic at Splashtown on April 28 -- Tickets on Sale March 26

7.            Starport's Spring Break Camp is Next Week -- Register by Friday

8.            Starport Boot Camp -- Last Chance for March Class

9.            IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environment

10.          Latest International Space Station Research

11.          Reduced Gravity Call for Projects

12.          AIAA Houston Social Gathering This Thursday, March 7

13.          Situational Awareness Class: April 30 to May 2 -- Building 20, Room 205/206

________________________________________     NASA FACT

" In Fiscal Year 2012, nearly $23 million was obligated to contracts performed by veteran-owned businesses in Texas."

________________________________________

1.            It's Time For You, Your Colleagues and NASA to Be a Star

Gather your co-workers, grab your camera (or phone) and snap a shot of what makes NASA - and JSC - the Number 1 Best Place to Work (among all the large and, if you ask us, simply all!) federal agencies. If you take a pic, don't forget the commemorative Plaque that proves we are the BEST. It's available especially for these photo ops. All we ask is that you SHARE your snaps! Post it to your Facebook. Tweet it. Email it to us so we can share it on NASA.gov, too. Be a star in your own right.

Stop by the Human Resources Office (HRO) Customer Service Desk in Building 12, Room 269, to check out the Plaque to complete your photo op. The HRO team will ask for your name and badge number and give you some simple instructions about capturing the moment with a photo, including details about where you were, what you were doing and why it's important to space exploration. When you return the Plaque, the HRO folks will remind you to email your Plaque Moment to us.  We looking forward to sharing your photos far and wide with our various social media outlets, so don't forget to SHARE with us.

Make it snappy! Check out the Plaque now.

Human Resources Office x30476

 

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2.            Safety Message on Bicycles and Pedestrians

There have been some recent close calls about bicyclists surprising pedestrians on the sidewalk and not yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks. Remember that a collision between a bike and pedestrian can injure both the rider and the pedestrian. At JSC and in the state of Texas, bicycles must obey traffic laws and rules. If you are on a bike, watch out for pedestrians in crosswalks as you would if you were driving. Slow down around pedestrians on sidewalks and provide a warning before you pass. Common courtesy will go a long way to avoiding injury to yourself and others.

The JSC Safety Action Team has more information on bicycles here.

Dan Clem x34272

 

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3.            IT Labs Project Call: Agencywide Q&A Today

"Be sincere; be brief; be seated." - FDR

Ask questions; get answers; submit applications. - IT Labs

#JSCTodayBrevity

WebEx information is here.

Click on the informational blog here.

Event Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2013   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:3:00 PM

Event Location: Bldg 1 / 360 & WebEx

 

Add to Calendar

 

Kevin Rosenquist 281-204-1688 https://labs.nasa.gov

 

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4.            Extra! Extra! Read All About it

The most recent release of The Greener Side newsletter is now available on the JSC Environmental Office Web page. Interested in our local water and energy consumption, air quality, and environmental sites in the Houston area? Find out environmental information about our local communities through an all-in-one Environmental Protection Agency website. Check The Greener Side to learn what Texas is doing to combat invasive plant species during Invasive Species Awareness Week from March 3 to 8.

JSC Environmental Office x36207 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm

 

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5.            Stuck in a Rut? Need Some New Perspective?

Check out the NASA@work platform. We recently launched another challenge and need YOUR inputs to help solve this problem: Reduce Waste in Space - Creating Feedstock for Additive Manufacturing (3-D Printing) (Challenge #1649; deadline: April 12).

Are you new to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agencywide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Challenge owners post problems, and members of the NASA@work community participate by responding with their solutions to posted problems. Anyone can participate. Check it out to submit your solution today!

Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com

 

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6.            JSC Annual Picnic at Splashtown on April 28 -- Tickets on Sale March 26

SplashTown is closed to the public to allow NASA family and friends to attend a private day at the water park!

Tickets will be on sale from March 26 through April 19 in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops. Tickets will be $33 each for ages 3 and up. After April 19, tickets will be $37.

A ticket includes: private-day admission at SplashTown from noon to 6 p.m., barbecue lunch, beverages, snow cones, kids' games, Bingo, face-painting, moon bounce, balloon artist, DJ, horseshoes, volleyball, basketball and plenty of thrills.

Don't miss out on the fun, family day at SplashTown!

Event Date: Sunday, April 28, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:6:00 PM

Event Location: Splashtown

 

Add to Calendar

 

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

 

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7.            Starport's Spring Break Camp is Next Week -- Register by Friday

Spring break is next week, and Starport will once again be offering a youth day camp at the Gilruth Center for the school break. We will keep your children active and entertained with games, crafts and all kinds of activities. There are still some spots available, so sign your child up by Friday for this fun-filled week!

Camper Ages: 6 to 12

Camp Dates: March 11 to 15

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

Camp Fees: $140/child for the entire week or $40/day for selected days

 Click here for more information and for registration information. Register your child at the Gilruth Center during normal operating hours.

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

 

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8.            Starport Boot Camp -- Last Chance for March Class

Are you ready for 18 hours of intense workouts with an amazing personal trainer to get you to your fitness goal? Starport's amazing boot camp is almost full. Don't miss a chance to be part of our incredibly popular program. The class will fill up, so register now! Registration ends Sunday, March 10. The cost is $110 per person, and the workout begins on Monday, March 11. Don't wait, sign up today.

Register now at the Gilruth Center information desk, or call 281-483-0304 for more information.

Shericka Phillips x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/RecreationClasses/RecreationProgram...

 

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9.            IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environment

The call for proposals is now open for the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments. Organized by a team comprised of NASA, the European Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency and academic investigators, this international meeting will look to tackle the challenges involved with communication and sensing in extreme environments, both in space and on Earth. The conference will bring together representatives from the international space community, as well as aerospace and space defense industries, in an effort to understand and solve the emerging problems facing wireless sensing and communication in space and related extreme environments.

Initial proposals are due July 1. The conference will take place in Baltimore from Nov. 7 to 9.

For a list of areas of particular interest and information on how to submit a proposal, please click here.

Richard Barton x31444 http://sites.ieee.org/wisee/

 

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10.          Latest International Space Station Research

Several new investigations arrived on the International Space Station on SpaceX's Dragon CRS-2 last week.

Two of them are part of Biological Research In Canisters (BRIC) series. BRIC-17-1 investigates how plant cells respond to the spaceflight environment at a molecular level. BRIC-17-2 provides a better understanding of how spaceflight affects gene expression related to oxygen-limiting conditions in Arabidopsis seedlings.

The samples from both of these investigations will return to Earth on the Dragon capsule and be back in the hands of the investigators about 72 to 96 hours after spashdown.

You can read more about these experiments here.

Liz Warren x35548

 

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11.          Reduced Gravity Call for Projects

The Reduced Gravity Office and the Minority University Research and Education Program at JSC is looking for mentors at ALL NASA centers to submit projects. This is a fantastic opportunity for mentors to develop an experiment for reduced-gravity flight, and then fly with the experiment and the minority-serving university team they will work with. University teams will apply to each of the projects collected from your centers' mentors, and 14 teams will be selected. We are hoping to spread the selected projects out across all of the mission directorates, so we need proposals from ALL centers.

Submit projects to the following: http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/security/murep/project/post/

For more information, contact Suzanne Foxworth.

Visit our website: https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/murep/index.cfm

Event Date: Friday, November 8, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:5:00 PM

Event Location: Ellington Field

 

Add to Calendar

 

Suzanne Foxworth 821-483-7185 https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/murep/index.cfm

 

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12.          AIAA Houston Social Gathering This Thursday, March 7

Come out to Club Cabo in Clear Lake to mix and mingle with your local American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) members and other aerospace professionals. We'll be there starting at 5:30 p.m. Look for us on the patio overlooking Clear Lake.

Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Club Cabo is located at:

2513 Nasa Parkway, Seabrook, 77586

More information can be found by visiting the AIAA Houston website.

Event Date: Thursday, March 7, 2013   Event Start Time:5:30 PM   Event End Time:7:30 PM

Event Location: Club Cabo, 2513 Nasa Parkway, Seabrook, TX

 

Add to Calendar

 

Ryan Miller 281-226-4430 http://www.aiaahouston.org/event/aiaa-social-gathering-this-thursday-3-7/

 

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13.          Situational Awareness Class: April 30 to May 2 -- Building 20, Room 205/206

NASA is involved in operations where there is always a potential for human error and undesirable outcomes. As part of a team, how we communicate, process information and react in various situations determines our level of success. In our efforts, we often run into glitches and the potential for human error. Situational Awareness is a course that addresses these issues. It involves combining our awareness of what's going on in the operations environment, a knowledge of system failure design criteria and an understanding of expected outcomes from system failures to avoid hazardous situations and develop safe responses to unsafe conditions that may realistically be expected to arise. This course instructs students in the basic tenets and practices of situational awareness and how they apply to hazardous operations in NASA to promote the best proactive safety techniques in practice. Two-and-a-half days. SATERN Registration Required. (Contractors: Update Profile.) https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Polly Caison x41279

 

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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

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

 

Chris Cassidy, Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin launch March 28 to join Exp 35

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Soyuz crew approved for fast approach to space station

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

The next three residents launched to the International Space Station will reach their new home six hours after blastoff, flying an express rendezvous with the complex and reducing the crew's time in the cramped confines of the Soyuz capsule. The quick approach will occur March 28 after launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft, cutting the flight time from nearly two days to less than six hours. Liftoff of the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft is scheduled for 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) March 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Docking is set for 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT) after four orbits around Earth.

 

Space Station crew unloads SpaceX Dragon capsule

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

That didn't take long. Six International Space Station residents have already finished unloading nearly 1,300 pounds of cargo from the SpaceX Dragon capsule that arrived Sunday morning. The next step will be to start packing roughly 2,700 pounds of items that will return home with the spacecraft March 25, a process carefully choreographed with mission controllers on the ground.

 

Private SpaceX Capsule Brings Big Science to Space Station

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

The International Space Station is now home to more than 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies delivered by an unmanned, privately built space capsule that reached the orbiting science laboratory on Sunday. Among the goods SpaceX's Dragon capsule transported to the station were science experiments primed and ready for the six international residents of the space station. "Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on March 25, bringing home nearly double the amount of supplies it brought up, about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms)," NASA officials said in a statement. "Returning investigation samples will demonstrate how life in microgravity affects the growth of plant seedlings, changes to the human body, the behavior of semiconductors and detergents, and more."

 

Why it's good for SpaceX's private spaceships to rise above the glitches

 

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

 

The commercial SpaceX rocket venture has launched Dragon cargo capsules to the International Space Station three times in the past year, and every time there's been a problem. Should NASA be upset? Not really. The fact that glitches have cropped up — and have been solved, with no impact on the multimillion-dollar cargo resupply missions — isn't a black mark against the California-based company. Rather, it's a sign that the designs for SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 are resilient in the face of the inevitable glitches associated with spaceflight. It's also a sign of things to come.

 

Chris Hadfield quote turned into cartoon by Zen Pencils

 

Lauren Strapagiel - Huffington Post Canada

 

More than a few of us Earthlings have found ourselves thoroughly inspired by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as he zooms around our planet aboard the International Space Station, tweeting all the way. Aside from providing us with breath-taking photos of the Earth and a gravity-free cooking lesson, Hadfield has been doling out advice to his young fans with off-planet ambitions.

 

Spaceport nears final test flights

 

Kevin Robinson-Avila – Albuquerque Journal

 

Virgin Galactic is about to launch its final series of test flights before it begins shuttling paying passengers into suborbit early next year from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. President and CEO George Whitesides told a luncheon crowd in Albuquerque on Tuesday that the company last week conducted its first "final qualification" firing of the rocket motor that will power the six-passenger spacecraft. The company must first test the motor on the ground before mounting it on the rocket for manned flight. And the final qualification firing last Thursday in California marked a huge milestone that will pave the way for powered test flights in a few months, Whitesides said.

 

Virgin Galactic rocket test lights up Mojave Desert

 

Dan Mayfield - Albuquerque Business First

 

Virgin Galactic has taken the next step to launching space tourists. On Monday night, founder Sir Richard Branson wrote on his blog that the company has conducted early tests of the rocket that will launch SpaceShipTwo, and its six passengers, into low-earth orbit. Virgin Galactic is the anchor tenant at New Mexico's Spaceport America, which is located between Truth or Consequences and Las Cruces.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Soyuz crew approved for fast approach to space station

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

The next three residents launched to the International Space Station will reach their new home six hours after blastoff, flying an express rendezvous with the complex and reducing the crew's time in the cramped confines of the Soyuz capsule.

 

The quick approach will occur March 28 after launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft, cutting the flight time from nearly two days to less than six hours.

 

Liftoff of the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft is scheduled for 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) March 28 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Docking is set for 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT) after four orbits around Earth.

 

The six-hour rendezvous will replicate demonstrations done by Russia's Progress resupply freighters, which accomplished the first same-day rendezvous with the International Space Station in August.

 

"We tried this approach on the cargo vehicles, and now we're trying to do it on the manned vehicles," said Sergei Krikalev, a veteran cosmonaut and administrator of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow.

 

Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin, along with NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, will be aboard the Soyuz.

 

Engineers did not make any changes to the Soyuz capsule for the mission, but the quick flight to the space station will be a test for the crew and ground controllers.

 

"All the systems of the vehicle are the same, but the work is more intense," Vinogradov said Monday through a translator. "There are no new systems or modes in the vehicle, but the coordination work of the crew should be better."

 

The crew's activation of the Soyuz and docking preparations, typically spread out in a two-day period, must be completed in less than six hours.

 

"We'll scrunch that whole timeline down into about a six-hour period," Cassidy said.

 

Soyuz cosmonauts and astronauts sit in specially-fitted couches inside the capsule's descent module for launch and docking. The accelerated rendezvous means the crew will wear their Sokol spacesuits and be seated for up to 10 hours, from the time they are strapped in on the launch pad until after docking.

 

"The interesting thing from a human point-of-view is we don't have the time to take off our spacesuits, so we'll be strapped in our seats in our spacesuits for the whole duration of that six-hour period plus the pre-launch activities. So it will be a long day and a lot of time in the suits," Cassidy said.

 

The quick approach leaves no time for the crew to enter the Soyuz habitation module at the forward end of the spacecraft, which contains food, drinking water and a toilet.

 

"It's going to be a long workday for the crew," Vinogradov said. "We will have to stay up for a very long time before - getting ready for the launch - but I think it's much more efficient."

 

On the plus side, the crew will reach the expansive space station sooner. Larger than a three-bedroom house, the complex includes a kitchen, bathrooms and lots of open space.

 

"The Soyuz is a very small vehicle," Cassidy said. "It's designed with a specific purpose and that's to get crews up and down ... and it does a fantastic job. It's not the most comfortable vehicle to be in for an extended period of time. The toilet is right next to where you sleep, which is right next to your buddy and eating and all. It's like living for a day in a Smart car or a Volkswagen Beetle. It's very scrunched."

 

The six-hour rendezvous is a first-time experience for an International Space Station crew, but astronauts and cosmonauts have accomplished quick rendezvous profiles before.

 

Two-man crews flying in NASA's Gemini program docked with target vehicles a few hours after launch in the 1960s, and early Soviet-era Soyuz missions launched and rendezvoused in orbit on the same day.

 

Officials switched to longer two-day rendezvous profiles to give crews extra time to adapt to microgravity and conserve propellant.

 

"Now we have on-board new machinery and new software, so the vehicle is more autonomous," Krikalev said. "So it's possible to do a lot on-board the vehicle and to calculate the burns so they don't consume a lot of fuel."

 

The fast-track rendezvous reduces the workforce required to operate the Soyuz spacecraft. Instead of staffing the Soyuz control center in Russia for more than two days, a full complement Soyuz controllers will only be needed for a day.

 

The space station's managers in February formally approved the six-hour rendezvous plan for the March 28 launch, but the international partners have not signed off on using the template on future flights, according to Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager.

 

Russia has requested to use the quick rendezvous on all Soyuz missions, but NASA has raised concerns over the crew's comfort and workload, along with the technical difficulty and precise orbital mechanics necessary to launch and dock on the same day.

 

A formal decision on whether to use the quick rendezvous scheme on the following Soyuz mission in May will come in April, according to NASA officials.

 

Space Station crew unloads SpaceX Dragon capsule

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

That didn't take long.

 

Six International Space Station residents have already finished unloading nearly 1,300 pounds of cargo from the SpaceX Dragon capsule that arrived Sunday morning.

 

The next step will be to start packing roughly 2,700 pounds of items that will return home with the spacecraft March 25, a process carefully choreographed with mission controllers on the ground.

 

Since the shuttle's retirement, the Dragon is the only spacecraft currently flying that can return large quantities of cargo to the ground.

 

Ground controllers today planned to use a robotic arm to examine the Dragon's unpressurized "trunk," which holds a pair of grapple bars that will be attached to the station for future use on spacewalks.

 

The grapple bars are expected to be robotically removed from the trunk Wednesday.

 

Meanwhile, Station commander Kevin Ford and two cosmonauts are getting ready to return to Earth a week from Thursday.

 

Their Russian Soyuz spacecraft is scheduled to touch down in Kazakhstan just before midnight Eastern on March 14.

 

Private SpaceX Capsule Brings Big Science to Space Station

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

The International Space Station is now home to more than 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies delivered by an unmanned, privately built space capsule that reached the orbiting science laboratory on Sunday.

 

Among the goods SpaceX's Dragon capsule transported to the station were science experiments primed and ready for the six international residents of the space station.

 

"Dragon is scheduled to return to Earth on March 25, bringing home nearly double the amount of supplies it brought up, about 2,668 pounds (1,210 kilograms)," NASA officials said in a statement. "Returning investigation samples will demonstrate how life in microgravity affects the growth of plant seedlings, changes to the human body, the behavior of semiconductors and detergents, and more."

 

Some of the experiments will only stay on board for three weeks, making a round trip back to Earth with Dragon when the capsule detaches from the station. One of those experiments involves thale cress, a plant used in many experiments because of its small, relatively easy-to-map genome.

 

Scientists affiliated with NASA and the European Space Agency sent up one experiment called "Seedling Growth-1," designed to investigate how well plants grow amid stresses such as low oxygen.

 

"The experiment will study how plants adapt to micro- and low-gravity environments," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "Researchers hope to determine the ability of vegetation to provide a complete, sustainable, dependable and economical means for human life-support in space."

 

Beyond helping scientists learn how to grow food in space, the research might contribute to better agricultural practices back on Earth. Understanding how these plants react to a stressful environment could lend insight into how farmers could mitigate those taxing situations back on the planet's surface.

 

Some of the experiments sent to the International Space Station will play a role in education, as well.

 

"Students from several California schools developed investigations to study bacteria, iron corrosion, battery performance and carbon dioxide levels aboard the station, all of which will be delivered by Dragon," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

 

Personal product manufacturer Procter & Gamble sent up another experiment that will study how to better preserve toothpaste, gels and creams.

 

"Particle additives can make a product last longer by maintaining its consistency, but they sink and clump together after a certain amount of time, which can spoil a product," NASA officials said. "It's difficult to study these dynamics on Earth because gravity gets in the way, making the space station an ideal research platform for these important industrial processes."

 

Although Dragon's launch went flawlessly, once the capsule parted from the Falcon 9 rocket used to boost it into orbit, one glitch became apparent. A thruster problem delayed Dragon's approach to the space station by a day. The spacecraft is expected to return to Earth with experiment results and other gear on March 25.

 

Dragon also brought a few treats for the astronauts, with bananas and apples among the first items unloaded to the space station.

 

Why it's good for SpaceX's private spaceships to rise above the glitches

 

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

 

The commercial SpaceX rocket venture has launched Dragon cargo capsules to the International Space Station three times in the past year, and every time there's been a problem. Should NASA be upset?

 

Not really.

 

The fact that glitches have cropped up — and have been solved, with no impact on the multimillion-dollar cargo resupply missions — isn't a black mark against the California-based company. Rather, it's a sign that the designs for SpaceX's Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 are resilient in the face of the inevitable glitches associated with spaceflight. It's also a sign of things to come.

 

"We may see more mission aborts, where the cost of a mission may be a fraction of the cost of a 'perfect' spacecraft," says James Oberg, NBC News' space analyst. "For the same cost, you could launch three or four, or even eight or 10 'not-perfect' vehicles, with a success rate of 90 to 95 percent. and as a result, for the same starting cost launch many times more missions."

 

Rand Simberg, a former rocket engineer who now writes about spaceflight for a variety of publications, made a similar point in a PJMedia piece touting SpaceX's latest "successful failure": a problem with the Dragon's thruster system that was resolved when SpaceX's engineers issued commands to cycle the system's valves and clear out the lines with a blast of pressurized gas.

 

"It was a valuable failure in that it identified a potential problem with either the design or operations but didn't cost them the mission," Simberg wrote. After the system reset, the Dragon's thrusters performed without a hitch. The capsule was brought in for its berthing at the space station on Sunday, just a day later than originally scheduled.

 

"They did everything exactly right about the vehicle," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told reporters after the thruster system was fixed.

 

The snags that cropped up during the previous two Dragon launches were similarly resolved without major consequences for SpaceX or NASA:

 

·         Last May, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket lit up its engines for launch, but immediately shut them down when the flight computer detected an excessive pressure reading in one of the engines. Engineers found and fixed a problem with the engine's turbopump valve, and a few days later, the Falcon 9 launched the Dragon on a historic demonstration mission to the space station. In August, a NASA panel said it was satisfied with SpaceX's handling of the glitch and its aftermath.

 

·         Last October, one of the nine engines on the Falcon 9's first stage shut down during the ascent, due to a flaw in the sheathing that surrounded the engine. The other engines automatically adjusted their thrust to make up for the shutdown, and the Dragon successfully reached orbit. However, the Falcon wasn't able to put an Orbcomm telecommunications satellite that was carried as a secondary payload in its proper orbit. As a result, the satellite was lost. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the company tracked down the problem and beefed up its procedure for non-destructive evaluation of the Merlin rocket engines. Since the satellite loss, Orbcomm and SpaceX have renegotiated their launch contract.

 

SpaceX's communication director, Christina Ra, told NBC News that there the investigation of last week's thruster problem has already begun. "But I am hesitant to give you any commitment on whether or not we can give more detail, and what the timing would be," she wrote in an email, "because it does take time, the information is shared with and approved by multiple parties, and at the end of the day, regulated by ITAR."

 

That last acronym refers to the International Trade in Arms Regulations, which strictly limit the transfer of aerospace technology to foreign countries. SpaceX fears that the unauthorized disclosure of information about a rocket anomaly would get the company in ITAR trouble with the federal government, and maybe even get someone put in jail. "I don't look good in horizontal stripes," Shotwell joked.

 

Dealing with anomalies may well be a more frequent option for future spaceflight, even when humans are involved. Oberg noted that the subject came up when millionaire Dennis Tito was discussing his plan to send private-sector astronauts on a 501-day trip past Mars in 2018. "He described how his two-human crew to Mars would be occupied servicing, repairing and coaxing their life support systems, which would be designed to be fixable, not to be 'perfect,'" Oberg said in an email.

 

This is why SpaceX and NASA's other commercial partners are devoting so much attention to the development of launch abort systems for crew-capable spaceships. Those systems might actually have to be used someday.

 

"With a commercialized crew taxi that doesn't 'overspend' on unattainable perfect reliability, but accepts the occasional mission failure, you'll fly many more successful missions. You don't have to pay for it in crew safety, just in mission completion rates. And the high flight rates can shake out hardware to enhance reliability far more than flying a vehicle once or twice a year, as with space shuttles." Oberg said.

 

"If there isn't a commercial crew mission abort at some point in the first 10 missions, I'd suspect they spent too much on reliability. I'm not talking about somebody getting hurt — we need to build robust and reliable escape systems — but just having to come home without accomplishing the purpose of the launch."

 

Does that sound scary? It shouldn't. The key to success in space may well be to make sure failure is an option that can be dealt with — as SpaceX demonstrated last week.

 

Chris Hadfield quote turned into cartoon by Zen Pencils

 

Lauren Strapagiel - Huffington Post Canada

 

More than a few of us Earthlings have found ourselves thoroughly inspired by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as he zooms around our planet aboard the International Space Station, tweeting all the way.

 

Aside from providing us with breath-taking photos of the Earth and a gravity-free cooking lesson, Hadfield has been doling out advice to his young fans with off-planet ambitions.

 

During a recent Reddit AMA, Hadfield was asked to give advice for young people considering a career in space science, and his heartfelt answer hit Australian artist Gaving Aung Than hard.

 

"I wish someone had given me that advice when I was younger. I definitely experienced a few years of drifting aimlessly through life having forgotten what my passion was," Than told the Huffington Post Canada.

 

Than is the cartoonist behind Zen Pencils, a blog that turns inspirational quotes into cartoons. A reader submitted Hadfield's reply and Than turned it into a drawing depicting Hadfield's journey from a kid watching the moon landing to the soon-to-be commander of the ISS.

 

Than says he's an avid Twitter follower of Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) and was flattered when the astronaut tweeted his cartoon:

 

@Cmdr_Hadfield

What a cute surpise! Thanks to @zenpencils for turning a thought I had into something so nice. http://t.co/2yhlUVXHrt

 

"The thought of Chris reading my comic up in space is so surreal and thrilling," says Than. "I also got a message from his son saying the whole family liked it."

 

Spaceport nears final test flights

 

Kevin Robinson-Avila – Albuquerque Journal

 

Virgin Galactic is about to launch its final series of test flights before it begins shuttling paying passengers into suborbit early next year from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico.

 

President and CEO George Whitesides told a luncheon crowd in Albuquerque on Tuesday that the company last week conducted its first "final qualification" firing of the rocket motor that will power the six-passenger spacecraft.

 

The company must first test the motor on the ground before mounting it on the rocket for manned flight. And the final qualification firing last Thursday in California marked a huge milestone that will pave the way for powered test flights in a few months, Whitesides said.

 

Until now, the company has conducted glider flights, whereby a mothership, known as WhiteKnightTwo, carries the rocket-propelled vehicle on its underbelly before releasing it at a certain altitude.

 

"We've been releasing it and letting it glide to Earth," Whitesides said. "Now we'll start to release it and fire the rocket motor. We'll burn it for longer and longer on each test to go faster and higher until we do a space shot. We hope to get there before the end of the year, if not before."

 

The Greater Albuquerque, Hispano and Belen chambers of commerce jointly hosted the luncheon to inform the business community about developments related to the spaceport.

 

Gov. Susana Martinez spoke at the event, where she urged lawmakers to approve a bill now in the Legislature to extend liability protection to manufacturers and suppliers of parts and components for rockets that fly from the spaceport. Current law already protects rocket operators from lawsuits by passengers who sign consent forms before flying to space, but Virgin Galactic and industry officials say the law's extension is critical to attract supply companies to New Mexico.

 

The Senate approved the bill; in the House, it has yet to emerge from committees.

 

"Once I sign this bill, I'm looking forward to Virgin Galactic making New Mexico its home for many years to come, but that bill hasn't reached my desk yet," Martinez said.

 

Virgin Galactic's New Mexico spokesman, Tom Carroll, said, "We're hoping it gets to the governor's desk later this week, or early next week."

 

Meanwhile, Whitesides said the company is working with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority to ready the facility for commercial operations, which are expected to begin early next year, shortly after rocket-powered test flights conclude in late 2013.

 

"At most, I think we're talking a few months" after test flights conclude, Whitesides told the Journal.

 

New Mexico will see major economic benefits from the spaceport, given that space-related business worldwide is already a $290 billion industry that's growing about 12 percent per year, he said. More than a million people work in the industry in the United States today, generating $53 billion in annual income.

 

The spaceport is expected to attract at least 200,000 tourists annually to New Mexico once commercial operations begin, as well as high-tech support companies, Whitesides said. In addition, it will help brand New Mexico as a hub for high-tech innovation.

 

"I believe it will be a continual, global advertisement for New Mexico," Whitesides said.

 

Virgin Galactic rocket test lights up Mojave Desert

 

Dan Mayfield - Albuquerque Business First

 

Virgin Galactic has taken the next step to launching space tourists.

 

On Monday night, founder Sir Richard Branson wrote on his blog that the company has conducted early tests of the rocket that will launch SpaceShipTwo, and its six passengers, into low-earth orbit.

 

Virgin Galactic is the anchor tenant at New Mexico's Spaceport America, which is located between Truth or Consequences and Las Cruces.

 

The test was conducted at 8 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Mojave Desert, where Virgin has been testing its space vehicles.

 

Branson called the test "the first in a rapid series of confirmation firings leading to to SpaceShipTwo's first rocket powered flight."

 

The rocket shot a 50-foot flame that lit up the desert, Branson wrote.

 

Virgin has been working since 2007 to launch tourists into space and plans to start flights within the next 12 months, if testing goes well. In December the company announced it launched SpaceShipTwo on an unpowered glided flight over the Mojave. The next step is a rocket-powered flight of SpaceShipTwo.

 

"It has been an amazing, at times agonizing process to get the space program this far, and as the weeks and months pass, we are steadily witnessing more little bits of history," Branson wrote in the blog post, headlined "This isn't sci-fi."

 

END