Thursday, August 8, 2013

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



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: August 8, 2013 6:09:08 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - August 8, 2013 and JSC Today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Headlines

  1. Joint Leadership Team Web Poll

We are pretty hit or miss when it comes to meeting efficiency. Some are very well run, others are real snoozers. You should dedicate yourself to being a good meeting leader. It was "close, but no Wi-Fi" as our winner of the new phrases question. This week you get a chance to re-start your career. If you went back in time, would you choose again to work at JSC? Maybe work somewhere else? Let us know your choice in question one. I dream of being famous sometimes, or rich, or smart. I've given you five things you can be in question two, but being one of them means you also aren't any of the other four. Which "thing" would you choose to be, if it meant you couldn't be the others?

Scratch your Noggin on over to get this week's poll.

Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

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  1. OEOD Visit to White Sands Test Facility

The staff of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD) will be visiting White Sands Test Facility from Aug. 13 to 14. If employees or managers are interested in meeting with the OEOD staff to ask any questions or discuss any concerns, please call 281-483-0607 to request a confidential appointment.

Sherry Hatcher x39348 http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oeod/

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  1. JSC Remote Access VPN/R2S Upgrade Monday, Aug. 12

The JSC Remote Access Virtual Private Network (VPN) systems will be upgraded on Monday, Aug. 12, from 8 p.m. to midnight (CDT).

This outage will affect JSC VPN and JSC R2S.

During this activity, access to these network resources will be unavailable or intermittently down while the Information Resources Directorate performs upgrades to remove VPN NDC password login requirements, add a PIV (smartcard) authentication VPN option and replace the Juniper Network Connect client with Junos Pulse. White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) Remote Access systems can be used during this time as a backup at WSTF VPN and WSTF R2S.

For information on Remote Network Access VPN services and assistance:

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working diligently to improve your VPN experience.

For questions regarding outage/update activity, please contact Michael Patterson.

JSC-IRD-Outreach x41334

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  1. Have You Seen the Latest Greener Side Newsletter?

The July edition of The Greener Side is available. Find out about JSC and White Sands Test Facility's nationally recognized waste-disposal practices, how JSC employees helped clean up Texas waterways and more!

JSC Environmental Office x36207 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/bbs/scripts/files/367/GreenerSide%20v6n3.pdf

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   Organizations/Social

  1. 3, 2, 1 ... Luncheon! Dr. Ellen Ochoa on Aug. 21

Please join us for a JSC National Management Association (NMA) chapter luncheon featuring JSC Director and former astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa. She will discuss the "State of the Center--JSC 2.0." You won't want to miss this presentation on our future, as well as the lunch!

When: Wednesday, Aug. 21

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

    • Cost for members: $0
    • Cost for non-members: $20

There are three great menu options to choose from:

    • Bourbon-glazed salmon
    • Herb-seared chicken breast with tomato chive sauce
    • Vegetable lasagna

Desserts: New York cheesecake and carrot cake

Please RSVP by close of business Wednesday, Aug. 14, with your menu selection. You have a little less than a week to do so!

Event Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

Add to Calendar

Catherine Williams x33317 http://www.jscnma.com/Events

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  1. IT Heroes Showcase: Gesture-Based Interfaces

Evil can lurk around any corner in the form of crime, injustice, or ... Information Technology (IT) problems. NASA IT Labs is proud to announce our first of a series of presentations called the "IT Heroes Showcase." Projects funded by IT Labs will present their findings on a monthly basis. The first IT Hero Showcase is from JSC regarding "Development of a Gesture-Based Interface for the Office Using Microsoft Kinect."

We hope that this series will draw together the NASA IT community to form collaborations and improve advocacy for the projects at work at NASA. Come join our presentation in person, on internal IPTV resources or via UStream.

Left-hand frame > General Channels > Ch.402 JSC Events. If you have never used IPTV before, test beforehand to download the required two ActiveX controllers.

Event Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Building 15 / 267

Add to Calendar

Kevin Rosenquist 281-204-1688 https://labs.nasa.gov

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  1. Work/Life Balance

 

Have you ever found yourself thinking, Why did I volunteer for this activity? Do you say yes because you think no one else will do it? Do you over commit yourself or your family? If you think you or a loved one would answer yes, then you are probably impacted by work/life balance. Work/life balance is not about a "perfect" balance of work and home needs. We will be discussing the myths, realities and application involved in finding "your" balance. We will explore key areas that each person needs to examine for their person and/or family to best prioritize their time and energy. Please join Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, NCC, LCDC, CEAP, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program, for a self-evaluation and implementation of essential concepts of balance on Aug. 15 at 12:30 p.m. in Building 17, Room 2026.

ViTS (#97668) WebEx and telephone :

1-888-370-7263

Pass code 8811760#

Meeting number: 399 650 180

Meeting password: Balance8-15

Event Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013   Event Start Time:12:30 PM   Event End Time:1:30 PM
Event Location: Building 17, Room 2026

Add to Calendar

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130

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  1. Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Aug. 13

"How important is it?" reminds Al-Anon members stay cool during the dog days of summer. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who work or live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet Tuesday, Aug. 13, in Building 32, Room 146, from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Visitors are welcome.

Event Date: Tuesday, August 13, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:11:45 AM
Event Location: B. 32, Rm. 146

Add to Calendar

Lorraine Bennett x36130 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/EAP/Pages/default.aspx

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  1. Parent's Night Out at Starport - Aug. 23

Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport. We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, a movie, dessert and loads of fun!

When: Friday, Aug. 23, from 6 to 10 p.m.

Where: Gilruth Center

Ages: 5 to 12

Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/first child and $15/each additional sibling.

Register at the Gilruth Center front desk. Click here for more information.

Event Date: Friday, August 23, 2013   Event Start Time:6:00 PM   Event End Time:10:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Center

Add to Calendar

Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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  1. Women in Aviation Tour of Lone Star Museum

The Lone Star Flight (LSF) Museum is one of the top flying museums in the United States, and it is right here in our backyard on Galveston Island. The LSF Museum displays more than 40 historical significant aircraft, and six historical aircraft are available for flight experiences.

On Saturday, Aug. 17, at 10:30 a.m., we will receive a tour with behind-the-scenes privileges. In addition, attendees of the tour can purchase a flight experience for the museum member price.

RSVP for the tour via email by Aug. 13.

As for the rides, they are offering Women in Aviation (WIA) members the LSF Museum member price for rides (offer valid Aug. 17 only), which are as follows:

    • B-17: $375
    • B-25: $325
    • PT-17: $200
    • AT-6: $250

To book a flight or check on availability, please have folks contact Susan Orr.

Event Date: Saturday, August 17, 2013   Event Start Time:10:30 AM   Event End Time:12:00 PM
Event Location: 2002 Terminal Dr. Galveston, TX 77554

Add to Calendar

Shawna Brownhill 281-407-4AIR (4247) http://www.wai-spacecity.org

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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles.

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

 

 

 

 

NASA TV:

  • 5 am Central FRIDAY (6 EDT) – "Kounotori" (HTV4) rendezvous/grapple coverage
  • ~6:29 am Central FRIDAY (7:29 EDT) GRAPPLE
  • 8 am Central FRIDAY (9 EDT) – HTV4 berthing coverage
  • ~8:30 am Central FRIDAY (9:30 EDT) –  a.m. – HTV4 berthing to Harmony nadir port

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – August 8, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

NASA's Deputy Administrator Is Leaving Agency

 

Kenneth Chang – New York Times

 

As lawmakers in Washington continue to wrangle over NASA's financing and expeditions, a top administrator at the agency who played a large role in drafting the Obama administration's controversial space policies is bowing out. Lori B. Garver, NASA's deputy administrator for the past four years, will leave next month to take the top staff position at the Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 50,000 pilots in the United States and Canada. "It's time to take on new challenges," Ms. Garver said in an interview on Tuesday. "I feel like I've accomplished so many of the objectives I set out to do here." Ms. Garver, 52, who works at NASA headquarters in Washington, was often the public face — and lightning rod for criticism — of the Obama administration's efforts to push NASA in new directions.

 

Exit Interview

A brief conversation with outgoing NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver

 

Brian Berger - Space News

 

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver on Sept. 6 will take leave of the agency she's helped run since July 2009. On Sept. 9 she's due to start a new job: general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association, a labor union representing more than 50,000 commercial pilots in the United States and Canada. In an Aug. 5 email to colleagues, Garver said the career change comes as she and her husband David Brandt, manager of Lockheed Martin's Space Experience Center in Arlington, Va., prepare to send their second of two sons off to college. Garver spoke with SpaceNews Deputy Editor Brian Berger by telephone Aug. 6, the day NASA announced her departure. The transcript below has been edited for length and readability…

 

Space station poised to launch open-source satellites

 

Lisa Grossman - New Scientist

 

Want to do your own space experiment? From next week, you will be able to run science projects on the world's first open-source satellites. And it won't break the bank. ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 August aboard a Japanese resupply vehicle (which is also carrying fresh food, supplies and a talking humanoid robot). Known as CubeSats, each mini satellite packs an array of devices – including cameras, spectrometers and a Geiger counter – into a cube just 10 centimetres to a side. The cargo ship carrying the CubeSats should arrive at the ISS on 9 August, and the satellites will then be deployed using a robotic-arm technique tested last year.

 

Former Kennedy Space Center shuttle hangars soon back in business

Space Florida will renovate facilities; future tenant unnamed

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

Space Florida on Wednesday advanced plans to renovate two former shuttle hangars that might eventually house a secretive military space plane program. The agency's board approved spending up to $4 million more to overhaul Orbiter Processing Facilities 1 and 2 at Kennedy Space Center, on top of $5 million committed last year from funds provided by the state Department of Transportation. As before, the future tenant was not identified, but is believed to be the Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a reusable unmanned system that resembles a small space shuttle. Previously, the Air Force has confirmed it is studying consolidation of X-37B operations at Kennedy or the Cape to save money.

 

Why one of NASA's twin astronauts is younger than the other

 

Elizabeth Barber - Christian Science Monitor

 

Beginning in March 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will spend one year at the International Space Station. His twin brother, a former astronaut, will spend that time at home in Arizona. So, at the twin's request, NASA plans to use the opportunity to measure the effects of space flight on Scott's body, using his twin's earthbound body as a baseline for assessments. Last month, the organization opened a public call for research proposals under the topic "Differential Effects on Homozygous Twin Astronauts Associated with Differences in Exposure to Spaceflight Factors." NASA's experiment – more public relations than ground-breaking science, as Scott has already logged significantly more time in space than Mark and, technically, the two could already be test subjects without one of them going back to space – will likely show that Scott is biologically "older" than Mark, given the toll that spaceflight is believed to take on astronaut's bodies. But even if space travel has made Scott biologically older than Mark, it has also make him in a different sense younger – thanks to special relativity.

 

Staying fit improves long-term health, delays chronic illness

 

Dr. Manoj Jain - The Tennessean

 

I know "Suni," as we call her, from Needham High School in the suburbs of Boston. We were neighbors; our parents played bridge, and our mothers exchanged recipes. While Suni was not actively e-mailing on this account, what I learned from The Week magazine was that she was running the Malabo triathlon 240 miles above Southern California. It's not easy to swim, bike and run in space. Well, it can be if you cheat and take advantage of the antigravity. But Suni used equipment to take part and simulate the triathlon.

 

Retired Astronaut David Wolf: Being in space 'so extreme' it's nearly indescribable

 

Ryan Buxton - Huffington Post

 

As a retired NASA astronaut who spent nearly five months aboard a Russian space station, David Wolf is one of the few people on the planet who know what it's like to leave it. Wolf has done seven space walks and gotten the full space experience. The first thing people often wonder about when they think of visiting space is existing in zero gravity. As Zepps pointed out, zero gravity actually means an astronaut is in free fall around the side of Earth. "In a sense, zero gravity is as though you stepped off a building and just fell forever, but your mind quickly adapts to that and you do not feel like you're continuously falling," Wolf said.

 

CBS to air series about female astronaut next summer

 

Associated Press

 

After its success with "Under the Dome" this summer, CBS is ordering another high-concept thriller for next summer. The network said Wednesday it has ordered a 13-episode series called "Extant." The serialized drama is about a female astronaut trying to reconnect with her family when she returns from a year in outer space. Her experiences lead to events that change the course of history. "Extant" is being made in partnership with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television, which made "Under the Dome." That series has been the most-watched show most weeks this summer and has increased the appetite of broadcast networks to air more limited series and more original fare in the summer. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

NASA's Deputy Administrator Is Leaving Agency

 

Kenneth Chang – New York Times

 

As lawmakers in Washington continue to wrangle over NASA's financing and expeditions, a top administrator at the agency who played a large role in drafting the Obama administration's controversial space policies is bowing out.

 

Lori B. Garver, NASA's deputy administrator for the past four years, will leave next month to take the top staff position at the Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 50,000 pilots in the United States and Canada.

 

"It's time to take on new challenges," Ms. Garver said in an interview on Tuesday. "I feel like I've accomplished so many of the objectives I set out to do here."

 

Ms. Garver, 52, who works at NASA headquarters in Washington, was often the public face — and lightning rod for criticism — of the Obama administration's efforts to push NASA in new directions. The White House wanted to cancel the program started under President George W. Bush to send astronauts back to the moon, and scale back the agency's role in designing rockets and spacecraft.

 

Ms. Garver, who previously worked both inside and outside of NASA, served as an adviser to Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. She switched to Mr. Obama's team after he won the nomination, and following the election she played a central role on the transition team for shaping NASA policy. In July 2009, the Senate confirmed Ms. Garver's appointment as NASA deputy administrator.

 

"She has been an indispensable partner in our efforts to keep NASA on a trajectory of progress and innovation," the NASA administrator, Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., wrote in an e-mail to NASA employees. "In a time of great change and challenge, she has been a remarkable leader who has consistently shown great vision and commitment to NASA and the aerospace industry."

 

Ms. Garver advocated a greater for role for "New Space" — the involvement of entrepreneurial companies, which many space advocates say they believe are more nimble and efficient than aerospace titans like Boeing and Lockheed Martin that NASA has traditionally relied on.

 

"The main goal was really to align NASA in a way that allowed them to be more sustainable and innovative in the 21st century," she said.

 

However, some of the proposals received a cool, sometimes hostile, reception in Washington. Members of Congress in both parties complained that the plans often did not seem fully thought out, and that the administration did a poor job of explaining — to the agency, lawmakers, contractors and the general public — NASA's new mission.

 

In its 2011 budget proposal, the Obama administration sought to cancel the moon program and take a five-year hiatus on any development of rockets or spacecraft capable of taking astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to more distant destinations like the moon, asteroids or Mars. Ms. Garver and other NASA officials argued that devoting the rocket money to more fundamental space technologies would actually speed future human exploration of the solar system.

 

Both Democrats and Republicans were unconvinced and directed NASA to build a huge new rocket, now known as the Space Launch System, and a capsule, known as Orion, where astronauts would live during their excursions into deep space. The first flight with humans is scheduled for 2021, but so far, no consensus has emerged on where the new spacecraft should take NASA astronauts.

 

"One of the legacies has been the decline and deterioration of relationships between the White House and Congress over the direction of space policy," said Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University and a space adviser to the 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. "She was part of it. I don't put sole blame on her. She was one of the more visible faces of that."

 

However, the administration did achieve several of its other goals, including turning to the private sector to provide transportation for astronauts going to and from the International Space Station. In the past, NASA designed and operated its spacecraft like the space shuttle, and it was a major cultural change within the agency to rely more on outsiders.

 

"It was critical to reduce the cost of getting to and from space," Ms. Garver said. The effort, known as commercial crew, has NASA financing attempts by three commercial companies — Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation and Sierra Nevada Corporation — and she said it is "clearly a goal that is now well, well established on its way."

 

Officials also persuaded Congress to provide money for next-generation technologies like new propulsion systems and in-space fueling stations for spacecraft.

 

"I am not embarrassed at all by compromise," Ms. Garver said. "That is something that this country can probably do a little more of these days."

 

During the past few months, Ms. Garver has been advocating a proposal to capture a small asteroid and bring it into orbit around the moon for exploration by astronauts. NASA officials say the effort would have possible important side effects, like advancing ways to find asteroids with the potential to collide with Earth. They also say the robotic spacecraft that would capture the asteroid would demonstrate propulsion and solar cell technology that could later be deployed for a human mission to Mars, and the asteroid would provide an interesting destination for the astronauts on the first Space Launch System mission in 2021.

 

That proposal, too, has been met skeptically, with Republicans in the House of Representatives disliking it so much that they are seeking to explicitly prohibit NASA from pursuing it. They instead would like to revive the moon as the next destination for NASA astronauts.

 

Ms. Garver expressed some frustration that some in Congress want NASA to build the new rocket, but are not willing to let the space agency figure out how best to use it. "It is disappointing where there is just an unwillingness to look at things on their merit," she said. "We have put together a mission concept that really does take advantage of the very vehicle that Congress has funded for us to build."

 

Exit Interview

A brief conversation with outgoing NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver

 

Brian Berger - Space News

 

NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver on Sept. 6 will take leave of the agency she's helped run since July 2009. On Sept. 9 she's due to start a new job: general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association, a labor union representing more than 50,000 commercial pilots in the United States and Canada.

 

In an Aug. 5 email to colleagues, Garver said the career change comes as she and her husband David Brandt, manager of Lockheed Martin's Space Experience Center in Arlington, Va., prepare to send their second of two sons off to college. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, in message sent to the agency's 18,000 employees the next day, said that while he is "sorry to be losing such a talented and passionate co-pilot, I am happy that Lori is continuing to pursue her dreams and make her mark in the aerospace industry."

 

Garver spoke with Space News Deputy Editor Brian Berger by telephone Aug. 6, the day NASA announced her departure. The transcript below has been edited for length and readability. 

 

A lot of people are asking "Why now?" Is NASA in for some even worse budget news? Are you just fed up with how hard it can be to get things done?

 

I actually do feel like so much of what I set out to do is being accomplished. And while there's never a good time to leave and it was a tough decision, I've got this new opportunity that came at a time when Dave and I really wanted to consider it. It is something that I am excited about doing. I've been at NASA a long time. You yourself pointed out [I'm] the fourth longest-serving NASA deputy administrator. These jobs do tend to take their toll and I just couldn't imagine being able to  accomplish so much of what we set out to do four years ago.

 

For me, personally, it started longer ago than that. May of 2007 was my first space policy event with Hillary [Clinton] and during that time and going on to work with Obama and then lead the transition team, all well before being confirmed her, that's well over four years ago. It's been a good, rewarding run and I'm absolutely proud of where we are today. I think it's time for me to take on new challenges.

 

Who will carry the commercial space mantle at NASA after you are gone?

 

I think the administration, Charlie and the leadership here. This is a concept that is not new to anyone. It's supported and absolutely instilled in a way that it's not going to be turned back.

 

How much time did you spend on Capitol Hill as deputy?

 

I have never spent a lot of time on the Hill. Charlie really has taken the lead with all of that and working our [congressional oversight] committees. I made a special effort to see freshmen lawmakers both times during new Congresses to see what I could just to get that base of understanding and, hopefully, support for the agency. We're a unique organization. The more you hear about what we are doing the more you support us. So when I could I would do that. But that was really something that Charlie very much wanted to take the lead on.

 

Are you done with government service?

 

Oh, I don't have any plans at this time to come back.

 

So this isn't just farewell, it's goodbye to the space community?

 

Well, I've been in the space community for 30 years and, as I've been telling people,  I will of course stay in it, who knows in what way. But we know one way. My husband works in it and I plan on being his plus-one at many events and being able to sit in the back and kvetch along with everyone else.

 

Do you have advice for your successor at NASA, assuming President Obama appoints one?

 

I've really always been the kind of person that when I am in a job, I'm going to work at it very hard and take advice. I might give advice privately. [Former NASA Deputy Administrator] Shana Dale gave me a lot of very good private advice. But I don't intend to speculate on the sides. Another role model along those lines is [former NASA Administrator] Dan Goldin when he left. He keeps his views on his successors private, too. But I do believe it is an unbelievably great job and that there's going to be a lot of great qualified people to do it. I look forward to watching NASA from the sidelines.

 

Goldin never had a deputy. Do you think President Obama will appoint someone to replace you?

 

You asked about the timing. It does involve being able to leave at a time when there really can be a successful second deputy in the Obama administration. There's every indication that will happen.

 

Why the Air Line Pilots Association?

 

There's just so many interesting things about the organization and this position. One of my proudest accomplishments as deputy was being able to work these past four years with the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers — the union that represents about 8,000 NASA employees. I led the labor-management forum with them. They put out a statement today on my departure. It's been an aspect of this job I unexpectedly grew to appreciate.

 

But going to a union is a natural thing for me. Aeronautics is one of those absolutely key areas for this nation. It helps deliver a positive balance of trade. It helps drive innovation. Transportation and aviation are something that this nation counts on and that we lead the world in, not unlike NASA.

 

So I really am looking forward to helping them support their membership and making sure the country and Canada — they represent both U.S. and Canadian pilots — are really well supported and that the country recognizes the value that aviation, and commercial aviation specifically, gives to the public.

 

I just got an email from SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk saying, "Lori made a real difference to the future of spaceflight. Most people put their career first, so they play politics and pander to the vested interests. But there are some who truly care about humanity's future in space and will do the right thing in the face of immense opposition. We are fortunate to have several such people in NASA senior leadership and Lori was one of them." What's your reaction to such praise?

 

It's humbling. I do hope that people recognize that I truly do care about those things I championed. It's true that it's not always popular, it doesn't make you popular, but it's something that's worth doing. I've never shied away from stepping up and being able to defend those things that the administration and NASA set out to do. So I am really proud of it. I thank him. I had not heard that before.

 

Someone else told me today that Lori is credited or blamed, depending on your point of view, for just about everything that's happened at NASA since 2009. There's definitely been some blame directed your way. I'm thinking in particular about Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who is on the record saying he would personally block your nomination if the Obama administration tried to make you NASA administrator. Did being a lightning rod for criticism of NASA's direction under Obama take its toll?

 

I'd say I don't deserve all the credit or all the blame. As with all these things, probably some of each. I really didn't let statements like Vitter's get to me. It is in some ways theater in Washington. Certainly hearings are. We recognize that. I know that as a representative of the administration some of this just comes with the territory. The president told us on many occasions, a very broad group of political appointees, 'We didn't ask you to do this to lay down. We didn't ask you to do this to be popular. We asked you to do this because it's important.' For me, because I so intensely believe we are on the right path, those kinds of criticisms did not get to me.

 

Will you be a lobbyist in your new job?

 

The elected leadership are the public face and the interface with the Hill. We have a 300-person staff. There are offices both in Herndon, Va. and D.C. My base will be in Herndon.

 

That will be an easier commute from McLean.

 

It's all becoming clear to you now. I will be working with the leadership on some policy issues where I can help, but it really is more of a classical general management type of position. That's an aspect of the job here at NASA that I really did love.

 

Space station poised to launch open-source satellites

 

Lisa Grossman - New Scientist

 

Want to do your own space experiment? From next week, you will be able to run science projects on the world's first open-source satellites. And it won't break the bank.

 

ArduSat-1 and ArduSat-X were launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 August aboard a Japanese resupply vehicle (which is also carrying fresh food, supplies and a talking humanoid robot).

 

Known as CubeSats, each mini satellite packs an array of devices – including cameras, spectrometers and a Geiger counter – into a cube just 10 centimetres to a side.

 

The cargo ship carrying the CubeSats should arrive at the ISS on 9 August, and the satellites will then be deployed using a robotic-arm technique tested last year. The method can put several small satellites into orbit around Earth, eliminating the need for dedicated launch vehicles and making citizen-science missions like ArduSat more affordable.

 

"No one has given people access to satellites in the same way that we're doing with ArduSat," says Chris Wake of NanoSatisfi, the San Francisco company that builds and operates the satellites.

 

Affordable astro

The maiden launch was partially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, with backers buying some of the satellites' time slots to run experiments. If there are enough extra time slots, paying customers will also be able to program controls on the satellites and run experiments for three days for $125, or for a week for $250.

 

The satellites run Arduino, an open-source platform popular with hobbyists, which will let anyone write code for an app, game or research project that uses the on-board instruments. Projects that will run on the first two Ardusats are yet to be announced, but a list of ideas from the developers includes tracking meteorites and making a 3D model of Earth's magnetosphere.

 

Sara Seager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is not on the Ardusat team, but her students design and build CubeSats for planetary science. "This definitely is helping open up space both to all people and all nations," Seager says of the Ardusat launch.

 

The first two satellites will orbit for three to seven months before burning up as they fall to Earth. NanoSatisfi hopes to send fleets of them into space on future launches. "We're focused on launching a number of these over the next few years," says Wake. "Five years out, we'd love to see 100, 150 of these up in the air, reaching half a million students."

 

Former Kennedy Space Center shuttle hangars soon back in business

Space Florida will renovate facilities; future tenant unnamed

 

James Dean - Florida Today

 

Space Florida on Wednesday advanced plans to renovate two former shuttle hangars that might eventually house a secretive military space plane program.

 

The agency's board approved spending up to $4 million more to overhaul Orbiter Processing Facilities 1 and 2 at Kennedy Space Center, on top of $5 million committed last year from funds provided by the state Department of Transportation.

 

As before, the future tenant was not identified, but is believed to be the Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, a reusable unmanned system that resembles a small space shuttle. Previously, the Air Force has confirmed it is studying consolidation of X-37B operations at Kennedy or the Cape to save money.

 

Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello said a customer is lined up to use the hangars that NASA no longer needs.

 

"This is a project which involves the relocation of personnel and equipment from another state to Florida to conduct operations that are in support of Department of Defense activities," he said. "This is activity which really represents next-generation systems work."

 

DiBello indicated the project, known as Coyote, could also make use of Kennedy's former shuttle runway.

 

That would support speculation about a space plane that could not only be processed and launched here but return for landing.

 

The first two X-37B missions landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A third flight, reusing a previously flown vehicle, launched from Cape Canaveral last December and remains in orbit.

 

An Air Force spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions Wednesday.

 

The spacecraft are built by The Boeing Co., which under a separate deal plans to lease a third shuttle hangar from the state for assembly of the CST-100 crew capsule, which is being developed to fly NASA and private astronauts.

 

Space Florida said it recently began the first phase of renovations to the other two hangars, a process that will include demolition of shuttle-specific infrastructure like access platforms.

 

The second phase, for which funding was approved Wednesday, would modernize the facilities for the new tenant to use for "spacecraft assembly, refurbishment and testing," according to a meeting agenda.

 

The new tenant will match half the refurbishment project's cost.

 

In other business Wednesday, the board approved accepting state appropriations totaling $19.5 million for the budget year that began in July.

 

Those include $10 million for operations and another $7 million to help finance new business initiatives that could attract jobs.

 

Why one of NASA's twin astronauts is younger than the other

NASA will conduct an experiment using its twin astronauts to assess the effects of space travel on humans. Here's why one of the twins is older than the other

 

Elizabeth Barber - Christian Science Monitor

 

Beginning in March 2015, NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will spend one year at the International Space Station. His twin brother, a former astronaut, will spend that time at home in Arizona.

 

So, at the twin's request, NASA plans to use the opportunity to measure the effects of space flight on Scott's body, using his twin's earthbound body as a baseline for assessments. Last month, the organization opened a public call for research proposals under the topic "Differential Effects on Homozygous Twin Astronauts Associated with Differences in Exposure to Spaceflight Factors."

 

NASA's experiment – more public relations than ground-breaking science, as Scott has already logged significantly more time in space than Mark and, technically, the two could already be test subjects without one of them going back to space – will likely show that Scott is biologically "older" than Mark, given the toll that spaceflight is believed to take on astronaut's bodies.

 

But even if space travel has made Scott biologically older than Mark, it has also make him in a different sense younger – thanks to special relativity.

 

In 1911, the French physicist Paul Langevin put forward a thought experiment: What if one twin flies away from Earth at 99.99 percent of the speed of light? When the twin returns two years later, he expects that his twin, like himself, is two years older. But his twin isn't there anymore – in the traveler's absence, 200 years have passed on Earth, and his Earth-bound twin is long dead.

 

Langevin called it a paradox, but in fact it's not so paradoxical.

 

In 1905, Albert Einstein upended the notion that time is fixed and absolute. According to his Special Theory of Relatively, time is relative. It's the speed of light that's fixed.

 

To unpack that, suppose you are on a train going 100 miles per hour, and then another train passes on the adjacent track at 101 miles per hour. To you, the adjacent train looks as if it's going at just one mile per hour, and it's possible to lean out your window and hand a cup of tea to a passenger on another train. That's classical relatively, as Galileo first described it (minus the train and the tea) in 1632.

 

But with light, it's different – now we're dealing with special relativity. No matter how fast you go, or don't go, the speed of light does not change: Experiments have repeatedly demonstrated that light always travels at 299,792,458 meters per second in a vacuum, no matter what. Even if the light is emanating from a flashlight that's moving a million miles an hour (relative to you) it appears to you to be moving at the same speed as the light from a stationary flashlight.

 

Think of it this way: Suppose an editor sitting next to you tossed a tennis ball five meters in the air and caught it one second later. You would both observe the ball moving in a straight line, at an average velocity of five meters per second.

 

So far, so good, right? Now, let's suppose that, instead of standing still, you're rolling past your editor in an office chair at five meters per second. From your perspective, the ball would not travel straight up and down. Instead, as you cruise by, you would see the ball describing a isosceles triangle. So, to you, the point where your editor tosses the ball is five meters away from the point where he catches it. That means that the tennis ball is traveling a greater distance in one second. (Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we can calculate that you would perceive it traveling at just over 7 meters per second, relative to you.)

 

But light is different from tennis balls. It moves at the same speed regardless of how fast you're moving. So now, let's say that, instead of tossing a tennis ball, your editor is pointing a laser pointer upward and bouncing the beam off of a distant mirror, where it returns exactly one second later (in reality, this mirror would be about 93,000 miles away, but whatever).

 

Your editor perceives the light from the laser as traveling in a straight line at the speed of light. And, unlike with the tennis ball, as you roll past your editor you also perceive the light moving at exactly the same speed.

 

Except that, from your perspective, the light is moving not in a straight line. It's moving in a triangle. The light is traveling a greater distance. But, unlike with the tennis ball, you don't perceive it as moving faster. Distance equals velocity times time. The distance increases. The velocity is fixed. Therefore, time must increase.

 

In other words, because you're moving relative to your editor, a second lasts longer for you than it does for him. Time, as Einstein demonstrated, is relative.

 

Which means that age is relative, too.

 

So when Scott comes back to Earth in March 2016, he will have spent over his career a total of 540 days in low Earth orbit. Mark will have logged 54 days there.

 

And if we assume – alright, improbably – that Scott and Mark were born at exactly the same time, and if we rule out all other factors (including gravity, which also slows time) that means that Scott is younger than his twin, having spent more time in a fast-moving space station in which time slows down.

 

How much younger? By our calculations, those 486 additional days that Scott spent moving at about 17,0000 miles per hour slowed his aging by about two one hundredths of a second compared to his twin.

 

"No regrets growing older. It's better than the alternative. #Thanks for all the birthday wishes (and the cupcakes!)," tweeted Scott, 49, in February. No reason to have regrets, Scott: you're younger than your birth certificate says.

 

The deadline for twin-experiment research proposals is 5 p.m. EDT Sept. 17.

-----

 

Using a tennis ball, a bike light, an office chair, and some math, Online News Editor Eoin O'Carroll contributed to this report.

 

Staying fit improves long-term health, delays chronic illness

 

Dr. Manoj Jain - The Tennessean

 

Some months ago, when I sent an e-mail to NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, I got this response:

 

"I am out of the office aboard the International Space Station for the next few months. I will not have access to this account until after I land. Therefore, I will not be responding to any email sent to this account.

 

Thanks, S."

 

I know "Suni," as we call her, from Needham High School in the suburbs of Boston. We were neighbors; our parents played bridge, and our mothers exchanged recipes.

 

While Suni was not actively e-mailing on this account, what I learned from The Week magazine was that she was running the Malabo triathlon 240 miles above Southern California.

 

It's not easy to swim, bike and run in space. Well, it can be if you cheat and take advantage of the antigravity. But Suni used equipment to take part and simulate the triathlon. The magazine reported: "For the half-mile 'swimming' portion, Williams strapped into something called the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED), which uses weights to imitate water resistance while swimming through anti-gravity. For the 18-mile biking portion, she used a stationary bike, and for the 4-mile run, she used a specially outfitted treadmill that strapped her in to keep her from floating off."

 

After 1 hour, 48 minutes and 33 seconds, a pretty good time, she just had to say what we would say: "I am happy to be done." This wasn't her first big space exercise accomplishment. She also did the Boston Marathon from orbit in 2007 in a respectable time of 4:23:10.

 

What is encouraging is that half of Americans exercise regularly three times or more per week. Yet when we compare by age, 7 percent fewer middle-age Americans (ages 45 to 64) exercise compared to younger Americans (ages 18 to 29).

 

A recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that being fit or becoming fit in the middle of life adds years to your life as well as delays chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

 

The study analyzed medical records of nearly 19,000 healthy people in Dallas, Texas, in the 1970s with an average age of 49. These patients received a treadmill test to rate their level of fitness. Medical records were analyzed again 30 years later.

 

The study found that both fit and unfit individuals, while in middle age, developed the same illnesses over time; yet the fit people had a delay of the chronic illness by 10 to 20 years. In essence, exercising compresses the years of chronic illness, and significantly improves quality of life in the early elderly retirement years.

 

Even a slight increase in exercise, 20 to 30 minutes of walking on most days, which shifts people from the least fit to more fit, was sufficient to improve long-term health outcomes.

 

For me and millions of other middle-age folks on Earth, Suni, who is 47 years old, is an inspiration. While I find it difficult to spare 30 minutes three times a week to swim, Suni has found time to prepare for and run the triathlon while in space. Maybe it's pretty boring up there, but more likely, it is her commitment.

 

So as you sit at the dinner table for a family meal, or on the couch to watch a baseball game or in the car to go to the grocery store, think about Sunita Williams in space. We can be doing something else: exercising our weight down, living longer and delaying chronic illness.

 

Retired Astronaut David Wolf: Being in space 'so extreme' it's nearly indescribable

 

Ryan Buxton - Huffington Post

 

As a retired NASA astronaut who spent nearly five months aboard a Russian space station, David Wolf is one of the few people on the planet who know what it's like to leave it.

 

Wolf has done seven space walks and gotten the full space experience. He shared the unique physical sensations of leaving Earth with HuffPost Live's Josh Zepps.

 

The first thing people often wonder about when they think of visiting space is existing in zero gravity. As Zepps pointed out, zero gravity actually means an astronaut is in free fall around the side of Earth.

 

"In a sense, zero gravity is as though you stepped off a building and just fell forever, but your mind quickly adapts to that and you do not feel like you're continuously falling," Wolf said. "You can put your mind in a frame of reference where you do feel like you're falling, and it's kind of a psychological trick, and it can be kind of alarming and you want you pull yourself out of it."

 

Eventually, zero gravity actually felt comfortable.

 

"You feel very natural in the absence of gravity. You can fly," Wolf said.

 

Wolf's body felt better as he spent more and more time in space and his body adjusted to the circumstances, he said, but he also experienced an "isolation element" and craved contact with Earth.

 

"For example, movies. I felt like I was in them. They were like a contact with Earth rather than just crackling voices over a radio," he said.

 

Wolf recounted one of his space walks, a "night pass," that allowed him to push himself away from the spacecraft, orient himself toward the endless darkness and "be essentially one with the universe, absorbing it without the vehicle in sight."

 

"There are amazing views and feelings in space that are so extreme that they're hard to even communicate, which is part of the frustration of a space veteran," he said.

 

END

 

 

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