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Friday, July 19, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - July 19, 2013 and JSC Today



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 19, 2013 5:59:07 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - July 19, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Friday everyone, have a safe weekend.

Per PAO, may not have NASA news Monday and maybe late sending it out  for the balance of the week while on Kyle is on west coast.

 

 

 

 

   Headlines

  1. Expedition Crew Debrief & Awards Ceremony Thursday

The International Space Station Expedition Special Event featuring Kevin Ford, Expedition 33 flight engineer and Expedition 34 commander; Oleg Novitskiy, Expedition 33/34 flight engineer; Evgeny Tarelkin, Expedition 33/34 flight engineer; Tom Marshburn, Expedition 34/35 flight engineer; Chris Hadfield, Expedition 34 flight engineer and Expedition 35 commander; and Roman Romanenko, Expedition 34/35 flight engineer, will be held Thursday, July 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Space Center Houston Theater. The event will consist of awards, slides, a video presentation and question-and-answer session. This event is free and open to JSC employees, contractors, friends, family members and public guests. For more information, contact Jessica Ocampo at x27804.

Event Date: Thursday, July 25, 2013   Event Start Time:7:30 PM   Event End Time:9:00 PM
Event Location: Space Center Houston

Add to Calendar

Jessica Ocampo 281-792-7804

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   Organizations/Social

  1. Danny Olivas Book Signing on July 24

Starport will be hosting a book-signing event on July 24 with John "Danny" Olivas, astronaut and author of Endeavour's Long Journey, in the Building 3 café from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and at the Gilruth Fitness Center from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. This is wonderfully illustrated story about a young boy who finds himself on a journey through space as the retired space shuttle describes her missions and the people involved. Your child will enjoy meeting an astronaut that flew on this historic space vehicle while learning fun facts about Endeavour. Books will be available for $19.95.

Event Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:4:30 PM
Event Location: Building 3 and Gilruth Center

Add to Calendar

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

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  1. Project Management Forum

The Project Management Forum will be held on Wednesday, July 24, in Building 1, Room 966, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. At this forum, Trent Martin, associate director of Engineering for Advanced Development, will provide an outlook of the Advanced Exploration Systems projects for Fiscal Year 2014. In addition to this, Irene Piatek will provide a comparison of the International Space Station (ISS) Simple COTS Process to EA-WI-023 and show that WI-023 aligns with the ISS process. All civil servant and contractor project managers are invited to attend.

The purpose of the Project Management Forum is to provide an opportunity for our NASA project managers to freely discuss issues, best practices, lessons learned, tools and opportunities, as well as to collaborate with other project managers.

Event Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Building 1, Room 966

Add to Calendar

Danielle Bessard x37238 https://oasis.jsc.nasa.gov/sysapp/athena/Athena%20Team/SitePages/Home.aspx

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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.

Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NASA TV: 8:20 am Central (9:20 EDT) – E36's L. Parmitano w/Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta

 

 

Human Spaceflight News

Friday – July 19, 2013

 

When you take a walk tomorrow, remember the big one – 44 years ago Saturday night

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Parmitano recalls helmet leak, 'miserable' spacewalk experience

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

Making his way back to the safety of the International Space Station's Quest airlock, Italian spacewalker Luca Parmitano was unable to see or hear as water from a leak in his spacesuit slowly but surely filled his helmet with a floating blob of liquid that covered his eyes and ears. "For a couple of minutes there, maybe more than a couple of minutes, I experienced what it's like to be a goldfish in a fishbowl from the point of view of the goldfish," he told KGO-TV in San Francisco Thursday. "I was miserable, but OK," he said in a crew interview carried on NASA's satellite TV channel. "It was just a very uncomfortable feeling to be with your face underwater for all that time. But the reaction of the crew was outstanding, I think, the crew on the ground and the crew on board, (fellow spacewalker) Chris (Cassidy) really supported me, and I was just lucky to be back inside in no time."

 

Astronaut with flooded helmet felt like goldfish

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

Now he knows what it's like to be a goldfish in a fishbowl. Two days after his helmet flooded during a spacewalk, astronaut Luca Parmitano relived the experience Thursday, describing how water kept trickling into his helmet until big globs covered his eyes, then his nose. It was hard to see, he said, and he could not hear. "For a couple of minutes there, maybe more than a couple of minutes, I experienced what it's like to be a goldfish in a fishbowl -- from the point of view of the goldfish," Parmitano said in a TV interview from the International Space Station.

 

Source of dangerous leak still unknown

Italian astronaut's helmet was filling during spacewalk

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

An Italian astronaut who survived a close call during a spacewalk this week said Thursday a dangerous water leak in his helmet rendered him all but deaf, dumb and blind for a time. Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency said specialists still are trying to pinpoint the source of the leak, which started as a trickle but then began to fill his bubble-like helmet. "I think for a couple of minutes there, maybe more than a couple of minutes, I experienced what it's like to be a goldfish in a fish bowl from the point of view of the goldfish," Parmitano said during a space-to-ground media interview.

 

Mandela Day celebrations around the world

 

Associated Press

 

The world is celebrating Nelson Mandela Day with acts of community service and messages of goodwill to the former South African president who remains hospitalized on his 95th birthday…Three astronauts from the International Space Station honored Mandela in a video message that included words from Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, among others. "Nelson Mandela is the symbol of what humankind must strive for: Peace, brotherhood and a common goal to better every life on this planet. Our work here on the International Space Station mirrors exactly what Mr. Mandela spent his life trying to accomplish," astronaut Karen Nyberg said for the group.

 

NASA's Asteroid Plan Is Shot Down in House

Committee rejects funding mission, instead puts money toward going to Moon

 

Andy Pasztor - Wall Street Journal

 

The House Science Committee on Thursday voted to bar all spending on plans for a manned mission to an asteroid—rejecting the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's human-space-exploration program through 2025. As part of a stripped-down $16.8 billion authorization bill for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration—more than $1 billion less than the White House and Senate envision—the House panel approved language explicitly prohibiting the agency from proceeding with the proposed asteroid project. The 22-17 vote, which had been expected, heightens partisan bickering over the future direction of NASA, an agency that for decades enjoyed strong bipartisan support and funneled thousands of jobs and lucrative contracts to states and congressional districts represented by key lawmakers.

 

House, Senate fund different paths for NASA

 

Ledyard King - Florida Today

 

Congressional votes on Thursday provided more evidence the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate have fundamentally opposing views of the space program. Key committees in both chambers approved divergent paths for NASA that will have to be reconciled later this year. The difference is not just about money, though most lawmakers agree there's a significant gap between the $18 billion the Senate Appropriation Committee wants to give NASA in fiscal 2014 and the $16.8 billion authorized by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. It's also about direction and deciding whether NASA should be allowed -- or can be trusted -- to pursue the course it's laid out for the next few years.

 

House panel gives thumbs down to sending astronauts to asteroid

 

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

 

In a move sure to sow conflict with the White House, a key U.S. House committee on Thursday approved a new blueprint for NASA that strips away the administration's proposal to blast U.S. astronauts to an asteroid as early as 2021. It is a "poorly defined mission," said U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., of the plan to grab a speeding asteroid with a robot and drag it near the moon so future astronauts could go visit it. Instead, he and other Republicans on the House science committee voted along party lines to direct NASA to develop a "sustained human presence" on the moon and Mars.

 

Senate, House NASA Bills Far Apart on Funding, Close on Some Priorities

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Setting aside the threat of continued budget sequestration, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) managed to win enough Republican votes July 18 to send to the floor a bipartisan 2014 spending bill that includes $18 billion for NASA. That's $1.4 billion more than their counterparts in the GOP-controlled House approved and nearly $300 million more than the White House requested. Before House and Senate appropriators even have a chance to hammer out the sizable differences between their competing spending packages, the bills — which also fund the U.S. Commerce and Justice departments and several federal science agencies — must first come to the floor in their respective chambers. Only three of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government have cleared the House. None have cleared the Senate.

 

Proposed NASA Cuts Spark Bitter Debate During House Science Markup

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

House lawmakers debated NASA's 2014 budget Thursday during a meeting that saw stark partisan divisions over proposed funding cuts for the agency's science and space exploration programs. A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA's funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget.

 

NASA spending bill presents Ted Cruz with a conundrum

 

Mark Whittington - Examiner.com

 

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, chairman of the Senate Space and Science Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee, unveiled his version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill with a funding level of just over $18 billion, which matches what the Senate appropriators are advancing, and confirms the Obama administration's desire to snag an asteroid and visit it with astronauts in the next decade. The draft bill also presents the ranking member of the subcommittee, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas with something of a conundrum. On the one hand Cruz, as a tea party conservative, believes in small government and frugal spending. The senate version of the NASA bill is roughly $1.5 billion more than the House version, crafted by Cruz's fellow Republicans. Based on Cruz's spending hawk stance, he should oppose the subcommittee bill. On the other hand, Cruz is a senator from Texas, a state where space has always been important due to the presence of NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center and increasingly because of the operations of commercial space firms such as SpaceX and Blue Origins in the Lone Star State.

 

Leading congresswoman on NASA panel withdraws bill to close Marshall

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

In a dramatic moment in the House of Representatives Thursday, an emotional U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md) withdrew at the last minute a measure she was planning to introduce that could have closed the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Edwards said she pulled back at the request of House Space, Science and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). "You said they seemed deeply personal to two members," Edwards said to Smith of the measures in her proposed amendment to a NASA Authorization Act being debated. The measures proposed an independent BRAC-like commission to consider consolidations or closures at NASA centers in Alabama and Mississippi. The offended lawmakers she and Smith were referring to were Reps. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and Steve Palazzo (R-Miss).

 

Space station helps in disaster monitoring

 

Tereza Pultarova - E&T Magazine (Engineering & Technology)

 

World's major space agencies have announced stepping up efforts to utilise imagery taken from the International Space Station (ISS) for disaster response. As a part of the undertaking, new sensors will be installed on the orbital outpost to expand its Earth observation and data collection capabilities. In the past years, ISS's astronauts and the stations' scientific instruments have contributed, for example, to data collection campaigns in the aftermath of floods in southern Russia, covering areas damaged by hurricane Sandy in the USA, the earthquake on Haiti or floods in Nigeria and Pakistan.

 

Russia Is Building an Inflatable Space Module of its Own

 

Anatoly Zak - Popular Mechanics

 

(Zak is an editor of RussianSpaceWeb.com and the author of Russia in Space: The Past Explained, The Future Explored, to be released by Apogee Books later this month)

 

RKK Energia, the manufacturer of the Soyuz spacecraft and the prime contractor on the Russian part of the International Space Station, quietly published in its annual report last week details on an innovative inflatable space habitat. Wrapped into multilayered synthetic skin instead of metal, the expandable module could be attached to the Russian part of the International Space Station and inflated like a beach ball, providing greater comfort for the crew and extra room for yet-to-be-disclosed experiments, RKK Energia's report said.

 

Who will launch from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A?

Private firms SpaceX, Blue Origin have competing proposals

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Competing proposals from two billionaire-backed private space firms have complicated NASA's plan to lease a former Apollo and shuttle launch pad it no longer needs and can't afford to maintain. NASA was close to an agreement on a 15-year lease of Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A to SpaceX, which could use it in the next few years for launches of astronauts to the International Space Station and for a planned heavy-lift Falcon rocket. But Blue Origin, which has not yet flown a vehicle in space but may compete with SpaceX long-term, has instead proposed taking over the pad and equipping it to serve multiple launch providers, including SpaceX.

 

Getting set for the Falcon Heavy

 

Joseph Abbott - Waco Tribune-Herald

 

 

As reported by Trib business editor Mike Copeland, the city of McGregor has revised its lease with SpaceX to allow for testing of louder technologies — including the behemoth Falcon Heavy, with 27 engines firing at liftoff. The SpaceX concept illustration at left is actually a few years old and a bit outdated; it was created before the recent redesign of the Falcon 9 rocket that the Heavy is derived from. Company communications director Christina Ra tells me there's a fresh illustration in the works that will reflect the v1.1/9-R changes (for starters, the engines on each core will be in the new octagonal arrangement rather than v1.0's 3-by-3 grid).

 

Coming Soon: SpaceX Rocket Launches from Texas Spaceport?

 

Dave Brody - Space.com

 

Since the Gemini 4 mission blasted off in June 1965, most of NASA's orbital flights have been controlled from facilities in Texas. But no payloads have ever successfully rocketed to orbit from that state. That may soon change. The private company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has been narrowing its search for a new location in which to build a commercial launch facility for industrial customers. From its original list, which included Virginia, Alaska and California, the company has recently focused on Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and particularly Texas.

 

Spaceport gets NM OK for loan for visitor centers

 

Associated Press

 

Spaceport America, which was built with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money, is taking out a $21 million loan to build two visitor centers in southern New Mexico. Gov. Susana Martinez and other members of the state Board of Finance voted unanimously Wednesday to let the Spaceport Authority seek the private loans for the centers, despite concerns the state could be left holding the tab. The loan will not pay for a visitor center in Hatch -- a long-promised project that has been stalled because the spaceport can't find a suitable and affordable piece of land, spaceport officials said. Instead, it will pay for centers in Truth or Consequences and at the remote spaceport site just north of the Doña Ana County line.

 

From the archives: Neil Armstrong's Finest Moment

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

 

July 20 marks 44 years since Neil Armstrong took his famous "small step" onto the surface of the Moon. Humanity's brave lunar pioneer has since passed on, leaving the memory of an extraordinarily skilled test pilot and a truly humble personality. To mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, Armstrong penned a few words on what that historic feat meant to him. His brief memoir, published on that date in Aviation Week & Space Technology, illustrates just what kind of person the first man on the Moon was. Click here to read his Viewpoint. (and pasted at bottom)

 

Obama taps NASA official for senior Energy slot

 

Ben Geman - TheHill.com

 

President Obama will nominate NASA chief financial officer Beth Robinson for the currently vacant job of under secretary at the Department of Energy, the White House said Thursday evening. She has been at NASA since 2009, a job that followed four years as assistant director for budget at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Robinson also has plenty of Capitol Hill experience.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Parmitano recalls helmet leak, 'miserable' spacewalk experience

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

Making his way back to the safety of the International Space Station's Quest airlock, Italian spacewalker Luca Parmitano was unable to see or hear as water from a leak in his spacesuit slowly but surely filled his helmet with a floating blob of liquid that covered his eyes and ears.

 

"For a couple of minutes there, maybe more than a couple of minutes, I experienced what it's like to be a goldfish in a fishbowl from the point of view of the goldfish," he told KGO-TV in San Francisco Thursday.

 

"I was miserable, but OK," he said in a crew interview carried on NASA's satellite TV channel. "It was just a very uncomfortable feeling to be with your face underwater for all that time. But the reaction of the crew was outstanding, I think, the crew on the ground and the crew on board, (fellow spacewalker) Chris (Cassidy) really supported me, and I was just lucky to be back inside in no time."

 

Parmitano and Cassidy began their second spacewalk in seven days Tuesday morning, venturing outside the International Space Station to carry out a variety of assembly and maintenance tasks.

 

After the spacewalkers completed the initial two tasks on their to-do list, Parmitano noticed an unusual feeling of water on the back of his neck.

 

Within minutes, the amount of water increased, and began creeping around to the front of his helmet. Worried about the possibility of choking or worse, flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center quickly aborted the spacewalk and told Parmitano to head for the safety of the airlock.

 

"About half an hour into the EVA, 45 minutes maybe, Chris and I were ahead on our tasks and we were starting our third task and I felt some water on the back of my head and I realized that it was cold water, it was not a normal feeling, so I told the ground," Parmitano said Thursday.

 

"Chris came by to give it a look (and) he couldn't see anything. He took some pictures of it, but it wasn't until a couple of minutes later that we actually saw the water trickling in front of the helmet and then I felt it covering my ears. At that point, we called a terminate for the EVA."

 

Cassidy said there was no doubt the spacewalk had to end as quickly as possible.

 

"My own gut feeling, I knew it was time to end it when I saw the water creeping around his communications cap kind of right by his eyelids, and I know that was a significant amount of water to be in a helmet and it was time to go in," he told WDAY-TV in Fargo, N.D. "And that all happened in just a few moments, it was maybe four to six minutes that we were discussing it and quickly the plan developed.

 

"As all incidents happen, it's right when the sun was setting and right as it made things harder. So all those things sort of came together in a perfect storm, so to speak, for us to deal with."

 

As Parmitano made his way back to the airlock, "the water kept trickling until it completely covered my eyes and my nose, it was really hard to see," he said. "I couldn't hear anything, it was really hard to communicate. I went back just using memory, basically, going back to the airlock until I found it."

 

Within minutes, Cassidy joined him, the hatch was closed and the compartment was repressurized. As soon as the inner hatch was opened, Karen Nyberg and cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Fyodor Yurchikhin removed Parmitano's helmet and soaked up the loose water with towels.

 

"They took off my helmet, wiped my face of all the water, about three pounds of water, I would say, and that was the end of it," Parmitano said. "For me, the worst part, as Chris mentioned, I was miserable but OK. He mentioned walking around with your eyes closed in a fishbowl. Really, that's what was going on at that moment."

 

Since then, the astronauts and engineers in Houston have been testing Parmitano's spacesuit to locate the source of the leak. So far, no obvious problem has been found.

 

"At this specific moment, we know where it did not come from," Parmitano said. "We know it did not come from the water bag that we use to drink and we know it didn't come from my LCVG, the liquid cooling garment that we wear under the suit.

 

"But the NASA specialists and engineers are still working really hard to find out exactly what happened, and I'm sure they will find both the problem and the solution."

 

Astronaut with flooded helmet felt like goldfish

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

Now he knows what it's like to be a goldfish in a fishbowl.

 

Two days after his helmet flooded during a spacewalk, astronaut Luca Parmitano relived the experience Thursday, describing how water kept trickling into his helmet until big globs covered his eyes, then his nose. It was hard to see, he said, and he could not hear.

 

"For a couple of minutes there, maybe more than a couple of minutes, I experienced what it's like to be a goldfish in a fishbowl -- from the point of view of the goldfish," Parmitano said in a TV interview from the International Space Station.

 

Parmitano said he used his memory to make his way back into the space station. His spacewalking partner, Christopher Cassidy, was a big help.

 

The 36-year-old Italian Air Force officer said he was "miserable but OK" as Tuesday's spacewalk came to an abrupt end.

 

"Imagine walking around with your eyes closed in a fishbowl. Really, that's what was going on ... It's just a very uncomfortable feeling to be with your face underwater for all that time," he said.

 

Parmitano, a former test pilot, said he was lucky to get back inside so quickly. He figures there was 3 pounds of water floating inside his helmet when his crewmates yanked it off; that's nearly a half-gallon.

 

NASA managers have said Parmitano could have choked or drowned, and praised his calmness during the ordeal.

 

Parmitano's colleagues grabbed towels to mop his bald head once the 1 1/2-hour spacewalk ended. Some water bubbles escaped and floated away.

 

The astronauts as well as engineers in Houston are still trying to figure out what went wrong. Parmitano's drink bag has been ruled out. The only other possibility is the cooling system for his suit. Parmitano said his long underwear, containing water tubes, appears to be fine.

 

"I'm sure that they will find both the problem and the solution," Parmitano said.

 

Parmitano became Italy's first spacewalker last week. His spacesuit functioned perfectly the first time around. Tuesday's excursion was a continuation of the maintenance work, none of which was urgent.

 

The trouble began barely an hour into Spacewalk 2.

 

Parmitano said he felt cold water on the back of his head. Within a few minutes, he felt it covering his ears.

 

"The water kept trickling until it completely covered my eyes and my nose," Parmitano said.

 

The sun was setting as the spacewalkers made their way back, making it harder to manoeuvr in the darkness.

 

"All those things sort of came together at the perfect storm, so to speak, for us to deal with," Cassidy told TV reporters.

 

Cassidy said the space station crew reviewed the spacewalk procedures in advance and discussed possible emergencies.

 

"But lo and behold, what happened was not one of those items that we discussed," said Cassidy, 43, a former Navy SEAL.

 

"My own gut feeling," Cassidy said, "I knew it was time to end it when I saw the water creeping around his communications cap, kind of right by his eyelid. I knew that was a significant amount of water to be in a helmet, and it was time to go in."

 

Parmitano was low key as he recounted the experience. Once the helmet came off, he said, "that was the end of it."

 

Spare spacesuits are on board in the event of a space station emergency. NASA wants to be certain the problem is isolated to Parmitano's suit before sending any more astronauts outside.

 

Source of dangerous leak still unknown

Italian astronaut's helmet was filling during spacewalk

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

An Italian astronaut who survived a close call during a spacewalk this week said Thursday a dangerous water leak in his helmet rendered him all but deaf, dumb and blind for a time.

 

Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency said specialists still are trying to pinpoint the source of the leak, which started as a trickle but then began to fill his bubble-like helmet.

 

"I think for a couple of minutes there, maybe more than a couple of minutes, I experienced what it's like to be a goldfish in a fish bowl from the point of view of the goldfish," Parmitano said during a space-to-ground media interview.

 

He and U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy were 30 to 45 minutes into a maintenance spacewalk outside the International Space Station when the leak started as a trickle of cold water on the back of his head.

 

Several minutes later, the water began to move around to the front of his helmet, and "then I felt the cold in my ears," he said.

 

Alarmed, NASA Mission Control aborted the planned six-hour, 15-minute spacewalk and ordered Parmitano and Cassidy to scramble back to the station's U.S. Quest Airlock and relative safety inside the outpost.

 

But the tide inside Parmitano's helmet continued to rise during their retreat.

 

"I started going back to the airlock, and the water kept trickling until it completely covered my nose," he said.

 

That was bad news because water, in a weightless environment, tends to cling. So the water was just adhering to his ears, nose and mouth.

 

"It was really hard to see. I couldn't hear anything. It was really hard to communicate, so I went back to using memory, basically, going back to the airlock," said Parmitano, 37. "I found it, and then went inside."

 

Cassidy followed shortly thereafter, and an emergency suit-doffing drill followed. U.S. astronaut Karen Nyberg and two Russian cosmonauts — Pavel Vinogradov and Fyodor Yurchikhin — removed Parmitano's helmet quickly and used towels to absorb free-floating water blobs.

 

"I knew it was time to end it when I saw the water creeping around his communications cap, kind of right by his eyelid, and I knew that was a significant amount of water to be in a helmet," Cassidy said.

 

Engineers initially thought the leak came from Parmitano's in-suit drinking water bag. Then scrutiny shifted to his form-fitting liquid-cooling garment — underwear equipped with chilled water tubes. But both have been ruled out.

 

Said Parmitano: "At this particular moment, we know where (the leak) did not come from."

 

Still suspect: a water tank that is central to a spacesuit's cooling system.

 

"NASA specialists and engineers still are working very hard to find out exactly what happened, and I'm sure that they will find both the problem and the solution."

 

Mandela Day celebrations around the world

 

Associated Press

 

The world is celebrating Nelson Mandela Day with acts of community service and messages of goodwill to the former South African president who remains hospitalized on his 95th birthday. Here are some of the international events:

 

UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. hosted an informal General Assembly in honor of Mandela which was addressed by former United States President Bill Clinton and co-prisoner and Mandela friend Andrew Mlangeni. U.N. staff also helped to rebuild homes in Long Island destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

 

WASHINGTON: The Congressional Black Caucus celebrated the life and legacy of Mandela at the Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. House Speaker John Boehner and South Africa's ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool were among guests slated to speak at the ceremony.

 

NEW YORK: The Tribeca Film Institute partnered with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to commemorate Mandela Day with a video display in Times Square and a meeting in Duffy Square. A picture of a Mandela portrait by South African artist Paul Blomkamp with the words "Happy 95th Birthday Madiba!" was featured on a Times Square monitor throughout the day.

 

TORONTO: A community celebration featuring live music and family activities was at the Nelson Mandela Park Public School.

 

PARIS: The South African embassy in Paris hosts its annual Nelson Mandela Day drive to collect clothes, toys and non-perishable food items for charity. The embassy accepts donations until Aug. 31. The Hotel de Ville hosts a free exhibition, "Nelson Mandela: from Prisoner to President," where visitors can learn about Mandela's journey through films, photographs and sculptures. The exhibition will run through July 6.

 

ROME: An exhibit about Mandela's life at an anti-racism center was visited by South Africa's ambassador to Italy, Nomatemba Tambo.

 

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: Three astronauts from the International Space Station honored Mandela in a video message that included words from Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, among others.

 

"Nelson Mandela is the symbol of what humankind must strive for: Peace, brotherhood and a common goal to better every life on this planet. Our work here on the International Space Station mirrors exactly what Mr. Mandela spent his life trying to accomplish," astronaut Karen Nyberg said for the group.

 

NASA's Asteroid Plan Is Shot Down in House

Committee rejects funding mission, instead puts money toward going to Moon

 

Andy Pasztor - Wall Street Journal

 

The House Science Committee on Thursday voted to bar all spending on plans for a manned mission to an asteroid—rejecting the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's human-space-exploration program through 2025.

 

As part of a stripped-down $16.8 billion authorization bill for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration—more than $1 billion less than the White House and Senate envision—the House panel approved language explicitly prohibiting the agency from proceeding with the proposed asteroid project.

 

The 22-17 vote, which had been expected, heightens partisan bickering over the future direction of NASA, an agency that for decades enjoyed strong bipartisan support and funneled thousands of jobs and lucrative contracts to states and congressional districts represented by key lawmakers.

 

Instead of backing the White House's initiative to send a robotic mission to a small asteroid by 2016, tugging it into a new orbit and eventually sending a manned mission to bring home samples, the bill establishes priorities for returning astronauts to the moon, perhaps as soon as 2020, and ultimately sending them on to Mars.

 

The House legislation also requires NASA to lay out a new plan, incorporating international cooperation, to establish "stepping stones" to reach the Red Planet in 20 years or more.

 

NASA declined to comment on Thursday's vote, but earlier this week a spokesman said agency officials were "deeply concerned" that House GOP leaders were pursuing cuts to White House budget proposals "that would challenge America's pre-eminence in space."

 

Lawmakers and scientists opposed to NASA's asteroid proposal have argued it was announced without any detailed technical study or clear-cut direction. Rep. Steven Palazzo, the Mississippi Republican who heads the space subcommittee, has said the agency hasn't explained the budget, purpose or technical requirements of the asteroid mission.

 

The full Science committee in the House also approved a total of $3 billion—$400 million more than the White House requested—to develop a manned capsule, dubbed Orion, along with a new rocket to carry it that would be the most powerful booster built since the Apollo-era Saturn V. And the panel blocked a reorganization and deep cuts to NASA education programs sought by the White House.

 

House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who has led the fight against the White House initiative, said the House legislation fulfills the congressional responsibility to set goals and "to take the initiative, make decisions and govern."

 

The Democratic-controlled Senate is drafting an $18 billion NASA appropriations bill, but the asteroid mission also has run into criticism there.

 

The House bill includes robust funding for development of a new rocket and capsule to take astronauts into deep space, while supporting White House plans to rely on commercial rockets and spacecraft to ferry cargo and astronauts to the orbiting international space station.

 

NASA has been hurt by years of policy drift, tussles with Congress and lack of clear-cut goals for the next chapter of its development.

 

In April, when the White House rolled out its asteroid concept, it only sought a first-year, $100 million down payment for the idea. Industry and government officials have pegged the total bill at around $2 billion. But NASA faces a stiff challenge in identifying a specific asteroid as a destination and generating public support for the plan.

 

House, Senate fund different paths for NASA

 

Ledyard King - Florida Today

 

Congressional votes on Thursday provided more evidence the Republican-led House and the Democratic-led Senate have fundamentally opposing views of the space program.

 

Key committees in both chambers approved divergent paths for NASA that will have to be reconciled later this year.

 

The difference is not just about money, though most lawmakers agree there's a significant gap between the $18 billion the Senate Appropriation Committee wants to give NASA in fiscal 2014 and the $16.8 billion authorized by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

 

It's also about direction and deciding whether NASA should be allowed -- or can be trusted -- to pursue the course it's laid out for the next few years.

 

Both measures, along with a $16.6 billion measure approved Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee, would provide enough money to continue NASA's top priorities: a deep-space mission to Mars, a joint venture with aerospace firms to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, and completion of the James Webb Space Telescope.

 

But the Senate bill would permit an asteroid retrieval mission the agency wants to undertake as part of its stepping-stone approach to Mars. The House measure strictly prohibits it.

 

And while the Senate measure would keep much of the funding for science missions intact, the House bill would slash it by a third because, lawmakers said, other agencies are using NASA as a "piggy bank" for their research.

 

Republicans say Democrats aren't being realistic in asking for $1 billion more than allowed for under sequestration budget cuts. Democrats counter that Republicans are proposing money for programs NASA didn't ask for, such as a once-per-decade flagship mission to explore planetary space.

 

Money remains the key stumbling block. House lawmakers are unwilling to go beyond the overall allocations spelled out in the budget they approved earlier this year.

 

"While it is safe to say everyone on this committee would like to see more funding for NASA, we must do the best with the hand we've been dealt," said Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi, who chairs the Science, Space and Technology subcommittee that drafted the legislation the full committee approved Thursday.

 

On the other side of Capitol Hill, Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland was urging colleagues to pass a spending bill that would fund federal commerce, justice and science programs -- including an $18 billion bill for NASA -- without conforming to sequestration ceilings.

 

"At that (level), we'll be able to keep a balanced space program," said Mikulski, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

 

Adding his voice to the debate, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, this week introduced a bill that would give NASA $18.1 billion next year. He thinks that's the number Congress will eventually agree on.

 

"This little agency can't get by on the tea-party level of $16.8 billion," he said. "It'll be close to $18.1 billion when all is said and done. We're going to do the right thing."

 

House panel gives thumbs down to sending astronauts to asteroid

 

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

 

In a move sure to sow conflict with the White House, a key U.S. House committee on Thursday approved a new blueprint for NASA that strips away the administration's proposal to blast U.S. astronauts to an asteroid as early as 2021.

 

It is a "poorly defined mission," said U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., of the plan to grab a speeding asteroid with a robot and drag it near the moon so future astronauts could go visit it.

 

Instead, he and other Republicans on the House science committee voted along party lines to direct NASA to develop a "sustained human presence" on the moon and Mars.

 

But it's uncertain how they would pay for those multibillion-dollar endeavors, especially because House Republicans propose funding NASA at less than $17 billion next year — far less than either the $17.7 billion requested by the White House or the $18 billion advocated by Senate Democrats.

 

"The legislation … takes NASA in the wrong direction and weakens it when we should be strengthening the agency to meet the challenges of the 21st century," said U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.

 

The disconnect — on both the funding level and asteroid mission — sets the stage for a protracted debate over NASA's future at a time when its human-spaceflight program is in desperate need of direction.

 

Senate Democrats, including Bill Nelson of Florida, filed legislation this week that would allow the asteroid mission, estimated at $2.6 billion, to go forward.

 

At the root of the debate is finding a mission to justify NASA's new rocket and capsule, which is under construction at about $3 billion annually in preparation for a first test launch in 2017.

 

Senate, House NASA Bills Far Apart on Funding, Close on Some Priorities

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Setting aside the threat of continued budget sequestration, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) managed to win enough Republican votes July 18 to send to the floor a bipartisan 2014 spending bill that includes $18 billion for NASA. That's $1.4 billion more than their counterparts in the GOP-controlled House approved and nearly $300 million more than the White House requested.

 

Before House and Senate appropriators even have a chance to hammer out the sizable differences between their competing spending packages, the bills — which also fund the U.S. Commerce and Justice departments and several federal science agencies — must first come to the floor in their respective chambers. Only three of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government have cleared the House. None have cleared the Senate.

 

Current appropriations, which Congress approved in two six-month installments known as continuing resolutions, run out when the government's 2014 budget year begins Oct. 1. And with Congress — which rarely holds votes on Mondays or Fridays —set to take the month of August off, there are precious few days left to enact a 2014 budget. The Senate has 26 legislative days scheduled before the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 (H.R. 933) expires; the House is scheduled to spend just 18 days in session between now and the end of September.

 

As a result, NASA officials are taking it for granted that the politically divided Congress will fail again this year to enact fresh appropriations before the new budget begins.

 

"I'd be shocked if we don't get a continuing resolution, starting Oct. 1, for some length of time," Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said during a July 15 meeting of the Outer Planets Assessment Group.

 

But despite the considerable funding gap between the bills approved by the Senate and House Appropriations Committees — the House Appropriations Committee is treating next year's budget as if it were already sequestered, approving a $16.6 billion NASA budget July 17 — the two chambers in many cases agree about which NASA programs need the most funding.

 

Both bills, for example, gave NASA's still-in-development Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket far more funding than the White House is seeking for 2014. Including vehicle development at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and associated ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Senate appropriators — in approving their 2014 commerce, justice, science spending bill by a vote of 21-9 — provided $1.91 billion, nearly 39 percent above the request. The House provided 28 percent more than requested.

 

Another area in which House and Senate appropriators appear to be of one mind is the Commercial Crew Program. Although neither appropriations committee met the White House's $821 million request for Commercial Crew, both approved more funding than the program has received since its inception. Senate appropriators set a new high water mark with a $775 million appropriation, well above the $489 million the program got in 2013 under NASA's sequestered spending bill. The House, even in its sequester-level bill, provided $700 million. NASA wants at least one of the three privately developed spacecraft it is subsidizing under Commercial Crew to be ready to fly astronauts to the international space station by 2017.

 

Both the House and Senate bills also gave more than the White House asked for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems are building to launch atop SLS. The House committee's appropriation is just 3 percent higher than the request, but the Senate committee has approved $1.2 billion for 2014, nearly 17 percent more than the White House requested.

 

The two bills are closely in sync with regard to Planetary Science, the division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate responsible for robotic solar system exploration. The House and Senate each gave the division about $1.32 billion, about 8 percent more than the White House requested. Since 2012, when it had about a $1.5 billion budget, Planetary Science has been tapped to cover cost growth on the James Webb Space Telescope, and to provide a funding boost for the Earth Science Division.

 

Outside of those programs, differences between House and Senate priorities begin to emerge.

 

For example, the Senate bill provides all $1.85 billion the White House requested for Earth Science. The House bill, on the other hand, funds that account at $1.66 billion, 10 percent below the request.

 

Likewise, the Senate bill gives exactly what the White House requested for the James Webb Space Telescope: $658.2 million. The House bill, on the other hand, provides $518.6 million, about 11 percent lower than the request for the technically ambitious astrophysics flagship, which has a history of cost growth and delays. The telescope is now expected to cost $8.8 billion to build, launch, and operate in space for five years. Launch is scheduled for 2018.

 

Senate appropriators approved the following 2014 funding levels for NASA's major budget accounts:

 

·         Science Mission Directorate: $5.14 billion, nearly 3 percent above the request, 7 percent above the House bill, and about 1.5 percent below what NASA spent in 2012, the last year in which the agency's budget was not subject to sequester.

·         Exploration Systems: $4.21 billion, 7.5 percent above the request, about 14 percent above the House bill, and about 13.5 percent more than in 2012.

·         Space Operations: $3.88 billion, in line with the request, 5.5 percent above the House bill, and about 7 percent less  than in 2012, when a space shuttle pension liability and space shuttle closeout funding were still included in this account.

·         Cross Agency Support: $2.79 billion, about 2 percent below the request, 3 percent more than the House bill and about 6.5 percent less than in 2012.

·         Construction and Environmental Compliance and Restoration: $586.9 million, about 3.5 percent below the request, roughly 10.5 percent above the House bill and about 18.5 percent above 2012.

·         Aeronautics: $558.7 million, about 1 percent less than the request and the House bill, and almost 2 percent less than in 2012.

·         Education: $116.6 million, nearly 24 percent above the request, about 4.5 percent below the House level, and roughly 14 percent less than in 2012.

·         Inspector General: $38 million, about 2.5 percent more than the request, 7 percent less than the House bill and about 1 percent less than in 2012.

 

Proposed NASA Cuts Spark Bitter Debate During House Science Markup

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

House lawmakers debated NASA's 2014 budget Thursday during a meeting that saw stark partisan divisions over proposed funding cuts for the agency's science and space exploration programs.

 

A NASA authorization bill drafted by the Republican majority of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology proposes to slash NASA's funding to $16.6 billion for 2014 — $300 million less than it received in 2013, and $1.1 billion less than President Obama requested for NASA in 2014. The bill — which authorizes spending levels but provides no actual funding — would roll back NASA's funding to a level $1.2 billion less than its 2012 budget.

 

Democratic members of the committee spoke strongly against the proposed cuts, which Republicans say are necessary under the federal sequestration cuts prompted by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

 

"It is a bad, bad bill," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), the committee's ranking Democrat. "The bill we're considering today will hurt the NASA centers and work force, cripple the agency's ability to carry out all the responsibilities the nation has given it, and put NASA on a path of mediocrity. It gives me no pleasure to say this is a terribly flawed piece of legislation."

 

Republicans insisted the bill authorizes enough money for NASA to achieve its main objectives, and said it was realistic, given the tough fiscal circumstances.

 

"Everyone on this committee would like to see more funding for NASA, but we must do the best with the hand that we have been dealt," said Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.), chairman of the House Science space subcommittee.

 

Contentious amendments

 

Numerous committee members submitted more than 30 proposed amendments to the bill, including an amendment put forward by Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.) — the subcommittee's ranking Democrat — that would boost NASA's 2014 funding to $18.1 billion.

 

"This amendment provides a pragmatic path forward," Edwards said. "The reality is that NASA should be funded at levels that are actually billions of dollars more than I am proposing."

 

Edwards disputed the claim that the committee was obligated to pass a NASA authorization bill in accordance with sequestration cuts. The House of Representatives separates the job of authorizing federal agencies from the job of appropriating money to those agencies, she maintained, so that the authorizing committee could set a vision and authorize funding appropriate to achieving that vision.

 

"Funding NASA, our nation's crown jewel, at sequestration levels is a choice — it is not our legal requirement," Edwards said. "It's a choice that I can't support."

 

In particular, she and other lawmakers objected to harsh cuts proposed in the authorization bill to NASA's Earth science program, space technology initiatives, heliophysics program and other projects.

 

But Republican representatives resisted all amendments that aimed to increase funding beyond sequestration levels.

 

"The tooth fairy isn't putting money under our pillow, and I would urge my colleagues to vote against tooth fairy funding," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said.

 

Closing Marshall Space Flight Center?

 

Democrats did propose some cost-cutting measures to accommodate the federal fiscal tightening.

 

However, Edwards withdrew an amendment she planned to introduce that would study the possibility of closing either NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., or its Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., and consolidating the rocket development activities at both sites in one location. The proposal met with harsh opposition by the committee's chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), and Edwards withdrew the amendment at their request.

 

"Marshall and its work force have provided great value to our nation," Edwards said, but added that she felt compelled to examine all options for limiting NASA's expenses.

 

Ultimately, though, she decided to withdraw the amendment "because I believe in the multi-mission function of NASA," she said. "I just don't think it can be accomplished with the budget that's been outlined by the majority."

 

NASA spending bill presents Ted Cruz with a conundrum

 

Mark Whittington - Examiner.com

 

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-FL, chairman of the Senate Space and Science Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee, unveiled his version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill on July 17, 2013. It has a funding level of just over $18 billion, which matches what the Senate appropriators are advancing, and confirms the Obama administration's desire to snag an asteroid and visit it with astronauts in the next decade. The draft bill also presents the ranking member of the subcommittee, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas with something of a conundrum.

 

On the one hand Cruz, as a tea party conservative, believes in small government and frugal spending. The senate version of the NASA bill is roughly $1.5 billion more than the House version, crafted by Cruz's fellow Republicans. Based on Cruz's spending hawk stance, he should oppose the subcommittee bill.

 

On the other hand, Cruz is a senator from Texas, a state where space has always been important due to the presence of NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center and increasingly because of the operations of commercial space firms such as SpaceX and Blue Origins in the Lone Star State. Cruz has also expressed support for NASA and commercial space. Based on that, Cruz should be inclined to support the senate funding level for NASA.

 

On a side issue, Cruz has not publicly expressed whether he is in favor of the asteroid plan or whether he favors, as do House Republicans, a return to the moon.

 

Thus far, unlike with other, more prominent issues like immigration and gun control, Cruz has been taking a bi-partisan approach to NASA spending, deferring to Nelson. Whether that will continue and when and if Cruz will chart the same sort of independent course on NASA as he has on so many other issues remains to be seen.

 

Leading congresswoman on NASA panel withdraws bill to close Marshall

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

In a dramatic moment in the House of Representatives Thursday, an emotional U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md) withdrew at the last minute a measure she was planning to introduce that could have closed the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. Edwards said she pulled back at the request of House Space, Science and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas).

 

"You said they seemed deeply personal to two members," Edwards said to Smith of the measures in her proposed amendment to a NASA Authorization Act being debated. The measures proposed an independent BRAC-like commission to consider consolidations or closures at NASA centers in Alabama and Mississippi. The offended lawmakers she and Smith were referring to were Reps. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and Steve Palazzo (R-Miss).

 

Edwards, who represents Maryland where Goddard Space Flight Center is located, was already having a bad day when she began to speak to her amendment late Thursday afternoon. She and fellow Democrats had tried unsuccessfully for hours to get the Republican-dominated House committee to pull back from authorizing only $16.6 billion in spending for NASA next year. That's the amount that would be required if sequestration limits continue, but Democrats said there was no guarantee they would and, regardless, this was an authorization bill, not an actual appropriation. They also pointed to a NASA funding bill moving forward in the Senate that funds the agency at $18 billion.

 

Edwards was also upset about $600 million in cuts contained in the bill to NASA science programs managed at Goddard Space Flight Center in her state. "You don't need to rip that apart anymore," she said at one point.

 

The bill supported by Republicans "does great damage to the nation's space program," Edwards said as she began speaking. "We will no longer be international leaders with the program that has been proposed by the majority."

 

Edwards' amendment would have directed the independent panel, first, to study the Marshall and Stennis space centers "to determine if their rocket-related activities should be combined in one location." There could be benefits, Edwards said, adding, "I don't know the answers to those questions."

 

The measure also directed the panel to look at moving Marshall's work to Stennis or Houston's Johnson Space Center. "If the majority is willing to make such deep cuts, it should also be willing to make the tough choices those harsh budget cuts can result in," she said.

 

"I'm not advocating that any of these steps be taken," Edwards said. "Marshall and its workforce have provided great value to our nation."

 

Edwards denied that her amendment, which she then withdrew, was a personal shot at any Republican. "What is deeply personal," she told Smith, "is $600 million in cuts to the Goddard Space Flight Center where I live. That is deeply personal."

 

In response, Palazzo said it comes down "to which reality we're living in. We're $17 trillion in debt and we've had four years of record unemployment, four years of trillion-dollar deficits. If they're fortunate enough to have a job their wages have been flat or decreasing while the cost of everything else has gone up. Why would we bring up a bill that's going to be set up for failure in the House and possibly the Senate or dead on arrival?"

 

The bill might not be perfect, Polazzo said, "but it's the cards that have been dealt to us."

 

Brooks said he understood Edwards' dissatisfaction. His North Alabama district has shared it in recent years when key programs there were canceled, he said, referring to the Constellation rocket program. "I do find it interesting that (she)sought to close one or more NASA centers outside her district," Brooks added. "This is even more interesting when one considers the significant funding increases the center in her district has enjoyed in recent years."

 

Brooks said NASA's earth science budget has increased 50 percent since 2008, the bulk of that going to Goddard in Edwards' district. Brooks said the bill before the committee was not an attack on Edwards' district, but a result of "tight times brought about by President Obama's Budget Control Act of 2011."

 

Brooks noted that both he and Edwards voted against that sequestration bill.

 

Space station helps in disaster monitoring

 

Tereza Pultarova - E&T Magazine (Engineering & Technology)

 

World's major space agencies have announced stepping up efforts to utilise imagery taken from the International Space Station (ISS) for disaster response.

 

As a part of the undertaking, new sensors will be installed on the orbital outpost to expand its Earth observation and data collection capabilities.

 

In the past years, ISS's astronauts and the stations' scientific instruments have contributed, for example, to data collection campaigns in the aftermath of floods in southern Russia, covering areas damaged by hurricane Sandy in the USA, the earthquake on Haiti or floods in Nigeria and Pakistan.

 

The space agencies, including NASA, European Space Agency (ESA) or Japanese space agency (JAXA) believe the observations conducted from aboard the ISS could provide valuable complementary information to data gathered by Earth observation satellites operating in the framework of the International Charter 'Space and Major Disasters'.

 

The station is already equipped with a plethora of instruments providing detailed images including the hyperspectral imager for the coastal ocean (HICO), the super sensitive high definition TV (SS-HDTV) camera, the multipurpose consolidated experiment (MCE) high definition TV camera (KIBO HDTV-EF), the ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (ISERV) and the multispectral agricultural camera.

 

Flying at the altitude of 400km and circling the Earth every 90 minutes, ISS could not only provide a rather unique perspective on the planet but also enable taking images promptly with frequent repeat times. This could help the teams on Earth managing rescue and mitigation operations during floods, wildfires, storms, tsunamis, earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

 

Russia Is Building an Inflatable Space Module of its Own

 

Anatoly Zak - Popular Mechanics

 

(Zak is an editor of RussianSpaceWeb.com and the author of Russia in Space: The Past Explained, The Future Explored, to be released by Apogee Books later this month)

 

RKK Energia, the manufacturer of the Soyuz spacecraft and the prime contractor on the Russian part of the International Space Station, quietly published in its annual report last week details on an innovative inflatable space habitat.

 

Wrapped into multilayered synthetic skin instead of metal, the expandable module could be attached to the Russian part of the International Space Station and inflated like a beach ball, providing greater comfort for the crew and extra room for yet-to-be-disclosed experiments, RKK Energia's report said.

 

Thanks to its compact size during the launch (the most expensive phase of any space mission), inflatable structures promise to deliver much more habitable volume per unit of mass than the one available inside the traditional spacecraft. According to Russian researchers, inflatable modules will provide three times more volume and 1.5 more surface area per unit of mass than traditional metal structures. Also, inflatable modules promise lighter and better micrometeoroid and radiation shielding than would metal spacecraft.

 

The Russian company began work on this exotic technology in 2011 using its own funds and is currently working on a scaled-down prototype. Eventually, RKK Energia hopes to get a contract from the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to build the full-scale inflatable habitat. RKK Energia did not disclose any details about the composition or properties of the skin comprising its flexible structure beyond saying it would use domestically produced materials.

 

An official representative of RKK Energia, Anatoly Khabarov said in an email to PopMech that "… unfortunately, at present, our developers can not provide anything for publication." However documents we obtained show that the company had initially considered fitting the inflatable structure into its 7-ton Progress cargo ship, which has been routinely used to deliver supplies and propellant to the ISS. In the past, the Progress was also successfully employed to deliver new modules to the orbiting outpost.

 

A Short History of Space Inflatables

 

Although inflatable structures had never been widely used in space, they have attracted the attention of space architects since the dawn of the space era, as the most effective and economical way of creating a large pressurized habitat.

 

The USSR pioneered inflatable structures in space with a flexible air lock that was launched aboard the Voskhod-2 spacecraft in 1965. During that historic mission, the inflatable design enabled the world's first space walk, by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. Soviet engineers also used inflatable airbags to soften landings of its early lunar probes. More recently, a Russian firm tried (with mixed results) to return cargo from orbit using an inflatable heat shield. (One small experimental cargo did return to Earth successfully in 2000, but a larger inflatable device was lost during the reentry, and several further reentry attempts were aborted due to launch failures.)

 

It was NASA's Johnson Space Center, though, that has come closest to launching a manned inflatable module, to be called Transhab. Conceived as living quarters of a Mars-bound spacecraft, Transhab was intended to ride on the shuttle to the ISS to demonstrate the feasibility of inflatable technology. But because of financial and political problems, Congress killed the maverick project in 2000.

 

Since then, Nevada-based firm Bigelow Aerospace had acquired NASA's engineering heritage in the hope of building an orbital hotel for space tourists and commercial researchers. Bigelow's near-Earth facility would be comprised of several inflatable structures whose scaled prototypes had been successfully boosted in orbit in 2006 and 2007—ironically, aboard converted Russian ballistic missiles. Bigelow is also working with NASA to add a small inflatable structure to the American segment of the ISS that would stay in place for at least two years. The module is currently scheduled to ride to the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft in the summer of 2015.

 

The Hurdles

 

When we asked a Bigelow Aerospace representative about the news of these Russian plans, the reaction was a combination of surprise, excitement, and competitive spirit.

 

"It is a first time I've heard of this, I am very surprised … wow!" Michael Gold, director of D.C. operations and business growth at Bigelow, told PopMech. "That would be outstanding [if Russia succeeds in the development of such a vehicle] … it is a great technology and I am glad to see that if the world adapts it, it will really help space exploration and lower its cost, which, obviously, is really important in this fiscally constrained environment."

 

Gerard Valle, a specialist in inflatable structures at Johnson Space Center and veteran of the Transhab project, agreed that inflatable technology provides favorable volume-to-mass ratio when compared to traditional metal spacecraft. At the same time, he warned, developers still face major technical risks and high costs.

 

The biggest hurdle for inflatable habitats, Valle says, particularly those that would house humans in space, is overcoming "creep"—the slow deformation of a structure under stress. "We have a whole program with Langley (space center) to show that those materials are good (on creep issues)," Valle said, "(This problem) is common for all materials and you have the same concern with metal structures, but it is definitely a concern with inflatables and you have to understand it and you have to prove it." NASA scientists made special effort to come up with innovative methods of testing which could simulate decades of stress in just a few years or even months, Valle says.

 

Extreme temperatures in space would present additional hurdles. "If you are at the cold temperatures for the very long time, the module's flexible bladder will crack," he says. "Therefore you have to make sure that it either has heaters or you have a really good bladder."

 

Valle says only deep-space missions, such as an expedition to Mars, would ultimately justify the technical risks and expenses associated with inflatable spacecraft': "If you're just going to low Earth orbit, you can probably get by with a metal can."

 

Up to Speed

 

After a nearly decade-long hiatus caused by years of economic problems in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union, numerous Russian space projects have been revived. RKK Energia's engineers are currently putting finishing touches on the 20-ton multipurpose laboratory that is scheduled to join the ISS before the middle of the next year. It would be followed within a year or two by an innovative Node Module, equipped with six docking ports for multiple "plug-in" spacecraft. RKK Energia recently released images of the flight version of the globular-shaped spacecraft being assembled at the company's workshops. With the Node Module's projected life span of several decades, Russian engineers would have practically unlimited opportunities and plenty of ports to expand their part of the space settlement with additional laboratories and habitats, including some inflatable.

 

Given the late start in the assembly of the Russian segment, the nation's space officials hinted that they had been considering separating the newest Russian modules of the outpost and leaving it in orbit after the deorbiting of the main portion of the ISS currently expected at the beginning of the 2020s.

 

Who will launch from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A?

Private firms SpaceX, Blue Origin have competing proposals

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Competing proposals from two billionaire-backed private space firms have complicated NASA's plan to lease a former Apollo and shuttle launch pad it no longer needs and can't afford to maintain.

 

NASA was close to an agreement on a 15-year lease of Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A to SpaceX, which could use it in the next few years for launches of astronauts to the International Space Station and for a planned heavy-lift Falcon rocket.

 

But Blue Origin, which has not yet flown a vehicle in space but may compete with SpaceX long-term, has instead proposed taking over the pad and equipping it to serve multiple launch providers, including SpaceX.

 

"We believe the fullest commercial use of that facility is as a multi-user pad, and we think we've got the long-term financial commitment and the technical ability to make it successful," said Rob Meyerson, president of Blue Origin.

 

NASA is looking for commercial operators to take over the historic seaside pad that debuted with the first Saturn V blastoff in 1967 and was last used in 2011 for the final shuttle launch.

 

The agency hopes to lease the mothballed pad by Oct. 1, when it plans to stop funding upkeep of a facility for which it has "no foreseeable" need.

 

NASA would not comment on proposals under evaluation, which had to detail plans for shared or exclusive use for at least five years.

 

The issue surfaced Wednesday on Capitol Hill when an Alabama congressman filed an amendment to a proposed NASA spending plan that would prevent the agency from awarding the pad to any user exclusively.

 

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt later withdrew his amendment, saying he would draft a letter expressing concerns with U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees NASA funding.

 

Several U.S. launch companies did not submit proposals to use pad 39A, including ATK, Orbital Sciences Corp. and United Launch Alliance, a joint venture owned by The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp.

 

ULA, however, which builds Atlas V and Delta IV rockets in Alabama and is competing with SpaceX to launch NASA crews and potentially national security satellites, has written Blue Origin a letter supporting its concept for Launch Complex 39.

 

"United Launch Alliance is always interested in working with our partners in the aerospace industry to explore cost-effective solutions utilizing infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center, including LC-39," said ULA spokeswoman Jessica Rye.

 

Pad 39A could also serve as a backup to ULA's two existing launch complexes at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Rye said, "providing an added measure of assured access for critical national security and civil missions, or provide additional launch capacity should future launch rates increase."

 

SpaceX would not comment, but is believed to want exclusive use of 39A to carry out its missions and justify the cost of modifying the facility for its vehicles.

 

Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX was started by Elon Musk, who made his initial fortune as co-founder of PayPal and now has contracts to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and launch numerous commercial satellites.

 

Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin is backed by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. The company tests vehicles and plans suborbital flights from its own launch site in West Texas.

 

Blue Origin proposes to run pad 39A as a Federal Aviation Administration-licensed spaceport. The company would pay for annual operations and maintenance costs and for upgrades that would enable other companies to launch by 2015.

 

Blue Origin anticipates being ready to perform its own orbital launches by 2018, Meyerson said.

 

The concept appears to fit NASA's stated goal to transform Kennedy Space Center into a multi-user spaceport.

 

In addition to possibilities at pad 39A, NASA already identifies the pad it will use to launch human exploration missions — 39B — as a "clean" pad that can also support other launchers.

 

But simple as it sounds, the industry has not yet embraced shared use of launch pads.

 

No company wants to be dependent on a competitor for access to a pad or risk losing access indefinitely because someone else has a serious accident.

 

"We really believe a multi-user site can work," said Meyerson, adding it could lower costs for all the pad's users. "We believe we can make it work. So our opposition is not over an individual company, it's over an exclusive-user arrangement."

 

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin have expressed interest in commercial launch sites outside the Cape's existing government-controlled facilities, including one Space Florida has proposed at the north end of KSC and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge that is slated to undergo an environmental impact study soon.

 

A SpaceX spokeswoman said the company would continue to pursue a privately operated pad at the Shiloh site or in other states regardless of what happens with pad 39A, to support its growing number of commercial launches.

 

Blue Origin also is exploring orbital launch site options in multiple states, but ultimately plans to pick one.

 

"There's a lot that has to happen before we would drop the Shiloh option, but yeah, if we select 39A, that's the site we would operate out of," said Meyerson.

 

NASA plans to evaluate each proposal's technical approach and financial ability to run pad 39A "in a manner that supports the fullest commercial use of space."

 

The complex today is still defined by a shuttle service tower that stretches 350 feet above the pad's base. Any new tenants will pay for modifications and likely will want to build processing facilities nearby.

 

The shuttle towers are gone at pad 39B a mile-and-a-half up the coast, which NASA is overhauling for use by its own Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule. Their first unmanned test launch is targeted for 2017.

 

NASA requested that three historic artifacts be preserved at 39A: the shuttle crew access arm, the arm that held a "beanie cap" vent over shuttle external tanks, and an Apollo-era emergency escape bunker.

 

Getting set for the Falcon Heavy

 

Joseph Abbott - Waco Tribune-Herald

 

 

As reported by Trib business editor Mike Copeland, the city of McGregor has revised its lease with SpaceX to allow for testing of louder technologies — including the behemoth Falcon Heavy, with 27 engines firing at liftoff.

 

The SpaceX concept illustration at left is actually a few years old and a bit outdated; it was created before the recent redesign of the Falcon 9 rocket that the Heavy is derived from. Company communications director Christina Ra tells me there's a fresh illustration in the works that will reflect the v1.1/9-R changes (for starters, the engines on each core will be in the new octagonal arrangement rather than v1.0's 3-by-3 grid).

 

As for where Falcon Heavy will launch from? The first launch is set — date as yet unknown — for the same pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., currently being readied for the liftoff, planned for Sept. 5, of the Canadian CASSIOPE satellite aboard the Falcon 9-R whose stages were recently tested at McGregor.

 

Another possibility has come up recently: Apparently SpaceX is the only bidder to use a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., famed for its previous use on the Apollo and space shuttle programs (they currently launch from neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station).

 

The pad in question, 39A, is the one I've seen two shuttles launch from on my visits to KSC, and I have a rock from the crawlerway leading up to it, from the time I got to see it (relatively) up close, the day before launch. (The other one, 39B, is being refurbished for use in Space Launch System flights.)

 

I do wonder about this a bit; Launch Complex 39 as a whole is designed for rockets to be assembled and transported vertically — hence said crawlerway, leading from the vast Vehicle Assembly Building to the two launch pads — whereas SpaceX prefers to build and move rockets horizontally, for easier access, and raise them to vertical at the pad. I don't know how easy/practical it's going to be to alter 39A to allow that.

 

Coming Soon: SpaceX Rocket Launches from Texas Spaceport?

 

Dave Brody - Space.com

 

Since the Gemini 4 mission blasted off in June 1965, most of NASA's orbital flights have been controlled from facilities in Texas. But no payloads have ever successfully rocketed to orbit from that state.

 

That may soon change. The private company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has been narrowing its search for a new location in which to build a commercial launch facility for industrial customers.

 

From its original list, which included Virginia, Alaska and California, the company has recently focused on Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico and particularly Texas.

 

Texas 'land grab?'

 

About 13 months ago, SpaceX began purchasing property in the area of Boca Chica Beach in Cameron County near Brownsville, Texas. SpaceX now reportedly owns eight parcels, according to the local Valley Morning Star newspaper.

 

Texas state, Cameron County and Brownsville city officials have worked to assemble a package of incentives worth a reported $15 million for development of a local spaceport. The Cameron County Commissioners Court and the Texas General Land Office have cleared the way for intended-purpose land use and safety-related beach closures on launch days.

 

According to Gilberto Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation, Boca Chica Beach may be closed to the public up to 12 times per year to provide a safe zone for commercial launches. Ten of those would be designated for liftoffs of the company's Falcon 9 rocket, while two could be opportunities for the new and bigger Falcon 9 Heavy.

 

These flights would almost certainly not be for NASA payloads. SpaceX has been contracted for commercial satellite launches by Iridium, Space System/Loral, ORBCOMM, Intelsat and several foreign countries' communications programs.

 

The proposed Texas launch site is located within the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge, and some local environmentalists have raised concerns about the spaceport's potential impacts to habitat.

 

Salinas counters that Florida's Kennedy Space Center is similarly positioned adjacent to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. He also points out that the required safety margins around rocket have suppressed other industrial or housing development in the KSC area.

 

Coastal commercial spaceports

 

SpaceX is also gearing up to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This site offers access to polar orbits, which many Air Force payloads and environmental monitoring satellites require. A satellite in polar orbit can expose its sensors to changing slices of the Earth rotating beneath it. In this way, the entire globe can be seen in a few days or less.

 

The proposed Boca Chica Beach site would allow for commercial launches to the much sought-after equatorial orbits, where many communications satellites are positioned. SpaceX could safely fly its Falcons through the very sparsely populated corridor between southern Florida and Cuba.

 

Brownsville is the southernmost point in the continental United States. Rockets launched from there would get an inertial boost from Earth's rotation (such advantages increase as a theoretical launch site approaches the equator, where Earth's rotational velocity reaches its relative maximum).

 

SpaceX appears to be considering three other coastal locations for the new launch site: Georgia's Camden County, an unspecified site in Puerto Rico and Florida's Shiloh region (a former orange grove). Each of these three could present a wide range of orbital inclinations ("azimuths", as they are sometimes called), from equatorial to near polar.

 

The Puerto Rico site is closest to the equator, but the difference is not considered significant in the calculus of propellant requirements.

 

The Shiloh, Florida site occupies about 200 acres (81 hectares) located some 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the NASA pad SpaceX has been using to launch cargo to the International Space Station. The Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) recently requested proposals from environmental consultants to support its study of possible impacts to the Shiloh area from development of a spaceport. The state trade group Space Florida has applied to the FAA for a license to operate commercial-only launch facilities there.

 

All of the launch sites under consideration, including Brownsville, offer an unobstructed expanse of open ocean in the direction of launch. This is primarily intended to provide range safety in case the booster fails early in its flight. But it also raises another intriguing possibility: quick capsule recovery.

 

Splash-down recycling?

 

SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which has successfully completed two of 12 contracted robotic cargo flights to the International Space Station for NASA, currently lands in the water. All Dragon missions thus far — including its demonstration flight to the orbiting lab — have launched from Florida and splashed down off North America's West Coast.

 

SpaceX has not said that it intends to bring future Dragons down in the body of water nearest the company's commercial launch point, but doing so could (in theory) quicken the turnaround time and lower the cost of capsule recovery and refurbishment.

 

The Brownsville, Texas site, therefore, offers an enticing combination of deep southern location, launch from the beach, favorable regulatory environment, experienced workforce and ocean-shipping terminal. Clearly, SpaceX is exploring an alluring strategy of creating a sizeable private commercial spaceport there.

 

Safety, reusability and restart

 

SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster can lose one of its nine engines and still complete its primary mission. That's precisely what happened on Oct. 7, 2012, during the rocket's first operational resupply flight to the International Space Station.

 

NASA's huge Saturn V rocket, which boosted Apollo and Skylab missions four decades ago, had a similar capability. The Saturn V's second stage — named the "S-II" — clustered five J-2 engines. The unmanned Apollo 6 and the famous "successful failure" Apollo 13 each experienced engine loss during the S-II phase of boost. Both missions successfully made it to low-Earth orbit, though in the case of Apollo 6 the final orbit was a much more eccentric ellipse than the planned one, which was nearly circular.

 

Other than Falcon 9, no rocket in current operation can successfully fly with an engine out. By contrast, all passenger jets can. In fact, they must in order to be rated for commercial operation.

 

As with jet airliners, rocket engines must also have the capability of restarting while in flight if the vehicles they power are to be reusable. In March of this year, SpaceX completed prerequisite trials of its new Merlin 1D engine variant, specifically designed to restart during a mission.

 

"The Merlin 1D successfully performed every test throughout this extremely rigorous qualification program," said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and chief designer.

 

Testing of the up-rated variant of the Merlin engine paves the way for a reusable version, designated Falcon 9R. Later this summer, these engines are slated to power the launch, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, of the Canadian Space Agency's CASSIOPE communications and solar weather satellite. SpaceX is likely to try an engine restart on that flight. It will be the first step to learning techniques for returning the booster to the ground under power — eventually, right back to the launch site.

 

SpaceX has not stated whether or not it intends to fly reusable boosters from whatever private launch site it selects, but doing so could significantly lower the firm's operational costs and shorten the time between flights.

 

Mars and beyond

 

Better spaceflight economics — especially reduced launch costs — have long been considered essential for robust development of the solar system's potentially habitable frontiers. Musk has repeatedly and publically stated his desire, and his company's goal, to explore and settle Mars.

 

In an interview with SPACE.com last November, Musk characterized the colonization of Mars as a partnership between commercial companies and governments. He put a roughly estimated price of $36 billion on the enterprise.

 

A robust commercial spaceport — in Brownsville, Texas or any of the other sites now under consideration — would likely put SpaceX in a much better position to self-fund at least a portion of that goal.

 

Spaceport gets NM OK for loan for visitor centers

 

Associated Press

 

Spaceport America, which was built with nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in taxpayer money, is taking out a $21 million loan to build two visitor centers in southern New Mexico.

 

Gov. Susana Martinez and other members of the state Board of Finance voted unanimously Wednesday to let the Spaceport Authority seek the private loans for the centers, despite concerns the state could be left holding the tab.

 

The loan will not pay for a visitor center in Hatch -- a long-promised project that has been stalled because the spaceport can't find a suitable and affordable piece of land, spaceport officials said. Instead, it will pay for centers in Truth or Consequences and at the remote spaceport site just north of the Doña Ana County line.

 

The spaceport's $209 million budget two years ago had some $15 million targeted for the visitor centers. But that shrank as other expenses mounted, including an appropriation of $7 million to extend the runway at the request of anchor tenant Virgin Galactic. State funds were used to design the buildings and buy land, but the authority needs a loan to build them, officials said.

 

Spaceport officials said they have several banks interested in financing the projects, and a loan could be secured in about 30 days. Construction could begin soon after that.

 

"We are thrilled," Executive Director Christine Anderson told the Albuquerque Journal after the meeting. "This was critical for the success of our business model."

 

She said the centers are a crucial element for drawing visitors to the spaceport, where Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans to take tourists into space for $200,000 a head. Virgin Galactic has said those flights could begin by the end of this year.

 

But the spaceport's business model also relies on an anticipated 200,000 annual visitors to the spaceport, which will feature a variety of space-related attractions for families.

 

Anderson said the Spaceport Authority will pay back the loan using revenue from visitor fees and an annual licensing fee from a third-party vendor that will operate the centers. Some board members expressed concern that the state could be forced to pay back the loan if the visitor numbers prove to be overly optimistic.

 

The idea for a loan is a change of directions by spaceport officials. Earlier this year, they said they planned to go through a procurement process to find a developer and financier for the two centers; the state would then enter into a long-term lease to use the buildings once they were constructed.

 

But state Spaceport Authority Board Chairman Rick Holdridge of Deming said a problem with that course of action was that none of the proposals that were submitted by respondents in the bid process were deemed by the agency to be "acceptable." He said the new, loan approach could be better because the agency will skip the middleman to get a good rate.

 

"We will negotiate with various financing sources, and it won't cost the taxpayers anything," he said. "The only thing that will be offered as collateral is what the loan pays for."

 

Hatch project stalled

 

As far as Hatch goes, Holdridge said the Spaceport Authority has been held up because it hasn't found a suitable location that's also affordable. Also, because the southern road to the spaceport isn't paved yet, that poses another problem because it's unlikely tour buses from a Hatch center would be able to drive the dirt route that currently exists, he said.

 

"Hatch will be coming as soon as we find a piece of property and get the financing on that," he said.

 

One of the visitor centers to be paid for by the loan would be built at Spaceport America itself. A smaller one would be built off Interstate 25 near Truth or Consequences. From there, visitors would be shuttled about 30 miles to the spaceport.

 

 

Obama taps NASA official for senior Energy slot

 

Ben Geman - TheHill.com

 

President Obama will nominate NASA chief financial officer Beth Robinson for the currently vacant job of under secretary at the Department of Energy, the White House said Thursday evening.

 

She has been at NASA since 2009, a job that followed four years as assistant director for budget at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

 

Robinson also has plenty of Capitol Hill experience. Here's more of her resume, courtesy of the White House:

 

From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Robinson was the Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office.  She held various positions at OMB from 1998 to 2003, including Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Review and Concepts.  Previously, from 1995 to 1998, Dr. Robinson was a Principal Minority Staff Member for the U.S. House Committee on Science, and from 1994 to 1995, she was a Professional Staff Member for the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. 

 

She served as Project Director for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment from 1989 to 1994 and as a Legislative Assistant and Congressional Science Fellow for Congressman Richard Gephardt from 1988 to 1999. Dr. Robinson received a B.S. in Physics from Reed College and a Ph.D. in Geophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

 

From the archives: Neil Armstrong's Finest Moment

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

 

July 20 marks 44 years since Neil Armstrong took his famous "small step" onto the surface of the Moon. Humanity's brave lunar pioneer has since passed on, leaving the memory of an extraordinarily skilled test pilot and a truly humble personality.

 

To mark the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, Armstrong penned a few words on what that historic feat meant to him. His brief memoir, published on that date in Aviation Week & Space Technology, illustrates just what kind of person the first man on the Moon was. Click here to read his Viewpoint. (and pasted below)

 

Nowhere does he refer to his own accomplishments, except briefly at the end. Instead, he goes on at length about the skills and experience of the other eight astronauts in his class - the "nearly normal nine" -- and the army of scientists, engineers and technicians who made his trip possible.

 

He also reveals a touch of the poet, referring to the nine's arrival in Houston "in September, the sultry yellow month." That follows the way with words he displayed in his rare public appearances, when he would delight his audience with a succinct message delivered with a little humor and an aw-shucks manner that wasn't an act.

 

While Armstrong took dozens of photos of his Eagle lunar-lander crewmate Buzz Aldrin outside on the surface of the Moon, there is only one of "the first man" -- an accidental grab shot of him collecting a tool in a shot of the overall "Tranquility Base."

 

But Aldrin got an image of his commander inside the lander shortly after touchdown that epitomizes Armstrong's personality and spirit -- glassy eyed with fatigue, not triumphant or grandiose, but clearly satisfied.

 

Armstrong's text was a little long for the space available in the magazine to display it, so Executive Editor Jim Asker nervously tackled the job of cutting it down. After the anniversary hubub died down a week or so later, Jim was surprised and pleased to receive an e-mail from Armstrong thanking him for doing such a good job of editing.

 

Now, editors don't get fan mail from writers very often. That Armstrong took the time to send it is yet another illustration of how well suited he was to represent humanity in one of its finest moments.

 

END

 

 

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