NASA's Airbag Drop Tests in Full Swing
06.25.08
"Three...two…one…release!" shouts Scott Runnells, a NASA lead technician, prompting a 16,000 pound (7,257 kg) test apparatus to swing down to Earth from nearly 40 feet in the air.
Second generation airbag drop testing is underway at the 240-foot-tall (73 m) Landing and Impact Research Facility, also known as "the gantry," at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
Engineers and technicians examine the impact on airbags after these pendulum swing drop tests to help further research on a contingency land landing system for Orion, NASA's new crew exploration vehicle.
Now under development, Orion will be America's next crewed spacecraft, designed to fly to the International Space Station and be part of the space flight system to conduct sustained human exploration of the moon. While it is early in the design process and plans could change, NASA currently is working toward a splashdown landing for Orion.
The agency also is preparing for scenarios that could reroute the spacecraft during its return to Earth. In the event that a pad abort occurs -- and the crew module is rapidly propelled away from the Ares I rocket while still on the launch pad -- wind could catch Orion's parachutes in its descent and blow it back toward the shore.
"Although an unlikely scenario, the possibility of wind blowing Orion back to land from its intended water target during a pad abort can't be dismissed," Barry Bryant, project manager for the Orion Landing System Advanced Development Project, said.
For this reason, NASA is developing the contingency land landing system, which consists of two airbag assemblies called "leading edge airbags" that will wrap around the front edge of the Orion crew module.
"After a pad abort, you're really not sure if you're going to hit water or land, so if you have different landing architectures -- for example one hang angle for water and a different hang angle for land -- you don't know how to throw the switch on a pad abort because you can't be certain as to which [kind of] landing you're going to have," Bryant said.
This scenario led to NASA's goal of developing a singular landing system that will work for both land and water landings. Since Orion's intended landing site is water, the spacecraft will descend at an angle in its return to Earth. With the design of the airbags, the contingency land landing system will support a touchdown on land even though Orion is coming down at an angle.
"If we have a contingency land landing system that has a low risk of injury, now whether you land on water or land, you've got the same low risk for the crew," Bryant said.
"Now the people that make the decision about how to reenter in the case of an emergency situation don't have to add the choice between land or water to their complex, critical thinking because they've got a vehicle that can land in either spot," he said.
Although in the beginning stages, preparations for the development of a contingency land landing system are progressing quickly.
While the airbag drop tests were originally planned to provide research for a nominal land landing, NASA engineers are using the demonstrations to prove out the design and the fabrication techniques that will be used on contingency land landing airbags.
After second generation testing wraps up this summer, tests specifically for the contingency land landing system will begin.
Airbag vendors Airborne Systems and ILC Dover are working together to build a full-scale prototype of the contingency land landing airbag assembly and to demonstrate an in-house deployment.
Following further designs of the airbag assembly, NASA will test a contingency land landing airbag at the 72-foot (22 m) Vertical Drop Tower and the 20-foot (6 m) Vertical Spin Tunnel at Langley. Engineers will subsequently conduct full-scale drop tests similar to demonstrations being performed today -- only this time they will use the newly-designed leading edge airbags.
Emily Outen
NASA Langley Research Center
Bye for now,
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
NEXT STEP TO ESTABLISHING LUNAR OUTPOST
NASA Study Provides Next Step To Establishing Lunar Outpost
HOUSTON -- NASA engineers and scientists completed a milestone review June 20 that will help determine the systems needed to return humans to the moon and establish a lunar outpost.
The three-day Lunar Capability Concept Review capped a nine-month study led by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington that incorporated science and exploration objectives earlier developed by representatives of 14 countries as part of the Global Exploration Strategy.
The study looked at possible lunar mission scenarios and compared them to the capabilities of the emerging Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle and the Altair lunar lander design concepts. This review of those findings, led by the Constellation Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, established all the technical parameters that will be needed to begin Phase A, the first phase in preparing vehicle requirements.
"We confirmed that Constellation's conceptual designs for both Ares V and Altair will enable us to land astronauts and cargo anywhere on the moon and to buildan outpost supporting widespread exploration of the lunar surface" said Jeff Hanley, Constellation Program manager at Johnson."This extensive review proveswe are ready for the next phase: taking these concepts and moving forward to establish mature requirements".
According to Hanley, the study bears out the strength of the initial concepts showing the vehicles can be built and delivered in time to return humans to the moonby 2020.
The review also reinforced the key role of international partnerships and industry collaboration to developing the lunar surface systems for human missions to the moon.
Phase A begins the process of defining the vehicle and element requirements. During this phase, the Ares V and Altair Project teams will take what was learned from theLunar Capability Concept Review and baseline the needs for lunar missions, establish the design needs and determine plans for advancing the technologies needed to be successful. Phase A will culminate in a Systems Requirements Review for NASA's lunar transportation architecture, tentatively planned for 2010.The review refined early configurations of the Ares V rocket to ensure its capability to deliver the Altair lunar lander, four astronauts and cargo anywhere on the moon and return the crew to Earth at any time. To accomplish those objectives,the current configuration of the Ares V will use six RS-68B liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engines on a core stage along with two five-and-one-half segment solid propellant rocket boosters, which are a direct evolution from the first stage of theAres I rocket. The Ares V upper stage will propel the Orion crew capsule and Altairto the moon using the same J-2X engine as the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The Ares V will stand about 381 feet tall and be able to send more than 156,600 pounds of cargoand components into orbit to the moon, and later to Mars or other destinations.
Altair will be capable of landing four astronauts anywhere on the moon, providing life support and a base for the first week-long surface exploration missions, and returning the crew to the Orion spacecraft for the ride home to Earth. A variant ofthe lunar lander will serve as an autonomous cargo carrier, taking modular outpost components, lunar rovers, and scientific equipment to the moon's surface.
The formal decision to start Phase A will be taken to NASA's leaders before the end of this year.
The Constellation Program Office at Johnson has the responsibility for developing the next human space transportation system that will be used to extend a human presence throughout the solar system. The program includes multiple project offices and technical teams at all ten NASA centers and at contract organizations around the nation.
The Orion Project and Altair Project also are led from Johnson.
The AresProject Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., leads the design and development of the Ares I rocket and Ares V cargo launch vehicle.
TheGround Operations Project at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will handle ground and launch operations for the vehicles.
For information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store
HOUSTON -- NASA engineers and scientists completed a milestone review June 20 that will help determine the systems needed to return humans to the moon and establish a lunar outpost.
The three-day Lunar Capability Concept Review capped a nine-month study led by the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington that incorporated science and exploration objectives earlier developed by representatives of 14 countries as part of the Global Exploration Strategy.
The study looked at possible lunar mission scenarios and compared them to the capabilities of the emerging Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle and the Altair lunar lander design concepts. This review of those findings, led by the Constellation Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, established all the technical parameters that will be needed to begin Phase A, the first phase in preparing vehicle requirements.
"We confirmed that Constellation's conceptual designs for both Ares V and Altair will enable us to land astronauts and cargo anywhere on the moon and to buildan outpost supporting widespread exploration of the lunar surface" said Jeff Hanley, Constellation Program manager at Johnson."This extensive review proveswe are ready for the next phase: taking these concepts and moving forward to establish mature requirements".
According to Hanley, the study bears out the strength of the initial concepts showing the vehicles can be built and delivered in time to return humans to the moonby 2020.
The review also reinforced the key role of international partnerships and industry collaboration to developing the lunar surface systems for human missions to the moon.
Phase A begins the process of defining the vehicle and element requirements. During this phase, the Ares V and Altair Project teams will take what was learned from theLunar Capability Concept Review and baseline the needs for lunar missions, establish the design needs and determine plans for advancing the technologies needed to be successful. Phase A will culminate in a Systems Requirements Review for NASA's lunar transportation architecture, tentatively planned for 2010.The review refined early configurations of the Ares V rocket to ensure its capability to deliver the Altair lunar lander, four astronauts and cargo anywhere on the moon and return the crew to Earth at any time. To accomplish those objectives,the current configuration of the Ares V will use six RS-68B liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engines on a core stage along with two five-and-one-half segment solid propellant rocket boosters, which are a direct evolution from the first stage of theAres I rocket. The Ares V upper stage will propel the Orion crew capsule and Altairto the moon using the same J-2X engine as the Ares I crew launch vehicle. The Ares V will stand about 381 feet tall and be able to send more than 156,600 pounds of cargoand components into orbit to the moon, and later to Mars or other destinations.
Altair will be capable of landing four astronauts anywhere on the moon, providing life support and a base for the first week-long surface exploration missions, and returning the crew to the Orion spacecraft for the ride home to Earth. A variant ofthe lunar lander will serve as an autonomous cargo carrier, taking modular outpost components, lunar rovers, and scientific equipment to the moon's surface.
The formal decision to start Phase A will be taken to NASA's leaders before the end of this year.
The Constellation Program Office at Johnson has the responsibility for developing the next human space transportation system that will be used to extend a human presence throughout the solar system. The program includes multiple project offices and technical teams at all ten NASA centers and at contract organizations around the nation.
The Orion Project and Altair Project also are led from Johnson.
The AresProject Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., leads the design and development of the Ares I rocket and Ares V cargo launch vehicle.
TheGround Operations Project at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will handle ground and launch operations for the vehicles.
For information about NASA's Constellation Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/constellation
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store
Monday, 23 June 2008
NASA Educational Collaboration
NASA Encourages Education In Celebration Of The 50th Anniversary
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA celebrates this year's 50th anniversary with the creation of an educational card game, "You've Been Sentenced! - NASA 50th Anniversary Special Edition." NASA and McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds formed a partnership in April of 2008 to create the game, which bears a few similarities to Scrabble.
NASA and McNeill Designs collaborated to create the Add-on Deck which will present NASA terminology while promoting greater interest and understanding of NASA's history and future. The 50th Anniversary Special Edition Add-on Deck will contain words not only used in space exploration, but also terminology from the past, current and future explorers, missions, and programs. "You've Been Sentenced!" delivers a unique way to understand these terms that is both fun and memorable for students.
"As part of our 50th anniversary celebration, this is an informal and fun venue to educate folks on American's space program, past and present," said Gregg Buckingham, chief, Education Programs and University Research Division at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "We will also learn more about the effectiveness of this kind of education tool from McNeill.
"The purpose of this project is to build a strategic partnership among informal education providers, community groups, formal educators and families to promote literacy, particularly focusing in the areas of space, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The game "You've Been Sentenced!" can be used in classrooms to aid educators in teaching curriculum based upon space and space exploration at NASA.
For additional information about "You've Been Sentenced! - NASA 50th Anniversary Special Edition" and McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds, visit: http://www.mcneilbrighterminds.com
Bye for now,
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA celebrates this year's 50th anniversary with the creation of an educational card game, "You've Been Sentenced! - NASA 50th Anniversary Special Edition." NASA and McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds formed a partnership in April of 2008 to create the game, which bears a few similarities to Scrabble.
NASA and McNeill Designs collaborated to create the Add-on Deck which will present NASA terminology while promoting greater interest and understanding of NASA's history and future. The 50th Anniversary Special Edition Add-on Deck will contain words not only used in space exploration, but also terminology from the past, current and future explorers, missions, and programs. "You've Been Sentenced!" delivers a unique way to understand these terms that is both fun and memorable for students.
"As part of our 50th anniversary celebration, this is an informal and fun venue to educate folks on American's space program, past and present," said Gregg Buckingham, chief, Education Programs and University Research Division at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. "We will also learn more about the effectiveness of this kind of education tool from McNeill.
"The purpose of this project is to build a strategic partnership among informal education providers, community groups, formal educators and families to promote literacy, particularly focusing in the areas of space, science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The game "You've Been Sentenced!" can be used in classrooms to aid educators in teaching curriculum based upon space and space exploration at NASA.
For additional information about "You've Been Sentenced! - NASA 50th Anniversary Special Edition" and McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds, visit: http://www.mcneilbrighterminds.com
Bye for now,
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store
Space Shuttle Overview: Challenger
Space Shuttle Overview: Challenger (OV-099)
First called STA-099, Challenger was built to serve as a test vehicle for the Space Shuttle program. But despite its Earth-bound beginnings, STA-099 was destined for space.
In the late 1970s, NASA strived for a lighter weight orbiter, but a test vehicle was needed to ensure the lighter airframe could handle the stress of space flight. Computer software at the time wasn't yet advanced enough to accurately predict how STA-099's new, optimized design would respond to intense heat and stress. The best solution was to submit the vehicle to a year of intensive vibration and thermal testing.
Challenger is seen against a breathtaking backdrop of blue water and white clouds in this photo, taken from a camera aboard the Shuttle Pallet Satellite during mission STS-7. Credit: NASA
In early 1979, NASA awarded Space Shuttle orbiter manufacturer Rockwell a contract to convert STA-099 to a space-rated orbiter, OV-099. The vehicle's conversion began late that year. Although the job was easier than it would have been to convert NASA's first orbiter, Enterprise, it was a major process that involved the disassembly and replacement of many parts and components.
The second orbiter to join NASA's Space Shuttle fleet, OV-099 arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July 1982, bearing the name "Challenger."
Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger was named after the British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger that sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 1870s. The Apollo 17 lunar module also carried the name of Challenger. Like its historic predecessors, Challenger and her crews made significant scientific contributions in the spirit of exploration.
Challenger launched on her maiden voyage, STS-6, on April 4, 1983. That mission saw the first spacewalk of the Space Shuttle program, as well as the deployment of the first satellite in the Tracking and Data Relay System constellation. The orbiter launched the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space on mission STS-7 and was the first to carry two U.S. female astronauts on mission STS 41-G.
Image to right: Space Shuttle Challenger leaps from the launch pad to begin mission STS-41-C. Credit: NASA
The first orbiter to launch and land at night on mission STS-8, Challenger also made the first Space Shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, concluding mission STS 41-B. Spacelabs 2 and 3 flew aboard the ship on missions STS 51-F and STS 51-B, as did the first German-dedicated Spacelab on STS 61-A. A host of scientific experiments and satellite deployments were performed during Challenger's missions.
Challenger's service to America's Space Program ended in tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds into mission STS 51-L, a booster failure caused an explosion that resulted in the loss of seven astronauts, as well as the vehicle.
The loss of Challenger does not overshadow her legacy in NASA's storied history. The discoveries made on her many successful missions continue to better mankind in space flight and in life on Earth.
Construction Milestones - STA-099
July 26, 1972
Contract Award
Nov. 21, 1975
Start structural assembly of crew module
June 14, 1976
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
March 16, 1977
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Sept. 30, 1977
Start of Final Assembly
Feb. 10, 1978
Completed final assembly
Feb. 14, 1978
Rollout from PalmdaleConstruction Milestones - OV-099
Jan. 1, 1979
Contract Award
Jan. 28, 1979
Start structural assembly of crew module
June 14, 1976
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
March 16, 1977
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Nov. 3, 1980
Start of Final Assembly
Oct. 21, 1981
Completed final assembly
June 30, 1982
Rollout from Palmdale
July 1, 1982
Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
July 5, 1982
Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
Dec. 19, 1982
Flight Readiness Firing
April 4, 1983
First Flight (STS-6)
Nick.
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
First called STA-099, Challenger was built to serve as a test vehicle for the Space Shuttle program. But despite its Earth-bound beginnings, STA-099 was destined for space.
In the late 1970s, NASA strived for a lighter weight orbiter, but a test vehicle was needed to ensure the lighter airframe could handle the stress of space flight. Computer software at the time wasn't yet advanced enough to accurately predict how STA-099's new, optimized design would respond to intense heat and stress. The best solution was to submit the vehicle to a year of intensive vibration and thermal testing.
Challenger is seen against a breathtaking backdrop of blue water and white clouds in this photo, taken from a camera aboard the Shuttle Pallet Satellite during mission STS-7. Credit: NASA
In early 1979, NASA awarded Space Shuttle orbiter manufacturer Rockwell a contract to convert STA-099 to a space-rated orbiter, OV-099. The vehicle's conversion began late that year. Although the job was easier than it would have been to convert NASA's first orbiter, Enterprise, it was a major process that involved the disassembly and replacement of many parts and components.
The second orbiter to join NASA's Space Shuttle fleet, OV-099 arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in July 1982, bearing the name "Challenger."
Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger was named after the British Naval research vessel HMS Challenger that sailed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans during the 1870s. The Apollo 17 lunar module also carried the name of Challenger. Like its historic predecessors, Challenger and her crews made significant scientific contributions in the spirit of exploration.
Challenger launched on her maiden voyage, STS-6, on April 4, 1983. That mission saw the first spacewalk of the Space Shuttle program, as well as the deployment of the first satellite in the Tracking and Data Relay System constellation. The orbiter launched the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space on mission STS-7 and was the first to carry two U.S. female astronauts on mission STS 41-G.
Image to right: Space Shuttle Challenger leaps from the launch pad to begin mission STS-41-C. Credit: NASA
The first orbiter to launch and land at night on mission STS-8, Challenger also made the first Space Shuttle landing at Kennedy Space Center, concluding mission STS 41-B. Spacelabs 2 and 3 flew aboard the ship on missions STS 51-F and STS 51-B, as did the first German-dedicated Spacelab on STS 61-A. A host of scientific experiments and satellite deployments were performed during Challenger's missions.
Challenger's service to America's Space Program ended in tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds into mission STS 51-L, a booster failure caused an explosion that resulted in the loss of seven astronauts, as well as the vehicle.
The loss of Challenger does not overshadow her legacy in NASA's storied history. The discoveries made on her many successful missions continue to better mankind in space flight and in life on Earth.
Construction Milestones - STA-099
July 26, 1972
Contract Award
Nov. 21, 1975
Start structural assembly of crew module
June 14, 1976
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
March 16, 1977
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Sept. 30, 1977
Start of Final Assembly
Feb. 10, 1978
Completed final assembly
Feb. 14, 1978
Rollout from PalmdaleConstruction Milestones - OV-099
Jan. 1, 1979
Contract Award
Jan. 28, 1979
Start structural assembly of crew module
June 14, 1976
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
March 16, 1977
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Nov. 3, 1980
Start of Final Assembly
Oct. 21, 1981
Completed final assembly
June 30, 1982
Rollout from Palmdale
July 1, 1982
Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
July 5, 1982
Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
Dec. 19, 1982
Flight Readiness Firing
April 4, 1983
First Flight (STS-6)
Nick.
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle Overview: Atlantis (OV-104)
NASA's fourth space-rated space shuttle, OV-104 "Atlantis," was named after the two-masted boat that served as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966. The boat had a 17-member crew and accommodated up to five scientists who worked in two onboard laboratories, examining water samples and marine life. The crew also used the first electronic sounding devices to map the ocean floor.
NASA's fourth space-rated space shuttle, OV-104 "Atlantis," was named after the two-masted boat that served as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966. The boat had a 17-member crew and accommodated up to five scientists who worked in two onboard laboratories, examining water samples and marine life. The crew also used the first electronic sounding devices to map the ocean floor.
During its second major overhaul, Atlantis received the new Multifunction Electronic Display System, or "glass cockpit." Credit: NASA
Construction of the orbiter Atlantis began on March 3, 1980. Thanks to lessons learned in the construction and testing of orbiters Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger, Atlantis was completed in about half the time in man-hours spent on Columbia. This is largely attributed to the use of large thermal protection blankets on the orbiter's upper body, rather than individual tiles requiring more attention.
Weighing in at 151,315 pounds when it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif., Atlantis was nearly 3.5 tons lighter than Columbia. The new orbiter arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 9, 1985, and over the next seven months was prepared for her maiden voyage.
Like her seafaring predecessor, orbiter Atlantis has carried on the spirit of exploration with several important missions of her own. On Oct. 3, 1985, Atlantis launched on her first space flight, STS-51-J, with a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense. The vehicle went on to carry four more DOD payloads on later missions.
Atlantis also served as the on-orbit launch site for many noteworthy spacecraft, including planetary probes Magellan and Galileo, as well as the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. An impressive array of onboard science experiments took place during most missions to further enhance space research in low Earth orbit.Starting with STS-71, Atlantis pioneered the Shuttle-Mir missions, flying the first seven missions to dock with the Russian space station. When linked, Atlantis and Mir together formed the largest spacecraft in orbit at the time.
The missions to Mir included the first on-orbit U.S. crew exchanges, now a common occurrence on the International Space Station. On STS-79, the fourth docking mission, Atlantis ferried astronaut Shannon Lucid back to Earth after her record-setting 188 days in orbit aboard Mir.
In recent years, Atlantis has delivered several vital components to the International Space Station, including the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, as well as the Joint Airlock Quest and multiple sections of the Integrated Truss structure that makes up the Station's backbone. As NASA seeks to fulfill the Vision for Space Exploration, beginning with the completion of the Station, Atlantis will be called upon for many missions to come.
Left:Riding twin plumes of flame produced by its Solid Rocket Boosters, Space Shuttle Atlantis clears the tower as it launches on mission STS-46. Credit: NASA
Construction Milestones - OV-104
Jan. 29, 1979 Contract Award
March 30, 1980 Start structural assembly of crew module
Nov. 23, 1981 Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
June 13, 1983 Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Dec. 2, 1983 Start of Final Assembly
April 10, 1984 Completed final assembly
March 6, 1985 Rollout from PalmdaleApril 3, 1985 Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
April 9, 1985 Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
Sept. 5, 1985 Flight Readiness Firing
Oct. 3, 1985 First Flight (STS-51-J)Upgrades and FeaturesBy early 2005, Atlantis had undergone two overhauls known as Orbiter Maintenance Down Periods.
Some of the most significant upgrades and new features included:
- Installation of the drag chute
- New plumbing lines and electrical connections configuring the orbiter for extended duration missions
- New insulation for the main landing gear doors
- Improved nosewheel steering
- Preparations for the Mir Orbiter Docking System unit later installed at Kennedy
- Installation of the International Space Station airlock and Orbiter Docking System
- Installation of the Multifunction Electronic Display System, or "glass cockpit"
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online StoreNASA-SPACE
STS-125: The Final Visit
STS-125: The Final Visit to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
It's a mission to once more push the boundaries of how deep in space and far back in time humanity can see. It's a flight to again upgrade what already may be the most significant satellite ever launched.
And, for the space shuttle, it's a final visit to a dear, old friend.
The STS-125 mission will return the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope for one last visit before the shuttle fleet retires in 2010. Over 12 days and five spacewalks, the shuttle Atlantis’ crew will make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, leaving it better than ever and ready for another five years – or more – of research.
The shuttle Discovery launched Hubble in 1990, and released it into an orbit 350 miles above the Earth. Since then it’s circled Earth more than 97,000 times and provided more than 4,000 astronomers access to the stars not possible from inside Earth’s atmosphere. Hubble has helped answer some of science’s key questions and provided images that have awed and inspired the world.
It's a mission to once more push the boundaries of how deep in space and far back in time humanity can see. It's a flight to again upgrade what already may be the most significant satellite ever launched.
And, for the space shuttle, it's a final visit to a dear, old friend.
The STS-125 mission will return the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope for one last visit before the shuttle fleet retires in 2010. Over 12 days and five spacewalks, the shuttle Atlantis’ crew will make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, leaving it better than ever and ready for another five years – or more – of research.
The shuttle Discovery launched Hubble in 1990, and released it into an orbit 350 miles above the Earth. Since then it’s circled Earth more than 97,000 times and provided more than 4,000 astronomers access to the stars not possible from inside Earth’s atmosphere. Hubble has helped answer some of science’s key questions and provided images that have awed and inspired the world.
The Hubble Space Telescope is in the grip of space shuttle Columbia's robotic arm in March 2002 at the beginning of STS-109, the third Hubble servicing mission. Image: NASA
“We’ve actually seen an object that emitted its light about 13 billion years ago,” said Hubble senior scientist Dave Leckrone. “Since the universe is 13.7 billion years old, that’s its infancy, the nursery. From the nearest parts of our solar system to further back in time than anyone has ever looked before, we’ve taken ordinary citizens on a voyage through the universe.”
But Hubble has not done it alone.
Atlantis’ crew – Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur – will be the fifth shuttle crew to fly to the telescope. Their predecessors have replaced and repaired failed and faulty components and added new and improved cameras and scientific equipment, and the STS-125 crew will be no different.
Most exciting are the new scientific instruments Atlantis’ spacewalkers will install. The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, for instance, will observe the light put out by extremely faint, far-away quasars and see how that light changes as it passes through the intervening gas between distant galaxies. In this way scientists will learn what that gas is made of, how it’s changed over time and how it affects the galaxies around it.
“It’s an important player in the story of how galaxies are formed and how the chemical makeup of the universe has changed over time,” Leckrone said.
And the new Wide Field Camera 3 will allow Hubble to take large-scale, extremely clear and detailed pictures over a very wide range of colors. At ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths the WFC3 represents a dramatic improvement in capability over all previous Hubble cameras. It is also a very capable visible light camera, though by design not quite as capable at visible wavelengths as Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The WFC3 and ACS are designed to work together in a complementary fashion.
“If I want a complete family album of the universe, I need to look at it in all these different wavelengths,” Leckrone said. “This will be the first time we’ve had an opportunity to take all these different images together, to have a comparable quality of pictures across this whole wavelength band.”
Before those much anticipated views are seen, though, the equipment has to be installed – a process that will be exciting in its own right. The spacewalks necessary to outfit Hubble will be very different from the spacewalks conducted at the International Space Station.
“It’s more like brain surgery than construction,” Lead Flight Director Tony Ceccacci said. “On station spacewalks, you’re installing large pieces of equipment – trusses, modules, etc. – and putting it together like an erector set. You can’t do that with Hubble. Hubble spacewalks are comparable to standing at an operating table, doing very dexterous work.”
Although the installation of the new equipment and the replacement of some old items – gyroscopes, batteries and a fine guidance sensor – will be challenging, it’s the repairs the astronauts plan that will be the most complicated.
The new camera and spectrograph are designed to complement the scientific instruments already on the telescope – specifically the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. But pieces of those instruments have failed in past years – not the entire instrument, but specific pieces inside of them.
The crew will replace only the pieces that have failed. But those instruments were never designed to be repaired in space. In fact, they were specifically designed not to come apart.
“When we first looked at it, we were going ‘well, maybe, maybe not,’” Ceccacci said.
Since then, the team has come up with a plan for the work that Ceccacci believes will be very successful. But it won’t be easy – the repair of the spectrograph, for instance, requires the spacewalkers to remove more than 100 screws to access a computer card they will pull out and replace.
Still, the mission’s commander pointed out that it’s good practice for the future. “I think it’s a step that we need to take to make us better able to go to places like Mars,” Altman said. “You don’t want to drag a whole spare giant box along – you’d like to be able to have the one little transistor you need to plug in when that fails. Being able to demonstrate this in space is a key element of us growing as a space-faring people.”
The Hubble spacewalks won’t be the only things that differ from missions to the space station. Confined to just the shuttle, the quarters will be tighter; with five back-to-back spacewalks, the pace will be faster.
Without the station crew to give the shuttle a once over and photograph its heat shield , the customary survey of the heat shield done the day after launch will be much more intensive. The crew will use the shuttle robotic arm and its 50-foot boom extension and sensor systems to perform not only the standard nose cap and wing leading edges inspection, but also a survey of the upper crew cabin and the entire underside.
In the unlikely event that irreparable damage is found, the crew also won’t be able to get to the space station to wait for a ride home – Atlantis can't reach the station from Hubble’s orbit. Because the crew won't have access to the station and the support it could provide in an emergency, the mission to Hubble requires some changes on the ground.
For every shuttle mission since Columbia, there has been a contingency plan in place to allow another shuttle to be launched if needed to rescue a stranded shuttle crew. On station missions, that stranded crew can wait longer at the station than would be the case for Atlantis. So, for 125, another shuttle will be standing ready on Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B. If needed, space shuttle Endeavour, manned by the flight deck crew of mission STS-123 which flew in March, will be ready to fly to Hubble and retrieve Atlantis’ crew within days.
What puts Altman’s mind at ease, however, are the changes NASA has made to keep damage from occurring in the first place.
“I feel pretty good that we’ve made incredible improvement in the external tank,” he said. “That’s the root cause. But if something does happen, I think we have the tools to find it, see where it is, evaluate how serious it is and fix it. And then on that one-way-down-at-the-edge-of-the-probability-level chance that you could have damage such that you wouldn’t want to come home on it, we have the capability to stay up there – extend our time and have another shuttle come get us.”
The risks, he believes, are relatively small, and the payoff is huge.
“Hubble puts cutting edge science together with a visual image that grabs the public’s imagination,” Altman said. “I think that’s the first step in exploration. Because Hubble takes light that’s been traveling for billions of years, sucks it in and shows it to us. It’s like taking you on a journey 13 and a half billion light years away while you sit there at home and look out at the universe.”
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
http://www.nasa-space.co.uk/
http://www.nasa-collectables.com/
http://www.unofficial-michaelfoale.com/
http://www.unofficial-pierssellers.com/
http://www.unofficial-helensharman.com/
http://www.unofficial-nicholaspatrick.com/
http://space-patches.blogspot.com/
http://spaceboosterscouk.blogspot.com/
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Delivers Soil Sample to Microscope
21-06-08
TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Saturday beamed back images showing that Phoenix’s Robotic Arm successfully sprinkled soil onto the delivery port of the lander's Optical Microscope.
Mission scientists said enough of the fine-grained soil sample remains in the scoop of the lander's Robotic Arm for delivery to either the Wet Chemistry Lab or Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. Both the Wet Chemistry Lab and the Optical Microscope are part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument.
"We want to deliver similar soil samples to all three instruments," said Ray Arvidson, the mission's lead scientist for digging activities, from Washington University in St. Louis.
The lander's Robotic Arm has been commanded to remain in an "up" position to hold the collected soil in the scoop until it can be delivered to the other instruments.
The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Saturday beamed back images showing that Phoenix’s Robotic Arm successfully sprinkled soil onto the delivery port of the lander's Optical Microscope.
Mission scientists said enough of the fine-grained soil sample remains in the scoop of the lander's Robotic Arm for delivery to either the Wet Chemistry Lab or Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. Both the Wet Chemistry Lab and the Optical Microscope are part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument.
"We want to deliver similar soil samples to all three instruments," said Ray Arvidson, the mission's lead scientist for digging activities, from Washington University in St. Louis.
The lander's Robotic Arm has been commanded to remain in an "up" position to hold the collected soil in the scoop until it can be delivered to the other instruments.
The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Sunday, 22 June 2008
Rocket & Space Event at Royal Gunpowder Mills, Essex
Hi,
Greetings from the first Rocket and Space Event at The Royal Gunpowder Mills Site in Essex. Numbers were not as strong as hoped. Weather on the first day (overcast and raining, oh the great British summer!) various groups attended, Cubs/Scouts and Beaver Groups.
The centre and its volounteers certainly put on a good show on both days that included: Rocket exhibits and outdoor displays as weather permitted; Guest lecturers;Trade/dealer stands including yours truly at SPACEBOOSTERS, David J Shayler space author and his better half and Aurora Books. A second space book author was also in attendance - Dr Lucy Rogers.
The British Interplanetary Society were promoting the society, membership and their campaign for a British astronaut. Please support them in all of their endeavours. BAE Systems had a stand and The Royal Gunpowder Mills had many exhibits aswell as hosting the event. Rocket launches took place at least every 15 minutes and the rocket making group were launching with an even greater frequency.
Today, Sunday, was much improved both weatherwise and in attendance. It was still a bit windy but the Sun did shine for most of the day.
Thanks to all that attended! There is already talk of another event next year to coincide with Astronomy Year 2009 and 40th Anniversary of the first manned moonlanding of Apollo 11. Please visit the Royal Gunpowder Mills website for information on the many open days and activity days planned there.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS
Greetings from the first Rocket and Space Event at The Royal Gunpowder Mills Site in Essex. Numbers were not as strong as hoped. Weather on the first day (overcast and raining, oh the great British summer!) various groups attended, Cubs/Scouts and Beaver Groups.
The centre and its volounteers certainly put on a good show on both days that included: Rocket exhibits and outdoor displays as weather permitted; Guest lecturers;Trade/dealer stands including yours truly at SPACEBOOSTERS, David J Shayler space author and his better half and Aurora Books. A second space book author was also in attendance - Dr Lucy Rogers.
The British Interplanetary Society were promoting the society, membership and their campaign for a British astronaut. Please support them in all of their endeavours. BAE Systems had a stand and The Royal Gunpowder Mills had many exhibits aswell as hosting the event. Rocket launches took place at least every 15 minutes and the rocket making group were launching with an even greater frequency.
Today, Sunday, was much improved both weatherwise and in attendance. It was still a bit windy but the Sun did shine for most of the day.
Thanks to all that attended! There is already talk of another event next year to coincide with Astronomy Year 2009 and 40th Anniversary of the first manned moonlanding of Apollo 11. Please visit the Royal Gunpowder Mills website for information on the many open days and activity days planned there.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS
British Human Space Flight Campaign
British Human Space Flight Campaign
Welcome to the British Human Space Flight Campaign
The British Interplanetary Society have started a campaign to promote the idea of getting another Briton into space. The information below is taken from their website:
“In half a century, space exploration has achieved goals that matched the dreams and speculations of us BIS space cadets in the 1930’s! We must rekindle that spirit in a new generation of 21st century astronauts, to seize the opportunities that are now opening up for low cost access to space”. - Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Sept 2007).
As the world’s longest established space exploration society, being formed by British visionaries like Arthur C. Clarke in the 1930’s, the BIS is committed to ensuring that the UK joins with the rest of the industrialised world and takes part in manned space activities.
This webpage provides information regarding the current British human space flight campaign. It explains what can be done in terms of lobbying approaches to government, national space policy makers and relevant organisations in the UK. It also provides information about a possible low-cost approach to getting “Britons in Space”, via access to the International Space Station (ISS).
The campaign is supported by a host of celebrities and scientists, including Brian Blessed, Myleene Klass, Harriet Scott, Sir Patrick Moore, Dr. Michael Foale, Prof Colin Pillinger and Heather Couper.
Background
Despite being the world’s fifth largest economy, the UK currently has no manned space presence or interest in human space industry activities. Although the UK does manufacture some unmanned satellites (via companies such as EADS Astrium and SSTL), there is no link to manned research or its related space infrastructure.
Whilst the rest of Europe, the US, Russia, China, Japan and many emerging industrialised nations (for example Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea and India) all explore space through human approaches, the UK has missed out and British scientists and industry are currently excluded from important research and technology work - this is against the national good.
Following a 2006 revue of the perceived scientific and educational value of manned spaceflight, The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) resolved that the UK would strongly benefit from a modest astronaut presence. This view follows the independent report of the Royal Astronomical Society in October 2005, where Prof Frank Close and his team drew attention to the wide ranging scientific and cultural benefits of human space flight - they recommended that the UK committed more money to the human exploration of space, at least to a figure in line with the UK’s partners in the European Space Agency (ESA).
Other recent scientific studies have also recognised potential human space benefits for the UK. In 2003, the independent Microgravity Review Panel recommended the UK join microgravity research on the International Space Station (ISS). In May 2004, the Cross Research Council Report called for the UK to join the manned aspects of the ESA’s Aurora programme, one day leading to the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and the solar system.
Recent expert recommendations to government
Following representations by many in the space community, in July 2007 the Commons Select Committee recommended that the UK government abandon its ‘in-principle’ block on UK human spaceflight missions.
In September 2007, the UK Space Exploration Working group (SEWG) issued its wide-ranging report on space policy and firmly endorsed the “pro-UK astronaut” case. It effectively endorsed the BIS low-cost campaign proposals (see below) by advising the BNSC and the Space Minister that a modest UK astronaut corps could be established and that flights to the ISS could begin by 2010-12 via Soyuz spacecraft.
In his 4 October 2007 “Sputnik anniversary” speech at Jodrell Bank, Minister Ian Pearson announced that he had asked the BNSC to assess the benefits of participating in future manned activity in the mid-term.
This UK HSF review is now built into the UK Space Strategy 2008-2012. The BNSC will be undertaking a science cost/benefit study of HSF via a specialist panel and report back to the Minister and the Secretary of State John Denham, with recommendations, possibly by the end of 2008
Key facts
The UK government’s investment in space is about one quarter of that of equivalent European nations.
The UK has the second largest aerospace industry, but only 3% is space-related (Europe is 10-15% and the US is 25%).
Space biomedicine and planetary science are strong research areas in the UK, but currently we cannot join the rest of Europe by carrying this into manned missions for the future.
The only UK astronaut, Helen Sharman, flew into space in 1991 with no government backing - the mission was paid for by the then Soviet Union.
NASA astronauts Michael Foale, Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick were British born. Michael Foale has joint nationality but Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick had to become American citizens to fly into space.
Drug research on the ISS could potentially lead to bone and muscle necrosis treatments for older people on Earth.
UK science and technology education desperately needs boosting - physics graduate courses have dropped by 17% in ten years. Manned space flight is very inspirational for young people.
Low cost British manned project
The modest BIS/SEWG programme involves a £50-75 million “precursor” programme over 5 years .It would establish a small but viable UK astronaut corps of 3-4 scientist-astronauts. Two science-education 10-day missions could then visit the ISS as part of a microgravity research programme, via Soyuz spacecraft. Important science research, perhaps including biomedical, climate change monitoring and materials experiments linked to schools and Universities activities, could then occur.
After the flights, the UK scientist astronauts could undertake inspirational schools education outreach work, helping to reverse the trend of declining science and technology course take-up. The cost involved would only require an increase of the UK space budget, currently about £220 million, by about 5% a year.
This low cost astronaut programme could be expanded for the future, eventually leading to committed British manned involvement with the return to the Moon plans of ESA, NASA and the international exploration of Mars and the Solar System.
Campaign action
The following can be done to help change current UK policy:
Contact the BNSC ( mailto:azara.bibi@bnsc.gsi.gov.uk) and the Space Minister, Ian Pearson ( mailto:pearsoni@parliament.uk, plus mailto:dominic.lyons@berr.gsi.gov.uk) and ask that the current UK Space Strategy HSF Study takes the advice of the BIS, the Select Committee and the SEWG report and reverses the current ban on UK manned space.
Write to the Chair of the “UK Space Board”, Prof Keith Mason and tell him of your enthusiasm for UK manned space flight (email: mailto:keith.mason@stfc.ac.uk)
Ask your MP to lobby on your behalf to the Space Minister, Ian Pearson and in Parliament. Tell them of your firm support for manned space exploration in the UK and about the relatively low-cost BIS/SEWG approach (see above). Emphasise the urgency of the UK joining the rest of the world with manned spaceflight plans.
Speak to the media (press, radio and TV), saying how important a modest UK astronaut presence would be. Point out that the UK is hosting the prestigious International Astronautical Federation (IAF) congress in 2008, yet Britain has no astronaut.
Tell friends of the BIS campaign and join the Society, to give support to the UK and international space activities.
Useful links
BIS: http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ UK Space Exploration Working Group (SEWG) report: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/uksewgRAS: http://www.ras.org.uk/, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BQ BNSC: http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/, FAO: Azara Bibi, 151 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SS STFC: http://www.scitech.ac.uk/ESA: http://www.esa.int/NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/“The Scientific and Cultural Case for UK Participation in Human Space Exploration” - maintained by Dr Ian Crawford and Dr Kevin Fong: http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~iac/case_for_space.html
The Society has also produced a small badge, this is available from the BIS office in London. To get your badge for £1.00 (to cover postage and packing) Click here .
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS
Wear the badge to show your support
Welcome to the British Human Space Flight Campaign
The British Interplanetary Society have started a campaign to promote the idea of getting another Briton into space. The information below is taken from their website:
“In half a century, space exploration has achieved goals that matched the dreams and speculations of us BIS space cadets in the 1930’s! We must rekindle that spirit in a new generation of 21st century astronauts, to seize the opportunities that are now opening up for low cost access to space”. - Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Sept 2007).
As the world’s longest established space exploration society, being formed by British visionaries like Arthur C. Clarke in the 1930’s, the BIS is committed to ensuring that the UK joins with the rest of the industrialised world and takes part in manned space activities.
This webpage provides information regarding the current British human space flight campaign. It explains what can be done in terms of lobbying approaches to government, national space policy makers and relevant organisations in the UK. It also provides information about a possible low-cost approach to getting “Britons in Space”, via access to the International Space Station (ISS).
The campaign is supported by a host of celebrities and scientists, including Brian Blessed, Myleene Klass, Harriet Scott, Sir Patrick Moore, Dr. Michael Foale, Prof Colin Pillinger and Heather Couper.
Background
Despite being the world’s fifth largest economy, the UK currently has no manned space presence or interest in human space industry activities. Although the UK does manufacture some unmanned satellites (via companies such as EADS Astrium and SSTL), there is no link to manned research or its related space infrastructure.
Whilst the rest of Europe, the US, Russia, China, Japan and many emerging industrialised nations (for example Brazil, Malaysia, South Korea and India) all explore space through human approaches, the UK has missed out and British scientists and industry are currently excluded from important research and technology work - this is against the national good.
Following a 2006 revue of the perceived scientific and educational value of manned spaceflight, The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) resolved that the UK would strongly benefit from a modest astronaut presence. This view follows the independent report of the Royal Astronomical Society in October 2005, where Prof Frank Close and his team drew attention to the wide ranging scientific and cultural benefits of human space flight - they recommended that the UK committed more money to the human exploration of space, at least to a figure in line with the UK’s partners in the European Space Agency (ESA).
Other recent scientific studies have also recognised potential human space benefits for the UK. In 2003, the independent Microgravity Review Panel recommended the UK join microgravity research on the International Space Station (ISS). In May 2004, the Cross Research Council Report called for the UK to join the manned aspects of the ESA’s Aurora programme, one day leading to the human exploration of the Moon, Mars and the solar system.
Recent expert recommendations to government
Following representations by many in the space community, in July 2007 the Commons Select Committee recommended that the UK government abandon its ‘in-principle’ block on UK human spaceflight missions.
In September 2007, the UK Space Exploration Working group (SEWG) issued its wide-ranging report on space policy and firmly endorsed the “pro-UK astronaut” case. It effectively endorsed the BIS low-cost campaign proposals (see below) by advising the BNSC and the Space Minister that a modest UK astronaut corps could be established and that flights to the ISS could begin by 2010-12 via Soyuz spacecraft.
In his 4 October 2007 “Sputnik anniversary” speech at Jodrell Bank, Minister Ian Pearson announced that he had asked the BNSC to assess the benefits of participating in future manned activity in the mid-term.
This UK HSF review is now built into the UK Space Strategy 2008-2012. The BNSC will be undertaking a science cost/benefit study of HSF via a specialist panel and report back to the Minister and the Secretary of State John Denham, with recommendations, possibly by the end of 2008
Key facts
The UK government’s investment in space is about one quarter of that of equivalent European nations.
The UK has the second largest aerospace industry, but only 3% is space-related (Europe is 10-15% and the US is 25%).
Space biomedicine and planetary science are strong research areas in the UK, but currently we cannot join the rest of Europe by carrying this into manned missions for the future.
The only UK astronaut, Helen Sharman, flew into space in 1991 with no government backing - the mission was paid for by the then Soviet Union.
NASA astronauts Michael Foale, Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick were British born. Michael Foale has joint nationality but Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick had to become American citizens to fly into space.
Drug research on the ISS could potentially lead to bone and muscle necrosis treatments for older people on Earth.
UK science and technology education desperately needs boosting - physics graduate courses have dropped by 17% in ten years. Manned space flight is very inspirational for young people.
Low cost British manned project
The modest BIS/SEWG programme involves a £50-75 million “precursor” programme over 5 years .It would establish a small but viable UK astronaut corps of 3-4 scientist-astronauts. Two science-education 10-day missions could then visit the ISS as part of a microgravity research programme, via Soyuz spacecraft. Important science research, perhaps including biomedical, climate change monitoring and materials experiments linked to schools and Universities activities, could then occur.
After the flights, the UK scientist astronauts could undertake inspirational schools education outreach work, helping to reverse the trend of declining science and technology course take-up. The cost involved would only require an increase of the UK space budget, currently about £220 million, by about 5% a year.
This low cost astronaut programme could be expanded for the future, eventually leading to committed British manned involvement with the return to the Moon plans of ESA, NASA and the international exploration of Mars and the Solar System.
Campaign action
The following can be done to help change current UK policy:
Contact the BNSC ( mailto:azara.bibi@bnsc.gsi.gov.uk) and the Space Minister, Ian Pearson ( mailto:pearsoni@parliament.uk, plus mailto:dominic.lyons@berr.gsi.gov.uk) and ask that the current UK Space Strategy HSF Study takes the advice of the BIS, the Select Committee and the SEWG report and reverses the current ban on UK manned space.
Write to the Chair of the “UK Space Board”, Prof Keith Mason and tell him of your enthusiasm for UK manned space flight (email: mailto:keith.mason@stfc.ac.uk)
Ask your MP to lobby on your behalf to the Space Minister, Ian Pearson and in Parliament. Tell them of your firm support for manned space exploration in the UK and about the relatively low-cost BIS/SEWG approach (see above). Emphasise the urgency of the UK joining the rest of the world with manned spaceflight plans.
Speak to the media (press, radio and TV), saying how important a modest UK astronaut presence would be. Point out that the UK is hosting the prestigious International Astronautical Federation (IAF) congress in 2008, yet Britain has no astronaut.
Tell friends of the BIS campaign and join the Society, to give support to the UK and international space activities.
Useful links
BIS: http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ UK Space Exploration Working Group (SEWG) report: http://www.stfc.ac.uk/uksewgRAS: http://www.ras.org.uk/, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BQ BNSC: http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/, FAO: Azara Bibi, 151 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SS STFC: http://www.scitech.ac.uk/ESA: http://www.esa.int/NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/“The Scientific and Cultural Case for UK Participation in Human Space Exploration” - maintained by Dr Ian Crawford and Dr Kevin Fong: http://zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~iac/case_for_space.html
The Society has also produced a small badge, this is available from the BIS office in London. To get your badge for £1.00 (to cover postage and packing) Click here .
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS
Wear the badge to show your support
Spray-on Layer to Protect Flame Trench
Flame Trench Protection
With its protective bricks torn away by the recent space shuttle launch, the flame trench at Launch Pad 39A will be given a new layer of protection in time for the next space shuttle liftoff. The flame trench channels the flames and smoke exhaust of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters away from the launching spacecraft.
A swath of about 5,300 protective bricks tore away from the walls of the structure when space shuttle Discovery lifted off May 31 to begin its STS-124 mission. None of the bricks bounced back in the area of the shuttle. Computer models of the exhaust pattern suggest no likelihood of loose bricks coming back to the mobile launcher platform or the shuttle. Just as a swimming pool is coated with a protective layer before it is soaked, the flame trench will be sprayed with fire-resistant concrete to shield it from fire and smoke.
Managers have not decided which material to use, but there are sections of the flame trench already protected by a spray-on concrete surface. A shuttle program meeting June 26 should solidify many of the details of the repairs.
Atlantis is targeted to lift off from pad 39A Oct. 8 on the STS-125 mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. "We are very confident we will get it fixed before (the) Hubble mission," said Ed Mango, deputy director of the shuttle's launch processing team and the launch director for STS-125.
The damaged portion of the flame trench directs exhaust from the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters. Another part of the trench deflects the exhaust from the shuttle's three main engines. The bricks protect the reinforced concrete structure of the launch pad from the pressure of about seven million pounds of thrust and temperatures reaching 3,600 degrees. NASA’s Perry Becker, who is leading the engineer investigation and repair effort, said it is too early to tell why the wall came apart during liftoff.
The wall was built in 1965 and has endured 82 launches, including 12 liftoffs of the Saturn V rocket. Each of the bricks weighs about nine pounds and they are designed with tongues and grooves to interconnect with each other. The force of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters carried some of the bricks more than 1,800 feet from the launch pad. The engineers will also decide how much of the wall, if any, needs to be taken down to prevent future damage. Becker said the walls are inspected after each launch.
The only similar damage came during a launch in the mid-1980s when about 800 bricks were stripped off the floor of the flame trench on Launch Pad 39B. "Historically, we've not had this kind of damage to repair," Becker said. The flame trench at pad B also is being tested for signs of weakness. That pad, which is a twin of the other launch pad, will be used in case a shuttle has to be launched to aid the STS-125 crew.
Mango said he has no doubt both pads will be ready for the October mission. "I'm not too worried about it getting fixed," Mango said.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
With its protective bricks torn away by the recent space shuttle launch, the flame trench at Launch Pad 39A will be given a new layer of protection in time for the next space shuttle liftoff. The flame trench channels the flames and smoke exhaust of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters away from the launching spacecraft.
A swath of about 5,300 protective bricks tore away from the walls of the structure when space shuttle Discovery lifted off May 31 to begin its STS-124 mission. None of the bricks bounced back in the area of the shuttle. Computer models of the exhaust pattern suggest no likelihood of loose bricks coming back to the mobile launcher platform or the shuttle. Just as a swimming pool is coated with a protective layer before it is soaked, the flame trench will be sprayed with fire-resistant concrete to shield it from fire and smoke.
Managers have not decided which material to use, but there are sections of the flame trench already protected by a spray-on concrete surface. A shuttle program meeting June 26 should solidify many of the details of the repairs.
Atlantis is targeted to lift off from pad 39A Oct. 8 on the STS-125 mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. "We are very confident we will get it fixed before (the) Hubble mission," said Ed Mango, deputy director of the shuttle's launch processing team and the launch director for STS-125.
The damaged portion of the flame trench directs exhaust from the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters. Another part of the trench deflects the exhaust from the shuttle's three main engines. The bricks protect the reinforced concrete structure of the launch pad from the pressure of about seven million pounds of thrust and temperatures reaching 3,600 degrees. NASA’s Perry Becker, who is leading the engineer investigation and repair effort, said it is too early to tell why the wall came apart during liftoff.
The wall was built in 1965 and has endured 82 launches, including 12 liftoffs of the Saturn V rocket. Each of the bricks weighs about nine pounds and they are designed with tongues and grooves to interconnect with each other. The force of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters carried some of the bricks more than 1,800 feet from the launch pad. The engineers will also decide how much of the wall, if any, needs to be taken down to prevent future damage. Becker said the walls are inspected after each launch.
The only similar damage came during a launch in the mid-1980s when about 800 bricks were stripped off the floor of the flame trench on Launch Pad 39B. "Historically, we've not had this kind of damage to repair," Becker said. The flame trench at pad B also is being tested for signs of weakness. That pad, which is a twin of the other launch pad, will be used in case a shuttle has to be launched to aid the STS-125 crew.
Mango said he has no doubt both pads will be ready for the October mission. "I'm not too worried about it getting fixed," Mango said.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Astronaut Barbara Morgan Plans to Leave NASA, Return to Public Education
Barbara Morgan Leaves NASA
The first educator mission specialist, Barbara R. Morgan, plans to leave NASA to join Boise State University in August. She will serve as the distinguished educator in residence, providing vision and leadership to the state of Idaho on science, technology, engineering and math education.
Astronaut Barbara R. Morgan smiles for a photo as she floats on the middeck of the space shuttle Endeavour during STS-118. Image Credit: NASA.
Morgan flew aboard space shuttle Endeavour for the STS-118 mission to the International Space Station in August 2007. She was responsible for the 5,000 pounds of supplies and equipment that was transferred between the shuttle and station. She also operated the shuttle and station robotic arms during spacewalk and hardware installation tasks.
She served as the backup to payload specialist Christa McAuliffe in the Teacher in Space Project. McAuliffe and six fellow astronauts lost their lives in the Challenger accident on Jan. 28, 1986. Morgan, who was an elementary school teacher in McCall, Idaho, before being selected as McAuliffe's backup, returned to teaching after the accident.
She was selected to train as a mission specialist in 1998 and was named to the STS-118 crew in 2002. Three other educator mission specialists, Richard Arnold, Joseph Acaba and Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, are training for future spaceflights. Arnold and Acaba are assigned to fly on the STS-119 space shuttle mission to the station next year.
For more biographical information visit Barbara Morgan
Bye for now,
Nick
Saturday, 21 June 2008
It's Only Rocket Science
Hi,
picked up a very good read today, signed by the author. Check out the booksite here. http://www.itsonlyrocketscience.com/What form does a flame take in zero-g? check it out inside. Lucy has set out to demystify the hard science behind space/spaceflight and achieved it.
For a bit more about the author visit: Lucy Rogers Website
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store.
picked up a very good read today, signed by the author. Check out the booksite here. http://www.itsonlyrocketscience.com/What form does a flame take in zero-g? check it out inside. Lucy has set out to demystify the hard science behind space/spaceflight and achieved it.
For a bit more about the author visit: Lucy Rogers Website
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store.
Friday, 20 June 2008
Discovery Delivers a Module "Filled With Dreams"
KIBO - 'Hope'
After a wait of more than two decades, "hope" arrived at the International Space Station on June 3, 2008, just three days into space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission.Using the space station's robotic arm, Mission Specialists Akihiko Hoshide and Karen Nyberg slowly and carefully maneuvered the 32,500-pound Japanese Pressurized Module out of Discovery's payload bay. More than two hours later, as Earth rolled by below, Hoshide installed it on the left side of the station's Harmony node.
Image above: Launch of space shuttle Discovery on its STS-124 mission. Photo credit: NASA/Jerry Cannon, George Roberts
"We have a new hope on the International Space Station," said Hoshide, who represents the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.The Pressurized Module is the largest piece of hardware in the Japanese Experiment Module known as "Kibo," or hope. After 23 years in the making, Japan's contribution to the International Space Station is finally taking shape in orbit. Discovery's STS-124 mission was the second of three shuttle flights required to deliver the entire Kibo complex to the station.Commanded by astronaut Mark Kelly, the seven-member crew started the two-week mission May 31 with a spectacular late-afternoon liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery roared toward orbit at 5:02 p.m. EDT and started its two-day orbital pursuit of the space station.
On June 2, with Pilot Ken Ham at the controls, the orbiter linked up with the space station as the two spacecraft flew above the South Pacific. Later that afternoon, astronaut Greg Chamitoff took the place of ISS Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who had served three months aboard the station.
Image above: The STS-124 and Expedition 17 crew members greet each other shortly after Discovery docked to the International Space Station and the hatches opened. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Mission Specialists Mike Fossum and Ron Garan conducted the mission's first spacewalk the next day, which marked the 43rd anniversary of astronaut Ed White's first U.S. spacewalk. During their six-and-a-half-hour excursion, the spacewalkers prepared the laboratory module for installation. They also cleaned and inspected the station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint, one of two such joints which help the power-generating solar arrays follow the sun.
Image above: The Kibo Japanese Pressurized Module and Kibo Japanese logistics module are featured in this image photographed by a STS-124 crew member. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
The Japanese Pressurized Module was officially open for science the following day.
Image above: Mission Specialist Akihiko Hoshide works in the newly installed Kibo Japanese Pressurized Module. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
"It has been 20-plus years to get this module up in space," Hoshide said when he unlocked the laboratory's hatch. "It looks empty, but it's filled with dreams.
"Earlier that morning, space station astronauts successfully repaired the toilet system in the station's service module by replacing a pump carried to orbit aboard Discovery.
The fast pace of the mission continued on the sixth flight day with another spacewalk performed by Fossum and Garan. Among the many assignments completed during their seven-hour spacewalk, the two astronauts outfitted the Pressurized Module with a pair of television cameras. At the end of the excursion, Fossum inspected the port Solar Alpha Rotary Joint.
Flight day seven was another busy day for the joined shuttle and station crews. Nyberg and Chamitoff used the space station's robotic arm to remove Kibo's 9,500-pound logistics module, which was delivered to the station on the STS-123 mission, from its temporary home atop the Harmony node to its permanent home on top of the Pressurized Module.
The Japanese robotic arm, which Discovery also brought to the station on this flight, was put through its first workout the following day. The arm's end effector pitched down slightly, enough to confirm the arm was working properly and leave room for Fossum and Garan to complete work on it during the mission's final spacewalk on flight day nine.
During that six-and-a-half-hour trek on June 8, Fossum and Garan accomplished everything on their to-do list as well as some "get-ahead" tasks. They exchanged a depleted nitrogen tank assembly for a new one, removed thermal covers and launch locks from the newly delivered Kibo hardware and reinstalled a repaired television camera onto the station's left P1 truss. Fossum also retrieved samples of a dust-like substance from the left Solar Alpha Rotary Joint for analysis by experts on the ground.
Crew members from space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station said goodbye and closed their respective hatches on June 10, ending the docked portion of the STS-124 mission.
The next morning, Discovery undocked from the station at 7:42 a.m. EDT and Ham guided the shuttle through the traditional "fly-around" before finally separating from the orbiting outpost.
A final inspection of the orbiter's heat shield rounded out the day's work.Discovery's mission concluded June 14 with a picture-perfect landing on Kennedy's Runway 15, gliding to a touchdown right on time at 11:15 p.m. EDT.
"It's great to be here on the runway in sunny Florida and to bring Discovery back in really good shape," Kelly said before the astronauts departed the runway. "We installed a Japanese lab that will allow a lot more science on the station, we did three spacewalks, and we exchanged the crew of the space station. It was really an exciting mission."
Nick
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Next Hubble Servicing Mission
Hubble Servicing Mission 4 (SM4)
Preparations for the final Hubble servicing mission are well underway. It will be the last and most complex of them all.
Astronauts will race against the clock to complete all of the assigned task which include replacement and repair of existing components and the installation of completely new pieces of equipment. This will extend the life of Hubble and increase its capabilities.
STS-125 is currently scheduled for an October 8 launch.A recap of earlier missions is provided below.
Previous Servicing Missions
Servicing Mission 3B, March 2002: Astronauts aboard space shuttle Columbia (STS-109) installed several new instruments on Hubble that vastly improved the observatory's capability. Astronauts performed five spacewalks. Their principal task was to install the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). With its wide field of view, sharp image quality and enhanced sensitivity, ACS could collect data ten times faster than the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, the telescope's earlier surveying instrument. The ACS brought the nearly 12-year-old telescope into the 21st century. The ACS was quickly used to capture the most distant image of the universe, called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The 8-year-old solar array panels were replaced with smaller rigid ones that produce 30 percent more power. Astronauts also replaced the outdated Power Control Unit, which distributes electricity from the solar arrays and batteries to other parts of the telescope; and they replaced one of the four reaction wheel assemblies that make up Hubble's pointing control system. Another key upgrade was the installation of a new cooling system for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), down since 1999 after depleting its refrigerant. Hubble's infrared vision was finally back.
Visit SM3B Site.
Servicing Mission 3A, December 1999: NASA decided to split the Third Servicing Mission into two parts, SM3A and SM3B, after the third of Hubble's six gyroscopes failed. Hubble needs three gyroscopes to observe a target. Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery (STS-103) replaced all six gyroscopes, as well as one of Hubble's three fine guidance sensors, used to keep Hubble steady while viewing objects. The astronauts also installed a transmitter, an advanced central computer, a digital data recorder, an electronics enhancement kit, battery improvement kits, and new outer layers of thermal protection. On November 13 before this mission, Hubble was placed into "safe-mode" after a fourth gyroscope failed unexpectedly. In safe-mode Hubble is in a sort of protective hibernation and cannot observe objects. Luckily the servicing mission had been planned by this point, so Hubble wasn't out of action for long. After servicing, Hubble was as good as new.
Visit SM3A Site.
Servicing Mission 2, February 1997: During this 10-day mission (STS-82) astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery installed two technologically advanced instruments. The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) enabled Hubble to observe infrared wavelengths, crucial for viewing very distant "optical" sources that have lost energy traveling across most of the visible universe and now radiate in the infrared band. The second instrument, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), could take detailed pictures of celestial objects and hunt for black holes. Both instruments featured technology that wasn't available when scientists designed and built the original Hubble instruments in the late 1970s. Astronauts also installed a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor, one of three essential instruments used to keep Hubble steady while viewing objects and to calculate celestial distances; a Solid State Recorder to replace one of Hubble's data recorders; and a refurbished, spare Reaction Wheel Assembly, part of the Pointing Control Subsystem.
Visit SM2 Site.
Servicing Mission 1, December 1993: The primary goal of Servicing Mission 1 was to restore Hubble's vision. Because Hubble's primary mirror was incorrectly shaped, the telescope could not focus all the light from an object to a single sharp point. Instead, it saw a fuzzy halo around objects it observed. Astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor (STS-61) spent five days tuning it up. They installed two new devices---the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement---to compensate for the primary mirror's incorrect shape. Astronauts also installed new solar arrays, to reduce the "jitter" caused by excessive flexing of the solar panels during the telescope's orbital transition from cold darkness into warm daylight, and new gyroscopes to help point and track the telescope, along with fuse plugs and electronic units.
Visit SM1 Site.
See also the Hubble Story
Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Preparations for the final Hubble servicing mission are well underway. It will be the last and most complex of them all.
Astronauts will race against the clock to complete all of the assigned task which include replacement and repair of existing components and the installation of completely new pieces of equipment. This will extend the life of Hubble and increase its capabilities.
STS-125 is currently scheduled for an October 8 launch.A recap of earlier missions is provided below.
Previous Servicing Missions
Servicing Mission 3B, March 2002: Astronauts aboard space shuttle Columbia (STS-109) installed several new instruments on Hubble that vastly improved the observatory's capability. Astronauts performed five spacewalks. Their principal task was to install the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). With its wide field of view, sharp image quality and enhanced sensitivity, ACS could collect data ten times faster than the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, the telescope's earlier surveying instrument. The ACS brought the nearly 12-year-old telescope into the 21st century. The ACS was quickly used to capture the most distant image of the universe, called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The 8-year-old solar array panels were replaced with smaller rigid ones that produce 30 percent more power. Astronauts also replaced the outdated Power Control Unit, which distributes electricity from the solar arrays and batteries to other parts of the telescope; and they replaced one of the four reaction wheel assemblies that make up Hubble's pointing control system. Another key upgrade was the installation of a new cooling system for the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), down since 1999 after depleting its refrigerant. Hubble's infrared vision was finally back.
Visit SM3B Site.
Servicing Mission 3A, December 1999: NASA decided to split the Third Servicing Mission into two parts, SM3A and SM3B, after the third of Hubble's six gyroscopes failed. Hubble needs three gyroscopes to observe a target. Astronauts aboard space shuttle Discovery (STS-103) replaced all six gyroscopes, as well as one of Hubble's three fine guidance sensors, used to keep Hubble steady while viewing objects. The astronauts also installed a transmitter, an advanced central computer, a digital data recorder, an electronics enhancement kit, battery improvement kits, and new outer layers of thermal protection. On November 13 before this mission, Hubble was placed into "safe-mode" after a fourth gyroscope failed unexpectedly. In safe-mode Hubble is in a sort of protective hibernation and cannot observe objects. Luckily the servicing mission had been planned by this point, so Hubble wasn't out of action for long. After servicing, Hubble was as good as new.
Visit SM3A Site.
Servicing Mission 2, February 1997: During this 10-day mission (STS-82) astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery installed two technologically advanced instruments. The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) enabled Hubble to observe infrared wavelengths, crucial for viewing very distant "optical" sources that have lost energy traveling across most of the visible universe and now radiate in the infrared band. The second instrument, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), could take detailed pictures of celestial objects and hunt for black holes. Both instruments featured technology that wasn't available when scientists designed and built the original Hubble instruments in the late 1970s. Astronauts also installed a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor, one of three essential instruments used to keep Hubble steady while viewing objects and to calculate celestial distances; a Solid State Recorder to replace one of Hubble's data recorders; and a refurbished, spare Reaction Wheel Assembly, part of the Pointing Control Subsystem.
Visit SM2 Site.
Servicing Mission 1, December 1993: The primary goal of Servicing Mission 1 was to restore Hubble's vision. Because Hubble's primary mirror was incorrectly shaped, the telescope could not focus all the light from an object to a single sharp point. Instead, it saw a fuzzy halo around objects it observed. Astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor (STS-61) spent five days tuning it up. They installed two new devices---the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement---to compensate for the primary mirror's incorrect shape. Astronauts also installed new solar arrays, to reduce the "jitter" caused by excessive flexing of the solar panels during the telescope's orbital transition from cold darkness into warm daylight, and new gyroscopes to help point and track the telescope, along with fuse plugs and electronic units.
Visit SM1 Site.
See also the Hubble Story
Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Pad 39A Repairs
Workers Catalog Debris Outside the Perimeter of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
Image above: Debris near Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center after the STS-124 launch Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (06/16/2008) – Workers catalog debris scattered across the area outside the perimeter of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The debris is residue from the damage that occurred during the May 31 launch of space shuttle Discovery. Repairs are expected to be completed in time for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope targeted for Oct. 8.
Bye for now,
Nick
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Image above: Debris near Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center after the STS-124 launch Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (06/16/2008) – Workers catalog debris scattered across the area outside the perimeter of Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The debris is residue from the damage that occurred during the May 31 launch of space shuttle Discovery. Repairs are expected to be completed in time for space shuttle Atlantis' STS-125 mission to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope targeted for Oct. 8.
Bye for now,
Nick
http://www.spaceboosters.co.uk/
http://www.nasa-space.co.uk/
http://www.nasa-collectables.com/
http://www.unofficial-michaelfoale.com/
http://www.unofficial-pierssellers.com/
http://www.unofficial-helensharman.com/
http://www.unofficial-nicholaspatrick.com/
http://space-patches.blogspot.com/
http://spaceboosterscouk.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Sally Ride - 25 Years On.
Setting the Stage for Women in Space
Astronaut Sally K. Ride. Credit: NASA
Ride was a mission specialist on STS-7, launched June 18, 1983. The mission deployed two communications satellites and collected research on a number of scientific experiments.
“The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it,” said Ride. “And that was made pretty clear the day that I was told I was selected as a crew. I was taken up to Chris Kraft’s office. He wanted to have a chat with me and make sure I knew what I was getting into before I made sure I went on the crew. I was so dazzled to be on the crew and go into space I remembered very little of what he said.”
Ride joined NASA as part of the 1978 astronaut class, the first class to include women. Ride and five other women were selected out of 8,000 applicants, 1,500 of which were female. Twenty-nine men also were selected. The class became known as the “Thirty-Five New Guys” and reported to the Johnson Space Center the next summer to begin training. Ride would train for five years before she and three of her classmates were assigned to STS-7.
“On launch day, there was so much excitement and so much happening around us in crew quarters, even on the way to the launch pad, going up the launch pad,” Ride said. “I didn’t really think about it that much at the time… but I came to appreciate what an honor it was to be selected to be the first woman to get a chance to go into space.”
Following that historic flight, Ride flew on another shuttle mission, STS-41G in 1984. She was assigned to a third mission, but transitioned to a role on the Challenger accident investigation panel in January 1986. Once the investigation was completed, she served as a special assistant to the NASA administrator. Since then, Ride has returned to academia and her passion for inspiring young people. She has authored numerous books and founded Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to supporting students and their interest in math and science.
The launch of STS-7 was the first space shuttle launch that I had personally witnessed - fantastic. The whole area was buzzing. Everyone was behind the flights back then.
I can't believe it was 25 years ..... feeling old.
Bye for now,
Nick.
Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Last week, space shuttle Discovery touched down after a historic mission to the International Space Station, a flight that not only launched the largest laboratory to date, but also the 50th female U.S. astronaut. Just eight weeks prior, astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to Earth after a six-month stay in orbit as the first female space station commander. Women have established their place in space, but it was the flight of Sally Ride 25 years ago that paved the road to the stars.
Astronaut Sally K. Ride. Credit: NASA
Ride was a mission specialist on STS-7, launched June 18, 1983. The mission deployed two communications satellites and collected research on a number of scientific experiments.
“The fact that I was going to be the first American woman to go into space carried huge expectations along with it,” said Ride. “And that was made pretty clear the day that I was told I was selected as a crew. I was taken up to Chris Kraft’s office. He wanted to have a chat with me and make sure I knew what I was getting into before I made sure I went on the crew. I was so dazzled to be on the crew and go into space I remembered very little of what he said.”
Ride joined NASA as part of the 1978 astronaut class, the first class to include women. Ride and five other women were selected out of 8,000 applicants, 1,500 of which were female. Twenty-nine men also were selected. The class became known as the “Thirty-Five New Guys” and reported to the Johnson Space Center the next summer to begin training. Ride would train for five years before she and three of her classmates were assigned to STS-7.
“On launch day, there was so much excitement and so much happening around us in crew quarters, even on the way to the launch pad, going up the launch pad,” Ride said. “I didn’t really think about it that much at the time… but I came to appreciate what an honor it was to be selected to be the first woman to get a chance to go into space.”
These five astronauts represent the space shuttle's first five-member crew, STS-7. Astronaut Robert L. Crippen (center, first row) is crew commander. Other crew members are astronauts Frederick H. Hauck, right, pilot; and Sally K. Ride, John M. Fabian and Norman E. Thagard, mission specialists. Credit: NASA
Following that historic flight, Ride flew on another shuttle mission, STS-41G in 1984. She was assigned to a third mission, but transitioned to a role on the Challenger accident investigation panel in January 1986. Once the investigation was completed, she served as a special assistant to the NASA administrator. Since then, Ride has returned to academia and her passion for inspiring young people. She has authored numerous books and founded Sally Ride Science, a company dedicated to supporting students and their interest in math and science.
The launch of STS-7 was the first space shuttle launch that I had personally witnessed - fantastic. The whole area was buzzing. Everyone was behind the flights back then.
I can't believe it was 25 years ..... feeling old.
Bye for now,
Nick.
Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Monday, 16 June 2008
International Space Station (ISS) With KIBO Attached
Station in Full View
Backdropped by a blue and white part of Earth, the International Space Station is seen from space shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation.
Earlier the STS-124 and Expedition 17 crews concluded almost nine days of cooperative work on board the shuttle and station.
Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 7:42 a.m. EDT.
Backdropped by a blue and white part of Earth, the International Space Station is seen from space shuttle Discovery as the two spacecraft begin their relative separation.
Earlier the STS-124 and Expedition 17 crews concluded almost nine days of cooperative work on board the shuttle and station.
Undocking of the two spacecraft occurred at 7:42 a.m. EDT.
Photo credit: NASA/JSC
Bye for now,
Nick.
NASA Focuses on Launch Pad Repair
NASA Focuses on Launch Pad Repair
With space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission successfully completed, NASA is turning its attention to evaluating and repairing damage to Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A.
During Discovery's May 31 liftoff, the east wall of the pad's north flame trench suffered damage, with broken sections of the wall scattered from the flame trench to the pad perimeter fence.
The pad is expected to be repaired by October, when the crew of STS-125 is targeted to launch aboard space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The seven-member STS-124 crew returned to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on June 15 following their successful construction mission to the International Space Station.
Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Ken Ham were at the controls of Discovery on June 14 as it glided through the sky over Kennedy Space Center to touch down on time at 11:15 a.m. EDT.
Kelly, Ham and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide spent 14 days in orbit installing the Japanese Pressurized Module to the space station. The module is the largest section of the Japanese laboratory called "Kibo," or hope. Garrett Reisman also returned onboard Discovery. He spent three months living on the space station.
The astronauts were treated to a welcoming ceremony upon their return to Houston.
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store
With space shuttle Discovery's STS-124 mission successfully completed, NASA is turning its attention to evaluating and repairing damage to Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A.
During Discovery's May 31 liftoff, the east wall of the pad's north flame trench suffered damage, with broken sections of the wall scattered from the flame trench to the pad perimeter fence.
The pad is expected to be repaired by October, when the crew of STS-125 is targeted to launch aboard space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The seven-member STS-124 crew returned to NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on June 15 following their successful construction mission to the International Space Station.
Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Ken Ham were at the controls of Discovery on June 14 as it glided through the sky over Kennedy Space Center to touch down on time at 11:15 a.m. EDT.
Kelly, Ham and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide spent 14 days in orbit installing the Japanese Pressurized Module to the space station. The module is the largest section of the Japanese laboratory called "Kibo," or hope. Garrett Reisman also returned onboard Discovery. He spent three months living on the space station.
The astronauts were treated to a welcoming ceremony upon their return to Houston.
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store
Sunday, 15 June 2008
Welcome Home Discovery - Mission Success
NASA, Astronauts Celebrate Successful Mission
Seven astronauts flew space shuttle Discovery back to NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Saturday to end the latest construction mission to the International Space Station.
Commander Mark Kelly and Pilot Ken Ham were at the controls of Discovery as it glided through Florida skies to touch down on time at 11:15 a.m. EDT.
Kelly, Ham and Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum and Japan's Akihiko Hoshide spent 14 days in orbit installing the Japanese Pressurized Module to the space station. The module is the largest section of the Japanese laboratory called "Kibo," or hope. Garrett Reisman also returned onboard Discovery. He spent three months living on the space station.
Talking to the news media a few hours after landing, the crew of STS-124 beamed about the flight.
"I think I have the best space shuttle crew of all-time," Kelly said.
Although there are more pieces to add on future flights, Fossum said the addition of Kibo made the station look nearly complete.
"It was a great feeling of accomplishment as we backed away (from the station)," he said.
Hoshide, one of the astronauts of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, spent time on Earth monitoring Kibo's preparation for space. Saying goodbye to it in orbit was not easy.
"When we went to close the hatch, that was a tender moment, it was kind of sad," he said.
NASA and Japanese officials hailed the flight just after landing.
"I can't think of a mission really that's been better than this one," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator of Space Operations. "We're starting to break that tie to planet Earth and get out and do what exploration is.
"Discovery returned to its base in good shape, said Michael Leinbach, shuttle launch director.
"It's just a terrific day here at the Kennedy Space Center."Astronaut Ron Garan came back with a unique spacewalking experience. Perched at one end of the station's long robotic arm, he swung far out and away from the shuttle and station to move a nitrogen tank into place.
"I got the impression I wasn't just looking at the Earth, I was looking at a planet hanging in space," he said.
After a night at Kennedy, the crew will fly to Ellington Field near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA's next shuttle flight is slated for October when the crew of STS-125 is to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
Bye for now,
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store for STS-124 Souvenirs and a whole lot more!
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Live coverage from KSC
Hi,
I watched the live coverage via NASA T.V. earlier today - outstanding. The cameras picked up the shuttle from 110 miles out. Congratulations Discovery and the crew of STS-124. "Mission Success".
Discovery's astronauts glided to a safe touchdown at Kennedy Space Center at 11:15 a.m., capping a 5.7-million-mile mission to the International Space Station.
The 122-foot-long orbiter landed about 2,600 feet down the three-mile landing strip at a speed of 195 knots, or about 225 mph, and then rolled to a halt 13 days, 18 hours, 14 minutes and seven seconds after launch two weeks ago.
"Houston, Discovery. Wheels stop," mission commander Mark Kelly said.
"Roger. Wheels stop, Discovery. Beautiful landing, Mark. And congratulations on a great mission," fellow NASA astronaut Terry Virts said from Mission Control in Houston.
"Okay. Thanks and it's nice to be back. and it's great for all of us to be part of a big team that made the station a little bit bigger and a little bit more capable," Kelly said.
"Copy that, and we concur," Virts replied.
The astronauts delivered the Japanese Kibo science research module to the station. At nearly 37 feet in length and weighing 16 tons, Kibo -- which means "hope" in Japanese -- is the largest laboratory at the station. NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who replaced Garrett Reisman as a flight engineer on the station, watched the landing live on a video feed beamed up from Mission Control.
The astronauts delivered the Japanese Kibo science research module to the station. At nearly 37 feet in length and weighing 16 tons, Kibo -- which means "hope" in Japanese -- is the largest laboratory at the station. NASA astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who replaced Garrett Reisman as a flight engineer on the station, watched the landing live on a video feed beamed up from Mission Control.
"Houston, what an awesome sight to be able to watch the space shuttle land live here onboard the space station, and what a beautiful landing," Chamitoff said. "Congratulations to the whole team. It was a spectacular mission from end to end, practically flawless, and we have a new hope -- the Kibo module on the space station, and it was a great success."
"It was pretty down here as well," NASA astronaut Kevin Ford replied from the station flight control room in Houston. "And yeah, you've got to call that one a huge success. You guys enjoy Kibo."
Bye for now,
Nick
Welcome Home STS-124
NASA'S SHUTTLE DISCOVERY GLIDES HOME AFTER SUCCESSFUL MISSION
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
Space shuttle Discovery and its crew landed at 11:15 a.m. EDT Saturday, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., completing a 14-day journey of more than 5.7 million miles in space.The STS-124 mission was the second of three flights to launch components to the International Space Station to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory.
Discovery delivered Kibo's tour bus-sized Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, which is the station's largest module. The mission included three spacewalks to install and outfit the JPM and activate its robotic arm system. The lab's logistics module, which was delivered and installed in a temporary location in March, was attached to its permanent position on top of the JPM.
Mark Kelly commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Ken Ham, Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg Chamitoff, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. Chamitoff remained aboard the space station, replacing Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who returned to Earth on Discovery after nearly three months on the station.
Chamitoff will return on shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission, targeted for launch November 10.STS-124 was the 123rd space shuttle flight, the 35th flight for shuttle Discovery and the 26th flight of a shuttle to the station.
With Discovery and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the launch of STS-125 on October 8. Atlantis' mission will return the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope for one last visit before the shuttle fleet retires in 2010.
Over 12 days and five spacewalks, Atlantis' crew will make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, preparing it for at least another five years of research.
Welcome home STS-124
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
Space shuttle Discovery and its crew landed at 11:15 a.m. EDT Saturday, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., completing a 14-day journey of more than 5.7 million miles in space.The STS-124 mission was the second of three flights to launch components to the International Space Station to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory.
Discovery delivered Kibo's tour bus-sized Japanese Pressurized Module, or JPM, which is the station's largest module. The mission included three spacewalks to install and outfit the JPM and activate its robotic arm system. The lab's logistics module, which was delivered and installed in a temporary location in March, was attached to its permanent position on top of the JPM.
Mark Kelly commanded the flight and was joined by Pilot Ken Ham, Mission Specialists Karen Nyberg, Ron Garan, Mike Fossum, Greg Chamitoff, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. Chamitoff remained aboard the space station, replacing Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman, who returned to Earth on Discovery after nearly three months on the station.
Chamitoff will return on shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission, targeted for launch November 10.STS-124 was the 123rd space shuttle flight, the 35th flight for shuttle Discovery and the 26th flight of a shuttle to the station.
With Discovery and its crew safely home, the stage is set for the launch of STS-125 on October 8. Atlantis' mission will return the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope for one last visit before the shuttle fleet retires in 2010.
Over 12 days and five spacewalks, Atlantis' crew will make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, preparing it for at least another five years of research.
Welcome home STS-124
Nick
Spaceboosters Online Store.
Lunar Robotics
NASA TESTS LUNAR ROBOTS AND SPACESUITS ON EARTHLY MOONSCAPE
June 13, 2008
Conditions on the moon will be harsher, but prototype NASA robotic vehicles braved sand storms and unprecedented temperature swings this month on sand dunes near Moses Lake, Wash., to prepare for future lunar expeditions. Teams from seven NASA centers and several universities conducted the tests from June 2-13.
"The goal was to gain hands-on experience with specific technical challenges anticipated when humans return to the moon by 2020, begin to explore the lunar surface, and set up outposts," said Test Director Bill Bluethmann of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA's Human Robotic Systems Project, part of the agency's Exploration Technology Development Program, focused on human and robotic mobility systems for the moon, but also looked at communication and command and control systems that will connect the explorers with Earth and each other. The Moses Lake dunes provided a wide variety of soil consistencies and terrain that allowed the team to put prototype scout robots, rovers, cargo carriers, cranes and spacesuits through tests in a harsh and changing environment.
The prototype tests will be used to inform developers of specific requirements needed in lunar surface support systems for the Constellation Program. The program is building the launch vehicles and spacecraft that will take a new generation of explorers to the moon, as well as lunar landers, habitats, life support systems, vehicles and robots to support them. A ground control team located thousands of miles away at Johnson operated the robots and coordinated the movements of the suited explorers.
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., tested two K10 rovers that surveyed simulated lunar landing sites and built topographic and panoramic 3-D terrain models. One rover used a ground-penetrating radar to assess subsurface structures. The other used a 3-D scanning laser system known as LIDAR to create topographic maps. The scout robots are designed to perform highly repetitive and long-duration tasks, such as site mapping and science reconnaissance.
"It's as close as we can get in a terrestrial environment to the lunar environment" said Brian Wilcox, principle investigator for the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer robot, known as ATHLETE, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
JPL tested two ATHLETE cargo-moving rovers. Each rover has six legs capable of rolling or walking over extremely rough or steep terrain. This will allow robotic or human missions on the surface of the moon to load, manipulate, deposit and transport payloads to desired sites. The team includes members from Johnson, Ames, Stanford University and The Boeing Co. of Chicago.
NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh tested an autonomous drilling rover that could be used to search for valuable resources under the lunar surface in the moon's polar regions. The team also includes members from Ames, Johnson, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Canadian Space Agency and the Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. in Sudbury, Ontario.
Engineers from Johnson tested a crew mobility chassis prototype, or lunar truck, and advanced spacesuit designs that could be used to greatly expand the exploration range of human explorers. NASA's new concept for a lunar truck was built in less than a year with unique features that allow each of its six wheels to move independently, giving the vehicle the ability to drive in any direction. Human drivers stood in turrets on the trucks that can pivot 360 degrees, contributing to easy steering.
To practice soil-moving techniques for the moon, Kennedy developed a bulldozing blade for the lunar truck, named the Lunar Attachment Node for Construction Excavation, or LANCE. A lightweight, composite technology such as LANCE will be used on the moon to clear landing pads and protect outposts from dust and debris generated by arriving spacecraft. The tests will help NASA evaluate the feasibility of excavating lunar soil, or regolith, for landing pads, blast protection berms, pathways, foundations and lunar operations areas.
NASA's Langley Research Center of Hampton, Va., demonstrated a lunar surface crane that could be used to lift and reposition heavy cargo, including modules used for crew quarters. The Lunar Surface Manipulator System is a lightweight lifting and precision positioning device that could give astronauts a helping hand during early outpost construction and follow-on operations. The crane can be operated autonomously, remotely or manually in backup mode, and can be reconfigured to perform different tasks. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center of Greenbelt, Md., provided lunar payload mockups that were used with the lunar crane to demonstrate payload handling operations.
Participants in the June tests will evaluate their data and prepare for additional tests in October at another site, yet to be announced, with moon-like conditions.
For an image gallery and video from the tests, as well as more information about the work NASA is doing to return to the moon,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration
Bye for now,
Nick
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http://www.nasa-space.co.uk/
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http://www.unofficial-nicholaspatrick.com/
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http://spaceboosterscouk.blogspot.com/
June 13, 2008
Conditions on the moon will be harsher, but prototype NASA robotic vehicles braved sand storms and unprecedented temperature swings this month on sand dunes near Moses Lake, Wash., to prepare for future lunar expeditions. Teams from seven NASA centers and several universities conducted the tests from June 2-13.
"The goal was to gain hands-on experience with specific technical challenges anticipated when humans return to the moon by 2020, begin to explore the lunar surface, and set up outposts," said Test Director Bill Bluethmann of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA's Human Robotic Systems Project, part of the agency's Exploration Technology Development Program, focused on human and robotic mobility systems for the moon, but also looked at communication and command and control systems that will connect the explorers with Earth and each other. The Moses Lake dunes provided a wide variety of soil consistencies and terrain that allowed the team to put prototype scout robots, rovers, cargo carriers, cranes and spacesuits through tests in a harsh and changing environment.
The prototype tests will be used to inform developers of specific requirements needed in lunar surface support systems for the Constellation Program. The program is building the launch vehicles and spacecraft that will take a new generation of explorers to the moon, as well as lunar landers, habitats, life support systems, vehicles and robots to support them. A ground control team located thousands of miles away at Johnson operated the robots and coordinated the movements of the suited explorers.
NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., tested two K10 rovers that surveyed simulated lunar landing sites and built topographic and panoramic 3-D terrain models. One rover used a ground-penetrating radar to assess subsurface structures. The other used a 3-D scanning laser system known as LIDAR to create topographic maps. The scout robots are designed to perform highly repetitive and long-duration tasks, such as site mapping and science reconnaissance.
"It's as close as we can get in a terrestrial environment to the lunar environment" said Brian Wilcox, principle investigator for the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer robot, known as ATHLETE, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
JPL tested two ATHLETE cargo-moving rovers. Each rover has six legs capable of rolling or walking over extremely rough or steep terrain. This will allow robotic or human missions on the surface of the moon to load, manipulate, deposit and transport payloads to desired sites. The team includes members from Johnson, Ames, Stanford University and The Boeing Co. of Chicago.
NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, and Carnegie Mellon University of Pittsburgh tested an autonomous drilling rover that could be used to search for valuable resources under the lunar surface in the moon's polar regions. The team also includes members from Ames, Johnson, NASA's Kennedy Space Center, the Canadian Space Agency and the Centre for Advanced Technology Inc. in Sudbury, Ontario.
Engineers from Johnson tested a crew mobility chassis prototype, or lunar truck, and advanced spacesuit designs that could be used to greatly expand the exploration range of human explorers. NASA's new concept for a lunar truck was built in less than a year with unique features that allow each of its six wheels to move independently, giving the vehicle the ability to drive in any direction. Human drivers stood in turrets on the trucks that can pivot 360 degrees, contributing to easy steering.
To practice soil-moving techniques for the moon, Kennedy developed a bulldozing blade for the lunar truck, named the Lunar Attachment Node for Construction Excavation, or LANCE. A lightweight, composite technology such as LANCE will be used on the moon to clear landing pads and protect outposts from dust and debris generated by arriving spacecraft. The tests will help NASA evaluate the feasibility of excavating lunar soil, or regolith, for landing pads, blast protection berms, pathways, foundations and lunar operations areas.
NASA's Langley Research Center of Hampton, Va., demonstrated a lunar surface crane that could be used to lift and reposition heavy cargo, including modules used for crew quarters. The Lunar Surface Manipulator System is a lightweight lifting and precision positioning device that could give astronauts a helping hand during early outpost construction and follow-on operations. The crane can be operated autonomously, remotely or manually in backup mode, and can be reconfigured to perform different tasks. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center of Greenbelt, Md., provided lunar payload mockups that were used with the lunar crane to demonstrate payload handling operations.
Participants in the June tests will evaluate their data and prepare for additional tests in October at another site, yet to be announced, with moon-like conditions.
For an image gallery and video from the tests, as well as more information about the work NASA is doing to return to the moon,
visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration
Bye for now,
Nick
http://www.spaceboosters.co.uk/
http://www.nasa-space.co.uk/
http://www.nasa-collectables.com/
http://www.unofficial-michaelfoale.com/
http://www.unofficial-pierssellers.com/
http://www.unofficial-helensharman.com/
http://www.unofficial-nicholaspatrick.com/
http://space-patches.blogspot.com/
http://spaceboosterscouk.blogspot.com/
STS-124 Mission Report #26
STS-124 Report #26
Friday, June 13, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
HOUSTON – The crew of Discovery has begun its last full day in orbit.
Fittingly, the wake-up music was "Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home," performed by Louis Prima and Keely Smith. The song was played at 2:02 a.m. CDT for Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman.
The crew will spend a large part of the day stowing away items in the crew cabin in advance of Saturday’s landing.
They also are scheduled to test Discovery's flight control system, the flaps and rudder which will control the orbiter's flight through the atmosphere, a little before 5:40 a.m. Subsequently, at about 6:50 a.m., they will test the spacecraft's reaction control system jets, which control the shuttle's orientation before the flight control system becomes effective.
Reisman’s recumbent seat will be set up on the mid-deck of the shuttle early this afternoon. This is a special reclining seat that helps returning Expedition crew members adjust to Earth’s gravity easier.
At the end of the crew’s day, the astronauts also will stow the Ku-band antenna. The high-data-rate KU-band system transmits, among other things, television signals.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Friday, June 13, 2008
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
HOUSTON – The crew of Discovery has begun its last full day in orbit.
Fittingly, the wake-up music was "Baby, Won’t You Please Come Home," performed by Louis Prima and Keely Smith. The song was played at 2:02 a.m. CDT for Mission Specialist Garrett Reisman.
The crew will spend a large part of the day stowing away items in the crew cabin in advance of Saturday’s landing.
They also are scheduled to test Discovery's flight control system, the flaps and rudder which will control the orbiter's flight through the atmosphere, a little before 5:40 a.m. Subsequently, at about 6:50 a.m., they will test the spacecraft's reaction control system jets, which control the shuttle's orientation before the flight control system becomes effective.
Reisman’s recumbent seat will be set up on the mid-deck of the shuttle early this afternoon. This is a special reclining seat that helps returning Expedition crew members adjust to Earth’s gravity easier.
At the end of the crew’s day, the astronauts also will stow the Ku-band antenna. The high-data-rate KU-band system transmits, among other things, television signals.
Nick
SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store
Friday, 13 June 2008
Space Shuttle Mission - News Updates
Mission Control identifies object
13 June 2008, 12:35:36
At about 11:20 a.m. EDT, Capcom Terry Virts told Discovery's Commander Mark Kelly that there are no concerns for re-entry and landing Saturday. Analysis has shown the "bump" on the rudder-speed brake is normal. Mission Control compared today's images to preflight pictures of the area and they are normal. The object that floated away is a clip that is used to protect the speed brake from heating during ascent. Its loss is no concern for re-entry.
Mission Control tells crew status of imagery analysis
13 June 2008, 12:13:26
At about 10:50 a.m. EDT, Capcom Terry Virts told Discovery Commander Mark Kelly that analysis of imagery is ongoing, and the object that floated away from the shuttle appears to be "a clip from inside the rudder speed brake, where the sides come together." Mission Control will continue to analyze the imagery and compare it to ground pictures, before making a definite conclusion. A loss of the clip would not cause concern for re-entry and landing.
NASA Television to replay video of object at 11 a.m. EDT
13 June 2008, 11:53:21
NASA Television will replay video that space shuttle Discovery's crew captured earlier this morning of an object floating away from the shuttle. The replay will occur at 11 a.m. EDT. Imagery experts at Mission Control continue to examine the video and digital still photographs the crew transmitted to them. At about 7:38 a.m. EDT, Discovery's crew called Mission Control and said they had seen a one foot to 1.5-foot-long, rectangular object floating away from the shuttle, from behind the rear portion of the right wing.
Crew describes object floating away and bump on rudder
13 June 2008, 09:22:18
In conversations on NASA Television, space shuttle Discovery astronauts, completing a standard day-before-landing test of the shuttle steering jets, called Mission Control and indicated they had seen a one foot to 1.5-foot-long object floating away from the shuttle, from behind the rear portion of the right wing. They said it appeared to be a rectangular object. The crew captured a few seconds of video of the object and transmitted it to the ground.Shortly afterwards, the crew described what they called a "bump" on the left side trailing edge of Discovery's rudder.
The crew took photographs of the rudder area with high resolution cameras and is downlinking those images to Mission Control. Discovery's payload bay television cameras also were trained on the area and provided views of the rudder for ground experts to examine. The crew completed the standard flight control system check out and reaction control system steering jet test, and is continuing to stow items in the cabin for Saturday's planned landing.The deorbit burn is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. EDT Saturday, followed by landing at 11:15 a.m.
Astronauts begin Flight Day 14
13 June 2008, 06:05:44
Space shuttle Discovery's astronauts are performing the standard day-before-entry checkouts of Discovery's flight control system and reaction control system jets. Later in the day they will conduct interviews with CBS News, WCBS Radio and WINS Radio. Landing is targeted for Kennedy Space Center at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday.
Bye for now
Nick
Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store for Space shuttle and NASA Spacestation Collectables
13 June 2008, 12:35:36
At about 11:20 a.m. EDT, Capcom Terry Virts told Discovery's Commander Mark Kelly that there are no concerns for re-entry and landing Saturday. Analysis has shown the "bump" on the rudder-speed brake is normal. Mission Control compared today's images to preflight pictures of the area and they are normal. The object that floated away is a clip that is used to protect the speed brake from heating during ascent. Its loss is no concern for re-entry.
Mission Control tells crew status of imagery analysis
13 June 2008, 12:13:26
At about 10:50 a.m. EDT, Capcom Terry Virts told Discovery Commander Mark Kelly that analysis of imagery is ongoing, and the object that floated away from the shuttle appears to be "a clip from inside the rudder speed brake, where the sides come together." Mission Control will continue to analyze the imagery and compare it to ground pictures, before making a definite conclusion. A loss of the clip would not cause concern for re-entry and landing.
NASA Television to replay video of object at 11 a.m. EDT
13 June 2008, 11:53:21
NASA Television will replay video that space shuttle Discovery's crew captured earlier this morning of an object floating away from the shuttle. The replay will occur at 11 a.m. EDT. Imagery experts at Mission Control continue to examine the video and digital still photographs the crew transmitted to them. At about 7:38 a.m. EDT, Discovery's crew called Mission Control and said they had seen a one foot to 1.5-foot-long, rectangular object floating away from the shuttle, from behind the rear portion of the right wing.
Crew describes object floating away and bump on rudder
13 June 2008, 09:22:18
In conversations on NASA Television, space shuttle Discovery astronauts, completing a standard day-before-landing test of the shuttle steering jets, called Mission Control and indicated they had seen a one foot to 1.5-foot-long object floating away from the shuttle, from behind the rear portion of the right wing. They said it appeared to be a rectangular object. The crew captured a few seconds of video of the object and transmitted it to the ground.Shortly afterwards, the crew described what they called a "bump" on the left side trailing edge of Discovery's rudder.
The crew took photographs of the rudder area with high resolution cameras and is downlinking those images to Mission Control. Discovery's payload bay television cameras also were trained on the area and provided views of the rudder for ground experts to examine. The crew completed the standard flight control system check out and reaction control system steering jet test, and is continuing to stow items in the cabin for Saturday's planned landing.The deorbit burn is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. EDT Saturday, followed by landing at 11:15 a.m.
Astronauts begin Flight Day 14
13 June 2008, 06:05:44
Space shuttle Discovery's astronauts are performing the standard day-before-entry checkouts of Discovery's flight control system and reaction control system jets. Later in the day they will conduct interviews with CBS News, WCBS Radio and WINS Radio. Landing is targeted for Kennedy Space Center at 11:15 a.m. on Saturday.
Bye for now
Nick
Visit the SPACEBOOSTERS Online Store for Space shuttle and NASA Spacestation Collectables
Future Spacesuits
NASA Awards Contract for Constellation Spacesuit for the Moon
NASA has awarded a contract to Oceaneering International Inc. of Houston, for the design, development and production of a new spacesuit system. The spacesuit will protect astronauts during Constellation Program voyages to the International Space Station and, by 2020, the surface of the moon.
The Constellation Program mission requires two spacesuit system configurations to meet the requirements of Orion missions to the space station and to the moon. Configuration
One will support dynamic events such as launch and landing operations; contingency intravehicular activity (IVA) during critical mission events; off-nominal events such as loss of pressurization of the Orion crew compartment; and microgravity EVAs for contingency operations. Image Credit: NASA.
The subcontractors to Oceaneering are Air-Lock Inc. of Milford, Conn., David Clark Co. of Worcester, Mass., Cimarron Software Services Inc. of Houston, Harris Corporation of Palm Bay, Fla., Honeywell International Inc. of Glendale, Ariz., Paragon Space Development Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., and United Space Alliance of Houston.
"The award of the spacesuit contract completes the spaceflight hardware requirements for the Constellation Program's first human flight in 2015," said Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Contracts for the Orion crew capsule and the Ares I rocket were awarded during the past two years.
The cost-plus-award-fee spacesuit contract includes a basic performance period from June 2008 to September 2014 that has a value of $183.8 million. During the performance period, Oceaneering and its subcontractors will conduct design, development, test, and evaluation work culminating in the manufacture, assembly, and first flight of the suit components needed for astronauts aboard the Orion crew exploration vehicle.
The basic contract also includes initial work on the suit design needed for the lunar surface. "I am excited about the new partnership between NASA and Oceaneering," said Glenn Lutz, project manager for the spacesuit system at Johnson. "Now it is time for our spacesuit team to begin the journey together that ultimately will put new sets of boot prints on the moon."
Configuration Two will build upon Configuration One and will support lunar surface operations. While preparing to walk on the moon, the astronauts will construct Configuration Two by replacing elements of Configuration One with elements specialized for surface operations. Image Credit: NASA.
Suits and support systems will be needed for as many as four astronauts on moon voyages and as many as six space station travelers. For short trips to the moon, the suit design will support a week's worth of moon walks.
The system also must be designed to support a significant number of moon walks during potential six-month lunar outpost expeditions. In addition, the spacesuit and support systems will provide contingency spacewalk capability and protection against the launch and landing environment, such as spacecraft cabin leaks.
Two contract options may be awarded in the future as part of this contract. Option 1 covers completion of design, development, test and evaluation for the moon surface suit components. Option 1 would begin in October 2010 and run through September 2018, under a cost-plus-award fee structure with a total value of $302.1 million.
Option 2 provides for the Orion suit production, processing and sustaining engineering under a cost-plus-award fee or a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract structure with a maximum value of $260 million depending on hardware requirements. Option 2 would begin at the end of the basic performance period in October 2014, and would continue through September 2018.
Exciting times ahead,
Bye for now,
Nick.
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