Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: May 8, 2013 6:02:25 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - May 8, 2013 and JSC Today

Most of JSC will be closed or placed in weekend mode to save energy this coming Friday. We have started a 9 day 80 hour schedule to allow the Center to be put in weekend mode every other Friday beginning with this coming Friday.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            JSC Today to Super-flex May 10 -- Submit Early for May 13
2.            Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting to Discuss AMS on May 17
3.            Save the Date: Buzz Aldrin Book Signing -- June 21
4.            Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - May
5.            Office of Education Fall 2013 Interns
6.            Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group Monthly Meeting
7.            'Introduction to Effective Parenting Skills'
8.            Human Systems Academy: Cardiovascular Course
9.            Environmental Brown Bag -- Building the Ideal Low-Energy Retirement Home
10.          Poker Walk Tomorrow
11.          Prediction Run Challenge for Health and Fitness Month -- Register Online
12.          Beginners Ballroom Dance -- May 2013 Discount
13.          Masquerade Jewelry Vendor Fair
14.          Space Center Houston's Exciting Summer Day Camps are Filling Up Fast
15.          New NASA@work Challenge -- As Good as Dollars: Incentives that Count
16.          Volunteers Needed for Rockets! Lake Jackson May 11 and 12
17.          Recent JSC Announcement
18.          Orbital Acrobatics Case Study
19.          Summer Water-Bots Camp
20.          Space Available - MATHWORKS - Simulink for Aerospace
21.          JSC Lift Manager ViTS: June 6
________________________________________     NASA FACT
" A test version of NASA's Orion spacecraft landed safely during a simulation of two types of parachute failures. In the test, conducted in Yuma, Ariz. on May 1, a mock Orion capsule was traveling about 250 mph when the parachutes were deployed - the highest speed in the test series."
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1.            JSC Today to Super-flex May 10 -- Submit Early for May 13
As JSC adopts a new strategy to enhance workplace flexibility, the JSC Today function is also evolving to meet changing customer needs. JSC Today will be following the Super-flex alternative work schedule beginning on May 10, JSC's first "Flex Friday." Starting this Friday and for each Flex Friday thereafter, submissions for the following Monday after Flex Friday will be due by noon on Thursday.
If you have an announcement you'd like to run on Monday, May 13, please submit it to JSC Today by noon Thursday, May 9. (Announcements for Friday, May 10, are also due by noon on Thursday, May 9.)
Super-flex is supported by JSC senior leaders and will promote work schedule flexibilities, reduce energy usage and save costs.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs http://pao.jsc.nasa.gov/news/jsctoday/

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2.            Nobel Laureate Samuel Ting to Discuss AMS on May 17
Professor Samuel Ting, principal investigator of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), will visit JSC Friday, May 17. JSC Deputy Director Steve Altemus will introduce Professor Ting at an employee presentation in the Building 2 South Teague Auditorium from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Professor Ting, a Nobel Laureate, will discuss science results from the International Space Station at the open forum, concluding with a 30-minute question-and-answer session.
Accommodations such as sign-language interpreters/accessible seating and assistive technology for a specific disability are available upon request by contacting the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at 281-483-0607 at least five business days prior to the event. For a sign language interpreter, please call Janelle Holt at 281-483-7504.
Event Date: Friday, May 17, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium

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JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

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3.            Save the Date: Buzz Aldrin Book Signing -- June 21
Starport is extremely proud to bring you this unique opportunity - the legendary astronaut and space explorer Buzz Aldrin book signing on June 21. We are currently accepting pre-sale orders for Aldrin's new book, "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration" for just $26, and children's books "Reaching for the Moon" and "Look to the Stars" at $17.99 each. Please note that Aldrin will only sign these books purchased at Starport during this event. No other memorabilia or books purchased elsewhere will be autographed. Don't miss this opportunity to get a piece of American history from this legendary American hero. Orders will be accepted until May 24. Books will be delivered at the book signing.
Cyndi Kibby x35352 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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4.            Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - May
Please join the JSC Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD) as we recognize Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. The 2013 theme is "Building Leadership: Embracing Cultural Values and Inclusion." Generations of AAPIs have strengthened the United States as a nation. AAPIs represent over 30 countries and ethnic groups that speak more than 100 different languages. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese people to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. Many Chinese workers helped build the Transcontinental Railroad.
Read the presidential proclamation. To view or print 2013 poster, please visit JSC OEOD's website.
JSC Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity x30607 http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oeod/

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5.            Office of Education Fall 2013 Interns
The Office of Education is now accepting intern project requests for Fall 2013.
Session: Fall 2013 (college students)
Session Dates: Aug. 26, 2013, to Dec. 13, 2013
Submission Deadline: May 24
All projects should be entered in NASA OSSI. As a mentor, you are now able to submit a description of your internship opportunity for Fall 2013. All projects should be entered by the submission deadline of May 24.
To upload your project and make student selections, follow the instructions below:
1. Go to: https://intern.nasa.gov
2. Complete a mentor profile (provide or update contact information, primary area of expertise and job title)
3. Submit your opportunities (create a new internship opportunity or modify an existing opportunity)
Submit the opportunity for approval by your organization.
For system questions, contact: Diego Rodriguez at 281-792-7827 or via email.
Thank you for your support and dedication to the Office of Education at JSC.
Diego Rodriguez 281-792-7827 https://intern.nasa.gov

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6.            Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group Monthly Meeting
All JSC team members (government, contractor, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender [LGBT] and non-LGBT allies) are invited to the Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group monthly meeting TODAY from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 4S, Room 1200. The Out & Allied @ JSC team consists of LGBT employees and their allies (non-LGBT supporters). This month, we'll continue planning our June Pride month activities, as well as discuss plans for future events, including luncheons and happy hours. Please join us, meet others and network! For more information about our group, including how to become involved, any listed Out & Allied member on our SharePoint site may be contacted via phone or email.
Event Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 4S, room 1200

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Steve Riley x37019 https://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/LGBTA/SitePages/Home.aspx

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7.            'Introduction to Effective Parenting Skills'
It is commonly said that when you have a child, the child does not come with a parenting manual. Each child and family situation is unique. Effective parenting skills can help children grow up to be healthy and responsible adults. Simply trying to build parenting skills and improve the life of your child shows you are on the road to successful parenting. We will be discussing how you can improve upon your parenting skills by learning more about your child, yourself and your parenting influences. Please join Anika Isaac, MS, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, CEAP, NCC, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program today, May 8, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium. She will present an "Introduction to Effective Parenting Skills," the first topic of a monthly series focused on parenting.
Event Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

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Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130

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8.            Human Systems Academy: Cardiovascular Course
Please join the Human Systems Academy for a lecture on the Cardiovascular system and implications for space operations and research. The course will be held tomorrow, May 9, from 2 to 3 p.m. in Building 9, Room 113.
Please register in SATERN: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

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9.            Environmental Brown Bag -- Building the Ideal Low-Energy Retirement Home
Chances are, most of us have thought about retirement. Maybe you're thinking about downsizing now that your nest is empty. If you could design your dream home, what would it look like? Underneath all the personalization, however, there are some basics that everyone should be thinking about. Would you like a home with low to no monthly utility costs? One of JSC's own, Robert Taylor, is doing exactly that. He will share his experiences in planning, designing and building the ultimate dream retirement home that reduces the need for monthly utility payments and arduous upkeep in an interactive presentation on Tuesday, May 14. Bring your lunches and your questions to Building 45, Room 751, from noon to 1 p.m.
Event Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: B45 room 751

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Michelle Fraser-Page x34237

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10.          Poker Walk Tomorrow
As part of Health and Fitness Month at JSC, Starport will be hosting a Poker Walk Challenge tomorrow at 11 a.m. Meet in front of Building 11 to check in and get your official Poker Walk card (check-in closes at 11:30 a.m.). Then, you will go for a leisurely stroll around the pond, stopping at each table in whatever order you prefer to receive a playing card upon answering a trivia question. All participants will receive a ticket to be entered into our grand prize drawing at the end of the month, and the top three poker hands will win a prize. Don't miss out on this fun challenge!
Event Date: Thursday, May 9, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM
Event Location: B11 outside

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

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11.          Prediction Run Challenge for Health and Fitness Month -- Register Online
As part of Health and Fitness Month at JSC, Starport will be holding a Prediction Run Challenge on May 16 at 7 a.m. The objective of this race is not necessarily to be the fastest, but to be the closest to your predicted amount of time you will spend walking, jogging or running. The race course is approximately 5k (3.1 miles). The top three finishers will win prizes, and everyone who participates will receive a ticket to be entered into our random prize drawing at the end of the month. Registration is now open online. Don't miss out on this fun and challenging event!
Be sure to check out everything we have planned for Health and Fitness Month for opportunities to win more great prizes while getting fit! For a Health and Fitness Month calendar of events, click here.
Event Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013   Event Start Time:7:00 AM   Event End Time:8:00 AM
Event Location: Gilruth Center

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

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12.          Beginners Ballroom Dance -- May 2013 Discount
Do you feel like you have two left feet? Well, Starport has the perfect spring program for you:
Beginners Ballroom Dance!
This eight-week class introduces you to the various types of ballroom dance. Students will learn the secrets of a good lead and following, as well as the ability to identify the beat of the music. This class is easy, and we have fun as we learn. JSC friends and family are welcome.
Discounted registration:
o             $90 per couple (ends May 17)
Regular registration:
o             $110 per couple (May 18 to 28)
Two class sessions available:
o             Tuesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. -- Starting May 28
o             Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. -- Starting May 30
All classes are taught in the Gilruth Center's dance studio.
Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/RecreationClasses/RecreationProgram...

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13.          Masquerade Jewelry Vendor Fair
Masquerade Jewelry will be out on May 23 to showcase $5 jewelry! Stop by Building 3 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and experience the frenzy of $5 jewelry and accessories. Cash, checks and credit cards accepted.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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14.          Space Center Houston's Exciting Summer Day Camps are Filling Up Fast
Space Center Houston offers exciting educational day camps for children of various ages that are out of this world! Campers will learn in a fun and unique environment where they can explore the wonders of space through hands-on activities and one-of-a-kind space exhibits.
Space Center Houston's exciting summer day camps are filling up fast -- register today.
Carla Santiago x37150 http://www.spacecenter.org

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15.          New NASA@work Challenge -- As Good as Dollars: Incentives that Count
If you want to have a say in how solvers are awarded on the NASA@work platform, then submit your solution to Lynn Buquo's challenge -- As Good as Dollars: Incentives for NASA@work That Count! And, don't forget about the NASA@work training opportunity happening this Thursday, May 9 (we will be hosting this training both via WebEx and in person at JSC). Two session times will be available (11 a.m. CDT and 2 p.m. CDT; sessions are 30 minutes). Check out this training opportunity and our other active challenges.
Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com

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16.          Volunteers Needed for Rockets! Lake Jackson May 11 and 12
The SystemsGo Aeroscience High School Program needs volunteers Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Location: Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge
SystemsGo is an educational non-profit supporting progressive, innovative, STEM programs in high schools throughout Texas.
Volunteers are need to help 19 Gulf Coast-area high schools test the project vehicles that they have designed and fabricated to either loft a one-pound payload to one mile or attempt transonic velocity. Volunteers will assist with Stage 2/range safety review; or Stage 3/recovery deployment installation, launch pad prep/test, fill/fire control, GPS tracking and more. All volunteers will be trained prior to launch date.
o             GPS tracking - one volunteer needed daily
o             Pad Techs - two volunteers needed daily
o             Mission Control - one volunteer needed daily
o             Runner - one volunteer needed daily
To volunteer, please contact Joyce Abbey at 281-335-2041 or via email. To learn more, click here.
Joyce Abbey 281-335-2041 http://www.systemsgo.org

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17.          Recent JSC Announcement
Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement:
JSCA 13-015: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Program Integration follow-on contract
Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page.
Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx

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18.          Orbital Acrobatics Case Study
Think flipping a spacecraft end-over-end is easy? Think again. Read the latest JSC Knowledge Management Office Case Study about how a team of experts developed a maneuver that helped enable the shuttle to return to safe flight following the Columbia tragedy.
Consider what lessons we can take away from this effort and apply to our own tasks.
While you are there, please take the time to give us your feedback. Also, we would like your suggestions for potential topics. Share your ideas here.
Brent J. Fontenot x36456

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19.          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 includes 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 includes 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.
Age: 12 to 16 years old
Cost: $250
Email for more information.
Sara Malloy x46803 http://www.aerospace-academy.org

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20.          Space Available - MATHWORKS - Simulink for Aerospace
This two-day course is for those who are new to system and algorithm modeling and design validation in Simulink. This class demonstrates how to apply basic modeling techniques and tools to develop Simulink block diagrams.
Tasks participants can do after completing the Simulink for Aerospace course include:
1.            Creating and modifying Simulink models and simulating system dynamics.
2.            Modeling continuous-time, discrete-time and hybrid systems.
3.            Modifying solver settings for simulation accuracy and speed.
4.            Building hierarchy into a Simulink models.
5.            Creating reusable model components using subsystems, libraries and model references.
This course is open for self-registration in SATERN and is available to civil servants and contractors.
Dates: June 11 to 12
Location: Building 12, Room 144
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=REGISTRATI...
Aaron Blevins x33111

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21.          JSC Lift Manager ViTS: June 6
This course is designed to fulfill the requirements in JPD 8719.1 for training of JSC and White Sands Test Facility individuals designated as "lift managers." A lift manager is appointed by each directorate of a program office to be that organization's single point of contact for critical crane operations within a designated facility. Lift managers may be either NASA or contractor personnel and shall be responsible for all aspects of coordinating, planning and executing a critical lift within that assigned facility. All individuals taking this class to become a lift manager must first have taken Overhead Cranes and Materials Handling course (SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0205) within the last three years, or have taken those courses previously and attended the Crane Operations and Rigging Safety Refresher (SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0028) within the last three years. This may be the last time this class is offered. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Thursday, June 6, 2013   Event Start Time:1:30 PM   Event End Time:3:30 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 17 / Room 2026

Add to Calendar

Shirley Robinson x41284

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________________________________________
JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.

NASA TV:
2 pm Central (3 EDT) – Video File of E36/37 Crew News Conference & Red Square visit

Human Spaceflight News
Wednesday, May 8, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Senators briefed on the latest from the International Space Station

Morgan Little - Los Angeles Times

Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took a break from earthly political matters Tuesday to talk to NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, one of two Americans aboard the International Space Station. Marshburn, who has been at the space station since December 2012, said that his experience has given him a newfound appreciation for his home planet. "I wish every head of state could see the Earth from the cupola," he said, praising the planet's beauty, nuance and lack of borders from his exceptionally high vantage point. But not everything about the Earth seems perfect from space. "Our existence on there appears very fragile, the atmosphere is very thin," Marshburn added.

Bolden: the path to Mars requires commercial crew and SLS, but not Moon

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

In a keynote address Monday at the Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, NASA administrator Charles Bolden made the case that, if NASA is to achieve the president's goal of sending humans to at least the vicinity of Mars by the 2030s, it has to follow the approach NASA is currently using, including development of both commercial crew vehicles and the Space Launch System (SLS), and without making a stop along the way at the Moon.

It's time to get serious about going to Mars, NASA says

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

If NASA is to land humans on Mars by the 2030s, as President Barack Obama has directed, there's not much time to settle on a plan and develop the technologies required, agency officials said Monday. In the 1960s, America seized an opportunity to go to the moon, and succeeded. A second opportunity for a leap forward in space is upon us now, said NASA chief Charles Bolden at the Humans 2 Mars Summit here at George Washington University. "Interest in sending humans to Mars I think has never been higher," Bolden said. "We now stand on the precipice of a second opportunity to press forward to what I think is man's destiny — to step onto another planet."

Landing is key puzzle in manned Mars mission

Agence France Presse

Landing astronauts safely on Mars is one of the biggest technological hurdles for any future manned mission to the Red Planet, even more complicated than last year's daring rover touchdown. NASA dazzled observers by landing the one-tonne Curiosity rover on Mars in August in a high-speed operation using a sky crane and supersonic parachute, but experts say the task would be even more challenging with humans onboard. "The Curiosity landing was an amazing accomplishment," said Robert Braun, a former NASA engineer now at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "But it's really a baby step that we needed to take, on the way of one day walking on the Mars surface."

Sierra Nevada passes second NASA commercial crew checkpoint

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

Sierra Nevada has achieved its second milestone under NASA's commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap) programme to develop the Dream Chaser, earning the company $45 million as the vehicle prepares for glide testing. Sierra Nevada announced that it has completed the programme implementation review and the integrated system baseline review, the first two of ten CCiCap goals. Upon completion of the tenth and last milestone and delivery of the final payment, the company will have received a total of $212.5 million, roughly half that of fellow awardees (and competitors) Boeing and SpaceX.

NASA requests 17 billion, Stennis still testing

Jeremy Pittari - Picayune Item

NASA has requested more than $17 billion in funding for the next fiscal year, and the John C. Stennis Space Center is planning to make modifications to existing test stands to meet the needs of tomorrow's launch systems. In the commercial sector, engines tests continue at the E-1 test stand for Orbital Sciences and Blue Origin, said Jeff Lott, Chief of Mechanical Operations at the E-1 test stand. Orbital contacted Stennis in 2008 about conducting the tests. Tests for Orbital's engines have been taking place at Stennis since 2010, and in that time, they have conducted 14 hot fire tests, leading to 11 engines being deemed flight worthy, Lott said. Last month the company performed a successful test flight.

Shuttle astronaut to pilot Virgin's passenger spaceship

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

Veteran space shuttle commander Rick Sturckow has joined Virgin Galactic to pilot the company's suborbital passenger spaceship, officials announced Tuesday. Sturckow and Michael Masucci, a former U.S. Air Force test pilot, will conduct training and flight testing at Virgin Galactic's base in Mojave, Calif. "Viewing the Earth from space is such a unique and unforgettable experience," Sturckow said in a statement. "I'm excited to be a part of the Virgin Galactic team that is revolutionizing access to space, making this opportunity a possibility for all."

Ex-NASA Shuttle Pilot Joins Virgin Galactic

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

Fresh off the heels of the first rocket-powered test flight of its passenger spaceship, owner and aspiring operator Virgin Galactic has added two pilots to its payroll, including Rick Sturckow, a former NASA astronaut, the company announced on Tuesday. Sturckow and Michael Masucci will begin training to fly Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo and the WhiteKnightTwo carrier jet in Mojave, Calif. The company intends to fly passengers, at a cost of $200,000 apiece, from a new spaceport in New Mexico. Sturckow, a veteran of four space shuttle missions to the International Space Station, also served as deputy chief astronaut during the final years of the shuttle program. "Viewing the Earth from space is such a unique and unforgettable experience," Sturckow said in a statement. "I'm excited to be a part of the Virgin Galactic team that is revolutionizing access to space, making this opportunity a possibility for all." (NO FURTHER TEXT)

Elon Musk's SpaceX signs lease at NM spaceport

Jeri Clausing - Associated Press

Another space industry heavyweight has signed on to use New Mexico's Spaceport America - Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday. It agreed to a three-year lease to do testing of its "Grasshopper" reusable rocket in southern New Mexico. Spaceport America Executive Director Christine Anderson said the Grasshopper project is moving from McGregor, Texas, to New Mexico because the rocket needs to be tested at higher altitudes.

The Space Station's orbit adjusted for docking with Soyuz craft

Itar-Tass

The Russian Mission Control Centre adjusted the International Space Station's orbit on Wednesday, for the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft that will blast off from Baikonur on May 29 to dock safely. "The adjustment began at the scheduled time of 10:51 Moscow time," sources from the Mission Control Centre told Tass. The cargo craft Progress M-19M was used for orbit correction. Its engines were activated for 859 seconds to raise the station by about 2.6 kilometers.

Nyberg set to launch at end of the month

Rian Bosse - Fergus Falls Journal

May means the countdown to liftoff has started for Vining astronaut Karen Nyberg. She will be traveling back to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan on May 28. This will be Nyberg's second trip into space after she traveled to the station on the Space Shuttle Discovery five years ago and spent 14 days in orbit. This trip, she will be living at the space station for six months and utilizing it as a science laboratory.

Hundreds attend spaceport proposal hearing

Associated Press

Several hundred people turned out for a discussion of a draft environmental study of a proposal to launch rockets from the southernmost tip of Texas. The public hearing Tuesday followed release last month of the draft environmental impact statement. It centers on California-based SpaceX's plan to launch as many as 12 rockets a year from a site surrounded by a federal wildlife refuge near Boca Chica Beach, east of Brownsville. The draft study found the launches would "adversely affect" but not significantly disrupt endangered species if steps are taken to mitigate effects. The process is necessary to Federal Aviation Administration licensing of SpaceX to launch rockets there. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford expects a final report by early fall. SpaceX project director Steve Davis expects a site decision by year's end. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

Senate dean blocks SpaceX bill

Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac

A must-pass proposal for the state to keep entertaining the idea of SpaceX building a rocket launch site in South Texas has met its first roadblock in the Legislature: Senate dean John Whitmire. House Bill 2623 by state Rep. Rene Oliveira would temporarily close Boca Chica Beach during rocket launches if SpaceX decides to invest roughly $100 million to build the equivalent of an airport for rocket ships at a site near Brownsville. Without the legislation, billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will gift the launch site to another state competing for the project. So far, the measure has had a smooth ride through the Legislature, passing the full House without any opposition. The smooth sailing came to an abrupt halt Monday — when the proposal hit a snag in the form of the senate's longest-serving member, who protested that closing down a beach for a private company to launch rockets could set a bad standard.

A New Direction For Japan's Space Program?

Paul Kallender-Umezu - Aviation Week

The first order of business for new Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) leader Naoki Okumura will be to reorient his nation's space program from advanced development to activities that may produce some commercial return on investment. Based on the latest five-year "Basic Plan" for space promulgated by the Office of National Space Policy (ONSP), the new direction is putting pressure on JAXA to cut, postpone or reduce to research and development some or most of the agency's flagship science, technology and manned spaceflight programs.

Meet the thousands of people ready to die on Mars
For $40, those who couldn't be astronauts see Mars One as their chance

Casey Johnston - Ars Technica

Aaron Hamm, an assistant hotel engineer who deals with HVAC, cooling systems, and maintenance, lacks the traditional qualifications to be an astronaut. But that doesn't mean he wants to stay on Earth. "I felt… I was discouraged as a child [from becoming an astronaut] just because of how unbelievably competitive it is," Hamm told Ars. "I'm a very intelligent person and I'm driven to try and achieve my dreams but, at the same time, I felt like it was an really unrealistic goal to try and pursue. As smart as I am, there's always plenty of people that are smarter." Hamm, an Ars forum user by the name of Quisquis, has just applied for the private Mars One colony program. For him, a large part of the appeal is that the program seeks a different type of astronaut.

Mars One: Meet private companies dominating future of space exploration

Roger Pattison - PolicyMic.com

Children born today will grow up wanting to become doctors, firefighters, policemen, and … corporate astronauts? Yes, truly, gone are the days in which government-driven space exploration alone will take us beyond our imaginations and to a galaxy far, far away. And yes, that is a good thing! Many have cried out in protest over the decommissioning of NASA's shuttle program in early 2012 and have heralded many budget cuts as the demise of man's expansion into the galaxy. Despite this outcry, there lies evidence that there is more hope than ever for our children to become the next generation of explorers to expand the boundaries of man's reach.
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COMPLETE STORIES

Senators briefed on the latest from the International Space Station

Morgan Little - Los Angeles Times

Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took a break from earthly political matters Tuesday to talk to NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn, one of two Americans aboard the International Space Station.

Marshburn, who has been at the space station since December 2012, said that his experience has given him a newfound appreciation for his home planet.

"I wish every head of state could see the Earth from the cupola," he said, praising the planet's beauty, nuance and lack of borders from his exceptionally high vantage point.

But not everything about the Earth seems perfect from space.

"Our existence on there appears very fragile, the atmosphere is very thin," Marshburn added.

Nelson, who flew on the space shuttle Columbia in 1986, and Cruz, a "co-leader" of the science and space subcommittee, quizzed Marshburn on his adjustment to life in zero gravity and his current scientific research.

"I'm feeling adapted, feeling great," said Marshburn, whose background is in medical science. "It's been wonderful to be efficient and get a lot done up here."

Ticking off a number of projects that included a comparison of spinal ultrasound studies with MRIs, protein crystal growth and vaccination experimentation, Marshburn acknowledged the difficulty of summarizing the numerous ongoing projects in just a few minutes.

As for getting those projects back to the ground, Marshburn was upbeat about the possibility of private space companies providing the vital link between the space sation and Earth.

"Going into space is not easy, we can still barely do it," he said, but private firms will eventually be able to get to the space station "cheaper, better, faster" than current expeditions.

He also provided some perspective on the day-to-day life of an astronaut on the space station. They wake up, are given their orders from ground control and except for food and exercise breaks, spend most of their time working on experiments. Nights are free for recreation or for calling home, but Marshburn acknowledged that "I'm partial to do a little bit of homework at night."

Nelson and Marshburn both expressed hope that the space station, nearing its 13th year of occupation, will serve as a model for an eventual mission to Mars.

"I believe I'm living and breathing in the first Mars vehicle," Marshburn said, certain that lessons in water retention, on-board power and life in zero gravity will prove vital to manned missions to the Red Planet.

Of course, politics weren't entirely removed from the event. After the conversation was through, Cruz jokingly asked who would get the long-distance bill for the call.

"Not the U.S. taxpayer," Nelson replied.

Bolden: the path to Mars requires commercial crew and SLS, but not Moon

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

In a keynote address Monday at the Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, NASA administrator Charles Bolden made the case that, if NASA is to achieve the president's goal of sending humans to at least the vicinity of Mars by the 2030s, it has to follow the approach NASA is currently using, including development of both commercial crew vehicles and the Space Launch System (SLS), and without making a stop along the way at the Moon.

As he has done in several other recent appearances, Bolden made an argument for fully funding NASA's Commercial Crew Program in fiscal year 2014: $821 million in the administration's budget proposal. "That is critical. That is the critical first step" for the future of NASA's human spaceflight program, he said. Getting past that "initial hurdle of getting full funding for commercial crew" will eventually free up funding for use in technology development for later human missions beyond orbit, once the commercial providers enter service, he added later.

Bolden also argued that development of SLS was essential to NASA's exploration plans, provided it was a phased approach that started, as NASA currently plans, with a vehicle that can place 70 metric tons into low Earth orbit, followed by later versions that will eventually be capable of putting up to 130 metric tons into LEO. He warned against any effort to start immediately with a 130-ton version of SLS. "What happens if we are forced to go right to a 130-metric-ton vehicle is that we are perilously along the way to what happened with Constellation, where we have a very robust launch vehicle and no money, no assets, to develop the other systems that allow us to explore," he said.

Bolden, though, rejected the idea that the SLS could be replaced with alternative architectures that use smaller launch vehicles and orbiting propellant depots. "The number of launches required to support a human mission to Mars begins to make it very difficult and decreases the probability of success of those missions" if EELV-class rockets are used instead, he said. If NASA waited on the development of alternative rockets and propellant depots, "we won't get to an asteroid in 2021 and we definitely won't get to Mars in the 2030s, in my estimation."

Bolden also discussed NASA's plans for an asteroid retrieval mission, which he argued was essential in developing technologies needed for later human Mars missions. "Every single moment of our time and every single dollar of our assets must be dedicated to developing those technologies that allow us to go beyond low Earth orbit," he said. "The President and Congress—most in Congress—have decided that we should be the leaders in going places that humans have never been before, and thus we decided on an asteroid strategy."

"Moon, asteroid, Mars, are not either/ors. Humans will again return to the lunar surface. There is no question in my mind," he said. However, with limited resources available, NASA can't afford to go back to the Moon now, and Bolden said that any attempt to redirect NASA's human spaceflight plans back there would keep NASA from achieving its Mars goals. "If we starting straying from our path and going to an alternative plan, where we decide we're going to go back to the Moon and spend a little time developing the technologies and the systems we need, we're doomed. We will not get to Mars in the 2030s, if ever, to be quite honest."

It's time to get serious about going to Mars, NASA says

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

If NASA is to land humans on Mars by the 2030s, as President Barack Obama has directed, there's not much time to settle on a plan and develop the technologies required, agency officials said Monday.

In the 1960s, America seized an opportunity to go to the moon, and succeeded. A second opportunity for a leap forward in space is upon us now, said NASA chief Charles Bolden at the Humans 2 Mars Summit here at George Washington University.

"Interest in sending humans to Mars I think has never been higher," Bolden said. "We now stand on the precipice of a second opportunity to press forward to what I think is man's destiny — to step onto another planet."

Yet the road to Mars is long and challenging, and the difficulties are scientific, technological, political and economic, experts said.

Of launches and landings

Sending astronauts to the Red Planet will likely require at least three missions: one to launch the crew and the vehicle that will take them to Mars, one to launch the habitat humans will live on at the planet's surface, and one to launch the vehicle that will lift off from Mars to take the crew home, said Doug Cooke, a former NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate who now heads a space consulting firm.

Overall, about 200 to 400 metric tons of equipment will have to be launched from Earth's surface for the project — a mass roughly equivalent to that of the International Space Station. And about 40 metric tons of that mass will have to be delivered to the surface of Mars at one time. So far, NASA has been able to land only 1 metric ton at a time — a feat recently accomplished in nail-biting fashion when the agency landed the Curiosity rover last summer.

While this phase, called Mars entry, descent and landing, will be one of the most challenging elements of the mission, at least as difficult is the return, when the astronauts will have to lift off from the surface of Mars and travel home.

"To me this is one of the biggest challenges," said Mike Raftery, director of space station utilization and exploration at Boeing, the primary contractor for NASA's heavy-lift rocket being developed to go to Mars. "We have to essentially land a launch pad on the surface that's then ready to launch the crew back to Earth."

Living off the land

In addition to the launch system, Mars crews will have to bring their own life-support systems, medicine, food, communications systems and navigation equipment. Yet the space travelers won't be able to pack everything they'll need. Instead, they will have to take advantage of some of the resources on Mars, such as water and oxygen for breathing, drinking and other needs. However, the technologies needed to extract and use such resources don't yet exist.

"We're going to have to rely on being able to live off the land," said James Reuther of NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist. "Those will require significant technology investments in order to actually bring that about."

Engineers must also develop a means of shielding astronauts from the dangerous radiation in space, both during the journey to the Red Planet and on the Martian surface, which lacks a strong enough atmosphere to protect from these damaging particles.

And to adequately plan for a human landing, additional precursor missions may also be necessary.

"It's very likely that we'll send some kind of lander or rover to the site we want to send people to first, to drill a couple meters down to tell us if we have fresh water," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate. Such a spacecraft could also serve as a beacon to guide the crewed lander down to the chosen spot on Mars.

Despite the complexity of all these challenges, NASA has a limited amount of time to plan its mission if it wants humans to arrive in the 2030s.

Ticking clock

By 2020, engineers must choose an architecture for the mission, including what type of propulsion to use to get to Mars, and how many launches are required, said Sam Scimemi, NASA's International Space Station director. It must also establish partnerships with any other nations it hopes to team with for the journey. By 2025, the design for all the major vehicles and technologies must be completed and frozen.

"That's pencils down," Scimemi said. "We don't have a lot of time. If we're going to get there we have to have a realistic approach from a budget, political and cultural standpoint."

Still, many NASA and industry experts expressed confidence it can be done.

"In the coming days we have the opportunity to write history, to determine the future of humankind," said Artemis Westenberg, president of Explore Mars Inc., the nonprofit space advocacy group that organized the conference. "We of Explore Mars give you this platform of this three-day summit. Now all you have to do is tell each other and the world the how" of getting to Mars.

Landing is key puzzle in manned Mars mission

Agence France Presse

Landing astronauts safely on Mars is one of the biggest technological hurdles for any future manned mission to the Red Planet, even more complicated than last year's daring rover touchdown.

NASA dazzled observers by landing the one-tonne Curiosity rover on Mars in August in a high-speed operation using a sky crane and supersonic parachute, but experts say the task would be even more challenging with humans onboard.

"The Curiosity landing was an amazing accomplishment," said Robert Braun, a former NASA engineer now at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"But it's really a baby step that we needed to take, on the way of one day walking on the Mars surface."

He was speaking at a three-day conference in Washington, which has brought together NASA experts, university researchers and members of the aerospace industry for talks focused on exploring the neighbouring planet.

"Curiosity has been described as a small car," Mr Braun said of the six-wheeled mobile lab that has been exploring Mars for the last nine months.

"What we are really talking about today is landing a two-storey house, and maybe landing that two-storey house next to another one that has been pre-positioned."

Where Curiosity weighed one tonne, engineers estimate a supply capsule to prepare for a manned landing would weigh somewhere around 40 tonnes.

Such a mission would require not only food, water and oxygen for the astronauts, but a vehicle powerful enough to get them back to their spaceship, which would likely remain in orbit.

"The technologies we will use to land our systems on Mars will probably have little semblance to the systems we have been using for the robot program because of their scale," Mr Braun said.

The first six robots NASA sent to Mars starting in 1974 were light enough that their descent was slowed by parachutes and their landing aided by balloons.

Curiosity was heavier, so it required a complex landing apparatus that included a supersonic parachute and a rocket-powered crane.

But neither method is likely to work, without significant adjustments, for the much larger vehicles required for a manned landing, nor would the technology used to land spacecraft on Earth work on Mars.

Atmospheric pressure at 40 kilometres altitude on Earth is equivalent to just 10 kilometres on Mars - which leaves little time to slow the faster-than-sound speed of a Mars lander, Mr Braun said.

"It's a challenge we have not yet faced, and we don't have yet a specific answer to," he said.

Adam Stelzner, one of the inventors behind Curiosity's space crane, is more optimistic, saying that landing the rover did not require NASA to "invent some new device technology".

Instead, the project required "just thinking a little more creatively in using the materials, the technological materials, that were at hand," he said.

Mr Stelzner, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, believes similar creative thinking - such as scaling up the sky crane - could bring about a successful manned landing in the near future.

He pointed out that in the summer of 2003 - just eight years before Curiosity's launch - NASA did not know how to land the robot.

But Charles Campbell, an aerodynamics expert at NASA, said the technological challenges should not be underestimated.

"We need a retropropulsion system," he said.

"We know how to design a hypersonic vehicle, but reconfiguring this vehicle to a retropropulsion vehicle is a transforming event."

Mr Campbell added that the costs would be great and the effort would likely require international cooperation.

"A human mission to Mars is going to require a vehicle of the scale of a space shuttle," he said, with the mission requiring a jump "in order of magnitude from what we are used to dealing with".

Sierra Nevada passes second NASA commercial crew checkpoint

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

Sierra Nevada has achieved its second milestone under NASA's commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap) programme to develop the Dream Chaser, earning the company $45 million as the vehicle prepares for glide testing.

Sierra Nevada announced that it has completed the programme implementation review and the integrated system baseline review, the first two of ten CCiCap goals. Upon completion of the tenth and last milestone and delivery of the final payment, the company will have received a total of $212.5 million, roughly half that of fellow awardees (and competitors) Boeing and SpaceX.

"Both [completed] CCiCap milestones offered us the opportunity to communicate SNC's detailed development plans, as well as to receive and incorporate NASA's comments and feedback," says Jim Voss, vice-president of space exploration systems.

The milestone completions come as the first Dream Chaser, a winged lifting body, is packed for shipping to Edwards AFB from the company's factory in Louisville, Colorado. At Edwards AFB the aircraft will be lifted to altitude by a helicopter and glide back to the runway, testing its aerodynamic performance.

A second Dream Chaser, the first example capable of spaceflight, is under fabrication at Lockheed Martin's Michaud factory in Louisiana.

Although both reviews were originally scheduled to be completed by October 2012, delays are considered routine among spaceflight programmes.

NASA requests 17 billion, Stennis still testing

Jeremy Pittari - Picayune Item

NASA has requested more than $17 billion in funding for the next fiscal year, and the John C. Stennis Space Center is planning to make modifications to existing test stands to meet the needs of tomorrow's launch systems.

In the commercial sector, engines tests continue at the E-1 test stand for Orbital Sciences and Blue Origin, said Jeff Lott, Chief of Mechanical Operations at the E-1 test stand.

Orbital contacted Stennis in 2008 about conducting the tests. Tests for Orbital's engines have been taking place at Stennis since 2010, and in that time, they have conducted 14 hot fire tests, leading to 11 engines being deemed flight worthy, Lott said. Last month the company performed a successful test flight.

Modifications are being made to the historic B test stand where engines for the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs were conducted. For more than 10 years the test stand has gone unused. Built in the mid 1960s, the test stand last tested Space Shuttle Main Engines and was capable of testing four of those engines at once. B-2 Test Stand Project Manager Rick Rauch said the stand is undergoing modifications to test the engines that will be used in the Space Launch System, the successor to the Shuttle Program. Modifications began in October of last year, and are planned to continue until January of 2016, Rauch said.

The test stand is the largest in the world, Rauch said.

NASA Deputy Director Lori Garver said the $17.7 billion requested for the next fiscal year's budget has the support of decision makers in Washington D.C., and she hopes that as the space agency continues its work, it will retain its place as the crown jewel of the country, and Stennis will continue as the crown jewel of NASA.

Garver was taken on a tour of Stennis and the test stands last week, along with U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-4th.

Continued support of the International Space Station will ensure that mankind will go farther than ever before. NASA also has planned trips to an asteroid before heading out to Mars, Garver said. One of NASA's plans is to use a system of solar propulsion to guide a captured asteroid back to an orbit near Earth that would allow astronauts to study it up close, Garver said.

Garver said asteroids contain the secrets to the origin of life.

While $17.7 billion may seem like a lot of money to most people, Garver said that figure makes up only .5 percent of the national budget, but it is still more than any other nation spends on space programs. Palazzo said the United States needs to maintain its leadership in space exploration, and the programs planned for the future are priorities. He said he expects members of both political parties can put aside their differences to come together on a working budget for NASA.

In other Stennis news, the INFINITY Center received $10.4 million worth of grants that will be used to install interactive science exhibits and create trails, said INFINITY Center Board Liaison Myra Webb. The grant comes from the BP oil spill settlement.

In addition to the interactive science and technology exhibits, the grant will fund construction of 3.5 miles of nature trails near the center leading to the nearby river. Webb said when the trail is complete it will allow for biking and bird watching and expose tourists to the beautiful landscape surrounding the INFINITY Center.

"It's really going to help make (INFINITY) a tourist destination," Webb said. "They are really going to be cutting edge state of the art exhibits."

Shuttle astronaut to pilot Virgin's passenger spaceship

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

Veteran space shuttle commander Rick Sturckow has joined Virgin Galactic to pilot the company's suborbital passenger spaceship, officials announced Tuesday.

Sturckow and Michael Masucci, a former U.S. Air Force test pilot, will conduct training and flight testing at Virgin Galactic's base in Mojave, Calif.

"Viewing the Earth from space is such a unique and unforgettable experience," Sturckow said in a statement. "I'm excited to be a part of the Virgin Galactic team that is revolutionizing access to space, making this opportunity a possibility for all."

Sturckow, 51, flew on four space shuttle missions - twice as pilot and two times as commander. All four flights focused on the assembly of the International Space Station.

The retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel spent 51 days in space. Sturckow last flew on the STS-128 mission, commanding the shuttle Discovery in 2009 to help outfit the space station for a six-person crew.

One of Sturckow's last positions at NASA was as deputy chief of the agency's Astronaut Office, flying weather reconnaissance for the last few space shuttle missions.

Masucci has more than 9,000 flight hours in more than 70 different types of airplanes and gliders, according to Virgin Galactic. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and served as combat pilot on the U-2 spy plane and instructor on the F-16, T-38 and gliders.

After his Air Force career, Masucci flew for Xojet Inc., a private charter airline company.

"I am pleased to have these two incredibly accomplished pilots join us during this important time as we embark on a series of important rocket-powered flight tests for SpaceShipTwo, ultimately testing the vehicle in space," said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic's president and CEO, in a statement. "Their collective experience and outstanding performance in various demanding environments will make them invaluable assets to the Virgin Galactic team."

Sturckow and Masucci join a cadre of Virgin Galactic pilots flying the company's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane and WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.

Virgin Galactic plans a series of increasingly ambitious test flights this year after completing SpaceShipTwo's first rocket-powered flight over Mojave on April 29.

"It seems like we hit it out of the park," Whitesides said in an interview last week.

The 16-second burn of SpaceShipTwo's hybrid rocket motor, built by Sierra Nevada Corp., appeared smoother than some of its ground tests, Whitesides said.

Virgin Galactic expects to conduct its first SpaceShipTwo flight above 100 kilometers, the internationally-recognized boundary of space, before the end of 2013. Commercial service in New Mexico could begin next year.

Before then, pilots and engineers at Virgin and Scaled Composites, builder of SpaceShipTwo and its mothership, aim to "expand the envelope" of the spacecraft, pushing it higher and faster and verifying its performance if something goes wrong, Whitesides said.

"In the next few flights, it will be a matter of simply burning the motor longer," Whitesides told Spaceflight Now. "Toward the second half of the year, we might open it up into some off-nominal configurations."

On the regulatory front, Whitesides said Virgin Galactic will submit its license request to the Federal Aviation Administration soon for passenger flights. The FAA must respond to the request within 180 days by law, he said.

Whitesides said Virgin Galactic has signed up approximately 570 passengers to fly on the six-seat space plane, which provides riders with several minutes of weightlessness and an astronaut's-eye view of Earth for a price tag of about $200,000.

Elon Musk's SpaceX signs lease at NM spaceport

Jeri Clausing - Associated Press

Another space industry heavyweight has signed on to use New Mexico's Spaceport America - Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, Gov. Susana Martinez announced Tuesday.

It agreed to a three-year lease to do testing of its "Grasshopper" reusable rocket in southern New Mexico.

SpaceX is one of the leading developers of rockets and spacecraft and is one of the companies the $209 million taxpayer-built spaceport project has been trying to recruit.

"We've done a lot of work to level the playing field so we can compete in the space industry," Martinez said in a statement. "This is just the first step in broadening the base out at the Spaceport and securing even more tenants. I'm proud to welcome SpaceX to New Mexico."

Spaceport America Executive Director Christine Anderson said the Grasshopper project is moving from McGregor, Texas, to New Mexico because the rocket needs to be tested at higher altitudes. The reusable rocket could revolutionize the commercial space industry by greatly reducing costs, she said. Traditional rockets burn up on re-entry.

Officials said they were unsure how many jobs would be located in New Mexico. SpaceX employs more than 3,000 in California, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Florida, according to a news release.

Richard Branson's space tourism company, Virgin Galactic LLC, is the anchor tenant at the spaceport.

Also on Tuesday, Virgin Galactic announced that it has hired two new pilots as the testing moves into the final stages for its spacecraft for taking tourists into space at $200,000 a head.

Anderson called the dual announcements "great milestones" for the spaceport, which has struggled to attract other businesses. Earlier this year, lawmakers approved legislation to limit liability lawsuits for the industry in an effort to be more competitive.

Virgin Galactic last year publicly expressed concerns about the state's inability to attract more businesses to the project and had hinted it could leave if lawmakers refused for a third year in a row to expand liability exemptions for the commercial space industry.

Anderson said SpaceX will be paying $6,600 a month to lease a mobile mission control facility and will pay the state $25,000 per launch.

Virgin Galactic started paying rent of $1 million a year this year. The rest of its fees are based on the number of flights and passengers it launches into space, although there are minimum flight payment requirements.

The Space Station's orbit adjusted for docking with Soyuz craft

Itar-Tass

The Russian Mission Control Centre adjusted the International Space Station's orbit on Wednesday, for the Soyuz TMA-09M spacecraft that will blast off from Baikonur on May 29 to dock safely.

"The adjustment began at the scheduled time of 10:51 Moscow time," sources from the Mission Control Centre told Tass.

The cargo craft Progress M-19M was used for orbit correction. Its engines were activated for 859 seconds to raise the station by about 2.6 kilometers.

Earlier on Wednesday, an interdepartmental commission said the main and backup crews of ISS Expedition 36/37 had successfully passed qualification exams and were ready for the flight. "The commission has recommended for further pre-start preparations the main crew of Roskosmos cosmonaut Fedor Yurchikhin, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg," the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre said.

The commission has also confirmed the readiness of the backup crew of Russian cosmonaut MikhI Tyurin, Japanese astronaut Coichi Wakata and US astronaut Rick Mastracchio.

Nyberg set to launch at end of the month

Rian Bosse - Fergus Falls Journal

May means the countdown to liftoff has started for Vining astronaut Karen Nyberg. She will be traveling back to the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan on May 28.

This will be Nyberg's second trip into space after she traveled to the station on the Space Shuttle Discovery five years ago and spent 14 days in orbit. This trip, she will be living at the space station for six months and utilizing it as a science laboratory.

"We have an incredible laboratory in low Earth orbit — the International Space Station," Nyberg said in a blog post released by NASA.

"A miracle, really. If you could see it as I have, hanging above our Earth, I think you would agree. It's simply amazing that such a piece of engineering is even possible."

Nyberg's crew of three astronauts will join another group of three already at the station and form the Expedition 36 crew.

After three months, the first crew will depart and be replaced with three more. Nyberg will return to Earth after three more months aboard the same Soyuz capsule that brought them to the station.

The space station offers the environment for ongoing science experiments in zero gravity.

The group will perform more than 100, some of which will be on their own bodies.

The prolonged period of time in weightlessness also threatens the loss of muscle and bone mass and astronauts must exercise daily to maintain their health.

But the extended trip has added to the excitement of Nyberg's next flight to space.

While it will be grueling at times, she is cherishing the opportunity that only a few get to have.

"I will have time to reflect on what I'm doing as I'm actually doing it," Nyberg said. "I hope to savor every second; every glance out the window at our planet, every push off one wall to float to the next. I hope to etch it in my brain so that, this time, I won't need the pictures to remember what I've experienced."

The launch will also mean a great deal to the small rural community where Nyberg grew up. While only a small group of family and friends will be there for the launch, there will be several different opportunities to be part of her historic event at home.

The Henning School District hopes to host a 20-minute live feed video conference with Nyberg for students after school begins next fall. Plans are also being finalized for a Launch Viewing Party at the school at 2:30 a.m. the day of the launch.

NASA TV and the NASA website (www.nasa.gov) will also carry live launch coverage. While in orbit, www.spotthestation.nasa.gov has directions for viewing the station during days and evenings it is briefly visible in the sky to the naked eye.

Senate dean blocks SpaceX bill

Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac

A must-pass proposal for the state to keep entertaining the idea of SpaceX building a rocket launch site in South Texas has met its first roadblock in the Legislature: Senate dean John Whitmire.

House Bill 2623 by state Rep. Rene Oliveira would temporarily close Boca Chica Beach during rocket launches if SpaceX decides to invest roughly $100 million to build the equivalent of an airport for rocket ships at a site near Brownsville. Without the legislation, billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will gift the launch site to another state competing for the project.

So far, the measure has had a smooth ride through the Legislature, passing the full House without any opposition.

The smooth sailing came to an abrupt halt Monday — when the proposal hit a snag in the form of the senate's longest-serving member, who protested that closing down a beach for a private company to launch rockets could set a bad standard.

"I would like to slow down and get some legal opinions and make certain we're not setting a precedent that we're waiving the public's right to full access to public beaches," said Whitmire, D-Houston. "I think it's pretty unprecedented to close beaches for any purpose."

By all accounts, Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, who is shepherding the House proposal through the upper chamber, was expected to have the votes in hand at Monday's hearing to push the bill to the full Senate. The fact that the proposal, backed by Gov. Rick Perry, was even temporarily stymied in the Senate Committee on Administration came as a surprise.

"You don't want to move it?" committee chairman Kevin Eltife asked right as he was ready to bring the bill for a vote.

"I'm not for it," Whitmire responded.

Lucio pleaded with the committee, arguing that the bill will keep the beach "open to the public when the public wants to use it most." But to no avail.

"I would urge the committee to help me move this along and we can ask these questions as we move the bill to make sure you're satisfied," he said. "There's plenty of time to stop it along the way. But to stop it now and come back another week or two you really kill the bill."

"The public is asking us to do this," Lucio added, noting that the potential economic boom from the SpaceX project could help lift the economically depressed Valley region into a new era of high-tech employment.

Whitmire's opposition to the bill on Monday was crucial for a simple reason: There were only four members of the Senate panel present at the hearing, just enough to push a bill out of the seven-member committee with a unanimous vote. Whitmire's opposition also slowed down the bill's momentum during a crucial stretch of the session when proposals live or die based on how expediently they can be ushered to the floor.

Supporters of the SpaceX bill aren't fretting — not yet at least.

They called Monday's action a hiccup. Now, Lucio needs to jockey to secure enough votes to neutralize Whitmire's opposition.

Whitmire's prodding did spark more interest from other members on the panel. At the end of the hearing, Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, asked Lucio for maps and visuals of the Boca Chica site.

For what it's worth, Whitmire's opposition and the need to get the bill moving again before legislative deadlines kick in will put the SpaceX Texas lobbying team to the test (click here to read about how SpaceX supercharged its influence machine this session for just this type of situation).

If he can secure the votes, Lucio will get his next chance to pass the bill at a Wednesday morning hearing.

A New Direction For Japan's Space Program?

Paul Kallender-Umezu - Aviation Week

The first order of business for new Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) leader Naoki Okumura will be to reorient his nation's space program from advanced development to activities that may produce some commercial return on investment.

Based on the latest five-year "Basic Plan" for space promulgated by the Office of National Space Policy (ONSP), the new direction is putting pressure on JAXA to cut, postpone or reduce to research and development some or most of the agency's flagship science, technology and manned spaceflight programs.

Some or all of the satellites planned for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, the HTV-R pressurized sample-and-crew-return mini-shuttle and the H-X/H-3 launcher programs could face cancellation, concedes JAXA's Hiroshi Sasaki, senior advisor in the strategic planning and management department.

"For 20 years, so much money has been spent by JAXA [and its predecessor, Nasda] on R&D, but there has been very little commercial return," says Hirotoshi Kunitomo, ONSP director.

Under legislation passed last year, JAXA policy is now controlled by the 23-member ONSP, which was created at the end of a process begun in the middle of the past decade to wrest control of space planning from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), which controlled 60% of Japan's roughly 350 billion yen ($3.75 billion) annual government space budget through its oversight of JAXA.

With a charter for change, ONSP reports directly to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has final say over which of JAXA's programs are funded. In turn, ONSP's Basic Plan resets Japan's space policy to three mutually reinforcing goals: promoting national security; boosting industry; and securing the country's technological independence for all major space applications from reliance on foreign agencies—providing this supports the first two goals.

Kunitomo asserts that ONSP will continue to support frontier science as a lower priority, as long as it is based on the sort of low-cost, high-impact space science designed by JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, embodied by the Hayabusa asteroid sample-return mission. But former high-priority goals to promote environmental monitoring and human space activities and put robots on the Moon now have been moved down the list and must fight for funding, Kunitomo says.

Instead, only one of the three ONSP core programs—Japan's launch vehicles—is run by JAXA.

The top-priority program, run by the ONSP, is to build out the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Japan's regional GPS overlay, with a budget approved for maintaining a constellation of four QZSS satellites by around 2018. A post-2020 build-out to a seven-satellite constellation will then give Japan its own independent regional positioning, navigation and timing capability.

The second is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (Asean) newly sanctioned disaster management network run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). This requires a constellation of Earth-observing satellites equipped with X- and L-band radar and hyperspectral sensors to monitor Southeast Asia. Japan will provide at least the first three satellites, with more funding through foreign aid packages. Vietnam has signed up for two X-band satellites. The system's once-daily global-revisit policy requires a minimum constellation of four satellites that will need to be replenished every five years or so.

The third priority has JAXA focusing on improving the current H-2A launch vehicle in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) while continuing improvement of its new low-cost, launch-on-demand Epsilon solid-fuel rocket for smaller payloads. A variant of the Epsilon will be uprated to around 1,800 kg (3,970 lb.) from 1,200 kg to low Earth orbit, matching that of its predecessor M-V launch vehicle.

JAXA projects that fall outside the Basic Plan's goals but already were funded for development will continue if it would be counter-productive to stop them, says Kunitomo. These include launching the upcoming ALOS-2 land-observing system and the Global Precipitation Measurement/Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar satellites. The Greenhouse Gases-Observing Satellite-2 (Gosat-2) will also continue, as it is funded by the Environment Ministry, not MEXT/JAXA.

But under a Feb. 25 budget plan drawn up by Kunitomo, several programs face close scrutiny, including the HTV-R sample-return mission, any future launches of the HTV-R transfer vehicle beyond the current seven planned to 2016, lunar exploration and all of JAXA's follow-on environmental missions.

The ONSP's logic for reauditing the HTV-R is harsh. As it is too expensive to commercialize, the H-2B will be ditched as dead once its HTV duties are finished. The HTV's only purpose is to service the International Space Station, and Japan must minimize its costs, so logically the HTV, HTV-R and H-2B have no future beyond 2016 and the HTV's seventh flight. Indeed, one industry official tells Aviation Week that Japan may launch at most two post-2016 missions.

The Basic Plan mandates that the agency's already-low-priority environmental-monitoring programs undergo a "focus and reselection process." This means the proposed GCOM-C, EarthCARE cloud radar mission and ALOS-3 electro-optical missions, the second main plank of Japan's flagship international cooperation programs with NASA and the European Space Agency, will struggle for funding, and not all will make it, says Kunitomo. But a reconfigured ALOS-3 that can adapt to the Asean disaster management network at a fraction of its projected price would be more acceptable, he concedes.

As for the putative H-X, Kunitomo says ONSP questions the need to spend $2 billion and 8-10 years to develop it. JAXA and MHI say the program requires a launch system that no one can guarantee will be commercially competitive.

Industry's reaction to all of this appears to range from stress to relief to anxiety. Masaru Uji, a general manager at the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies, says QZSS and Asean network programs will provide steady, long-term business for Japan's two satellite integrators: Mitsubishi Electric, which is supplying its DS2000 bus for the QZSS; and NEC Corp., with its METI-funded 300-kg-class multipurpose Asnaro bus for the network.

The aerospace trade association figures show that for 2011, Japan's total space sales—both overseas and domestic, and including all subcontractor revenues—amounted to only ¥265 billion ($2.7 billion). That is down from a peak of ¥379 billion in 1998, with overseas commercial sales accounting for only the low teens in revenue and JAXA programs taking the lion's share of domestic business.

The Basic Plan "is moving in the right direction. You can't build a business without infrastructure," says Satoshi Tsuzukibashi, director of the Industrial Technology Bureau at Keidanren, Japan's most powerful business lobby.

Uji is particularly pleased for NEC, which has been awarded a so-called private finance initiative to develop the QZSS ground segment, spreading steady payments to the company for at least the next 15 years. Anticipating the Basic Plan this January, NEC announced a ¥9.9 billion investment in a new 9,000-sq.-meter (97,000-sq.-ft.) satellite facility in Fuchu, west of Tokyo, to build a fleet of Asnaro satellites, which it also hopes to market commercially under the Nextar brand, says Yasuo Horiuchi, senior manager of NEC's satellite business development office.

Similarly, Mitsubishi Electric said in March that it completed a doubling of its satellite production capacity to eight buses annually at its Kamakura Works. Having already sold four of the 13 DS2000-based satellites to commercial satellite services customers, increased volume spurred by the QZSS program will create further efficiencies and cost competitiveness, says Executive Director Eiichi Hikima.

MHI may face a different challenge, however. Ryo Nakamura, director of H-2A-2B launch services in the company's Space Systems Div., says an improved H-IIA may gain one commercial contract in 2015-16. This may convince ONSP to fund the H-X (or H-3), whose first stage was supposed to use an LE-X engine with a high-thrust expander bleed cycle. Before the Basic Plan, the rocket was slated in JAXA's road map to undergo the first of its three test launches around 2018. Hidemasa Nakanishi, manager of strategy and planning at the Space Systems Div., thinks it is Japan's duty as an advanced spacefaring nation to complete its participation in the International Space Station, thus learning pressurized return technologies through the HTV-R.

JAXA's Sasaki points out that nothing has been cut yet, and JAXA is going to battle to preserve as much of its "traditional" programs as it can in the relevant subcommittees though the spring. Key decisions will come in June.

Meet the thousands of people ready to die on Mars
For $40, those who couldn't be astronauts see Mars One as their chance

Casey Johnston - Ars Technica

Aaron Hamm, an assistant hotel engineer who deals with HVAC, cooling systems, and maintenance, lacks the traditional qualifications to be an astronaut. But that doesn't mean he wants to stay on Earth. "I felt… I was discouraged as a child [from becoming an astronaut] just because of how unbelievably competitive it is," Hamm told Ars. "I'm a very intelligent person and I'm driven to try and achieve my dreams but, at the same time, I felt like it was an really unrealistic goal to try and pursue. As smart as I am, there's always plenty of people that are smarter."

Hamm, an Ars forum user by the name of Quisquis, has just applied for the private Mars One colony program. For him, a large part of the appeal is that the program seeks a different type of astronaut.

A new horizon

Mars One is a private space mission that hopes to send a group of people to Mars in a decade and leave them there to foster the first human colony. It has received endorsement and support from the likes of Gerard 't Hooft, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. But it has also been criticized on several counts, including treating a serious life-threatening scenario as a reality show for the purposes of monetization and seeking funding while being glib about nearly all the practical details.

Before applicants even get to see the application, they must pay an application fee of around $38 USD (the price varies depending on country of residence). They fill out a public-facing profile and answer several private questions about achievements and awards, incidents that have frightened or stressed them out and how they dealt with them, personality types they find difficult to handle, and how they deal with cultures other than their own. To date, 30,000 other Red Planet hopefuls have applied.

"I want to see the sun rise over a completely new horizon, in a completely new sky. I think that's worth any price," wrote Erica Meszaros, another Mars One applicant, in her personal essay.

Meszaros is a software developer by trade and interned with NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. She states that astronauts are traditionally chosen "from the Air Force" or—more recently, with the success of $200,000 per flight projects like Virgin Galactic—from "those with deep pockets."

Part of Mars One's pitch has been that much of the technology for traveling to and maintaining residence on Mars already exists; it's just a matter of marshaling resources and initiative to get there. Both Hamm and Meszaros echoed this sentiment. Despite being publicly vague on the details, Mars One leaders maintain that they know the cost of the mission ($6 billion) and that it can all be assembled and launched in 10 years.

All applicants make a video as part of their public facing profile discussing, in brief, why they want to or are suited for a mission to Mars. "I have a great sense of humor, so I really get along with everybody," said Francisco, a 32 year-old Argentinian man who works in "the commercial area at a plastic containers factory."

"I've got a feeling that I don't belong here, but out there," said Anders, a 51-year-old Swedish man who has the most popular profile on the site. "What makes me the perfect candidate? Well, I'm single. I'm flexible."

"I believe that the challenge that I'm putting up with everybody… If anybody can challenge me with the knowledge and all the things that I can do, then I give up, but if not, I would like to be the first one to go," said Vasile Sofroni, a 54-year-old Romanian man with the second most popular profile.

The technical viability of the project has been repeatedly called into question, though detailed critiques are hard to come by because the project is so vague (the New York Times summed up the general feeling in a recent article that talked about the "significant skepticism" that Mars One "has raised in some quarters").

Critics also criticized Mars One for its attempt to turn the trip into an extravagant and potentially dangerous reality TV show. The first round of the application process allows people to vote on applicants based on their public profiles to push them through to the next qualifying round (though there is not, per the current design, any public involvement going forward).

But neither Hamm nor Meszaros see themselves as fame seekers. "I don't, right now, have a strategy for progressing, other than trying to get across my passion… for this endeavor," Meszaros told me. Hamm said that he has been pushing his application and name out on sites like Facebook ("my friends are already a little tired of it") but notes he has "never applied to another reality show."

Worth the risk

By now, Mars One has proven that there are sufficient number of people who don't need to know any technical details for about the potential chance to live on Mars. Tens of thousands have plunked down cash to throw their would-be astronaut helmets into the ring without needing virtually any concrete information.

But should space travel push come to reality entertainment shove, aren't applicants at least a little afraid of—how to put this delicately—either a fiery space death or a frigid Martian death?

"The purpose that I would be pursuing is so much greater than myself," Hamm said. "I think the benefit to humanity is overwhelming of those fears."

Mars One: Meet private companies dominating future of space exploration

Roger Pattison - PolicyMic.com

Children born today will grow up wanting to become doctors, firefighters, policemen, and … corporate astronauts?

Yes, truly, gone are the days in which government-driven space exploration alone will take us beyond our imaginations and to a galaxy far, far away. And yes, that is a good thing!

Many have cried out in protest over the decommissioning of NASA's shuttle program in early 2012 and have heralded many budget cuts as the demise of man's expansion into the galaxy. Despite this outcry, there lies evidence that there is more hope than ever for our children to become the next generation of explorers to expand the boundaries of man's reach.

In fact, in the spot left open by NASA, there now are dozens of burgeoning space companies vying for the opportunity to fill the government agency's shoes. NASA has already given a $1.2 billion contract to SpaceX to use their Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station, and could soon ferry astronauts at a much lower cost than using Russia's space shuttle to do the same job. NASA has also started a $1.9 billion partnership with another rocket company, Orbital Sciences, in an effort to create a robust and competitive space industry.

Commercial spaceflight is also coming into its own — most notably, with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. In fact, the private space company performed a landmark test flight of its SpaceShipTwo space plane yesterday, lighting up the craft's rocket motor in flight for the first time. This marks another major milestone for Virgin as the company is planning to launch its first suborbital SpaceShipTwo flights by the end of this year. And for those who can shell out $200,000 a head, passenger flights are slated to begin in 2014.

Also, amazingly, plans are moving forward to lasso an asteroid and pull it closer to Earth, so astronauts may visit it by 2025. This has provided a huge boost to asteroid mining companies like Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources as they attempt to develop viable means of extracting water, precious metals like platinum, and other valuable resources from space rocks.

Some visionaries want to escape the bonds of government-funded spaceflight. And, Netherlands-based nonprofit, Mars One, has a novel idea to do just that by privately funding a manned colony on Mars.

The venture plans to cover the estimated one-way, $6 billion cost by creating a global reality television show depicting the selection of the initial astronauts and the crew's first years on Mars and selling corporate sponsorships and the broadcasting rights to the series. After pre-screening the astronaut candidates, viewers would even be able to help select the crew.

Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp has said that, "[The idea] was triggered when I saw the revenue figures of the International Olympic Committee ... After that we talked to many different experts in the field, all of whom are convinced the media value is far greater than the cost associated with our mission to Mars."

All this only represents a few of the dozens of private space companies and bold, new ideas now getting off the ground. Truthfully, the growth of the private space industry has been quite dramatic in the past few years, and it'll only increase its pace once these markets take hold.

As with any start-up technology industry, the space market and its technologies are developing rapidly, and often in unpredictable ways. While private-sector space ventures were once considered implausible, they are now becoming the norm. Whether it is in transportation, research, exploration, resource mining, tourism, or even the colonization of other planets, the private sector has a key role to play in mankind's efforts to expand its presence and knowledge beyond Earth.

END

Keep the shuttle flying

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - May 8, 2013 and JSC Today

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