Fwd: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - September 11, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: September 11, 2013 6:11:41 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - September 11, 2013 and JSC Today

Good morning all on this 12^th anniversary of 9/11.  

 

A special day to honor our brave men and women in uniform across the world keeping us safe and to remember those who have given their lives to protect us.  This includes our brave men and women on US soil, including our police and firefighters!  

 

Let's all pray for their continued safety as they courageously protect us.

 

 

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Be Part of Exp. 37/38 Crew Well Wishes Recording -  New NASA@work Challenge: Urine Volume in Space Organizations/Social -  AAERG Coach's Corner - Kirk Shireman -  SWEet Frozen Yogurt Tomorrow -  JSC Holiday Bazaar: Now Taking Vendor Applications -  Starport Jewelry Fair Community -  Outreach Presentations Needed -  MUREP Webinar Info Session

Expedition 36 Soyuz Landing

 

Headlines Be Part of Exp. 37/38 Crew Well Wishes Recording Mike Hopkins and his Expedition 37/38 crew are getting ready for launch on Sept. 25, and we need the JSC community's help! Join us tomorrow, Sept. 12, from 9 to 10 a.m. in front of Building 12 (the side facing the mall), to record your personal/group messages and take photos to inspire the crew. These messages will be sent directly to the crew and may be used on public NASA sites to help bolster mission support. Event Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:10:00 AM Event Location: B12 mall side Add to Calendar Cynthia Rando x41815 [top] New NASA@work Challenge: Urine Volume in Space New challenge on NASA@work: Determining Urine Volume in Microgravity (deadline: Oct. 18). Check it out and submit your solution today! 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 [top]    Organizations/Social AAERG Coach's Corner - Kirk Shireman The African-American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) is proud to present the second in a series of Coach's Corner speaking events tomorrow, Sept. 12, from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 1, Room 966. During this event, we will hear from Deputy Center Director Kirk Shireman on a variety of topics. Please register in SATERN for this offering. Contact either Orlando Horton (x46584) or Kai Harris (x40694) regarding any questions. Event Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 1, Room 966 Add to Calendar Orlando Horton x46584 [top] SWEet Frozen Yogurt Tomorrow Free frozen yogurt, networking, outreach and leadership opportunities ... and did we mention free frozen yogurt? Come join the Texas Space Center section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) for our first meeting of the year. Learn about our exciting plans for the upcoming year and how you can get involved. Whether you are looking to network or develop transferable job and life skills, we offer options to get involved. Everyone will receive 10 percent off their purchase at Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt, and paid SWE members can enter a drawing to get their frozen yogurt free! Event Date: Thursday, September 12, 2013   Event Start Time:5:30 PM   Event End Time:6:30 PM Event Location: Tutti Frutti Frozen Yogurt (18015 Saturn Lane, Hou Add to Calendar Katie Collier x49002 http://www.swe.org/swe/regionc/sections/c008/ [top] JSC Holiday Bazaar: Now Taking Vendor Applications The Starport JSC Holiday Bazaar at the Gilruth Center will be Nov. 9, and we are now taking applications for vendors. If you have special arts and crafts, jewelry, candles, holiday décor, baked goods, etc., that would be a great addition to our event, submit your application by Sept. 27 for consideration. The application and more information can be found on our website. Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Starport Jewelry Fair Masquerade Jewelry will be out on Sept. 24 to showcase $5 jewelry! Stop by Building 3 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and experience the frenzy of $5 jewelry and accessories. Details here. Event Date: Tuesday, September 24, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:3:00 PM Event Location: B3 Add to Calendar Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top]    Community Outreach Presentations Needed Calling all employees! Have you done educational outreach for elementary or middle school students? Do you have templates or presentations for speakers reaching young audiences? We need your help! The External Relations Office, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, is putting together an educational package that highlights projects within the JSC community and is looking for submissions. If you have a presentation you would be willing to share with the center, please send it to Kacey Templin. It may be featured on the Volunteers for Community OutReach Programs website for other employees to use to spread NASA and JSC messages to the next generation. Kacey Templin x34251 [top] MUREP Webinar Info Session University students and professors are invited to attend a webinar info session to learn about exciting internship, scholarship and fellowship opportunities available through the Johnson Space Center Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP). In this session, students and faculty will learn how to apply for NASA MUREP opportunities and gain insight into the range of opportunities available. RSVP today! There are four session dates available. Please email with the date you would like to attend, along with your name and university, and we'll forward you the necessary information. Session Dates: Sept. 12 at noon CDT Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. CDT Sept. 26 at noon CDT Oct. 1 at 4 p.m. CDT Thank you, NASA JSC MUREP Suzanne Foxworth x37185 http://www.nasa.gov/education/murep [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.

 

 

 

 

NASA TV:

·         11 am Central (Noon EDT) – File of Soyuz TMA-08M Landing and Post-Landing Activities

·         2:30 pm Central (3:30 EDT) – AIAA Discussion - Asteroid Redirect Mission (via Livestream)

 

Human Spaceflight News

Wednesday – September 11, 2013

 

Exp 36 is home safely following the 9:58 pm Central "soft" landing of its Soyuz (Photo: NASA's Bill Ingalls)

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan; crew in good shape

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

Closing out a 166-day stay in orbit, two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut strapped into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Tuesday, undocked from the International Space Station and fell back to Earth, settling to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan. Suspended below a large red and white-striped parachute, the Soyuz TMA-08M descent module completed the final stages of the flight within easy view of Russian recovery forces and long-range tracking cameras, setting down at 10:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 8:58 a.m. Wednesday local time) and rolling over on its side. Recovery crews and flight surgeons quickly rushed to the scorched module to help commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and NASA SEAL-turned-astronaut Christopher Cassidy out of the cramped spacecraft, carrying them to nearby recliners.

 

Soyuz capsule returns from space station

 

Associated Press

 

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts touched down to Earth early on Wednesday morning after undocking from the International Space Station following 166 days in space. American Chris Cassidy and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin emerged from the capsule in smiles on an unusually sunny day in Kazakhstan. Live coverage from NASA, the U.S. space agency, first showed the shuttle parachuting to a safe and punctual landing. Helicopters were then flown to the landing site, where medical and flight crews helped the three men disembark.

 

Three space station crewmembers land after 166-day mission

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

Two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut left the International Space Station on Tuesday, leaving a skeleton crew to maintain the outpost until replacements arrive later this month. Outgoing station commander Pavel Vinogradov, Nasa astronaut Christopher Cassidy and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin bid their crewmates good-bye and climbed aboard their Russian Soyuz capsule to prepare for a 3.5-hour flight back to Earth after 166 days in orbit. "The time has gone by so incredibly fast," Cassidy said during an inflight interview last week.

 

U. S., Russian space station crew members descend to Earth after 5½ months in orbit

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

A three man U. S. and Russian crew ended a successful 5 1/2 month expedition to the International Space Station late Tuesday, descending to a landing in Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft. Weary but in good shape, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 ISS commander Pavel Vinogradov and fellow cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin were assisted from their capsule within minutes of touching down under parachute at 10:58 p.m., EDT, or Wednesday at 8:58 a.m., local time, by helicopter borne Russian recovery teams. Mostly sunny skies greeted the fliers as they landed in Kazakhstan southeast of Dzhezkagan.

 

ISS crew with American, 2 Russians returns safely to Earth

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy and two Russian cosmonauts returned safely to Earth late Tuesday, winding up a five-and-a-half month expedition aboard the International Space Station. Strapped into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Cassidy and his colleagues – cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin – landed in central Kazakhstan around 11 p.m. They departed the outpost at 7:35 p.m. as the ISS and the Soyuz flew 250 miles above Mongolia.

 

Russia's Soyuz Spacecraft Lands in Kazakhstan

 

RIA Novosti

 

Russia's Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board landed safely in Kazakhstan on Wednesday. The undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) took place as scheduled, in an automated regime, a spokesman for Russia's Mission Control Center said earlier in the day. The spacecraft carries Roscosmos cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy, who arrived at the ISS in March.

 

Space station crew returns to earth

 

TJ Aulds - Galveston County Daily News

 

Expedition 36 crew members Chris Cassidy of NASA and Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency have returned to Earth from the International Space Station, landing safely in Kazakhstan at 9:58 p.m. Houston time on Tuesday. Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin, who launched to the station March 29, spent 166 days in space. They completed 2,656 orbits of Earth and traveled more than 70 million miles.

 

Touchdown! US-Russian Crew Returns to Earth on Soyuz Space Capsule

 

Tariq Malik - Space.com

 

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has returned an American astronauts and two cosmonauts safely back to Earth, capping a five-month trek to the International Space Station. The Soyuz TMA-08M space capsule carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin touched down  at 10:58 p.m. EDT Tuesday, though it was early Wednesday morning at their landing site on the steppes Kazakhstan in Central Asia. All three men were reportedly in good spirits after spending 166 days in space, NASA spokesman Rob Navias said from the landing site. They landed in clear, warm weather, despite predictions of rain.

 

Soyuz TMA-08M crew lands on Earth after 166 days on space station

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Three crewmembers returned from the International Space Station Tuesday night, landing their space capsule on the steppe of Kazakhstan after spending five and a half months off the planet. Roscosmos cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and NASA's Christopher Cassidy touched down at 9:58 p.m. CDT (0258 GMT; 8:58 a.m. local time Sept. 11) on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-08M. The trio's homecoming came three and a half hours after they undocked their Soyuz from the space station's Poisk module at 6:35 p.m. CDT (2335 GMT). Their departure for Earth marked the official end of the 36th expedition aboard the orbiting outpost.

 

Robonaut to Get Legs: One Big Step For Robotkind

 

Gina Sunseri - ABC News

 

The robots invading space are making some big leaps -- literally. Earlier this month, Kirobo, the world's first talking robot astronaut and Japan's gift to the International Space Station, said some of his first words. Now, Robonaut, who has been on the space station for two and a half years, is about to go on a walkabout. NASA will launch legs for Robonaut on the next SpaceX mission. The legs will allow him to move through the space station using toe-like fixtures to latch on for chores. Right now, his torso, head and arms are anchored to a platform, which means astronauts have to bring tasks to him. Astronaut Rick Mastracchio will attach Robonaut's legs when they arrive in space. The SpaceX launch window opens Jan. 17 and closes Feb. 16, 2014.

 

Blue Origin Files Formal Protest of NASA's Proposed Shuttle Pad Lease

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

A spat between Blue Origin and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) over Launch Complex 39A, a disused space shuttle launch pad both companies want to lease from NASA, escalated when Blue Origin challenged the legality of the agency's search for a caretaker last week. On Sept. 3, Blue Origin filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), alleging "that there's a problem with [NASA's] solicitation that needs to be addressed," according to Ralph White, GAO's managing associate general counsel for procurement law. GAO must rule on the protest by Dec. 12, White said.

 

Space Farming: The Final Frontier

NASA looks to grow fresh veggies, 230 miles above the Earth

 

Jesse Hirsch - ModernFarmer.com

 

Last year, an astronaut named Don Pettit began an unusual writing project on NASA's website. Called "Diary of a Space Zucchini," the blog took the perspective of an actual zucchini plant on the International Space Station (ISS). Entries were insightful and strange, poignant and poetic. "I sprouted, thrust into this world without anyone consulting me," wrote Pettit in the now-defunct blog. "I am utilitarian, hearty vegetative matter that can thrive under harsh conditions. I am zucchini — and I am in space." An unorthodox use of our tax dollars, but before you snicker, consider this: That little plant could be the key to our future. If — as some doomsday scientists predict — we will eventually exhaust the Earth's livability, space farming will prove vital to the survival of our species.

 

Millionaire Space Tourists Relive Cosmic Potty Training

 

Megan Gannon - Space.com

 

As microgravity makes even the most mundane tasks tricky, going to the bathroom in space can be a chore. How astronauts take care of that basic human necessity while in orbit has been a point of perennial fascination for the Earth-bound public. For a moment during a Sept. 4 talk here at the Explorers Club, two of the world's first space tourists who paid their way to the International Space Station traded stories about their space toilet training, or actually the lack of training. The Explorers Club was holding an event with former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott and his son, gaming legend Richard Garriott, perhaps best known for creating the Ultima role-playing series. They are the only American father-son team to have both gone to space.

 

NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins

 

WLS TV (Chicago)

 

Mike Hopkins, an astronaut for NASA, talks with ABC7 Chicago as he prepares for his upcoming space mission. Hopkins and his crewmates, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency, will launch on September 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft.

 

Mo. native on a trip out of this world - literally

 

Amy Hawley - KSHB TV (Richland, MO)

 

A Richland, Mo., native is moving far, far away, and the place he is going is out of this world - literally. Air Force Colonel Mike Hopkins is a NASA astronaut who is scheduled to travel to the International Space Station with Russian and European astronauts. The launch is scheduled on Sept. 25 in Kazakhstan. He will be stationed at the orbiting outpost for six months

 

Ozarks Native Headed to International Space Station

 

KOLR TV (Springfield, MO)

 

Col. Mike Hopkins, a Missouri native, born in Lebanon, grew up in Richland, Missouri, is now an astronaut with NASA.  In two weeks, he will blast off for the International Space Station from the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.  He talks live, via satellite from Russia, with Shanon Miller and Rob Evans on KOLR10 News Daybreak.

 

Undersea Florida lab for 'aquanauts' back, thanks to FIU's help

 

Jennifer Kay - Associated Press

 

Astronaut training has resumed at an undersea laboratory in the Florida Keys. Starting Tuesday, five astronauts began spending five days living and working at the Aquarius Reef Base. While they're underwater, they'll be trying out an exercise device that could be used on the International Space Station and spacewalking tools. They also will evaluate protocols for communications and for working with a remotely operated vehicle, according to NASA. Scientists staying at Aquarius are called "aquanauts," and since 2001 their ranks have included astronauts training for space missions. The crew for this week's mission, dubbed "SEA TEST," includes NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Kate Rubins, Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Andreas Mogensen and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

 

One giant leap for a rock star:

Bob Geldof reveals he is to blast into space next year

 

Arthur Martin - London Daily Mail

 

He once said he joined a rock band 'to get rich, to get famous and to get laid'. Now Bob Geldof can add 'to fly into space' to the list. Yesterday the Boomtown Rats frontman said he will become the first Irishman and the first rock star to fly out of the earth's atmosphere. Geldof will be propelled at 2,200 mph in a space shuttle to 64 miles above earth. Wearing an astronaut's suit and helmet, the 61-year-old will only have the pilot for company during the one-hour commercial space flight.

 

Go To Space At The Same Time As Famous People: There Are Still Tickets

 

Suzy Strutner - Huffington Post

 

We're in the midst of another space race, but this one has paparazzi. Space Expedition Corporation, or SXC, says it plans to send a group of 100 passengers into space next year. Notable entertainers -- Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes, DJ Armin van Buuren and singer/activist Bob Geldof -- have already booked seats, and tickets are still up for grabs... for $100,000. As a "Founder Astronaut" on SXC's mission, you and your famous fellow passengers would stay in a hotel near the Spaceport on the island of Curacao. Then, one by one, you'd hop in the Lynx Mark II for a one-hour flight into space and back.

 

 

MEANWHILE ON MARS

 

 

NASA's Mars rover takes trekking break, prepares for new journey

 

Deborah Netburn - Los Angeles Times

 

After two months of slow but steady trekking across the Martian landscape, Curiosity is getting ready to rest its wheels and get back to some good old-fashioned science. This week, Curiosity's handlers announced that the Mars rover is less than 250 feet from the first of five waypoints that will break up its 5.3-mile journey to its next major destination - the base of Mt. Sharp. To help scientists determine exactly where the rover should plan to stop, Curiosity climbed to the top of a rise known as Panorama Point and snapped the image above. The points of interest for scientists are the pale horizontal streaks in the image, which represent Martian bedrock.

 

Curiosity Rover Takes Longest Drive on Mars Yet

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has made its longest Martian drive yet as it trucks along on the Red Planet. Curiosity performed its longest one-day drive on Sept. 5, putting it within striking distance of an interesting patch of rocks called Waypoint 1, NASA officials said in a mission update today (Sept. 10). Arriving at Waypoint 1 will place the rover about one-fifth of the way to its ultimate destination: a 3-mile-high (5 kilometers) mountain dubbed Mount Sharp. During the long drive, Curiosity traversed 464 feet (141.5 meters) to the top of Panorama Point where it took photos of the pale outcrop that is Waypoint 1. As of Monday (Sept. 9), the car-sized rover was about 245 feet (75 m) away from the checkpoint, according to NASA officials.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan; crew in good shape

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

Closing out a 166-day stay in orbit, two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut strapped into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft Tuesday, undocked from the International Space Station and fell back to Earth, settling to a jarring rocket-assisted touchdown on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

 

Suspended below a large red and white-striped parachute, the Soyuz TMA-08M descent module completed the final stages of the flight within easy view of Russian recovery forces and long-range tracking cameras, setting down at 10:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 8:58 a.m. Wednesday local time) and rolling over on its side.

 

Recovery crews and flight surgeons quickly rushed to the scorched module to help commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and NASA SEAL-turned-astronaut Christopher Cassidy out of the cramped spacecraft, carrying them to nearby recliners.

 

All three appeared relaxed and in good spirits, resting comfortably and chatting with support crews. At one point, Vinogradov, smiling broadly, reached over to Cassidy for a hearty handshake.

 

After initial medical checks and satellite phone calls to family and friends, the station fliers were carried into a nearby medical tent for more extensive checks as they begin readjusting to gravity after five-and-a-half months in the weightless environment of space.

 

Cassidy planned to participate in a new project to help researchers get a better idea of how long-duration spaceflight might affect astronauts on eventual flights to Mars.

 

"This will be the first opportunity where we ask the crew members post landing to do some exercises," said Mike Suffredini, space station program manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

 

The idea is to get a better idea of what hurdles a Mars crew might face after a year-long flight without a medical team standing by to help out.

 

"And the question is, what is their condition, what can we expect them to do?" Suffredini said. "And it will kind of lead our thinking on how the first few days of any exploration mission would take place to make sure the crew doesn't hurt themselves in the process of landing and getting themselves ready to operate on the surface of a foreign planet."

 

As a former Navy SEAL and veteran of a 2009 shuttle flight, Cassidy is more familiar than most with physical fitness. But he said he expects vestibular difficulty -- poor balance and coordination -- to be more of an issue than physical strength.

 

"At face value, the tasks that I'll be doing are not super complicated," he told CBS Radio last week. "From sitting in a chair, standing up, from lying down flat to standing up and some small jumps, I think, just a few basic things I did pre-flight. They have video of how my body reacts to those things when I'm normally adjusted to one G, and I'll do those again very soon after landing in the medical tent.

 

"I'm really curious about how it will go," he said. "I remember how I felt after my shuttle landing and I think I could have done those. I would have been wobbly, but I would have been able to do those tasks. So I'm really, really curious to see how it is after this length of time. I don't think physical fitness has that much to do with it as neurovestibular kinds of things."

 

After the medical checks are complete, all three station fliers were to be flown by helicopter to nearby Karaganda. From there, Vinogradov and Misurkin planned to fly back to Star City near Moscow for debriefing while Cassidy was to board a NASA jet for a flight back to Houston.

 

Cassidy said last week he was sad to leave the space station because "it's just so incredible and such an honor to be here."

 

"But after five months, you feel ready. I'm excited to get home to see my friends and family and get back to just normal stuff. So it'll be a little of all those emotions."

 

Asked what he was looking forward to the most after seeing his wife and three children, Cassidy said "a gooey, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie ranks right on the top of my list."

 

"What I will miss most up here is the international camaraderie that exists with a crew like this, sharing meals together, sharing fun days and hard days and cargo days, the whole experience with the international crews is just really neat."

 

The trip home began when the Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft undocked from the space station's Poisk module at 7:35 p.m. EDT Tuesday.

 

After moving about 12 miles away from the lab complex, Vinogradov monitored a four-minute 46-second deorbit rocket firing starting at 10:05 p.m., slowing the spacecraft by about 286 mph to drop the far side of the orbit deep into Earth's atmosphere.

 

After a half-hour free fall, the Soyuz TMA-08M's upper and lower compartments separated and the central crew module plunged back into the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of 86 miles around 10:35 p.m.

 

After enduring the extremes of atmospheric friction, two pilot chutes deployed, followed by the descent module's main braking parachute at an altitude of about 6.6 miles. The descent module then settled to a rocket-assisted touchdown at 10:58 p.m., closing out a mission spanning 70.4 million miles and 2,656 orbits over 166 days six hours and 14 minutes.

 

During the course of their mission, Vinogradov logged one spacewalk and boosted his total time in space to 546 days over three flights. Misurkin, completing his first spaceflight, and Cassidy, completing his second, ventured outside three times each.

 

During a July 16 spacewalk, Cassidy had to assist Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano when the latter's suit developed an internal leak, flooding the helmet with water. The spacewalk was terminated early and both men made it safely back inside.

 

With the TMA-08M spacecraft's departure, the station is in the hands of Expedition 37 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin, Parmitano and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg.

 

Yurchikhin and his crewmates will have the lab complex to themselves until Sept. 26 when the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft arrives, bringing veteran Oleg Kotov, Sergey Ryazanskiy and Michael Hopkins -- both rookies -- to the station, boosting the crew back to six.

 

Soyuz capsule returns from space station

 

Associated Press

 

A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts touched down to Earth early on Wednesday morning after undocking from the International Space Station following 166 days in space.

 

American Chris Cassidy and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin emerged from the capsule in smiles on an unusually sunny day in Kazakhstan.

 

Live coverage from NASA, the U.S. space agency, first showed the shuttle parachuting to a safe and punctual landing. Helicopters were then flown to the landing site, where medical and flight crews helped the three men disembark.

 

The capsule undocked from the space station for a flight to Earth that took just over three hours. The three men blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome on March 29.

 

Each of the men was carried to reclining chairs, where they spent several minutes in order to acclimatize to Earth's gravity.

 

A NASA TV commentator said that crew members Misurkin and Cassidy would be taken to a medical center, where they will undergo various tests that could provide information for future flights. Vinogradov, at 60 the oldest human ever to land in a Soyuz vehicle, would not take part in the same experiments.

 

Currently the Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin, Karen Nyberg of NASA and the Italian Luca Parmitano are tending the International Space Station until the arrival of a three-person crew scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan on Sept. 25.

 

The Soyuz is the only means for international astronauts to reach the orbiting laboratory since the decommissioning of the U.S. shuttle fleet in 2011.

 

Three space station crewmembers land after 166-day mission

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

Two Russian cosmonauts and a US astronaut left the International Space Station on Tuesday, leaving a skeleton crew to maintain the outpost until replacements arrive later this month.

 

Outgoing station commander Pavel Vinogradov, Nasa astronaut Christopher Cassidy and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin bid their crewmates good-bye and climbed aboard their Russian Soyuz capsule to prepare for a 3.5-hour flight back to Earth after 166 days in orbit.

 

"The time has gone by so incredibly fast," Cassidy said during an inflight interview last week.

 

"It'll be really sad to leave. This is an incredible experience ... but by the same token, I'm ready to go. It's time for some other people to come ... and I'm really excited to go back and see my friends and family."

 

Before leaving, Vinogradov, a veteran of three spaceflights, transferred command of the $100-billion station, a project of 15 nations, to fellow cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, who remains aboard with Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and Nasa's Karen Nyberg.

 

"We had a great environment here, very friendly and very warm," Vinogradov said through a translator in a ceremony on Nasa TV on Monday marking the change in command.

 

Strapped inside their Soyuz capsule, Vinogradov, Cassidy and Misurkin pulled away from the station's Poisk module at 7:35pm EDT/1135 GMT as the two ships sailed 258 miles (415km) above Mongolia, said Nasa mission commentator Brandi Dean.

 

Three hours later, the Soyuz hit the top of Earth's atmosphere, giving the men their first sampling of gravity since their launch on March 28.

 

The final leg of the journey took place under parachutes, with the capsule finally coming to a stop on the steppes of Kazakhstan at 10:58pm EDT/0258 GMT, marking the end of the Expedition 36 mission.

 

The space station has been continuously staffed by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since November 2000.

 

Following medical checks, Vinogradov and Misurkin will be flown to Star City near Moscow. Cassidy will fly on a Nasa jet back to the Johnson Space Centre in Houston.

 

A replacement space station crew, headed by veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and including rookies Sergey Ryazanskiy and Michael Hopkins, is due to launch on September 25.

 

U. S., Russian space station crew members descend to Earth after 5½ months in orbit

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

A three man U. S. and Russian crew ended a successful 5 1/2 month expedition to the International Space Station late Tuesday, descending to a landing in Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft.

 

Weary but in good shape, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 ISS commander Pavel Vinogradov and fellow cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin were assisted from their capsule within minutes of touching down under parachute at 10:58 p.m., EDT, or Wednesday at 8:58 a.m., local time, by helicopter borne Russian recovery teams.

 

Mostly sunny skies greeted the fliers as they landed in Kazakhstan southeast of Dzhezkagan.

 

After field medical checks, the three men were to be flown by individual helicopters to Karaganda. There, they will separate, with Cassidy boarding a NASA jet transport with other members of the U. S. space agency for Houston, Tex.  Vinogradov and Misurkin will be flown by Russian transport to Star City near Moscow.

 

The Soyuz capsule carrying the three men undocked from the ISS Russian segment Poisk docking module at 7:35 p.m., EDT, following  166 days in orbit.

 

Their four minute, 46 minute deorbit maneuver followed at 10:05 p.m., EDT.

 

"We are thinking about coffee and apples," one of the fliers informed Russia's Mission Control before the capsule experienced several minutes of anticipated spotty communications.

 

The TMA-08M crew bid farewell to Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin, who assumed command from Vinogradov, NASA's Karen Nyberg and the European Space Agency's Luca Parmitano. They comprise the first members of ISS Expedition 37.

 

The orbiting science laboratory is scheduled to return to full strength on Sept. 25, when NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins and cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy are scheduled to arrive following a same day launch and docking aboard their Soyuz TMA-010M spacecraft.

 

During Expedition 36, Cassidy Vinogradov, Misurkin worked with more than 140 science experiments, participated in three spacewalks and greeted unpiloted cargo capsules from Japan, Russia and Europe.

 

The spacewalks helped to prepare the station's exterior for the future arrival of Russia's Multipurpose Laboratory Module.

 

ISS crew with American, 2 Russians returns safely to Earth

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy and two Russian cosmonauts returned safely to Earth late Tuesday, winding up a five-and-a-half month expedition aboard the International Space Station.

 

Strapped into a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Cassidy and his colleagues – cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin – landed in central Kazakhstan around 11 p.m. They departed the outpost at 7:35 p.m. as the ISS and the Soyuz flew 250 miles above Mongolia.

 

"So, are you sad leaving the space station," an unidentified ground controller asked over radio communications loops during a conversation translated by Russian interpreters.

 

"We actually left some food onboard so we can come back," one of the crewmembers joked.

 

The three launched March 28 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Homebound skipper Vinogradov handed over command Monday to Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin.

 

Also remaining onboard: U.S. astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. They will be joined Sept. 25 by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy, and U.S. astronaut Michael Hopkins.

 

Russia's Soyuz Spacecraft Lands in Kazakhstan

 

RIA Novosti

 

Russia's Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft with two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut on board landed safely in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

 

The undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) took place as scheduled, in an automated regime, a spokesman for Russia's Mission Control Center said earlier in the day.

 

The spacecraft carries Roscosmos cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy, who arrived at the ISS in March.

 

It started reentry maneuvers at 6:05 Moscow time (2:05 GMT) and the landing capsule touched the ground about 50 minutes later in the designated area.

 

The three crew members were evacuated safely from the capsule and are said to be in good health.

 

"The crew felt normal during the descent and landing, the cosmonauts and the astronaut are in good mood," a mission control spokesman said.

 

Twelve Mi-8 helicopters and three planes, as well as six rescue vehicles and 14 auxiliary vehicles, were deployed to ensure the safe recovery of astronauts, the Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia said.

 

After the departure, the ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, and astronauts Karen Nyberg of NASA and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency.

 

They will be joined by Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, who will blast off for the station in a Soyuz-TMA10M spacecraft at 00:58 Moscow time on September 26 (GMT 20:58, September 25).

 

Space station crew returns to earth

 

TJ Aulds - Galveston County Daily News

 

Expedition 36 crew members Chris Cassidy of NASA and Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin of the Russian Federal Space Agency have returned to Earth from the International Space Station, landing safely in Kazakhstan at 9:58 p.m. Houston time on Tuesday.

 

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin, who launched to the station March 29, spent 166 days in space. They completed 2,656 orbits of Earth and traveled more than 70 million miles.

 

Vinogradov conducted one spacewalk, bringing his career total to seven spacewalks with an accumulated time of 38 hours, 25 minutes. Misurkin conducted three spacewalks for a total of 20 hours, 1 minute. Cassidy conducted three spacewalks, bringing his career total to six with an accumulated time of 31 hours, 14 minutes.

 

During their time aboard the orbiting laboratory, the crew members saw the arrival of the European ATV-4cargo spacecraft, the Japanese HTV-4 cargo spacecraft and two Russian Progress resupply spacecraft. The trio also worked on hundreds of research experiments and science investigations that will have benefits for future human spaceflight and life on Earth.

 

The three Expedition 36 crew members sit outside their Soyuz TMA-08M spacecraft while being assisted by landing and recovery forces.

 

Touchdown! US-Russian Crew Returns to Earth on Soyuz Space Capsule

 

Tariq Malik - Space.com

 

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has returned an American astronauts and two cosmonauts safely back to Earth, capping a five-month trek to the International Space Station.

 

The Soyuz TMA-08M space capsule carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin touched down  at 10:58 p.m. EDT Tuesday, though it was early Wednesday morning at their landing site on the steppes Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

 

All three men were reportedly in good spirits after spending 166 days in space, NASA spokesman Rob Navias said from the landing site. They landed in clear, warm weather, despite predictions of rain.

 

But it seemed clear even before the landing that the returning space travelers were looking forward to their return home.

 

"Okay, I'm thinking about coffee and apples," one of the Russian crewmates said as the Soyuz streaked back to Earth.

 

And the cosmonauts weren't the only ones eager to taste the culinary delights of Earth once more.

 

Before leaving the space station, Cassidy told reporters he would be sad to leave the orbiting lab behind, but at the same time he was excited to return home and see his wife and three children again.

 

In addition to rejoining his family, a "a gooey, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie ranks right on the top of my list," Cassidy told CBS Radio in an interview broadcast on NASA TV.

 

Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin launched to the International Space Station on March 28 and made history when they became the first crew ever to launch on an "express" one-day flight to the orbiting lab. Their successful flight set the bar for future Soyuz crew launches to the space station.

 

The three men formed half of the space station's Expedition 35 and 36 crews, with Vinogradov commanding the Expedition 37 portion of the mission. They performed several U.S. and Russian spacewalks during the flight, with Cassidy even taking part in an unplanned spacewalk to hunt for an ammonia leak in the space station's cooling system in May.

 

After landing, Cassidy, Vinogradov and Misurkin will undergo a battery of medical tests to check their health after the long-duration spaceflight. Cassidy will also participate in extra tests to serve as a baseline for his fellow NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who is slated to launch on a one-year space station mission — twice as long as typical station stays — in 2015, NASA officials said. The test will also inform work on potential manned missions to Mars, they added.

 

This was the first spaceflight for Misurkin and the second for Cassidy, who ended the trip with a total of 181 days in space across the two flights. It was the third spaceflight for Vinogradov, who flew on a trip to the International Space Station and Russia's Mir station before this trip. He ended the flight with a total of 546 days in space.

 

With the safe return of the Soyuz crew, the Expedition 37 mission has officially begun on the space station. The crew includes Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, with Yurchikhin commanding the team.

 

Nyberg snapped photos of her Earth-bound comrades as they left the space station. She even posted one image on Twitter, where she has been chronicling her spaceflight under the name @AstroKarenN.

 

"Saying goodbye to Pavel, Chris & Sasha," Nyberg wrote, referring to Misurkin by his nickname. "We'll miss them! Safe journey home."

 

Yurchikin, Nyberg and Parmitano arrived at the space station in May. They will be joined three new crewmates — Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins — once that new crew launches on Sept. 25. The station crew is also preparing for the arrival later this month of the first unmanned cargo ship built by the commercial spaceflight company Orbital Sciences Corp., of Dulles, Va. The mission is slated to launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., on Sept. 17.

 

The $100 billion International Space Station has been continuously manned by astronauts and cosmonauts since 2000. Construction of the orbiting laboratory began in 1998, with five different space agencies and 15 countries overseeing its assembly. It is the largest manmade structure in space.

 

Soyuz TMA-08M crew lands on Earth after 166 days on space station

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Three crewmembers returned from the International Space Station Tuesday night, landing their space capsule on the steppe of Kazakhstan after spending five and a half months off the planet.

 

Roscosmos cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin and NASA's Christopher Cassidy touched down at 9:58 p.m. CDT (0258 GMT; 8:58 a.m. local time Sept. 11) on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-08M.

 

The trio's homecoming came three and a half hours after they undocked their Soyuz from the space station's Poisk module at 6:35 p.m. CDT (2335 GMT). Their departure for Earth marked the official end of the 36th expedition aboard the orbiting outpost.

 

Roscosmos cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, NASA's Karen Nyberg and astronaut Luca Parmitano with the European Space Agency, who together had been aboard the space station since May, remained behind as the first members of Expedition 37.

 

Yurchikhin took over command of the station's crew from Vinogradov.

 

"The moment has come that we need to say goodbye to our wonderful home, this beautiful station where we spent over five months," Vinogradov said as part of a handover ceremony on Monday.

 

Vinogradov, Misurkin and Cassidy launched and arrived at the space station on March 28, 2013. They were the first International Space Station-bound Soyuz crew to follow an expedited rendezvous, reducing their travel time from two days to just six hours.

 

During their 166 days in space together, the Soyuz TMA-08M crewmates participated in more than 100 experiments and oversaw the arrival of several supply ships, including Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-4), the "Albert Einstein," and Japan's fourth H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-4) "Kounotori-4."

 

All three crewmembers also worked outside the station on spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVA).

 

Vinogradov made one spacewalk, deploying and retrieving science experiments outside the Russian segment of the station. Misurkin conducted three outings, running cables and configuring equipment in preparation for the arrival of Russia's new multipurpose laboratory module "Nauka."

 

Cassidy also ventured outside on three EVAs, including a "precedent-setting" unplanned spacewalk to investigate a coolant leak. Cassidy's third spacewalk was unexpectedly cut short when his partner, Parmitano, developed a water leak inside his suit's helmet.

 

This was Cassidy's second trip to orbit, after launching to become the 500th person in space on a shuttle mission in 2009. He now has logged 182 days in space.

 

For Vinogradov, this was his third flight and long-duration stay in space, having earlier lived on board the Russian space station Mir and on the International Space Station as a commander of Expedition 13. He now has 547 days in space, ranking him 10th for his cumulative time in orbit among all of the world's space explorers.

 

Vinogradov, 60, has also become the oldest cosmonaut to land aboard a Soyuz.

 

Soyuz TMA-08M was Misurkin's first spaceflight.

 

Now back on the Earth, the cosmonauts will return to Star City outside of Moscow and Cassidy will be flown to the Johnson Space Center in Houston for rehabilitation.

 

Before leaving the landing site, Cassidy and Misurkin were to take part in the first of a series of tests in preparation for sending future astronauts to Mars.

 

"When you send a crew to Mars, where they have been traveling for a long time in a microgravity environment... you don't have a big team of folks [waiting there] like we do every time we recover a crew," NASA's space station program manager Michael Suffredini told reporters during a briefing. "The question is, what's their condition? What can we expect them to do?"

 

"This will be the first opportunity where we ask the crew members post-landing to do some exercises," Suffredini explained, adding that the basic tests, like asking Cassidy to sit or stand up, will be done out of view in a tent. "Very simple things to start with but it is exciting because it's really the first steps where we are using the crew's on-orbit condition — without some of the advantages of the post-flight conditioning — to see if they are able to take care of themselves."

 

Robonaut to Get Legs: One Big Step For Robotkind

 

Gina Sunseri - ABC News

 

The robots invading space are making some big leaps -- literally.

 

Earlier this month, Kirobo, the world's first talking robot astronaut and Japan's gift to the International Space Station, said some of his first words. Now, Robonaut, who has been on the space station for two and a half years, is about to go on a walkabout.

 

NASA will launch legs for Robonaut on the next SpaceX mission. The legs will allow him to move through the space station using toe-like fixtures to latch on for chores. Right now, his torso, head and arms are anchored to a platform, which means astronauts have to bring tasks to him.

 

Astronaut Rick Mastracchio will attach Robonaut's legs when they arrive in space. The SpaceX launch window opens Jan. 17 and closes Feb. 16, 2014.

 

Helping the Astronauts

 

Rob Ambrose, who heads the robotics program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, said a mobile Robonaut makes him more useful as a crew member on the space station, allowing him to take over some of the tedious maintenance tasks.

 

"If I ask anyone I am with, 'What would you like a robot to do?' Kids always say two things: 'My homework' and 'Clean my room,'" Ambrose told ABC News. "Adults usually mention 'Clean the kitchen or the bathroom.'"

 

Astronauts on the space station spend a lot of time cleaning and keeping up their home above Earth. Yes, the toilet in particular takes a lot of maintenance. Ambrose said he has gotten a long list from the astronauts about what they want an robot to do for them.

 

"Some of their tasks are just boring -- holding a sensor in front of an air filter and move it over after about five minutes. Then repeat," he explained.

 

But others see some different tasks for these humanoids. Former astronaut Steve Hawley, a professor of astronomy at the University of Kansas and a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights, including two Hubble Space Telescope missions, envisions robots taking over some tasks that are just too dangerous for humans.

 

"There are places on the space station no camera can see -- if you send a robot out to circle around the space station and transmit video, that would give you quick answers to how it's operating -- and be able to check for damage," Hawley told ABC News.

 

Humans and robots make a good team in space, Hawley said. "If we go to Mars, you could send the robot out for long distances to bring samples back to an astronaut at a habitat."

 

Of course, robots are already racking up spectacular successes on Mars. The Mars Curiosity rover is one year into its mission, and the rover Opportunity is still trucking after eight years.

 

That is the key, according to Ambrose: You can launch a robot, send it outside, and it doesn't need food, or water or a return ticket.

 

"Those robots on Mars are not going to come home the easy way, and they get one-way tickets. The robots on Mars are probably there forever. But that's okay for a robot," Ambrose said.

 

That's why Ambrose anticipates robots could work as an advance team for an eventual human mission to Mars. "We could deploy the habitat years in advance with a robot to putter around and set things up to be ready for a human crew," Ambrose said.

 

Big Personalities

 

But these robots aren't just robots. NASA has been working hard to give them personalities. Remember HAL in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"?

 

"Dave: Open the pod bay doors, HAL. HAL: I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that. Dave: What's the problem? HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do."

 

But, real-life robots are much less threatening. Robonaut and Kirobo give off a much more relaxed vibe, at least on Twitter. These two robots are so friendly you could imagine C3PO playing Robonaut in the movies, and R2D2 could almost pass for Kirobo.

 

Kirobo is the first space robot that can talk and react to an astronaut -- his voice and face-recognition software are top secret -- so confidential that when we asked Japanese Astronaut Koichi Wakata about him, Wakata demurred, on the grounds that it was propriety information. Kirobo is probably the cutest robot to go to space, which is good, since his job is be Wakata' s companion on the space station when he takes over command.

 

Robonaut is more the strong silent type. He isn't chatty, but his tweets show a sense of humor -- telling Mars Curiosity he wasn't into long-distance relationships and mentioning he would take up the guitar since there were no pianos on the space station.

 

Ambrose said he hopes robots of the future won't be a smarty pants like Star Trek's Commander Data. "The first science fiction movie I really remember was 'Silent Running,'" he said. "It was about a set of robots that helped tend gardens in space and they had a little personality -- Huey and Dewey."

 

Blue Origin Files Formal Protest of NASA's Proposed Shuttle Pad Lease

 

Dan Leone - Space News

 

A spat between Blue Origin and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) over Launch Complex 39A, a disused space shuttle launch pad both companies want to lease from NASA, escalated when Blue Origin challenged the legality of the agency's search for a caretaker last week.

 

On Sept. 3, Blue Origin filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), alleging "that there's a problem with [NASA's] solicitation that needs to be addressed," according to Ralph White, GAO's managing associate general counsel for procurement law.

 

GAO must rule on the protest by Dec. 12, White said.

 

Neither White nor Blue Origin spokeswoman Gwen Griffin would disclose the details of the Kent, Wash.-based company's complaint. However, Blue Origin and SpaceX have been butting heads for months over their competing lease proposals. Blue Origin offered to operate the pad on behalf of anyone technically and financially capable of launching from it, while SpaceX would keep the pad to itself.

 

Blue Origin filed its protest with a bipartisan contingent of five U.S. senators in its corner: Sens. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and David Vitter (R-La.) all registered their concerns about an exclusive lease in a Sept. 5 letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden — the latest in a string of letters from Capitol Hill to NASA on the issue.

 

NASA has been trying to get $1.2 million in annual maintenance costs for Pad 39A, which the agency says it no longer needs, off its books since May. Back then, the agency invited industry to propose terms for leasing the pad; Only SpaceX and Blue Origin submitted proposals.

 

Now, with a GAO decision about the protest not due until mid-December, NASA could find itself paying for maintenance a little longer than it expected — the agency wanted to secure a tenant by Sept. 30. 

 

NASA spokesman Allard Beutel declined to comment on Blue Origin's bid protest, as did SpaceX spokeswoman Christina Ra.

 

Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, which already launches cargo delivery missions to the international space station from nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with its Falcon 9 rocket, is eyeing Pad 39A as a possible launch site for the Falcon Heavy it is developing.

 

Blue Origin has tested suborbital vehicles but launched nothing to space so far. Besides a few U.S. lawmakers, Blue Origin's multiuser Pad 39A proposal is backed by military launch services provider United Launch Alliance of Denver, by far the most prolific U.S.-based launch company. Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance also have a business relationship, with the latter company slated to perform initial launches of the biconic space vehicle Blue Origin is developing.

 

While NASA seldom discusses ongoing competitive awards or procurements, the agency suggested in an Aug. 2 letter to lawmakers that any operating concept, single or multiuser, is preferable to tearing down Pad 39A, which NASA says it would have to do if it cannot find a commercial lessee.

 

"NASA believes that the argument for or against one operating concept is secondary to the demonstrated capability of any proposer to undertake the financial and technical challenges of assuming an asset of this magnitude," wrote L. Seth Statler, NASA's associate administrator for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, in an Aug. 2 letter to Reps. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.).

 

Aderholt, who represents a district nearby the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Ala., was concerned that such a lease would leave the Space Launch System NASA is building for deep-space missions without a backup launch pad.

 

The Space Launch System is currently slated to launch from Pad 39B, the other space shuttle launch facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Statler, in his response to Aderholt and Wolf's July 22 letter, said the big rocket did not need a backup launch pad. Furthermore, Statler added, the heavy-lifter could easily share Pad 39B with other rockets, even if its launch rate were higher than one mission every four years, as NASA now plans.

 

Space Farming: The Final Frontier

NASA looks to grow fresh veggies, 230 miles above the Earth

 

Jesse Hirsch - ModernFarmer.com

 

Last year, an astronaut named Don Pettit began an unusual writing project on NASA's website. Called "Diary of a Space Zucchini," the blog took the perspective of an actual zucchini plant on the International Space Station (ISS). Entries were insightful and strange, poignant and poetic.

 

"I sprouted, thrust into this world without anyone consulting me," wrote Pettit in the now-defunct blog. "I am utilitarian, hearty vegetative matter that can thrive under harsh conditions. I am zucchini — and I am in space."

 

An unorthodox use of our tax dollars, but before you snicker, consider this: That little plant could be the key to our future. If — as some doomsday scientists predict — we will eventually exhaust the Earth's livability, space farming will prove vital to the survival of our species. Around the world, governments and private companies are doing research on how we are going to grow food on space stations, in spaceships, even on Mars. The Mars Society is testing a greenhouse in a remote corner of Utah, researchers at the University of Gelph in Ontario are looking at long-term crops like soybeans and barley and Purdue University scientists are marshaling vertical garden design for space conditions. Perhaps most importantly, though, later this year NASA will be producing its own food in orbit for the first time ever.

 

And if space farming still seems like a pipe dream, the zucchini also served a more tangible purpose. It kept Pettit and his crewmates sane.

 

You Can Eat It, Too

 

Growing food in space helps solve one of the biggest issues in space travel: the price of eating. It costs roughly $10,000 a pound to send food to the ISS, according to Howard Levine, project scientist for NASA's International Space Station and Spacecraft Processing Directorate. There's a premium on densely caloric foods with long shelf lives. Supply shuttles carry such limited fresh produce that Gioia Massa, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA, says astronauts devour it almost immediately.

 

Levine and Massa are part of the team developing the Vegetable Production System (VEGGIE) program, set to hit the ISS later this year. This December, NASA plans to launch a set of Kevlar pillow-packs, filled with a material akin to kitty litter, functioning as planters for six romaine lettuce plants. The burgundy-hued lettuce (NASA favors the "Outredgeous" strain) will be grown under bright-pink LED lights, ready to harvest after just 28 days.

 

NASA has a long history of testing plant growth in space, but the goals have been largely academic. Experiments have included figuring out the effects of zero-gravity on plant growth, testing quick-grow sprouts on shuttle missions and assessing the viability of different kinds of artificial light. But VEGGIE is NASA's first attempt to grow produce that could actually sustain space travelers.

 

Naturally, the dream is to create a regenerative growth system, so food could be continually grown on the space station — or, potentially, on moon colonies or Mars. The Outredgeous lettuce is slated as a first-phase vegetable, quick to grow and loaded with antioxidants (a potential antidote for cosmic radiation). Later veggies may include radishes, snap peas and a special strain of tomato, designed to take up minimal space.

 

Plant size is a vital calculation in determining what to grow on the space station, where every square foot is carefully allotted. Harvest time is also of extreme importance; the pro- gram wants to maximize growth cycles within each crew's (on average) six-month stay.

 

Leafy greens are ideal, ready to be consumed as soon as they're plucked from the soil. Potatoes or sweet potatoes, not very good raw, fall into what Massa calls "midterm level" — plants NASA may test further down the line. The most outland- ish crops would be wheat and rice, taking longer to grow and requiring bulky milling equipment. Clearly, plants that need processing make less attractive candidates for space travel.

 

Levine says NASA has tested strains of quick-growing dwarf wheat on past space missions. But growing this kind of crop on a large scale, with the intention of providing long-term sustenance, is still a ways off. "At this point, the break-even cost is far too high for serious bioregenerative agriculture," Levine says. "Six heads of lettuce make a nice supplement to the crew's diet, but isn't going to feed them for the long-term."

 

A Garden for Major Tom

 

But the plants aren't just for eating — they act as a form of emotional sustenance called horticultural therapy. It's based on the simple idea that plant care is a balm for the human psyche. According to the Horticultural Society of New York, which has practiced this therapy with Rikers Island inmates since 1989, the list of gains is long: "stress reduction, mood improvement, alleviation of depression, social growth, physical and mental rehabilitation" and general wellness.

 

Naturally, these benefits are highly prized in space, where even the sturdiest astronauts may be pushed to their limits. "It can be pretty harsh out there, confined to a small metal box," says Levine. "Caring for a plant every day provides vital psychological relief, giving astronauts a small remembrance of Earth."

 

During this six-month stay Pettit brought the space zucchini up with "two new crewmates" — broccoli and sunflower plants — as a personal project. He didn't have fancy equipment, and only a little soil.

 

He gave the plants sun by shuttling them between space station windows, and grew them in a plastic bag, feeding them a liquid made from composted food scraps. The crew never tried eating the plants; Pettit jokes it would have felt like cannibalism.

 

"We considered them crew members," he says. "It was delightful to have those plants around, to feel the little hairs on a leaf tickle your nose, to see that sunflower in full bloom. It changed our whole experience."

 

Massa thinks VEGGIE could promise similar psychic gains to space station astronauts. For one thing, there's the splash of color provided by the sanguine plants, chromatic relief in a sea of whites and beiges. The program's second phase will include flowering zinnias, for even more visual vibrancy.

 

Not to mention, caring for plants can conjure up unknowable associative memories. A childhood carrot harvest, perhaps, or a forgotten summer stroll through the garden. "These are the intangibles," says Massa. "Will the astronaut nurture each plant like a pet? Will he stumble on a forgotten memory?"

 

Waiting Is the Hardest Part

 

The first batch of space-ready lettuce is something of a tease for the NASA crew — once harvested, it will be frozen and stored away for testing back on Earth. No one is allowed to eat anything before the plants are thoroughly vetted for cosmic microbes.

 

Where's the Beef in Space?

 

In 1982, the Kids' Whole Future Catalog made some surprisingly accurate speculation on the future of space farming. In addition to growing plants hydroponically and composting waste, the book suggested astronauts may soon raise space rabbits as a meat source. Far-fetched? Maybe not. Researchers all over the world have spent years studying the most viable proteins for space missions. In choosing the right animal, the biggest concerns are size and waste creation; naturally, scientists in Japan and Mexico have studied edible space insects. Also in Japan, experiments on closed-loop life support systems have recently been performed on small goats. Neither bugs nor goats have yet been launched into space, but Russian crews have performed extensive experiments on one potential food source: the Japanese quail. Crews have sent quail eggs up for study since 1979, with the first ones actually hatching in 1990. Since then, Russian cosmonauts have nurtured baby quails from birth, hand-feeding them and studying their adaptive abilities. The downside? "The cosmonauts grew attached and had trouble killing them," according to Dr. Gioia Massa of NASA.

 

These space germs are often fairly benign, akin to the natural bacteria that build up in any moist root bank. Russian crews are allowed to consume vegetables grow on their side of the space station, but microbe standards are strict and unwavering on U.S. space missions. Massa says NASA's surgeons set these levels based simply on quantity, without regard for "good" or "bad" germs. After the first lettuce harvest is tested, she hopes for reevaluation of the microbial standards, with specific dispensations for agriculture.

 

But once that hurdle is cleared, Massa has high hopes for the program. Her team has been testing the system in NASA labs since 2011, working out the bugs and evaluating the technology. The growth chambers themselves,  created by the Wisconsin company Orbital Technologies Corporation (ORBITEC), are lightweight and easily stored, with relatively simple watering and lighting systems. Each unit requires little space, but could easily be replicated on a large scale. And unlike its clunky, power-draining predecessors, the whole setup requires about as much energy as a desktop computer. "It's really an ingenious little system," she says.

 

As space travel becomes increasing a public-private partnership, NASA is not alone in testing out food programs. "We can't afford to keep shipping water, oxygen and Kraft dinner to the moon indefinitely," says Mike Dixon, one of the foremost researchers on grow-your-own-space-food. Dixon is a professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, and his program is looking at the viability of longer-term crops, like soybeans. Other efforts are focusing on vertical farming design; some researchers are replicating Mars-like condition on Earth, like the South Pole.

 

For Massa, this is the realization of a decades-old dream. As a teenager in Florida, she was both a member of her local Future Farmers of America chapter and — like many kids of the '80s — a space superfan. Her career path was shaped early by a teacher of hers who attended a NASA educational program called "Energize the Green Machine," speculating on the future of space farming.

 

Now, after devoting her entire life to getting where she is today, Massa is on the brink of space farming's launch.

 

She mulls over the implications. "Do I think this could hold the keys to our future?" she asks, then pauses. "Yes, I suppose I do."

 

Diary of a Space Zucchini

 

Don Pettit's Space Zucchini had two friends in space, Broccoli and Sunflower. They loved to pal around. As you can tell, the astronaut's relationship to his budding garden was quite intimate. From the blog:

 

March 26: I have new leaves! I am no longer naked to the cosmos. They are not as big as before however they are just as green. Broccoli and Sunflower have leaves as well and are vibrant. We all have happy roots. This is a hard to explain to a non-plant, but I am feeling very zucchini now.

 

June 6: Last night we observed a little black spot on the Sun…Gardener and his crewmates observed the little black spot move across the Sun through a special filter. Sunflower, Broccoli, and I can look directly at the sun with no filter. We all were smiling.

 

June 9: Great news; I have a baby brother sprout! Gardener just showed me baby Zuc. He is strong and healthy and ready to move from the sprouter into his own aeroponic bag. While Broccoli and Sunflower are great companions, there is nothing quite like having a zucchini to zucchini conversation.

 

June 17: Excitement is in the air. Gardener said we will soon be returning to Earth. Our part of the mission is nearly complete and the new crew will take over for us. I am a bit worried about Broccoli, Sunflower, and me. If Gardener leaves, who will take care of us? And what about little Zuc? He is now a big sprout and ready to branch out on his own.

 

Millionaire Space Tourists Relive Cosmic Potty Training

 

Megan Gannon - Space.com

 

As microgravity makes even the most mundane tasks tricky, going to the bathroom in space can be a chore. How astronauts take care of that basic human necessity while in orbit has been a point of perennial fascination for the Earth-bound public.

 

For a moment during a Sept. 4 talk here at the Explorers Club, two of the world's first space tourists who paid their way to the International Space Station traded stories about their space toilet training, or actually the lack of training.

 

The Explorers Club was holding an event with former NASA astronaut Owen Garriott and his son, gaming legend Richard Garriott, perhaps best known for creating the Ultima role-playing series. They are the only American father-son team to have both gone to space.

 

While Owen Garriott flew with NASA aboard U.S. space station Skylab and the space shuttle Columbia, his son became a spaceflyer in his own right in 2008 after using his gaming fortune to buy a multimillion-dollar ticket to the space station aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.

 

Adventurer and journalist Jim Clash interviewed the duo in front of a small audience and afterwards gave the night's first question to another private spaceflyer in the room: American businessman Dennis Tito.

 

A longtime space enthusiast, Tito made his millions in the world of finance, but was once an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Widely considered the first space tourist, Tito paid the Russians a reported $20 million for his 2001 flight to the space station.

 

The younger Garriott earlier in the night said he used to look at Tito and think, "That's the guy that got my seat!" Garriott's long-held aspirations to go to space  — first dashed when he learned his eyesight was below NASA standards — had to be postponed for a few years after his wealth took a hit in the dot-com crash.

 

Tito stood up to ask his question and paused before saying, "One experience that people always ask me about is, 'How do you go to the bathroom in space?'"

 

As the audience laughed, Owen Garriott jumped in to add: "Elementary school children, usually."

 

But Tito continued, saying that despite his eight months of training with the Russians, he wasn't all that prepared to go the bathroom in space.

 

"I guess the Russians really don't like to talk about these things — they have funny attitudes," Tito said. "So I got on board the station and the first thing that happened was Jim Voss, an American astronaut, gave me toilet trailing."

 

"Now, I hadn't had toilet training in 60 years," Tito added. "So I was wondering, did you get toilet training on the ground?"

 

Richard Garriott, who trained with the Russians, too, corroborated Tito's story.

 

"It is hilarious because every other system — everything except the toilet — you use the exact hardware you will use in space on the ground," Garriott said.

 

Garriott said he had a cheat sheet for which switches to turn on for when he needed to use the space commode, the toilet does not work the same way as it does on the ground.

 

"Gravity's actually really important for how to separate yourself from your waste and there's no discussion of that," Garriott said.

 

His father chimed in to give a perspective from the U.S. side, and discussed his training with NASA ahead of his 60-day stint in space during the Skylab 3 mission in 1973.

 

"We did receive proper training," the elder Garriott said. "For urination it's a very simple thing ... Urination is not a problem. Defecation is what you're concerned about."

 

Garriott said the Skylab astronauts used a simulator toilet mounted over a camera so that they could check their positioning on the ground before using the commode in space. All three Skylab crews out also brought home all of their waste to be examined by scientists, Garriott added, remarking that they never had a single toilet failure while in flight.

 

"One thing NASA did right," he quipped.

 

NASA Astronaut Mike Hopkins

 

WLS TV (Chicago)

 

Mike Hopkins, an astronaut for NASA, talks with ABC7 Chicago as he prepares for his upcoming space mission.

 

Hopkins and his crewmates, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy of the Russian Federal Space Agency, will launch on September 25 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard their Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft.

 

- Hopkins is a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force and the first member of the 2009 NASA Astronaut Class to travel to space.

 

- Hopkins is a native of Richland, Missouri. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois and graduate degree from Stanford University.

 

Hopkins' Biography:

www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/hopkins-ms.html

 

International Space Station Expedition 37/38 Information:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition37/index.html#.Uh9w1mwo6Uk

 

"Train Like an Astronaut" Program:

www.Facebook.com/TrainAstronaut

 

Follow Mike on Twitter: @AstroILLINI

 

Mo. native on a trip out of this world - literally

 

Amy Hawley - KSHB TV (Richland, MO)

 

A Richland, Mo., native is moving far, far away, and the place he is going is out of this world - literally.

 

Air Force Colonel Mike Hopkins is a NASA astronaut who is scheduled to travel to the International Space Station with Russian and European astronauts.

 

The launch is scheduled on Sept. 25 in Kazakhstan.

 

He will be stationed at the orbiting outpost for six months

 

Hopkins grew up attending the small School of the Osage south of Lake Ozark, Mo., and graduated as valedictorian.

 

He has been training for this since 2009, but his nervous mom told 41 Action News he has been dreaming about the rocket ride since high school.

 

Barbara Duffy said she always believed her son could be anything he wanted to be.

 

"At that point, there are hopes and dreams," she said. "I never felt like there was a lid at all on anything he wanted to do. He always put mind to something, and he accomplished it."

 

Hopkins and the crew will conduct several hundred experiments that cross fields of biology, physical and earth science.

 

He is scheduled to return home to his wife and two children in March 2014.

 

Ozarks Native Headed to International Space Station

 

KOLR TV (Springfield, MO)

 

Col. Mike Hopkins, a Missouri native, born in Lebanon, grew up in Richland, Missouri, is now an astronaut with NASA.  In two weeks, he will blast off for the International Space Station from the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.  He talks live, via satellite from Russia, with Shanon Miller and Rob Evans on KOLR10 News Daybreak.

 

Mike:  "Good morning Shannon and Rob.  It's great to talk with you and great to talk to Springfield."

 

Shannon:  "Mike, we understand you're from the area.  Tell us a little bit about your history here in the Ozarks."

 

Mike: "I grew up on a small farm outside of Richland.  We raised cattle and hogs. I started off going to school at Richland, and about junior high, I started attending School of the Osage.  I was just another student at School of the Osage and (was) just another student there at School of the Osage.  Had an opportunity to play for some of the sports teams, and from there, went on to the University of Illinois."

 

Rob: "You played football there, was a standout player there.  Take me back, though, to your junior year in high school at School of the Osage.  I understand that's when you wanted to be an astronaut. I'm talking to that kid right now and I'm saying 'Hey Mike, just so you know, in 25 years, you're going to be in outer space.'  Is that possible?"

 

Mike: "It's certainly hard to believe for that kid back in 1986.  It was - I'm watching the shuttle as it launches, 4,5, 6 times a year, going up into space.  Watching the astronauts do their jobs on the space shuttle and outside of the space shuttle. And man, that just looked exciting, and boy, I sure would like to do that.  And it's amazing that 25 years later, I get that opportunity."

 

Shannon:  "And September 25 is when you'll be taking off with two other Russian astronauts.  Talk a little bit about the training.  This is the time when you have to get focused about what you'll be doing."

 

Mike:  "That's absolutely correct.  It's almost like you're going into a football game.  You've got to get ready to play.  And so in this case, we head down to the launch site in Kazakhstan.  We've got about two weeks down there with preparation.  We'll have an opportunity, for the first time, to see the actual vehicle that we'll be sitting in when we launch into space.  Kind of check it out, make sure it's operating okay.  Make sure our space suits are operating okay.  And then we kind of go through some of the last minute looks at the orbital parameters that once we launch into space, where and when we'll be doing different burns on the satellite as we rendezvous with the station itself."

 

Rob: "What are you going to do at the International Space Station and how long are you going to be there?"

 

Mike:  "So we'll be there for 6 months, which is very exciting.  What we're going to do, primarily, is a lot of science.  There's over 200 experiments that are going to be performed on the International Space Station while we're there.  They range from human research to biology to physics to engineering demonstrations.  So that's certainly going to be a lot of fun to do.  We also have to maintain that station, though.

 

So, there's some routine maintenance to do.  Things break, just like anybody's house.  So we have to be ready and prepared to fix those when that happens."

 

Shannon:  "Mike you'll be away from your family for about 6 months. Is there anyway you can contact them - does Skype works from space?"

 

Mike: "Well, we don't have Skype.  But NASA and the international partners do a fantastic job of providing opportunities for us to keep in touch with our families.  In fact, once a week, I'll have the opportunity to have a  video tele-conference with them.  And we have an IP phone, so I'm able to call them daily, if I want to.  In fact, I could call your cell phone if I needed to or wanted to, from there."

 

Undersea Florida lab for 'aquanauts' back, thanks to FIU's help

 

Jennifer Kay - Associated Press

 

Astronaut training has resumed at an undersea laboratory in the Florida Keys.

 

Starting Tuesday, five astronauts began spending five days living and working at the Aquarius Reef Base. While they're underwater, they'll be trying out an exercise device that could be used on the International Space Station and spacewalking tools.

 

They also will evaluate protocols for communications and for working with a remotely operated vehicle, according to NASA.

 

Scientists staying at Aquarius are called "aquanauts," and since 2001 their ranks have included astronauts training for space missions.

 

Astronauts last trained at Aquarius in June 2012 on a mission that simulated a visit to an asteroid.

 

It seemed like the final astronaut training mission because Aquarius had been set to close by the end of last year after losing its federal funding to budget cuts.

 

This week's mission is the first at Aquarius since Florida International University took over its operations in January.

 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration owns the pressurized lab that sits about 60 feet below the ocean's surface a few miles off Key Largo.

 

The 43-foot-long metal tube — it looks like a yellow mobile home encrusted with coral — allows scientists to live and work underwater for days at a time without coming up for air.

 

For more than two decades, marine scientists have used the lab as a base to study changes in a coral reef and the populations of sea creatures that call it home.

 

The base allows researchers to scuba dive up to nine continuous hours a day without needing to return to the surface or decompress.

 

Sixteen NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations training missions were held at Aquarius. NASA officials say the watery environment is similar to a low earth orbit and helps astronauts field-test their skills for space expeditions.

 

Aquarius allows astronauts to physically experience life in tight quarters and potentially hostile environments, said Tom Potts, the lab's director.

 

"The nice thing about Aquarius is that you don't have to simulate the danger," he said.

 

"The danger is real if you don't follow certain protocols."

 

The 400-square-foot lab accomodates six people and includes bunks and a small kitchen space.

 

The crew for this week's mission, dubbed "SEA TEST," includes NASA astronauts Joe Acaba and Kate Rubins, Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and Andreas Mogensen and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

 

The lab's next resident will be Fabien Cousteau, the grandson of ocean exploration pioneer Jacques Cousteau.

 

With a team of filmmakers and scientists, Fabien plans to dive to Aquarius in November and spend 31 days doing research on the underwater effects of climate change, and on the physiological and psychological effects of prolonged confinement and long-term saturation diving.

 

One giant leap for a rock star:

Bob Geldof reveals he is to blast into space next year

 

Arthur Martin - London Daily Mail

 

He once said he joined a rock band 'to get rich, to get famous and to get laid'.

 

Now Bob Geldof can add 'to fly into space' to the list.

 

Yesterday the Boomtown Rats frontman said he will become the first Irishman and the first rock star to fly out of the earth's atmosphere.

 

Geldof will be propelled at 2,200 mph in a space shuttle to 64 miles above earth.

 

Wearing an astronaut's suit and helmet, the 61-year-old will only have the pilot for company during the one-hour commercial space flight.

 

He will sit inside a Lynx Mark II shuttle powered by four rocket engines which will take off from a normal runway.

 

The singer and campaigner was given the £64,000 ticket as a birthday present after he performed a gig at a corporate event in the Natural History Museum.

 

His will be one of 100 people who the Space Expedition Corporation is hoping to launch into space next year.

 

Geldof said: 'Being the first Irishman in space is not only a fantastic honour, but pretty mind-blowing. The first rock astronaut space rat.

 

'Elvis may have left the building, but Bob Geldof will have left the planet. Wild. Who would have thought it possible in my lifetime?

 

'Who wouldn't want to leave the planet and have a look? I'd be afraid, but that's another reason to do it - just the wonder of it.'

 

The singer was due to start training in a flight simulator this weekend, but admitted there were some teething problems.

 

Go To Space At The Same Time As Famous People: There Are Still Tickets

 

Suzy Strutner - Huffington Post

 

We're in the midst of another space race, but this one has paparazzi.

 

Space Expedition Corporation, or SXC, says it plans to send a group of 100 passengers into space next year. Notable entertainers -- Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes, DJ Armin van Buuren and singer/activist Bob Geldof -- have already booked seats, and tickets are still up for grabs... for $100,000.

 

As a "Founder Astronaut" on SXC's mission, you and your famous fellow passengers would stay in a hotel near the Spaceport on the island of Curacao. Then, one by one, you'd hop in the Lynx Mark II for a one-hour flight into space and back.

 

The spaceship can only fit one passenger at a time, and a raffle will determine the order of flights, so theoretically you could beat Armin to space and then tell him about it. Which would be kind of cool.

 

This SXC voyage puts pressure on Virgin Galactic, the company that has been selling tickets to its own space flight for years.

 

Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio and more celebs have reportedly booked spots with Virgin for $200,000 a pop, but the flight has been delayed numerous times.

 

But as of now, both SXC and Virgin say 2014 is the year their high-profile passengers will finally make it past the sound barrier.

 

Will you be there with them?

 

MEANWHILE ON MARS

 

 

NASA's Mars rover takes trekking break, prepares for new journey

 

Deborah Netburn - Los Angeles Times

 

After two months of slow but steady trekking across the Martian landscape, Curiosity is getting ready to rest its wheels and get back to some good old-fashioned science.

 

This week, Curiosity's handlers announced that the Mars rover is less than 250 feet from the first of five waypoints that will break up its 5.3-mile journey to its next major destination - the base of Mt. Sharp.

 

To help scientists determine exactly where the rover should plan to stop, Curiosity climbed to the top of a rise known as Panorama Point and snapped the image above. The points of interest for scientists are the pale horizontal streaks in the image, which represent Martian bedrock.

 

The rover will do a detailed study at each waypoint, using instruments on its robot arm. The Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI, will collect detailed images of rocks, for instance, and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, or APXS, will measure chemical elements in rocks and soil.

 

Those instruments, and others, have been on a two-month hiatus since the rover left the shallow depression known as Yellowknife Bay, where it found evidence that the Martian environment was once hospitable to microbial life.

 

At its next destination, Mt. Sharp, the rover will look at multiple rock layers to learn more about Mars' ancient environment, and how environmental conditions changed.

 

In the meantime, scientists say the waystation stops will provide context for the rover's past and future discoveries.

 

"We want to know how the rocks at Yellowknife Bay are related to what we'll see at Mt. Sharp," project scientist John Grotzinger of Caltech said in a statement. "That's what we intend to get from the waypoints between them. We'll stitch together a timeline - which layers are older, which are younger."

 

It will also break up the slow-going trek of the rover, which moves at a pace of just 1.5 inches per second.

 

Curiosity Rover Takes Longest Drive on Mars Yet

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has made its longest Martian drive yet as it trucks along on the Red Planet.

 

Curiosity performed its longest one-day drive on Sept. 5, putting it within striking distance of an interesting patch of rocks called Waypoint 1, NASA officials said in a mission update today (Sept. 10). Arriving at Waypoint 1 will place the rover about one-fifth of the way to its ultimate destination: a 3-mile-high (5 kilometers) mountain dubbed Mount Sharp.

 

During the long drive, Curiosity traversed 464 feet (141.5 meters) to the top of Panorama Point where it took photos of the pale outcrop that is Waypoint 1. As of Monday (Sept. 9), the car-sized rover was about 245 feet (75 m) away from the checkpoint, according to NASA officials.

 

"We had a long and unobstructed view of the hill we needed to climb, which would provide an overlook of the first major waypoint on our trek to Mount Sharp," said rover mission planner Jeff Biesiadecki, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in a statement. "We were able to extend the drive well beyond what we could see by enabling the rover's onboard hazard avoidance system."

 

A NASA spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet helped to map out Curiosity's approximately 5.3-mile (8.6 km) path to Mount Sharp. Scientists used imagery collected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to choose Waypoint 1 as a target for Curiosity. Once the rover reaches the milestone it will pause for a few days to sample the area with its arm, NASA officials explained.

 

Scientists want to sample the waypoints Curiosity comes across during its journey to put together a map of the Martian environment.

 

"We want to know how the rocks at Yellowknife Bay are related to what we'll see at Mount Sharp," Curiosity's project scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology, said in a statement. "That's what we intend to get from the waypoints between them. We'll use them to stitch together a timeline — which layers are older, which are younger."

 

In an earlier drive this summer, the 1-ton Curiosity rover got to use its own navigation system to traverse an area not vetted by its handlers back on Earth beforehand. The rover used its autonomous navigation system to drive about 33 feet (10 m) out of its 141 foot (43 m) for the trip.

 

NASA's $2.5 billion Curiosity rover landed inside the vast Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012 to determine if the planet could have ever been habitable for microbial life in its past. In March of this year, scientists announced that an area near the landing site called Yellowknife Bay was capable of supporting microbial life billions of years in the past.

 

END