Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - July 23, 2013

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 23, 2013 8:44:41 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - July 23, 2013

Sorry to double up on you but Kyle always has good stuff

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NASA TV:

·         1 pm Central (2 EDT) – Google+ Hangout on Hurricane Research Flights

·         2:30 pm Central (3:30 EDT) – "Celebrating Sally" Google+ Hangout

 

Human Spaceflight News

Tuesday – July 23, 2013

 

A camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured Saturn's rings and Earth from 898.5 million miles

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

NASA wants spacesuit repair kit on Russian launch

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

NASA is rushing to get spacesuit repair tools on a launch to the International Space Station this weekend. Last week, an Italian astronaut almost drowned in his flooded helmet while performing a spacewalk. NASA is still uncertain why water leaked into the helmet worn by Luca Parmitano last Tuesday. But if spare parts are on board, then these repair tools will be useful in swapping out the bad pieces.

 

NASA asteroid mission is new focus of budget debate in Congress

 

Joel Achenbach - Washington Post

 

President Obama's proposed asteroid-lassoing mission, a key piece of NASA's plan for human spaceflight in the next decade, is trying to make it through the House of Representatives without getting blown to smithereens. Republicans have taken dead aim at the mission, while also pushing for sequester-level NASA spending and sharp cuts in the agency's Earth science funding, much of which goes to research on climate change. The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, voting on party lines, passed a NASA authorization bill Thursday that would specifically prohibit the agency from moving forward with the Asteroid Redirect Mission (sometimes called the Asteroid Retrieval Mission) without first giving Congress more information about the plan.

 

Human Space Exploration: Technology or Destination Driven?

 

Jeff Foust - Space News

 

The deputy administrator of NASA and a former chairman of the U.S. House Science Committee debated July 17 a central issue in human spaceflight policy: Should the selection of missions and destinations drive technology development or should available technologies shape what missions the space agency pursues? "We can't just pick a place and go there just because we want to," said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver during a panel session on exploration during the Future Space 2013 conference here. "We need to focus a little more on the why and the how than just the where."

 

NASA Space Station Manager Warns of Sequestration Impact

 

Leonard David - Space News

 

NASA's international space station (ISS) program manager warned researchers that if budget sequestration isn't averted for 2014, then research utilization of the orbiting outpost could suffer. "Sequestration is a major issue today. We have taken significant budget cuts this year," Michael Suffredini said during the International Space Station Research and Development Conference here July 16-18.

 

House and Senate NASA FY14 appropriations comparison

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

With the passage on Thursday of the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill by the full Senate Appropriations Committee, it's possible now to compare that bill's funding levels for various NASA accounts with the House version of the same bill and the administration's original fiscal year 2014 budget request. The Senate's bill, notably, offers more money overall for NASA than what the administration requested, and $1.4 billion more than the House bill. The biggest differences between the House and Senate are in exploration ($600 million more in the Senate bill) and science ($370 million more), while space operations (principally the ISS) and space technology got smaller increases; aeronautics and education get slightly less in the Senate bill than the House.

 

NASA Releases Draft Commercial Crew Solicitation

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

NASA on July 19 released a draft solicitation for the fourth and final development phase of its Commercial Crew program, which is still expected to result in a crewed space launch to the international space station from U.S. soil, by late 2017, according to the document. The Commercial Crew Program is a NASA effort that subsidizes commercial development of systems to ferry astronauts to and from the international space station. According to the draft solicitation, there would be two such flights per year, once NASA places its first task order for a crewed flight. Before NASA releases the final solicitation this fall, the agency will host a pre-solicitation conference with industry at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 1 and 2, according to the draft.

 

NASA releases draft request for commercial crew proposals

 

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

 

NASA has released a draft request for proposal (RFP) for commercial crew transportation to the International Space Station (ISS), including certification requirements and at least one flight. The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) builds on the ongoing Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) programme, a series of milestone-based awards going to three companies - Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada. Contrary to previous rounds of commercial crew funding - CCiCap and Commercial Crew Development (CCDev1 & 2), the contracts will be based on Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), in which the government is able to set specific requirements and define approaches, with certain exceptions allowing contractors to retain property.

 

First look: NASA astronauts test out U.S. spacecraft design

 

KHOU TV (Houston)

 

There is a new space race on! Three American companies trying to be the next the take US Astronauts to space from U.S. soil in a US spacecraft. It's been a while since we have seen an American astronaut in an American spacecraft, even if it is just for testing. "Feels good in there. It is good to get in a new vehicle," said Serita Aunon, one of the new class of NASA Astronauts. The CST-100 is Boeing's entry into the new space race, commercial companies head-to-head for just one contract to fly. Former NASA Astronaut Chris Ferguson is now heading up the Boeing Company's effort. "We have a strategy to win and I would like to think next summer we will come out ahead," he said.

 

Boeing Offers A Peek Into NASA's Next Venture Into Space

 

Pat Hernandez - KUHF Radio (Houston)

 

Space partners NASA and Boeing's Houston-based space exploration division unveiled their first space capsule in Clear Lake. Officials hope commercial providers will be able to fly Astronauts into orbit while NASA focuses on making rockets and spacecraft to fly them beyond the moon. The CST-100 — on the outside — looks like a throwback from the Apollo program, the third human spaceflight program carried out by NASA in the 60s and 70s, but the inside reflects the updated technology since the beginning of space exploration. After the space shuttle program ended two years ago, many of the Boeing workers and astronauts moved on to the CST-100.

 

Boeing shows NASA its new spacecraft

 

KTVI-TV (St. Louis)

 

Boeing is giving a sneak peek at the commercial spacecraft its building. The aero-space company showed off the inside of the capsule it is building in a bid to fly NASA astronauts to the international space station. The gumdrop shaped spacecraft can seat up to seven crew members. Boeing is in a competition with two other agencies to design the next generation of U.S. space craft. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

First look: Getting a peek inside Boeing's new spacecraft

 

Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle's SciGuy

 

Boeing's Houston-based space exploration division unveiled its first spacecraft, the CST-100, today in Clear Lake. The spacecraft, to be launched at least initially aboard an Atlas-5 rocket, is designed to offer safe, reliable and low-cost access to low-Earth orbit. Although this is a private effort, development of this and SpaceX's Dragon and Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft are being funded in large measure by NASA's commercial space program. Through 2014 NASA is expected to have provided about $600 million to Boeing for the development of the CST-100.

 

Boeing showcases its commercial space capsule

 

Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News

 

Boeing unveiled a full-scale model of its first commercial spacecraft Monday. NASA astronauts conducted flight suit evaluations and tested the design of the capsule's interior, which is crafted to carry up to seven crew members to and from low Earth orbit. The CST-100 is largely funded by NASA's commercial space program, and the agency has awarded more than $550 million to Boeing for its work on the capsule. Since the end of the shuttle program in 2011, U.S. astronauts have relied on the Russian space agency and its Soyuz capsules to get to the International Space Station.

 

Boeing Gives First Peek Inside New NASA Spacecraft

 

RIA Novosti

 

US aerospace giant Boeing on Monday offered a first look inside a full-scale model of the Hershey's Kiss-shaped spacecraft it is developing for NASA to fly astronauts to low-Earth orbit destinations like the International Space Station (ISS). Wearing the same launch and re-entry spacesuits used aboard the space shuttle, NASA astronauts Serena Aunon and Randy Bresnik climbed into the model of Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) spacecraft at the company's Houston product support center near NASA's Johnson Space Center to test maneuverability inside the capsule.

 

Ars hops in Boeing's "commercial space" spaceship, the CST-100

We got some cockpit time in the full-size demonstrator spacecraft in Houston

 

Lee Hutchinson - ArsTechnica.com

 

Boeing took the curtain off its proposed commercial spacecraft this morning, allowing a limited number of press and media into one of its Houston facilities to crawl around inside a high-fidelity mockup. The spacecraft, designated the CST-100 (for "Crew Space Transportation"), is a large capsule, resembling a scaled-up version of the iconic Apollo command module. The CST-100 seats up to seven astronauts and will primarily be used to transport people to and from destinations in Low Earth Orbit ("LEO"), such as the International Space Station. CST-100 is designed specifically as a LEO transport, but Low Earth Orbit is only one of a much larger set of potential destinations that Boeing and other commercial space flight companies hope to target, extending all the way out to interplanetary space.

 

Boeing reveals interior of new commercial space capsule

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Boeing has thrown open the hatch to its new commercial spacecraft, offering a first look inside the capsule it is building in a bid to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. At its Houston Product Support Center located near NASA Johnson Space Center, Boeing revealed its first full-scale model of the CST-100, a gumdrop-shaped spacecraft that can seat up to seven crew members. On Monday, two NASA astronauts were strapped into the capsule mockup to undergo flight suit evaluations aimed at validating the CST-100's interior design.

 

Boeing Demos Spacecraft for Water Recovery; Alex Diaz Comments

 

Jay Clemens - ExecutiveBiz.com

 

Boeing has tested a space capsule the company built for NASA in an effort to help ensure the safety of astronauts in case they have to conduct an emergency water landing. Boeing engineers collaborated with NASA and  Defense Department search-and-recovery personnel to demonstrate the water-recovery capabilities of Crew Space Transportation-100, the company said Friday. "A water landing is unlikely, but it's important that we test the spacecraft in all potential scenarios," said Alex Diaz, Boeing director for the demonstration. The company performed the tests July 8 at Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas under NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability program. CST-100 is scheduled to fly to low Earth orbit in 2016 and the company intends for the spacecraft to travel to the International Space Station and Bigelow's planned station. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Profile

Dan Ciccateri, Chief Systems Engineer, Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems division may be the underdog in the NASA-backed initiative to develop a privately run crew taxi service to the international space station, but the Colorado-based firm is confident its Dream Chaser spaceship can meet the agency's 2017 deadline. Unlike the Dragon and CST-100 capsules being developed by Commercial Crew contenders Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Boeing, Sierra Nevada favors a winged craft that would launch on an Atlas 5 rocket and land like an airplane on a runway — just about any runway if necessary. After 25 years of working on the space shuttle program, Dan Ciccateri joined Sierra Nevada in October to serve as the company's chief systems engineer for the Dream Chaser program, a job that has him divided between development work in Colorado and planning an operations base in Florida. He recently spoke with Space News correspondent Irene Klotz about what lies ahead for Dream Chaser…

 

Heat Shield for NASA's New Orion Spacecraft Set for 2014 Test Flight

 

Imelda Joson & Edwin Aguirre - Space.com

 

 

Work on the heat shield for NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle — America's next-generation spacecraft that could transport astronauts on missions to Mars — is on track toward an ambitious test launch in 2014. Since spring, teams of engineers and technicians from Massachusetts-based Textron Defense Systems have been meticulously applying Avcoat, a proprietary thermal ablation and insulation material, to the heat shield, which will protect the Orion capsule and its crew from the extreme heat generated during high-speed re-entry into the atmosphere after a deep-space flight.

 

Robots prep NASA spacecraft for human Mars mission

 

Sharon Gaudin - Computer World

 

When NASA sends astronauts into deep space, they'll be traveling in the new Orion spacecraft. And thanks to the work Textron Defense Systems and Lockheed Martin are doing on a new heat shield for Orion, those astronauts should make it safely back to Earth. Textron and NASA teamed up last week to show off the work that's been done on this new heat shield. Along with some top science students (think of being surrounded by the cast of The Big Bang Theory) I visited Textron's manufacturing facility in Wilmington, Mass, got a glimpse of the shield and learned what it takes to make it capable of protecting a spacecraft from 5,000-degree

 

Six-year Term for NASA Administrator Dies in House Science Committee

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

A proposal to give the NASA administrator a six-year term died in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee last week as three Republicans joined 17 Democrats to vote the proposal down during a marathon markup session. The six-year term was struck out of the NASA Authorization Act of 2013 by an amendment from Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), the committee's ranking member. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) and Stephen Stockman (R-Texas) joined 17 Democrats to put Johnson's amendment over the top by a vote of 20-19.

 

Congressmen Register Concern Over Possible Exclusive Lease of Pad 39A

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Two members of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, including the chairman, are concerned that the agency might lease out an old space shuttle launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on an exclusive basis. In a July 22 letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations commerce justice science subcommittee, along with colleague Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) also said NASA was planning to let Pad 39A go too cheaply, and for too long a period: up to 20 years.

 

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.

 

Former Illini Hopkins joins Soyuz space flight crew to Space Station

 

Lanre Alabi - The Daily Ilini

 

Along with experienced Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins fielded some questions last Wednesday. The trio was at a press conference held for the crew members of the yet launched Soyuz TMA-10M that is scheduled for take-off on September 23 and dock at the International Space Station the next day. Hopkins will make the trip as Flight Engineer on the Soyuz and then remain at the ISS for Expeditions 37 & 38. "I'm very fortunate," Hopkins said of his preparation. "I backed up Chris Cassidy who is a very experienced space flier, and I have Steve Swanson in the back of me as well as an experienced guy and then my commander, Oleg Kotov. Having those folks around as you are going through training has been fantastic because they are able to give you those little nuggets that often you don't hear in the classroom."

 

A farmer's daughter in space

 

Corey Munson - Marion Times

 

Traveling from Beaconsfield, Iowa, to Marion and traveling from earth to the International Space Station have exactly two things in common, both clock in at just over 200 miles in distance traveled and both trips have been made by Astronaut Peggy Whitson. Whitson appeared in Marion Sunday, July 14, as keynote speaker for a new exhibit at Summit Pointe Senior Living Community titled "Reaching New Heights: Celebrating 50 Years of Women in Space." Whitson grew up on a farm near Beaconsfield in southwest Iowa, where her father and brother still farm today, and was home visiting family just before her trip to Marion. Whitson is notable for several accomplishments in her NASA career. She holds the titles of the woman with the most days spent in space (376 days) and first female commander of the ISS. And all this, as she describes herself, by a farmer's daughter from Iowa.

 

Is NASA lost in space?

 

Craig Patrick - WTVT-TV (Tampa)

 

This month, NASA marks its 55th anniversary. As our agency celebrates its achievements, it is also drawing strong criticism. A panel of scientists, including astronaut Bob Crippen, previously criticized NASA for lacking a clear mission and goals.

 

New company takes over building at Kennedy Space Center

 

Florida Today

 

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning signed a new partnership agreement with Ballistic Recovery Systems Inc., or BRS Aerospace, of Miami for use of KSC's Parachute Refurbishment Facility. The PRF previously was used during NASA's space shuttle program to manufacture and refurbish the solid rocket booster parachutes. Because of NASA's transition from the shuttle to future commercial and government mission activities, this agreement allows NASA to preserve the unique facility capabilities for future spaceflight projects.

 

Amazon's Jeff Bezos confirms: We got an Apollo 11 rocket engine!

 

Alan Boyle - NBC News

 

That's one small serial number on salvaged hardware, one giant leap for space history: Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos says markings on one of the rocket engine components recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic in March confirm that it came from Apollo 11's first stage. "Forty-four years ago tomorrow, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and now we have recovered a critical technological marvel that made it possible," Bezos said Friday in an update to his Bezos Expeditions website. Bezos suspected that the F-1 engines came from the mission that delivered humans to the moon for the first time in 1969, but he held off from confirmation until the evidence could be documented.

 

Frequency, efficiency crucial to 39A choice

 

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

 

It's interesting how fast roles evolve. SpaceX, once the upstart fighting to get inside the lucrative government space contracting business, is becoming part of the establishment. And, it's new companies, like Blue Origin, that are playing the role of maverick in the ever-changing landscape of privatized space flight. Blue Origin is a Washington-based company backed by Amazon chief executive officer and founder Jeff Bezos. As NASA looks for new uses of its facilities at the Kennedy Space Center, perhaps one of the most high profile is historic launch pad 39A, from which the United States launched missions to the moon and later space shuttles for three decades.

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COMPLETE STORIES

 

NASA wants spacesuit repair kit on Russian launch

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

NASA is rushing to get spacesuit repair tools on a launch to the International Space Station this weekend.

 

Last week, an Italian astronaut almost drowned in his flooded helmet while performing a spacewalk.

 

NASA is still uncertain why water leaked into the helmet worn by Luca Parmitano last Tuesday. But if spare parts are on board, then these repair tools will be useful in swapping out the bad pieces.

 

The Russian supply ship is set to blast off Saturday from Kazakhstan

 

The spacesuit trouble is thought to be somewhere in the cooling system. The tools could be used on a variety of parts, including a water relief valve that is part of the cooling system.

 

Parmitano, meanwhile, is doing fine.

 

NASA asteroid mission is new focus of budget debate in Congress

 

Joel Achenbach - Washington Post

 

President Obama's proposed asteroid-lassoing mission, a key piece of NASA's plan for human spaceflight in the next decade, is trying to make it through the House of Representatives without getting blown to smithereens.

 

Republicans have taken dead aim at the mission, while also pushing for sequester-level NASA spending and sharp cuts in the agency's Earth science funding, much of which goes to research on climate change.

 

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, voting on party lines, passed a NASA authorization bill Thursday that would specifically prohibit the agency from moving forward with the Asteroid Redirect Mission (sometimes called the Asteroid Retrieval Mission) without first giving Congress more information about the plan.

 

"While the Obama administration's asteroid retrieval mission (ARM) may sound out of this world, many questions still remain about whether this costly mission contributes to NASA's long-term goals," science committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) said in a statement released by his office.

 

The Democratic-controlled Senate looks more kindly on the mission and on NASA's top-line budget in general. Sens. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on Wednesday introduced legislation that would authorize $18.1 billion for NASA in fiscal 2014. A separate appropriations bill making its way through the Senate would give NASA almost the same amount.

 

That compares with $17.7 billion in the president's initial budget request, $16.8 billion in the House science committee bill and $16.6 billion in a House appropriations committee bill. It appears that the Senate and House will have to resolve their significant budget differences in conference, probably after the August recess.

 

NASA's asteroid initiative is in preliminary stages, and the capture mission isn't even an official program yet. The administration caught many people on the Hill and in the space community by surprise when it included the proposal in its 2014 budget request earlier this year.

 

The plan has robotic and human spaceflight components. First, an unmanned spacecraft would rendezvous with a small asteroid — roughly 20 to 30 feet in diameter — and swallow it with a tent-like contraption. Then the spacecraft would nudge the rock to an orbit around the moon. Astronauts would visit the captured asteroid in the Orion spacecraft that is being developed in tandem with a heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS).

 

The administration offers multiple justifications for grabbing an asteroid and having astronauts visit it. A key feature of the mission is that it would use hardware and propulsion technology already being built at significant cost. In marketing the plan, the administration and NASA have leaned hard on the notion that this could help with planetary defense in the long term — boosting knowledge about asteroids and creating techniques for someday deflecting a killer rock.

 

But the plan has myriad uncertainties. NASA has yet to identify an asteroid that is sure to meet the requirements of the mission, such as size, spin, composition and speed relative to the Earth (the critical factor known as orbital dynamics). It's unclear how much this would cost. One outside study suggested $2.5 billion. NASA officials have said the robotic portion alone — latching onto the rock and hauling it to lunar orbit — would cost a billion dollars.

 

Smith, the House science committee chairman, says the mission won't advance NASA's long-term agenda. "The proposed mission does not advance science, protect us against dangerous asteroids or develop technologies necessary to explore deep space," he said. "Congress and the American people simply need more information about why an asteroid retrieval mission is necessary before billions of taxpayer dollars are spent."

 

NASA has expressed displeasure with the House legislation.

 

"These proposals would challenge NASA's ability to ensure America's preeminence in space exploration, technology, innovation and scientific discovery," said David Weaver, the chief NASA spokesman. "Neither measure provides funding requested for an important initiative that would identify and track dangerous asteroids, test critical game-changing technologies and utilize the Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule to explore and better understand these important near-Earth objects."

 

Nelson, the Florida senator who is a key advocate for NASA and the administration's strategy, criticized the Republicans in the House for overreaching.

 

"A committee of politicians doesn't know better than the experts in aerospace and science," Nelson said.

 

He echoed the planetary-

defense rationale for the mission: "Remember what happened to the dinosaurs?"

 

Rep. Donna F. Edwards (D-Md.) said Republican attacks on the asteroid mission appear to be reflexive anti-Obama politics.

 

"It almost feels like anything the president proposes, it's an automatic 'I'm against it,'?" she said.

 

Rep. Steven M. Palazzo (R-Miss.) denied that the vote to stop the asteroid mission had anything to do with Obama, saying the administration simply needs to provide more information before Congress can approve the spending. He said a higher priority is developing the hardware for human spaceflight in the post-

shuttle era.

 

"My primary goal is launching American astronauts on American rockets from America," Palazzo said.

 

Human Space Exploration: Technology or Destination Driven?

 

Jeff Foust - Space News

 

The deputy administrator of NASA and a former chairman of the U.S. House Science Committee debated July 17 a central issue in human spaceflight policy: Should the selection of missions and destinations drive technology development or should available technologies shape what missions the space agency pursues?

 

"We can't just pick a place and go there just because we want to," said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver during a panel session on exploration during the Future Space 2013 conference here. "We need to focus a little more on the why and the how than just the where."

 

That emphasis on why and how, Garver said, shapes NASA's plans for a mission to redirect a near-Earth asteroid into lunar orbit to be visited by astronauts. She outlined several reasons for going to asteroids, including scientific knowledge, potential commercial applications of asteroid resources, and planetary defense. Moreover, asteroids are accessible with systems already under development, including the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket and Orion crew vehicle.

 

"In particular, this mission was chosen because, regarding how we're going to do it, we do know we have programs, SLS and Orion, that are going to deep space," she said, "and we want to give them something very worthwhile to do."

 

Former Congressman Robert Walker, who chaired the House Science Committee in the mid-1990s, took the opposite view.

 

"For a long time, what we've done is that we've decided what technology we have the capacity to build, and then we decide on what missions we should do based upon that technology," he said. "It seems to me that's backwards. What it should be is that we decide what the mission should be and then design the technology and the infrastructure to support that mission."

 

Walker said that NASA's asteroid mission plans fell squarely in that technology-driven approach, and were not a compelling human spaceflight mission. "In my view, this is something that could be done robotically," he said. Human missions to the Moon and Mars made more sense, he added, because of the prospects of permanent settlements there. "The goal of being on the Moon should be to go and be there permanently," he said. "It's the same thing for Mars and other places inside our solar system."

 

Walker also recalled his experience as chair of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry in 2001–2002. "We said the mission should be the human exploration of the solar system during this century," he said. The reason for such a bold goal, he said, was to help drive technology development in areas like nuclear propulsion. "If you have a mission big enough that you really want to achieve, what you get out of it is technologies, new partnerships, and a new exploration philosophy," Walker said.

 

Those bold visions, though, run afoul of funding and other political constraints today, Garver said. "Without an outside force that gives you your purpose, you are not going to get consensus" on what NASA should be doing, Garver said. "We live in a different era than we did in Apollo. We have suffered, in my view, from trying to relive Apollo."

 

In this environment, Garver said, affordability plays a much bigger factor in determining missions and developing technologies. In the case of NASA's asteroid mission, she argued that means spending only "an extra one or two billion dollars" beyond what is already planned for SLS and Orion development. "I can't believe that's controversial," she said.

 

"Would you rather have tens of billions of dollars and do a lunar mission? Sure. Do we?" she asked, turning to Walker. "No, we don't," he admitted.

 

One area the two agreed upon was that importance of involving the commercial sector in future exploration efforts. "You need the commercial sector to backfill behind you and ensure that the technologies you're developing will be broadly applied beyond just the missions that you're doing," Walker said.

 

Garver said it was time to stop debating where to go and instead focus on carrying out any mission. "We've come to the point where we probably just need to just go do a mission," she said, adding she felt it should be the proposed asteroid mission. "If that's not people want to do, we can argue about something else and not go anywhere again for a while."

 

NASA Space Station Manager Warns of Sequestration Impact

 

Leonard David - Space News

 

NASA's international space station (ISS) program manager warned researchers that if budget sequestration isn't averted for 2014, then research utilization of the orbiting outpost could suffer.

 

"Sequestration is a major issue today. We have taken significant budget cuts this year," Michael Suffredini said during the International Space Station Research and Development Conference here July 16-18.

 

Sequestration — the across-the-board federal budget cuts set in motion by the Budget Control Act of 2011 — sapped roughly $900 million from NASA's 2013 budget, leaving the agency with a $16.9 billion top line. Some programs were cut more than others in order to keep certain agency priorities, such at the James Webb Space Telescope and Commercial Crew Program, on track.

 

If sequestration forces NASA to take another five-percent or greater reduction in 2014, "then it's likely to have impact in our ability to fully utilize the ISS," Suffredini told attendees of the conference, which was organized by the American Astronautical Society in cooperation with NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, the Florida-based nonprofit responsible for managing non-NASA research aboard the U.S. portion of the space station.

 

"With the cuts we have been given and where I think I can find money, we'll be okay. If we get a big cut next year, which sometimes you hear, then it will be a challenge for us," Suffredini said. "But we'll deal with it if it comes."

 

The White House has asked Congress for just over $3 billion for the international space station program for 2014. That figure — up slightly from 2012 — includes $1.3 billion for space station operations and maintenance, $1.5 billion for crew and cargo transportation and $226 million for research.

 

House and Senate NASA FY14 appropriations comparison

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

With the passage on Thursday of the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill by the full Senate Appropriations Committee, it's possible now to compare that bill's funding levels for various NASA accounts with the House version of the same bill and the administration's original fiscal year 2014 budget request (amounts below in millions of dollars):

 

Account	White House	House CJS	Senate CJS
SCIENCE	$5,017.8	$4,781.0	$5,154.2
- Earth Science	$1,846.0	$1,659.0	$1,846.2
- Planetary Science	$1,218.0	$1,315.0	$1,317.6
- Astrophysics	$642.0	$622.0	$678.4
- JWST	$658.0	$584.0	$658.2
- Heliophysics	$654.0	$601.0	$653.8
SPACE TECHNOLOGY	$742.6	$576.0	$670.1
AERONAUTICS	$565.7	$566.0	$558.7
EXPLORATION SYSTEMS	$3,915.5	$3,612.0	$4,209.3
- SLS/Orion	$2,730.0	$2,825.0	$3,118.2
- Commercial Spaceflight	$821.0	$500.0	$775.0
- Exploration R&D	$364.0	$287.0	$316.1
SPACE OPERATIONS	$3,882.9	$3,670.0	$3,882.9
- ISS	$3,049.0	$2,860.0	$3,049.1
- Space and Flight Support	$834.0	$810.0	$833.8
EDUCATION	$94.2	$122.0	$116.6
CROSS AGENCY SUPPORT	$2,850.3	$2,711.0	$2,793.6
CONSTRUCTION	$609.4	$525.0	$586.9
INSPECTOR GENERAL	$37.0	$35.3	$38.0
TOTAL	$17,715.4	$16,598.3	$18,010.3

 

 

The Senate's bill, notably, offers more money overall for NASA than what the administration requested, and $1.4 billion more than the House bill. The biggest differences between the House and Senate are in exploration ($600 million more in the Senate bill) and science ($370 million more), while space operations (principally the ISS) and space technology got smaller increases; aeronautics and education get slightly less in the Senate bill than the House.

 

In the text of the Senate CJS report on the bill, the committee goes into additional detail on many issues. For planetary science, funded at roughly the same level as the House version but higher than the administration's request, the committee calls for greater use of the smaller Discovery and New Frontiers programs of planetary missions. "Given the severe fiscal constraints which NASA faces going forward, the Committee believes more robust utilization of the Discovery and New Frontiers program will result in a more robust planetary science program because of its lower cost alternative to expensive, over-budget observatory class missions," the report states, calling on NASA to select an additional Discovery mission for further study from one submitted in the most recent round.

 

The report contains strong language about funding for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. "Despite numerous directives to provide an updated cost assessment for the SLS, which supports the lower funding levels proposed, NASA has never provided the Committee any verifiable documentation supporting the amount reflected in the agency's budget request," the report states. "Such blatant disregard for the direction provided by the Committee and for NASA's own independent cost assess- ment for the SLS is inappropriate and calls into question NASA's ability to appropriately manage and oversee its ongoing projects." The committee uses that to justify requesting $1.6 billion for SLS, plus $318 million for exploration ground systems (folded into the "SLS/Orion" line item in the table above); the House bill offers $1.476 billion for SLS and $299 million for ground systems.

 

The Senate is more generous than the House with the commercial crew program, proposing $775 million versus the House's $500 million, but has its own concerns with the program as well. "The Committee believes that NASA must balance its mission needs with its support for the development of emerging capabilities with true commercial applicability," the report states, expressing concern that NASA has provided the bulk of the funding for development of these systems to date but may only use them for a few years, assuming the vehicles enter service in 2017 but with a currently-planned ISS retirement date of 2020. "Such a schedule does not justify the current spending levels," the Senate report concludes, directing NASA to "clearly define and plan for the operational longevity of the ISS" to support its investment in commercial crew systems.

 

Unlike the House bill, the Senate bill is silent on one key issue: NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) proposal. The word "asteroid," in fact, is not found at all in the Senate report, unlike the House bill that blocks spending on the ARM concept. The House and Senate bills are in agreement on another controversial issue, though: both block the planned restructuring of NASA's education program proposed by the administration as part of a broader reorganization of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education programs among government agencies.

 

NASA Releases Draft Commercial Crew Solicitation

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

NASA on July 19 released a draft solicitation for the fourth and final development phase of its Commercial Crew program, which is still expected to result in a crewed space launch to the international space station from U.S. soil, by late 2017, according to the document.

 

The Commercial Crew Program is a NASA effort that subsidizes commercial development of systems to ferry astronauts to and from the international space station. According to the draft solicitation, there would be two such flights per year, once NASA places its first task order for a crewed flight.

 

Before NASA releases the final solicitation this fall, the agency will host a pre-solicitation conference with industry at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 1 and 2, according to the draft. As expected, the contract will be a fixed-priced deal administered under the Federal Acquisition Regulations. So far, NASA has mostly relied on funded Space Act Agreements to subsidize development of commercially designed spacecraft.

 

While the competition is nominally free and open, it is generally believed that the companies with the best chance are those NASA is already funding as part of the third round of the Commercial Crew Program: Boeing Space Exploration Systems, Houston; Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems of Louisville, Colo.; and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif.

 

Boeing and SpaceX are working on capsules, while Sierra Nevada has a lifting-body design. All three spacecraft could seat seven people. Boeing and Sierra Nevada plan to launch aboard United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, while SpaceX plans to use whatever iteration of its own Falcon 9 rocket is in operation 2017.

 

If the schedule and funding hold, the planned demo flight, part of what NASA is calling the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability Contract, would be the first crewed orbital space flight launched from the U.S. since 2011, when the space shuttle program ended. NASA has repeatedly said it needs more than $800 million a year — hundreds of millions more than Congress has ever given the program — to meet the 2017 date and keep more than one company involved with the program.

 

NASA releases draft request for commercial crew proposals

 

Zach Rosenberg - FlightInternational.com

 

NASA has released a draft request for proposal (RFP) for commercial crew transportation to the International Space Station (ISS), including certification requirements and at least one flight.

 

The Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) builds on the ongoing Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) programme, a series of milestone-based awards going to three companies - Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada.

 

Contrary to previous rounds of commercial crew funding - CCiCap and Commercial Crew Development (CCDev1 & 2), the contracts will be based on Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), in which the government is able to set specific requirements and define approaches, with certain exceptions allowing contractors to retain property.

 

Several involved companies have spoken out against the shift to FAR-based contracts, and the change was subject to contentious negotiations between NASA, the White House and members of Congress. Previous contracts were Space Act Agreements, which allow much greater leeway for contractors to design and build spacecraft.

 

CCtCap contracts will be milestone based, like their predecessors, releasing designated funds only upon the contractor's demonstration of achieving a series of checkpoints.

 

While previous rounds matured designs - CCiCap is intended to mature designs to the point of critical design review (CDR), the last major design stage before construction - CCtCap will involve construction and flight testing, leading to full NASA certification and at least one flight to the ISS with cargo.

 

SpaceX has flown an uncrewed version of the Dragon capsule to the ISS, but certification to carry humans requires significant work. Currently, all transportation of humans to the ISS is conducted by Russia's Soyuz launch vehicle.

 

First look: NASA astronauts test out U.S. spacecraft design

 

KHOU TV (Houston)

 

There is a new space race on! Three American companies trying to be the next the take US Astronauts to space from U.S. soil in a US spacecraft.

 

It's been a while since we have seen an American astronaut in an American spacecraft, even if it is just for testing.

 

"Feels good in there. It is good to get in a new vehicle," said Serita Aunon, one of the new class of NASA Astronauts.

 

The CST-100 is Boeing's entry into the new space race, commercial companies head-to-head for just one contract to fly.

 

Former NASA Astronaut Chris Ferguson is now heading up the Boeing Company's effort.

 

"We have a strategy to win and I would like to think next summer we will come out ahead," he said.

 

It is called the CST-100,  a capsule that will ride on top of any number of rockets but first a Atlas-5.

 

Boeing is competing with Space X and Orbital Sciences to be the one returning Americans to space.

 

"Two years? It is not on the front page anymore, but that does not mean that we do not have people hard at work doing things," Ferguson said.

 

Like any spacecraft just getting in can be an exercise and it is a tight fit, but bigger than the current ride to the International Space Station.

 

The Russian Soyuz can only hold three flyers, not comfortably, and Boeing says the CST-100 could hold much more.

 

Boeing says the idea will be room for five astronauts and cargo in the CST-100 which would be able to fly on top of a number of different types of rockets.

 

The astronauts getting in first are positive.

 

"The fact that it will be an American vehicle and that it will be launching from American soil. That is what I like about it," he said.

 

So who has the edge? Serita Aunon isn't sure.

 

"Hard to compare. This is the first one I have been in," he said.

 

The Astronaut corps is starting from scratch too.

 

Boeing Offers A Peek Into NASA's Next Venture Into Space

 

Pat Hernandez - KUHF Radio (Houston)

 

Space partners NASA and Boeing's Houston-based space exploration division unveiled their first space capsule in Clear Lake. Officials hope commercial providers will be able to fly Astronauts into orbit while NASA focuses on making rockets and spacecraft to fly them beyond the moon.

 

"One o'clock is the next time we have another suit up ..."

 

The CST-100 — on the outside — looks like a throwback from the Apollo program, the third human spaceflight program carried out by NASA in the 60s and 70s, but the inside reflects the updated technology since the beginning of space exploration.

 

After the space shuttle program ended two years ago, many of the Boeing workers and astronauts moved on to the CST-100. Chris Ferguson, the last space shuttle commander, now directs crew and mission operations for Boeing. He showed me and other members of the media a mock-up of the capsule:

 

"The feedback is that our design is sound, that the reach visibility of the layout is very accommodating to the pilots. You'll see that we actually have a couple of tablet computers in there that we're going to use for our checklist, and we're really trying to streamline a lot of our operations so that we don't have, you may remember some of the pictures of the shuttle cockpit that had just pieces of cardboard paper pasted everywhere. We're really going to try to streamline it in the form of updateable procedures on a tablet computer."

 

He says he hopes the CST-100 will eventually have a more commercial name because the space industry is changing:

 

"You know, like the 'millionaire passenger' is one, but I think more realistically, there's a lot of countries out there who would like to have a space program of their own but perhaps, who can't afford the infrastructure to afford a fulltime space program. So hey, why don't we the commercial industry, kind of give them an opportunity to have a space program of their own for three months or six months, or however long they choose to do it."

 

The capsule fits 5 people comfortably, but could carry as many as seven people into low earth orbit and to the International Space Station. Astronaut Serena Aunon was in a space suit getting a feel of the inside:    

 

"I feel like there's more room definitely than there is inside the Soyuz Russian trainer, that's for sure. The Russian Soyuz trainer, you are pretty close, close quarters, so definitely these vehicles do feel more roomy."

 

Although this is now a private effort, NASA is still heavily involved. It will provide nearly 600-million dollars to Boeing to develop this capsule. Kathy Lueders is deputy program manager for NASA's commercial crew program:

 

"We're here to leverage every single dollar we have, into a capability that potentially is not just so focused on one particular use, but potentially then can be used in multiple markets."

 

Powered by the Atlas-5 rocket, Boeing should conduct its first test flight of the spacecraft in 2016, and carry its first NASA astronauts to orbit the following year.

 

First look: Getting a peek inside Boeing's new spacecraft

 

Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle's SciGuy

 

Boeing's Houston-based space exploration division unveiled its first spacecraft, the CST-100, today in Clear Lake.

 

The spacecraft, to be launched at least initially aboard an Atlas-5 rocket, is designed to offer safe, reliable and low-cost access to low-Earth orbit.

 

Although this is a private effort, development of this and SpaceX's Dragon and Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser spacecraft are being funded in large measure by NASA's commercial space program. Through 2014 NASA is expected to have provided about $600 million to Boeing for the development of the CST-100.

 

Today, led by Chris Ferguson, the last space shuttle commander who now directs crew and mission operations, reporters had a chance to see a high-fidelity mock-up of the vehicle and crawl around inside.

 

The interior of the spacecraft is configured for five people but could carry as many as seven people into orbit. Yes, it's a tight fit.

 

If all goes well Boeing will conduct a test flight of the spacecraft in 2016, and carry its first NASA astronauts to orbit in 2017. Although the spacecraft will be flown from Cape Canaveral, to date CST-100 has been very much a Houston affair.

 

After the space shuttle program ended two years ago many of Boeing's shuttle people transitioned to the CST-100, and about 80 percent of the design and development work has been done in Houston.

 

NASA's hope is that commercial providers will be able to fly astronauts into orbit, freeing it to focus on the development of rockets and spacecraft to fly astronauts deeper into the solar system, beyond the moon.

 

Boeing showcases its commercial space capsule

 

Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News

 

Boeing unveiled a full-scale model of its first commercial spacecraft Monday. NASA astronauts conducted flight suit evaluations and tested the design of the capsule's interior, which is crafted to carry up to seven crew members to and from low Earth orbit.

 

The CST-100 is largely funded by NASA's commercial space program, and the agency has awarded more than $550 million to Boeing for its work on the capsule.

 

Since the end of the shuttle program in 2011, U.S. astronauts have relied on the Russian space agency and its Soyuz capsules to get to the International Space Station.

 

NASA hopes to have privately built spacecraft begin ferrying crew and cargo to and from the station in 2017. Boeing is in a modern space race with U.S. companies SpaceX and the Sierra Nevada Corp., which have developed competing spacecraft using funding from the commercial space program.

 

The company brought in NASA astronauts Monday to provide early "customer feedback," said Chris Ferguson, a former space shuttle commander and director of crew and mission operations for Boeing.

 

The test version at the company's Houston Product Support Center showcases a design heavily influenced by Boeing's work on the space shuttle and Apollo programs, with many modern touches.

 

The interior reflects Boeing's decision to implement a minimal interface. Crew members will rely more on screens and computer tablets than switches and dials while in the capsule, Ferguson said.

 

The CST-100 also uses a Sky overhead interior lighting system seen in new Boeing 737 and 787 commercial airliners.

 

The 260,000-pound craft is designed to be compatible with a variety of launch vehicles, but its first piloted flights — scheduled for 2016 — will use Unite Launch Alliance's Atlas V.

 

The reusable vehicle will be equipped to remain docked in orbit for up to six months, and is designed to land on land with air bags and parachutes. It can also make emergency landings in water.

 

Astronaut Serena Aunon, who strapped into the CST-100 on Monday, said it was a good deal roomier than most Soyuz capsules, and called it an "upgrade."

 

The craft will go through one more iteration before its design is finalized. NASA astronauts are set to spend the next week or so testing the mock-up.

 

The CST-100 was designed first and foremost for the space agency, but Boeing is leaving open the possibility that the craft can be used for other private enterprises, Ferguson said.

 

Boeing also has partnered with Bigelow Aerospace, which is working to develop a commercial space station.

 

Boeing Gives First Peek Inside New NASA Spacecraft

 

RIA Novosti

 

US aerospace giant Boeing on Monday offered a first look inside a full-scale model of the Hershey's Kiss-shaped spacecraft it is developing for NASA to fly astronauts to low-Earth orbit destinations like the International Space Station (ISS).

 

Wearing the same launch and re-entry spacesuits used aboard the space shuttle, NASA astronauts Serena Aunon and Randy Bresnik climbed into the model of Boeing's Crew Space Transportation-100 (CST-100) spacecraft at the company's Houston product support center near NASA's Johnson Space Center to test maneuverability inside the capsule.

 

The Boeing engineers who designed the capsule, which has room for up to seven astronauts, drew from the company's experience as the lead space shuttle contractor and its history of building the command module for NASA's Apollo program.

 

Bigelow Aerospace built the outer shell of the 15-foot-wide (4.6 meters) capsule, while Boeing outfitted most of the inside of the capsule.

 

"The floor and what we call the seat struts – where the seats sit – were built by our Boeing commercial airplane folks," Boeing engineer Tony Castilleja said at the launch.

 

Earlier this month, Boeing put the CST-100, which is designed to land on the ground, through tests to show that astronauts would be able to safely exit the spacecraft in the event of an emergency water landing.

 

"Crew safety is our top priority," said Alex Diaz, Boeing's director for that series of tests.

 

"A water landing is unlikely but it's important that we test the spacecraft in all potential scenarios," he added.

 

Boeing is one of three US aerospace companies, along with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Sierra Nevada Corporation, competing for NASA's business to ferry astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit.

 

The first piloted orbital flight of the CST-100 capsule is scheduled for 2016.

 

Ars hops in Boeing's "commercial space" spaceship, the CST-100

We got some cockpit time in the full-size demonstrator spacecraft in Houston

 

Lee Hutchinson - ArsTechnica.com

 

Boeing took the curtain off its proposed commercial spacecraft this morning, allowing a limited number of press and media into one of its Houston facilities to crawl around inside a high-fidelity mockup. The spacecraft, designated the CST-100 (for "Crew Space Transportation"), is a large capsule, resembling a scaled-up version of the iconic Apollo command module.

 

The CST-100 seats up to seven astronauts and will primarily be used to transport people to and from destinations in Low Earth Orbit ("LEO"), such as the International Space Station. CST-100 is designed specifically as a LEO transport, but Low Earth Orbit is only one of a much larger set of potential destinations that Boeing and other commercial space flight companies hope to target, extending all the way out to interplanetary space. According to Boeing Space Exploration Vice President and General Manager John Elbon, each destination has its own set of requirements and challenges. So CST-100 is Boeing's attempt at creating a spacecraft specifically designed to be a LEO workhorse.

 

The capsule itself sits bedecked with ladders and cameras elevated on a stand in the high bay of Boeing's Houston Product Support center. When the press first approached the spacecraft, astronaut Serena Auñón was still strapped into one of the mockup's two seats, performing an evaluation of how her bright orange ACES flight suit worked with the spacecraft's internal layout. The press quickly mobbed her when she emerged from the craft and stepped down the ladder. When asked, Auñón reported that she was pleased with the cockpit and the work done so far.

 

The ship

 

CST-100 isn't the only capsule-shaped spacecraft attempting to make its way into orbit these days. NASA's official successor to the space shuttle is the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, designed and manufactured for NASA by Lockheed Martin. The Orion MPCV itself evolved from the 2006 "bake-off" Crew Exploration Vehicle competition between Lockheed Martin and Boeing; Lockheed Martin ultimately beat Boeing and won the contract.

 

Some amount of Boeing's CEV capsule design work evolved into today's CST-100, but the new vehicle shares no common hardware with the CEV concept—it was developed separately under NASA's Commercial Crew integrated Capability program (or "CCiCAP," as it's called). Boeing's CST-100 is one of three spacecraft being developed for the program, with the other two being Sierra Nevada Corporation's Dream Chaser lifting body craft and SpaceX's Dragon capsule (which has already successfully flown to space and docked with the ISS, albeit in an unmanned configuration).

 

CST-100 eschews the space shuttle's tile-based thermal protection system, instead using for its heat shield a phenolic resin-based structure that burns away ("ablates") during re-entry. This approach is also used by the Orion MPCV and avoids the tremendous touch-labor expense that the space shuttle's tiles incurred prior to every launch. The craft is reusable too. After a mission it is designed to be refurbished and refitted and relaunched up to 10 times. This makes it more flexible and cost-efficient than the original capsules of the 1960s, and at the same time it avoids incurring the huge total refit costs that the space shuttle brought with it.

 

In the cockpit

 

I slipped on the required blue paper surgical booties and scrambled up the ladder ahead of the rest of the journalists, since unlike most of them, I hadn't brought along a film crew and tons of equipment. The hatch was a narrow affair, and I quickly found myself puzzled at how Auñón wiggled into the spacecraft in her bulky ACES suit—I was having a hard enough time in slacks and a dress shirt. Once inside, the space was extremely tight, and I found myself wishing I'd brought a wider lens; I tried to picture cramming seven astronauts and their suits and gear into the space. Microgravity would make it a lot easier, of course, but it would definitely be a crowded ride.

 

Most of the items in the mockup's interior are themselves mockups; the control panel was present but mostly made up of nonfunctioning switches and colored cardboard and paper buttons. I gamely slid my way into the commander's seat and posed for pictures, then squirmed out and made way for the other journalists. The interior was dominated by struts and stowage bags, though there were convenient blue-colored hand-holds placed throughout that we all had to use to drag our way over each other, with many mumbled "excuse mes" and "sorrys."

 

Cheaper and off the shelf

 

Cost savings is one of the largest driving forces behind the spacecraft's design—second only to safety. As much as possible, the CST-100 capsule uses "COTS" components (a popular aerospace acronym standing for "Commercial, Off-the-Shelf"), even in its avionics. Boeing Space Exploration vice president (and former astronaut) Chris Ferguson spoke in detail about the control consoles and instrumentation Boeing is planning on using for the CST-100. The plan is to equip astronauts with an "electronic flight bag," much in the same way that commercial airline pilots these days are being equipped with iPads and other consumer tablet hardware for all of their checklists and documentation.

 

Ferguson explained, in fact, that Boeing plans to use the same type of commercial touchscreen hardware—iPads, or Microsoft Surface tablets, or Android tablets—whichever company is willing to work with Boeing on the design. "If Apple comes to us and says 'Hey, we want you to use our product, and we're willing to do this and this and this,' well, hey, a tablet's a tablet, really!" he said. One of the big factors, though, is matching existing systems on the International Space Station and also upcoming flight systems in the Orion MPCV. Boeing wants there to be as much commonality as possible, so crews will be able to switch between spacecraft and space station without needing huge amounts of additional training. But as far as looking like previous spacecraft, like the space shuttle, CST-100 will be very, very different.

 

"All the hardware switches you see in there are backup and are never intended to be used normally," Ferguson went on. The cockpit contains hardware switches for all critical systems—opening and closing valves, for example—but the intent is for the crew to be able to fly the spacecraft and do all of its operating tasks through touchscreens. Or to not have the crew do those tasks at all—CST-100 is being designed with the capability to operate totally autonomously, unlike the space shuttle. The latter lacked the ability to be fully operated remotely (though that capability was added in 2006 with the addition of a special cable).

 

I asked Ferguson about the practicality of operating touchscreens in gloves, since the crew would likely spend their launches and landings in the same orange ACES suits being used by Serena Auñón. He replied that Boeing is investigating including a capacitive mesh layer in the fingers of the suits, sort of along the same lines as the "iPad gloves" folks in northern climates can buy to keep their fingers warm while they poke at their gadgets (though, obviously, much more air-tight and spacesuit-y).

 

Getting there and back

 

Boeing plans to have the CST-100 hitch its initial rides into orbit on the Atlas V rocket, coupled with a Centaur upper stage. The combination has an excellent safety record, and Boeing (with assistance from its United Launch Alliance joint venture) will be taking the extra steps necessary to "man-rate" the rocket—that is, prove by NASA's stringent guidelines that the rocket is safe enough to carry humans, rather than the cargo it's currently used for.

 

Atlas V isn't the only rocket with which CST-100 will be compatible; Boeing is designing the capsule to work with a wide variety of launch systems, including rival SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. It's even possible that the CST-100 could be lofted by NASA's ultra-heavy-lift Space Launch System when or if it becomes available, though using that large a rocket to lift the CST-100 capsule would be overkill.

 

It's also necessary for Boeing to construct an escape system for the CST-100, so that the vehicle can keep its crew safe in the event of a launch abort. Early NASA capsules used Launch Escape Systems—a smaller rocket perched on the capsule's nose that could drag the capsule away from the rocket if something went wrong. The space shuttle lacked any notable external abort system, relying instead on fancy flying in the event of an emergency. CST-100 will have a "pusher escape system," using four rockets in the CST-100's service module to haul the capsule off and away from the launch vehicle. This design has the added benefit of also bringing some extra usable propellant to orbit; tower-based Launch Escape Systems are typically jettisoned after a certain point in the launch, but CST-100's abort engines and their propellant are also intended to be used for on-orbit maneuvering.

 

The commercial future

 

One of the odd facts about the "commercial space flight" push is that manned space flight has always been a "commercial" endeavor. Companies like Boeing have built every rocket and spacecraft that NASA has ever flown. The new efforts of Boeing, SpaceX, and others would be better characterized as commercially available or commercially funded (though even that isn't quite accurate, since NASA is splitting more than a billion dollars between Boeing, SpaceX, and Sierra Nevada Corporation for them to develop their CCiCap craft). Boeing is an old hand at the spaceship game—but being that old hand brings with it complications. When compared with a nimble, young company like SpaceX, Boeing can seem stodgy—even moribund, bound up in processes and meetings over even tiny details.

 

John Mulholland, Boeing's Vice President and Program Manager of Commercial Operations, acknowledged the difficulty Boeing faces with its approach. Still, he remained hopeful. "The nice thing is that we're coming into this from a position of experience," he said. "We understand the processes and what was done on previous human spaceflight designs, and having that knowledge, we can look at areas where we can drive efficiency, without sacrificing reliability or safety." He spoke further on a renewed focus within Boeing on both "decision velocity" and "decision stability"—making correct decisions quickly and sticking with things that work.

 

"I think we're doing a great job of it," continued John Elbon, who heads Boeing's entire Space Exploration group. "We aren't as vocal and out there as maybe some others, but Mulholland has put together a relatively small team to do this, and the effectiveness we're seeing relative to how much it's costing us to do this and how many hours it's taking is amazing."

 

The CST-100 is currently winging its way through the design review process. Boeing is hopeful that the capsule will fly in 2015 or 2016.

 

Boeing reveals interior of new commercial space capsule

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Boeing has thrown open the hatch to its new commercial spacecraft, offering a first look inside the capsule it is building in a bid to fly NASA astronauts to the International Space Station.

 

At its Houston Product Support Center located near NASA Johnson Space Center, Boeing revealed its first full-scale model of the CST-100, a gumdrop-shaped spacecraft that can seat up to seven crew members.

 

On Monday, two NASA astronauts were strapped into the capsule mockup to undergo flight suit evaluations aimed at validating the CST-100's interior design.

 

Astronauts Randy Bresnik and Serena Aunon donned the same type of pressure suits for the fit checks as were last used two years ago aboard the space shuttle.

 

"This is our second iteration, our 'Phase 2' iteration, of the interior of the vehicle," Tony Castilleja, a Boeing CST-100 mechanical engineer, told collectSPACE.com. "Basically to rapid prototype it and have the NASA customer give us feedback — the NASA customer being the end user, the NASA astronauts."

 

To design the CST-100 and the interior of its crew cabin, Boeing engineers drew from the company's experience as the lead space shuttle contractor, as well as its heritage building the command module for NASA's Apollo program and its rejected bid for the agency's Orion crew exploration vehicle.

 

The CST-100, however, is a new breed of spacecraft — a commercial vehicle that is owned, operated and partially-funded by the company, rather than by NASA. Boeing is one of three U.S. companies, including Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and Sierra Nevada Corporation, competing for NASA's business to ferry astronauts to and from low Earth orbit.

 

To date, NASA has awarded Boeing $570 million to design and develop the CST-100.

 

Boeing 'Sky' in space

 

Boeing turned to Bigelow Aerospace to construct the outer shell of the 14.8-foot-wide (4.5 meters) model, but outfitted most of the interior itself.

 

"The interior of the vehicle brings out the best of Boeing. The floor and what we call the seat struts, the seat pallet where the seats sit, were built by our Boeing commercial airplanes folks," Castilleja explained, adding that while the mockup's console was sourced from Bigelow, its display panels were provided by Boeing's St. Louis division.

 

"So the entire company is bringing their best and brightest to help us," he added. "This is not only a Houston-centric project but [involves] the entire Boeing company."

 

The surprisingly-spacious module has room for two rows of crew seats and cargo storage, including a freezer used to transport science experiments to and from the station. In its current configuration, the capsule seats five, trading two additional seats for more cargo room.

 

The flight controls, which are mounted on a console that is suspended above the front row seats, employs shuttle-era switches and hand controllers, augmented by touch-panel digital displays.

 

A window located forward of the control console offers the pilots a view, with additional portal windows to either side. A side hatch allows entry and exit into the cabin, while an overhead hatch leads into the space station after docking.

 

Missing, at least for now, from the CST-100 mockup is the waste containment system, or toilet.

 

"We have a couple of options," Castilleja described. "It is all about reducing mass, so we do not have a true space toilet like shuttle did because we just don't have the room in this vehicle. But there are some design alternatives that we're looking at, from diapers to mechanical devices."

 

What the CST-100 mockup does have however, is lighting — specifically Boeing's "Sky" blue-tinted LED lighting, as currently found on its newer line of commercial airliners.

 

"The Boeing look is on purpose," Castilleja said. "You are going to get the same look and feel as you are flying on a 747 as you are flying on a spacecraft."

 

Countdown to launch

 

Boeing says its first piloted orbital flight of the CST-100 is planned for 2016.

 

NASA, based on funding availability, is expecting to begin buying seats on commercial-operated flights to the space station starting a year later.

 

The space agency is Boeing's core customer for the CST-100, although the aerospace company has also partnered with the space tourism company Space Adventures and Bigelow, which plans to deploy its own commercial space station built using inflatable modules.

 

Regardless of the destination or mission, Boeing plans to launch the CST-100 atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) provided Atlas V rocket. The reusable capsule is designed to return to Earth using parachutes and airbags for a soft touchdown on land.

 

If, in the unlikely scenario an emergency water landing is needed, the CST-100 can also float. Boeing, working with NASA and Department of Defense personnel tested water recovery techniques using a different mockup at Bigelow's Las Vegas facilities earlier this month.

 

Profile

Dan Ciccateri, Chief Systems Engineer, Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Space Systems division may be the underdog in the NASA-backed initiative to develop a privately run crew taxi service to the international space station, but the Colorado-based firm is confident its Dream Chaser spaceship can meet the agency's 2017 deadline.

 

Unlike the Dragon and CST-100 capsules being developed by Commercial Crew contenders Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Boeing, Sierra Nevada favors a winged craft that would launch on an Atlas 5 rocket and land like an airplane on a runway — just about any runway if necessary.

 

After 25 years of working on the space shuttle program, Dan Ciccateri joined Sierra Nevada in October to serve as the company's chief systems engineer for the Dream Chaser program, a job that has him divided between development work in Colorado and planning an operations base in Florida. He recently spoke with SpaceNews correspondent Irene Klotz about what lies ahead for Dream Chaser.

 

What do you think the advantage of Dream Chaser is over the Dragon and the CST-100?

 

The immediate, highest advantage of a runway landing is just the load at landing. We are a very low-g land, like an airplane. The other crafts with airbags and in the sea and everything else will necessarily have a higher shock load to both cargo and crew. You can put in seats and systems to cushion the force but the more you put in, the more you're adding mass, and the more you're adding mass the less you're taking up to orbit. Ours, because it's a lift body, we can come in and just glide and touch. So the No. 1  advantage is that capability, and, of course, cross-range.

 

When you come in and you're ballistic and you commit, you're going in. We can go around. We can go halfway around. We can come in somewhere else where the weather is clear. We can land on a commercial runway, so we have a lot of options.

 

Can Dream Chaser land autonomously?

 

Our baseline is that we're piloted. We intend to have a crew, but we will have auto-land capability.

 

Can it fly autonomously?

 

Yes. Our first orbital flight will be autonomous.

 

So it will be kind of like the military's X-37B?

 

Yes — with a bunch of seats.

 

Where would you actually turn the ships around between flights?

 

There are a number of facilities at the Cape that we're looking at to support both the vehicle and our systems. We have tile. We need propellant servicing. We have not committed, so anything that's not currently already occupied by another company we're looking at.

 

Boeing has announced they have a space shuttle Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) bay for the CST-100. The other two shuttle OPF bays were claimed by a third party that has not been announced by the government, but they were working that. We're looking at all options.

 

We will have crew flight from the Cape, we have a test flight prior to that and a pathfinder before that, so all of our facilities have to be designated, all of our ground support equipment validated to meet those launch dates. That's currently being negotiated with the NASA Commercial Crew office and our program. Then we'll make an announcement about specific facilities.

 

Do you feel like you're at a disadvantage when it comes to competing with Boeing and SpaceX for the next round of NASA's Commercial Crew Program because you didn't get as much funding during the current phase?

 

In some aspects. Had we gotten a full check then we certainly could have done much more in the time frame. Technically, I guess NASA considered it a half of an award based on how they did the split. I think the agency has been very good in working with us and being flexible in establishing its milestones, but from a time line we certainly could have accelerated our development had we been given the added funding.

 

So yeah, half the money doesn't get you there at the same speed. But there are other pieces that play in. We are picking up some technologies from other areas and we are doing some technology development, as are the other teams.

 

Based on when SpaceX and Boeing have said they'd be ready to fly, Sierra Nevada is about a year behind. Is that right?

 

Yes, but I think we bring some value in variety and capability that's unique, but it's not unproven. So that's the other side of it. What we're offering has already been demonstrated. It's just a matter of providing that in a smaller package and in a commercial environment.

 

Is there any indication that if NASA didn't fund Dream Chaser in its next round of Commercial Crew, Sierra Nevada would end development?

 

That isn't our position currently. Our position is that the corporation is behind us. We believe we have a solid commercial base for this, based on customers that they have been talking to. Much like the initial half-award, if we don't get the full funding, it certainly will take us longer to get to that point in time, but there's no expectation to fold up shop and call it quits based on what NASA does or does not get for funding on its next round.

 

How much funding do you need to get to the 2017 date?

 

Right now, we're on track to complete our contractual obligations with our current funding. Of course, whatever else can come our way can certainly accelerate our capabilities and/or schedule. So given our current funding profile, we've laid out our program to achieve those minimum thresholds to get to that point of certification.

 

That gets us up for the next phase, which is a new proposal and that comes with a completely different funding profile.

 

Do you see any potential commercial customers for Dream Chaser?

 

We actually have an entire team working that and they have a significant number of third-party companies that are interested in personnel transports and experiments. I don't have any specifics on the mission objectives and the cargo and the timing.

 

Right now the only destination we really have is station, but there are a number of potential folks out there who are laying out their piece that need the enabling components, which is launch and transport.

 

Have you guys talked with Bigelow Aerospace?

 

I haven't been engaged in that. I am ground and mission systems.

 

Can Dream Chaser launch on a Falcon rocket?

 

We are very flexible. Right now our baseline launcher is Atlas, but our vehicle is also evolvable. When you look at the suite of available launch vehicles, there are only so many that can lift so much. When you get to a Falcon 9, or a NASA heavy-lift launch vehicle, well now you can put something else on top, you've got the flexibility to evolve.

 

We believe our design is much more extensible than perhaps a capsule, because if you just have a big capsule and you're landing ballistic you've got a big bottom side and it's coming in hot, there are certain limitations with the thermal protection system, the heat dispersion. We're small today, but we know you can land a lift-body that's as big as the space shuttle. I think we're less constrained from a growth perspective than some of our industry partners.

 

How has the development of the Dream Chaser rocket motor been going?

 

We continue to make progress on our hybrid rocket motors. Virgin Galactic, which also uses one of our Sierra Nevada-produced motors, had an outstanding flight in April and we've had some successful ground tests on our variant that will be used on the Dream Chaser.

 

What's the status of your test program at NASA Dryden in California?

 

They're out there right now. We have a whole series of ground tests with an engineering test article that we have to complete. Toward the end of the summer we'll be doing the vehicle drop. We're all looking forward to that.

 

Heat Shield for NASA's New Orion Spacecraft Set for 2014 Test Flight

 

Imelda Joson & Edwin Aguirre - Space.com

 

 

Work on the heat shield for NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle — America's next-generation spacecraft that could transport astronauts on missions to Mars — is on track toward an ambitious test launch in 2014.

 

Since spring, teams of engineers and technicians from Massachusetts-based Textron Defense Systems have been meticulously applying Avcoat, a proprietary thermal ablation and insulation material, to the heat shield, which will protect the Orion capsule and its crew from the extreme heat generated during high-speed re-entry into the atmosphere after a deep-space flight.

 

Two reporters for SPACE.com and other members of the media received a sneak peek of the heat shield on Wednesday during a press viewing here at Textron's manufacturing plant. Officials and managers from NASA, Lockheed Martin (the prime contractor for the Orion program) and Textron were on hand to answer questions about the project from the nearly 100 people gathered at the plant.

 

The Orion vehicle is scheduled for launch into space without a crew in September of 2014 as part of its Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1). The maiden flight will evaluate the system design and performance of the spacecraft, which is intended to send humans on future explorations of an asteroid, the moon and, ultimately, Mars.

 

At 16.4 feet (5 meters) in diameter, the Orion heat shield is the largest and most advanced composite heat shield ever built. Textron originally developed the lightweight Avcoat ablative material in the 1960s for use on the Apollo command module.

 

Made of epoxy novolac resin in a fiberglass honeycomb matrix, Avcoat works by "burning off" as it heats up, dissipating thermal energy away from the capsule's structure. The material had a 100 percent success rate during the Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz programs, safely leading astronauts to 15 ocean splashdowns, and was thus chosen for the job of protecting Orion and its future crews as they head off to destinations never before visited by humans.

 

"Avcoat is the only man-rated ablative material that exists today that can handle the extreme temperatures of high-speed re-entry following a deep-space mission," Ian Walsh, Textron Defense System's senior vice president and general manager, told SPACE.com. "We are proud to provide this state-of-the-art technology to NASA and help the country push the boundary of space exploration to the next level with our thermal protection material."

 

After Textron completes applying the Avcoat, the shield will be flown down to Cape Canaveral, Fla., where it will be mated to the bottom of the Orion crew module for its 2014 orbital test flight.

 

During this mission, the Orion capsule will be boosted atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Base to a distance of nearly 3,700 miles (6,000 km) from Earth — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has traveled since Apollo 17 in 1972.

 

After completing two orbits, Orion's heat shield will be put to the test as the spacecraft plunges back to Earth, reaching speeds of up to 20,000 miles per hour (32,000 km/h) — faster than the space shuttle or any current spacecraft. The shield must be able to withstand temperatures up to 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,300 degrees Celsius), more than half the surface temperature of the sun, as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere.

 

Unlike the space shuttle, which landed on a runway like a commercial jetliner, the Orion capsule will parachute back to Earth Apollo-style, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

 

If all tests go well, Orion's first full-scale but unmanned flight is expected to take place in 2017, during which the spacecraft will be launched on top of NASA's new Space Launch System.

 

Robots prep NASA spacecraft for human Mars mission

 

Sharon Gaudin - Computer World

 

When NASA sends astronauts into deep space, they'll be traveling in the new Orion spacecraft.

 

And thanks to the work Textron Defense Systems and Lockheed Martin are doing on a new heat shield for Orion, those astronauts should make it safely back to Earth.

 

Textron and NASA teamed up last week to show off the work that's been done on this new heat shield. Along with some top science students (think of being surrounded by the cast of The Big Bang Theory) I visited Textron's manufacturing facility in Wilmington, Mass, got a glimpse of the shield and learned what it takes to make it capable of protecting a spacecraft from 5,000-degree

 

"This is a key first step in taking us back into space and on to asteroids, the moon and Mars," said Dan Dumbacher, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems at NASA. "This heat shield is a key piece to take us beyond Earth orbit."

 

Since NASA's fleet of space shuttles used tiles to protect it from the intense heat generated when it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, this is the first time that NASA has had a heat shield built since one was needed for the Apollo space program in the 1960s.

 

And, surprisingly enough, the technology behind it isn't all that different than what was used more than 40 years ago. One Textron worker told me that's because Apollo's shield was based on a great design and, well, physics simply hasn't changed much in the last several decades.

 

Lockheed Martin built the base of the shield and then shipped it to Textron this past March. There, a honeycomb-like structure that covers the bottom of the shield is filled-in with a heat-resistant putty-like material. Textron won't divulge what it's made of.

 

There are about 330,000 cells in the honeycomb that covers the heat shield, which measures 16 feet and 4 inches in diameter. Textron workers painstakingly fill in every one of those cells by hand.

 

After that, bring in the robots.

 

The x-ray robot gives technicians a much more accurate examination, making it a much safer structure. One robot, for instance, has an x-ray machine on its head and it images all of the filled cells, checking for bubbles, cracks or other defects. One defective cell, according to a Textron worker, could pose a hazard for a spacecraft racing through Earth's atmosphere.

 

And that's critical since a spacecraft returning from the moon would be traveling about 25,000 miles per hour and even faster if it was returning from a trip to Mars. At that speed, the craft will be dealing with about 5,000-degree temperatures.

 

Rex Walheim, who is an officer in the U.S. Air Force and a NASA astronaut who has flown on three space shuttle missions, is keenly aware of how critical the heat shield will be to Orion.

 

"With the heat shield, either it works or it doesn't," said Walheim, who flew on the last shuttle mission before the fleet was retired in 2011. "This heat shield, which will be on Orion, will go farther than humans have ever gone before."

 

The Orion spacecraft is scheduled for its first unmanned test flight in September of 2014 when it will fly 3,000 miles above Earth. Then in 2017, it will make another unmanned test flight, this time flying around the moon and back.

 

In 2021, Orion should make its first flight with astronauts aboard, though NASA hasn't yet decided what its destination will be.

 

"Orion's job is to do things we've never done before and go places we've never gone before," said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager for NASA. "We're talking about nudging an asteroid into orbit around the moon and then Orion would take astronauts up to examine it."

 

Six-year Term for NASA Administrator Dies in House Science Committee

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

A proposal to give the NASA administrator a six-year term died in the House Science, Space and Technology Committee last week as three Republicans joined 17 Democrats to vote the proposal down during a marathon markup session.

 

The six-year term was struck out of the NASA Authorization Act of 2013 by an amendment from Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), the committee's ranking member. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) and Stephen Stockman (R-Texas) joined 17 Democrats to put Johnson's amendment over the top by a vote of 20-19.

 

NASA administrators are appointed by the U.S. president, confirmed by the U.S. Senate and can be fired by the president at any time.

 

House Republicans floated the idea of giving the NASA administrator a six-year term last year as part of a broader bill that would have changed several other things about NASA's leadership, including limiting the U.S. president's choices for NASA administrator to a pool created by a new, congressionally appointed NASA advisory committee. Substantial portions of that bill were folded into the NASA authorization bill the House Science, Technology and Space Committee ultimately approved July 18.

 

While Johnson's amendment stripped the six-year-term provision from the bill, it left intact the call for establishing a congressionally appointed NASA advisory committee to complement the NASA Advisory Council, a federal advisory committee whose members are appointed by the head of NASA.

 

Congressmen Register Concern Over Possible Exclusive Lease of Pad 39A

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Two members of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, including the chairman, are concerned that the agency might lease out an old space shuttle launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on an exclusive basis.

 

In a July 22 letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House Appropriations commerce justicescience subcommittee, along with colleague Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) also said NASA was planning to let Pad 39A go too cheaply, and for too long a period: up to 20 years.

 

But "above all, we question we question the seeming desire by NASA to lease LC-39A to a single user for sole use rather than to an entity that would ensure that the pad was re-developed as a multi-user pad," the lawmakers wrote. A copy of the letter was obtained by SpaceNews.

 

Wolf and Aderholt identify the company in question, but a congressional source said it is Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif. SpaceX, which is already hauling cargo to the international space station for NASA, is seeking launch facilities besides those it already has at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is co-located with Kennedy, and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

 

Also bidding for Pad 39A is Blue Origin, the Kent, Wash., company that is quietly working on various vehicles for suborbital and orbital spaceflight. A Blue Origin executive told SpaceNews the company was interested in Pad 39A for future orbital operations.

 

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.

 

Former Illini Hopkins joins Soyuz space flight crew to Space Station

 

Lanre Alabi - The Daily Ilini

 

Along with experienced Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy, NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins fielded some questions last Wednesday. The trio was at a press conference held for the crew members of the yet launched Soyuz TMA-10M that is scheduled for take-off on September 23 and dock at the International Space Station the next day. Hopkins will make the trip as Flight Engineer on the Soyuz and then remain at the ISS for Expeditions 37 & 38.

 

"I'm very fortunate," Hopkins said of his preparation. "I backed up Chris Cassidy who is a very experienced space flier, and I have Steve Swanson in the back of me as well as an experienced guy and then my commander, Oleg Kotov. Having those folks around as you are going through training has been fantastic because they are able to give you those little nuggets that often you don't hear in the classroom."

 

Born in Lebanon, Mo., Michael S. Hopkins was raised on a farm in the small town of Richland, Mo. After high school in 1987, Hopkins became a student at the University. He earned a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering during his time here while also competing as a defensive back for the Illini football team and being a member of the Air Force ROTC. When asked about the institution, Hopkins spoke highly of the school and even made a prediction that most Illini fans will be praying for.

 

"First huge impact I can say is I met my wife there," Hopkins said. "She has been a huge part of this adventure we've been on, and I'll say that has to be the biggest impact I have had from Illinois. Second, as Sergey alluded to earlier is that every step we have gone through is important. Not only the school aspect of Illinois but from being part of the football team, ROTC and a fraternity. You make lifelong friendships; learn how to be a part of a team and of the community and that has all shaped my opportunity to be here."

 

"I'm excited about the upcoming season," he added "It will be coach (Tim) Beckman's second season. As far as predictions go, I think we'll see a winning season and hopefully a bowl game. I expect very good things from the Illini."

 

From graduation in 1991 until 2008, Hopkins earned his master's at Stanford and pursued a successful career in the military. The military career saw him go through flight school then a language school and ultimately pursue a degree in political science degree in Italy. His time in the Air Force saw him rise from second Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. In 2008, Hopkins assigned as a special assistant to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

While he was still serving in his role for the VJCS in June 2009, Hopkins was assigned to be an astronaut candidate. He began training in August 2009 as a member of the NASA Astronaut Group 20 and the entire class graduated as astronauts in November 2011. With the voyage in September, Hopkins will be the first astronaut from that class to journey into space.

 

"One of the secrets you learn about space flight is that it is different for everybody," Hopkins said. "You are not really sure how you are going to react once you get up into space. We are going to be a little bit of 'wait and see' because for the most part it depends on the individual. As far as the class goes, somebody had to be first. It only means that I'm the first, but I won't be the only one. I can't wait to see the rest of my classmates getting here and going through their own press conferences."

 

During the time left before the launch and even while he's in space, Hopkins will also lead a charge in health consciousness. They launched the #TrainLikeMike movement on social media to serve as a motivational tool to others.

 

"The Train Like an Astronaut program has been going on for several years now," Hopkins said. "The focus is to encourage kids to get out and exercise and increase their fitness. Fitness has been a huge part of my life growing up, and it still is now. I will be doing it from now until when we get back, and you can see my regimen, and we'll even be uploading video clips of my workouts. I'm joining along with that, looking forward to participate in it and even getting people to join me."

 

A farmer's daughter in space

 

Corey Munson - Marion Times

 

Traveling from Beaconsfield, Iowa, to Marion and traveling from earth to the International Space Station have exactly two things in common, both clock in at just over 200 miles in distance traveled and both trips have been made by Astronaut Peggy Whitson.

 

Whitson appeared in Marion Sunday, July 14, as keynote speaker for a new exhibit at Summit Pointe Senior Living Community titled "Reaching New Heights: Celebrating 50 Years of Women in Space."

 

Whitson grew up on a farm near Beaconsfield in southwest Iowa, where her father and brother still farm today, and was home visiting family just before her trip to Marion.

 

Whitson is notable for several accomplishments in her NASA career. She holds the titles of the woman with the most days spent in space (376 days) and first female commander of the ISS.

 

And all this, as she describes herself, by a farmer's daughter from Iowa.

 

In addition to Whitson and an extensive collection of photos and space craft models put together by Historian David Wendell, the event also featured James Westcott, a life-long Cedar Rapids resident who helped manage Collins Radio's work on the Apollo program in the 1960s.

 

Prior to the exhibit opening, Whitson sat down for an extended conversation with local media outlets. She was surprisingly humble for a person who has made repeated trips to space and spoke repeatedly about her amazement at the opportunities she has had.

 

"I find it hard to believe that a that I'm the first female commander on board the International Space Station," Whitson said. "It seems like the natural sequence that we would have a woman there and I just feel really lucky that I happen to be the one that got to be up there. I still find it completely amazing that a farmer's daughter from Iowa could grow up and be the commander of the International Space Station."

 

"It's a really, really exciting career and really exciting environment being at NASA."

 

Whitson grew up near Beaconsfeild and graduated from Mount Ayr High School. She attend Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, for undergraduate and then Rice University in Houston, receiving a doctorate in biochemistry.

 

For a decade after completing her studies she split her time between work for NASA and teaching at University of Texas at Galveston before being selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996. Her first trip to the ISS launched on June 5, 2002. She returned to the space station as commander on Oct. 10, 2007.

 

Both trips to the ISS lasted about six months each for Whitson.

 

"[When on ISS] Honestly you miss family and friends, but we actually have pretty good communications capabilities," she said. "We have what's called Internet Protocol Phone, so when we have a particular satellite coverage then we can call home. So that was fun the first time I called my mom and asked if she would accept a collect call from the International Space Station. She was like 'I can't believe you're really there!'. It was really neat to be able to have a conversation with your family and feel like you're staying in touch. We also have email capabilities, it's not real time, we synchronize it two or three times a day getting emails up. So you don't feel too out of touch with family and friends... I felt so much satisfaction in the job I was doing that I really hated to leave. It was hard to go, actually it was a lot harder to go."

 

She said she felt so much satisfaction from her work and simply being in space, that it warded off most feelings of loneliness or homesickness.

 

"We train so much, especially for the first few days in orbit, you want to be able to be very efficient as you're adapting to this whole new environment," she said. "You plan those first few days, you practice those first few days a little more than you would some of the other days, you want to be very proficient at what you are doing because you're adapting to this new environment. I think what you worry about, or think about the most, what I was anyway, was try not to screw anything up, try not to make the situation worse, trying to make sure I got all my tests and jobs done so I could be contributing to the mission."

 

In addition to research work and astronaut training jobs at NASA, Whitson also finds time to make public appearances and give talks to students. This, she said, is a vital part of promoting the future of space exploration.

 

"I think people believe we're not in space anymore because the space shuttle program has ended. That's not true," Whitson said.

 

She pointed out that this year NASA received the second highest number of astronaut applications in its history, 64,000, coming in just below levels seen in the Apollo era.

 

She also works to encourage girls to get involved in science and engineering.

 

"I think as we progress as professionals I don't think there's a difference between men and women as astronauts," Whitson said. "I am really proud to have worked with some really great people, both men and women, at the Johnson Space Center and on board the space station. I think it's just a natural progression but right now we still have, of all the people who have flown in space, only 11 percent of them are women. We're hoping to bump that number up a little bit more and keep increasing women's participation as well as men's."

 

At age 53 Whitson is showing no signs of slowing down. She is still active which means she is eligible to return to space, though she has yet to be assigned a new mission. She said she would go in a heartbeat and hopes to again leave earth for a little while.

 

Is NASA lost in space?

 

Craig Patrick - WTVT-TV (Tampa)

 

This month, NASA marks its 55th anniversary. As our agency celebrates its achievements, it is also drawing strong criticism. A panel of scientists, including astronaut Bob Crippen, previously criticized NASA for lacking a clear mission and goals.

 

Meanwhile, Oklahoma U.S. Senator Tom Coburn has accused several NASA projects of wasting our money. He specifically cited a $947,000 food-testing project in Hawaii. It used a six-member team to cook and test recipes we could one day use on Mars.

 

A government audit showed NASA is spending more than $700,000 a year on an outdated database managers rarely use. And Coburn cited a video game project that NASA is committing $1.5-million to developing.

 

We asked a NASA spokesman for an interview since February. He cancelled our first scheduled interview, and after repeated attempts to schedule another, we never heard back. But scientists at MOSI in Tampa strongly defended NASA.

 

"To criticize them after all they've done just seems a little unfair," said MOSI's planetarium manager, Timothy Hill. He defended the video game and food projects. "NASA should definitely capitalize on that to get young people interested in traveling in space...We do know one day people, will travel to Mars."

 

"You kind of have to look at it in the big picture of things," offered Anthony Pelaez, MOSI's director of education. "I think NASA could probably do a better job in terms of being able to communicate everything that it does."

 

NASA administrators have said they do have big plans and goals. The agency is letting private companies focus on low-earth orbit, so NASA can target future missions in deep space. NASA is currently developing a capsule that could fly to the moon or an asteroid, and a super-rocket that could get it there.

 

New company takes over building at Kennedy Space Center

 

Florida Today

 

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning signed a new partnership agreement with Ballistic Recovery Systems Inc., or BRS Aerospace, of Miami for use of KSC's Parachute Refurbishment Facility.

 

The PRF previously was used during NASA's space shuttle program to manufacture and refurbish the solid rocket booster parachutes. Because of NASA's transition from the shuttle to future commercial and government mission activities, this agreement allows NASA to preserve the unique facility capabilities for future spaceflight projects.

 

"Kennedy continues working with the commercial community to bring new partnerships to the center, and this latest agreement is a great example of pairing a NASA facility having a previously specialized focus with a U.S. company that has a similar engineering and manufacturing focus," Kennedy Director Bob Cabana said in a statement.".

 

"This partnership would not have been possible without the support of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast," he said. "We welcome BRS Aerospace to Kennedy Space Center and look forward to a long-standing partnership."

 

Amazon's Jeff Bezos confirms: We got an Apollo 11 rocket engine!

 

Alan Boyle - NBC News

 

That's one small serial number on salvaged hardware, one giant leap for space history: Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos says markings on one of the rocket engine components recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic in March confirm that it came from Apollo 11's first stage.

 

"Forty-four years ago tomorrow, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, and now we have recovered a critical technological marvel that made it possible," Bezos said Friday in an update to his Bezos Expeditions website.

 

Bezos suspected that the F-1 engines came from the mission that delivered humans to the moon for the first time in 1969, but he held off from confirmation until the evidence could be documented.

 

That evidence, in the form of serial numbers, had been hidden by heavy corrosion on the parts. The rocket components were part of a five-engine complement that pushed the Saturn 5 rocket off its launch pad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The engines, along with the rest of the rocket's first stage, were jettisoned minutes after liftoff and made a fiery plunge into the Atlantic, where they sat for more than four decades.

 

Bezos, a space enthusiast who founded the Blue Origin rocket venture, backed a months-long effort to recover the engines. The hardware was sent to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center for conservation.

 

"One of the conservators who was scanning the objects with a black light and a special lens filter has made a breakthrough discovery – '2044' – stenciled in black paint on the side of one of the massive thrust chambers," Bezos wrote on Friday. "2044 is the Rocketdyne serial number that correlates to NASA number 6044, which is the serial number for F-1 Engine No. 5 from Apollo 11."

 

Bezos said "the intrepid conservator kept digging for more evidence, and after removing more corrosion at the base of the same thrust chamber, he found it – 'Unit No 2044' – stamped into the metal surface."

 

Any piece of a flown Apollo moon rocket would be a plum for any museum, but the fact that the thrust chamber played a part in the very first lunar landing is likely to add to its cachet. Enough components were recovered to produce two engine exhibits — one for the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, and one for Seattle's Museum of Flight.

 

The Cosmosphere's president, Jim Remar, says he expects the conservation work to be finished by 2015.

 

Update for 3:34 p.m. ET: Are all of the engine components that were recovered from the ocean floor from Apollo 11? Robert Pearlman, editor of the CollectSpace website, counsels caution.

 

"It may be too soon to say that all the F-1 engine components raised by Bezos came from Apollo 11," he said in an email. "It may be that other parts are from the same No. 5 engine, or other Apollo 11 engines, but depending on where they were recovered, they could be from other Saturn 5 launches. I think we will need to wait until additional serial numbers are found on the other components to say for sure. Still, if they raised only one part from Apollo 11, the thrust chamber is definitely an impressive part to behold!"

 

Frequency, efficiency crucial to 39A choice

 

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

 

It's interesting how fast roles evolve.

 

SpaceX, once the upstart fighting to get inside the lucrative government space contracting business, is becoming part of the establishment.

 

And, it's new companies, like Blue Origin, that are playing the role of maverick in the ever-changing landscape of privatized space flight. Blue Origin is a Washington-based company backed by Amazon chief executive officer and founder Jeff Bezos.

 

As NASA looks for new uses of its facilities at the Kennedy Space Center, perhaps one of the most high profile is historic launch pad 39A, from which the United States launched missions to the moon and later space shuttles for three decades.

 

SpaceX is among the companies making a pitch to use the facility, for a super-sized, heavy-lift version of its Falcon 9 rocket and a people-carrying modified version of its Dragon spacecraft.

 

SpaceX, now more established than even a few years ago, is pursuing the pad for its use exclusively, something that's raising some hackles in Congress. One member of Congress is openly trying to block any exclusive deal. The rationale for SpaceX, one would suppose, is that the company needs to be able to know it has use of the facilities on KSC whenever it needs them. With the expected flight loads that SpaceX continues projecting, it seems as though capacity is an issue for the company and that is a good thing for the space launch business and the Space Coast.

 

Blue Origin, for its part, is proposing that Pad 39A become a versatile multi-use facility that could be the embarkation point for all kinds of rockets. That would include SpaceX's vehicles, those of the United Launch Alliance joint venture involving Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and, of course, Blue Origin's own missions. United Launch Alliance, which didn't vie for use of the pad, did write Blue Origin a letter of support for its multi-use concept. Blue Origin plans suborbital flights by 2015 and orbital flights by 2018 and already has a test launch site in Texas.

 

The debate could prove interesting. KSC is charged with making the maximum use of the facilities on the giant government installation and utilizing both pads A and B on the old shuttle complex is a necessity if the taxpayers are to also get maximum use out of other supporting assets like the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building and the Launch Control Center.

 

In the end, the spaceport is going to change from a government-only operation into something that involves shared use of facilities one way or another. Whatever leads to the most launches and the most efficient use of the great facilities at KSC is the way to go.

 

We'll wait to see more details on each team's proposals as well as what NASA decides to do with them.

 

END