Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - August 1, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: August 1, 2013 6:00:49 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - August 1, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Flex Friday eve!

 

Did I remember to invite you to todays monthly Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30 on Bay Area Blvd.?  -  if not, you are all invited to come join us and share your retirement stories or reflect on NASA 2.0! hope to see you there!

 

 

 

Thursday, August 1, 2013

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Joint Leadership Team Web Poll -  CANstruction Winners Announced -  New Look for Inside JSC -  Got Smartcard? Get Ready to Use it! -  Monthly Test of the JSC EWS -  Latest International Space Station Research -  Safety & Health Day 2013 - Save the Date -  Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v6.0 -  Check Out New NASA@work Challenges -  NICS Collaboration Quarterly Newsletter Organizations/Social -  NEW Starport Fitness Membership Options -  Starport Massage Special - $55 for 60 (M-Th) -  Starport Book Fair - Building 3 Cafe -  Sustain Motivation During Challenging Times -  The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) Says Jobs and Training -  Microgravity and Cell Biology Lecture -  JSC Workshop is Full -  Upcoming NASA Privacy Training Sessions Community -  Outreach Opportunities with V-CORPs -  Perseid Meteor Shower Viewing

Astronaut Chris Cassidy

 

Headlines Joint Leadership Team Web Poll If you go to the energy dashboard on JA's home page and select "energy consumption," then select "JSC," you'll see we are running more than six percent under our kilowatt hour totals from last year. Well done. Last week you decided a knife would be your primary survival tool in a desperate situation. I'm taking fire, because I get hungry and like hot food and warm toes. This week I'd like your take on meeting efficiency at JSC. Are most of the meetings you attend well run? So-so? Sloppy at best? On question two I found some popular sayings updated in the 2.0 style on "Doghouse Diaries." Which one of these new idioms do you like the best? Tweet your Cloud on over to get this week's poll. Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] CANstruction Winners Announced How do you select a winner from "Oz - JSC 2.0," the Space Launch System, the Big Bang Theory, "Metamorphosis - JSC  2.0" and R2D2? Well, it wasn't easy. Competition was stiff, with some outstanding entries, but the judges were finally able to determine the winners: First Place - Morpheus (EA) The diversity of foods, volume, use of labels and the representation of JSC 2.0 all contributed to this group taking first place. They will be representing the JSC at the upcoming CANstruction Houston Event in November. They also won a behind-the-scenes JSC experience.  Second Place - Angry Birds on Mars (AH) Volume, structural integrity and  use of labels made this whimsical entry depicting NASA's relationship with the popular game a clear winner. AH builders have won lunch with JSC Director Ellen Ochoa. Third Place - "We're Grovey" (JA) Their thoughtful depiction of the JSC memorial grove definitely made them the Juror's Favorite! Enjoy the cookies! Thank you to all the organizations that made this such a terrific competition: AD, AH, EA1, EA2, EA3, EV, JSC's Central Budget Office, and to the co-ops for kicking off the competition with their NASA meatball. We hope to make this an annual event with JSC Feeds Families and have some of our contractor team members enter the competition. See CANstruction photos on the new JSC Features website! Joyce Abbey 281-335-2041 [top] New Look for Inside JSC Notice something different? We are pleased to announce the roll-out of the fresher and more functional Inside JSC home page. We encourage you to leave your feedback on the Inside JSC Discussion tile as things will continue to be updated. And for those of us who need time to adjust to the new layout, the old home page will still be available through a link at the bottom of the redesigned page, called Classic Inside JSC, for a limited time. You can still access your familiar quick links and menu across the top of the page just like before. Aside from an updated look, we've added a JSC News section that presents our JSC Features Web page. This has also been redesigned to bring you better/fresher content and is there to update you on new and exciting things happening at JSC. If you don't follow us on Twitter, you'll be able to see our tweets on the Social Media tile. And, if you want to watch fun, new videos, there's a Top Videos tile that'll guide you to our newest, entertaining and informative videos. We hope you like the new look and we're sure you'll like the improved navigation and modern design! JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 [top] Got Smartcard? Get Ready to Use it! In anticipation of agency requirements to use the NASA PIV (Personal Identity Verification ) smartcard (the NASA "badge") for login and other authentication to systems, networks and applications, JSC will begin an early adoption program targeting Windows 7 ACES-managed workstations. Marshall Space Flight Center's PIV Team will enable mandatory smartcard use on 2,000 JSC ACES-managed workstations through a four-phased approach starting Aug. 7 through the end of September (Fiscal Year 2013). Selected individuals will be notified by JSC-ICAM@nasa.gov with further instructions. To prepare: Know where your smartcard reader is on your computer. Know your smartcard PIN. Forgot it? Go here to find a list of PIN reset locations. Know how to use your smartcard, and don't forget it when you leave! Go here for smartcard instructions. For other questions, go to the smartcard page on the Information Resources Directorate website, or contact Enterprise Service Desk: https://esd.nasa.gov/ or call 1-877-677-2123, option 2 JSC IRD Outreach x34800 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/ComputerServices/smartcard/default.aspx [top] Monthly Test of the JSC EWS The Emergency Dispatch Center and Office of Emergency Management will conduct the monthly test of the JSC Emergency Warning System (EWS) today, Aug. 1, at noon. The EWS test will consist of a verbal "This is a test" message, followed by a short tone and a second verbal "This is a test" message. The warning tone will be the "whoop" tone, which is associated with a "Seek shelter inside" message. Please visit the JSC Emergency Awareness website for EWS tones and definitions. During an actual emergency situation, the particular tone and verbal message will provide you with protective information. Dennis G. Perrin x34232 http://jea.jsc.nasa.gov [top] Latest International Space Station Research Inventory of supplies on the International Space Station can be a labor intensive and time-consuming task. Did you know that Robonaut recently demonstrated using a bar code reader to inventory items tagged with small radio-frequency trasmitter tags within a cargo bag? Read more about it. Liz Warren x35548 [top] Safety & Health Day 2013 - Save the Date The Safety & Health Day (SHD) committee has planned a half-day event, and this year's production will cover more of the safety- and health-related topics important to our workforce. These topics will include fire, safety, health and disability issues. The theme for this year is: Safety & Health Day 2.0.13 - New. Bold. Innovative. Last year, we shared what impaired coworkers face on a daily basis, which was not only informative but very popular with those who did not fully understand their challenges. This year, we will include similar activities in the Teague lobby and auditorium. We will also focus on more innovative and unusual ways to explore safety and health. We hope to make you think more clearly about the issues that matter to you most. Mark your calendar for Thursday, Oct. 10. We sincerely hope you will find SHD both interesting and helpful. Event Date: Thursday, October 10, 2013   Event Start Time:10:00 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Teague and Mall area Add to Calendar Angel Plaza x37305 [top] Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v6.0 The JSC Chief Knowledge Officer is pleased to announce the sixth release of SKC. This release includes: SFOC closeout lessons learned file New KBR data - including Columbia update USA engineering knowledge base data archive Georgia Tech shuttle symposium videos New shuttle documents scanned in Search - we have updated the search to be more precise. If you perform a search from a particular area of the site or from a particular folder, the search will only include content from that part of the site. If would like to search the whole site, repeat the search by clearing the search box and retyping your keywords on the search page. To date, 2.38 TB of information, with 5.48 million documents of Space Shuttle Program knowledge, has been captured. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation to give us your comments and thoughts. Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx [top] Check Out New NASA@work Challenges New challenge on NASA@work: Communicating with NASA Employees About the Asteroid Grand Challenge (deadline: Aug. 14). This challenge will have a winner at each center and one overall winner recognized by Lori Garver, so be sure to submit your ideas for communicating across NASA about the Asteroid Grand Challenge. And, don't forget to vote for the new NASA@work award system - As Good as Dollars: Follow-Up Challenge. Are you new to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agencywide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Challenge owners post problems, and members of the NASA@work community participate by responding with their solutions to posted problems. Anyone can participate! Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com [top] NICS Collaboration Quarterly Newsletter The Collaboration Quarterly newsletter is a publication provided by NASA Integrated Communications Services (NICS) Collaboration Services, a service provider to the NASA Communications Service Office. The second edition of Collaboration Quarterly is now available. Please take a moment to read about the newest offerings and features available to NICS customers. JSC-IRD-Outreach x41334 [top]    Organizations/Social NEW Starport Fitness Membership Options Starting today, Aug. 1, Starport Fitness is thrilled to offer a variety of NEW membership options to the JSC community. Membership Options: Inter-Planetary Membership Available to JSC civil servants, Starport Partners, spouses, dependents, NASA contractors, retirees and Ellington military Access to the Strength and Cardio Center, gymnasium, Group-Ex Studio and Spinning Studio FREE for all JSC civil servants and Starport Partner employees Annual and bi-annual options Galactic Membership Available to all community members Access to the Group-Ex Studio and Spinning Studio Annual, bi-annual and daily options Inner Space Membership Available to all community members Access to the Inner Space Yoga and Pilates Studio Annual, bi-annual and daily options Universal Membership Available to all community members Access to the Group-Ex Studio, Spinning Studio and Inner Space Yoga and Pilates Studio Annual, bi-annual and daily options Get your membership today! Joseph Callahan x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Membership/ [top] Starport Massage Special - $55 for 60 (M-Th) Starport is offering another amazing massage special to the JSC community! Any one-hour massage booked online in August will be $55 when scheduled on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Starport Massage - $55 for 60 | Monday through Thursday $55 for a 60-minute massage Must be booked Monday through Thursday Must be booked online in August Massage must be physically scheduled between Aug. 1 and Nov. 30 Starport's Massage Therapists -- Marj Moore, LMT Tuesdays and Thursdays | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Every other Saturday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Click here to book with Marj -- Anette Lemon, LMT Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Every other Saturday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Click here to book with Anette Book your massage today! Steve Schade x30304 http://www.innerspaceclearlake.com/massage.php [top] Starport Book Fair - Building 3 Cafe Come and enjoy the Books Are Fun book fair held at the Building 3 café on Wednesday, Aug. 14, and Thursday, Aug. 15, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Search through more than 250 great titles in children's books, cookbooks, general-interest books, New York Times bestsellers, stationary and scrapbooking, music collections and more all at unbelievable prices. Click here for more information. Event Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:2:00 PM Event Location: Building 3 Add to Calendar Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Sustain Motivation During Challenging Times The JSC Employee Assistance Program is happy to welcome keynote speaker and bestselling author Elizabeth McCormick. McCormick has empowered audiences all over the United States with her inspirational speaking. Please join her on Wednesday, Aug. 7, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium as she inspires and teaches us how to "Sustain Motivation Through Challenging Times" with her stories and experiences as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. Event Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) Says "Dehydration in the summer sure is a bummer. Drink water!" Congratulations to August 2013 "JSAT Says ..." winner Eddie Jacquet with Raytheon Technical Services Company. Any JSAT member (all JSC contractor and civil servant employees) may submit a slogan for consideration to JSAT Secretary Reese Squires. Submissions for September are due by Friday, Aug. 9. Keep those great submissions coming - you may be the next "JSAT Says ..." winner! Reese Squires x37776 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/apps/news/newsfiles/3296.pptx [top]    Jobs and Training Microgravity and Cell Biology Lecture Please join the Human Systems Academy for a lecture on Microgravity and Cell Biology on Aug. 6 from 2 to 4 p.m. The discussion will include: rational for cell-based research in the space program, cellular responses to microgravity, the coordinate role of physical forces in life processes and more! Space is limited, register today in SATERN: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Cynthia Rando x41815 https://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/hsa/default.aspx [top] JSC Workshop is Full The JSC workshop facilitated by Oxford professor Loizos Heracleous, Evolving Organizational Culture and Capabilities to Sustain Success, has reached the maximum registrant limit. However, there is still a way for you to provide us with your thoughts. Please take two to five minutes to provide your inputs by Aug. 5 to the questions in this survey. Sonia Hernandez-Moya x31752 http://ao.jsc.nasa.gov/pages.ashx/1/Home [top] Upcoming NASA Privacy Training Sessions Protecting sensitive information at NASA begins and ends with our employees. Several incidents this year resulted in the loss, theft and compromise of sensitive and personal data. The agency wants employees, civil servants and contractors, to be knowledgeable about handling and protecting Sensitive But Unclassified (SBU) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII). SBU and PII can be anything from names to personnel records to non-classified sensitive material. JSC's Information Resources Directorate is providing the following training sessions, open to all JSC employees: Wednesday, Aug. 7, from 9 to 10:30 a.m., Building 12, Room 152 (60 participants max) Thursday, Aug. 29, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., Teague Auditorium You do not need to pre-register for these events, but it's first come, first served. There will be a sheet for you to sign in on. For more information, click here or contact JSC's Privacy Manager Ali Montasser (x39798) or JSC's Information Security Officer Mark Fridye (x36660). Event Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:10:30 AM Event Location: B.12/R.152 Add to Calendar JSC IRD Outreach x39798 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx [top]    Community Outreach Opportunities with V-CORPs Have you visited the new V-CORPs website? Take a look! New opportunities for outreach are being added regularly.  One event that really needs volunteers is Power Camp, which is happening Aug. 5 through 8. For this exciting opportunity, you will be engaging children of all ages and sharing your love for your space program with hands on STEM related activities. You can sign up for morning or afternoon, for one day only or more as your schedule allows.  Here's how you can become involved: 1. Sign up as a V-CORPs volunteer by clicking the Count Me In! button on the V-CORPs website.  2. Sign in at the top of the website. 3. Click on any calendar event you want more info about.  You'll see a pop-up screen with information about the event.  If you are signed in, you'll also see a button that says "Sign Up." Just click that button! A V-CORPs administrator will contact you and let you know that you have been signed up. Questions? Contact us at: JSC-V-CORPs@mail.nasa.gov   JSC External Relations, Community Relations Office x35111 [top] Perseid Meteor Shower Viewing The George Observatory will be open extended hours on Aug. 10 for the Perseid Meteor Shower. Come out and watch the show! For more information about the George Observatory, click here. Note: Park entrance fees apply at $7 per person for everyone over 12 years old. Megan Hashier 281-226-4179 http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108&Ite... [top]

 

JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

               

 

 

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – August 1, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Loads Challenges Remain For SLS Design

 

Guy Norris - Aviation Week

 

NASA is revealing its most detailed assessment yet of the design challenges that are being tackled as part of its plan to develop and test the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle for human exploration from 2017 and beyond. While the overall SLS effort remains on track, and even ahead of schedule in some cases, NASA says significant design issues have had to be overcome in some areas to cope with the unexpectedly high liftoff and ascent loads of the powerful vehicle. The key challenges have been encountered, and so far successfully addressed, in adapting the modified space shuttle five-segment solid booster to the SLS core stage, as well as in designing the interim cryogenic propulsion system (ICPS) that will power the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle out of Earth orbit.

 

How big is NASA's new Space Launch System? Really big

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

 

NASA has released a picture of the first completed segment of one of the fuel tanks for the new Space Launch System that offers some perspective on just how big the new rocket will be. Workers are dwarfed by the 22-foot-tall aluminum alloy segment that weighs 9,000 pounds. The finished rocket will be much bigger. Its completed core holding both liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel tanks will be 200 feet tall. That's the length of 10 average American cars parked bumper to bumper. The full launch system including the Orion crew capsule will stand 321 feet tall, about the length of an American football field with end zones.

 

Next round of Commercial Crew likely to support only two competitors

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Competition in NASA's Commercial Crew Program will probably get a little thinner in the fourth round, an agency official said here July 30. "I don't believe we are going to be able to carry three in the next round," Phil McAlister, NASA's director of commercial spaceflight development, told the NASA Advisory Council's (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations Committee during a meeting at NASA headquarters here. "I think two would probably be sufficient to maintain competition." NASA currently is carrying three teams under its effort to replace the space shuttle's crew-carrying capacity to the international space station with privately designed spacecraft.

 

NASA pushing to keep 'space taxi' competition going

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

NASA is pressing ahead with a program to fly its astronauts on commercial spaceships despite budget uncertainties that threaten to undermine a heated competition for its business. Since 2010, when the U.S. space agency begin partnering with private companies interested in developing space taxis, and May 2014, when the current phase of the so-called Commercial Crew initiative ends, NASA expects to have spent about $1.5 billion on the program. The Obama administration is requesting $821 million for the program for the 2014 fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. Congress previously halved the administration's requests to $406 million in 2012 and $498 million in 2013.

 

Commercial-space contenders visit KSC

Companies to learn more about deal to be awarded in 2015

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Two years since astronauts last launched from here, companies today will gather at Kennedy Space Center to learn more about contracts that NASA hopes will close the post-shuttle gap in U.S. human spaceflight. NASA plans to award contracts next summer to one or more companies to finish designs and certify the safety of commercial rockets and spaceships that could fly crews to the International Space Station by 2017. The fixed-price contracts likely also will include the first commercial flights of crews to the station. "We felt like that was necessary in order to get the cost-sharing that we want and the partnership approach that we would like to see during this phase," Phil McAlister, head of commercial spaceflight programs at NASA headquarters, told a NASA Advisory Council committee this week.

 

Pad 39A lease may be near, Bolden says

Neighboring pad seen as multi-use

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

A long-term lease of a mothballed Kennedy Space Center launch pad may still be near, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden suggested Wednesday. At least one company and some members of Congress have asked NASA not to award a single company exclusive use of pad 39A, saying it should be made available to multiple launchers. But Bolden said Wednesday that it was the neighboring pad 39B, which NASA is overhauling to support its own exploration rocket, that the agency has always envisioned for shared use.

 

Senate Committee approves NASA Auth Act with no Republican support

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Only days before Congress was scheduled to adjourn for its annual August recess, the Democrats who control the Senate Commerce Committee united to make their party's point that sequestration does not apply to authorization bills and approved a NASA Authorization Act that would allow appropriators to fund the agency at $18.1 billion in 2014. The NASA Authorization Act of 2013 (S. 1317) cleared the committee July 30 on a straight 13-12 party line vote. A handful of amendments were also tacked on, by unanimous consent, to the 75-page measure, which allows $400 million more for NASA in 2014 than the White House is seeking.

 

NASA's absent at AirVenture, but future of space exploration remains on display

 

Jeff Bollier - Oshkosh Northwestern

 

As astronaut Charlie Duke talked the Apollo 11 crew down to a landing on the Moon's surface in 1969, Chris Hadfield's dreams of space caught fire in a neighbor's home in his native Canada. Duke, Hadfield and fellow astronauts Charlie Precourt and Chris Ferguson spent a Tuesday night AirVenture forum sharing their experiences in the ever-evolving space program. And in doing so, they also highlighted the roadmap to humankind's future exploring the final frontier.

 

Restored Star Trek ship Galileo arrives in Houston

 

Ramit Plushnick-Masti - Associated Press

 

 

When the smoke cleared and the music died down, Candy Torres could no longer contain herself. Looking at the shiny, restored Star Trek Galileo shuttlecraft sitting in Houston in all its TV glory, she broke down. "All of a sudden I was just crying. I was in tears. I couldn't believe it," Torres said, donning a brown tourist engineer hat and a NASA mission operations shirt. "It meant something."

 

Spaceflight in the age of Obama: Star Trek's Galileo shuttlecraft unveiled

 

Daniel Wattenberg - Washington Times

 

It may not fully make up for President Obama's gutting of America's manned spaceflight program, but for now it will have to do. Star Trek's Galileo, the fiberglass shuttlecraft featured on the "The Galileo Seven" episode of the classic '60s sci-fi series, was officially unveiled Wednesday at the Space Center Houston, where it will remain on permanent display. If nothing else, the Galileo development program proved far less costly than NASA's $9 billion next-generation space program, Constellation, which fell victim to Mr. Obama's budget ax in 2010.

 

'Star Trek's' Shuttlecraft Galileo Warps Into Space Center Houston

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

The first shuttlecraft from the original 1967 "Star Trek" television series has landed at a real-life space center for its final away mission. Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas, unveiled the newly-fan-restored Shuttlecraft Galileo on Wednesday during a science fiction celebrity-studded event that featured one of the original actors from the full-scale spacecraft's debut episode.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Loads Challenges Remain For SLS Design

 

Guy Norris - Aviation Week

 

NASA is revealing its most detailed assessment yet of the design challenges that are being tackled as part of its plan to develop and test the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle for human exploration from 2017 and beyond.

 

While the overall SLS effort remains on track, and even ahead of schedule in some cases, NASA says significant design issues have had to be overcome in some areas to cope with the unexpectedly high liftoff and ascent loads of the powerful vehicle. The key challenges have been encountered, and so far successfully addressed, in adapting the modified space shuttle five-segment solid booster to the SLS core stage, as well as in designing the interim cryogenic propulsion system (ICPS) that will power the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle out of Earth orbit.

 

The ICPS sits atop the main core stage and forms part of the integrated spacecraft and payload element (ISPE) of SLS-1000X, which is the designation for the initial variant. The overall stack comprises the crew vehicle, a stage adapter, separation system and launch vehicle stage adapter. The propulsion unit, sitting between the two adapters, will be based on a modified 2016 production version of the Delta IV cryogenic second stage with an Aerojet-Rocketdyne RL 10B-2 engine.

 

However, analysis indicates that on liftoff and during initial ascent, the "vehicle twangs and imparts lateral loads" says Rene Ortega, SLS spacecraft and payload integration office chief engineer. The lateral loads at liftoff are expected to be produced mostly by north-south winds over the launch pad, while ascent lateral loads will be generated by aerodynamic buffeting. To reduce the potential impact on the RL 10B-2 and the rest of the ICPS, NASA plans to incorporate a stabilizer liftoff restraint and release system at "T-zero" as well as additional system damping, as recommended by the ICPS developers Boeing and United Launch Alliance. Further liftoff wind limits may also be considered in later design iterations, while for tackling the ascent loads, NASA says an SLS "aero-buffet" team continues to study potential damping from electro-mechanical actuators and "other more complicated options."

 

The design team says that although loads are decreasing and capability improving as the configuration matures, "the challenge with using heritage hardware is that the capability is mostly fixed." Overall progress on the spacecraft and payload element continues on track, however, with a preliminary design review (PDR) for the combined unit completed in June.

 

The design has been slightly modified with a larger hydrogen tank for added stage performance, and manufacturing has begun of the adapter that will be used for the Delta IV-boosted exploration flight test of the Orion in late 2014. First flight of the SLS is targeted for 2017 with Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), an unmanned Orion test flight beyond the Moon. The first crewed flight, EM-2, is set for 2021.

 

The challenges of adapting heritage design hardware to the new SLS have also led to modifications to the ATK-developed booster. Describing the changes at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Joint Propulsion Conference in San Jose, Calif., NASA SLS booster element chief engineer Mat Bevill said: "everything associated with the recovery system [parachutes, sensors and so on] has been removed. The forward skirt is using heritage hardware from space shuttle but the avionics under it are all new."

 

Other changes include modified propellant grain geometry in the forward segment of the reusable solid rocket motor, adding to those already made for the canceled Ares booster version. On the aft segment, the location of the attachment unit connecting the booster to the core has also been changed.

 

As with the upper stages, anticipated loads are impacting design decisions. "Analysis shows the tension loads on the separation bolt at the forward end of the booster are higher than expected and are higher than anything we saw on the space shuttle," says Bevill. "So we will be making it as strong as we can." The pyrotechnic charge and its housing groove have also been modified. The design of the SLS core stage meant the ring connecting the booster to the attachment had to be moved 240 in. farther aft, too. The redesigned attach ring has been demonstrated on a "pathfinder" aft segment.

 

Because the nozzles of the extended booster sit closer to those of the SLS main engines than they did to the space shuttle engines, the thermal curtain that protects the base of the nozzle may also have to cope with increased thermal and structural loads. Potential modifications are "in work" says Bevill. "We found that the outer layer of the curtain can be rapidly consumed, so we'll maybe use a reflective fabric on the outer surface to mitigate plume radiation, and we're working through those plans now."

 

The close proximity of the nozzle also means there could have been a danger of debris from the seals covering the booster separation motors (BSM) impacting the core stage engines at separation. The designers fixed this by adopting the hinged, non-frangible seal design from the forward BSM. "We are also using a thermal barrier O-ring in the nozzle aft exit joint in place of an obsolete thermal barrier," Bevill says.

 

Current work is focused on dealing with high ascent, liftoff and acoustic loads on the forward skirt area of the booster. "We do have a few loads-related challenges," says Bevill. "There is a 35% increase in loads on the forward skirt and we could get buckling of the shell. We've looked at various solutions." Skirt modification options will be tested at full scale to failure for additional model correlation. Acoustic load levels may also exceed the capability of the avionics boxes mounted near the forward skirt area.

 

"The expected load release is significantly higher than what has been seen on the side–particularly in areas at 90 degrees to the thrust post," Bevill says. Proposed solutions include isolating or relocating avionics boxes.

 

Following three successful static-fire tests of the five-segment booster in 2009-11, the first full-scale qualification booster is being assembled in Utah for testing later this year. "We will be integrating avionics systems into the qualification motor," Bevill notes. Flight control ground tests were run in March 2012 and in February 2013. The SLS boost element completed PDR in April and is "on target for CDR [critical design review] maturity," says Bevill. System development testing is scheduled for September, marking the final hurdle before the CDR milestone.

 

Work to integrate the former space shuttle RS-25D main engines into the SLS is on track, says engines element chief engineer Katherine Van Hooser. NASA has an inventory of 16 flight engines and two development engines and, because they will be operating at a higher power than on the shuttle, "we are going through them, assessing life requirements and making sure we have enough life to meet the SLS manifest," she says.

 

One of the main challenges in the meantime is long-term storage for the engines. "We've transferred them to [NASA] Stennis [Space Center] and some are in engine containers or bagged. All have been purged and are monitored," says Van Hooser. Because of the proximity of the RS-25D nozzles to the SLS booster plume, the agency has also "done a bit of work analytically to make sure we can handle the hotter environments," she adds.

 

Propellant inlet conditions also differ because of the taller vehicle and resulting higher liquid oxygen (LOx) inlet pressure. "We will modify the engine to adapt to the higher pressure and modify the start sequence," says Van Hooser. The higher pressure surges through the engine as it starts and, as a result, "we have to teach the controller as it works its way through those pressure surges," she notes. "So we will have to modify the start sequence and that's touchy." The team "melted about 13 turbines at the beginning of the program before we got it right," adds Van Hooser.

 

She says the LOx is also "going to be colder, so there is a potential for damage from temperature spikes." This affects the start sequence as well, because the colder flow will be denser and therefore have a higher mass, which in turn will affect the mixture ratio in the turbines. A solution has been devised that includes adding heat locally and reducing pre-start bleed flows. The revised start sequence will be modeled, evaluated on the test stand and verified with ground tests.

 

Tests of the upper-stage Aerojet-Rocketdyne J-2X at Stennis in June included an evaluation with the engine gimbaled up to 7%. "We're getting these test stands ready to go for RS-25, which will support the vehicle PDR in June 2014," says Van Hooser, who notes that the J-2X program had completed 50 tests on two engines and two powerpacks as of late June.

 

Reporting on progress with the core stage, Boeing SLS chief engineer Michael Wood says the vehicle is on-cost, five months ahead of schedule and "well on the way to CDR in mid-2014," with drawing release underway. The large core stage will measure 200 ft. in length overall, and comprises a forward skirt, LOx tank, intertank, liquid hydrogen tank and an engine section enclosing the SLS's four main RS-25Ds. The company expects to complete CDR on all major components by year-end and has finished acceptance testing on all major tooling.

 

How big is NASA's new Space Launch System? Really big

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

 

NASA has released a picture of the first completed segment of one of the fuel tanks for the new Space Launch System that offers some perspective on just how big the new rocket will be. Workers are dwarfed by the 22-foot-tall aluminum alloy segment that weighs 9,000 pounds.

 

The finished rocket will be much bigger. Its completed core holding both liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel tanks will be 200 feet tall. That's the length of 10 average American cars parked bumper to bumper. The full launch system including the Orion crew capsule will stand 321 feet tall, about the length of an American football field with end zones.

 

The first finished core segment, built by the new process of friction stir-welding that basically softens and blends smaller segments together, will be used for further testing. It was built on a new welding machine installed at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and it is the same circumference as a space shuttle external tank to make easy use of other Michoud facilities and tools.

 

The core stage is being designed and developed by Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville and assembled by Boeing.

 

Next round of Commercial Crew likely to support only two competitors

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Competition in NASA's Commercial Crew Program will probably get a little thinner in the fourth round, an agency official said here July 30.

 

"I don't believe we are going to be able to carry three in the next round," Phil McAlister, NASA's director of commercial spaceflight development, told the NASA Advisory Council's (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations Committee during a meeting at NASA headquarters here. "I think two would probably be sufficient to maintain competition."

 

NASA currently is carrying three teams under its effort to replace the space shuttle's crew-carrying capacity to the international space station with privately designed spacecraft. Two of those teams, Boeing and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), were awarded $460 million and $440 million, respectively, last August to develop rival capsules. A third team, Sierra Nevada Corp., was awarded $212.5 million, an amount NASA acknowledged would put the Louisville, Colo.-based firm's winged spaceplane design on a trailing development schedule.

 

The reason NASA only expects to carry two teams beyond next summer, as more senior NASA officials have said, is the budget. Congress to date has been unwilling to fund the program anywhere close to the roughly $800 million a year NASA says it needs to keep multiple teams on track to offer crew transportation services by 2017. While  Congress approved $525 million for the program for 2013, across the board spending cuts known as sequestration would leave NASA with less than $500 million to spend on the effort this year. NASA proposed in May shifting funds from other programs to boost commercial crew spending back up to $525 million, but that proposal — known as an operating plan — has yet to be approved by NASA's congressional oversight committees.

 

NASA's 2014 budget request — sent to Congress in April — seeks $821 million for commercial crew. If NASA does not get the big increase it is seeking for the program, McAlister said, NASA may not be able to meet its goal of getting at least one commercial crew system flying in 2017.

 

"It'll slow us down," he told the NAC.

 

NASA on July 19 released the draft solicitation for the next round of the Commercial Crew Program, a certification phase expected to include the first crewed space launch from U.S. soil since July 8, 2011, when the last space shuttle missions left the pad.

 

NASA will meet with industry on Aug. 1-2 to gather feedback about the draft Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) solicitation, then issue a final solicitation in October. CCtCap proposals would be due by December, with an award expected next summer, McAlister said.

 

Bidders will have to propose at least one crewed flight to the international space station under CCtCap in order to be eligible for follow-on task orders.

 

"We're saying at least one to the [international space station] ... in order to get certified," McAlister said. "I anticipate all the partners will propose additional test flights."

 

NASA intends to book astronaut flights from certified providers via task orders, each of which would be for between two and six "post-certification missions," according to the CCtCap draft solicitation. CCtCap also allows NASA to book cargo deliveries from certified providers, although "[t]his is not intended to be a replacement for existing cargo services," such as the Commercial Resupply Services agreements NASA already has with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp., according to the draft solicitation.

 

Meanwhile, around the time NASA expects to be making CCtCap awards, the agency will have to make a decision on whether to book seats for its astronauts aboard Soyuz spacecraft launching after June 2017, the latest date for which NASA has arranged rides for its space station crew members.

 

In April, NASA announced it had booked six round trips to the space station aboard Soyuz for about $70 million apiece. The deal is an extension of NASA's existing contract with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.

 

Soyuz bookings have a 36-month lead time, so arranging flights beyond June 2017 will require NASA to take action next year, Sam Scimemi, director of the international space station program at NASA headquarters, told members of the NAC's Human Exploration and Operations Committee July 29.

 

Between the budget, the impending decision about more Soyuz seats and the fact that the aging space station to which the Commercial Crew Program's fate is tethered has not yet been approved to fly beyond 2020, the debate about NASA's Commercial Crew procurement plans turned passionate on July 30.

 

As McAlister made the case for maintaining as much competition as possible in a Commercial Crew Program that has never been funded at the level NASA says is necessary, Richard Kohrs, the former deputy director of the space shuttle program who now chairs the NAC committee McAlister spoke to, appeared to reach the limit of his patience.

 

Flying in 2017 is "a goal," McAlister said. On the other hand, "it's actually a requirement for the program, it's an objective, that they [the contractors] produce safe, reliable and cost effective [transportation systems]. I believe competition supports all three of those simultaneously."

 

"You want safe reliable transportation, don't [foul] up," Kohrs replied. "Let's go do this goddamn thing for 20 years! We'll be safe and reliable, you won't have any problems."

 

NASA pushing to keep 'space taxi' competition going

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

NASA is pressing ahead with a program to fly its astronauts on commercial spaceships despite budget uncertainties that threaten to undermine a heated competition for its business.

 

Since 2010, when the U.S. space agency begin partnering with private companies interested in developing space taxis, and May 2014, when the current phase of the so-called Commercial Crew initiative ends, NASA expects to have spent about $1.5 billion on the program.

 

The Obama administration is requesting $821 million for the program for the 2014 fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. Congress previously halved the administration's requests to $406 million in 2012 and $498 million in 2013.

 

The bulk of the funds now goes to two firms, Boeing Co and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, both of which are developing seven-person capsules. NASA also is backing a winged spaceship called Dream Chaser being developed by privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp.

 

"The biggest risk to the program is prematurely eliminating competition," Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA Headquarters, told an advisory committee meeting on Tuesday.

 

"The goal of the Commercial Crew program is safe, reliable and cost-effective human space transportation to low-Earth orbit. Competition gives you a good price, but the partners know that safety and reliability are important criteria for NASA so they are battling to be the safest, to be the most reliable and to be the most cost-effective," he said.

 

"There are still some uncertainties about each one of these systems, so if we were to go all-in on one right now, I would be very nervous about that," McAlister added.

 

Unlike traditional cost-plus-award fees contracts, NASA's space taxi developers are paid fixed amounts and only after they achieve pre-determined technical milestones. Companies also are required to share development costs.

 

The initiative is intended to give NASA a U.S. alternative for flying astronauts to the International Space Station, a $100 billion research complex that orbits about 250 miles (402 km) above Earth, by 2017.

 

With the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, the U.S. space agency is dependent on Russia to transport station crews, a service that currently costs more than $62 million per seat.

 

NASA created similar partnerships with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp for station cargo transportation, another service previously provided by the government-owned and operated space shuttles.

 

So far, SpaceX has flown three times to the station. Orbital Sciences is slated for its debut test flight in September.

 

For NASA's $800 investment, the United States now has "two low-cost launch vehicles, two autonomous spacecraft capable of delivering cargo and two privately developed launch facilities. This will give us a very robust U.S. domestic cargo transportation capability," McAlister said.

 

SpaceX also has successfully sold its Falcon 9 rockets commercially, with about 50 missions on its manifest including 10 more station cargo resupply flights for NASA.

 

Companies vying to develop human space transports for NASA are slated learn more about the program's next phase during meetings on Thursday and Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

Commercial-space contenders visit KSC

Companies to learn more about deal to be awarded in 2015

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Two years since astronauts last launched from here, companies today will gather at Kennedy Space Center to learn more about contracts that NASA hopes will close the post-shuttle gap in U.S. human spaceflight.

 

NASA plans to award contracts next summer to one or more companies to finish designs and certify the safety of commercial rockets and spaceships that could fly crews to the International Space Station by 2017.

 

The fixed-price contracts likely also will include the first commercial flights of crews to the station.

 

"We felt like that was necessary in order to get the cost-sharing that we want and the partnership approach that we would like to see during this phase," Phil McAlister, head of commercial spaceflight programs at NASA headquarters, told a NASA Advisory Council committee this week.

 

The leading contenders to win the contracts are the three companies currently developing systems with $1.1 billion NASA split between them last year.

 

The Boeing Co. and SpaceX won the biggest awards, with Sierra Nevada Corp. getting about half as much.

 

"They're moving along great, they're making very good progress," McAlister said.

 

They may not all advance to the final round, however.

 

Budget pressures could force NASA to reduce the number of competitors or risk delaying flights beyond 2017.

 

But McAlister said prematurely forcing the agency to select just one winner, as some have proposed in the hopes of accelerating flights, poses the greatest risk to the KSC-based Commercial Crew Program achieving its goals.

 

Continued competition between at least two companies not only would secure the government better prices, he said, "but we also find that the partners compete on safety and reliability, because they know that's important to NASA."

 

Since all the systems are early in their development, he added, "if we were to go all-in on one right now, I would be very nervous about that."

 

NASA's draft request for proposals suggests each winner could be awarded at least two flights to the ISS, with the potential for up to six flights if only one winner is selected.

 

The draft proposal leaves open the possibility that extra seats on the flights could be sold to space tourists.

 

NASA is seeking industry feedback on the draft during briefings and one-on-one meetings today and Friday.

 

That feedback will help "ensure that the certification process results in safe, reliable and cost-effective human space transportation using a public-private partnership model," NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden said Wednesday.

 

The process "marks another significant milestone on the path to once again launching American astronauts from U.S. soil," Bolden said.

 

Pad 39A lease may be near, Bolden says

Neighboring pad seen as multi-use

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

A long-term lease of a mothballed Kennedy Space Center launch pad may still be near, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden suggested Wednesday.

 

At least one company and some members of Congress have asked NASA not to award a single company exclusive use of pad 39A, saying it should be made available to multiple launchers.

 

But Bolden said Wednesday that it was the neighboring pad 39B, which NASA is overhauling to support its own exploration rocket, that the agency has always envisioned for shared use.

 

"We would prefer that the multi-use facility be 39B, and it's built that way now," Bolden told the NASA Advisory Council during a meeting at NASA headquarters. "It's got a flame trench, a blast deflector in it that's mobile. We think we can handle all takers on 39B."

 

NASA had been close to a deal with SpaceX to take over pad 39A until Blue Origin submitted a competing bid.

 

Although Blue Origin doesn't expect to launch its own rockets from KSC until 2018, the company has proposed to modify and manage pad 39A to serve any interested launcher.

 

Bolden said NASA has no use for 39A, which supported the Apollo and shuttle programs, and planned to demolish it unless there was private sector interest.

 

Now, he said the agency does not want to continue spending the "couple million bucks" it would cost each year to keep the seaside pad from rusting away.

 

"The problem is, we cannot afford to maintain a facility while the world thinks about it," he said. "We're either going to demolish it, or we're going to let somebody use it and pay for it."

 

NASA wants to unload responsibility for the pad by Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

 

Patricia Grace Smith, a member of the advisory council's Commercial Space Committee, offered Bolden a "cautionary comment" suggesting the agency consider a lease shorter than 20 years, as reportedly was contemplated.

 

She said there seems to be growing interest — "maybe not yet nailed down and identified, but coming" — in a non-exclusive arrangement.

 

Bolden said Woodrow Whitlow, NASA's associate administrator for NASA's Mission Support Directorate, would make the final decision on a "long-term lease."

 

He said a response was on its way to U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt of Alabama and Frank Wolf of Virginia, who opposed an exclusive lease.

 

In their letter, Aderholt and Wolf said launch companies "have raised strong concerns about being forced to share" pad 39B with NASA's Space Launch System rocket, which is targeting a 2017 test launch.

 

Bolden said NASA had talked to United Launch Alliance about launching crews from pad 39B instead of modifying its existing Atlas V launch pad at the Cape.

 

He wasn't sure if a final decision had been made.

 

"We would like to have multiple vehicles (there)," he said. "Interestingly, no one yet has expressed a desire to take us up on that offer."

 

Senate Committee approves NASA Auth Act with no Republican support

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

Only days before Congress was scheduled to adjourn for its annual August recess, the Democrats who control the Senate Commerce Committee united to make their party's point that sequestration does not apply to authorization bills and approved a NASA Authorization Act that would allow appropriators to fund the agency at $18.1 billion in 2014.

 

The NASA Authorization Act of 2013 (S. 1317) cleared the committee July 30 on a straight 13-12 party line vote. A handful of amendments were also tacked on, by unanimous consent, to the 75-page measure, which allows $400 million more for NASA in 2014 than the White House is seeking.

 

The bill, spearheaded by Senate Commerce science and space subcommittee Chairman Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), may now be considered by the full Senate, which would have a chance to propose new amendments when, and if, the measure makes it to the floor.

 

Authorization bills provide policy direction for federal agencies and programs and establish funding guidelines but provide no actual money. Agencies such as NASA are funded through annual appropriations bills.

 

The Senate Commerce markup was a mirror reversal of the debate that occurred in the Republican-controlled House Science, Space and Technology Committee July 18, when Democrats pulled together in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to amend a Republican bill that would authorize $16.9 billion for NASA. Democrats argued then that sequestration, across-the-board cuts put in play by the Budget Control Act of 2011, does not limit the amount of funding lawmakers may authorize federal agencies to receive. House Republicans disagreed and united to pass the measure 22-17. Republicans said that they would not relax funding constraints on discretionary spending such as NASA until Democrats agreed to rein in spending on mandatory social programs such as Medicare and Social Security.

 

That sentiment is shared by the Senate's outnumbered Republicans.

 

"We are not prepared to budge, and I think our House colleagues are not prepared to budge," Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said during the Commerce Committee's July 30 markup. Wicker joined with Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) — Nelson's science and space subcommittee vice chairman — in an unsuccessful attempt to constrain authorized funding to sequestration levels. The amendment was shot down 13-12 on party lines, but not before Wicker warned that the debate over spending was far from over.

 

"We're going to be having this debate in every forum, whether it's before the Senate Commerce Committee, on the floor of the Senate, with regard to every appropriation bill," Wicker said.

 

The House and the Senate are similarly far apart on the funding they are willing to appropriate for NASA in 2014. Bills awaiting floor action in both chambers are $1.4 billion apart on NASA spending. House appropriators would give NASA $16.6 billion; Senate appropriators $18 billion. Neither bill has been scheduled for a floor vote, and even some NASA officials are expecting that a stopgap spending measure will be approved before Sept. 30 to preserve NASA funding at the 2013 level of about $16.9 billion.

 

Meanwhile, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who will retire in 2014 after 30 years in the Senate, said he was pressured like never before on NASA by Nelson, the primary architect of the NASA Authorization Act the committee approved July 30.

 

"Never have I been lobbied so hard, so brutally, so cruelly, so unrelentingly to have a markup on NASA," the 76-year old political lifer quipped at the beginning of the markup session.

 

Nelson, a constant advocate for the Kennedy Space Center in Florida who flew as a payload specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1986, said that aside from the level of funding it authorized the bill is very similar to the House Science, Space and Technology Committee's bill.

 

"The only difference is that we are silent in our bill about mandating that NASA do an asteroid retrieval," Nelson said. " I don't think that is the position of a committee to be telling the scientists and the NASA experts of what we should be doing. That's the only major difference between the two bills."

 

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee's bill would ban the Asteroid Redirect Mission NASA announced in April. The proposed mission calls for relocating an asteroid to lunar space so that astronauts could visit it in the early 2020s aboard the Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule NASA is required to build under a 2010 authorization bill crafted by Nelson and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas).

 

A Senate aide said that staff-level work will continue while lawmakers return to their home states for August recess, which runs Aug. 5 through Sept. 6. When lawmakers return, Congress will be under the gun to complete appropriations by the Oct. 1 start of the federal government's 2014 budget year.  

 

One NASA official, speaking July 29 to the NASA Advisory Council's Science Committee, said there is widespread doubt that any authorization bill will pass this year.

 

"General speculation is that we're unlikely to have an authorization bill," said Craig Tupper, director of resource management for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

 

Meanwhile, four amendments were added by unanimous consent to the Nelson-authored authorization act July 30. These would:

 

·         Require the NASA administrator to improve launch infrastructure used to service the international space station and require White House budget requests to identify exactly how much funding is needed for this purpose each year.

 

·         •Require that at least 20 percent of the annual funding for NASA's 21st Century Launch Complex program — a program aimed at modifying space shuttle launch infrastructure at Kennedy to support multiple, potentially non-NASA users — be used to "support redundancy in NASA's current and future launch capabilities."

 

·         •Advise NASA to immediately begin studying how to construct a follow-on satellite to Landsat 8, the latest in a long-running line of medium-resolution Earth observation satellites, using existing flight hardware.

 

·         •Mandate that the NASA administrator begin an "Advanced Composites Project," which would be a public-private partnership designed to "accelerate the development and certification of advanced composite materials and structures for use in commercial and military aircraft."

 

NASA's absent at AirVenture, but future of space exploration remains on display

 

Jeff Bollier - Oshkosh Northwestern

 

As astronaut Charlie Duke talked the Apollo 11 crew down to a landing on the Moon's surface in 1969, Chris Hadfield's dreams of space caught fire in a neighbor's home in his native Canada.

 

"I thought, 'Well shoot, I'm alive, I'm a person. And right now, it's impossible for anybody but an American or a Soviet to fly in space, but up until this morning it was impossible to walk on the Moon,'" Hadfield said. "So, for me, it was hugely motivating. It was not frustrating at all. It was enormously enabling and motivating to see those first steps on the Moon and it led to all the decisions that have shaped my life since."

 

Duke, Hadfield and fellow astronauts Charlie Precourt and Chris Ferguson spent a Tuesday night AirVenture forum sharing their experiences in the ever-evolving space program. And in doing so, they also highlighted the roadmap to humankind's future exploring the final frontier.

 

The astronauts said that just as the space race evolved into uneasy cooperation in the 1970s and 80s and then into an international effort in the 1990s and 2000s, corporate cooperation and a desire to explore will fuel the next phase of space exploration.

 

"When Charlie (Duke) flew in Apollo, industry was building his vehicles. There's not a whole lot new there. It appears new in different eras. There was a six year stand down between Apollo and the (Space) Shuttle. We're doing that again as we refresh our capabilities," Precourt, who was the first shuttle pilot to dock with space station Mir, said. "We're building on what we've known in the past to do one better. That's what we owe to ourselves. … It's in our spirit to do that."

 

Precourt should know, too.

 

He retired from NASA in 2005, but has gone on to become the vice president of the space launch division for ATK, a company whose five-stage solid rocket booster will help propel the United States' return to the heavens.

 

NASA continues to retool following the end of the Space Shuttle program and federal budget cuts have eliminated its presence on the AirVenture grounds. But a handful of businesses stepped in to fill the void in the new Innovations Pavilion located near Phillips 66 Square.

 

Boeing, Lockheed Martin, ATK, L3 Communications and United Launch Alliance showcased projects such as Boeing's CST-100 capsule and Space Launch System rockets, Lockheed Martin's Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle and ATK's five-stage solid rocket boosters.

 

Much like the Russians and Americans ended the space race and began to cooperate with joint Apollo-Soyuz missions, these companies find themselves competing and cooperating with each other.

 

Patricia Soloveichik, Space Exploration Communications for Boeing, said companies involved in space exploration and transportation have learned to work together as space programs evolve.

 

"We're competitors, subcontractors and primary contractors for each other," Soloveichik said. "It's just there's so much out there and everyone has their own expertise. It's in the best interest of NASA to have robust competition based on cost and expertise. Governments want to build up the industry and the competition."

 

Dustin Krohnfeldt, of United Launch Alliance, said the operator of the Delta IV and Atlas V rockets expects to launch one rocket a month for the foreseeable future. He said the company has remained flexible as it awaits word on which crew capsule NASA will select for its return to space and as private sector demands grow.

 

"We're trying to remain flexible to market demands, not put all of our eggs in one basket," Krohnfeldt said. "We feel we have launch capabilities for a variety of purposes."

 

Boeing Thermal Analysis Engineer Jayme Berstell said test flights and experiments involving the Space Launch System and Lockheed's Orion crew capsule will begin in 2017 and culminate with a manned flight orbiting the Moon in 2021. But he also said the Space Launch System will also help propel missions to asteroids and Mars, too.

 

"The space community is really behind all these projects," Berstell said. "We want to see the system survive so we give kids something to get interested in."

 

A visit to the Innovations Pavilion provides ample evidence that children are interested and that the companies recognize who to market towards.

 

A boy walks past the Delta IV and Atlas V rocket models on display at ULA's booth and identifies them both by name immediately.

 

Lockheed Martin has desktop models of the Orion capsule. ATK offers passersby coloring books and bumper stickers that say "Actually, I AM a rocket scientist."

 

And Boeing has interactive displays that take kids and adults alike through a rocket's components and through the challenges of living in and exploring space.

 

During Tuesday's forum, Precourt said kids and adults alike seem ready for the 'next big leap' in technology even while the dream of visiting asteroids or Mars has become much more of a reality.

 

"Tonight you can go out and try to find Mars in the sky, but imagine being on the surface (of Mars) and trying to find your home Earth in the sky. That is within reach. We're building the vehicles today to take us there," Precourt said. "We're going to be taking advantage of all the lessons of Apollo through space station today to start doing that kind of mission. Although it might seem as a fantasy in the recent past, it's within our grasp to start building those today."

 

Restored Star Trek ship Galileo arrives in Houston

 

Ramit Plushnick-Masti - Associated Press

 

 

When the smoke cleared and the music died down, Candy Torres could no longer contain herself. Looking at the shiny, restored Star Trek Galileo shuttlecraft sitting in Houston in all its TV glory, she broke down.

 

"All of a sudden I was just crying. I was in tears. I couldn't believe it," Torres said, donning a brown tourist engineer hat and a NASA mission operations shirt. "It meant something."

 

And Torres wasn't alone. Trekkies of all stripes arrived in Houston yesterday for the momentous unveiling of the shuttlecraft that crash-landed on a hostile planet in the 1967 Star Trek episode called The Galileo Seven. Some wore Scotty's Repair Shop T-shirts, others full-blown spandex outfits worn by Mr Spock and his peers in the famous TV show and movies that have garnered a following so large and so devoted it is almost cult-like.

 

Adam Schneider paid $US 61,000 ($67,000) for the battered shuttlecraft in an auction and spent about a year restoring the fibreglass ship and making it look as close as possible as it did on that episode. He flew in from New York to mark the unveiling at the Space Centre Houston, where it will be permanently displayed not far from NASA's Mission Control.

 

"Unbelievably proud," he said, beaming alongside the white shuttle. "Like sending your kid to college and having them get a job to build a successful life, because this was under our care for a year and we grew very attached.

 

Jeff Langston, 45, drove more than 260 miles from Austin with his two sons to see the moment. He and his 12-year-old son, Pearce, wore matching red Scotty's Repair Shop T-shirts. His 10-year-old son, Neo, couldn't find his shirt, but that didn't put a damper on the moment.

 

"It was very exciting," Neo said, bouncing on his feet. "When they filmed Star Trek the Galileo was cool and now that they remade it, it's cool to see a new version of the Galileo. And it's beautiful."

 

Richard Allen, the space centre's 63-year-old CEO and president, hopes that just as the Star Trek movies and others like it inspired Torres to pursue a career in science and engineering, that today's generation will be similarly inspired when they see the Galileo.

 

"It's fantastic," he said of the shuttlecraft. "We're all about exciting and educating ... and I'm convinced that space is one of the best, if not the best, way of creating inquiry in young minds."

 

Spaceflight in the age of Obama: Star Trek's Galileo shuttlecraft unveiled

 

Daniel Wattenberg - Washington Times

 

It may not fully make up for President Obama's gutting of America's manned spaceflight program, but for now it will have to do.

 

Star Trek's Galileo, the fiberglass shuttlecraft featured on the "The Galileo Seven" episode of the classic '60s sci-fi series, was officially unveiled Wednesday at the Space Center Houston, where it will remain on permanent display.

 

If nothing else, the Galileo development program proved far less costly than NASA's $9 billion next-generation space program, Constellation, which fell victim to Mr. Obama's budget ax in 2010.

 

The Galileo was purchased at auction for just $61,000 by Adam Schneider, who spent roughly a year, according to the Associated Press, restoring to its original glory the stellar prop vehicle, which is, to be brutally honest, a little boxy-looking, like an outer space minivan, or a failed prototype for a Dulles Airport people-mover.

 

Mr. Schneider flew in from flew in from New York — conventional, sub-orbital commercial air — for the unveiling, a colorful affair that drew "Trekkies of all stripes," reported the AP's Ramit Plushnick-Masti. "Some wore Scotty's Repair Shop T-shirts, others full-blown spandex outfits worn by Mr. Spock and his peers in the famous TV show and movies."

 

But the ersatz spacecraft also provided a kind of emotional release for space flight enthusiasts hungry for inspiration ever since the grounding of America's real-life space fleet upon the final Space Shuttle landing in 2011.

 

The Galileo is "fantastic," said Richard Allen, the CEO and president of Space Center Houston. "We're all about exciting and educating … and I'm convinced that space is one of the best, if not the best, way of creating inquiry in young minds."

 

Remember, the Obama administration won't last forever, and one day we will return to space. Until then — sigh — the only place we'll see an American spacecraft is in a museum.

 

'Star Trek's' Shuttlecraft Galileo Warps Into Space Center Houston

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

The first shuttlecraft from the original 1967 "Star Trek" television series has landed at a real-life space center for its final away mission.

 

Space Center Houston, the official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Texas, unveiled the newly-fan-restored Shuttlecraft Galileo on Wednesday during a science fiction celebrity-studded event that featured one of the original actors from the full-scale spacecraft's debut episode.

 

Actor Don Marshall, who portrayed Starfleet Lieutenant Boma "The Galileo Seven," helped launch the prop's public display.

 

"This is Galileo!" announced Marshall as the drape covering the shuttlecraft was pulled away.

 

Joining Marshall for the lights-and-fog-assisted reveal were actors Robert Picardo ("The Doctor" from "Star Trek: Voyager"), Sylvester McCoy (the seventh "Doctor" from "Doctor Who"), Tracy Scoggins ("Captain Elizabeth Lockley" from "Babylon 5") and Gil Gerard ("Captain William Buck Rogers" from "Buck Rogers in 25th Century"), among other sci-fi stars.

 

The shuttlecraft's eventual permanent exhibit in Space Center Houston's "Zero-G Diner" will highlight how science fiction has inspired real-life space explorers and workers.

 

"This is one of our ideas as to what a shuttle should be," NASA astronaut Mike Fincke told SPACE.com after the unveiling. "I had a chance to fly on a real space shuttle, so there is a connection. And it is an exciting connection because now it can be made by everyone."

 

"Come to Space Center Houston, be inspired and who knows what some of these kids who are going to be inspired what they are going to build in the future," said Fincke, who also had the chance to play an engineer in the final episode of the "Star Trek: Enterprise" TV series in 2005.

 

Saving the shuttlecraft

 

The "Galileo" was introduced to viewers in the 16th episode of "Star Trek." The show's producers initially couldn't afford to build the 23-foot-long by 8-foot-tall (7-by-2.4 meter) prop spacecraft. Instead, they relied on the cheaper "Beam us up, Scotty" transporter special effects to show how the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise came and went from the much larger starship.

 

In the Jan. 5, 1967 episode, the Galileo shuttlecraft was shown transporting Boma (Marshall), Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Science Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelly), among others, to the surface of the planet "Taurus II" on a mission that would leave the spacecraft in need of repair.

 

As it turned out, the Galileo suffered even more damage in the decades that followed its seven televised space adventures.

 

Though never fully dismantled, the steel, wood, and sheet-metal shuttlecraft, which was originally built by a car customizer, fell into disarray as it was passed for a half a century between hands — first to a school for the blind and then to several "Star Trek" collectors and would-be restorers.

 

It wasn't until June 2012 when 'Star Trek' superfan Adam Schneider bought the degraded prop through an online auction for $61,000 did the Galileo's fate begin to turn around.

 

Working with "Star Trek" blogger Alec Peters, Schneider and the team at Master Shipwrights in New Jersey used photos and tips from fans of the show to restore the shuttlecraft to its original screen appearance. The repairs, which took nine months under the guidance of craftsman Hans Mikatis, were completed in June when the Galileo was trucked from the Garden State to the Lone Star State for public display.

 

"If you had told us a year and a month ago that we would have been able to obtain this thing [and] that we'd be able to figure out how to fix it ... and that we'd be able to donate it to Space Center Houston, the home of America's manned space program, I would have said that's just fabulous," Schneider said.

 

Galileo Seven meets Faith 7

 

Now part of Space Center Houston's collection, the Galileo shuttlecraft will be displayed in the same building as some of NASA's most historic spacecraft.

 

"The addition of Galileo adds to the rich history of space exploration as it pays tribute to the way science fiction ignites our imaginations and has inspired generations of innovators," said Richard Allen, president and CEO of Space Center Houston. "Galileo will join the ranks of many other inspiring exhibits at Space Center Houston, including the recent space shuttle mockup addition and the biggest expansion in our history, the 747 Shuttle Carrier Project."

 

During the same visit to see Galileo, Space Center Houston guests can see the Apollo command module "America" that flew astronauts on the last mission to the moon, the two-man Gemini 5 spacecraft and "Faith 7," Gordon Cooper's Mercury capsule that 50 years ago this past May lifted off on NASA's last one-man mission.

 

But the Galileo is not Space Center Houston's first foray into exhibiting science fiction artifacts.

 

Previous temporary exhibits have included costumes and props from the "Star Wars" movies, including a full-size Starfighter vessel and an original prop lightsaber that was flown aboard the real-life space shuttle.

 

"As Galileo takes it place at Space Center Houston, it does so to capture the imagination and inspire the next generations," Allen said. "It will serve as a tool with which we can imagine endless possibilities."

 

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