Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - May 15, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: May 15, 2013 6:01:02 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - May 15, 2013 and JSC Today

 

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            Updated Broadcast Info for the All Hands Tomorrow, May 16

2.            Don't Forget the NASA Visitor Centers for Summertime Fun

3.            Latest International Space Station Research

4.            Don't Forget to Check Out JSC's Environmental Office Newsletter

5.            Escape Your Silo: Lighting Environment and Testing Facility Tour

6.            NASA@work Highlights: Challenge Owners Want YOUR Input

7.            AIAA Award Nomination Deadlines

8.            Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Tickets Available at Starport

9.            Starport Presents: Father-Daughter Dance 2013

10.          Youth Sports Camps -- Basketball, Baseball and Ultimate Frisbee

11.          Salsa/Latin Dance Classes -- Discount Ends May 17

12.          Summer Water-Bots Camp

________________________________________     NASA FACT

" NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has found the building blocks for Earth-sized planets in an unlikely place-- the atmospheres of a pair of burned-out stars called white dwarfs. These dead stars are located 150 light-years from Earth in a relatively young star cluster, Hyades, in the constellation Taurus."

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1.            Updated Broadcast Info for the All Hands Tomorrow, May 16

If you can't attend the All Hands in the Teague Auditorium with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and JSC Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa on May 16 from 9 to 10 a.m., there are additional options.

Those unable to attend in the Teague Auditorium can view the event on RF Channel 2 or Omni 45. JSC and White Sands Test Facility employees with wired computer network connections can view the All Hands using onsite IPTV on channel 402 (standard definition). Please note: IPTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV.

If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.

Remember, if you still have a question you'd like to ask in advance or during the All Hands, please email it to: JSC-Ask-The-Director@mail.nasa.gov

Event Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:10:00 AM

Event Location: Teague Auditorium

 

Add to Calendar

 

JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

 

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2.            Don't Forget the NASA Visitor Centers for Summertime Fun

Wondering how to fill those hot summer days? Or, are you planning a trip near one of the NASA Visitor Centers around the country? The official NASA Visitor Center website -- http://www.visitnasa.com/ -- allows you to see what attractions are going on at each visitor center and can aid in planning your vacation. Houstonians looking for great "staycation" ideas will also benefit from Space Center Houston's offerings.

While you're at the website, sign up to receive the newsletter "The Space Flyer," which contains up-to-date info on events, exhibits and exciting news from NASA Visitor Centers.

JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 http://www.visitnasa.com/

 

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3.            Latest International Space Station Research

Yesterday, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the launch of Skylab, America's first space station.

During the course of a little more than 171 days of occupation, we learned how to live and work in space for extended periods. Three Skylab crews completed about 300 experiments; many of which were the predecessor of today's 1,500 plus experiments on the International Space Station.

Read more about space station research statistics.

Liz Warren x35548

 

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4.            Don't Forget to Check Out JSC's Environmental Office Newsletter

This week is National Bike to Work Week. Want to find out more? Check out the latest edition of the JSC Environmental Office newsletter, The Greener Side, for more information. Learn about how to prevent storm water pollution in laydown yards and storage areas, and see how well JSC's 2012 recycling efforts compare to previous years. The Greener Side has the scoop and more!

JSC Environmental Office x36207 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/bbs/scripts/files/367/GreenerSide%20v6n2%20%280...

 

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5.            Escape Your Silo: Lighting Environment and Testing Facility Tour

The Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) provides a controlled environment for the characterization of light sources and lighting environments, including:

o             High-power Solar Spectrum Light Source (for emulation of sunlight and earthshine)

o             Spotmeter-Spectrophotometer (for spectral characterization of light sources and displays)

o             Radiant Zemax high-resolution imaging colorimeter (for pixel by pixel characterization of color and intensity of light patterns and surface luminance of luminous objects)

We plan to demonstrate the capabilities of our imaging colorimeter by taking real-time measurements using tablets and smartphones.

Please join the Human Systems Academy for a tour of the LETF on May 17 at Wyle 5 (1290 Hercules) from either 1 to 2 p.m. or 2 to 3 p.m. Please be advised this is an off-site location, and transportation is not provided.

Space is limited, so please register today in SATERN: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DETAILS&scheduleID=68600 or 68601

Cynthia Rando 978-660-2808 https://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/hsa/default.aspx

 

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6.            NASA@work Highlights: Challenge Owners Want YOUR Input

We have two active challenges on our platform -- As Good as Dollars: Incentives for NASA@work That Count! (deadline: June 14); and Peer-to-Peer Coaching and Counseling Program (deadline: May 30). The challenge owners for these challenges are responding and actively engaging in the discussion, so be sure to check their responses so you can add to the discussion or update your submissions. Check them out.

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!

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

 

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7.            AIAA Award Nomination Deadlines

The following American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) awards have upcoming nomination deadlines.

June 30:

o             Career and Workforce Development Award

o             Communications Award

o             Harry Staubs STEM K-12 Outreach Award

o             Membership Award

o             Outstanding Section Award

o             Outstanding Activity Award

o             Public Policy Award

o             Young Professional Activity Award

July 1:

o             Ashley Award for Aeroelasticity

o             Children's Literature Award

o             Dr. John C. Ruth Digital Avionics Award

o             Durand Lectureship for Public Service

o             Excellence in Aerospace Standardization Award

o             Faculty Advisor Award

o             Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award

o             History Manuscript Award

o             James A. Van Allen Space Environments Award

o             Lawrence Sperry Award

o             Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award

o             Missile Systems Award

o             Pendray Aerospace Literature Award

o             Space Processing Award

o             Summerfield Book Award

For more information on each award, click here or contact me with "AIAA 2013 Awards" in the subject line.

Jennifer Wells 281-336-6302

 

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8.            Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Tickets Available at Starport

Purchase your pre-sale tickets now for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus coming to Reliant Stadium in July. Various price levels and seating options are available to fit any budget: Saturday July 13, and Sunday, July 14 - $12; Saturday, July 20, and Sunday, July 21 - $21; and Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28 - $28. Purchase your tickets for the "Greatest show on Earth" in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops. The last day to purchase tickets is June 19. The pick-up date is July 9.

Cynthia Kibby x35352 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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9.            Starport Presents: Father-Daughter Dance 2013

Make Father's Day weekend a date your daughter will never forget! Enjoy a night of music, dancing, refreshments, finger foods, dessert, photos and more. Plan to get all dressed up and spend a special evening with the special little lady in your life. The dance is open to girls of all ages, and attire is business casual to semi-formal. A photographer will be on hand to capture this special moment with picture packages for you to purchase. One free 5x7 will be provided.

o             June 14 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom

o             Cost is $45 per couple ($15 per additional child)

Tickets may be purchased at the Gilruth Center information desk. Tickets must be purchased by June 8, and there will be no tickets sold at the door.

Visit our website for more information.

Event Date: Friday, June 14, 2013   Event Start Time:6:30 PM   Event End Time:9:00 PM

Event Location: Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom

 

Add to Calendar

 

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

 

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10.          Youth Sports Camps -- Basketball, Baseball and Ultimate Frisbee

Starport Summer Sports Camps at the Gilruth Center are a great way to provide added instruction for all levels of players and prepare participants for competitive play. Let our knowledgeable and experienced coaches give your child the confidence they need to learn and excel in their chosen sport.

Baseball Camp: Focuses on the development of hitting, catching, base running, throwing, pitching and drills.

Session Dates: July 8 to 12 and July 15 to 19

Times: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Ages: 6 to 12

Price: $200/per session

Basketball Camp: Focuses on the development of shooting, passing, dribbling, guarding and drills.

Session Dates: Aug. 5 to 9

Times: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Ages: 9 to 14

Price: $200

Ultimate Frisbee: Focuses on development of throwing, catching, offense, defense, zones and drills.

Session Dates: July 1 to 3

Times: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Ages: 9 to 14

Price: $140

Before and after care is available. Register your child now at the Gilruth Center. Space is limited! Visit our website for information and registration forms.

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

 

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11.          Salsa/Latin Dance Classes -- Discount Ends May 17

Intro to Latin Dance:

This class is an introduction to Salsa, but it also touches on other popular Latin dances found at social settings: Merengue, Bachata, and maybe even a little bit of Cha-Cha-Cha. Emphasis is on Salsa and then Bachata. Partners are allowed, but not required.

Latin Dance Introduction (begins May 31)

o             Fridays from 7 to 8 p.m. (Studio 1)

Salsa Intermediate:

This class continues teaching salsa beyond that taught in the introduction class. You should be comfortable and confident with the material from the introduction class before moving on to the intermediate class. This is a multi-level class where students may be broken up into groups based upon class experience.

Salsa Intermediate (begins May 31)

o             Fridays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (Studio 1)

Registration:

o             Early: May 6 to 17 ($40 per person)

o             Regular: May 18 to 30 ($50 per person)

Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/RecreationClasses/RecreationProgram...

 

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12.          Summer Water-Bots Camp

Join us for Water-Bots 2013! The San Jacinto College Aerospace Academy is offering an outstanding opportunity for students to experience the excitement of underwater robotics.

Beginner Camps: June 17 to 20 and June 24 to 27. The camp experience will include basic electronics instruction, an introduction to soldering, tours of JSC, professional speakers and much more!

Intermediate Camps: July 15 to 18 and July 22 to 25. Requires campers with previous robotic experience. The camp experience will include constructing algorithms in scripting languages such as Python/Matlab/Scilab; working with Arduino boards, sensors and shields; methods of making underwater robotics using a tether system; and much more!

Ages: 12 to 16 years old

Cost: $250

Email for more information.

Sara Malloy x46803 http://www.aerospace-academy.org

 

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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, May 15, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Dream Chaser leaves Louisville for critical tests in California

 

John Aguilar - Boulder Daily Camera

 

The Dream Chaser has left the building. After years of assembling and refining its next-generation spacecraft at its Louisville headquarters, Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems wrapped its winged baby up last weekend and sent it to California on a flatbed trailer for its first flight test. The Dream Chaser is expected to arrive Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base, where it will start a critical series of tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. Testing will start with a run-through of the performance of the spacecraft's nose strut, brakes and tires on the tarmac, followed by a helicopter-anchored captive carry flight -- akin to the one the company carried out at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield last year.

 

Aerojet Delivers Final Pod Assembly for Orion Flight

 

Space News

 

Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet on May 8 said that the final Crew Module Reaction Control System (CM RCS) pod assembly for the Orion Multi-Purpose Vehicle's Exploration Flight Test-1 has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The pods will provide the primary and redundant control for critical maneuvers during Orion's high-speed atmospheric re-entry in the capsule's planned 2014 test flight. The two CM RCS pod assemblies delivered to date join six others already at Kennedy, Aerojet said in a press release.

 

Cabana: NASA may free up land for commercial spaceport

Shiloh area eyed as commercial site

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana on Tuesday argued forcefully that the center is changing to attract commercial operations, possibly including the development of a state-run launch complex on NASA property that SpaceX is eyeing. NASA will not prevent Space Florida from establishing a commercial spaceport at the center's northern end if environmental studies and other support fall into place, Cabana told an audience of several hundred at the National Space Club Florida Committee's monthly luncheon meeting. "If it works out that that's the right thing to do, we'll make sure that the land is available for them to do that," he said.

 

SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

The next phase of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (SpaceX) experimental Grasshopper program, a key part of the Hawthorne, Calif., rocket maker's attempt to build a reusable space booster, will be based at New Mexico's Spaceport America under the terms of a three-year lease the spaceport announced May 7. From Spaceport America, which is about 50 kilometers southeast of Truth or Consequences, N.M., and about 60 kilometers west of the restricted air space over the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, Grasshopper could fly much higher than the 760-meter ceiling the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed for launches from SpaceX's rocket test site in McGregor, Texas.

 

First quilter in space: NASA astronaut plans to turn orbital rags to stitches

 

James & Alcestis Oberg - NBCNews.com

 

When astronaut Karen Nyberg is launched to the International Space Station, she'll bring something entirely new to the space frontier: the art of quilting. "I enjoy sewing and quilting," she explained during a televised interview from Moscow. "I am bringing some fabric with me, and thread. I'm hoping to create something. I don't know what yet it will be — that's part of creativity. It comes with the feeling of the day. So I have the supplies at my hands to create, if I get the opportunity and the creative notion to do so."

 

Starman falls to Earth after five-month space odyssey

 

Dmitry Solovyov & Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

The Canadian astronaut who became a music sensation when his zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" went viral on the web returned to Earth along with two crewmates on Tuesday after a five-month stint on the International Space Station. Chris Hadfield landed safely in central Kazakhstan with his American and Russian colleagues. Their Soyuz space capsule descended under an orange parachute and raised clouds of dust as it ignited an engine to cushion its landing about 150 km (90 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan.

 

Canada Celebrates Star Astronaut Chris Hadfield's Return to Earth

 

Elizabeth Howell - Space.com

 

"It's a boy!" exclaimed astronaut David Saint-Jacques as he watched on TV while his colleague, Chris Hadfield, slowly emerged from a Soyuz spacecraft late Monday. The astronaut's quip drew laughter from 250 tweetup attendees in an auditorium at the Canadian Space Agency's headquarters near Montreal, Quebec. Another 50 people overflowed into the nearby cafeteria. Saint-Jacques, who is waiting for his first spaceflight assignment, provided color commentary on Hadfield's landing for tweetup attendees along with two-time flyer Robert Thirsk. In between organized activities, a band of CSA employees played live music in the corner.

 

Space Is Now a Reality TV Show

Chris Hadfield's return from the International Space Station marks a new era for the final frontier

 

Megan Garber - The Atlantic

 

"Why are people so fascinated with @Cmdr_Hadfield?" the tweeter asked. "Can someone enlighten me?" The answers were swift and sharp and unsurprising. "Dude, he's a frigging astronaut!" one replied. "Um, he's an astronaut?" another offered. "What else do you need?" Someone else explained things with a little more detail: "He's inspiring a generation of kids (my kids!) to grow up to be scientists & astronauts and not the Kardashians." Chris Hadfield -- nom de tweet: @cmdr_hadfield -- has been doing more than inspiring people, though. He has also been entertaining them. And delighting them.

 

40 Years Later, Skylab Space Station Inspires Possible Successor

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

Four decades after the United States' first space station roared into orbit, a second version of the groundbreaking craft may be on the horizon. NASA launched the Skylab space station 40 years ago Tuesday (May 14), turning the modified third stage of a Saturn V moon rocket into Amerca's first off-Earth astronaut abode. Now, a team of researchers inspired by this recycling ethos has proposed transforming part of another rocket into "Skylab II," which could become the nation's first-ever manned outpost in deep space. "This one is a big look backwards — 40 years, in fact," said Brand Griffin, an engineer with Gray Research, Inc., who works with the Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

 

America's first space station Skylab turns 40

 

Chenda Ngak - CBS News

 

Before the International Space Station and viral videos from space, there was Skylab -- America's first space station. Skylab launched into space by the unmanned Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973 from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The space station went unmanned for over a week until Commander Charles C. Conrad Jr., Paul J. Weitz and Joseph Kerwin arrived on May 25, 1973.

 

Skylab: Why don't we live in space yet?

 

Chris Bell - BBC News

 

The first US space station, Skylab, was launched forty years ago with a simple but far-reaching brief: expand man's knowledge of the Sun and prove that humans can live and work in space for extended periods. Three separate crews successfully achieved that, so why aren't more of us living in space yet? On May 14th 1973 NASA launched the Skylab space station into orbit. After a decade defined by lunar exploration and the Apollo programme, space travel was moving into a new age, one of space stations.

 

Public invited to see Amazon CEO's moon engines in Kansas

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

The massive moon rocket engines that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos salvaged from the ocean floor are now undergoing conversation in Kansas and the public is invited to come see. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center will open its new SpaceWorks Observation Gallery on Friday, May 24, where visitors can get a clear view of the conservators as they preserve the parts for two mammoth Apollo Saturn V F-1 rocket engines that powered Americans to the moon. Some of the recovered engine artifacts at the Hutchinson museum weigh as much as 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), while others are as small as a dime. "These artifacts give us a magnificent window into history" Kansas Cosmosphere president Jim Remar said.

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COMPLETE STORIES

 

Dream Chaser leaves Louisville for critical tests in California

 

John Aguilar - Boulder Daily Camera

 

The Dream Chaser has left the building.

 

After years of assembling and refining its next-generation spacecraft at its Louisville headquarters, Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems wrapped its winged baby up last weekend and sent it to California on a flatbed trailer for its first flight test.

 

The Dream Chaser is expected to arrive Wednesday at Edwards Air Force Base, where it will start a critical series of tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. Testing will start with a run-through of the performance of the spacecraft's nose strut, brakes and tires on the tarmac, followed by a helicopter-anchored captive carry flight -- akin to the one the company carried out at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield last year.

 

Then the Dream Chaser is on its own.

 

"We'll take it back up and release it, and it will autonomously fly, doing something we call an approach and landing test," said Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada's Space Systems. "This is actually a fully completed vehicle that will be flying on its own."

 

The Dream Chaser, which is expected to remain at Dryden through the end of the year before being trucked back to Louisville, should undertake its first approach and landing test in late summer.

 

Competitive landscape

 

While the version of the Dream Chaser headed to California will stick to sub-orbital test flights, Sierra Nevada has already begun to develop the next iteration of the spacecraft with help from partner and industry veteran Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. Sirangelo said the first unmanned orbital flights of the Dream Chaser are about three years away, with astronauts added to the equation in 2017.

 

The seven-person Dream Chaser will launch on an Atlas V rocket, made by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance.

 

But where that puts the vehicle in terms of NASA's goal of resurrecting a program that can ferry American astronauts to and from space is still a bit of a guessing game. The space agency retired the space shuttle program in 2011 after 30 years and is helping fund several private companies -- including Sierra Nevada, Boeing and SpaceX -- in development of a commercial crew program.

 

California-based SpaceX has had the most tangible success so far, with three unmanned missions of its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station and back.

 

"SpaceX is way ahead of anyone else, both in terms of being able to actually do it soonest, and on price," Rand Simberg, a space analyst and adjunct scholar at the Washington, D.C.-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, said Tuesday. "Boeing and SNC are going to use an Atlas V, which is a very expensive launcher."

 

Simberg said it wouldn't take much for SpaceX to go from strictly cargo deliveries to transport of astronauts back and forth to the space station. He also said Boeing might be in a position to do a test flight of its CST-100 capsule within the next 18 months or so.

 

Alan Stern, a scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, said there is no doubt that SpaceX has a "leg up" on its competition at this point, but he said there's a reason NASA has maintained faith in Sierra Nevada, awarding it just over $212 million last summer in a billion dollar-plus round of funding.

 

"The Dream Chaser has many capabilities that capsules don't have," he said. "I believe that's why NASA has kept the company in the mix."

 

First and foremost, it would be the only spacecraft in the commercial space industry capable of landing on a runway upon its return to Earth. That, Stern said, gives NASA more flexibility in the timing of bringing the spacecraft back over a capsule.

 

As such, the next few months in California will be critical for Sierra Nevada as it runs its approach and landing tests.

 

"Make no mistake -- this is a very critical series of tests," Stern said. "But once they complete them, it will be a huge feather in their cap."

 

Dryden used for shuttle program

 

There is also a sentimental connection for the Dream Chaser at the Dryden Flight Research Center, where in 1977 the space shuttle program's test vehicle Enterprise went through its own approach and landing tests.

 

Looking very much like a miniature version of the space shuttle, the Dream Chaser started out years ago as a NASA project -- the HL-20. It has been in Sierra Nevada's hands since 2004.

 

"In our view, we're carrying on a pretty proud tradition," Sirangelo said.

 

And Sierra Nevada has a number of former NASA employees and astronauts on staff. Just last month, it named two-time shuttle astronaut Lee Archambault as chief systems engineer and test pilot.

 

And Jim Voss, who went on five shuttle missions, is Sierra Nevada Space Systems' vice president of space exploration systems.

 

Aerojet Delivers Final Pod Assembly for Orion Flight

 

Space News

 

Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet on May 8 said that the final Crew Module Reaction Control System (CM RCS) pod assembly for the Orion Multi-Purpose Vehicle's Exploration Flight Test-1 has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

 

The pods will provide the primary and redundant control for critical maneuvers during Orion's high-speed atmospheric re-entry in the capsule's planned 2014 test flight. The two CM RCS pod assemblies delivered to date join six others already at Kennedy, Aerojet said in a press release.

 

Beginning in June, the pods will undergo proof pressure and leak testing, valve leak testing and rocket engine functional testing prior to integration with Orion.

 

The pod assemblies comprise multiple Aerojet MR-104G monopropellant engines capable of producing 160 pounds of thrust. Final fabrication and assembly of the CM RCS pods was performed at Aerojet's Redmond, Wash., facility. Aerojet performed the CM RCS work under contract with Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver.

 

Cabana: NASA may free up land for commercial spaceport

Shiloh area eyed as commercial site

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana on Tuesday argued forcefully that the center is changing to attract commercial operations, possibly including the development of a state-run launch complex on NASA property that SpaceX is eyeing.

 

NASA will not prevent Space Florida from establishing a commercial spaceport at the center's northern end if environmental studies and other support fall into place, Cabana told an audience of several hundred at the National Space Club Florida Committee's monthly luncheon meeting.

 

"If it works out that that's the right thing to do, we'll make sure that the land is available for them to do that," he said.

 

Asked if NASA was an advocate for the proposed Shiloh launch complex, Cabana said it was a state initiative.

 

"Space Florida feels that they need that site for a launch pad," he said. "And if they can prove that that's what is required and it's supported, I support it."

 

Meanwhile, NASA is also trying to interest companies in its two pads at Launch Complex 39, one of which is mothballed and the other being readied for NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket.

 

"The goal here is to bring commercial companies to the Cape in the best way possible," Cabana said. "And I will do whatever is required to get those companies utilizing assets, what we have here, to make commercial operations a reality at the Cape."

 

Cabana recently agreed to let Space Florida and the Federal Aviation Administration proceed with an environmental impact statement for the Shiloh site, which proposes to use roughly 150 acres inside the northern border KSC shares with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The study is expected to take more than a year. It comes as the FAA nears completion of a study of a Texas site that SpaceX is exploring as a base for launches of commercial missions, in addition to its existing pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for government launches.

 

Space Florida CEO Frank DiBello said the new study would help determine whether Shiloh is in fact a viable launch site.

 

NASA has not agreed to give up title to the land, as the state initially requested, but Cabana said other use agreements may be possible. More broadly in a presentation titled "Pushing the Boundaries," Cabana on Tuesday described a positive future for Kennedy under President Obama's proposed 2014 budget, which would steer more than $2 billion to the center through various programs.

 

Kennedy is modifying former shuttle facilities to support the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, which hope to launch a crew to an asteroid in 2021.

 

The center continues to support processing of International Space Station cargo, launches of science satellites and development of commercial systems that could fly astronauts from the Cape by 2017. He said NASA needs to respond more quickly and become more cost-effective to satisfy commercial operators, but took umbrage at media reports he said have suggested KSC is not friendly to commercial space.

 

The center's progress will become more evident soon as NASA signs agreements transitioning more facilities to new users, he said, the same way a former shuttle hangar is being repurposed for assembly of a commercial crew spacecraft.

 

But asked what the center's greatest weakness was as it works to become a multi-user spaceport, he said it was a willingness to change. "I mean, we're still talking about Apollo, you know?" he said. "It's been 40 years. Give me a break. It's the future. Let's move on. Folks got to accept change, alright?"

 

The crowd applauded.

 

"We have tremendous history, and we can't lose that," Cabana continued.

 

SpaceX Leases Pad in New Mexico for Next Grasshopper Tests

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

The next phase of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (SpaceX) experimental Grasshopper program, a key part of the Hawthorne, Calif., rocket maker's attempt to build a reusable space booster, will be based at New Mexico's Spaceport America under the terms of a three-year lease the spaceport announced May 7.

 

From Spaceport America, which is about 50 kilometers southeast of Truth or Consequences, N.M., and about 60 kilometers west of the restricted air space over the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, Grasshopper could fly much higher than the 760-meter ceiling the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) imposed for launches from SpaceX's rocket test site in McGregor, Texas.

 

"Spaceport America offers us the physical and regulatory landscape needed to complete the next phase of Grasshopper testing," Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, said in the Spaceport's May 7 press release about the lease.

 

Essentially, that means SpaceX "can fly [Grasshopper] at higher altitudes and along different trajectories" than those allowed at McGregor, SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra said May 9.

 

Spaceport America, under a commercial spaceport license the FAA issued in 2008, is permitted to host suborbital launches that fly nearly 15 times higher than Grasshopper can fly from SpaceX's McGregor test site.

 

"We're good for about 350,000 feet," or roughly 100 kilometers, Christine Anderson, executive director of Spaceport of America, said in a phone interview May 8. That altitude is the internationally recognized boundary of space.

 

Under the terms of the three-year deal, which was signed in late April, SpaceX will pay Spaceport America $6,600 a month to lease a launchpad and a small mission control facility, Ra said. Anderson said SpaceX also will pay a $25,000 fee for every Grasshopper flight from the commercial spaceport.

 

Ra said SpaceX's lease will not be active until the company moves in at Spaceport America, and that the company will need a new experimental permit from the FAA to fly out of New Mexico. Anderson, citing conversations with the company, said Grasshopper activities would start sometime between October and February.

 

The launch pad Grasshopper will use at Spaceport America is still being built. Construction on the 30-meter-by-30-meter pad began in April and is slated to wrap up around July, Anderson said. The new pad, like Spaceport America's existing vertical launch pads, will be located about 7 kilometers southwest of the spaceport's main campus.

 

Spaceport America is best known as the home port of its anchor tenant, suborbital space tourism line Virgin Galactic. Virgin signed a 20-year, $50 million lease at Spaceport America in 2008 and made its first payment on that lease back in February, Anderson said. Virgin Galactic, jointly owned by founder Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi's sovereign investment fund, Aabar Investments, flew the first powered test flight of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane April 29 and is expected to begin commercial operations sometime in 2014.

 

Besides SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, UP Aerospace, Highlands Ranch, Colo., and Armadillo Aerospace, Heath, Texas, also launch suborbital rockets at Spaceport America.

 

Meanwhile, despite the new deal with Spaceport America, Grasshopper testing will continue at SpaceX's McGregor test site, Ra said May 9. SpaceX's permit for Grasshopper launches from that facility, where the company also tests rocket engines for its Falcon family of rockets, allows for an unlimited number of launches through Oct. 16.

 

Powered by a single SpaceX Merlin 1-D kerosene-fueled engine, Grasshopper is a test bed for technologies needed to develop a recoverable, reusable version of the first stage of SpaceX's expendable Falcon 9 rocket — the vehicle SpaceX is depending on, along with its Dragon space capsule, to fly 12 cargo delivery missions to the international space station under a $1.6 billion contract it got from NASA in 2008. SpaceX has flown two of the 12 delivery missions so far, the latest in March. Both missions met their main objectives despite the loss of one of Falcon 9's nine engines on the first flight, and a Dragon malfunction on the second flight that temporarily knocked out the spacecraft's maneuvering thrusters.

 

SpaceX has also booked a substantial backlog of commercial geostationary communications satellite launches aboard Falcon 9, the first of which will be satellite fleet operator SES of Luxembourg's SES-8 spacecraft. That launch, SpaceX's first to geostationary transfer orbit, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in July.

 

First quilter in space: NASA astronaut plans to turn orbital rags to stitches

 

James & Alcestis Oberg - NBCNews.com

 

When astronaut Karen Nyberg is launched to the International Space Station, she'll bring something entirely new to the space frontier: the art of quilting.

 

"I enjoy sewing and quilting," she explained during a televised interview from Moscow. "I am bringing some fabric with me, and thread. I'm hoping to create something. I don't know what yet it will be — that's part of creativity. It comes with the feeling of the day. So I have the supplies at my hands to create, if I get the opportunity and the creative notion to do so."

 

When she's launched into space on May 28, she'll be taking four "fat quarters" with her (pieces of fabric that are 18 by 22 inches), along with some needles and thread. But up-cargo limitations and safety issues mean she can't take a sewing machine, an iron, paints, a rotary cutter or other common tools of quilters.

 

Stitching in zero-G

 

To do quilting in zero gravity, she'll have to brace herself somewhere so she and her fabrics don't float around, find some good light, and keep her thread and thread clippings under strict control so they don't float into someone's face and eyes.

 

Precision stitching will surely be a challenge for her too, since she, the fabric, and the thread will want to float free, not sit steady and still. As she explained in a recent tweet, "It will be great experiment controlling everything!"

 

Though she's limited in the material and equipment she can bring into space, Nyberg can use fabric or patches from the discarded astronaut clothing already on board the space station — some of it quite colorful. As a rule, the space station crew members wear a flight suit for a week and then discard it. There are no laundry facilities aboard the space station, so the uniforms are generally added to the trash heap that builds up inside a Russian Progress resupply ship after it is emptied. Eventually, the Progress is jettisoned, and everything in it burns up in Earth's atmosphere.

 

The issue of obtaining sewing scraps from a readily available "rag bag" in orbit first came up in a face-to-face interview in Houston last month. She broke into a broad, excited smile: "Discarded clothing — fantastic idea!"

 

And although paints and dyes are forbidden on the space station, Nyberg pointed out that there are condiments aboard that can take their place, which might be used as decoration — ketchup, mustard and chili sauce can make for some interesting painting materials.

 

Down to Earth

 

The first quilt in space would be an exciting, unique and valuable item. Bringing a quilt back to Earth might be a problem, since Nyberg has a limited space allotment in the Soyuz capsule she'll be traveling in next November. But she hopes to bring at least some of her handiwork back with her.

 

Fortunately, there may be additional opportunities to bring her space handiwork down to Earth. Unmanned SpaceX Dragon cargo capsules are carrying supplies up to the space station, with the next flight scheduled in November. The Dragon has a large volume for returning cargo to Earth, and NASA and SpaceX should be able to find room for a quilt or two.

 

If Nyberg has access to a cosmic rag bag of discarded uniforms from many countries — the United States, Russia, Canada, Italy, Japan and others — think of what her fellow quilters back on Earth could do with such star-struck materials.  NASA could decide to recycle space-flown uniforms back to Earth someday, and distribute them to quilters as part of a citizen outreach project.

 

The International Space Station itself is already a patchwork quilt of hardware: equipment, life support systems and structural elements that have been fabricated in various nations and pieced together over more than a decade. As with quilting, the station's life support systems emphasize recycling and re-use.

 

Nyberg has not mentioned any designs for her quilts. She said that she's "counting on creativity when I get there."  She has a sketch pad, a pencil and a pencil sharpener to draw out the ideas that come to her. Whether it follows a traditional design, or a new look dictated by cosmic imagination, whether it's simple or fancy, the first quilt in space will undoubtedly become one of those precious images we'll have sewn into our culture.

 

Starman falls to Earth after five-month space odyssey

 

Dmitry Solovyov & Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

The Canadian astronaut who became a music sensation when his zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" went viral on the web returned to Earth along with two crewmates on Tuesday after a five-month stint on the International Space Station.

 

Chris Hadfield landed safely in central Kazakhstan with his American and Russian colleagues. Their Soyuz space capsule descended under an orange parachute and raised clouds of dust as it ignited an engine to cushion its landing about 150 km (90 miles) southeast of the town of Zhezkazgan.

 

The astronauts were presented with Russian nesting dolls with their images painted on and wore traditional Kazakh embroidered robes and hats over their blue flight suits when they posed for cameras before returning to Russia's cosmonaut training center outside Moscow for medical tests.

 

"It's part of humanity to be in space," Hadfield said in Russian. "What we were feeling, what we were doing there, the music we played, this is a big part of our lives." He called his time in orbit an "amazing experience".

 

Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko had left the $100-billion orbital outpost about 3-1/2 hours earlier as it sailed 255 miles over eastern Mongolia.

 

Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the space station, made more history on Monday when he released the first music video shot in space - his poignant "cyberspace" rendition of Space Oddity, which was first released in 1969 just before the Apollo 11 moon landing.

 

The video, with its familiar refrain "Ground Control to Major Tom" had almost seven million hits on YouTube on Tuesday.

 

"I'm very happy that ... seven million are interested. It is very interesting and historic to be in space," Hadfield said.

 

Spacewalk

 

The space mission included an impromptu spacewalk on Saturday to fix an ammonia coolant leak that had cropped up two days earlier. Without the repair, NASA likely would have had to cut back the station's science experiments to save power. The cooling system dissipates heat from electronics on the station's solar-powered wing panels.

 

During the 5-1/2-hour walk, Marshburn and Chris Cassidy, who remains aboard the station, replaced a suspect ammonia coolant pump, apparently resolving the leak. Engineers will monitor the system for several weeks to make sure there are no problems.

 

The mission of Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko, who blasted off 146 days ago, was the 35th expedition aboard the station, a permanently staffed laboratory where crew carry out experiments in fields including biology, physics and astronomy.

 

Their replacements are due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 28. Until then, a skeleton crew led by Pavel Vinogradov and including NASA astronaut Cassidy and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will keep the station operating.

 

The crew's return to Earth was on the 40th anniversary of the launch of the first U.S. space station, Skylab. Three crews lived and worked on the relatively short-lived Skylab between May 1973 and February 1974.

 

The project helped NASA prepare for research aboard the space shuttles and the International Space Station, which was constructed in orbit beginning in 1998.

 

The outpost, scheduled to remain in orbit until at least 2020, has been permanently staffed since 2000.

 

Canada Celebrates Star Astronaut Chris Hadfield's Return to Earth

 

Elizabeth Howell - Space.com

 

"It's a boy!" exclaimed astronaut David Saint-Jacques as he watched on TV while his colleague, Chris Hadfield, slowly emerged from a Soyuz spacecraft late Monday.

 

The astronaut's quip drew laughter from 250 tweetup attendees in an auditorium at the Canadian Space Agency's headquarters near Montreal, Quebec. Another 50 people overflowed into the nearby cafeteria.

 

Saint-Jacques, who is waiting for his first spaceflight assignment, provided color commentary on Hadfield's landing for tweetup attendees along with two-time flyer Robert Thirsk. In between organized activities, a band of CSA employees played live music in the corner.

 

While the party took place several thousand miles away from the safe landing of Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and cosmonaut Roman Romanenko on the steppes of Kazakhstan, the CSA served as command central for Canada's celebrations.

 

Chris Hadfield launched toward the International Space Station on Dec. 19 with about 20,000 Twitter followers to his name and returned Monday night with roughly 45 times that number — 880,000-plus people.

 

That celebrity status, Saint-Jacques told SPACE.com, reflected not only Hadfield's hard work but also the efforts of the agency's media relations team and thousands of others on the ground.

 

Hadfield's history-making time in orbit also doubtless played a part. He led the orbiting lab's Expedition 35, becoming the first Canadian ever to command a space station mission.

 

'He made space understandable'

 

Hadfield's skyrocketing fame made the Canadian the visible top of a support team helping him get the message out about space through tweets, videos and a variety of events.

 

Many of Hadfield's viral videos — cutting his nails, for example, and making a pita sandwich — were prewritten scripts created through the CSA's publicity machine. Tweets and other social media updates went out with the assistance of Hadfield's son, Evan.

 

Additionally, there were organized live eventssuch as concerts and science activities that involved entities such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (the national broadcaster in Canada) and Let's Talk Science, a charitable organization aiming to interest children in technical fields.

 

That's not to say Hadfield didn't work hard himself, of course. His humility and sense of humor — he made Starfleet jokeswhen talking to "Star Trek" actor William Shatner, for example — brought the message of space to thousands.

 

"He made space understandable. That might be where he is most successful," Saint-Jacques said.

 

Renewed focus on rehabilitation and family

 

Within NASA, outreach is regarded more as a bonus than a requirement on space station missions, Saint-Jacques added. The agency is more focused on ensuring the health of the crew, maintaining the station and also measuring the science performed during each expedition.

 

On those criteria, though, Hadfield's command of Expedition 35 also drew positive headlines. On Saturday, the crew completed a tricky emergency spacewalk to fix an ammonia leak, after NASA created a plan for the work in record time.

 

Additionally, Hadfield's crew did an unprecedented amount of science on their increment as a percentage of work on the station. While Saint-Jacques did not have the exact number available, he estimated it was about 20 percent.

 

"The station takes a lot of maintenance," Saint-Jacques said.

 

Hadfield was slated to arrive at NASA's Johnson Space Center on Tuesday (May 14) and spend the night in crew quarters before going to his family home in Houston.

 

The energetic 53-year-old will have to take things a step slower during his first days back, added Thirsk, a Canadian who spent five months in space in 2009 aboard Expedition 20/21.

 

"When he comes back home, he will change from a space creature to an Earth creature," Thirsk said, explaining that there will be physical rehabilitation and the need for Hadfield to bring himself back into his family affairs after several months away.

 

Thirsk compared an astronaut's return to his or her family to a group of people paddling a canoe. "At some point, you leave the canoe and you take different responsibilities," he said of astronauts, adding that the challenge is figuring out how to pick up the paddle again when you return.

 

Space Is Now a Reality TV Show

Chris Hadfield's return from the International Space Station marks a new era for the final frontier

 

Megan Garber - The Atlantic

 

"Why are people so fascinated with @Cmdr_Hadfield?" the tweeter asked. "Can someone enlighten me?"

 

The answers were swift and sharp and unsurprising. "Dude, he's a frigging astronaut!" one replied. "Um, he's an astronaut?" another offered. "What else do you need?" Someone else explained things with a little more detail: "He's inspiring a generation of kids (my kids!) to grow up to be scientists & astronauts and not the Kardashians."

 

Chris Hadfield -- nom de tweet: @cmdr_hadfield -- has been doing more than inspiring people, though. He has also been entertaining them. And delighting them. He has chatted with Captain Kirk. He has covered Bowie. He has written his own music, and performed it. He has publicly celebrated Valentine's Day, and Easter, and St. Patrick's Day, and April Fool's. He has done a mind-boggling number of live chats and Q&As and video explainers. He has led Canada in a national sing-along. And all of these things have shared a remarkable predicate: They have been done, you know, from space. Hadfield has kept a running dialogue with Earth, documenting not just the numinous -- those amazing views! -- but also the mundane: the food. The fun. The exercise. The sleep. The tears. The bathroom situation.

 

Over the course of 144 days spent on the International Space Station (encompassing 2,336 orbits of the Earth and covering nearly 62 million miles), Hadfield didn't merely do his day job -- conducting more than 130 scientific experiments testing the effects of microgravity on masses of various types. He also helped to change our concept of what it means to be an astronaut in the first place. Hadfield is a space explorer in the Gagarin/Glenn/Armstrong model, but he is something else, too: just a guy. A guy who happens to be in space. Hadfield, availing himself of new technologies that are just beginning to be widely adopted, made space travel seem accessible. He made it seem normal (or, in astronaut-speak, "nominal"). He took it out of the realm of the awe-inspiring and placed it squarely in the realm of the awesome.

 

The Right Stuff (for Right Now)

 

Hadfield wasn't strictly the first to do any of that, of course. He comes from a long line of astro-tweeters, starting with Mike Massimino more than four years ago:

 

From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!

 

Nor was Hadfield the first to bond with his fellow humans by taking gorgeous photos from space: "The Blue Marble," snapped in 1972 by Apollo 17 astronauts, remains the most iconic image of Earth as seen from beyond its confines. And Don Pettit, a veteran of Expeditions 30 and 31, is still the most prodigious ISS photographer to date, to the extent that he is single-handedly responsible for almost half of all the images taken from the Station. Hadfield also wasn't the first to take advantage of advances in video to show the Earth-bound what it's like to live outside the planet's boundaries: Pettit was a notable YouTuber, and Suni Williams ended her tenure as Commander of Expedition 33 by offering earthlings a fairly epic video tour of the Station. Their work in that regard is simply a tech-afforded continuation of the work done by John Glenn and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin: Astronauts have long served not just as explorers and scientists, but also as ambassadors. As, essentially, PR people for NASA and for space travel itself. That's a big part of the gig.

 

What Hadfield used to his advantage, though, was the copious combination of social media tools that are just now coming into their prime, tools that transform documentation into conversation: Hadfield had Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook and Reddit, not to mention a public excited, especially after the successful landing the Curiosity rover last year, about space again. Not to mention a 20-person social media team eager to remind the world about Canada's role in the space program. Not to mention a doppelgänger son, Evan, who handled Hadfield's accounts when he couldn't. Not to mention a good deal of luck. (William Shatner's casual tweet to Hadfield back in January won him a flood of followers, Quartz notes, after which his popularity "became self-sustaining.")

 

Hadfield also had ... Chris Hadfield. He was the right guy at the right time -- and in, wow, the right place: He's a natural performer who seemed truly excited to share his sublime stage with the rest of us. But his performances were intimate rather than epic: He subtly rejected the aura of distant heroism we normally associate with space flyers. Instead, he was nerdy. He was excited. He was delightfully, winkily mustachioed. He was your dad, or your uncle, or your mentor, the kind of guy who probably gets a little choked up when he makes toasts at weddings. Which is to say: He is quirky and real, and he made a point of putting those facts to use. He took all the corporate logic of social media -- the ethos of the "personal brand," the edict of "conversation rather than presentation" -- and applied it, seamlessly, to his life in space.

 

Hadfield may have garnered more than 20 million views on YouTube and nearly a million followers on Twitter; but you had the sense, always, that his feeds, full of pictures and poetry and stuff about Canada, was essentially the diary he would have kept even if nobody else could have seen it.

 

So Hadfield was an astronaut who was also, just a little bit, an astro-not: "The right stuff," in his case, was not only bravery and smarts and swagger. It was also earnestness. And glee. And a childlike delight in the overarching fact of the past 144 days of Hadfield's life: that dude, he's a frigging astronaut.

 

When Space Becomes Reality TV

 

For much of the 20th century, pop culture has been obsessed with space. But the obsession was generally marked by ironic distance, and often simply by distance itself: "The Jetsons" was, Matt Novak notes, "the distillation of every Space Age promise Americans could muster." 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Star Wars movies and the various "Star Trek" series -- and even more recent entries like Armageddon and Independence Day -- were all, in their way, epics. They dealt with tender hopes and soaring dreams.

 

Recent history has seen a shift in that, though -- a shift helped along by social media tools that have a way of tangling the epic with the banal. Now, space is coming back to Earth, embracing the "pop" as much as the "culture." Bobak Ferdowsi, the flight director for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, became an overnight meme -- based not on his astrophysical process, but on his gravity-defying hairdo. A replica of the Curiosity rover marched in this year's presidential inauguration parade. A character on "The Big Bang Theory" became an astronaut on the ISS. Buzz Aldrin competed on "Dancing With the Stars."

 

And then there's Hadfield, a man whose meme stretched out over time. Hadfield's efforts -- aided, of course, by NASA's, and by the Canadian Space Agency's -- gave a new dimension to the popularity of space. They framed life outside of the planet as simply a premise for a new strain of reality TV -- one in which, you know, six strangers were picked to live in low-Earth orbit and have their lives taped. Instead of space as The Final Frontier, instead of space as the embodiment of humanity's past and its future -- instead of space as magic and mystery and fear and opportunity, wrapped into one distant, shining abyss -- space is quickly becoming, in the popular conception, simply a cool place to hang out. "Space tourism" is an exponentially common term. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are rumored to be among the celebrities who have bought tickets for Virgin Galactic's upcoming sojourn to space. Projects like Mars One, which is recruiting civilians to populate a colony on the Red Planet, is promising dreams of space travel even to those who don't boast traditional iterations of "the right stuff" -- dreams that will be funded, in part, by the reality TV-style broadcasting of the astronauts' selection and training process.

 

Helping all this along has been Chris Hadfield. Hadfield, more than any other astronaut who has lived on the ISS since its construction, has turned space travel into a serial TV show, featuring gorgeous sets and ongoing character development and unexpected plot twists. NASA makes a point of livestreaming (and then rebroadcasting) many of the events that take place on the ISS through NASA TV. And Hadfield and his team have been there to do the rest, producing the videos and Tumblr posts and tweets and AMAs that have fleshed out, quite literally, the experience of space travel. They have turned life in space into a kind of epic sitcom: distant from its viewers, yet recognizable to them, too. It's microgravity-based media that makes the familiar seem foreign, and vice versa.

 

And that's a good thing. NASA is publicly funded. It relies on public interest not just in the tangential way that some other government agencies do, but in the direct and existential way that politicians do. NASA, effectively if not literally, needs your vote. So the agency has a vested interest in keeping the public happy and convinced that it's doing good work with taxpayer money. One way to do that is to develop the same skill set politicians have to keep us, their constituents, happy: Entertain us, constantly. Make us laugh. Distract us. Delight us.

 

And why go on Leno when you can simply show the world what happens to a wet washcloth in microgravity?

 

"Communications tools don't get socially interesting," Clay Shirky has argued, "until they get technologically boring." The same may be said of space. As a destination --- as a place, as a dream -- space may be, ever so slightly, losing its former mantle of foreignness, its old patina of awe. The final frontier may now be experiencing the fate that befalls any frontier: It ceases to be a frontier. Its settlers come to think of it, more and more, as an extension of what they know ... until it becomes, simply, all that they know. Until it becomes the most basic thing in the world: home.

 

Space is becoming ordinary. And that means it's about to get really interesting.

 

40 Years Later, Skylab Space Station Inspires Possible Successor

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

Four decades after the United States' first space station roared into orbit, a second version of the groundbreaking craft may be on the horizon.

 

NASA launched the Skylab space station 40 years ago Tuesday (May 14), turning the modified third stage of a Saturn V moon rocket into Amerca's first off-Earth astronaut abode. Now, a team of researchers inspired by this recycling ethos has proposed transforming part of another rocket into "Skylab II," which could become the nation's first-ever manned outpost in deep space.

 

"This one is a big look backwards — 40 years, in fact," said Brand Griffin, an engineer with Gray Research, Inc., who works with the Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

 

From Saturn V to the SLS

 

The original Skylab supported three manned missions in 1973 and 1974, during which three-astronaut crews lived aboard the station for 28, 59 and 84 days, respectively. The 85-ton station continued orbiting Earth until 1979, when it re-entered the planet's atmosphere and famously rained debris down on a stretch of Western Australia.

 

Nobody was hurt, but the Australian town of Esperance charged NASA $400 for littering. The fine went unpaid until 2009, when California radio DJ Scott Barley took care of it after collecting donations from his listeners.

 

Like the first Skylab, the proposed Skylab II would be built from a piece of a giant NASA rocket — in this case, the Space Launch System (SLS), which the agency is developing to blast astronauts toward asteroids, Mars and other destinations in deep space.

 

Skylab II would make use of the SLS' upper-stage hydrogen propellant tank, which Griffin said would provide an internal volume of 17,481 cubic feet (495 cubic m) — roughly equivalent to a two-story house, and significantly more than the original Skylab's 12,713 cubic feet (360 cubic m).

 

Skylab II could accommodate a crew of four comfortably, and it could carry enough food and gear to last for several years at a time without the need of a resupply mission, Griffin said.

 

While outfitting the propellant tank as a space station would require some tinkering, its bones are solid and flight-ready, he added.

 

"It's designed to take all of the launch loads, so no rework needs to be done structurally for this to be able to fly," Griffin said in March during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations working group.

 

The first deep-space station?

 

Griffin and other Skylab II proponents envision placing Skylab II at the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, a gravitationally stable location beyond the moon's far side.

 

A manned outpost at EM-L2 would give humanity its first toehold in deep space and build momentum for manned pushes even farther out into the solar system, advocates say.

 

Such a project may seem optimistic in today's tough fiscal environment, when NASA and other government agencies are seeing their budgets squeezed. But Skylab II would be a cost-effective way to make it happen, Griffin said, by taking advantage of existing infrastructure — just like its namesake did four decades ago.

 

Skylab "was a project embedded under the Apollo program," Griffin said. "In many ways, this could follow that same pattern. It could be a project embedded under SLS and be able to, ideally, not incur some of the costs of program startup."

 

America's first space station Skylab turns 40

 

Chenda Ngak - CBS News

 

Before the International Space Station and viral videos from space, there was Skylab -- America's first space station.

 

Skylab launched into space by the unmanned Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973 from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

 

The space station went unmanned for over a week until Commander Charles C. Conrad Jr., Paul J. Weitz and Joseph Kerwin arrived on May 25, 1973.

 

In the 1977 book "Skylab, Our First Space Station," author Leland F. Belew describes the highlights of Skylab's mission.

 

According to Belew, the first crew made repairs to the ship that occurred during take-off and conducted solar astronomy and Earth resources experiments, as well as medical studies and five student experiments. Two more teams of astronauts made missions to Skylab in July and November of 1973.

 

Researchers on Skylab performed nearly 300 experiments including studies of the Earth's crust, oceans and surfaces, comets, meteors, planets and stars.

 

Astronauts were able to study the sun like never before because they could observe X-ray and ultraviolet emissions that could not be examined from Earth. And for the first time, remote parts of the Earth could be accurately measured.

 

Skylab researchers were able to study physiological and psychological effects from prolonged periods of zero-gravity. A total of 16 biomedical experiments were conducted.

 

"Skylab's success proved many things. Chief among these is man's capability not only to sustain long periods of weightlessness but to live and work effectively in the space environment," Belew wrote. "And the program provided a vast amount of scientific data which scientists will be analyzing for many years."

 

Skylab returned to Earth on July 7, 1979. Over 100 experiments by scientist from 28 nations conducted experiments on space station.

 

Skylab: Why don't we live in space yet?

 

Chris Bell - BBC News

 

The first US space station, Skylab, was launched forty years ago with a simple but far-reaching brief: expand man's knowledge of the Sun and prove that humans can live and work in space for extended periods. Three separate crews successfully achieved that, so why aren't more of us living in space yet?

 

On May 14th 1973 NASA launched the Skylab space station into orbit. After a decade defined by lunar exploration and the Apollo programme, space travel was moving into a new age, one of space stations.

 

"Skylab will represent a milestone of paramount importance in the American space programme," wrote Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, Associate Director of Science at the Marshall Space Flight Center, and Leland F. Belew, Manager of the Skylab programme, in 1973.

 

"It may turn out to be the beginning of Man's permanent foothold and settlement in space."

 

Ambitious project

 

Weighing 77.5 tonnes, Skylab was the largest craft yet to be launched into space. It needed to be, to house the well-equipped laboratories and living quarters for three astronauts, suitable for extended periods of time.

 

David S. Akens, a member of NASA's historical staff, stated at the time that "Skylab is the most ambitious project in space to date".

 

11 days later, the first crew left Earth, heading for Skylab. They were led by Commander Charles 'Pete' Conrad, a veteran of three previous space missions.

 

The crew immediately had difficulties to contend with. During the space station's lift-off, a crucial meteoroid shield had been ripped off, along with a solar panel. Temperatures inside the Skylab workshop, which was facing the Sun, had reached a sweltering 52°C.

 

The crew managed to deploy a parasol sunshade, which lowered temperatures to 24°C. By June 4th, 10 days after they had arrived, the workshop was fully operational.

 

Collectively, three separate Skylab crews spent 171 days in space - each new crew breaking the previous crew's spaceflight duration record.

 

It was a remarkable achievement. NASA had begun operations less than 15 years previously, and the first rudimentary designs of Skylab had been sketched out in 1966.

 

Integrated Space Plan

 

Optimism at NASA continued well into the 1980s, with the launch of the space shuttle. Designed to be reusable, the shuttle could transport crew to any orbiting space station and back again.

 

In 1989, a US aerospace company, Rockwell International, mapped out where all this would lead. The Rockwell Integrated Space Plan - an immensely detailed vision of humanity's future in space - began with the shuttle programme, and outlined the next 120 years of human space flight.

 

According to the Integrated Space Plan, an International Lunar Base would be established by 2009. By 2029, mankind was expected to have engineered an operational Mars base.

 

And around 2100, large-scale human expansion into the cosmos would begin.

 

Slow progress

 

In reality, the pace of progress has been somewhat slower.

 

In its 1960s heyday, NASA's budget was more than 4% of the total US federal budget. In 2013, this figure stands at less than 0.5%. The budget for Roskosmos, Russia's space agency, is much smaller still, much reduced from the sums spent at the height of the Cold War, in real terms.

 

Jon Agar is a Senior Lecturer in Science and Technology Studies at UCL and editor of the British Journal for the History of Science.

 

"The Cold War was a very important context for space exploration. When Sputnik was launched in 1957, it was seen as much as a dramatic display of Soviet military capabilities as achieving the first artificial satellite.

 

"Until very recently it has only been governments that have aimed and planned to go into space. The pace [of space exploration progress] decreased after the 1960s for two reasons. Partly the Cold War stagnated to some degree but more importantly the symbolic battle had been won with Apollo."

 

The end of the Cold War has been significant in the relative lack of progress in manned space flights, he suggests. Even by the 1970s, the Soviet Union was approaching economic stasis. The US had already beaten them to the moon. The race was over and the political will to fund the runners was waning.

 

"Large-scale, very expensive space activities such as human missions have been hard to justify," Agar explains, "and the payback from international collaborations, even the International Space Station, is not large enough to encourage progress."

 

However, NASA has not abandoned plans for human settlement in space.

 

In 2003, former NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin, told Congress that "the single overarching goal of human space flight is the human settlement of the solar system, and eventually beyond."

 

Seven years later, Barack Obama committed to an additional $6 billion in funding for NASA, with a clearly stated goal.

 

"By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it."

 

But the Skylab experience remains a pertinent example of the difficulties in achieving those goals. In 1979, just six years after launch, the space station was allowed to fall to Earth. Its orbit had decayed faster than anticipated, and the shuttle missions needed to nudge it into a higher orbit were delayed by engineering complexity and cost.

 

The space station broke up as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris across the Indian Ocean and Western Australia.

 

Whether modern governments will be able to overcome the challenges ahead, and have the willpower to stick to their ambitious plans, without the impetus of the Cold War, remains to be seen.

 

Public invited to see Amazon CEO's moon engines in Kansas

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

The massive moon rocket engines that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos salvaged from the ocean floor are now undergoing conversation in Kansas and the public is invited to come see.

 

The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center will open its new SpaceWorks Observation Gallery on Friday, May 24, where visitors can get a clear view of the conservators as they preserve the parts for two mammoth Apollo Saturn V F-1 rocket engines that powered Americans to the moon. Some of the recovered engine artifacts at the Hutchinson museum weigh as much as 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms), while others are as small as a dime.

 

"These artifacts give us a magnificent window into history" Kansas Cosmosphere president Jim Remar said. "The F-1 remains the most powerful American liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed. Studying these [salvaged] engines can provide us a tremendous amount of information about the design of future rockets and spacecraft."

 

Sixty-five F-1 engines were flown on 13 Saturn V rockets – five per launch – between 1967 and 1973. The engines lofted the first manned missions to circle and land on the moon, as well as put the United States' first space station, Skylab, in Earth orbit.

 

Long thought to be forever lost to the ocean floor where they were purposely allowed to sink, Bezos surprised the world by announcing in March 2012 that he had funded a private expedition to find what at the time he believed to be the engines that launched Apollo 11, the mission that saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon in July 1969.

 

A year later, Bezos revealed that his expedition had been successful in raising the parts for two F-1 engines, though what mission they flew on was less clear. Four days after coming on shore at Cape Canaveral, Florida, the engines' components were delivered to the Cosmosphere to begin their conservation.

 

In all, more than 25,000 pounds of rocket engine artifacts were retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean by Bezos' private expedition team. Since arriving at SpaceWorks on March 25, they have undergone an initial cleaning with thousands of gallons of fresh water and anti-corrosion agents in order to remove ocean debris and prevent further decay.

 

As the parts are stabilized, museum specialists are taking each of the engine pieces through a detailed conservation process, including a thorough cleaning, photography, 3-D scanning and CAD modeling in order to determine its pre-treatment condition.

 

The museum's conservation team, who include a maritime archeologist and aerospace engineers from Wichita State University's National Institute for Aviation Research, also are meticulously documenting each of the part's materials, manufacture and use.

 

"Conservation of the Apollo F-1 is very different from our past restoration projects," Remar stated. "With the Apollo F-1 conservation, our goal is to preserve the integrity and original materials of the artifacts and prevent any further damage from corrosion or age."

 

"We will clean, document and study with modern scanners and technology, but when the project is done, the engines will remain in their current state," Remar added. "They are a tribute to man's quest for space travel, and a reminder of the vast opportunities awaiting those who dare to dream and explore."

 

The Cosmosphere's Apollo F-1 Conservation Project tour, which begins May 24, will shuttle visitors from the space museum's Apollo Gallery to the SpaceWorks conservation facility. Tickets for the tour are $1 each for Cosmosphere members and $5 for non-members. Advance reservations are recommended.

 

The recovered F-1 engines remain federal property under the auspices of NASA. After the Kansas Cosmosphere's conversation effort is complete, the engines are expected to be moved to museums for public display. Bezos earlier expressed his desire to see one displayed at The Museum of Flight in Seattle, which is located near his offices for Amazon.com and Blue Origin, his commercial spaceflight company.

 

END