Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: May 9, 2013 6:34:30 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - May 9, 2013 and JSC Today

Thursday, May 9, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
2.            Expedition 35 Crew Landing May 13
3.            Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting -- May 14
4.            Explore IT With the CEO of Wolfram Research on Thursday, May 16
5.            Starport Presents: Father-Daughter Dance 2013
6.            Starport Summer Camp
7.            JSC Career Exploration Program -- 19th Annual and Final Awards Ceremony
8.            Upcoming NESC and NEN Webcast -- May 15
9.            Steel Erection ViTS: June 14
10.          Society of Women Engineers -- Texas Space Center Section Movie Matinee
________________________________________     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.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
Innovation 2013 had a great kickoff, and I hope more of you got to see it than last week's poll showed. The Teague was pretty full, and Colleen Barrett was especially good. Keep checking the Innovation website for the input we received on JSC 2.0. What part of Barrett's speech did you like the best? I've given you my five favorite pieces: pick one. Your time travels took you back to WWI and the Great War. Sorry for picking mostly conflicting times to visit! This past week Mama June and Sugar Bear (Honey Boo Boo's parents) got married, and I meant to send them a wedding gift. Unfortunately, I forgot where they were registered. Walmart? Bass Pro? Cracker Barrel? Help me remember in question two. Pumpkin your Chickadee on over to get this week's poll.
Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

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2.            Expedition 35 Crew Landing May 13
Three of the crew members on the International Space Station are scheduled to end five months on the complex on the afternoon and evening of Monday, May 13. NASA TV will provide complete coverage beginning on Sunday, May 12, with the change-of-command ceremony, in which Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency will turn over the reins of station command to Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov. Expedition 35 officially begins on Monday evening with the undocking of the Soyuz TMA-07M spacecraft. Coverage continues May 13 and 14 with the landing of the Expedition 35 landing crew members and post-landing activities.
The change-of-command ceremony can be seen on NASA TV on Sunday, May 12, at 2:40 p.m. CDT. Stay tuned to JSC Today for more NASA TV landing coverage times.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 http://www.nasa.gov/station

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3.            Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting -- May 14
"Progress, Not Perfection" reminds Al-Anon members to look to the positive side of incremental improvements and change. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who work or live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet Tuesday, May 14, in Building 32, Room 146, from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Visitors are welcome.
Event Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:11:55 AM
Event Location: B. 32, room 146

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Employee Assistance Program x36130 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/EAP/Pages/default.aspx

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4.            Explore IT With the CEO of Wolfram Research on Thursday, May 16
In a rare speaking appearance, Dr. Stephen Wolfram, founder and CEO of Wolfram Research, will discuss Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha and the next steps in computation. The event will be simulcast from 4 to 5:30 p.m. CDT Thursday, May 16, in Building 1, Room 966. It is on a first come, first served basis.
James McClellan, JSC's and the Information Resources Directorate's Chief Technology Officer, arranged this collaboration event with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
All JSC civil servants and contractors are invited to join us for what should be an extremely special Explore Information Technology Seminar. For more, contact McClellan.
Wolfram has been a long-time innovator in science, technology and business. Building on the three revolutions he's started -- Mathematica, A New Kind of Science and the Wolfram|Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine -- he's now launching several major new directions. Wolfram received a Ph.D. in physics from Caltech at the age of 20.
Event Date: Thursday, May 16, 2013   Event Start Time:4:00 PM   Event End Time:5:30 PM
Event Location: B.1/966

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JSC IRD Outreach x45678 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx

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5.            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 beginning May 6. 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

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

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6.            Starport Summer Camp
Summer is fast approaching, and Starport will again be offering summer camp for youth at the Gilruth Center all summer long. We have tons of fun planned, and we expect each session to fill up, so get your registrations in early! Weekly themes are listed on our website, as well as information regarding registration and all the necessary forms.
Ages: 6 to 12
Times: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Dates: June 10 to Aug. 16 in one-week sessions
Fee per session: $140 per child for dependents | $160 per child for non-dependents
New for this summer! Ask about our sibling discounts and discounts for registering for all sessions.
Registration is now open to dependents and non-dependents (family and friends) of the JSC workforce.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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7.            JSC Career Exploration Program -- 19th Annual and Final Awards Ceremony
Please join us for the 19th annual and final Awards and Recognition Ceremony for JSC's year-long Career Exploration Program (CEP) interns. There will be a meet-and-greet at 1:30 p.m., and the program will begin promptly at 1:50 p.m. with guest speaker Dr. Ellen Ochoa. Interns and mentors will be recognized for their outstanding achievements. For 19 years, the CEP has strived to meet NASA's mission by developing a critical pool of talented and diverse individuals who will make up the future leaders of the nation's and NASA's workforce. By providing students with invaluable work experience and projects in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and business (STEM-B), CEP has served as a mechanism for students to complete their education and embark on a successful career in STEM-B fields. Current CEP student interns, CEP alumni, mentors, co-workers, teachers, family and friends are invited to attend this awards ceremony.
Event Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2013   Event Start Time:1:30 PM   Event End Time:3:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

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Carolyn Snyder x34719 http://www.cep.usra.edu

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8.            Upcoming NESC and NEN Webcast -- May 15
The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) and NASA Engineering Network (NEN) will host the following webcast on Wednesday, May 15, from 1 to 2 p.m. CDT.
Title: The Evolution of Guidance, Navigation and Control in Mars Entry, Descent and Landing
Speaker: Miguel San Martin
For more information and to register for the live webcast (civil servants and contractors), please click here.
Click the "Sign in to Register" button. You will be redirected to LaunchPad to enter your user name and password. After a successful authentication, click the "Register Now" button. You will receive a confirmation email. If you can't attend the live webcast, please register anyway and we will notify you when the recorded (on-demand) version is available online.
Please visit the NESC Academy site to View all upcoming or previously recorded webcasts on the NESC Academy site. To hear about future webcasts, please join the NEN community of practice in your area of interest.
Hope Rachel Venus 757-864-9530

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9.            Steel Erection ViTS: June 14
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0060: The primary purpose of the course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for safe operations involving the erection of steel structures. The course will emphasize safety awareness for steel erectors, supervisors and safety personnel, and will further their understanding of standards and regulations related to such work, including Occupational Safety and Health Administration 1926.750 Subpart R, ANSI standards and NASA requirements. Students are provided with basic information concerning scope and application, definitions, site layout, erection plan, hoisting and rigging and structural steel assembly. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. This may be the last time this class is offered. Use this direct link to SATERN for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Friday, June 14, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 17 / Room 2026

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Shirley Robinson x41284

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10.          Society of Women Engineers -- Texas Space Center Section Movie Matinee
Bring your favorite movie snacks and join us for "3 Idiots," a blockbuster Bollywood film featuring famous Indian actors, including the "Indian Tom Hanks."
The movie "3 Idiots" is about four Indian engineering students' college experiences and where their careers took them 10 years later. We'll introduce the movie by talking about aspects of Indian experience that it accurately depicts. We'll follow up with a discussion about aspects that are "only in India" and what it tells us about how our own engineering instruction could improve.
Send an e-mail to get the SWE member's address and to let us know you'll be joining us.
Hope to see you there!
Event Date: Sunday, June 9, 2013   Event Start Time:1:00 PM   Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Private residence of SWE member

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Irene Chan x41378

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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
Thursday, May 9, 2013

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Continued Sequestration Will Short-Circuit SLS

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

Barbara Mikulski is worried. The powerful Democratic U.S. senator from Baltimore has seen a lot of big government programs go sour because the funding dried up before they were finished, and now that she is chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, she says she is afraid it is about to happen to the whole U.S. space program. "We're going to get to the end of the day with a fiscal quagmire, unresolved, with the space agency and DOD [Defense Department] and other agencies underestimating what it's going to take, and then we end up with programs that falter or sputter," she says. "NASA's mission faltering or sputtering really can blow the whole program."

Space Station Is Big Step Toward Mars, Astronaut Says

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

A NASA astronaut sees his work aboard the International Space Station as a means of bringing humanity a little closer to setting foot on Mars. During a 25-minute webcast Tuesday, members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation's Subcommittee on Science and Space asked NASA's Tom Marshburn to delve into the science, downtime and other parts of life on the space station. "I believe I'm living and working in the first Mars vehicle," Marshburn said during the event. "Everything that we've learned here is going to be used, and needs to be used, in the next generation of [space-traveling] vehicles."

No Buzz: Aldrin Trashes Obama Asteroid Mission
The Apollo-era astronaut says NASA should be working manned Mars missions

Jason Koebler - US News & World Report

The second man to set foot on the moon wants to see NASA send people further into space than he ever traveled. Buzz Aldrin trashed NASA's plan to bring an asteroid into lunar orbit in a speech, advocating for a Mars colony. Aldrin, who recently published the book "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," said at the Washington, D.C. Humans to Mars summit Wednesday that President Barack Obama's asteroid mining plan is merely a distraction. "Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What's that have to do with space exploration?" he asked.

Buzz Aldrin Has New Yorkers Buzzing About Mars

Megan Gannon - Space.com

When Buzz Aldrin's new book landed in stores Tuesday (May 7), starstruck fans turned out in droves to see the legendary Apollo 11 astronaut talk about his vision for creating the first permanent human colony on Mars. At least 300 people packed into the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Union Square, some carrying stacks of Aldrin's "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration" (National Geographic Books) to be signed, while others just tried to catch a glimpse of the second man ever to walk on the moon.

Farming on Mars: NASA Ponders Food Supply for 2030s Mission

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

The first humans to live on Mars might not identify as astronauts, but farmers. To establish a sustainable settlement on Earth's solar system neighbor, space travelers will have to learn how to grow food on Mars — a job that could turn out to be one of the most vital, challenging and labor-intensive tasks at hand, experts say. "One of the things that every gardener on the planet will know is producing food is hard — it is a non-trivial thing," Penelope Boston, director of the Cave and Karst Studies program at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, said Tuesday at the Humans 2 Mars Summit here at George Washington University. "Up until several hundred years ago it occupied most of us for most of the time." Early Mars colonists may have to revert to this mode of life to ensure their own survival, she suggested.

Engine Replacement Delays Antares ISS Mission

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily

First flight of the Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial cargo carrier to the International Space Station will slip at least a month because of a delay of three to four weeks while a surplus Soviet-era engine is replaced on its Antares launch vehicle. With the delay, Orbital says it will be ready to launch the first complete Antares/Cygnus stack from Wallops Island, Va., in early August instead of late June or early July as originally hoped. However, a potential conflict with the arrival of another Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) could slip the first Cygnus berthing with the ISS into September, Orbital said.

NASA tests Orion crew module

Thomas Anderson - TG Daily (Tech Generation)

Completely surrounded by a massive 20-foot-high structure called the crew module static load test fixture, the Orion crew module is being put through a series of tests that simulate the massive loads the spacecraft would experience during its mission. Orion is NASA's new exploration spacecraft, designed to carry humans farther into space than ever before. During its first flight test next year, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), it will travel 3,600 miles into space and return to Earth. This will allow NASA to evaluate Orion's performance in preparation for future deep space journeys.

Space Food Gross Out: Tasting Food from The International Space Station

Tested.com

Chefs David Chang and Traci Des Jardins joined us at NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory to spice up food on the International Space Station. While they were tasting, they happened upon a couple of less than delectable options. Watch what happens and come back next week for more from NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

What Chefs David Chang And Traci Des Jardins Think Of Space Food
Verdict: "Some very questionable flavor profiles"

Paul Adams - Popular Science

Two of the nation's finest chefs were invited to NASA's Space Food Systems Laboratory by Tested.com to sample the meals served on the International Space Station. Apparently, the space dishes, which are retorted for long-term storage -- always an obstacle to flavor -- don't taste so great. David Chang, empire-builder of Momofuku, compares the crawfish etouffée to prison food, and Traci Des Jardins, whose San Francisco restaurant Jardinière is quite tasty, fares no better with tofu in mustard sauce. This is why NASA is training potential Mars astronauts in how to cook for themselves. Apparently the dehydrated coffee tastes OK though.
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What Professional Chefs Think About Astronaut Coffee
The pleasures and drawbacks of caffeine, Capri Sun-ified

Megan Garber - The Atlantic

So we finally have an answer to that age-old culinary question: What do professional foodies think about ... space coffee? Two celebrity chefs -- David Chang of Momofuku and Traci Des Jardins of Jardiniere -- made a trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Their particular mission? To do some testing of the culinary offerings developed in the Space Food Systems Laboratory. The pair sampled two different be-baggied beverages -- Kona Coffee With Cream and Kona Coffee With Cream and Sugar -- each containing rehydrated coffee paired, as the baggies' labels suggest, with the traditional accompaniments. And the chefs compared the results sort-of favorably to coffee of a more Earthly variety: Astro-coffee tastes a little like Folger's, they said, or Taster's Choice. Not great ... but, hey, not bad, either. The pair differed a little, though, when it came to the coffee's packaging: a Capri Sun-style pouch complete with a substantial built-in straw. While Des Jardins found the experience of drinking warm coffee through a straw "very strange," Chang was a fan of the microgravity-friendly incarnation of the classic coffee mug. He's clumsy, he said, so caffeine delivered in an unbreakable pouch is actually sort of ideal for him. "I'm thinking this is actually a pretty ingenious way to drink coffee in the morning." Your move, Starbucks. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

Cast of Broadway's 'Matilda' chat with astronaut

Mark Kennedy - Associated Press

The cast members of the Tony Award-nominated "Matilda" are arguably all stars. This week, they chatted with a man closer to the actual cosmic ones. About three dozen cast members - including many children - packed a small room near Times Square on Tuesday to speak to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station via a 30-minute live satellite hookup provided by NASA.

Skrillex Has Close Encounter with NASA's Johnson Space Center

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

What is Skrillex doing at NASA's Johnson Space Center? The dub-step musical sensation (known for his hit "Bangarang") has been sharing his experiences from the home of the space agency's astronaut corps and Mission Control by posting pictures, videos and messages on Twitter Wednesday.

Skrillex's Job Is Better Than Yours: NASA Edition

Philip Sherburne - Spin

If you follow the Twitter feed of NASA's Johnson Space Center, you'll know that Skrillex has been spending the afternoon at the space agency's facilities in Houston, Texas. What has he been doing there? Oh, the usual: taking a virtual-reality spacewalk, meeting astronaut Mike Massimino, eating space food in the Astronaut Food Lab (which looks suspiciously like a conference room, but hey, budgets are tight), even driving rovers and going on board the freaking space shuttle. (No, we're not envious. Not even a little.) We hope that Skrillex has been paying attention to his guided tour, because he's been live-tweeting the whole thing, from the world's biggest indoor pool to what looks like the world's biggest tea strainer, which we can only imagine would come in handy if they ever do find water on Mars.

For Sarah Brightman, 'Dreamchaser' is a prelude to upcoming space journey

Mike Melia - PBS News Hour

Sarah Brightman's voice has been often described as heavenly, which more than ever seems especially appropriate, as the soprano has recently turned her sights to the skies. Her latest album, "Dreamchaser," is inspired by her life-long fascination with space, and in two years Brightman's childhood dream is set to become reality when she boards a rocket and travels to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Fully Unwrapped for NASA Exhibit

Space News

Space Shuttle Atlantis, which is set to go on public display June 29 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, was fully revealed April 26 after workers spent two days peeling off its protective shrink-wrap cover of the past five months. "It looks fantastic," Tim Macy, director of project development and construction for Delaware North Parks and Resorts, which runs the visitor complex for NASA, said after seeing Atlantis unwrapped. "It looks better than I thought it was going to look." "It looks completely different with the plastic on it than the plastic off," Macy said. "But this is the way it is supposed to look. It looks so much like the [exhibit's conceptual] drawings."

Astronaut Julie Payette to head federal science museum in Montreal

Canadian Press

She has worked in outer space, Houston and Washington, and now Julie Payette has a job back in her hometown. The astronaut will become chief operating officer of the Montreal Science Centre, a federal museum with a variety of interactive exhibits and educational movies. The two-time space traveler will begin her new job July 15. She also becomes vice-president of the Canada Lands Company, which hosts the site at Montreal's Old Port.

Dennis Tito: It's Time to 'Take the First Step' Toward Colonizing Mars
Multimillionaire former astronaut doesn't want to wait until 2030s as NASA suggests

Jason Koebler - US News & World Report

The head of a planned 2018 flyby of Mars said Wednesday that it's time for humans to "take the first step" toward inhabiting Mars. Dennis Tito, a multimillionaire and former astronaut, has financed the first two years of the mission, which seeks two people to become the first to come within 100 miles of the Red Planet. Wednesday, at the Humans to Mars summit in Washington, D.C., he said he's sick of waiting for someone else to go there. As he took the stage Wednesday, he pointed to a poster that said "Humans to Mars by 2030," NASA's timeline for a Mars mission, and started talking. "I can't wait until 2030. That's too long of a time to maintain enthusiasm," he said.

Northrop Grumman Completes Golden Spike Lunar Lander Study

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.com

More than four decades since its last human-piloted craft touched down on the Moon, Northrop Grumman has concluded a feasibility study of a new commercial landing vehicle for the Golden Spike Company. It includes a novel, low-mass ascent stage concept, dubbed "Pumpkin", and centers on the need to be packaged within a 5-meter payload fairing envelope, as well as offering insights into the kind of propellants necessary to accomplish Golden Spike's goal of bootprints on the lunar surface by 2020.

The New Race To Space, From L.A.

Lori Kozlowski - Forbes

In ten years, we could possibly take cruises around the moon. In space vehicles made for space tourism. Not for scientific missions, but for the simple joy of seeing stars. That's the dream being put forth by Virgin Galactic, which last week broke the speed of sound in a rocket-powered test flight from their base in Mojave, California. "We started going to space 50 years ago. And in that time, about 530 people have been to space. Which I think is a ridiculously small number of people. That's about 10 people a year," said George Whitesides, CEO and President of Virgin Galactic.

SpaceX beach bill advances to Senate

Laura Martinez - Brownsville Herald

A bill that would allow the temporary closure of Boca Chica Beach for possible rocket launches now moves on to the full Texas Senate for a vote. The Senate Committee on Administration voted Wednesday to recommend approval of House Bill 2623 after it had been delayed earlier in the week because of questions and legal issues brought forward by state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston.

Bill would create Alabama Space Authority to develop a spaceport

Mike Cason - Birmingham News

A bill to create an Alabama Space Authority to develop a spaceport cleared a House committee today after one of the proponents promised to address concerns that the state could go into debt with the project. The bill's sponsor said the state would not incur debt. Supporters said the bill is a key step for the state being able to obtain a federal study grant and license to eventually develop a port for commercial space flights.

Navy wants space warriors

Sam Fellman - Navy Times

Seeking more space warriors to operate new satellites, the Navy has expanded the number of jobs in the space cadre, an assortment of specially trained engineers, operators and astronauts. And officials have a new, better way of measuring their level of experience, according to a new policy released April 23. But what exactly is a "space war fighter," you ask? Think less "Star Wars" and more mission control.

Astronaut Sally Ride to be remembered at national tribute

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

NASA will join journalist Maria Shriver, tennis legend Billie Jean King and Grammy-award winning vocalist Patti Austin in remembering the life of Sally Ride, the United States' first woman in space, at a tribute in the nation's capital. The special evening event, titled "Sally Ride: A Lifetime of Accomplishment, A Champion of Science Literacy" will be hosted on May 20 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The event is open to the public, though there are limited tickets available.
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COMPLETE STORIES

Continued Sequestration Will Short-Circuit SLS

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

Barbara Mikulski is worried. The powerful Democratic U.S. senator from Baltimore has seen a lot of big government programs go sour because the funding dried up before they were finished, and now that she is chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, she says she is afraid it is about to happen to the whole U.S. space program.

"We're going to get to the end of the day with a fiscal quagmire, unresolved, with the space agency and DOD [Defense Department] and other agencies underestimating what it's going to take, and then we end up with programs that falter or sputter," she says. "NASA's mission faltering or sputtering really can blow the whole program."

The source of Mikulski's fiscal- quagmire nightmare is sequestration, the automatic across-the-board federal-spending cuts that Congress set up to force itself to reduce rationally. She and Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on her subcommittee, will tell anyone who will listen that it is time to return to "regular order," which means federal funds will be allocated, authorized and appropriated like they were before sequestration. The senators represent states with major NASA field centers—Goddard and Marshall, respectively—and the regular order would make it a lot simpler to continue nurturing the high-dollar programs that mean jobs and business for their constituents.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says the agency has been able to keep its major programs on schedule under sequestration this year without furloughing employees by holding down costs whenever possible. The agency drafted its $17.7 billion budget request for fiscal 2014 on the assumption that Congress and the White House would be able to figure out a better way to handle budget cuts.

Mikulski and Shelby consider that budget request inadequate, particularly in the funding for the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) that is intended to take humans beyond low Earth orbit. NASA wants $820 million to keep at least two competitors in the running for a commercial route to the International Space Station, but many lawmakers would like to see $300 million of that transferred into the $1.385 billion SLS request for fiscal 2014.

At Marshall Space Flight Center, work on the big new rocket appears to be going well. Preliminary design review is scheduled to begin June 17, and managers do not see any show-stoppers. A lot of the hardware has been repurposed from other flight vehicles, and getting to this point has had more to do with making the components work together in new configurations rather than the time-consuming detail work of developing new engines.

For example, the first four SLS flights will use surplus RD-25D space shuttle main engines, four at a time. The engines flew three at a time on much shorter vehicles than the towering SLS, which also will accelerate faster off the pad. That will create inlet pressures on the order of 300 psi, a higher level than the RD-25D can accommodate with only minor modifications, according to SLS chief engineer Garry Lyles. But the test stands at Stennis Space Center can only deliver 260 psi at the inlets, so the engines will be throttled back on the initial flights to hold the inlet pressures at 260 psi, Lyles says. The test facilities will be uprated when the follow-on RD-25Es come on line, he says.

Meanwhile, at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans crews have removed the cells where large sections of foam were applied to shuttle external tanks, making way for the Vertical Assembly Facility that will house the largest friction stir-welding machine ever built, to join SLS tank and dome assemblies once the final design is set.

There is a whole shelf-full of studies, going back decades, that conclude the best way to move humans beyond low Earth orbit is with a heavy-lifter like the SLS. Alternate methods—smaller launchers and in-space refueling depots, for example—fly in the face of the lessons learned with the dangerous and time-consuming process of building the ISS in orbit, and would require new technologies that will cost even more money and time. Instead, NASA has decided it wants $105 million in new funding to begin work on an asteroid-capture mission that would give a focus for near-term human exploration beyond low Earth orbit (AW&ST April 29, p. 36).

Mikulski is right. "Faltering and sputtering" now could indeed "blow the whole program." Congress already has shielded air traffic control from sequestration. Is the U.S. space program any less important than on-time arrivals for air travelers?

Space Station Is Big Step Toward Mars, Astronaut Says

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

A NASA astronaut sees his work aboard the International Space Station as a means of bringing humanity a little closer to setting foot on Mars.

During a 25-minute webcast Tuesday, members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation's Subcommittee on Science and Space asked NASA's Tom Marshburn to delve into the science, downtime and other parts of life on the space station.

"I believe I'm living and working in the first Mars vehicle," Marshburn said during the event. "Everything that we've learned here is going to be used, and needs to be used, in the next generation of [space-traveling] vehicles."

For example, understanding how to recycle resources efficiently in Earth orbit could lead to life-support systems that help send astronauts to Mars or farther out into the solar system, Marshburn said.

Life in space also changes the perspective of people living on the International Space Station, Marshburn added.

"I wish every head of state around the world could come see our Earth from the cupola," Marshburn said of the Earth-observing glass structure on the bottom of the station. "It's a 360-degree view ... I've found that I've fallen in love with the Earth again. It's almost impossible to pull your eyes away from it."

Although looking out the window is one of Marshburn's favorite pastimes on the station, crewmembers are usually too busy to stare back at Earth during their work hours, he said.

Marshburn told members of the subcommittee that his days in orbit are filled with science. The astronauts are responsible for conducting more than 100 experiments on the orbiting laboratory.

"What surprised me was that how busy and vibrant life and the work here is on the space station," Marshburn said. "The space station is a hard place to go to sleep. There's a lot going on up here. There's so much going on up here that it's hard to stop."

But it isn't all work and no play for the astronauts.

The crewmembers hold informal competitions that are very specific to life on the space station, Marshburn added. Oftentimes the six residents of the station will try to float through a module without touching a wall just for fun.

Marshburn launched into space with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield in December 2012. The three spaceflyers are scheduled to fly back to Earth next week on May 13.

No Buzz: Aldrin Trashes Obama Asteroid Mission
The Apollo-era astronaut says NASA should be working manned Mars missions

Jason Koebler - US News & World Report

The second man to set foot on the moon wants to see NASA send people further into space than he ever traveled. Buzz Aldrin trashed NASA's plan to bring an asteroid into lunar orbit in a speech, advocating for a Mars colony.

Aldrin, who recently published the book "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration," said at the Washington, D.C. Humans to Mars summit Wednesday that President Barack Obama's asteroid mining plan is merely a distraction.

"Bringing an asteroid back to Earth? What's that have to do with space exploration?" he asked. "If we were moving outward from there and an asteroid is a good stopping point, then fine. But now it's turned into a whole planetary defense exercise at the cost of our outward exploration."

The Apollo-era astronaut, now 83, has devised a plan to "cycle" spacecraft to Mars, continually launching humans to the red planet to expand on its colony. Aldrin advocates using Phobos, a moon of Mars, as a sort of home base for landing on the planet.

"Going to Mars means permanence, we'd become a two planet species. In Mars, we've been given a wonderful set of moons … where we can send continuous numbers of people," he said. The trips would be one-way.

"Their ultimate destination will be six feet under Mars," he said.

At the same summit, NASA administrator Charles Bolden defended the asteroid deflection mission, saying it was a step toward Mars, which he called "the ultimate destination in our solar system, and a priority for NASA."

That plan calls for NASA to send a robotic mission to a still undetermined asteroid, capture it and return it to lunar orbit. From there, a team of astronauts would be sent to sample the asteroid, sometime in the early 2020s.

"The asteroid and Mars are not either-ors," Bolden said. "The experience of exploring an asteroid will be critical for future Mars journeys."

Aldrin disagrees, saying that the asteroid mission excites no one and is a waste of time.

"It's been 44 years since we stepped on the lunar surface, and I think the progress since then is a little slow. I've always felt that Mars should be the next destination following our landings on the moon," he said. "I want the next generation to feel as we did back when I was privileged enough to be a part of Apollo program."

Buzz Aldrin Has New Yorkers Buzzing About Mars

Megan Gannon - Space.com

When Buzz Aldrin's new book landed in stores Tuesday (May 7), starstruck fans turned out in droves to see the legendary Apollo 11 astronaut talk about his vision for creating the first permanent human colony on Mars.

At least 300 people packed into the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Union Square, some carrying stacks of Aldrin's "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration" (National Geographic Books) to be signed, while others just tried to catch a glimpse of the second man ever to walk on the moon.

In the audience, one boy with an Apollo pen made rocket ship noises and at least one baby and one teenage girl separately were dressed in mock NASA astronaut flight suits. Nearly everyone rose to their feet to snap pictures when Aldrin made his entrance.

"I think it's pretty awesome that he's probably one of the only people in the city right now who has been off this planet," said Philip Gazzara, a Queens man who was excited to stumble on the event on his way to Trader Joe's.

Buzz Aldrin became a household name his star power when he set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969, bounding off the lunar module just after his crewmate, the late Neil Armstrong. But today Aldrin is firmly against sending humans back to the place he famously explored, for now at least.

He thinks the U.S. and a group of international partners need to set their sights on Mars, and ultimately he doesn't want to send astronauts there only to bring them back home. Aldrin envisions sending space pilgrims to colonize the forbidding planet, and his book he lays out a plan to get there, which includes an initial expedition to Mars' largest moon Phobos followed by deep-space cruisers that could ferry people from Earth to Mars.

In a Q&A session with co-author, Leonard David, a veteran space journalist and frequent contributor toSPACE.com, Aldrin touched on the historical implications of putting bootprints on the Red Planet.

"History, hundreds and thousands of years in the future, will observe that moment of making that commitment to do that," Aldrin said. Whichever leader decides to do so, Aldrin added, would exceed Alexander the Great, Genghis Kahn and Christopher Columbus in solar system fame.

Aldrin hopes to have an American president commit to continuous manned Mars exploration by 2019, and he is confident that space officials will have no trouble finding willing pioneers. The astronaut pointed to the 78,000 people who have already applied to become Red Planet colonists with the nonprofit organization Mars One.

Not everyone in the audience was as optomistic about Aldrin's vision. Tom Marshall, who came in from New Jersey, had serious doubts about the plan, hinging on U.S. partnership with other countries like China. "If we don't get along down here, we can't make it up there."

Asked why he came out to see Aldrin, Marshall simply said, "He landed on the moon."

That stark fact proves endlessly captivating to Aldrin's fans and the astronaut handles the inevitable flurry of questions about his Apollo 11 lunar landing with wit. One young boy in the audience asked Aldrin what he did during his trip to the moon, to which the astronaut replied, "We waited until it was time to come home." Another kid asked what it first felt like to step on the moon, and Aldrin answered shortly, "It felt good," teasing that "fighter pilots don't have feelings; we have ice water running through our veins."

Farming on Mars: NASA Ponders Food Supply for 2030s Mission

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

The first humans to live on Mars might not identify as astronauts, but farmers. To establish a sustainable settlement on Earth's solar system neighbor, space travelers will have to learn how to grow food on Mars — a job that could turn out to be one of the most vital, challenging and labor-intensive tasks at hand, experts say.

"One of the things that every gardener on the planet will know is producing food is hard — it is a non-trivial thing," Penelope Boston, director of the Cave and Karst Studies program at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, said Tuesday at the Humans 2 Mars Summit here at George Washington University. "Up until several hundred years ago it occupied most of us for most of the time."

Early Mars colonists may have to revert to this mode of life to ensure their own survival, she suggested.

Space settlers

NASA is actively engaged in researching how to farm on Mars and in space, as the agency is targeting its first manned Mars landing in the mid-2030s. And some NASA officials are wondering if that mission ought to be of long duration, rather than a short visit, given the difficulty of getting there and the possible benefits of an extended stay. "Sustained human presence — should that be our goal? I think that's a good discussion," Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator of NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said here Monday.

Yet growing food on Mars presents several significant challenges. While research on the International Space Station suggests plants can grow in microgravity, scientists don't know how the reduced gravity on Mars might affect different Earth crops. Mars' surface receives about half the sunlight Earth does, and any pressurized greenhouse enclosure will further block the light reaching plants, so supplemental light will be needed. Supplying that light requires a significant amount of power.

"In terms of the systems engineering required, it's not an insignificant challenge," said D. Marshall Porterfield, Life and Physical Sciences division director at NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. NASA has been studying using LED lighting to give plants only the wavelengths of light they need to boost efficiency, he said.

Researchers are also studying whether plants can survive under lower pressures than on Earth, because the more pressure inside a greenhouse, the more massive that greenhouse must be to contain it.

"You don't have to inflate that greenhouse to Earth-normal pressure in order for plants to grow," said Robert Ferl, director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research at the University of Florida. "Maintaining a full atmosphere of pressure is difficult on a planetary surface. You can take plants down to a tenth of an atmosphere and they'll still function."

However, then, the greenhouse must be sealed off from the crew's living quarters.

"Gardening in a pressure suit is going to be a real trick," said Taber MacCallum, chief executive officer of Paragon Space Development Corp.

Radiation danger

Martian farmers must also contend with the issue of radiation. Mars lacks Earth's thick protective atmosphere, so particles from space reach its surface that would be damaging to both people and plants. Thus, some kind of shielding or mitigation will be necessary.

"To maintain the infrastructure is the expensive part to grow plants, coupled with the need for redundancy if something fails," MacCallum said. In fact, so much mass must be launched from Earth to Mars to establish a Martian garden that if missions last less than 15 to 20 years, it might require less mass to simply send along food, he said.

Despite the challenges, though, scientists said farming on Mars will eventually be achieved.

"Every great migration in history happened because we took our agriculture with us," Ferl said. "When you learn to take your plants with you, you can not only go to visit, you can go there to stay and live."

Engine Replacement Delays Antares ISS Mission

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily

First flight of the Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial cargo carrier to the International Space Station will slip at least a month because of a delay of three to four weeks while a surplus Soviet-era engine is replaced on its Antares launch vehicle.

With the delay, Orbital says it will be ready to launch the first complete Antares/Cygnus stack from Wallops Island, Va., in early August instead of late June or early July as originally hoped. However, a potential conflict with the arrival of another Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) could slip the first Cygnus berthing with the ISS into September, Orbital said.

"If the HTV schedule slips, Orbital expects to be ready to go in August," the company said in a website update. "If the HTV holds its schedule, Orbital's Demonstration Mission could be planned for September."

The "Demonstration Mission" will mark the final milestone under Orbital's $288 million Space Act Agreement to develop a commercial resupply route to the space station under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) seed-money effort. If it is successful, the Dulles, Va.-based company can begin delivering cargo to the station under its eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA.

SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., which also received COTS funding and holds a follow-on CRS contract, already has used its Falcon 9/Dragon combination to deliver two loads of cargo to the ISS.

Orbital flew the Antares for the first time on April 21, demonstrating that the medium-lift rocket could fly from its new state-owned pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Seaport on Wallops Island, and separate a simulated Cygnus vehicle.

At the time of that mission the Cygnus to be used in the upcoming Demonstration Flight already had been loaded and fueled at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, in preparation for the late June launch date. However, Orbital said it needed to replace one of the two Aerojet AJ26 kerosene-fueled engines in its first stage "to further inspect and confirm a seal is functioning properly," according to the company website.

The AJ26 is a Soviet-era NK-33 engine that has been refurbished by Aerojet. The engine's configuration makes internal inspection difficult, and one of the AJ26s in Aerojet's inventory was badly damaged in a test-stand fire at Stennis Space Center when it leaked fuel during a hot-fire acceptance test for the Antares in June 2011.

Orbital said the two engines for the first CRS cargo flight of Antares/Cygnus, tentatively set for the fourth quarter of this year, "have been fully tested and are already at Wallops."

Data analysis from the April 21 inaugural Antares flight found its propulsion, guidance/navigation, attitude control, other flight systems and ground control systems "all performed as designed," Orbital reported Monday.

Instruments on the Cygnus mass simulator the rocket sent into orbit "confirmed Orbital's engineering models that predicted a benign launch environment for Cygnus and other future satellite payloads in terms of accelerations, vibrations, acoustics, thermal and other measurements captured during the flight," Orbital said.

The Antares uses twin AJ26s to power a kerosene-fueled first stage built by Yuzhnoye of the Ukraine, with an ATK Castor 30 as the solid-fuel upper stage. The Cygnus cargo capsule is built by Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy, while Orbital builds the Cygnus service module at its satellite manufacturing facility in Dulles.

NASA tests Orion crew module

Thomas Anderson - TG Daily (Tech Generation)

Completely surrounded by a massive 20-foot-high structure called the crew module static load test fixture, the Orion crew module is being put through a series of tests that simulate the massive loads the spacecraft would experience during its mission.

Orion is NASA's new exploration spacecraft, designed to carry humans farther into space than ever before. During its first flight test next year, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), it will travel 3,600 miles into space and return to Earth. This will allow NASA to evaluate Orion's performance in preparation for future deep space journeys.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems began static loads testing May 3 on the Orion EFT-1 crew module inside the Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians will use hydraulic cylinders to slowly apply pressure to various areas of the vehicle to simulate the loads it will be exposed to at different phases of the mission.

The tests will run throughout May and June, with different phases simulating launch, ascent, launch abort, launch abort system separation, reentry and landing. Lockheed Martin is conducting the tests based on a set of prototype flight requirements.

"We perform these tests to ensure the structural integrity of the crew module," said Carlos Garcia, a test engineer in the Orion Production Office at Kennedy.

During the months and weeks leading up to the static tests, NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians configured Orion for its placement on the test fixture and staged the associated equipment and hardware that would be needed to verify Orion is one step closer to being flight ready.

The pressurized crew module will be put through a series of eight different load tests, each one taking up to three days to complete. Each test will focus on a different area of the crew module and require a different configuration of the hydraulic actuators that are attached to it.

"The first four tests represent the ascent regime and the last four represent the re-entry flight regime," Garcia said.

One of the tests also will allow engineers to test repairs they made to cracks in the crew module's aluminum bulkhead that occurred last November. The cracks appeared as the vehicle was being pressurized for a proof pressure test aimed at verifying the vehicle's structural integrity and validating engineering models used to design it.

Repairs were made to the vehicle, and the series of tests provides an opportunity to repeat the proof pressure tests to ensure that they will hold, according to Garcia.

More than 1,600 strain gauges have been attached to Orion's external surface and inside the crew module to verify the crew cabin structure. Cameras have been placed around Orion to record any movement during the load tests.

Several other sensors have been attached at various locations around and beneath Orion to measure any deflection or expansion during the repeat of the proof pressure test.

"The set of tests are critical to build the foundation for the future of spaceflight," said Steve Cook, the Lockheed Martin Project Orion mechanical test engineer lead. "We learn from our successes and challenges."

Lockheed Martin and NASA engineers will monitor the tests from the completely refurbished lower level of the high bay, called the "tunnel," as its control room to fully execute the tests and compare the results with stress model predictions.

The Operations and Checkout Building serves as the final assembly and checkout facility for Orion.

EFT-1 is scheduled to launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV heavy rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in 2014. The agency's Space Launch System rocket will begin launching Orion in 2017.

Cast of Broadway's 'Matilda' chat with astronaut

Mark Kennedy - Associated Press

The cast members of the Tony Award-nominated "Matilda" are arguably all stars. This week, they chatted with a man closer to the actual cosmic ones.

About three dozen cast members - including many children - packed a small room near Times Square on Tuesday to speak to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station via a 30-minute live satellite hookup provided by NASA.

The questions came rolling in from eager Broadway youngsters holding their hands up in the air: Do you have any animals in space? Can you take a shower in space? Is space food tasty?

Tom Marshburn, one of six astronauts on the station some 250 miles above the Earth and speeding by at 17,500 mph, was happy to answer. Yes, there are critters onboard: They have alligator eggs and insect larvae to perform tests.

On showering, he said he hasn't had one in months. "It would be really messy and we don't have nearly enough water," he explained. Astronauts rely on sponge baths. "I can show you if you like," he said while squeezing out droplets of water that hung like blobs in the zero-gravity.

The food question was a hot one and Marshburn was diplomatic. "It's kind of like camping food but it's a lot better than camping food." He said he snacks on M&Ms, but there's no ice cream or fresh bread in space. "Tortillas are our favorite food because you can throw them like Frisbees."

The unusual Broadway-NASA hookup was made possible because Marshburn's brother-in-law is John Sanders, who plays both Sergei and the Party Entertainer in "Matilda."

Afterward, Sanders said he saw a connection between the young triple threats who thrill audiences nightly at the Shubert Theatre and Marshburn, an accomplished doctor who became a flight surgeon and flew on space shuttles, making three space walks.

"These kids are all experts in their field at such a young age. That's kind of like Tom. He excelled at a really young age," Sanders said. "So even though they're in the arts and he's in the sciences, they kind of share that connection."

In the crowd were three of the four rotating Matildas; Tim Minchin, who wrote the music and lyrics; Bertie Carvel, who plays the evil headmistress Miss Trunchbull; and Lauren Ward, who plays Miss Honey.

The script of "Matilda," about an extraordinary girl who changes her sad life, actually makes reference to space travel. In one story she invents, two circus performers become so well known that "people would come from miles around: kings, queens, celebrities and astronauts."

Minchin, a self-proclaimed science geek, watched the excited kids happily from the back. "It's great for them and it's nice because our show is about someone who is incredibly bright who wants to break out of their little life," he said. "It feels like it leeched."

Many of the Broadway folks wanted to know what the astronaut missed most in his 5-month sojourn, which ends later this month. Marshburn said he most missed his wife and daughter.

"After that, I'd have to say a nice cup of coffee that actually stays in the cup. Also a shower would be nice, and the sound of rain and wind," he said. "I miss weather. Any kind of weather would be really nice."

Sanders asked his brother-in-law if he'd gotten any better at flying.

"You want to judge for yourself?" Marshburn asked.

He was soon gliding effortlessly down a corridor horizontally.

The Broadway kids - used to standing ovations - erupted in claps and cheers. "It's a heck of a lot of fun, I have to say," Marshburn said before the hookup ended.

Skrillex Has Close Encounter with NASA's Johnson Space Center

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

What is Skrillex doing at NASA's Johnson Space Center? The dub-step musical sensation (known for his hit "Bangarang") has been sharing his experiences from the home of the space agency's astronaut corps and Mission Control by posting pictures, videos and messages on Twitter Wednesday.

NASA officials also posted about Skrillex's visit from the Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) Twitter page. The musician hung around to see astronauts training in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (the largest indoor pool in the world), and NASA officials let Skrillex (@skrillex) participate in a virtual training mission using the space center's virtual reality lab. The recording artist even had lunch with Mike Massimino (@Astro_Mike), the first NASA astronaut to send a tweet from space.

Famous musicians, movie stars and public officials have visited Johnson Space Center before, but the tours aren't usually publicized, NASA officials have said. Skrillex's trip simply serves as a reminder that even the hippest people on Earth can still be space geeks at heart.

Skrillex's Job Is Better Than Yours: NASA Edition

Philip Sherburne - Spin

If you follow the Twitter feed of NASA's Johnson Space Center, you'll know that Skrillex has been spending the afternoon at the space agency's facilities in Houston, Texas. What has he been doing there? Oh, the usual: taking a virtual-reality spacewalk, meeting astronaut Mike Massimino, eating space food in the Astronaut Food Lab (which looks suspiciously like a conference room, but hey, budgets are tight), even driving rovers and going on board the freaking space shuttle. (No, we're not envious. Not even a little.) We hope that Skrillex has been paying attention to his guided tour, because he's been live-tweeting the whole thing, from the world's biggest indoor pool to what looks like the world's biggest tea strainer, which we can only imagine would come in handy if they ever do find water on Mars.

Why is he there? When asked, Skrillex's publicist replied, "I'm gonna be dead honest with you, they won't tell me why they went. In fact, I don't think THEY know why they went, basically they hit me up a year ago asking to give him a tour, I can only assume that's what's going on."

Either that, or it's on some top-secret insect-overlord and/or lizard-people business. It's conceivable that the restless EDM innovator is researching hi-tech tricks to incorporate into his increasingly elaborate stage shows; he could be trying out zero-gravity maneuvers in his effort to attain the perfect drop.

It's also entirely possible that he's just there on a goodwill mission whose purpose is to give the space agency a little extra publicity. In which case, it's working. NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers are out (of earth's orbit) now, in an extremely limited edition.

For Sarah Brightman, 'Dreamchaser' is a prelude to upcoming space journey

Mike Melia - PBS News Hour

Sarah Brightman's voice has been often described as heavenly, which more than ever seems especially appropriate, as the soprano has recently turned her sights to the skies. Her latest album, "Dreamchaser," is inspired by her life-long fascination with space, and in two years Brightman's childhood dream is set to become reality when she boards a rocket and travels to the International Space Station.

Brightman, who first gained international fame for the role of Christine in the London and Broadway productions of "The Phantom of the Opera," has made a career of blending musical genres. In "Dreamchaser," she features a range of songs, from Paul McCartney to Polish composer Henryk Gorecki.

When she's not on stage, she continues to train extensively for her upcoming journey to space, first passing all the medical and psychological tests required to join the Russian space agency crew. She also recently set up scholarships for young women and girls to focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine) courses.

ART BEAT: The new album, "Dreamchaser," seems borne from your love of space and exploration. Can you talk about the process of crafting this new work?

SARAH BRIGHTMAN: I've always been interested in space and the idea of exploration in that area since I was a child growing up through the '60s. Of course, then the idea of space exploration was incredibly relevant because of the first man landing on the moon we all saw on television. That's really followed through in my life, although I've worked in the area of music. Finally my dream came true in that there was a possibility that I could travel to the International Space Station. I've gone through the medicals and the training and now I'm officially, by the Russian Space Federation, a cosmonaut in training. This journey it's taken me many, many years to get to this point.

I was totally inspired to put together an album of songs that are very expansive in their feel, all the wonderful emotions that we all have in the idea of what the universe is, what it may hold in the future, all the things we're discovering through the Hubble, through all the forms that we're getting back now. It's very inspiring to somebody who's creative, because the universe is created. Through the last few years, I put together this collection of pieces. The response from it has been absolutely amazing. In effect it is what one would call a concept album.

ART BEAT: It's a beautiful album. As a classical, crossover artist you've always blended a lot of work with your voice, and this album is no different. Songs range from Paul McCartney to the Polish composer Henryk Gorecki.

SARAH BRIGHTMAN: Yes, as I said a little earlier, I wanted pieces of music that had a very expansive feel. For example, there's a beautiful piece on there by a group called Sigur Ros. They come from Iceland and they've written this beautiful piece called "Glosoli," which is very expansive in its feel. It starts off in a very ethereal way and ends up with this huge, huge energy in it. Subliminally it may be what the audience who listens to it may feel, which is what I wanted. And of course the beautiful Gorecki piece from "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs," which really is reflecting on humankind and all the wrongs that we have done. But throughout those wrongs there's always a ray of hope, there's always hope that we can get better in the kindness that we do for each other and for own planet. It actually explains many things, these little bits of messages in all of these pieces that I've chosen. Also with the Paul McCartney piece, which is called "Venus and Mars," there is a very huge fun aspect to the idea of space and the universe. I felt that was a lighter piece in the album that reflected our fun aspect of the universe.

ART BEAT: Speaking of fun, what are you looking forward to most as a cosmonaut in training? When you eventually get to space, what are you dreaming of? What's a moment that you really are just eagerly anticipating?

SARAH BRIGHTMAN: Well, the fun aspect of this is that I'm going into this like a child. I've obviously done a fair amount of research just getting to this point. I've learned a huge amount by it being around me and from listening and gaining information, but I do feel like a child. I'm experiencing something really, really new every day. I don't really have any expectation, because apparently what you go through and what you feel you can't understand while standing here on Earth. I think the feelings are going to be completely different to what one is used to feeling here. The fun aspect is that I'm like a child again, learning. And I love it.

ART BEAT: And on the darker side, are there things you're scared of as you prepare to take this huge journey?

SARAH BRIGHTMAN: When I started to think about going for the first medicals, I thought about this incredibly seriously because it is a very serious thing to take on. It's an important journey and you have to be, I think, psychologically very ready for it. I'm not worried or fearful in any way whatsoever. Because the window to go isn't until 2015, my main focus is really to stay as healthy as possible and hope that nothing happens to me in that way.

ART BEAT: Throughout your career you've brought classical music to large audiences that might not have experienced it otherwise. Outside of the recording studio and the stage you've also worked to bring science and promote the study of STEM to young women and girls. Why is that so important to you? How do you see that work in your life?

SARAH BRIGHTMAN: Well, what I've realized in the few years that I've been involved in this is that there seemed to be very few women working in the STEM area. I've started up a couple of scholarships for young women who could be brilliant in this area but obviously need some funds once they are in university or college to help them on their way. I'm hoping more women will work in this area because I was incredibly inspired by it as a young person and by watching what happened back then in the '60s. When young people talk to me about the journey I may be taking, they're incredibly excited. You see their eyes light up and it opens up a whole area in their mind. I think there are lots and lots of women that can get involved more in all of these areas and may be be the next cosmonauts or astronauts to go.

ART BEAT: We will be following your journey and we will be listening. The new album is "Dreamchaser" by Sarah Brightman, who joined us by phone from New York City. Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

Space Shuttle Atlantis Fully Unwrapped for NASA Exhibit

Space News

Space Shuttle Atlantis, which is set to go on public display June 29 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, was fully revealed April 26 after workers spent two days peeling off its protective shrink-wrap cover of the past five months.

"It looks fantastic," Tim Macy, director of project development and construction for Delaware North Parks and Resorts, which runs the visitor complex for NASA, said after seeing Atlantis unwrapped. "It looks better than I thought it was going to look."

"It looks completely different with the plastic on it than the plastic off," Macy said. "But this is the way it is supposed to look. It looks so much like the [exhibit's conceptual] drawings."

On April 25, workers began carefully cutting back the 1,500 square meters of shrink wrap that protected Atlantis as its $100 million exhibition building was completed around it. By the end of the first day, the shuttle's nose, tail, aft engines and left wing were exposed.

On April 26, the workers completed the process, revealing Atlantis' right wing and its 18 meter payload bay.

"I cannot wait to get the covers off the windows and get the doors open to see the final configuration," Macy said.

Opening the payload bay is the last major challenge to ready Atlantis for display, Macy said. That process, which is set to begin in May, will take about two weeks, as the doors are very slowly hoisted open, one by one.

NASA designed the cargo bay to open in the microgravity environment of space. On Earth, the hinges cannot support the doors' weight, so lines dropped from the five-story building's roof will be used to hold the doors in place.

Once open, visitors will be able to easily see into the payload bay, given the way that Atlantis has been mounted. Nine meters in the air, the space shuttle has been tilted 43.21 degrees, such that its left wing extends toward the ground.

The end result is that Atlantis will appear to be back in space — an effect that will be enhanced by lighting and a mural-size digital screen that will project the Earth's horizon behind the shuttle.

"It looks great even in the work lights," Macy commented. "Wait until we get the theatrical lights on it and light it the way we're supposed to, have that big screen going on behind it, it's going to be awesome."

Astronaut Julie Payette to head federal science museum in Montreal

Canadian Press

She has worked in outer space, Houston and Washington, and now Julie Payette has a job back in her hometown.

The astronaut will become chief operating officer of the Montreal Science Centre, a federal museum with a variety of interactive exhibits and educational movies.

The two-time space traveler will begin her new job July 15. She also becomes vice-president of the Canada Lands Company, which hosts the site at Montreal's Old Port.

"In a modern and innovative society, where advancements are plentiful and communication is instantaneous, science and technology are a part of everyday life," Payette said in a statement Wednesday.

"Science is fun, and it's fundamental."

Payette has most recently been a Quebec government scientific envoy to Washington, D.C.

Her appointment will douse speculation that she might take over the Canadian Space Agency, which is currently looking for a new president.

An engineer and researcher before she was recruited to the space agency, Payette made trips to space in 1999 and 2009.

Dennis Tito: It's Time to 'Take the First Step' Toward Colonizing Mars
Multimillionaire former astronaut doesn't want to wait until 2030s as NASA suggests

Jason Koebler - US News & World Report

The head of a planned 2018 flyby of Mars said Wednesday that it's time for humans to "take the first step" toward inhabiting Mars.

Dennis Tito, a multimillionaire and former astronaut, has financed the first two years of the mission, which seeks two people to become the first to come within 100 miles of the Red Planet. Wednesday, at the Humans to Mars summit in Washington, D.C., he said he's sick of waiting for someone else to go there. As he took the stage Wednesday, he pointed to a poster that said "Humans to Mars by 2030," NASA's timeline for a Mars mission, and started talking.

"I can't wait until 2030. That's too long of a time to maintain enthusiasm," he said. "I think if we're going to fly to Mars, we have to do it with a short sprint to show we can do it and then we can take the time necessary to do the whole enchilada, which is boots on the ground."

A sprint, indeed.

Tito's Inspiration Mars mission calls for two people—a married couple, he's suggested—to launch from Earth on Jan. 5, 2018 for a 501 day mission that will orbit Mars. If the 2018 mission is missed, the next launch window wouldn't be until 2031. The date was chosen because Mars is at its closest point to Earth when launched on that day.

NASA has said the earliest it will fly to Mars is during the 2030s, when it believes it'll have the technology to land on the planet. At the same conference Monday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said while the agency is "supportive of anyone who wants to foster the development of the capability to puts humans in a Martian environment," it'll be a tough endeavor.

"The plan we have in place, the Mars strategy as supported by the president and funded, will have humans with NASA in the Martian environment by the mid 2030s," he said.

Other private entities, most famously Mars One, have planned trips to the planet. But with Tito funding the first two years of development and his plan to simply orbit Mars, not land on it, his might be the most realistic. The team has already done a feasibility study, and the majority of its technology already exists or is under development.

"We have a good handle on how we'll execute this mission from an engineering standpoint," Tito said.

He'll still have to find more money—the mission could cost up to $2 billion. Tito says he will look into crowdsourcing some of the rest, Kickstarter style, and corporate donations are rolling in (Inspiration Mars is set up as a nonprofit).

If he doesn't succeed, he's worried no one will.

"We're a migrating species … it's time for us to start thinking about where we go out to next," he said. "The next habitable place in this universe that we know of is Mars … it may take thousands of years [to colonize it], but we will do it. The way we're going, we're never going to do it. It's time to take the first step."

Northrop Grumman Completes Golden Spike Lunar Lander Study

Ben Evans - AmericaSpace.com

More than four decades since its last human-piloted craft touched down on the Moon, Northrop Grumman has concluded a feasibility study of a new commercial landing vehicle for the Golden Spike Company. It includes a novel, low-mass ascent stage concept, dubbed "Pumpkin", and centers on the need to be packaged within a 5-meter payload fairing envelope, as well as offering insights into the kind of propellants necessary to accomplish Golden Spike's goal of bootprints on the lunar surface by 2020.

Unveiled to the world last December, after several months of excited speculation, Golden Spike was founded by Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in 2007-2008 and principal investigator for the agency's New Horizons voyage to Pluto, and includes former Apollo flight director Gerry Griffin as chair of the board. It seeks to develop a capability to send astronauts from U.S. and foreign space agencies, corporations, governments and even private individuals on two-person expeditions to the Moon, at a cost of $1.5 billion. Within weeks, in January 2013, Golden Spike announced that it had contracted with Northrop Grumman to begin lunar lander design studies.

It was a notable move, for the Falls Church, Va.-based aerospace and defense contractor is the only organization in the world to have successfully developed and flown a piloted craft to the surface of the Moon. Its Apollo lunar module ferried six pairs of astronauts to the dusty surface of our closest celestial neighbor between July 1969 and December 1972. The four-month study for Golden Spike, announced earlier this week, included a novel, low-mass ascent stage concept – dubbed "Pumpkin" – and was designed around the need to fit within a 5-meter-diameter payload fairing envelope. It also revealed "many more options for all cryogenic propellants, compared with storable propellants", but noted that whilst cryogens have higher performance, they are "more difficult to contain for the mission durations intended by Golden Spike".

Writing earlier this year, NewSpace Watch explained that Northrop Grumman's contracted tasks included "reviewing requirements and synthesizing a set of study ground rules and assumptions emphasizing system reliability, automated/ground command operability and affordability, establishing velocity budgets from and to low lunar orbit for pragmatic lunar landing sites," as well as "exploring a wide variety of Lunar Lander concept options." The last task will involve the reusability and autonomy of the landing system's architecture, together with requirements for staging, propellants, and rocket engine design. Northrop Grumman's work is expected to provide the technical foundations necessary for a fully-fledged industry contract competition to actually build the landing craft itself, said Golden Spike's Lunar Lander Systems Study Engineering Chief James R. French.

"This concept has significant operability advantages for surface exploration, since the surface habitat can be segmented to isolate lunar dust and provides more space for living and for selecting the most valuable lunar return samples," said Martin McLaughlin, Northrop Grumman's study lead. "We affectionately call the minimalist ascent pod "Pumpkin", because of its spherical shape and because it returns the crew to orbit after the surface-exploration party." Golden Spike President and CEO Alan Stern noted that Northrop Grumman's results were "very exciting and will help enable a new wave of human lunar exploration that Golden Spike plans".

Yet the aspirations of this start-up company remain a source of excitement and scepticism, particularly since one of its earliest moves was to initiate a crowd-sourcing campaign and raise monies to the value of $240,000 – or one dollar for each mile in the journey to the Moon. Praised by some as a shrewd move to kick-start this audacious venture, it was criticized by others as an indicator that Golden Spike is already struggling to build its early financial base.

However, a perusal of Golden Spike's website makes it difficult not to see a trace of the frustration felt by many space enthusiasts, engineers and visionaries over government reluctance to commit the dollars and political will to return humans to our closest celestial neighbor in over four decades. Mount a Lunar Expedition with Us…It's the 21st Century, the website proclaims, but such pledges will remain hollow if insufficient markets exist to support Golden Spike's plans. The company believes that upwards of 15-20 countries, foreign space agencies, corporations, and private individuals would be willing to sign up to two-person lunar surface missions for exploration or adventure between 2020-2030. Costs are expected to be kept down by utilizing current launch vehicles and hardware built by U.S. companies, leaving Golden Spike with the task of constructing the lunar lander, surface experiments, and the suits required for lengthy stays on the surface. By avoiding the desire to design everything from scratch, the company expects to run its operation through what it describes as a "maximally pragmatic" strategy.

Named in honor of the original Golden Spike, driven by Leland Stanford at Promontory Summit, Utah, in May 1869, to join the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad across the United States, the company provoked a flurry of comment, even in the months preceding its formal announcement of plans at the National Press Club on 6 December last year. Speculation of a "privately circulated proposal" had been highlighted by Florida Today as early as May 2012, following a conference in Hawaii, which noted that one of Golden Spike's fundamental goals was the establishment of "a reliable Cislunar Superhighway." Scientific American, writing about the company in early June, described its goal with a single word: "Audacious."

At present, the Obama administration and NASA have formally distanced themselves from a human return to the lunar surface. The first piloted voyage of the Orion spacecraft – known as "Exploration Mission-2" (EM-2) – was until recently slated to perform an Apollo 8-type circumlunar jaunt, but has now been retasked to support NASA's ambitious asteroid-capture mission. Launch is officially targeted for late 2021. Further downstream are a series of nebulous "Design Reference Missions," whose objectives vary from the emplacement of an Exploration Gateway at one of the two Earth-Moon Libration (EML) points to low lunar orbit and surface expeditions. None of these goals are realistically expected until the mid-2020s at the earliest.

Although Golden Spike at present seems to have a relatively modest financial backing, its strategy for what it describes as "monetizing these expeditions" is very much based on the anticipated consumer demand for lunar surface access. This includes not only the sales of the expeditions themselves, but also public participation and membership, media rights, advertising and brand licensing, mission naming rights and merchandising, sale of flown items and returned lunar samples, and the release of related entertainment products.

The company's list of associated staff members is impressive in its scope: as well as Stern and Griffin, the board includes space business leaders and entrepreneurs such as Cindy Conrad and Esther Dyson, aerospace attorney Doug Griffith, spacecraft systems engineer David Lackner, orbital mechanics and mission design expert Michel Loucks, life-support systems expert Taber MacCallum, and former SpaceX Dragon Development Program Manager Max Vozoff. Affiliated with the company are former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bobby Block, former Shuttle commander Jeff Ashby, former Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale, and renowned planetary scientist Bill McKinnon.

The total cost of the effort to plant the first boots on the Moon in almost 50 years is anticipated to be around $7-8 billion, and although Golden Spike has yet to settle on a launch vehicle of choice, the website NASASpaceflight.com noted that SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and United Launch Alliance's Atlas V may be strong contenders. Certainly, ULA was one of the nine partners listed by Golden Spike at their 6 December unveiling conference.

"Our vision," explained Griffin last December, "is to create a reliable and affordable U.S.-based commercial human lunar transportation system that enables the exploration of the Moon by humans from virtually any nation, corporation, or individual wishing to accomplish objectives on the Moon—including activities based around science, around business, around national prestige, and personal accomplishment."

Golden Spike's website is currently sparse in terms of detail, other than a handful of videos and infographics, but it appears that the company aims to stage as many as three unmanned test flights to the lunar surface, possibly as early as 2017, before the first piloted landing. Each mission will feature a two-launch architecture—the first pre-positioning the lander in lunar orbit and the second despatching a two-member crew to meet it. Destinations were described by Alan Stern as "customer-driven," which lends credence to the suggestion that Golden Spike may cater to organizations keen to exploit the Moon's mineralogical wealth, as well as for science.

The New Race To Space, From L.A.

Lori Kozlowski - Forbes

In ten years, we could possibly take cruises around the moon. In space vehicles made for space tourism. Not for scientific missions, but for the simple joy of seeing stars.

That's the dream being put forth by Virgin Galactic, which last week broke the speed of sound in a rocket-powered test flight from their base in Mojave, California.

"We started going to space 50 years ago. And in that time, about 530 people have been to space. Which I think is a ridiculously small number of people. That's about 10 people a year," said George Whitesides, CEO and President of Virgin Galactic.

"We've already got about 570 people who've paid their money to go to space. And we'll fly those people in about a year. And so we're going to radically open up space for the rest of us."

In fact, Virgin is the not the first company to plant roots in Southern California and aim for space. The aeronautics industry has deep history in Southern California, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, just shortly after the Wright brothers accomplished the first powered flight in 19o3.

Most recently a trifecta of efforts toward space exploration has formed. The trifecta being: Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Each of them reaching their own incredible milestones that bring knowledge of the cosmos closer to human understanding.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin, the vision of Richard Branson, was originally a music company, but eventually moved into other verticals, which has perpetuated the brand's hallmark for achieving cutting-edge feats. After music, came airlines and offering a new kind of air travel experience. And after planes, now there's space to conquer.

"For 50 years, people have been waiting for their chance to go. And it's really not the job of NASA or other space agencies to provide space tourism to you and I. So it has to be done by the private sector. That's what we're going to do. That's Richard's vision."

"And then we're going to all kinds of other things, but that's the start — to open up the amazing experience of looking down at the planet to other people."

They are currently offering civilians the opportunity to become non-professional astronauts. In two years or well-before then, they plan to fly people to space. In their first commercial flight offering — you'll fly to space, get to stay up in orbit for a few minutes, and then come back down. That ticket is $200,000.

By visiting the Virgin Galactic site, you can click on "Space Tickets" and book your flight now.

"The next thing we'll do — down the road — I'm sure we'll provide longer stays in orbit. So that you can spend a few days or maybe a week. The next major thing after that is going to be trips around the moon. That's not next year, that's a few years down the road," said Whitesides.

Alongside cruises around the moon, Virgin's aim is to develop new technology with their vehicles.

"Another really exciting business opportunity is something else entirely, which is high-speed point-to-point travel on the Earth. We've been going to same speed since the dawn of the jet age," said Whitesides.

"So the technologies we're developing with our vehicles is the very same technology that you could use to develop something that would take you from L.A. to Tokyo in an hour."

"That would be revolutionary. Because who wouldn't want to get to where they're going, particularly for those long hauls, faster?"

SpaceX

SpaceX is the creation of Elon Musk — the entrepreneur who co-founded PayPal and Tesla Motors Tesla MotorsCurrently located in Hawthorne, California in Los Angeles County, the company's ultimate aim is to make other planets more livable. Musk believes humans should be an interplanetary species, wherein we colonize more than just planet Earth.

Last year's flight of SpaceX's Dragon, marked the first time a private spaceship docked at the International Space Station.

Beside this accomplishment, SpaceX has been building rockets for NASA. In fact, the company has a $1.6 billion contract, as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. NASA would like private industry to deliver cargo to the International Space Station on a regular basis, and SpaceX has been aiding this effort.

This March, SpaceX's Dragon returned safely to Earth from its second official resupply mission to the International Space Station. Dragon brought back nearly 3,200 pounds of station cargo, including space station hardware, supplies, and scientific samples.

Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL)

NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) most recently won international love and fame last year, when they successfully landed space vehicle Curiosity on the face of Mars.

This was a feat that had never before occurred; the last time a wheeled robot landed on Mars, it was the size of a skateboard. Curiosity, and its mobile science lab, is the size of a small SUV. It's mission is to collect samples to ultimately help scientists to determine whether Mars is a habitable planet.

From "Mohawk Guy" to the Rover's Twitter personality, the Curiosity mission took on a pop culture persona, thus making space exploration (and science) even more cool. There's something incredibly fascinating about almost instantly getting a photo from Mars.

Three of JPL's scientists recently appeared on Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World list, and Curiosity's social media presence recently earned them four Webbys for engaging and educating people on the Internet. If ever there was a place teaching the public about highly complicated science by using the Internet and all of its possible channels, it's JPL.

While Curiosity remains what JPL is most recently well-known for, the Lab has many other efforts in place that are examining weather patterns on Saturn, visiting solar system destinations beyond Earth's moon, and breaking through to interstellar space.

More To Come

If three strong, internationally-recognized agencies are moving the field of possibility forward, it seems there will be others in California who will try the same thing. The state seems to cultivate a desire to fly.

In the story of mainland United States, we landed and colonized the east, eventually pioneers moved us further and further west until the last of the land was settled, and after California, there was only the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps it's the no-where-to-go-but-up feeling that the state breeds. And perhaps its just Southern California's natural way of attracting dreamers, our roots in aeronautics, and a consistent brash vision for moving faster and further than we ever have before.

SpaceX beach bill advances to Senate

Laura Martinez - Brownsville Herald

A bill that would allow the temporary closure of Boca Chica Beach for possible rocket launches now moves on to the full Texas Senate for a vote.

The Senate Committee on Administration voted Wednesday to recommend approval of House Bill 2623 after it had been delayed earlier in the week because of questions and legal issues brought forward by state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston.

Whitmire said his questions had been asked in "good faith" to ensure the temporary closure did not violate the Texas Open Beaches Act. "The process has worked, and I will support the temporary closing (for the launches)," he said Wednesday.

House Bill 2623 would allow the beach to be closed temporarily only when SpaceX conducts rocket launches if the company chooses the Boca Chica Beach area as its launchpad and mission control site.

Texas is one of four sites being considered by SpaceX. Also under consideration are Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico.

The site being looked at in Texas is at the eastern end of State Highway 4, about three miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. It is about five miles south of Port Isabel and South Padre Island.

It is possible that HB 2623 could reach the Senate floor as early as Friday, officials said.

According to the bill, it would not allow the beach to be closed during holidays or weekends in the summer. The only exception to those days would be if SpaceX has to scrub a launch and can show "it stands to suffer significant adverse business consequences" if it doesn't launch, officials said.

State Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, who authored the bill, has testified that the beach would be closed for about 15 hours on the day of a rocket launch.

Bill would create Alabama Space Authority to develop a spaceport

Mike Cason - Birmingham News

A bill to create an Alabama Space Authority to develop a spaceport cleared a House committee today after one of the proponents promised to address concerns that the state could go into debt with the project.

The bill's sponsor said the state would not incur debt.

Supporters said the bill is a key step for the state being able to obtain a federal study grant and license to eventually develop a port for commercial space flights.

The House Technology and Research Committee approved the bill, SB378, by Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville. That sends it to the House of Representatives, which could give it final passage.

Several committee members questioned Rep. Mac McCutcheon, R-Huntsville, who spoke for the bill before the committee, about the authority's potential bond debt.

Under the bill, the 10-member authority would be able to borrow money by issuing bonds and would be able to buy property and lease property.

McCutcheon promised committee members that he would ask Gov. Robert Bentley to amend the bill to address any concerns about debt liability if the bill passes the House.

The committee then approved the bill.

Time is running short for it to win final approval. Only two days remain in the legislative session.

But McCutcheon has influence over whether the House will consider the bill during the final two days because he chairs the House Rules Committee, which drafts the proposed agendas for the House.

McCutcheon said it was likely the bill will be considered on the last day of the session, expected to be May 20, although he said it could possibly come up Thursday.

Dial, the bill's sponsor, said the state would incur no debt. He said the authority would be similar to a county industrial development board in that bond debt would be repaid with revenues from a project agreement, such as a property lease.

"This does not in any way obligate the state," Dial said.

Dial said establishment of the authority will allow the state to apply for a federal grant that would be used for a study to determine the best location for a spaceport. He said the state would also apply for a license with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Dial said Alabama has a chance to be a key site in the southeast in the emerging commercial space flight industry, both for personal travel and moving cargo.

The Office of Commercial Space Transportation of the FAA issues licenses for commercial spaceports. The agency has issued eight licenses since 1996.

McCutcheon said Alabama is in a strong position to compete for a site. Alabama has strong ties to the space industry because of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army's Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville.

"With Alabama having the technology we have from being a space leader in our nation, we felt like we needed to get in line with this," McCutcheon said.

The authority would include the directors of the state departments of Commerce, Economic and Community Affairs, and Transportation, as well as the lieutenant governor. In addition, there would be six appointed members. The governor and lieutenant governor would appoint one each and the speaker of the House and the president pro tem of the Senate would appoint two each.

The authority would operate as part of ADECA, which would be involved in the grant application process.

Navy wants space warriors

Sam Fellman - Navy Times

Seeking more space warriors to operate new satellites, the Navy has expanded the number of jobs in the space cadre, an assortment of specially trained engineers, operators and astronauts. And officials have a new, better way of measuring their level of experience, according to a new policy released April 23.

But what exactly is a "space war fighter," you ask? Think less "Star Wars" and more mission control.

Space cadre members control the Navy's tactical communications satellites, designed to relay voice and data around the world via ultra high frequency, as well as the Pentagon's communications satellites. They're rolling out the Mobile User Objective System, an array that will include four operational satellites an in-orbit spare; the first MUOS craft was launched in February 2012.

Other cadre members include staff officers who advise their commands, such as carrier strike groups, on how to use satellites to gain imagery or intelligence useful for their operations.

New rules unveiled in NAVADMIN 110/13 by Vice Adm. Kendall Card, the deputy chief of naval operations for information dominance, make it easier for detailers to manage the increasing pool of space cadre members. Now, an officer's education and experience will be identified in four separate levels, with additional qualification designators from novice to those with more than six years of experience.

"What we provided with these AQDs is there's a way to move up the ranks," explained Capt. Patrick Owens, the Navy space cadre adviser, in an interview.

These new designators allow detailers to better match personnel from the growing pool of 1,700 cadre personnel to the open billets, officials said.

The cadre is hiring. Satellites are central to missions ranging from intelligence to ballistic-missile defense to communications. The Navy needs more experts capable of using these orbiting assets to enhance fleet operations, such as identifying foreign warships in an area where a carrier strike group is headed.

A recently completed review calls for 367 officer billets, up 15 percent from the previous level, officials said. There are 260 enlisted jobs and 350 for civilians, who mostly specialize in acquisitions.

Not wowed by satellites? The space cadre also includes the Navy's highest fliers — seven astronauts, all commanders or captains. One of them, Cmdr. Chris Cassidy, a Navy SEAL, is orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station.

While the requirements to be an astronaut are much higher than those for the space cadre, Owens said these astronauts bring a enormous understanding of space engineering back from their travels. For example, Capt. Suni Williams, a pilot, has spent a total of 322 days in orbit over two missions, the sixth highest of any U.S. astronaut.

Interested officers can contact their detailers to see whether there are any open cadre billets that require little to no experience.

"We are definitely looking for people," said Lt. Cmdr. Adam DeJesus, who oversees space readiness at Navy Cyber Forces. "Not necessarily looking for ensigns right out of [Officer Candidate School]. We're looking for people who already have done a tour with a community, understand a warfare area specifically and now can learn how space can benefit that warfare area."

The cadre includes enlisted sailors, but they aren't eligible for the space AQDs right now. DeJesus said a group of experts is "looking at that."

Astronaut Sally Ride to be remembered at national tribute

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

NASA will join journalist Maria Shriver, tennis legend Billie Jean King and Grammy-award winning vocalist Patti Austin in remembering the life of Sally Ride, the United States' first woman in space, at a tribute in the nation's capital.

The special evening event, titled "Sally Ride: A Lifetime of Accomplishment, A Champion of Science Literacy" will be hosted on May 20 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The event is open to the public, though there are limited tickets available.

On June 18, 1983, Ride made history launching on space shuttle Challenger as the first American woman to fly in space. Chosen by NASA in 1978, Ride held a doctorate in physics and was a nationally-ranked tennis player prior to becoming an astronaut. She flew twice to space, logging a total of more than two weeks off the planet, before leaving NASA and becoming a champion for science education.

Ride, 61, died on July 23, 2012, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

In addition to Shriver, King and Austin, the national tribute will also include the talents of Damian Kulash with the rock band OK Go, dancer and choreographer Twyla Tharp, and the youth performers from the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra, the Centreville High School Choral Union from Virginia, and dancers from the University of North Carolina School for the Arts.

The program for the evening event is still being organized and additional participants, including representatives from NASA, are expected to be announced.

The 7 p.m. EDT event, which NASA describes as an "an educational tribute," is presented and sponsored by Sally Ride Science, the company the astronaut founded in 2001 to motivate girls and young women to pursue careers in science, math and technology.

Members of the public wanting to attend the tribute should complete a form on NASA's website by May 15. The free tickets, which are being distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, will be available to pickup from NASA's will call tables at the Kennedy Center on the day of the event.

NASA earlier memorialized Ride by naming the intentional lunar crash site for its twin "Ebb" and "Flow" moon probes as the "Sally K. Ride Impact Site." Ride led the mission's MoonKAM student imagery program through her work with Sally Ride Science.

The U.S. Navy also posthumously honored Ride with the christening of an auxiliary general oceanographic research ship. Set to join the fleet in 2015, the R/V Sally Ride will be the Navy's first academic research ship named after a woman.

END

Keep the shuttle flying

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - May 9, 2013 and JSC Today

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